Feels like home..

I have officially been at Swansea 1 week and it already feels like home. So much has happened it feels like I've been here forever, and in a lot of ways, it reminds me of UofI. They had their own version of quad day, at which I signed up for the Christian Union and Dance Society! Myself and two other Americans, Jackie and Becky are going to a Hip Hop class today...so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully I'll meet a lot more cool people by getting involved! I also saw the Swansea Tour Guides doing their own version of an "Orange and Blue Day" today and it made me really miss giving tours and all my tour guide friends! There is also a 1/2 off poster sale today (just like at UofI) and I think I'll be making a few purchases since my room is looking pretty sad right now. But, the part of Swansea that reminds me most of home, is the people. I've found my way into a pretty great group of people, and I can equate almost everyone to someone from my life in America. They've all made settling in here so easy, and I can't wait to get to know them all more.

I promise I haven't just been hanging out though. Classes also started this week...and the first day was a bit confusing. I went to my first class ever, Public Relations Practice, 9am on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, I went to the completely wrong class first, which I realized right before 9...and proceeded to hurry over to the right building, only to find the classroom empty. No teacher, no students, nothing. I'm still not really sure what went wrong...but hopefully Thursday I'll find it does exist! Later that day I had British Politics and Public Policy, which I think I'm going to like a lot. The professor is a small nerdy guy with a great sense of humor, and he knows his stuff. It's so interesting that British people seem to know everything about American politics, while my knowledge of theirs is (very) limited. I'm really excited to actually learn a thing or two ;) Today (Wednesday), I went to my Intro to European Film class...and I'm a tad worried about that one. It's a bit less introductory than I thought at first, and everyone seems to know about film critique and style. I don't want to be a quitter, but I also don't want to be in a class I'm not qualified for...I'll have to talk to the advisor about this one I think. The biggest difference I've seen in academics since I've been here is that they specialize. No electives, no general education requirements, and they have been specializing for even 2 years before in what they call "college". I haven't made up my mind yet on which one is better, but I'm sure there are pros and cons to both systems.

Now that I'm settled and classes have started, I'm antsy to start traveling!! I signed up for two trips through the student union, which should be really great. One is a day trip in February to Bath and the other is a weekend trip in February to Amsterdam! Jackie signed up for them as well, so I know its going to be a lot of fun! I'm starting to plan some sightseeing trips throughout Wales and England though, so hopefully I'll have a ton of awesome pictures and adventures to share with you all in the coming weeks! I think I'll have plenty of time to travel since I only have class Tuesday-Thursday ;)

Well, I guess that's all for now! I'll try and keep up the posts as more exciting things happen!

Love, Lauren

I'm here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I've finally arrived in Wales and just spent the first day around campus and such! We had a 6 hour plane ride, then headed to Paddington station where we went outside and caught a quick glimpse of London before the 3 hour train ride to Swansea!

When we got onto campus, we were just looking around in the Student Union and stumbled upon the President of the union, Luke, who was SO nice and showed us around, answered our questions, and just chatted with us for a while (even about American Football!). Today Jackie, Joe and I found the beach today, which would really be better if it was 80 and sunny. We also ventured to the grocery, which they call Tesco, and got some of the stuff to survive...although, I have another list again and seem to have gotten nothing I need at all! Tomorrow's goal is to get a phone...then I'll feel much better.

The house I'm in has 7 other people, in a Student Village about 10 minutes off campus by bus. With a fairly small room and one bathroom, it's not exactly the Ritz, but it will do for the semester :) So far I've met 5 of my housemates and everyone has been really nice! I'm excited for orientation on Friday so I can get a better understanding of how the semester will work, but for now I'm just trying to meet people and have some fun!

So up to now, Wales has been great and I'm excited to start exploring!! Classes next week should be interesting...not sure if my feelings are positive or negative on that part yet :)

Love, Lauren