Thursday 14 October 2010

Week One - Culture Shock

This last week has been interesting, for lack of a better word.  There are a lot of pros and cons to living in a country that's still sort of similar to the U.S. of A, and that makes for a very odd experience.  Sometimes I'll feel just like I'm back in California except everyone has an accent, and other times I'll feel like I just flew through a rip in the multiverse and landed on an Earth where everyone speaks English, but they wear pants on their heads.  And if that analogy makes no sense, I apologize, I'm still not used to the timezone here and have been sleeping badly.

I'll start by saying that I've been moved in for a week now.  My room is not fancy, but it's bigger than my room at UCSB, the kitchen is nice and, while I do have to go out to use the bathroom and shower, it's just across the hall.  All-in-all a pretty good set up.

Now as for how the week went, I'll do a day by day summary because...why the hell not?  I'm not going to do this every post, I just thought it'd be a way to streamline this week since it was crammed full of stuff.



Day 1 (Friday) - Jetlagged and groggy, my mom and I dragged ourselves out of bed for a very good breakfast (though I find that the way they grind sausage here in the U.K. just...wierds me out.  seems mealy) and decided to wander the town to get our bearings. Had an enjoyable walk through the museum gardens and a fun visit to the parts of York Minster that we didn't have to pay to see.  Left the Minster and immediately got lost. Wandered around town until we spotted a recognizable store by random chance.  Made it back to B&B, checked out registration info online as well as possible shopping sites.  Got grumpy at each other and sniped for a while before mom went out.  Fell asleep.  Mom was back after I woke up, we apologized and then went out to the Bay Horse again.  Dinner was awesome. Also, Copper Dragon may be my new favorite lager.

Day 2 (Saturday) - Jet lag still hadn't worn off, but the breakfast was still good. Picked up my keys and checked out my room before catching a bus out to shopping center on the edge of town to get what we needed.  Went to Asda, found nothing.  Hit a Boots, found a few things.  A blister I'd gotten yesterday forced me to take a break so mom wandered off to check out the other stores while I tried to block out my feet aching with some Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.  Mom came back and we went into a huge Sainsbury's.  Found everything except an extension chord, a good clock radio and a carrier for my shower crap.  Came home, went to church at St. Wilfrid's which mom and I now suspect is placed super close to the minster as a passive-aggressive take that to the Episcopalians.  Ate dinner at The Coach house.  Took them a damn hour and a half to get us our salad.  Food wasn't as good as the Bay Horse.  Lager was still good though.

Day 3 (Sunday) -   Went to the Minster again.  Went into the main church and the catacombs area.  The main church is beautiful, but there's something melancholic about it.  The same goes for the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, though on both counts it may just be me. Still I enjoyed my visit, especially to the catacombs.

Then had to catch the bus to go a compulsory fire safety lecture.  Was about as exciting as I expected, meaning at about paint drying level.  Still met some people from the other off-campus housing facility and they're pretty cool.  Met mom at the bus stop and we went to Plunkets for dinner.  They make a mean charred steak sammich, which included a free beer.  Unfortunately it was a San Miguel's, which I normally don't care for.

Also, mom found a bucket (finally) for me to use as a shower carrier for now while I was at the fire safety thing.

Day 4 (Monday) - Day two of the Holy Quest for The Extension Chord begins.  Found a Starbucks.  Praised god and got a latte. Went looking for W.H. Smith.  Got lost.  Wandered around for half an hour before finding it two blocks from where we started.  Checked three other shops before we got so tired we didn't care anymore.  Went back to my place which was now mostly moved into.  Mom tried to help me fix my shelf, and punctured her finger. Wasn't serious, thankfully, since this place has no first aid kit. They've got everything for an emergency BUT a first aid kit actually.  After getting the last of my stuff up, mom went back to the B&B and I spent my first night in my accomodations.  Found out both toilets on my floor are busted and the shower stays hot for 10 minutes.  Annoying but fixable.
Day 5 (Tuesday) - Mom's last full day in York.  Woke up and had breakfast with her at the B&B.  Went back to my accomodations, fire alarm went off while I was still in socks.  Went outside and stood around in the rain while they checked to make sure everyone was out.  Found myself ready to choke someone.

