I knew I'd be bad at this journaling thing =P

So here we are...over a week after my last entry, haha. Can't say I'm surprised.

I had my first week of classes last week, and although I don't have much to base my opinion on, I'd say they seem to be rather interesting. One class in particular, Leisure in Mind, especially strikes me because it reminds me of the Buddhist Psych course I took a little while ago at UWF. We'll be looking at how one defines "leisure," and what exactly occurs within the mind when leisure activity is taking place. Then we'll use that information to try to create the feeling of leisure in situations normally deemed otherwise, such as at work or school. Sounds pretty cool to me anyway. Kind of a non-traditional subject matter, which I like.

I've decided I prefer the McDonald's in England over the American chain. Don't hurt me for saying so, Carl. Just come to England and see for yourself! They have an extended menu, including an entire deli sandwich option. Plus, the food has simply tasted better. I've always had to wait a few minutes when ordering from a fast food place here, but it's always worth the small wait. I feel like my meal is actually being prepared AFTER it is ordered, which is an upgrade as far as I'm concerned, haha.

I like walking around here. It's kinda cool to be able to walk to town. Definitely not something I'm used to in Pinecrest. I do miss my truck though. I knew I would. Gah.... Hope my family is taking good care of him! =)

Ok, so this past weekend was Valentine's. I'd like to just go ahead and say right here how absolutely smitten I am with Mr. Thomas Micheal Luke Bell. I already outlined the weekend to my mom in an email, so I might as well paste that description here also. Prepare for wall of text!

He picked me up late Friday night after he got off work and brought me back to his house. We watched a couple British tv shows on dvd and went to sleep. Saturday, we woke up and got dressed. I met his nan (who is super nice btw) and headed out to The Saxon Mill for lunch. It was so nice. We had a pita bread starter (that's what they call appetizers here) with several different sauces for dip. He ordered a chicken main and I had salmon. Then for dessert we shared a slice of Bailey's cheesecake. Oh! And we had a bottle of wine. =) The food was delicious!

From there we went to the store to pick up a few grocery items for his nan because she was going to cook her usual Sunday lunch for us on the following day. After shopping, he took me to this park. We walked through and into town where we visited an old cathedral and eventually met his sister and her boyfriend for fresh-baked cookies and candy. They introduced me to this stuff called flying saucers, which is a type of candy with a thin outer layer filled with this super sweet sugary stuff. Really really good.

We ended up missing the concert, haha. It was in Nottingham (like Robin Hood!), which is apparently a land of one way roads..... Got super lost trying to find the venue, and by time we got there the band was finishing the last song of their encore. Despite that, I still had an amazing time. Tom just said we'll have to go to a different concert together since that one didn't work out in our favor, haha. I'm fine with that. =)

The next day was Sunday lunch prepared by his nan, and it was scrumptiousssssss. Beef, mashed potatoes AND little potatoes, cabbage, gravy, bread, and apple pie with custard for dessert. It was really nice to have a home-cooked meal. I like his house a lot. I felt comfortable there, ya know? I think mainly because a family lives there instead of just a group of people under the same roof like it is here. Anyway, later that night we ended up going out to an Indian restaurant with Katie and her boyfriend Rich, cuz she couldn't handle the fact that I hadn't tried Indian food before, haha. That was really really good as well. I tried lamb!

Yesterday, Tom took me into town and showed me a few shops he thought I'd like. One was this geek-filled extravaganza where I bought a Nightmare Before Christmas candle holder, haha. Oh, and he bought me Corpse Bride chapstick. Heehee. Oh! Oh! We also visited an old church that was bombed in World War 2. It's now a memorial, but the rubble has been left basically intact in order to see just how devastating the attack was. AND he took me to a castle, though I can't remember if that was Saturday or Sunday. I'm getting all mixed up now because we did so much!

Every story has a beginning.

I have arrived in England at long last! Since I can remember, I've been interested in travel. Once I learned about study abroad opportunities in high school, I knew I'd be doing that sometime in college. I had to! But at the same time, it was always more of a wish-list-type item more than a definite reality for me. Yet here I am.

We arrived to snow. I'd never seen snow in person before, so you can imagine my delight. It's absolutely beautiful. Everything shimmers when covered in snow, and I love the sound and feeling of walking on it. I made my first snowball! I was hit with my first snowball as well...thank you Tom. It was fantastic.

I really like the house I'm living in, even though it's at least a good 20-minute walk to get into town. My body needs the exercise; that's made painfully obvious by the pitiful aching in my legs. No cars to rely upon in Luton! My beloved truck is alllll the way back in Florida, so I will simply have to use my legs. I enjoy the walk to town. It's pretty easy and provides an ample opportunity to observe everything.

Man, I am totally jumping around as far as chronology, but it's difficult to write about everything that's happened since landing on Monday. Hopefully I'll get better at this blogging thing as the semester progresses.

Tom met us at the airport. He couldn't find me, so he had the information desk page me over the intercom. Kinda felt like a VIP, not gonna lie. He brought a cream egg for both me and Sara as welcome gifts. Isn't that sweet? Ohhhh punny.

I went to the induction session today, which is basically an orientation. We had a tour and met the other international students studying at Bedfordshire this semester. Three of them are from Poland, two from schools in Holland (though one is actually from China), and then us four Americans. After the session concluded, several of us went across the street to a pub and got to know one another a little better. In particular, the other girls (one from Poland and the other from Holland) seemed especially nice, though everyone there made good company. Sara and I were invited to hang out tomorrow night, which would be cool. Hopefully that works out well.

Speaking of tomorrow, I have to go back to campus to have my classes signed by the "course manager" (I'm guessing that's like the equivalent to the department head?) so that I can officially register on Friday. I tried to get this done today, but no one was in their offices.

Oh! And I bought some groceries today. Did you know there are different types of Toblerone? Because I soooo did not. The more you know! ;)