Freshers Week

Hiya. We have begun the infamous Fresher’s week. This is the first week that students are on campus which means a ridiculous amount of partying happens across the city. Today, I attended the Fresher’s Fayre, which is a monstrous convention of all student groups, societies, and clubs meant to attract to students to get involved on and off campus. It was awesome with lots of free stuff. I talked with the snow and rock climbing, or mountaineering, clubs, got info for rugby practice this week, and joined the snow sports club for a mere 16 quid, (read $32). The snow sports club does weekly trips to indoor skiing on artificial ski slopes. You carve on what is most aptly described as a million toothbrushes on the ground providing the material to ski on. Sounds interesting enough. They want me to try out for their racing team. Plus, the club is traveling to Val D'isere on winter break for 6 solid days of skiing. Soooo, anyway, I'm very excited for skiing. Spring break has a trip to Le Deux Alps. Both trips boast some of the best skiing in all of Europe. To top it off, my roommate has a flat in the Alps and it is very possible we may go there sometime.
During the weekend of October 6th, my new roommate Lou is having a joint birthday celebration for her and her best friend in Birmingham, England, a 50-minute drive or so from here. Their families have been friends longer than they and they have rented out a big place to support a party expected to have over 200 guests. Both Lou and Ash, my roommates, are both from Birmingham so it will be awesome to head over there and see where they are from. All in all, being here is becoming more and more comfortable, especially as fun things are beginning to pop up to look forward to. Take care and I will be in contact soon.

English Al

P.S. You can call me on my Skype phone via my local Portland number. It will only cost you a local call and it will dial my computer. I have voicemail, so leave me a cheery message!!! 503-616-4425 Cheers!

Can I get some Access!!!

HEYO from Nottingham, England. I arrived on Tuesday, September 19th, after 23 hours of travel. It was quite intense. I flew with my good friend Natalie from Portland, Oregon, USA through Vancouver, British Columbia then Calgary, Alberta and finally on to London, England. The University of Nottingham from the airport in a coach bus for a 3 hr bus trip to the university then picked us up. We had some stressful customs once in Vancouver as we had to retrieve our bags, go through customs, immigration, and then finally re check our bags. With only a 60min layover, we made it to our flight with no more than 10min to spare. Then, we flew over to Calgary where we had a 5.5hr layover. Natalie and I watched a movie while we waited which I deftly slept through. We then jumped on our 9hr flight across the world. It was long but luckily I was able to sleep for 3-4 hrs on the plane and about 2 on the bus for the last leg.
This week has been relatively stressful for the international student welcome programme (yes, that’s how they spell it here...). Everything is very disorganized. Internet access has been the biggest issue. The dorms have not been turned on for Internet service and the only wireless on campus is at the main building, the Portland building, which is a solid 15-minute walk away. Mind you it hardly ever works and requires a password, which took two days to commandeer a temporary password. Then the registration process is organized, but not enough staff or tables to take in the 2000 international students needing to register. Thus the queues, or lines, are no less than 90 minutes. So, my American impatience caused me to accomplish other necessary tasks such as finding a place to live and find my way around campus and town. I just received word this afternoon that a group of students accepted me as their new roommate so I finally have a room. Mind you, I found this out house after we were kicked out of our temporary living arrangement for the students to move into the dorms. Until earlier, I was planning on staying on Alex's floor, an Australian 'mate' of mine that I met in the airport and have been hanging out with all week.
Beyond all the stress, this week has also been a good deal of fun. That first night we got here, Natalie and I joined the Aussies and the other mass population of international students to The Ark Bar, the main campus pub for a couple Carling Lagers. On one of the afternoons, the Aussies and I made our way downtown for some city exploration. We toured the main shopping area and town square, it was very beautiful and alot of fun. However everything is VERY expensive. On Thursday night, the welcome programme had an organized trip to Oceania, the city's most notorious nightclub. It was alot of fun as everyone went and danced the night away. We had a blast. It was great because they organized coach buses for the trip and so we did not need to worry about getting there, not getting lost, and paying taxi for the ride home.
Well after a long posting, I am going to travel to my new home and move in, go grocery shopping, get some sheets and make myself a home. I am living with 5 English students who are all about 21yrs, three girls and three guys. We have a 3 floor, 6-bedroom home in Lenton, a neighborhood close to my classes. It his newly remodeled a with an AWESOME kitchen and new furniture. It is going to be great and also save me about $2000 over the course of the year!!! Thanks for reading this long post and keeping checking this site for future postings hopefully occurring 1-2 times per week. I love you all and definitely miss you. Keep in touch and send me emails. They help fend off my homesickness for the beautiful mountains and forests of Oregon full of my friends.

Love, English Al


My family.


Mom and I at the airport!