So I took a WHOLE month off after the final exams. I didn't do any work for the whole of February and when I did sit down to do work I would end up facebooking or youtubing or reading the news or emailing some friends or chatting with other friends (or blogging) *shame. And when I actually tried to force myself to do work I would get very sleepy and couldn't understand a single word of what I was reading - if I had managed to read anything!
But, I have been feeling very (very very) guilty lately so starting this week I cut down on almost all my activities. I only went over to Verena's on Wednesday for dinner. Verena had invited me along with Fleur, Peter, and Sheena. Peter forgot and Sheena was sleeping so only Fleur and I went but it was full of fun. Poor Verena had cooked for five people so plenty of food was left. The food was good, she cooked pasta and though I am not a fan I liked it. We then played cards and that was a blast.
Also, I spent about two days looking for a topic to do my one of courseworks on and that was really depressing. All the titles of the papers I found were complicated and scary that I just couldn't click to read what they were lol *sigh. I finally decided to go with a topic I was familiar with so hopefully that should be good.
Also, we had a room check on Monday and my toilet seat failed LOL. No, it WASN'T dirty: it had to be de-scaled. That was a horrible chore and I actually had to scrub it for half an hour before the brown limescale was removed. There are still some but they just won't go away. I think I will leave them for now :P. I miss not having to do any chores :(.
I mailed my Mom a Mother's Day card yesterday. Fingers crossed that she receives it by the 21st, wait, fingers crossed that she receives it ever :P. Letters seem to mysteriously get lost in the mail lol. This will be my Mom's first Mother's Day without me; which means that her gifts will suck LOL (if she receives any *shame). For the past few years I have been the one who handles buying the gifts for Mom simply because I know for a fact that men are physically incapable of remembering birthdays, anniversaries, and special occasions (I have three brothers, a father, and a male best friend so I know what I am talking about :P). And, if by some miracle men do remember the event in question (and by some miracle I mean they are reminded by a woman LOL) they are physically incapable of buying presents. So, I start out in the first week of March bombarding my brothers with emails till we settle on a gift. This year, however, I am not in Lebanon so I dunno how we will go about doing this. I was thinking that as a last resort I can buy her flowers and a cake online - at least she would get something.
Final note, Easter vacation is in two weeks; I don't know if I should be happy about it or dreading it because I have been procrastinating so much I may have to work my socks off for that whole month. Well, not the whole month because Badr is coming so at least I will see him a few times and also I will be visiting my brother - and if he is lucky I may cook him some Lebanese meals :P.
Showing posts with label Verena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Verena. Show all posts
Friday, 6 March 2009
Sunday, 22 February 2009
George's Birthday
George's birthday was on Wednesday Feb 18th. He turned 31! We had agreed without his knowledge to make him dinner to celebrate it. We told him one day before but he decided to go to Brighton to celebrate it with his friends there.
So, we agreed to celebrate it with him on Friday. Each of Sheena, Fleur, and I would make something for the occasion.
Sheena made Cinnamon Rolls (Gassia, I will create a special post for you about that). I made Manakish with Cheese and with Zaatar. The cheese ones were really good but the zaatar ones were OK. The dough rose in the oven :S and when I asked my cousin Ghada she told me that I had put a lot of yeast :$. Also, I almost triggered the fire alarm because I accidentally spilled oil in the grill so it heated and started producing a lot of smoke. We directly controlled the situation by turning off the grill, opening all windows, and covering the smoke sensor! That really makes me wonder what people who always trigger fire alarms would be doing and how they do it. I mean there was a LOT of smoke in our kitchen but we directly acted to prevent the alarm being set off. Why can't other people be a bit mature about how they handle cooking/illegal-smooking-indoors instead of constantly setting the fire alarm off?
Fleur made Banoffee pie. It was really good and we got to keep it in our fridge - George and I just split the last piece.
Becky, Hardy, Peter, and Verena also came along. We played cards and had some "fun conversation" until it got a little late and Peter and Verena excused themselves. Later, Fleur and Lotte also called it a night and left. I had emailed Bassam earlier to come as well because I made manakeesh and he might want to have some. He was out watching some play and came along but there were only Hardy, Becky, and Sheena left. We chatted for a while and he had manakeesh and thought the cheese ones were really good - even though he did remark to Sheena the usual "If you liked Iman's manakeesh (?) then you can imagine how really good actual Lebanese manakeesh in Lebanon are"; sadly though he did have a point :P.
