Kansas & Alabama

                                                   Kansas (Jessica) & Alabama (Sophie)
                                                                               or
                                                   Jessica (Kansas) & Sophie (Alabama)

When I was telling people (my parents) about my new friends, it was generally the state name that kept them apart. So however you want to remember :) 


I arrived in Birmingham on a Friday morning (two weeks today actually) and it was on Sunday when I met my first friend. We were attending a city tour for international students and there were only a few of us that had showed up. We started introducing ourselves and people started chatting. I knew in my head that I shouldn't go up to her, but I couldn't help it......

I went and talked to the only other American in the group. Her name is Jessica and she is from Kansas. There is just a feeling of going to a different country and wanting to meet people, but you want at least one of those new people to be from the same country as you (because you are going through the same "struggles" aka differences). So I made friends with the American. I was   fine with that, because as soon as we agreed that would meet other people (from different countries) a sweet, sweet feeling of relief came over me. 

We were on our tour for about 15 minutes chatting away, when a girl named Sophie came up to us and asked if we were American. We told her yes, and she said that she was going around listening to the accents and she found the Americans! 

You go away to study abroad to learn the new culture and meet people from all over the world... but until you realize you are going to be away for 6 months... from everything you know, your family, and your best friends... that's when it hits you how nice it would be just to have someone who some what knows how it is back home just incase you need them... and hey... you can never have too many friends. :)  

So Sophie joined our conversation. Sophie is from Alabama. (yes, like the University of Alabama). One of our first conversations was the national championship game, and where we could watch it. (Although the 6 hour time change meant that it played at 2 AM here)

We were all talking yesterday about how Sophie and I picked the spring semester because we didn't want to miss football (not that I would have missed too much this year... but I like to think of myself as a dedicated tailgater.. at the least). 
And Jessica was like, well football doesn't matter, but I am missing basketball season (KU)! 

                                                 All 3 of us! Kansas, Alabama, and Iowa. 

The End of the World

(First of all) I don't know why all the background colors are as they are. Hopefully this one is fixed.. like I said.... technology... 

THE END OF THE WORLD 
So it started snowing a few days ago, and everyone was really excited (for the most part). It was a big deal for them. It started snowing at about 18:00. It snowed all night and when I got up there was a little bit of snow on the grass to show for it, but no where else. It snowed through the day but the ground was still too warm for it to stick. I woke up this morning and it has been sticking more and more now. 

Why is it the end of the world? 
Because the amount of snow is going to shut down Britain. It will shut down trains, buses, and any public transportation. The news stations will tell everyone to stay inside and avoid traveling. My university said watch out for snow days.  They aren't used to snow, and if they get some they don't have the equipment to take care of it. Therefore it brings the country to a standstill. 
People are amazed and excited.. especially at the "heaviness" of this fall. 

                               This is outside my flat door. It is slightly drifted on our side.

   This is a close up of outside my door. My fingers are touching the ground & that's drifted.

      I took these outside my window. Yes, she is using an umbrella (I saw a few doing this). 

Here you can see the grass showing a little still ;) 

....Scratch that... my flatmate's lecture was cancelled... 

I'm Back!

Hello everyone! Sorry that is has been so long since writing. As some of you may know, I had some trouble with my blog and had to start a new one because blogger told me I wasn't the author. Somehow it signed me out of my account and took everything away I had on there pretty much. I could still see my blog, but could not write any new posts.  I was bummed for a few days trying to figure it out, because I was just starting to have some fun with it! Then decided that I would just have to start over.  I started coping and pasting the old blog to the new one, but the colors started going crazy and it was just a big mess. (I am awful with technology for those of you who don't know or can't tell) ...then I just gave up because I wanted to write new posts! 

Opposite side of car & Opposite side of road

My parents graciously accompanied me to Birmingham. It was nice for me because they helped me settle, and it was nice for them because they got a 10 day holiday. It was a win-win situation......until my father decided to rent a car. All of you ((should)) know that England cars are made with steering on the right side and driving and on the left side of the road. Completely opposite than the US. 

After arriving in Birmingham.  Potentially the last picture of us alive.

So what does my dad do when he goes to a country that drives like he has never before with the likeliness to harm us? Rents one of the finest cars available from the rental place.

Came with built in GPS--helpful!! Payment to fix wrecked car--harmful!! 

I may have forgotten to mention that most cars are manual. So shifting gears will be done with your left hand. However, the gears are still in the same order at the US, so at least he didn't have to shift opposite. We start driving.... slowly.... and we make our first turn.... success! After a quick panic of "am I on the right side of the road!?" .. technically, no you are on the left, but yes you are on the correct side. After successfully making our first turn out of the rental place, we come to a stop sign with a roundabout straight ahead. (at this point I had place myself if the middle of the back seat so I would maybe have a chance had we gotten t-boned.) We start going on the round about (holding breaths) and on the way our we are gaining speed (not good) and almost to the end we were supposed to stop and a car comes flying almost t-bones us (ironic) and another flies by as well swerving and honking! So my dad steps on it to get us out. 

By this time I am not breathing or crying. From all the excitement and nervousness and life flashing before your eyes moments all I can do is laugh. And trust me, it doesn't stop. (as you can possible imagine. although if you know my fear of cars you would maybe be surprised). My mom is yelling, my dad probably did something to his pants, i'm laughing. It's just a world class mess. From there on my mom starting laughing in a "what did we get ourselves into?!?!" fashion. My dad is having a hard enough time staying between the lines, because on the left you are either going to side swipe a car or the curb. (They have extremely narrow lanes) 

We kind of settle down, and things aren't going so bad. Until there is a sign for another roundabout ... I start laughing, mom is praying, and dad has his knuckles white on the steering wheel. We make it through will moderate yelling inside the car. It was a group effort of driving from all of us. I quite possibly lost it when another sign said tunnel... my dad cried (jk) and my mom was like mother of god why is this happening to us. 

**Imagine this scene with as much screaming, laughing, and danger as possible. 

Explanation of Title for all you Non-Brits

If reading the letters "uni" in sequence automatically made you think of University of Northern Iowa...then we are in the same boat. I had read this a few times over here, but hadn't bothered to ask until my flatmates were saying it in a lot of sentences (pronounced like the beginning of university but the "i" is like "e".) That is the term for university which everyone uses. I learned quickly that you don't say "school" either, because that is when you are 3-16 years of age. And don't say "college" because that's 16-18 years. So it's uni. 

Examples: Are you going to uni? How do you like uni? .....or for the life of a uni student on twitter perhaps... just ate cold pizza #unayyyyy ....... chundered last night #unayyyy 

Brum is short for Birmingham, and if you live here you are a brummy. 

Tip: If you say Birmingham like an American and pronounce the whole word... you are incorrect. Try saying it up to the "g" and then just say "um" for the rest. Then you shall at least be on the right track. 

**I reckon I will use British English to give you a bit of taste while blogging, so comment if you have any questions on the terms! (or any questions that spark up really, because i ask my flatmates everything). 

My cup of tea while writing. :)