First weekend

I’m happy to say that I’ve made it through my first full week at UWE unscathed. Saturday morning Lauren and I met up and headed into the City Centre for some shopping which went fairly well. The fellow in the phone shop was one I hadn’t seen before, and he got a little rude once he found we were American. He is unusual in my experience, as most people have been very positive and kind about it. In fact, while we were out, Lauren and I were stopped three times by people wanting to know if we were American and where in the States we were from. So funny!

While at Cabot Circus, we also had out first experience dining out at a French cafe. Dora was absolutely right when she told me that they won’t bring a check unless you ask for it. Once our meal was finished, someone came to clear our plates and invited us to sit and finish our drinks (a bottle of still water, with fresh lemon. Classy.). We sat there for another good hour or so before we could catch someone to bring us the ticket, but it made for good conversation time. We then had a confusing bit of time trying to catch a bus, because apparently return service on the U-line doesn’t run regularly on the weekend. We managed to find the U3, though, which took a ridiculously long way back to campus, and got home around 5:30.

Our arrival was just in time to meet up with everyone who had started “pre-drinking” (the exact equivalent of pre-gaming) for the freshers welcome party, which was Saturday night. Most everyone arrived Saturday afternoon and evening, and people were in very high spirits. Everyone really seems to be making an effort to get to know one another, and there’s a very open attitude that gets more and more open as the night wears on. Not surprisingly, as alcohol is free flowing, and free of charge if you find the right party.

Lauren and I met up with Padma and his flat mates including a really nice girl called Harriet who loves all things American. This massive group of people ended up going from door to door introducing ourselves and making our own mini-party. By this time, a few people were already wasted enough to have lost any semblance of volume control, so it got loud and hot pretty quickly. Padma, Harriet and I stayed sober for various reasons, but we did enjoy watching others playing games and having a progressively difficult time standing up.

After a while, Harriet and we three Americans made it out across campus to the student union bars where the party was happening. In the hallway of E-zone next to the bars we observed a young man peeing, completely at ease, into a potted plant. Escape, the pub-like establishment on the first floor, was brimming with noisy, intoxicated youth, many of whom were crowded around a raging barbecue that was threatening to catch a nearby table canopy on fire. Someone arrived with a fire extinguisher and put it out to great cheers as our little foursome stood around trading slang and mimicking each other’s accents.

The Red bar on the second floor, more like a night club, had quite a long queue going up the stairs to get in as security checked ids and so on. We decided to skip it and go back home, but we did stop at the kebab stand for snacks. I had my first doner which with a little bit of ketchup and some onion was not bad for cheap food from a stand. We spent the rest of the night sitting around in my flat talking, and turned in around 2 am. This was fairly early, considering that two of my flatmates didn’t get in until 4, and one didn’t turn up until half past 11!

I didn’t get up until quite late today, and by the time that I had managed to get cleaned up and have some breakfast, it was too late to go out and do anything before the scheduled building safety meeting. It was a very dull meeting, and they repeated a lot of the information that international students got earlier in the week. They did show us a new video advising that we refrain from injuring/killing each other whilst at UWE. Very sound advice, I’d say.

Instead of going with my building, I went with Lauren and Padma to an earlier session. My shopping from Asda was delivered while I was out (several hours early!), so I spent the rest of the afternoon putting things away and making chili and chocolate cookies. It was nice to make the kitchen smell like something other than fish fingers! Lauren and Padma came over during that time and we watched Across the Universe... It was both trippy and intense and at times unintentionally amusing, but altogether it’s worth seeing again. The way the music worked with the themes of the film has made me re-examine the message of some of the songs.

Many students spent today decorating their flat windows with signs, particularly in the common room windows which are quite large. The most popular things to do include lining up empty beer cans on the windowsills, and writing messages in post-it notes for others to enjoy. You can really, really tell it’s college.

Tonight was more of a chill-out night for most of my friends. Some of them are still out partying, but the rest of us have turned in early. Several people came over to the flat for drinks, but I ducked out after a little and went over to Harriet’s where Padma and some other friends of theirs were watching British television. It is almost exactly the same as American television, but with more football. Speaking of which... I saw a highlights show of the ManU versus ManCity game from today and HOLIEMOLIE was it exciting.

I’m winding down to go to bed now. Registration and the equivalent of convocation are tomorrow afternoon. I discovered today that there’s a paved pathway that leads from Bristol to Bath, and I have plans this week to explore the route that will get me to that path. Other than that... We’ll see! Time tables won’t be up until tomorrow, so I’ve no idea when any of my classes will be meeting this week, or where. I guess I’ll find out!