Finally we all decided to call it a night and Becky slept over at Sheena's.
So, we agreed to celebrate it with him on Friday. Each of Sheena, Fleur, and I would make something for the occasion.
Sheena made Cinnamon Rolls (Gassia, I will create a special post for you about that). I made Manakish with Cheese and with Zaatar. The cheese ones were really good but the zaatar ones were OK. The dough rose in the oven :S and when I asked my cousin Ghada she told me that I had put a lot of yeast :$. Also, I almost triggered the fire alarm because I accidentally spilled oil in the grill so it heated and started producing a lot of smoke. We directly controlled the situation by turning off the grill, opening all windows, and covering the smoke sensor! That really makes me wonder what people who always trigger fire alarms would be doing and how they do it. I mean there was a LOT of smoke in our kitchen but we directly acted to prevent the alarm being set off. Why can't other people be a bit mature about how they handle cooking/illegal-smooking-indoors instead of constantly setting the fire alarm off?
Fleur made Banoffee pie. It was really good and we got to keep it in our fridge - George and I just split the last piece.
Becky, Hardy, Peter, and Verena also came along. We played cards and had some "fun conversation" until it got a little late and Peter and Verena excused themselves. Later, Fleur and Lotte also called it a night and left. I had emailed Bassam earlier to come as well because I made manakeesh and he might want to have some. He was out watching some play and came along but there were only Hardy, Becky, and Sheena left. We chatted for a while and he had manakeesh and thought the cheese ones were really good - even though he did remark to Sheena the usual "If you liked Iman's manakeesh (?) then you can imagine how really good actual Lebanese manakeesh in Lebanon are"; sadly though he did have a point :P.
Finally we all decided to call it a night and Becky slept over at Sheena's.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
I Walked The Walk
Wednesday September 24th, 2008: My new international friends and I decided to go shopping for stuff that anyone who has newly arrived to a country needs (kitchen utensils, toiletries, food, etc ... ). We had been here for only a day and so we didn't know our way around at all. We met in my room because they were still in their temporary rooms and so didn't have Internet connection - Peter and I were the only ones who were able to move directly into our permanent rooms because Verena's and Fleur's rooms were not yet 'ready' (when I accepted my rent contract, I nagged Glen Eyre management to have my room ready before moving in and they made sure it was lol). We decided to go to a Tesco (some supermarket place someone suggested) which was supposed to sell what we needed so we got directions off google maps and decided to walk there as it was only about 2.0 miles away. We started walking there and it started raining and we were getting frustrated because when we would ask people how long it would take us to get to Tesco's they would say at least 2 hours (then 1.5 hr then 1 hr); so after about an hour - and Peter giving up and going back home - we decided to take a bus to where someone had given us other directions. We met a sweet lady at the bus stop and she told us that Sainsbury (another supermarket) is a better choice than Tesco because none of the Tesco's in Southampton sells the stuff we wanted to buy. She was very nice by giving us new directions (and later even getting off the bus with us to walk us to Sainsbury). I remember that when we were waiting at the bus stop my parents called and I was talking to my brother Tarek to agree on a time to meet him when he comes back to England. He then told me this: "Listen, I didn't tell you this when you were still here because I didn't want to say anything in front of your Mom so as not to scare her. Southampton is not a safe city so be careful where you go and how you go back. If you are outing at night never go back home alone; always go out at night WITH GROUPS and go back home IN GROUPS". I thought he was being overprotective but when I told my friends about it the English lady confirmed what Tarek said. She told us about a man who was stabbed two weeks earlier. She also told us that robberies and attacks are common at night and have a very high rate in some areas. (By the way, the University was very clear on that as they gave us THREE safety and security lectures during International Freshers Week and then ECS also gave us ANOTHER safety lecture during JumpStart Week!!!). So, anyways we finally got to Sainsbury's and then after shopping for our stuff we decided to take a cab back home as it was much less hectic than taking the bus since we were carrying heavy things.
Fast forward five months.
