This Fish Finally Found Some Kids!

Today was interesting.

We woke up, got breakfast, and then were led to the bus stop by Dr. P.  He leaves us and he drives off to the bus drop off spot.  I guess he wanted to see if we could make it on our own.  We waited for a while and then we see our bus off in the distance so we all get ready.  As the bus approaches we suddenly realize that the bus is going too fast to stop.  We were right, the bus blew right past us.  We then though maybe we have to flag down the bus for it to stop.  We wait some more and flag down the next bus, it stopped, so we do have to flag down the bus or it won't stop.  None of us know exactly where to get off, so we keep an eye out for every stop.  Eventually, we see Dr. P pacing at a bus stop and we know that we should get off there.  He told us that he got worried when we weren't on the first bus.

I honestly don't know what gives it away, but everyone knows we are Americans, without even talking.  It could be the deer in the headlights look, carrying large backpacks on our backs while everyone else has satchels, or traveling in a group of 11 girls who have both of the other qualities.  Literally everywhere we went this morning, everyone commented.  Some naughty middle schoolers were throwing starbursts on the bus, on hit Karli, so she said something about it.  As they walked off the bus, the muttered, "Stupid Americans."  Well then!  As we approached the school, people were honking, waving, and pointing at us, like we were a traveling circus.  Once inside the school, we passed a room which held all of the students before the school started.  We then hear the children start screaming, "The Americans are here!"  I guess we make quite an entrance.

The lovely walk on the way to school.

We get a quick tour around the school and then we are whisked away to our assigned classrooms.  I am placed in a Year 4 classroom, which is roughly Third grade.  Apparently, my class starts Thursdays in PE, so I went to gym class.  At this point, I haven't even met my classroom teacher yet, but I met the PE teacher.  I introduce myself and for some odd reason no one can say my first or last name.  We chat for a little bit and then I have to help him with the high jump and sprints the children are doing.

After PE, there is a 15 minute break where the entire school just shuts down and has a break.  All of the children run outside and the teachers flock to the teachers lounge.  Since I had no clue who my teacher was or where to go I just kinda wandered around like a lost puppy in the large and very confusing school.  The PE teacher eventually found me wandering and set me in the right direction.  My class then had what would be an equivalent to a health class.  Before the class even got the chance to start, a little boy threw up.  We discussed loss and what was important to us.  All of the kids were given a chance to answer the question "What is most important to you?"  The answers ranged from my family and friends to finding a girlfriend and being the first person to play basketball on the moon.  Thats when I knew that I was going to have a really interesting group of students.

After that, the children were off to lunch, but not without a prayer.  Since it was a Catholic school they did Catholic prayers.  Needless to say, I was entirely lost and all of the children were staring at me.  I tried to act like I knew what I was doing.  Lunch is 1.25 hours long.  All of the grades eat at the same time, which means that I got to eat with all of the others from my group.  We all discussed our adventures so far over our lunch.

After lunch is when I finally get to meet my classroom teacher.  She seems a bit scary.  She was telling me that today was a mad (crazy) day because there has been construction in her classroom.  Now it was in the classroom next door so we had other students and thank goodness a fellow Ball State member join us for a movie.  While the kids were watching a movie, both of us Ball State students were asked to make a display over Egypt.  I think we did a pretty good job.

After that, it was time for another break.  All of the kids begged me to come outside with them, so I did.  We played some playground games, then went back in, finished the movie, and left.

All I can say is that this school is extremely different from American schools.  I can't even wrap my head around all of it quite yet.  But there is no time to process everything that has happened because I have to prepare myself for my first weekend trip starting at 5:00 a.m tomorrow!

Sorry about the long post, it was a long day!  Ta and Cheers!

We're All Really the Same

As expected, I still need a few days to get adjusted to everything.  I keep finding myself in jaw-dropped awe that I am actually here.  Then I actually realize how similar yet different everything is here.

