Clubbing and Eating

We've gone out every night so far. Oceana the first night was by far the nicest and classiest. The next night was Jesters--voted the "3rd dodgiest club in the UK." It still wasn't as skanky as an American frat party though. In the pub attached to Jesters, called Clowns, we watched somebody throw a full glass at another guy's head; it shattered and he came up bleeding. We snuck into Jesters through the back door after that.

Next night we went to The Cube, a nightclub operated by the University. The party was called "Kinkii," and the DJs were real sketch. At one point they called out people to "do it doggy style for the camera."

Last night was at a place called SoBar. American hip-hop is better. Although they spent waayyy too long playing shitty 90s rock. And the last song the club played was Bad Touch...

Tonight the Pro Bowl is on SkySports-2 at midnight, but I don't know where to find it. At least the Superbowl will be on BBC (at 11pm here) next week.

Food's good here, but it's expensive. The "drunk food" is either a Greek Kebab or fish/chips. Chips (fries) are cheap (about a pound for a huge basket), but everything else will kill you. The Kebab's are really good though--kind of like Pita Pit but bigger. One morning I got a panini and coffee at a cafe. The coffee is really bad--it wasn't bitter or burned, it just tasted like dirty dishwater and smelled like old meat.

Classes start tomorrow, but I don't have anything until 4pm. I'll have to walk up to the Highfield campus to activate my buspass, and then get down to the NOC for my first class. I think a number of the other Americans, and a few people in my residence hall, are in that class.

National Oceanography Center

Had our orientation today at the National Oceanography Center (NOC). The University of Southampton (Soton) won a bid years ago to consolidate all of the UKs marine research at one location. Thus the NOC is a hybrid university/government building, much like Woodshole in the US. It's housed at Soton's Waterfront, where the Solent River meets the waterway between the UK mainland and the Isle of Wight.

The NOC is at Dockgate 4, the secure area for large shipping vessels. Many of them are importing cars to the UK (above). Also, Dockgate 4 is the home berth for the cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth II. When we walked through the dockgate, we missed the turn for the NOC and accidently ended up by the cargo vessels, with gigantic trucks buzzing past us carrying cars, other trucks, trains, and huge pieces of "kit" (equipment).

The NOC is a really cool building, but it's huge and like a maze. There are 6 levels, but 3 of them are for utilities and vent systems. Most students in the School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES) study at the NOC. We had a mostly useless safety orientation and library orientation, and a tour of the building. There's a gym, cafe, lounge, library, and aquarium in addition to the lecture halls, offices, and labspace.

The NOC is home to most of the UK's oceanographic research vessels, including the RSS John Cook. She's apparantly the largest in the UK, but costs 100s of thousands of pounds/day just to berth. If I'm lucky she'll be in port and I'll get to see her while I'm here.

We got our bus passes, but they aren't activated yet. It's about a 35 minute walk from Romero to the NOC.

Mobile Number

I got a mobile phone, which has the number 07757-403907

Southampton

Made it to the UK! Flight was easy, no hang-up, but I was pretty jet-lagged yesterday.

Got settled into a little room. Everything is pretty quiet here because they have exams until Friday. Found my way into Archers, the pub next door. A few people were watching the Man U- Man city match. I think I'll be a bandwagon Man United fan.

We went to a club called Oceana afterwards. Someone said it was the largest in England.

My full address is:

Romero Hall, Flat 14, Room 141

38-44 Archers Road

Southampton

Hampshire

SO15 2LT

UK

Bulky items or items that must be signed for should be labelled to go to the Gateley Hall reception desk.

Packed and Ready to Go

So I managed to put 6 months of life into 3 bags. Everything from camping and field equipment to a tie and blazer. All set to fly out tomorrow night!

I have a Skype Online number: (215) 600-0868. Anyone in the US can call and I'll answer if I'm at my computer. That number will also show up if I call you, so go ahead and pick up!

Still Stateside

Cheerio Chaps!

I have to be careful not to say that when I land in England, I don't want to give off the wrong impression.

At this point I'm still in Pennsylvania, excited to land in London in 9 days for a six month study abroad at the University of Southampton (Uni Soton? I have to work on English English).

I created this blog to keep a record for myself of where I am and what I'm doing over the next six months, and to keep all of you guys informed. I have no idea how long I'll stick with it.

If you want to contact me while I'm in England, Skype is probably the best way (ted.present). Email or Facebook will probably work, too.

Not much to say now, I just wanted to set up the blog so that it's there when I do have something to write.

Cheerio! (okay I'll stop. By the way, Cheerio is a small sausage in New Zealand)