Lessons Learned!

This post is all about what I have learned so far while at the University, or the Uni as most of the British call it.
1. Hertfordshire is really disorganized compared to KSU.  You are expected to stay on top of things yourself and when you get here it feels like you have all this stuff to do that should have already been done.  It does get better though!
2. European debit cards have micro chips in them.  In saying that, some places won't take your swiped card (at the movie theater (aka cinema) and at the grocery store).  Last night I forgot to bring cash and without my friends (who had cash) I would have been denied a movie ticket and the candy I bought for it
3. There is not a whole lot to do in Hatfield itself.  The school here is good, which is why students come, but without the mall and the theater there is nothing really to do.  I regret not bringing movies with me (because of course, their dvds don't work in our computers) and none of our movie watching sites work here :(.  Oh well, I will survive.

London Town!

Since I have been here, all I have heard my British roommates talk about is how much they love London.  After today, I can see where they are coming from!  All of the internationally students had the opportunity to take a trip to London today and it was super fun.  We saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, etc etc etc.  Needless to say, I got my exercise today.  My favorite part was Piccadilly Circus.  Its filled with tons of really cool shops, even though some of them sell things worth more than my house (okay, maybe only a few things were worth that much but we did walk past Mikimoto, Dolce and Gabbana, and we walked into DKNY just to see all of the pretty things).  It was super cold today too, so for a while we sat and sipped coffee at Costa.  Its like a Starbucks but way cooler and they had delicious cupcakes!  My friends and I are already planning our next trip back because there is no such thing as seeing London in one day.  In other news, it has been an interesting change going from a country that has more restrictions on drinking to one that does not.  I haven't seen a lot of liquor stores, which is probably because you could get all the alcohol you ever wanted at the grocery store.  Everybody always has at least one bottle of something in their cart and our student union has a little shop that sells food, candy, and any sort of alcohol you would want.  The food has also been an adjustment.  For those of you who know me, I am not a fan of mayo.  Well guess what....they put mayo on everything!  This has made me venture out quite a bit and try all of the mayo-less things.  Hopefully, I will find some things I really like so I don't have to keep guessing on food.  Thats all for now, I start school tomorrow (bleh) so hopefully the enrollment process goes smoothly!

Here at last!

Hello Americans!  I am officially here in the UK!  These past few days have been quite interesting to say the least.  After being picked up at the airport, we were taken to get our rooms.  But since none of the Americans had received their housing contracts, we had to walk across campus by ourselves to go find the office to get the contracts and then pay our bill.  Then, when I went to pay my bill my card didn't work! So I spent the night in emergency accommodation (ha) and a half inflated air mattress.  Positive about all of this? I met another American from Cali, who had met some other girls the day before and we all became fast friends!  Well, that is all for now.  Get ready for some good blogging coming up... I have an adventure planned for Sunday!