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Published: January 10th 2007
So last night was my first night out in Europe. It was definitely fun and definitely different. While on UConn’s campus, the Student Union is where students go when they’re staying sober, at Warwick, the Student Union is where students go to drink. There is a cover, security, a long queue (the word here used for “wait”) and a fully-stocked bar. It was so surreal walking into a university building and seeing everyone wasted and dancing. My flat mates and I forged our way to the bar and got drinks. As advised by my orientation guy earlier in the day, I ordered a “Purple.” It was a shot of this popular currant juice and beer that everyone I was with said was horrible, so I was worried. However, it was only a pound and I figured I would give in to the stereotypical freshman tradition. I actually enjoyed it and ordered a few through the night. We all stood around for a while, I was just taking it all in. Drinking legally in a European bar on-campus with British flat-mates on a Monday was surely a first. I didn’t recognize a lot of the music but everyone else knew the words so that was interesting. Also, every cheesy British pop song was played, like “C’est la vie” by B-Witched, which came out like 8 years ago. Whenever an American song came on I got really excited and sang all the words (even if I didn’t know them). At one point “Cotton-eyed Joe” came on and expected everyone to break out in the line-dance for it. But nope…it was just me. I asked my flat mates if they knew the dance and when they looked at me like I was nuts (which has been happening a lot), I realized it must be an American thing. The dancing is a LOT different than in America. In America people grind and rub up against each other, its pretty raunchy. Well here, everyone was just dancing like we all did in middle school in their respective social circles. There were some people that were really into it, (I’m assuming they had been to the bar more than a few times), but most people just kind of moved to the beat. Its weird, but I almost missed being grossed out. Anyways, toward the end of the night they played a slow Coldplay song (Fix You) and the DJ’s insisted that everyone sang along like they had last term. As we all wrapped our arms around each other and swayed, I felt like all we were missing was a lighter and some tye-dye. The last song really surprised me, it was Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Then the dance floor became a mosh pit. Overall, the experience was really different, but I had a lot of fun. We walked back to the flat and sat around eating bread and “Philidelphia,” (the only word used for cream-cheese here. Then we all passed out.
I slept late on Tuesday and got up to venture off to the International Office to finally solve the module issue. I met a few more American exchange students at the office, which was really refreshing. It’s really nice to taste home once in a while. Once I finished getting directions on how to sign up for modules, I headed to Tesco to pick up some groceries and an umbrella because it HASN’T STOPPED RAINING AND ITS MAKING ME CRAZY. I picked up a bunch of things and used muscles I’d forgotten I have since working on the cruise while carrying them all back to the flat. I tried to use my new umbrella until I realized it was a children’s umbrella and just pushed through the rain the whole way. I watched some TV in the common room for a while, we all had dinner and then I watched more TV. I know…lazy, but I’m taking advantage of my free time before I’m on overload for the next 5 1/2 months. It’s amazing how UNmotivational the rain can be. I finally was able to sign up for classes and now I’m going to bed. Maybe tomorrow won’t be so painfully wet. Ha. Who am I kidding?
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Foods
Yo, have you had fish n chips yet? Or how about some shortbread? Tea? Have you watched the BBC?