8. Getting to know you

September 19, 2009
8:43pm

I didn't write yesterday, because after a very long day of registration pt. 2, I had a dr. appointment and then dinner, London planning and a Haunted Guildford walk. By the time I got home, it was v. late, I was v. tired and I was a little tipsy from red wine.

At 8:30am, I somehow managed to make my way to GSA to talk to Jo in the finance office about why there was no paper work for me on Thursday- and the status of my loans (which I had checked on the night before, and the payments have been verified with the first installment disbursed). She was v. friendly and apologlized for my having to wake up early, and when we were finished, I made my way to Starbucks for oatmeal- or porridge- as they call it. While sitting there enjoying my oatmeal very much (as they steam milk into it, which is delicious!), Charlotte rang me to say she and Tegan were 2 mins from my door to pick me up and walk the rest of the way together. We met about 10mins later on the High St., and I was so happy to already be walking to school with new friends who are such cool girls.

The day was v. long and v. boring. Mostly, we had talks about the Student Union, Campus safety and scheduling (which, btw, is SO CONFUSING we were all a little panicked about learning this system! Why can't everything be the same each week?!!?) The highlight of the day was the fire code talk from someone connected with the University, because he began and ended it with making balloon animals for us. I got a pink elephant, and I cannot tell you what I've named him fo fear it will incriminate me. *smile* Charlotte though mine was so cute that she wanted one too, but because there were no more pink balloons, hers is yellow... and I'm guessing she didn't name it. I'm a nerd.

The campus doctor's facility is very nice. I talked with a nurse about the possibility of a menegitis C vaccination; however, she tells me one only needs the injection once in a lifetime, and if I've had it as a kid, I don't need it again. I can't imagine that I didnt have it as a child...

Here's where it gets fun. At 6:15pm I met my 2 au pair friends, Lieke and Josefina under the Guildhall clock for dinner and the Haunted Guildford walk we'd been looking forward to all week. Josefina had a coupon for a pizza place on the high st.- 2 pizzas for ten pounds, so we set off. We are NOT in New York. The pizza place was v. nice; the pizza itself was v. mediocre. One noteworthy mention- the English put EGG on their pizza. How bizarre is that? EGG! We decided to make one of our pizzas experimental and try it the English way because we are, afterall, in England. The verdict? We'll pass next time.

At 8pm we met in front of Trinity church. The church bells tolled, the sky was black, and we were already terrified. The man who leads the tour suddenly appeared on the steps and silently motioned for us to step forward. He was really convincingly creepy until he opened his mouth and began yelling orders at us. His character choice was to be a creepy, ghost hunter who heard voices in his head telling him to kill the members of the tour group and who could- at any moment and seemingly without cause- switch from being childlike and fun to mean and scary. He told lots of jokes. He used lot of props. The information he shared was convincing and some of it was def. creepy- stories of people seeing a young girl in a local pub, ghosts of the castle, cries coming from a shop at night... We walked through St. Mary's graveyard, which was scary in itself. Overall, however, I would have enjoyed it much more and been much more terrified had he not been so silly.

After the tour, the girls and I got drinks at the friars pub- apparently haunted and visibly a popular hangout. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other better- talking about what our countries are like, talking about dating and drinking stories and travel... sharing pictures of the kids in our lives... planning London... It was at this time that I realised how amazing this experience is going to be socially. I'm learning so much about other parts of the world and their culture and ways of living, and it's really exciting. I may even have the opportunity to visit Finland and The Netherlands with these girls sometime this year. Having international friends is wonderful, and I feel pretty incredibly lucky! At 11pm I headed home- thoroughly exhausted from my day and having thoroughly enjoyed my night with my new friends. AND- looking forward to next Saturday night's dinner and sleepover at Lieke's, where we will watch a scary movie (made esp. scary by her creepy old house!) and The Wizard Of OZ, because Josefina has never seen it and that is unacceptable in this life.

This morning Charlotte, Tegan and I walked to town to get food for tomorrow's brunch- which has 6 confirmed guests, with possibly 4 more coming too. Because English pancakes are apparently thin and nothing like real pancakes, there is no pancake mix to be found here. Tegan and I are, instead, making our own with a recipe she found on-line. But, pancake making is not without a glitch. Maple syrup has presented a problem for us and the problem is this. IT"S FREAKIN EXPENSIVE HERE!!! You can't find it for under 5 pounds, which maybe we've gotten hung up on it, but it seems outrageously expensive. So, as of now, we do not have syrup for our pancakes in the morning. EEK! Nutella may be the only option.

Later in the day, I texted a fellow MA Actress to see if she was around, and we ended up spending about 3hrs. together in town. Pamela is Scottish, and before today I had hardly spoken to her at all, although I thought I would like her. I am so happy we got to know each other a little today, because she has a terrific accent. No, just kidding. I'm really happy we got to know each other a little today because she is a great girl. She is turning 26yrs. in a week, she has an older sister, and she has a BA in zoology- which is so neat! We shared audition stories, and apparently she had auditioned for GSA a few years ago and not gotten in. She only recently began acting professionally- doing children's theatre and supporting herself through it, solely. She is down to earth, interesting, and seems like a good person. We went on a crazed mission to find towels (success!), tuppuware (failed), a re-usable water bottle (failed) and groceries (success!). We also walked around the farmers market and found these delicious gourmet mini cupcakes these 2 friendly women bake, and Pamela bought some for tomorrow. YAY! carrot cake, red velvet, chocolate, plain, tropical (which has bananna and coconut in the batter-mmmm). The women liked us so much that they threw in a box of the giant ones too. *grin*

Tonight I made myself dinner- fish tacos with fajita grilled peppers and onions (chopping it made me CRY and my nose run like crazy!) and fresh tomato. DELICIOUS! I feel a little guilty for not being more sociable and hanging out with other MAs, but I really value my alone time and down time, and I know that I'll be seeing tons of them v. v. soon. Besides, I need to save money!

Off for a cup of tea.

With Love,
Juliana