After that fiasco we took the walk along the city walls.  Gorgeous walk, even if the day was a bit threatening. Went over to Argos, finally found extension chord.  There was much rejoicing. Did grocery shopping.  We did dinner at the Bay Horse, I had the duck, which was fantastic.  They also make a mean Gin and Tonic.  I may be in love.

Also, this is a bit tangental, but I have to bring it up. Why does no one have Tanqueray here?  It's a London Gin, so why the hell can I get it California, but not in the U.K.?  I mean, I like Bombay Sapphire alright, but you can't beat Tanqueray.
my new home for the year.

Day 6 (Wednesday) - Mom checked out of the B&B and dropped her stuff off at my room. Went to the Yorkshire museum (was a bit disappointed at their collection) and the Minster again.  Enjoyed that much more now that I don't have to do a lot of running around.  Had a late lunch at a high end burger joint (three words I never thought I'd say together in a sentence) and got a Starbucks latte afterwards.  Wandered the town until after we finished our lattes.  Came back to my place and mom got her boarding pass etc, etc, after which she left for the train station.  Felt a little homesick afterwards.  

Met a good chunk of the building residents at the residents meeting with our tutor.  They all seem like pretty nice people.  I hope my opinion of them stays this good throughout the year.  Debated about going to a pub, but didn't want to go alone. so I made dinner and hung out at the room.  Was going to crash early, then realized I didn't have anything to do the next day and mom was in London.  This led to staying up stupidly late.

Day 7 (Thursday) -  Intended to sleep in an hour (meaning I'd get up at 9:15 in the morning instead of 8).  Was thwarted by repair guys who decided to test the alarm and scare me into falling off the bed at 8:30.  Was understandably pissed.  But, they fixed the toilets, which is awesome.  Shower temperature still stinks, but I'll just have to take shorter showers.

Went to Jorvik Viking museum.  Totally want to work there if I can, the place is un-freaking-believable.  They have some of the site open so you can see what they've dug up and a huge number of artifacts on display.  Plus they've got a campy Pirates of the Caribbean type ride there about the vikings.  The only way that could be cooler is if Odin stood on a bolt of lightning and played a guitar solo at the end of the ride.

Met up with my roomies and went out for karaoke at a local pub.  I didn't get drunk, but I did end up getting up and singing "Don't Stop Believing" with the group. Also, while there had my first Rum and Coke.  Find that I rather like rum now that I've tried it.

Day 8 (Friday) - Orientation stuff on campus today.  It was mostly applicable to the grads on campus, so it really didn't apply to me much. Oh, also helped plan the bitchin' Halloween party that Constantine House apparently gives every year.  We're still in the phase of getting stuff approved, but I'm looking forward to getting to do this.
The game that is currently making me forget to eat dinner

Day 9 (Saturday) - Hung around my room for most of the day.  Played some Tales of Monkey Island. Participated in a D&D campaign (or two) with some friends on Skype.  Went to bed.  Kind of a boring day, but it was nice to not do anything for a bit. 

St. Wilfrid's

Day 10 (Sunday) - Went to church at St. Wilfrid's and found out that the pastor knows the area where I'm from, more proof that the world is indeed a place of odd coincidences. Wandered about with a roomie for a good chunk of the afternoon, started looking into and then just sort of hung out at my room before crashing early.

So that was my first week here in York, a bit stressful and overwhelming, but not bad.  The people here are super helpful and friendly, which is both great (since, as I've established I have the complete opposite of a sense of direction) and very different to how people are on the West Coast.  There'll be a pretty quick follow up to this post since I was a bit of a procrastinator in getting this one up.


Until next time.

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