First Week at Lancaster

It seems like time is flying.  I am already a full week into classes and life in England.  It's been quite a productive week but I won't bore you all with all the details but just catch you up with the highlights.

I missed the welcome meal the first day I got here due to complications of air travel and luggage situations.  That had a happy ending however as the chili apparently didn't digest very well for many of the students that got here on time.  Also, I did end up getting my luggage a few days later, but my umbrella was missing from my front pocket.

There are 32 international students in the programme here and each one of us is from the United States.  We have sort of taken over the campus since no one else is really here yet.  So far we have been into town a few times, exploring Lancaster.  A round trip ticket (a return ticket as they say here) is 2 pounds which is about $4 american.  Not too bad of a deal.

Last Sunday we took a trip to the Lake District which was about 60 minutes north of the university.  It was beautiful.  Since it rains about everyday here, everything is a lush green.  I am going to get some pictures up here in a little bit once I go through my camera this weekend.

Our first week of class has been a riot.  Our tutor (professor) was super cool and really made us comfortable here.  We took a trip to a place called Hadrian's Wall which about 90 minutes north.  Back when Britain was controlled by the Romans, Emperor Hadrian felt that the Romans were expanding too rapidly and needed to stop expansion and instead concentrate on the land that they already controlled.  Now usually, Hadrian would use natural frontiers like the Sahara desert in Africa to mark frontiers but there really wasn't a natural frontier to protect the empire from the Barbarians in Scotland.  Because of this, Hadrian decided it was best to just build a wall across Britain from ocean to ocean to block them off.  The wall was 73 miles long with milecastles each mile and various forts built along the way.  It must have been some sort of sight a little less than 2000 years ago when it was built.  Over the years farmers used all the stones from the wall and forts for personal use but there was still a few feet of wall left all around.  Those Romans were pretty darn good builders.  Some of the rooms had hypocausts, which is basically central heating.  They had heated floors and walls way back then too.  The most impressive building we saw was a bathhouse at Chester's Fort which was still in fantastic shape.

So the classes and schooling has been fun and the campus is pretty cool.  The campus is broken up into 9 different colleges that have their own facilities.  Also, each college has their own pub.  Needless to say, we spend a few nights a week there hanging out, playing foosball, shooting darts (which is quickly becoming a favorite pasttime for me) and enjoying various beverages.

I joined the Sports Centre on campus which is a little old since they are opening a new centre in 2010.  At the sports centre they have table tennis courts, badmintion and squash courts, a mountain climbing wall, a swimming pool, weight room and life fitness room.  They also have a game called Aeroball.  Aeroball is basically a trampoline with dividers along the length and width to divide the court into four sections.  The dividers are about 10 or 12 feet in the air.  The trampoline is encirled with a back wall so you don't fall out and kill youself as well.  A few feet above the divider on the back wall is a basket that you can throw a ball through and then the ball comes out the bottom hole just below it.  The game is played with one ball and the goal is to jump so you can throw the ball over the divider into your opponents' goal on either side of you.  Your teammate is across from you.  It's an absolute riot to play and a trampoline gets quite busy when you have four guys playing a once.  It has sort of been our group exercise game so far.

That's been the first week so far.  It's been awesome and I am sure the good fun will continue.  This upcoming Saturday I am going to Blackburn with a bunch of people to watch the "football" game there.  They are no Manchester United but we could actually get tickets to the game so that should be awesome.

Take care and I'll get some pictures up here soon for your viewing pleasure!

My Trip to England

Editor's Note:  Since this is a family blog, the colorful language will be omitted.  As reading this post, feel free to start adding in language as you see fit, increasing use as the story goes on.

So my first flight over to Lancaster was from Green Bay at 2:30 on Wednesday.  My next flight was in Chicago, leaving at 6:30, giving me about 3 hours between flights to mill around and relax.  Plenty of time to get things situated.  Well, in Green Bay, I get to the United gate and what do you know, my one bag is overweight.  The gentleman at the counter let me rearrange some weight to make my bag underweight.  As we start walking towards the waiting area, the United guy tells me that my flight is being delayed for an hour but not to leave the airport.  No big deal

We got to the airport at around 12:30 so my parents and I watched tv and played cards for a little bit until it was about 2:30, then I decided to head into the terminal.  As I go through security, I get randomly searched.  That was a riot.  I finally get to the gate and proceed to watch my flight get pushed back again.  Now I am in jeopardy of missing my connection to Manchester.