Friday February 13th, 2009: I decided to walk to the same Sainsbury's we went thru the huge hassle to get to on the second day for us being here. I needed to do some shopping but that wasn't the reason. The weather was very nice and I really needed to take a walk so I decided to get to know the city - more like my way around the city lol - and walk a very long way to get my groceries. I used to love walking around in Beirut and taking different routes every time to get to know new streets and sometimes even getting myself lost lol; it is very relaxing by the way - getting lost in the streets between people and their homes, the cars and the children, the trees and the concrete ... and then finding yourself in a very familiar place :). So, I printed the directions off Google maps and started walking. It took much more than the 38 minutes that Google had suggested :P but I didn't mind. I got there in no hassle (thanks to the map lol), went into Sainsbury's, and did some shopping. I was queuing to pay for my stuff when I noticed "Emergency Chocolate" bars LOL. I thought it was the FUNNIEST thing ever :D. I also saw girthControl Chocolate bars. I thought these things were the coolest things so I had to buy them (for myself and also to take pictures and show them to my friends). I then took the bus home and the next day I showed the bars to Sheena, Becky, Fleur, and Darko and they also thought it was the funniest lol :)
Fast forward five months.
Friday February 13th, 2009: I decided to walk to the same Sainsbury's we went thru the huge hassle to get to on the second day for us being here. I needed to do some shopping but that wasn't the reason. The weather was very nice and I really needed to take a walk so I decided to get to know the city - more like my way around the city lol - and walk a very long way to get my groceries. I used to love walking around in Beirut and taking different routes every time to get to know new streets and sometimes even getting myself lost lol; it is very relaxing by the way - getting lost in the streets between people and their homes, the cars and the children, the trees and the concrete ... and then finding yourself in a very familiar place :). So, I printed the directions off Google maps and started walking. It took much more than the 38 minutes that Google had suggested :P but I didn't mind. I got there in no hassle (thanks to the map lol), went into Sainsbury's, and did some shopping. I was queuing to pay for my stuff when I noticed "Emergency Chocolate" bars LOL. I thought it was the FUNNIEST thing ever :D. I also saw girthControl Chocolate bars. I thought these things were the coolest things so I had to buy them (for myself and also to take pictures and show them to my friends). I then took the bus home and the next day I showed the bars to Sheena, Becky, Fleur, and Darko and they also thought it was the funniest lol :)
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
When All Else Fails, Go to Bournemouth!
Sunday Feb 1st, 2009:
We missed the bus!! Oh, No! But hey, we can always hop on the next train going anywhere!
Two days earlier my friends and I held a very important meeting in my room, we were deciding where we wanted to go on Sunday :P lol. No seriously, we considered a few choices and then decided to go to Bath. We checked the attractions online, and we printed the bus and train schedules, and we agreed to meet at 9:00 A.M. outside Glen Eyre to catch the bus to the train station and then on to Bath.
Sunday morning: Sheena, Verena, and I missed the bus LOL. Sheena and I were all ready even before 9, we thought we would wait for a few minutes before going together and suddenly Peter came knocking on our door urging us to run as the bus was due to arrive (apparently we lost track of time and stayed in for a little longer than we had intended to). So, we ran outside but we missed the bus by just one minute. Oh, No!
But, Verena wasn't there. She had overslept. The reason for that was her alarm didn't go off. She had set it on the proper time but it rang one hour earlier. Her alarm is German and though she tries to put it one hour behind; the very-German clock keeps adjusting itself to the proper German time! So, Verena woke up an hour earlier and decided to re-set the alarm to an hour later but the alarm never went off again!
So, we were standing there looking at each others discussing what to do next and someone said let's go to the station and check when the next train leaves to Bath, Sheena and Peter said that it would be two hours before the next one, and so I suggested that we can hop on the next train going anywhere!
So, we went to the station and sure enough there were trains going to Bath every two hours. We looked at the train schedules and there were trains going to Reading and to Bournemouth. Peter went to ask the salesperson which choice is better and he was told that there was nothing in Reading and that we would be better off going to Bournemouth. So, we bought tickets to Bournemouth and went there :)
We got there and walked to the tourists information office where we were told that there was an Oceanarium (yeey :D !) there. We took a map and decided to walk there. The street that led from the station to the Oceanarium was named Bath road! There was also a hotel named Bath! (signs :P) LOL
We got to the Oceanarium which was next to the beach. I was very pleased because I miss the sea. Back home I used to see the sea every day. Also, one of the reasons why I chose to come to Southampton was because it was on the sea-side. But, I rarely go to the sea-side and there isn't even a beach here! Anyways, we took some pictures and went in the Oceanarium. It was lovely and I took loads of pictures especially of weird fish like the razor fish and the transparent fish. I was thinking about Yasmin most of the time knowing that she will enjoy the pictures once I post them on Facebook.
