I Have to Wear Socks Here

These are not my actual socks.

...I really do.  Many of you know my hatred of shoes, but with the weather situation as it is here, I actually have to wear them, which requires socks. True story: my mom took me shopping for socks before I left 'cause I didn't have any. Now I do.

Actually the weather hasn't been that bad since I've been here.  It rained on Friday of course, since that was the day I had my city tour, but other than that, it's been reasonable. I've been told I shouldn't get used to it.

So as I mentioned, Friday was rainy, but I had a busy day.  First I got a city tour from a second year undergrad who forgot her umbrella (sucks) as well as most of the information she was supposed to tell us, but she did point out the only Mexican food place in the city. I'm sure I'll find myself there someday in the future when I start to really miss tortillas, but I'm pretty skeptical about what I'm gonna find. I'll keep you guys posted.

This is my actual college lawn.

I then scurried back to St Giles to make it to the tour of my college, St Cross. It didn't take very long because my college is pretty small and cute. We have two tiny libraries and a huge bar in the basement. Someone (who went to school in the states, obvi) commented offhand that our college is kind of like a giant frat, and the more I think about it, the more I agree. A big, studious, damp frat. With a lawn that we're not allowed to walk on. Our common room is really cozy, but the libraries seem pretty small for everyone to be able to study there during exam time, so I may have to scout out some other study venues.  I also found out that we share our college site with Pusey House, a little group of Anglican priests who are Catholic sympathizers, and apparently want to reconcile the Anglican Church with the Church in Rome. Best of luck to them.

After the tour I had lunch at the college (we have a dining hall type of thing) and got a crash course in British food. I thought I'd experienced British cuisine; you know, fish 'n chips, pork pies, pasties, mushy peas, etc.  But then I had lunch at St Cross. The menu was fish pie and buttered cabbage. Yum. At this point you may be asking yourself, "What is fish pie?"  Well, let me tell you, it's exactly what it sounds like: pie, but with fish.  Luckily St Cross is pretty international, so I wasn't the only one with misgivings about the food.  I sat near a Nigerian and a Czech guy and they were both pretty confused about what they were eating.  I also had to clarify that even though we may speak English in California, we do NOT have all the same kind of food as the Brits there.  See, I'm missing tortillas already.


Speaking of American food, I went to a burger place on Saturday night with a few American girls and I saw a dude eating his burger with a fork and knife. A FORK and KNIFE. WHAT?

Just say no.

Longwall Street

I'm finally starting to get the hang of the area around my dorm/flat, mostly because I've been out running errands like whoas. It takes extra long here too because a) the Brits aren't that keen on customer service and help at every store is slow, and b) I have to figure out what I'm looking for.  Here's an example of the latter: I went grocery shopping at Tesco and wanted to buy eggs, milk, and butter. Naturally, I head to the dairy section. I find milk and butter, as well as cheese, yogurt, etc, etc. But no eggs. Where the heck are the eggs? After wandering down a few aisles, I finally find them near the bread, just hanging out on an unrefrigerated shelf. Cool. Luckily, though, the street names aren't hard to remember here. There's a street by my place called Longwall Street. Guess what it runs along? That's right, a long wall. Pretty easy.

Some randos in subfusc from Google. 

I've also picked up a few other necessities, like an umbrella, towels, and desk organizers. And of course I stopped by Shepherd and Woodward to pick up my subfusc. Or, as I like to think of it, I stopped by Madame Malkin's and picked up my wizarding robes. What, you ask, is subfusc? From the Latin subfuscus, -a, -um, meaning "brownish" or "dark" (who says my minor isn't useful!?) -- basically it's a uniform we have to wear for matriculation, as well as other formal occasions like dinners at our college. I think if I have exams I'll have to sit my exams in it too. Don't worry, I'll keep my wand in my back pocket in case I need to fight any wizard's duels on the way there. Expelliarmus!

Star Driver: fabulosity at its finest

In between all this I've been doing my best to settle in, which includes meeting a ton of people and being all social. Actually it feels just like rush all over again: I'm tired all the time and I can't remember anyone's name. My room is nice and  relaxing though, since it's a single. On a totally different note, did you guys know that Hulu doesn't work in the UK? I know, right...it's pretty frickin' tragic. How will I watch Big Bang Theory!? Nooooooooooo....and they monitor our network here to make sure we're not illegally sharing Lady GaGa with each other over the internets. I'll figure it out though, guys, don't worry. No one can keep me from Bones and Star Driver ;). I hope Booth ditches that blond reporter chick soon, am I right?

Tomorrow I have my graduate student induction in the English department, which I'm pretty excited about since I haven't met anyone from my program(me) yet. I'll let you know how awesome the English dept is in my next post.  By then I might have to do some laundry though 'cause I'm running out of socks already.

Stay classy,
KQ