Carriages 
Yes, I am stating the obvious, the cars and road are taking a little bit to adjust to.  We have had a few experiences where we are looking to the left and don't see a car coming, only to find out that there is a car barreling toward us on our right.  I'm sure we will all learn after a few near misses.

Bathrooms
The sink, toilet, and shower that I would expect to be in one room, are now in three.  This is a little confusing at times, but something I am getting used to.  The sink has two different faucets, one that summons the water from Antarctica and the other that summons the water from earths inner core.  The flushes a little differently than back home, so I thought I broke it the first time I used it.  And the feeling like you are smart until you step into someone else's shower and then you realize you don't know how to work it, yep I asked for help and still stood there for a few minutes trying to get it to work.  Well thats all part of the adventure.

Water
I brought my trusty water bottle to fill up whenever I am thirsty, but the issue is that there aren't any drinking fountains.  Apparently, water isn't as big of a thing here.  I try to fill up whenever I get the chance, which is only at meal times.

Food
Potatoes--every meal there are potatoes.  I am not complaining about the meals they are different, but good.  Like I would have never thought to sell stir fry, corn, and french fries together as a meal or to make a grated cheese and butter sandwich.  We get desserts with every meal.  I am not complaining!

Despite some differences, I am having a great time and actually surviving.  I am actually doing pretty well, I managed to use public transportation, find a hole in the wall (ATM), explore the city of Liverpool, and go shopping for some necessities.

We went to City Center to go shopping.  This place is huge!  It was like mall that had streets in it and hundreds of shops and historical buildings.  We recognized some of the shops.

We came upon St. John's Church and Garden while shopping.  It was beautiful.  It was bombed in WWII.  Now the inside is hollow and can be used for a variety of events.  We had a very nice British couple take the whole groups picture in front of the church.

We talked to the couple for a little bit.  We told him that we were college students, so he asked about frat parties and how he didn't understand how we are labeled in high school as freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.  But in the end he said "We're really all the same, aren't we?" Yes, despite all of the differences, we are all the same.  Ta and Cheers!

Landed in Liverpool

Landed in Liverpool-- it sounds so simple, but I couldn't be more exhausted.  It was early Sunday morning when we headed for Indy.  We got there in plenty of time and had an easy flight into Philly.  Once in Philly, we had a 5 hour layover.  That in itself was bad, but carrying around an extra 30 lbs in bags on my back almost did me in.

I survived the lengthily layover and then boarded my next flight to Manchester.  This was a 7 hour flight.  The airline tried to make it sound good by saying that they were serving us two meals.  What they fed me could hardly constitute as a meal.  The pasta was alright, I ate my salad in two bites, the roll was so hard I could have broken a window, but the dessert was actually good.  All I did the rest of the flight was watch movies.  And to my surprise, they had some pretty descent ones.  I watched Frozen and Catching Fire.  That was great, except for the part where I didn't sleep.

I am coming up on 34 hours with no sleep.  That made today, the day with all of our orientation meetings, horrible.  I was fighting to stay awake, as were my fellow classmates.  At least we finally arrived at University.  We arrived at our dorm to find that there wasn't a lift (elevator,) so I had to juggle my 50 lb suitcase, my 20 lb backpack, and my 10 lb purse.  To any onlooker, the sight of 11 American girls, exhausted from the lack of sleep, lugging their large suitcases up a spiral staircase, and being led by an English man had to be quite amusing.

The accommodations are not quite what I hoped for, but it is a dorm and my feet will only have to hang off the end of the bed for 8 weeks.

The bathroom situation is a little bit interesting too.  We only have two toilets and two showers for the whole flat (floor). We will see how that works out later.   

Oh well, at least I am here and safe, tired, but safe.  And I will never forget the first thing I saw and heard when coming off the plane and officially in England.  A security officer was pushing an old man in a wheelchair.  He got to buzz past our customs line because he was from England.  As he passed us in line he exclaimed "Take me to my master!"  And he was off.  Ta and Cheers!