Lake District!

Friday night was Harry Potter film night in the JCR.. I'm happy cause Ash loves HP just as much as I do! 

Turns out my cousin Jonny reads my blogs =D that made my day. So did skyping him because I'm the first person he's ever skyped and already he does it better then my dad... ;)

The Lake District is soo pretty! Driving places in Canada is so blah whether we've going to Calgary or going to Alex's cabin compared to the the English countryside. The scenery here is amazing, driving anywhere is half the fun of going. There are so many sheep! They're everywhere! We seriously considered sheepsnatching but there's really no place to keep one in my flat. I wanted to ask the driver to stop at everything we saw because everything we passed was so pretty, but then 2 minutes later the landscape would change completely.

The Lake District is north of Lancaster and the first thing we saw was Kirkstone Pass which I'm pretty sure was the highest point of the Lake District. It was noticeably colder that in Lancaster, I was cold and I'm Canadian, it was awful! The Aussie girls made fun of me =( . We saw snow at the top of Kirkstone pass for the first time since we landed and everyone was really excited.

We spent a half hour up there and then started down to Glenridding. The road we drove on was so sketchy especially with the massive bus we were on.

We stopped at a the lake and it was so nice!! It reminded me of Pigeon but nicer. We saw a really pretty Gazebo and pier going into the lake.

Those 2 stops were my favorite parts of the trip. The rest was nice but the bus driver took us to the town centers so shop and stuff and like ya it was nice to see that but (I never thought I would say this) I went to see the scenery, not go to shopping. =O Besides I don't have any money to go shopping. So when I go back I'm just going to see the lakes. By then it should be spring so I'll see them in a completely different way!

This house supposedly use to have a family of 6 living in it. Cali helped my figure out how to play with my camera settings.

The last 2 places we went were Windermere and Ambleside, Edmonton totally stole those names for the south end of the city. Everything was closed by the time we got to Windermere anyway (most stores close at 5 it's really odd) so we just drove through. That's all for now!

=)

Blogblogblog

I don't have super exciting things to blog about but like Katie said it's all about the small victories. I've been to all my classes now and for the most part they're pretty sweet. I wish it was a bit more structured like at home but it is what it is. I FOUND THE HARRY POTTER CLUB!! =D I asked them what they usually do and the answer I got was "drink". Devon and I went to Sainsburys on Wednesday (pretty much Safeway) and I love grocery shopping haha, it's so much fun doing it on my own. I love my flat mates it's so nice to just chill in the kitchen for lunch or supper and I get along with all of them in different ways.
I watched a British show with some of the girls yesterday that's a bit like I didn't know I was pregnant... nice know some things aren't all that different over here. I found my zumba class and it was soooo amazing. Yoga was god awful though the teacher was terrible and could not speak English. Tomorrow is a film night in the junior common room and of course they're showing Harry Potter. Saturday is the Lake District! So next blog I'll have exciting pictures and stuff. I feel better about being here and stuff, I'm not nearly as homesick.
 It's still weird trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'll be here until July. I won't be seeing massive snow piles or -40 c weather for a whole year. I won't go skiing or skating or throw snowballs at my mom. I won't see Matty or Bobby or my bed or my house or anyone for 5 1/2 months. I know it's not that long all things considered but still, it's surreal. Instead of all that I'll be doing awesome traveling and seeing my friends over on this side of the pond =). I'll do all new things and I have met so many new people and have already solidified different groups of friends/ family over here. I'm living in a dorm which is something I never thought I would do and it's really nice. It's not crazy party or full of STDs like I thought it would be (that's the kitchen) but my room is awesome. Overall, now, I'm happy and know it will only get better.

                                                                             <3

Liverpool!

There was a bar crawl (there are 8 bars on campus) on friday, yay!

So we went to Liverpool all day Saturday and I'm so glad I went. The first thing we saw was the Cathedral and I swear the Liverpool Cathedral is secretly the Mines of Moria.

Then we went to the world museum and it was great I got so excited over the fish and the bugs.

I almost had a heart attack over the giant spider though.

The Meteorite stuff is just for you dad

Katie wanted to see the some Beatles things so we went the Cavern club

=)

2 weeks in England

So it's been 2 weeks since I landed. I'm not too sure how to feel about it, it hasn't flown by but it also hasn't crawled by. I feel like I'm still at the stage when you go to camp for that few weeks in the summer when you're a kid. When your parents drop you off (in my case at the airport) all you want to do the first few days is go home. Don't worry, I haven't been a cry baby about it or anything but it's been hard.