We then had lunch and some rest and then decided to walk to the City Center. We passed through a park where there was a bird aviary. Again we acted all touristy and took loads of pictures. We continued our walk to City Center where it started snowing so it was nice. We finished our tourism-round :P and then decided to walk back to the station and back home.
So, that was it for that weekend. It was fun forgetting all about coursework and exams for two whole days :)
We missed the bus!! Oh, No! But hey, we can always hop on the next train going anywhere!
Two days earlier my friends and I held a very important meeting in my room, we were deciding where we wanted to go on Sunday :P lol. No seriously, we considered a few choices and then decided to go to Bath. We checked the attractions online, and we printed the bus and train schedules, and we agreed to meet at 9:00 A.M. outside Glen Eyre to catch the bus to the train station and then on to Bath.
Sunday morning: Sheena, Verena, and I missed the bus LOL. Sheena and I were all ready even before 9, we thought we would wait for a few minutes before going together and suddenly Peter came knocking on our door urging us to run as the bus was due to arrive (apparently we lost track of time and stayed in for a little longer than we had intended to). So, we ran outside but we missed the bus by just one minute. Oh, No!
But, Verena wasn't there. She had overslept. The reason for that was her alarm didn't go off. She had set it on the proper time but it rang one hour earlier. Her alarm is German and though she tries to put it one hour behind; the very-German clock keeps adjusting itself to the proper German time! So, Verena woke up an hour earlier and decided to re-set the alarm to an hour later but the alarm never went off again!
So, we were standing there looking at each others discussing what to do next and someone said let's go to the station and check when the next train leaves to Bath, Sheena and Peter said that it would be two hours before the next one, and so I suggested that we can hop on the next train going anywhere!
So, we went to the station and sure enough there were trains going to Bath every two hours. We looked at the train schedules and there were trains going to Reading and to Bournemouth. Peter went to ask the salesperson which choice is better and he was told that there was nothing in Reading and that we would be better off going to Bournemouth. So, we bought tickets to Bournemouth and went there :)
We got there and walked to the tourists information office where we were told that there was an Oceanarium (yeey :D !) there. We took a map and decided to walk there. The street that led from the station to the Oceanarium was named Bath road! There was also a hotel named Bath! (signs :P) LOL
We got to the Oceanarium which was next to the beach. I was very pleased because I miss the sea. Back home I used to see the sea every day. Also, one of the reasons why I chose to come to Southampton was because it was on the sea-side. But, I rarely go to the sea-side and there isn't even a beach here! Anyways, we took some pictures and went in the Oceanarium. It was lovely and I took loads of pictures especially of weird fish like the razor fish and the transparent fish. I was thinking about Yasmin most of the time knowing that she will enjoy the pictures once I post them on Facebook.
We then had lunch and some rest and then decided to walk to the City Center. We passed through a park where there was a bird aviary. Again we acted all touristy and took loads of pictures. We continued our walk to City Center where it started snowing so it was nice. We finished our tourism-round :P and then decided to walk back to the station and back home.
So, that was it for that weekend. It was fun forgetting all about coursework and exams for two whole days :)
Monday, 24 November 2008
My International Friends and Flatmates
During International Student Week (Sept 24 - Sep 28) I mainly hung out with the people I met the day before: Verena, Fleur, and Peter. We were also joined by Flora from Tanzania. Flora, however, only attended the orientation lectures with us. The rest of us would meet for dinner and play cards in the evening. They were nice and we had a lot of fun. Now, after two months, I have only stayed in touch with Fleur and I occasionally contact Verena.
Fleur wanted to live in a regular dorm room where she can share her toilet and shower with other students; but because she was under 18 years of age the hall management didn't agree and they made her stay in an en-suite room (like mine). I remember she was pissed off at their decision at the time. In retrospect, I kinda like that decision because she lives in the same building I live in - only she lives in block Q and I live in block T; which is one of the reasons we haven't lost touch.
Verena doesn't like her subject at all. She has to take a course on Ship Science and she hates it. She was facing a lot of difficulties that she has decided not to go ahead with trying to get the MSc degree; instead she will just get a postgraduate certificate.
