Guess what? I'm actually here!

Well, after finally watching Inglorious Bastards and getting to see the second half of District 9 we are only over the tip of Greenland where, according to my TV screen, it is currently negative 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm about ready to be in Amsterdam but unfortunately there is still a solid 3 hours left of my journey. That, coupled with the fact that the first track on the plane's "hot hits" music channel was most definitely Party in the U.S.A., has driven me to chronicle my day so far because, despite its general lack of excitement, there have been a few notable events.

For starters, I got to Green Bay at about 9:45 for my flight that was supposedly supposed to leave at 12:30pm only to find out that they had decided to reschedule it since last night to 10:55 which I really should have expected given the passport dilemma; I mean really, why wouldn't the airline reschedule my flight on short notice to cause an inconvenience? On the plus side, checking my bags was only $100 instead of the $140 we planned for. Bastards. Things actually ended up working out pretty well though because I essentially had nothing to do in Green Bay and I made it to my connecting flight to Minneapolis with plenty of time to spare. I must give credit to my mother who didn't completely break down when I went through security to my gate as I expected her to, no offense intended mom! No surprises that I was the only person in a line of about 25 to get 'randomly searched' by the 85 year old security guard who couldn't have done anything even if I was a problem.
This "hot hits" channel is utterly ridiculous - Miley, Britney, Owl City, Leona Lewis and Nickleback. What more could I ever ask for? I can only hope that Ke$ha will come on soon!
Following a delightful little conversation with a mildly attractive 30 year old business woman on her way to Denver for a baby shower (on a side note, does anyone know how flight attendant’s schedules work?), we landed in Minneapolis to start my 3 hour hiatus before the flight on which I currently reside. The airport was pretty lame all things considered, and I really didn't do much besides get a preposterously expensive $9 foot long sub at Subway and read in the terminal. Again I was selected to be 'randomly searched' by airport security along with the men whose names carried a Middle Eastern connotation. I didn't think that my jeans and American Eagle Rugby shirt were that suspicious but apparently I give off criminal vibes. It must be the faux hawk or maybe Grooty's rasta shoes?

After all of the build up and packing and Visa anxiety of the last few weeks, I never really got nervous about leaving at all. All morning I waited for the moment to come when it would really hit me that I was actually going to England for six months and wasn't going to see any of my best friends physically for a while but it never came. My first guess was when I said goodbye to my parents yet that moment came and went with laughter and optimism. Then I thought maybe when I got on the plane to Minneapolis. Nope. The next logical place for me to realize what I am actually doing would have been sitting in the airport waiting to board my international flight but that time came and went as well filled with text messages and phone calls. Even upon boarding the flight I didn't feel the least bit different. Reality finally hit when I had to turn off my cell phone before take-off. That was the point where I officially lost contact with the life I have been living for the past 20 years and began my little European adventure. Any text messages or voicemails sent to me after about 3:45 today will not be read or listened to for 5 or 6 months. Cell phones hold a vast amount of symbolism that we never really grapple with because they have become such integral parts of our daily lives. Not to be overly dramatic, but, in a lot of ways, turning off your phone is like turning off you. The slate is wiped clean and you are no longer confined by anything once the delightful little tune indicates the phone's deactivation. In the next 2 days I will get a new phone and start something entirely unfamiliar and exciting. A different sound when I turn it on and a different world to stay connected to. I never would have guessed that something as simple as turning off my phone would lead to so much introspection. It was like a realization that there is so much I haven't seen or done and so much world to be explored outside of the bubble I have created that encompasses Appleton and Madison. There is no doubt that after a time, I am going to have a strong desire to turn my phone back on and step back into my bubble but not now. It's time for me to activate a new phone and do a little bit of exploring - mentally and physically.
My luck with the seat assignment on this flight has been about 50/50. I'm on an aisle which is good because my legs are much too long for the space allotted for them and the woman in front of me decided to recline her chair all the way back about 5 minutes into the flight. On top of that she insists on rocking her baby hourly which makes concentrating on the tiny screen in the back of my chair rather impossible. Another plus is that the girl next to me is real cool and helps pass time. Never asked her name but she is a senior at Minnesota and is headed to Germany to visit a friend. On the negative side, I have a crying baby on all sides and they seem to be obnoxious in intervals. Hell, I don't blame them. If I was little and my parents put me on a ten hour flight I would probably be angry and annoying.