I don't know what I was thinking... Hey Amelia, I think it would be a good idea for the first time you left home on your own to go someplace really far away. Don't bother trying out a uni half an hour from home, just jump right into going to a completely different country that is a 9 hour flight away. When you do leave home, go to a  new school with a new flat to stay in and a new class system you don't necessarily understand. And when you go, go  entirely on your own.


........                                                               =|


 But even though I've been super homesick and it's been overwhelming sometimes I've still managed to make lots of really good friends, I guess because in the case of the other Eurolearn students we don't have the time to be strangers. We're family now. I've completely unpacked and have not only found but been on time for all my classes. I've found the fastest way from my flat to main campus. I've made myself food for almost every meal and have not once made or bought KD (no one, not even my american friends know what KD is... I almost cried. They just call it 'mac and cheese'). I wash my own dishes all the time (go me hey mom?) and I always remember my keys when I leave my room. I've had these moose slippers for years but never wore them. Now I wear them every day when I go into the kitchen. hehehe.

It's all about the small victories. I've made a realistic budget for my time here. I I don't wake up in the middle of the night worrying about everything so much that I can't fall back asleep. Now I can sleep  all the way through the night and every morning I wake up and look outside my window and see this.

It's a hazy day today but the hills are green and gorgeous and just outside my window. There is no snow here, bonus! It mostly feels like Edmonton fall weather. 


I guess my point is that I undertook this crazy, scary, amazing journey, and that I survived. And I feel that as soon as i get better settled, I'm going to thrive.


                                                                              =)

Amelia Orientation Week

So the international students got to school about 5 days before the local students to get settled in. We had a few days of orientation of the school and the town which is a 15 minute bus ride away. It was pretty overwhelming and I was nervous about everything. I was sick all orientation so I could hardly talk. But as homesick as I've been I have made new friends whether they're American or Norwegian or British. It was pretty quiet until my flat mates moved in, which I'm glad they have because it's less lonely. The way it works is there are 8 people in a flat (dorm) who share a kitchen.

The eurolearn girls and I went with a girl who has been here since fall (the third one from the left) to lunch and she took us here. I thought it was really cute.

Signing up for classes was stressful because they had us look online for times but when I brought them my timetable they told me half the times that were online were wrong. fml. But eventually I worked it out. The way classes work here is there is (usually) a 2 hour lecture / week and maybe a seminar. I'm taking 2 ed classes that don't have a seminar and a sociology class with no seminar. The psych one i'm taking has a seminar every 2 weeks. So right now my schedule is:

 Monday class from 

11-1 and 3-5

Thursday class from 

10-12

2-3

4-6

Or pretty much I'm in class while people in Edmonton are sleeping.

That's it. I don't have classes Tuesday, Wed or Friday. It's really weird. Students here are expected to do a lot of independent study though, which is where the tutor (prof) gives you a reading list and says "read what interest's you and however much you want". =|

They use essays a lot here and I'm kind of nervous about that but I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm finally sleeping through the night now as opposed to waking up at 2 am and not being able to go back to sleep. I'm excited to join a club and start my zumba and yoga classes!

My room is finally set up and I think it looks much better now. I think that's it for now!

Heading to Lancaster

We got on the train which was pretty cool. It was really fast so even though I knew the countryside was pretty I couldn't concentrate on it for long.

When we got to Lancaster it was drizzling (of course) and the taxis had a hard time fitting all of our lugguage in. When we finally got to our rooms they were pretty stark and it was a bit disheartening so I vowed to make it nice.

My bathroom is pretty small but I was expecting that and at least it's all mine! The same for my room. Not to seem anti social but for 6 months I would prefer to have my own space.

The sun rises around 8 and sets around 4-4:30. I'm used to it. At least there's no snow!

Amelia in London

 So I land at 10 AM so 2 AM my time and I'm rearing to go. We drive from the hotel and I have mini panic attacks every time the driver makes any sort of turn into what I think is the "wrong lane". Then our driver stops and says 'we're here'. I look out the window and see this. I did not think it looked like a hotel at all but I was up for anything. 

It was a pretty quiet day and I met some great new people. This is when we went to Hyde Park and saw the squirrels who would stalk you and as soon as you stopped walking they would go right up to you with the awkward pigeons following them. There's a video of it on my fb.

I was pretty homesick the whole time, it was awful! But we didn't have free wi fi in our hotel so  I couldn't just sit and wallow in my room all day (thank god). London was a weird limbo I wasn't expecting and I really just wanted to go unpack and get settled in.