As for my flatmates, they are really nice. The ones I am close to are Sheena and George. Sheena is from Hong Kong but she has been in England for the past eight years. George is from Zimbabwe and he has been in England for more than three years now. Sheena is a third-year psychology major. George is a first-year nursing student (even though he is 30). He used to work as a nurse in a mental hospital and he decided to get a proper uni degree. He has really long hair which he braided into many thin braids. He also has a car and he drives us to our weekly grocery shopping every weekend. George and Sheena are funny.
Fleur, George, and I have this strange agreement among us. We agreed that we will check on each others every day to see if we are all still alive. You see, about a month ago a girl committed suicide in her bathroom and no one knew about it. No one noticed that she was missing. Then a few days later her flatmates started smelling a very ugly smell and they complained about it and then the hall management discovered the dead girl's body. OK, so the story is horrible and I am sure that none of us will kill themselves; but nonetheless we made an agreement that we will check on each others everyday because we only have each others in this country.
Aso, Sheena and I have an arrangement. She hides my chocolate from me! I buy 2 big chocolate bars every week and she locks them away in her cupboard so I only eat a small piece each day instead of butchering them in two days (because of the CHOCOHOLIC I am !!!!!!)
Well, I am tired now so that is all for now about my flatmates & international friends .... other stuff coming later
P.S: after I published this post, I re-read and it has the quality of an English Composition essay written by a 5th grader attempting to compare and contrast ... ahh well I am too tired to fix it anyway
Fleur wanted to live in a regular dorm room where she can share her toilet and shower with other students; but because she was under 18 years of age the hall management didn't agree and they made her stay in an en-suite room (like mine). I remember she was pissed off at their decision at the time. In retrospect, I kinda like that decision because she lives in the same building I live in - only she lives in block Q and I live in block T; which is one of the reasons we haven't lost touch.
Verena doesn't like her subject at all. She has to take a course on Ship Science and she hates it. She was facing a lot of difficulties that she has decided not to go ahead with trying to get the MSc degree; instead she will just get a postgraduate certificate.
As for my flatmates, they are really nice. The ones I am close to are Sheena and George. Sheena is from Hong Kong but she has been in England for the past eight years. George is from Zimbabwe and he has been in England for more than three years now. Sheena is a third-year psychology major. George is a first-year nursing student (even though he is 30). He used to work as a nurse in a mental hospital and he decided to get a proper uni degree. He has really long hair which he braided into many thin braids. He also has a car and he drives us to our weekly grocery shopping every weekend. George and Sheena are funny.
Fleur, George, and I have this strange agreement among us. We agreed that we will check on each others every day to see if we are all still alive. You see, about a month ago a girl committed suicide in her bathroom and no one knew about it. No one noticed that she was missing. Then a few days later her flatmates started smelling a very ugly smell and they complained about it and then the hall management discovered the dead girl's body. OK, so the story is horrible and I am sure that none of us will kill themselves; but nonetheless we made an agreement that we will check on each others everyday because we only have each others in this country.
Aso, Sheena and I have an arrangement. She hides my chocolate from me! I buy 2 big chocolate bars every week and she locks them away in her cupboard so I only eat a small piece each day instead of butchering them in two days (because of the CHOCOHOLIC I am !!!!!!)
Well, I am tired now so that is all for now about my flatmates & international friends .... other stuff coming later
P.S: after I published this post, I re-read and it has the quality of an English Composition essay written by a 5th grader attempting to compare and contrast ... ahh well I am too tired to fix it anyway
Sunday, 23 November 2008
12:45 A.M. Saturday Night (Sunday)
It is 12:45 A.M. and my program is still running. This is partly my fault because I didn't work as hard as I was supposed to. You see, I have an assignment due on Monday (worth 25% of the course final grade) and I was intending on finishing it today - with the written report. I did waste some (= a lot of :$) time which is why I am still waiting for the bloody program to produce results at this time - and in case you haven't noticed some of the wasted time was spent on blogging (this is the third post tonight - hey, I have to post a lot to catch up on totally ignoring my blog for two months *bigsmile). Anyways; it is late, I am tired and sleepy, but I am too stubborn to go to sleep.