About 30 minutes later, my flight gets delayed one more time, now I won't make my connecting flight.  I talk to the United guy at the front desk and he gets me on a later flight, it is a 7:50 flight to Amsterdam, then to Manchester.  Next thing I know, my Green Bay flight is delayed again because the plane that we were supposed to get on had to make an emergency landing in Green Bay with mechanical problems.

The United guy gets me on another flight with another airline.  My original flight was through BMI, my second try was through KLM and now he has me on British Airways for a 8:25 flight to London, then a connection to Manchester.  I think I might make this flight because another plane is landing that we can hop on and go.

We hit a bit of trouble because this plane on its landing hits a bird.  Now this is a huge airplane and birds are not that big but apparently if you hit a bird, it requires a 30 minute check of the whole airplane for damage.  I am sitting on the plane in horror as I have now missed my 8:25 flight for London.

So this plane takes off and we get to Chicago at about 9:30 or so.  I haul tail down from Terminal 3 to the International Terminal hoping that I do not have to spend the night in Chicago.  When I get to the terminal, there is a guy who I thought worked for BMI, my first flight company but actually worked for SAS.  I tell him my situation, his name was Ashor by the way, and he says that they can take me on their flight.  I say fine, not really knowing where "their" flight is going but I don't want to lose time spending the night in Chicago when I can sleep on a plane that is moving.  I then run to the gate and realize that this plane is not going to England or Amsterdam, I am boarding a plane for Copenhagen.  That's Denmark.  So I jump on this plane and end of sitting next to a Norweigan guy who wasn't very talkative and ended up monopolizing the armrest.

Since I am sitting in Economy, there is no room to sleep so I pretty much stay up all night listening to music and watching "The Fugitive" as in flight entertainment.  I get to Copenhagen at about 2:30 local time, then wait around 3 hours for my flight into Manchester.  As a sidenote, the Copenhagen airport is really nice, I didn't mind walking around it for 3 hours.

I end up talking to a guy from the UK, but was originally from the US and he lets me borrow his phone so I could call my sister and let her know that she can tell my parents that I am fine and just enjoying Denmark.

I finally get on a flight at 5:30 local time for a flight to my final destination.  I get to Manchester and in what is probably the least surprising news you will ever here, my luggage didn't not make all the transfers I did.  I take the one piece that did make it with me, fill out a lost luggage form and continue my trek towards Lancaster.

The trip to Lancaster required a train ride north to Preston but the train had to stop short of Preston because of construction and we had to take a double decker shuttle bus to Preston where I had to board another train for Lancaster.  Had I arrived to Lancaster when I was supposed, the school would have had a shuttle bus for me to take but since I showed up at 10:38 local time, I had to take a taxi to the school.  I finally did arrive to the school at about 11:15 local time Thursday night for a trip that started at noon on Wednesday.

Overall, the people at the airports were super nice.  They treat you well if you are not an angry jerk to them and they all came through pretty clutch for me.  My luggage is allegedly on its way to Manchester and will be delivered to Lancaster as soon as it arrives.

I will tell you more about Lancaster next time but its bed time for me and I'm a little tired.  

Welcome!

So you found my blog, or stumbled here by accident.  Either way, welcome!  I will be spending the next four months in England, fulfilling a dream of mine by studying abroad.  It is going to be a life changing experience and I am excited to get started.

This is my first start into the blogosphere so I will be practicing a little bit before I fly over next week so I know what I am doing.  The plan right now is to get something up here once a week or so and let everyone know how I have been doing and where I plan on traveling to.

The picture you see above was taken at EAA Air Venture in Oshkosh.  The skydiving plane that was used in the show was a big yellow plane with a smiley face on it named Duggy.  Pretty cool stuff.

I am going to end tonight with a wakeboarding picture of my friend Alicia.  It was taken moments before we knocked some of that SNC education out of her.

Again, welcome and have a good day!