Thursday, September 17, 2009

London Finally: A Place To Call Home... For A Few Months

Hello all!
Oh I am missing you all so much. I have not had internet access for quite awhile and so I have been unable to blog about my experience. I have to do a lot of catching up on the ending of my EuroTrip. However for now, I am just going to write about London because there is so much I want to say.

First of all I cannot believe I am really here. We arrived in Standsted the night before last from Berlin and stayed in a hostel. Last night was the first night that I stayed in my dorm room... the room that I will be in for the next three months. The name of my dorm is Garden Court, it is apart of Frobel College. So if you go to www.roehampton.co.uk then you can see what my dorm looks like. :-) The dorm on the outside is all stone and is a lot smaller than the other dorms. It is kind of hidden past this small door that looks like you just walked through the Secret Garden. From my window I can see a wall covered with different vines and plants. When I first got to my room I was looking out my window and trying to get it through my head that I was really in London and this music was playing from one of the rooms above that just sounded like what you would think of would play in a movie. It was so funny. My room is very white and plain, with an old green squishy wooden chair and a long wooden desk/drawers all connected lining the wall opposite the door. I got my linens ( a duvet with duvet cover, a pillow with pillow case, and a mattress cover sheet thing) which is nice because I do not have to buy them and it adds color to the room. I also have a blue chair that is used to prop open the door and to sit on of course. There is a square of cork on my door so I guess I can stick some pins in there and people can leave me notes...hopefully. I met my flat rep, she is like my RA. She did not introduce herself to me, I had to go to her... but that is ok. Her name is Becky and her friend is named Kelly. They both live on my floor. Beth, another girl from Biola London, also lives on my floor. My other floor mates have not arrived yet. My dorm is super quiet, it reminds me of Hart ( Biola dorm) because it is super far from everything and it is quiet. I guess quiet is good sometimes, but I really hope I get a chance to meet more people. I think maybe a lot of the people are upper classmen or UK students because they do not arrive until later. School does not start until September 28... nice huh? :)

Ok so back to my room, I am on the first floor and when you walk in the door of the dorm you turn left and just go straight down the hall and straight into my room. I am in dorm 4. So if any of you guys decide to come and visit and suprise me, you can find me. :D
When you walk in the room, my bed ( which I am laying on now) is on the right against the wall and window. My bed has a blue duvet cover that looks like it has coffee cups and whip cream on it. The other girls do not really like the linens we were given because they look like they are for boys, but I like them. I mean they are free, I cannot complain! Oh and I also have my red fleece Biola blanket at the end of my bed. On the left when you walk in the room is a wall with three long doors and then three little doors on top. The top three are two cupboards ( one cupboard has two doors that open out. The first long door that is wider than the two other doors, opens to my sink area. There is a sink with some towel racks and such. There is also a baby sized trash can under the sink... I think I will buy another one. The other two doors open up like french doors ( except they are super plain and look nothing like french doors) and they reveal my very empty closet. I realized I brought so much less than I thought I did. My shoes selection is sad. :(
Oh well good excuse to go shopping :D
The wall facing the door is an off white color and it has a good sized board that blends into the wall where papers can be tacked in. There are two wooden shelves on the same wall just over the desk at the end of the wall. The desk/ drawer combination lines the majority of the wall, it is a very plain wooden desk. There are three deep and not so wide drawers first then a cupboard with two shelves and then four wider but not as deep drawers then the desk area with the chair. The room is not incredibly large, but is a good size for a single person I think. If I was to measure it based on my height, it would be able 2 Danni's wide by 3 1/2 Danni's long. It will look a lot better once I have everything organized and add some color. We are going to the UK Walmart today, it is called ASDA. I have been making a list and it will be hard spending a lot, but I will need to buy food and such. Luckily they also gave us a frying pan, a pot, a glass, a bowl, two plates, silverware, a wooden spoon, a mug, and a thin dish towel. So that saves a lot.
The nice thing about being in a small dorm is that the floors are short and there are less people you have to wait for the bathroom for. The bathroom and shower are both right outside my door. And the kitchen is just down the hall. I do not know yet where the laundry room is, but I do not need to do laundry yet so I will wait for one of the others to figure that out.
Chelsea lives two floors above me, Joel lives on floor above me, and Charissa lives one floor above Chelsea. It is nice that we are all so close. Christina and Angela live on the other side of campus along with Melody... I miss them :(
I hung out in Christina's room last night, we ordered pizza from pizza hut ( the delivery guy came on a motorcycle)... not the same as America for sure. Taste wise yes, size wise no. The medium 8 slice pizza was about the size of our small pizza. We made it feed all three of us ( Angela, Christina, and me).
The campus here is so beautiful! I am so excited to sit in a tree by the lake and read Shakespeare! The path to get to our dorm is a dirt path surrounded by beautiful trees, that are slowly changing colors, lining a large pond with ducks and a willow tree. There are also sporadic blackberry bushes, which I have taken full advantage of, all over campus. This place is amazing! I am excited for all the stressful, getting ready for school in a different country aspect to be over so I can enjoy just being in London.
I got an email saying that my classes for Creative Writing and Shakespeare got confirmed, so I am excited for that! I cannot wait for school to start! Well I can because I am not ready for it yet, but I am excited.
Oh and when Chelsea and I first got here and we were wandering around we made a new friend that was from Texas. His name is Wes. We ran into him like ten times while we were getting everything situated. It was nice having a first friend. I also met a girl who I thought she said she was from Australia, but now I think she may have been from Austria because she did not have an Australian accent... her name was Yuliana ( I think). She was nice.

Ok I am going to try to upload some pictures and blog about my other experiences. Sorry I do not have more detail. Thanks for reading!

Love always, Danni

2 comments:

  1. Your descriptions are great!! I can picture your surrounding really well, but still am anxious to see the pictures. Send me a list of what you want me to ship to you....whatever Walmart doesn't have there.

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  2. you make me laugh all the way from london haha
    "2 danni's wide.." lol

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