First Arrivals...
I knew only very vaguely the route I was supposed to take to the hotel, so I picked the direction Google Maps told me was right and luckily managed to find it after a bit of an uphill walk. The Lansdowne Hotel sat in between an office building and another hotel on a 2 lane street up a hill from the train station. It looked like an old-style house that had been fitted with loads of extra rooms and this is precisely how it felt. The old carpet, narrow winding staircase leading to upper levels, and even the old women (I'm pretty sure it was run solely by old women) at the counter gave it an old-style homey feel. Their elevator was terrifying slow and came to a halt with a big lurch that put me on edge as I opened the door to my room.
The City...
Finally, a Queen bed, desk, tiny television and my own bathroom. I shaved, showered, and just had a nice little rest session spreading my arms and legs out over the sides of the bed. Feeling the space. Awesome. I dumped the suitcase and most of my backpack's contents and returned down the hill to the train station. Continuing on, I soon arrived at a beautiful bridge arching over a narrow river with boats moored along one edge. There was even a floating Thai restaurant which I really want to try. It a little like Kyoto did last summer, my hostel that time being across the river from the town center as well. This bridge led on to Prince of Whales street (or road, who knows) that was lined with restaurants and night clubs (loads of them) and then went up a hill towards a castle rested atop a grassy incline. I walked in no particular hurry, staring at all the buildings and trying to absorb how different this place was from the frenetic pace and energy of London. It's certainly a different vibe here.
There are two shopping malls mere blocks from one another here in Norwich City Centre. The Castle Mall, located directly by the castle, is a little less interesting, featuring decent stores but not on the level of Chapelfield which has the convenience of being right by the bus stop for the Centre. I explored both, along with the pedestrian side-streets between each. The city retains a kind of small-town feel while being about the size of Eugene, though the centre here is much more contained and centralized than our downtown and biggest shopping areas back home. It manages to be both a pleasantly local experience with small businesses and eateries while simultaneously providing all the essential big names in case you're looking to buy the latest Blu Ray or get some fashionable threads.
The UEA is farther out of the centre, looking like they just chopped down a bunch of the forest encroaching on the city and placed a concrete university in its place. The aesthetic is rather 1970s prison, much of the buildings hideous grey boxes that make me yearn for the old-style buildings and Lillis complex of the U of O just to get some kind of visual pleasure. The dorms (I live in Suffolk Terrace C Block) are concrete ziggarauts that fit the style on one side, and make grand windowed pyramids on the other. My room, a single with sink, looks out on a massive grass field leading up to a lake ringed by trees along its border. There isn't really a beach perse and there's no swimming allowed, but at least the UEA provides benches along the edge for some nice sitting-and-reading time.
New Home...
Moving into the hall was a bit eerie; being the first one in a hall built to house 15 people gave me a kind of isolated sentiment that only waned when the first of my flatmates arrived. I occupied myself with a healthy helping of video games, reading, writing, and taking care of a few administrative things ahead of the designated International Student Orientation just to be ahead of the game. I again went into town and explored the Centre more, coming upon the City Library which is absolutely fantastic and the BBC office/building that is currently hosting a Music Video Festival in a viewing room stocked with cushy seats and beanbag chairs. They were even playing a video to one of Onra's amazing productions and I found the room by following the familiar music.
As all the students began to arrive and move in, my hall remained pretty empty. I and one other roomie are the only internationals on our floor, and so we would not be receiving any more neighbors until the weekend. I continued the routine of using a consistent and fast internet connection to catch up on my email and skype sessions looking forward to getting to know everyone arriving in a day. Finally, the excitement of starting a new experience replaced any kind of homesickness I felt (although I don't imagine I'll ever stop missing certain people). When the day came that most of my flat moved in, campus was bustling with activity and there were so many new people to meet. I'm pretty terrible with names, so it took me a few tries to remember everyone that now are my core friendgroup here at the University. Their ages vary between 19-20, and most of them would be Sophomore's in the States aside from the odd Freshman. It took me a while before I realized this fact and, when I finally did, it became a bit weird for a few hours relating to these younger people not far from my sister's age. Suppose I never considered my family in the same light, but I think it's finally time to recognize her as an equal as I do my neighbors.
They're an energetic, fun group to hang around with. As Fresher's Week kicked off (A Freshman orientation equivalent, but way better), every night had an awesome musical event and socials designed to acclimate the new students to their surroundings. I didn't have tickets to a lot of it, but neither did at least a handful of my new neighbors and so there was always somebody to hang out with in the evening. These guys, with very little in the way of lectures in their first week, have no homework to worry about and so have had some kind of social drinking function every night to attend to, and I've tagged along most times to have a laugh and get to know everyone. Though it's only been a week, I'm pretty sure everyone gets along well and has formed a kind of initial bond.
Societies and Sports...
Part of our first week featured a Societies (clubs) fair and the following day Sports. The LCR (EMU equivalent, student union) was filled with tables housing different clubs and sports that students could pay a fee to join for the year. Of course, being here only 3 months meant that some of the prices were a bit high (Basketball cost me 35 pounds, a decision I might regret here in a minute) but still worth it for the social aspects. I joined the Film Society and Creative Writing club, and the following day signed up for American Football, Ice Hockey, and Basketball.
Saturday was the day we had our first Rookie Day with the American Football club. It was scorching hot and I downed my 1 litre waterbottle almost instantly. They ran us through drills for 3 hours and at about the halfway point I started to feel a combination of light-headedness, a strong urge to vomit, and my heart kind of hurt every time I took a breath. Having never experienced this, I checked myself out and sat in the shade. Initially, I thought I'd take a few minutes to cool off and get back out there, but I didn't feel straight even at the very end. This put me off the experience and I realized that, though the people involved in the club are really great, it's too serious for me. I want to casually play some sports in between classes and homework, have a fun time, and then go home. These guys really love the game, and I appreciate their determination.
Today is basketball, and I'm hoping there's more of a recreational option to the club rather than trying out for the team. I'm really dying to get into Ice Hockey and see what it's like so I'll certainly write in about that in my next post provided they actually hold a session.
Classes...
I started the week off with 2 of my 3 classes having lectures. Unfortunately, I had to swap out of my favorite one due to a requirement issue and needing to fulfill Film Major stuff back at Oregon and so it has been replaced with a more generic Film Theory class that might be entertaining.
I remain the only male student in my Women and British Cinema class and I got some surprised glances from some of the girls in class when I hustled into the screening a bit late after having a fiasco with the bus back from the grocer's. My other class doesn't have a session here until Week 2 so I'm a bit unsure how it'll be. Still, exciting, interesting stuff that coupled with societies and sport should keep me damn well occupied.
Until next time, there's a bit of an update from me. Photos:
Dorm Room 1
Dorm room, my sink
Outside the...
Castle
Old Wall
More on my facebook
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