People and Places

So, folks...
The question of the hour, what the hell have I been up to for the last week?

Well, A whole ton of stuff. I have met a lot of people, seen a lot of things, learned a lot, and waded through a whole pile of bureaucracy.


The people.
This is a great story... The second day I was here (what I really think of as day 1, Monday was a total blur of jet lag, completely unfamiliar surroundings, starvation, and sadness) I woke up early to attend an international student orientation. I went to the Lecture Center and with great trepidation took a seat in what I will say is a pretty nice lecture hall. So I am sitting there staring at the screen and this guy asks me if he can sit next to me… He introduces himself as “Patro,” an Indian here getting his Masters in International Trade Law. He asks me if I have made any friends, and I kind of mumble something about laggin’ and sleeping. Then he says to me, “Well you have a friend now.” Now it seems like everywhere I go I see Patro. It’s very nice to have this friendly face that seems to follow me around the campus. The rest of that day I met two American marketing majors, a Maltese woman doing Cross Cultural Studies of Children and a couple of guys from Turkey. We hung out, went to a place called “Nando’s” for dinner, then went out for a pint at one of the campus pubs. The next day I met about half of the people that are in my program. It is a pretty international group though a surprising number of North American’s. The people that I have been hanging out with are form the following places, Maryland, Arizona, Newfoundland, Italy, Spain, Manchester(England), and two from Sweden, one of whom spent six years in the States and has an accent you could barely tell from any Manhattenite. They are all woman. In my program out of 17 people there is only one other man, he is from Greece and I have only met him once, but he seemed nice. I am going to have to find a few men to hang out with because all this estrogen is a little overwhelming. The people all seem great, really and honestly great, there are as always a few personalities in a group of people this big that rub me the wrong way, but that’s the way it rolls, and I can handle it. Mostly just people who take themselves to seriously and without reason. I am really excited about spending my year with these people. It is really exactly what I wanted. All in all very interesting, multi-cultural, adventurous group.

The places.
Well, the campus is nice, it’s not very vegetated, I guess not like I am used to at MSU, and probably less than U of M. There is a lot of cement, and a lot of construction. My dorm is an easy five-minute walk from any building on campus, including being across a sidewalk from where I will have all of my classes. My room is nice. It is big by Brunel standards, but still a dorm room. It has it’s own bathroom. And my "Flat," or grouping of five or six rooms, has it’s own nice and spacious kitchen. My flat-mates are all postgrads and a pretty international bunch as well. And secure? Oh heck yeah. There is swipe card access to the front door and then the staircase door, then a key to the flat, and a key to my door. And no one has a gun! :o) The campus is also a bit out of town. It's about five minutes away from the take out places, and probably 15 minute walk or bus ride from the town of Uxbridge. Uxbridge is what I would call a suburb of London, it is the last stop on the Tube (London’s subway/train system) on the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines. It has a “High Street” which is where most of the shopping is located. It is quaint, small brick houses, unplanned, winding lanes and cobbled, narrow streets. It has a couple of shopping centers some restaurants, and a bunch of pubs. London yesterday, now there is an overwhelming and HUGE city. San Francisco seems like a tiny town compared to this place. We did a lot of touristy type stuff yesterday, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, an outdoor photography exhibition, Trafalgar Square, that kind of stuff. It turns out to be about an hour to an hour and a half from my front door to downtown London, which is nice, to be able to travel into the city while still living in a smaller town.

What I’ve Learned.
There is nothing familiar here. Ok, that’s not quite true, but think of it this way, if you or I would call something one thing, there is about a fifty percent chance it is called something else here or there are no familiar brands of it. Not that I have ever been a brand name kind of guy, but you know it is still how I navigate. The only thing I can say is familiar is the number of bureaucratic hurdles one has to clear at a university is the same on both sides of the pond. I also still believe in the goodness of people. I have met some wonderful people. I am excited to get started with classes, and for whatever comes next.



This past week has felt like and it wnet by in an hour, and like it has been years since I was in the States. It has felt overwhelming and scary, and all I have left to say is, "Bring it on."

Bring on whatever is next, I can handle it, and I am going to have a great time doing it.

My religion consists of a humble admiration
of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals
himself in the slight details we are able to
perceive with our frail and feeble mind.

-Albert Einstein-

P.S. I will add some pictures of my trip to London and some of the people I have been hanging out with when I get 'em sent to me from one the women with a digital camera...