Fleur came over today and she hang out with George because I was doing my coursework. I was running my program when it produced an error :( I was so annoyed that I went into George's room to nag. We then decided to have something to eat. Fleur and George came up with the idea that we should go midnight-shopping tonight. We usually go on Saturdays or Sundays (during the day :P) but they suggested going at midnight which I was excited about. So, I decided to work for a bit; I ran my program again - it produced another error :( so I started blogging hehehe, then we all chatted for a while, and it was 11 PM and time to go. George suddenly remembered that it would be a good idea to check which ASDA opens 24hr on Saturday. With Verena, Fleur, and George in my room I went online to check out the branches. Unfortunately, NONE of the ASDA branches opens 24hr on Saturday! That was a disappointment as we were all ready to go :( anyways we agreed that we will go tomorrow at 1ish.
I always spend a lot of money on groceries (dunno why!) and I have a big list this week.
Oh yeeeeey my program just finished running; let's hope it actually produced the correct results this time :D OH NOOOOOOO I forgot to set logging on :( :@ :( :@ and now I have to run it again to see the results :( :@ :( :@ Going to sleep now sounds like the best idea ever :D
Fleur came over today and she hang out with George because I was doing my coursework. I was running my program when it produced an error :( I was so annoyed that I went into George's room to nag. We then decided to have something to eat. Fleur and George came up with the idea that we should go midnight-shopping tonight. We usually go on Saturdays or Sundays (during the day :P) but they suggested going at midnight which I was excited about. So, I decided to work for a bit; I ran my program again - it produced another error :( so I started blogging hehehe, then we all chatted for a while, and it was 11 PM and time to go. George suddenly remembered that it would be a good idea to check which ASDA opens 24hr on Saturday. With Verena, Fleur, and George in my room I went online to check out the branches. Unfortunately, NONE of the ASDA branches opens 24hr on Saturday! That was a disappointment as we were all ready to go :( anyways we agreed that we will go tomorrow at 1ish.
I always spend a lot of money on groceries (dunno why!) and I have a big list this week.
Oh yeeeeey my program just finished running; let's hope it actually produced the correct results this time :D OH NOOOOOOO I forgot to set logging on :( :@ :( :@ and now I have to run it again to see the results :( :@ :( :@ Going to sleep now sounds like the best idea ever :D
Monday, 29 September 2008
Arriving to Southampton
The plane landed in London Heathrow Airport at 11 a.m. Going through immigration was a peace of cake! I thought they would make a lot of hassle (given my country of origin) but the guy just stamped my passport and told me to register for the police within 7 days (which i already knew because it was written in CAPITAL letters in my visa). I went to collect my luggage and passed through customs where a man asked me it I was coming from Beirut. I answered yes and he started asking me: "Do you have labneh?", "No" I said... at this time another customs officer came dragging a black dog which immediately started sniffing my bags while I was still being asked if I have "labneh", "jebneh", "samak" ... (and I am using the words of the customs man!) . I laughed and said: "They will get spoiled anyways!"; the man finally said "just go!" and I did.
I directly found the representatives from university, they greeted me and checked my name and took my luggage and asked me to do whatever I want but report to them at 1:30 p.m. because the coach will head towards Southampton at 2:00 p.m. I wandered around a bit, bought a sandwich and ate it, read a bit in my book, wandered some more, read some more ...
A girl approached me and asked me if I was from Turkey, I replied saying No and that I was from Lebanon. It turned out that she was from Turkey and had met a girl online who was also from Turkey and the other girl was also gonna study in the University of Southampton and was supposed to arrive on the same day of our arrival. She then introduced me to a guy who was from Malta and was going to Southampton to study Civil Engineering.
When it was finally time to leave the representative from university divided us into groups based on where we will be dropped off. The Turkish girl joined another group and another girl approached me asked me whether I was going to the same destination as she was. She was from Germany and her name was Verena - pronounced Veghena. She was going to the University of Southampton to study Computational Fluid Dynamics. Anyways we queued in line outside the airport and it was a bit chilly and then it suddenly started to rain. I was kind of happy with the rain because it produces a certain smell in the air, the same smell of the rain from back home!
We finally got on our buses and I sat next to Verena and we chatted for about an hour. The coach ride was for almost 3 hours and after the first hour we were tired and sleepy so we kind of kept quiet for the rest of the journey. We finally reached the halls of residence a bit after 5 p.m. where we queued again to be handed our room keys. Luckily for me I was the first in line and I was handed my room key quickly. I had been hoping all the way on the coach that my room won't be on the ground floor; so when I asked the reception guy what room my floor on and he replied the ground floor I was very upset. I asked him if I could change rooms and he said I have to wait for two weeks then inform then because by then all students would have arrived and they can check the availability of other rooms.
