I Woke Up In A Castle- Day 2

The last time I left you I was about to head out to the Bistro, Harlaxton's in house pub. Now don't be concerned that I've become a drunkard... not yet. Because Harlaxton is a University of Evansville campus that means that it is also a "dry" campus. We do have the Bistro which is technically on campus, but after an incident a few years ago they made Harlaxton a "dry" campus outside of the Bistro. So anyway, we went down to the Bistro last night and had a jolly good time with some of the professors and students from other universities. We turned in at about 21:30 or what would be 9:30pm your American Central Time. I have 3 other roommates so it took a little longer to get to sleep than one would have anticipated, but I finally got to sleep about woke up this morning at 8am, your 2am. I felt surprisingly refreshed and I've been doing good all day so I guess it's true when they say that you should just stay away once you get there and it will immediately set you on the new time standard. We had convocation this morning which was basically an introduction of all the professors and a statement from the principal about how amazing Harlaxton is and how we are here to work first and foremost. After that I took my hardworking self up to the library and switch my British Studies class to an easier class where I would not have to do as much work. I really am a good student, I promise. 

We had some more orientation things and then lunch which consisted of a salad. Yumm! It is absolutely true what everyone says about English food. It lacks in flavor and unless you have a keen interest in having fish and chips everyday you are out of luck. Needless to say I am definitely looking forward to our High Table Dinner tonight with the principal. The menu includes a caesar salad, and chicken with pesto!!!! I know you, mom, probably don't want to hear this, but it looks like I will be getting a bitter thinner during my stay in Cheery Olde England. 

After lunch we took the bus, coach actually, into Grantham for a little shopping. Most of us had to get notebooks and such because their stationary standards are different over here. For instance, they don't have 3 hole punched paper, it's either 4 or 2 holes. Their mechanical pencils are also different. I'm not sure how many types of mechanical pencils you can have in the world, but apparently there's a difference between the American pencils and the British pencils. After procuring the pencils and such we wandered around Grantham and found a pub to warm up in. The 4 other students I was with ordered drinks though I did not. There was practically no-one there other than what seemed like some regulars. It also appeared to be a "young crowd" type of pub because the 4 other guys there were probably in their early to mid twenties... granted it was 14 hundred hours (2 in the afternoon). After our nice long stay at the pub we milled around Grantham for a little bit and then headed back to the bus park to be picked up by the shuttle. We arrived back here and I went to meet my Meet-A-Family dad. He's a wonderful elderly gentleman who used to be a shuttle driver but now works security. Most of the security officers are retired policemen, but I'm not sure about Zyggy, that's his name. Anyway, he seems like a wonderful guy and I will be meeting his wife Merle later in the week. They have one other student they have "adopted" this semester and she happens to also be a theatre major from the University of Evansville. 

Anyway, It's almost 18:00 and I need to get ready for our dinner tonight, but I'll keep you guys updated on what's going on over here.

-H