Getting Oriented

So it's been an interesting few days.  I feel as if I've been woefully unprepared for just about all, even though my flatmates tell me I know so much.  Figuring out school has been confusing, but figuring out people has been even more so.

I am an introvert, shockingly so, in fact.  I can spend weeks cooped up in my room, not speaking with anyone, just watching videos and reading.  It's ridiculous but true.  I am inherently shy, then, when it comes to meeting new people.  Even if I have taught myself how to be outgoing in order to get what I need, making friends is a different ballgame.  Kind of similar to the difference between american football and football everywhere else: One is brutal, but padded, while the other is just bare-faced bull.

And of course, like all new environments in the first few days, I have met many people.  I wouldn't hesitate over thirty people, in fact.  All of my flatmates are pretty awesome, and very sweet.  They are the ones I've been hanging out with, mostly, but I have been wary about spending all my time with them.  Probably because of the fiascoes and drama that sprang out of a too-close friendship with roommates last year.  We've been having amazing dinners with our flat and the one below, and whoever else shows up, almost every night.  Last night the ladies from our flat and a couple others went out for a nice sit down dinner to get a feel for how that works in the town, and then afterwards I stayed out probably the latest I've been out yet.

The Union puts on club nights: I am not sure if they are just for Freshers Week or if they do it all the time, yet, but last night was pretty good.  The music was not like the club I have gone to in Tuscaloosa.  It wasn't all hip hop or pop music.  The mix was very diverse, from "That Shit Cray" to "Hey Jude" to "The Cave".  I actually liked it, because it meant that there wasn't that pressure to "drop it low" or any crap like that.  We just stood in our circle of about ten or twelve and jumped around and sang and goofed off.  And while we were out until 2 in the morning, it felt good to do that sort of thing with people who aren't trying to impress one another or trying to shimmy-shake you into their boudoir.  We just teased and joked with one another.  It was great.

I will say, though, that I wish the international office had been able to prepare me for all the Europeans that are here.  Us Americans were joking about how we hadn't even spoken to a British person in the four days we'd been here, because our flats are all Erasmus students (Erasmus is a European exchange program) and all there Erasmus friends.  Which has been cool, because I can now say I have met two Finnish guys, quite a few Spaniards, many a German, some Frenchies and a lovely assortment of people from other mainland European countries.

At the moment I am resting and trying to decide if I want to write out my class list for tomorrow, tonight or tomorrow morning, so I can register.  It has been a long and confusing road to figuring everything out, but having other American students in the same boat is great.

A small portion of our dinner group.