A girl from the 'Meet and Greet Program' walked me to my room. She was very nice and showed me around everything. After I put my stuff I remembered that I forgot to take my bedding pack from the reception. I walked back to reception where I asked for a bedding pack. As I was waiting Verena walked in because she had also forgotten her bedding pack. After we both got our bedding packs she asked me about my room and I said it was OK but she said her room was awful and offered to show it to me. I walked with her to her room and it was actually awful. We were standing there and talking when another girl got out of her room and said she was glad to hear some noises because it was very quiet. She introduced herself as Fleur from Holland. She also showed us her room and it was also awful. So, I offered to show them my room and we all walked back to my room. We then decided to go get some food and water. A guy who Fleur met on the ride back home also came along with us. He was Peter from Poland.
We went to Burger King and ate some food then we passed by a small shop and got some water and fruits. We then walked back to the dorms and agreed to meet the next day in the morning to walk together to the presentations held for the International students.
I went back to my room and I made my bed. It was a weird feeling getting the pillow, pillow cover, duvet, duvet cover, and bed sheet out of a pack and putting everything in its place. Putting a duvet in a duvet cover is a somewhat tricky task hehehe. I took a shower and I checked my emails for a while and then I went to sleep. However, the pillow was very squeezed so I put some t-shirts under it and went to sleep.
I directly found the representatives from university, they greeted me and checked my name and took my luggage and asked me to do whatever I want but report to them at 1:30 p.m. because the coach will head towards Southampton at 2:00 p.m. I wandered around a bit, bought a sandwich and ate it, read a bit in my book, wandered some more, read some more ...
A girl approached me and asked me if I was from Turkey, I replied saying No and that I was from Lebanon. It turned out that she was from Turkey and had met a girl online who was also from Turkey and the other girl was also gonna study in the University of Southampton and was supposed to arrive on the same day of our arrival. She then introduced me to a guy who was from Malta and was going to Southampton to study Civil Engineering.
When it was finally time to leave the representative from university divided us into groups based on where we will be dropped off. The Turkish girl joined another group and another girl approached me asked me whether I was going to the same destination as she was. She was from Germany and her name was Verena - pronounced Veghena. She was going to the University of Southampton to study Computational Fluid Dynamics. Anyways we queued in line outside the airport and it was a bit chilly and then it suddenly started to rain. I was kind of happy with the rain because it produces a certain smell in the air, the same smell of the rain from back home!
We finally got on our buses and I sat next to Verena and we chatted for about an hour. The coach ride was for almost 3 hours and after the first hour we were tired and sleepy so we kind of kept quiet for the rest of the journey. We finally reached the halls of residence a bit after 5 p.m. where we queued again to be handed our room keys. Luckily for me I was the first in line and I was handed my room key quickly. I had been hoping all the way on the coach that my room won't be on the ground floor; so when I asked the reception guy what room my floor on and he replied the ground floor I was very upset. I asked him if I could change rooms and he said I have to wait for two weeks then inform then because by then all students would have arrived and they can check the availability of other rooms.
A girl from the 'Meet and Greet Program' walked me to my room. She was very nice and showed me around everything. After I put my stuff I remembered that I forgot to take my bedding pack from the reception. I walked back to reception where I asked for a bedding pack. As I was waiting Verena walked in because she had also forgotten her bedding pack. After we both got our bedding packs she asked me about my room and I said it was OK but she said her room was awful and offered to show it to me. I walked with her to her room and it was actually awful. We were standing there and talking when another girl got out of her room and said she was glad to hear some noises because it was very quiet. She introduced herself as Fleur from Holland. She also showed us her room and it was also awful. So, I offered to show them my room and we all walked back to my room. We then decided to go get some food and water. A guy who Fleur met on the ride back home also came along with us. He was Peter from Poland.
We went to Burger King and ate some food then we passed by a small shop and got some water and fruits. We then walked back to the dorms and agreed to meet the next day in the morning to walk together to the presentations held for the International students.
I went back to my room and I made my bed. It was a weird feeling getting the pillow, pillow cover, duvet, duvet cover, and bed sheet out of a pack and putting everything in its place. Putting a duvet in a duvet cover is a somewhat tricky task hehehe. I took a shower and I checked my emails for a while and then I went to sleep. However, the pillow was very squeezed so I put some t-shirts under it and went to sleep.
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