Amsterdam Airport was rather unexciting. I spent almost an hour running around various terminals looking for a "red phone" with which I could use my calling card to call home with. After finally finding one and somehow making the calling card work, it said my home number could not be dialed so I had to use a credit card anyways. For the rest of the time I played "spot the European" with myself - a really easy game to be honest, you don't even need to look at the wardrobe most of the time. I spent the flight to Birmingham talking to an English guy who had just spent three weeks in Spokane visiting his fiancé whom he met on the internet. Interesting fellow to say the least but he was friendly and helped pass the time.

Naturally after all of the trouble I went through to get a Visa and get to the UK I assumed that having to go through customs when I arrived at Birmingham would take forever and be completely ridiculous. NOT. I showed the customs agent my passport, he asked what university I was going to and stamped it; took a grand total of about 25 seconds. My good fortunes continued at baggage claim where I met two Germans, Michael and Nicole, who also study at Warwick and were headed to Coventry. Without me even asking they insisted that I ride the bus with them and that they could answer my questions and make sure I got to campus alright. They were delightful company on the bus and gave me a whole lot of suggestions about getting acclimated since they were once first semester international students as well. Not to mention Michael was hilarious; the way he said 'cool' and the frequency with which he used it made me laugh every time. It was spectacular to have someone help me carry my shit too. Apparently school in Germany is 500 Euros a semester (about $750) a semester for everyone and people still protest in the streets because they can't stand how expensive it is. And we wonder why other countries are suddenly smarter than us? I basically gawked out the window for the duration of the bus ride from Birmingham to Coventry (on a double decker bus!) just to see what England is all about. Not going to lie though, driving on the left side of the rode freaks me out. Every time I saw a car coming at us I thought we were going to get hit. After getting to Coventry bus station I parted ways with them but got Michael's email and he is going to take me to his favorite pub this weekend and show me what Coventry is all about. From what I saw on the bus it looks like a really cool quintessential English town and I hope to spend quite a bit of time there.

22 sleepless hours later, I finally made it to campus at about 11am English time (5am Wisco time)! Thankfully the place where I got my room key was not too far away from my building because carrying my shit around wasn't really fun even though I packed as little as possible. Now that I'm unpacked I again feel like I have no possessions other than clothes and my computer. The building I'm in is pretty cool, it’s sort of like a dorm except it’s fully coed and there are shared kitchens where people spent a lot of their time chatting and drinking tea. My room isn't big or anything but much more adequate than 723b was. I can only hope to half have the experience I had in that room though! The weather pretty much sucks at the moment. I was expecting like 45 degrees but apparently this is the worst winter any of my floor mates have ever seen in their lifetimes. I guess the fact that the ground is covered with snow across the country is completely uncanny. It was clear almost immediately that I probably have the baggiest jeans on campus. The people I met were all very nice but they have all been together since the beginning of the school year so it will take some time to 'fit in' so to speak. Telling everyone I'm from Wisconsin is utterly comical. To them being north of Chicago might as well be Canada! Admittedly, I was a bithomesick for the evening and found a lot of solace in the fact that I could listen to the Badger game and watch football online. I made myself stay up as long as possible so I could sleep until morning and hopefully get over the wicked jet lag but only made it til about 9 - 30 total hours awake without any sort of nap. I then proceeded to sleep until 1 today which may actually be the longest I've ever slept in my life.

My day today involved a little exploration of campus to try to get my bearings and a trip to Tesco, the UK equivalent of Wal-Mart, for a few essentials. I ran into at least 10 people walking around because here, when you’re walking towards someone, they move to the left and naturally I move to my right always leading to collision. I felt like a fool every time. I almost get hit by cars a lot too since I look to the left first when I cross a street but I need to be looking right first since the traffic in the closest lane is coming from that direction. Yes everyone, I am an American, tried and true! Everyone else starts school tomorrow but since I have no classes I will be going to orientation where I hope to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing well I'm here. For now I'm going to be kind of a hermit for the rest of the evening and watch the playoffs! Not sure when I'll write again but definitely more frequently than my last attempt at blogging. Post comments, I would love to hear for people :)