Tuesday, February 1, 2011

What Pants Should I Wear?

Greetings from Bath!

It is somewhat dreary here today, the temp is playing with a balmy 40 degrees and the sky is spitting raining on and off, but I did witness the sun today for a short few minutes which gives me hope that I will not be completely deprived of my Vitamin D for 4 months.

Anyways, the trek over was long and tiring. I parted with my family at Logan around 7ish on Sunday night and Jenny and I waited to board the plane for about 45 minutes. It was the first time I have ever had to take an escalator down to reach the entrance of the plane...what an experience! The flight was about 6 and a 1/2 hours. We were served a very plane-food-like dinner of lasagna and salad and we were also given a cranberry muffin that looked disgusting for breakfast. Didn't eat the muffin and barely touched the dinner. The flight was the worst part I think. I barely slept, was in and out of sleep, but maybe got 1/2 hour to an hour. Needless to say, I was exhausted when we landed. Jenny also didn't sleep much. I was crammed in between her and some other guy on the plane. I want to know what he took before he got on the plane because he was asleep basically the whole time...which also meant no bathroom breaks. (A word to the wise would be to get an aisle seat for over night flights because then you can go whenever you want!)

After getting off the plane Jenny and I found our luggage, and headed to find the right bus line and train station that we needed. After many failed attempts to get an answer that was useful from someone, we finally bought our bus ticket which dumped us off at Reading Train Station. Here we filled out forms for the railcard and bought our tickets to Bath Spa station. I even got to grab a cup of coffee and a muffin at this point...I was starving!

The train ride was tough because I was sooooooo tired! I just wanted to drift off to sleep and I had a whole two seats to myself, but we were only on the train for an hour and I didn't want to miss our stop...so that meant no sleep.

Finally we got to Bath!!!!!! Never in my life have I been so excited to just arrive where I am supposed to be! We waited for a mini-van there to take us (or me I should say...since I was the only one waiting who needed to get to Nunes House) to our living arrangements. Nunes House is an adorable, old house overlooking the Avon and some rugby fields, beyond there is an uphill climb of clustered city residential buildings. The view is beautiful from our room. But before you get too excited for me you should know that I live in what once was the attic! There are 6 accounted for floors in this building one being the basement and one being the attic. Four flights of stairs later (twice over) with 2 50 pound bags I was ready for bed!

My roommate Sarah was there to greet me. We are living together in a room and my other roommate Katie has her own room. They are both really nice and I think we are going to get along well. Katie loves to cook which is a godsend since we are on our own for meals! And Sarah, Katie, and I all found out that we are neat freaks which is really nice because we know that we all like to keep our space clean! I call that a thumbs up for first impressions!

Here are some pictures of the flat!
The Kitchen

The Breakfast Bar in the Kichen

The bathroom with the akwardly high shower...its like a death trap trying to get out of it because it is slippery and there is basically nothing to hold onto to climb out, unless you want to squat down and grab the handles on the tub?!

This it the dinning room, aka the Awkward Room. Named for the lovely (already using British terms!) combination of a spare bed and a dinning table sharing the same space!

My side of the bedroom...a mess because I was still unpacking!

Sarah's side of the room...not a mess because she hadn't started to unpack!

So there is a taste of where I am living! It is small and quaint and other than the stairs I think I am going to like it. The house is ancient so I am trying to cut it a break with the slanted flooring and the creaky stairs.

Oh, by the way, I should explain the title. Andrew Butterworth (the education and internship director, also the best man known to mankind) reminded us all kindly that when we meet our cooperating teachers on Thursday that we should not ask what kind of pants we should wear because we will get wierd stares. Pants are equivalent to underwear in America, so from now on it's trousers!

Well that is all I have for you all right now...a bit of a novel I must admit. And a boring one at that because who wants to hear about my boring traveling woes?! I will catch up with you all soon!                              

Peace!                                                                                                                                                   

8 comments:

  1. you are too funny...happy all is well and the adventure is underway! if pants are what they are? then what would it be IF you said underpants?

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  2. Heyyy Banana!!! I'm so glad to hear you made it okay and that all is well! The place looks nice and I hope you have a wonderful time over there!!Love, Ash

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  3. p.s. how do i get an account thingy so i don't have to be anonymous on here???? lol

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  4. if you have a google account you can sign in on that....that is what I did since I already had an account on there! And thanks for the warm wishes.

    p.s. I have no idea what underpants would be,but I think that when you talk about underwear they thing you are talking about like thermals or long johns

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  5. like your new digs,was great to see and talk to you! Love Mom, Dad and Chris

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  6. Glad to see your there safe and sound, already starting to get settled. The apartment looks adorable,sounds like its going to be a great time with the new roommates too! Also the bonus of being on the fourth floor? You will never have to schedule time to workout now!

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  7. Wow, the adventure begins, huh? I'm so glad you are there safe...and it sounds like very tired. Get a nap, take more pictures and keep the narrative up so we can follow along. Sending snowy VT-stretchy-bag love! XOXOXO

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  8. This blog is a great read!
    I feel as if I am there with you!

    I have been saving up my comments, here are a few:

    I am thrilled you are seeing new lands, meeting new people, and having exciting adventures! So happy you had the opportunity to travel with Mom, Dad and Chris!

    I was most impressed with your astute observations regarding the boy who has challenges in the classroom. Labels are limiting, and often do a lot of harm to students--and to all of us. I can see you have a keen eye, good judgment, and wise sensitivity--the makings of a great educator! Congrats on the first entire class lesson!

    So glad to you are seeing some of the great sights of Europe, wish I could have given you a tour of the Louvre. It is an amazing place, once the private collection of the crown, there were plans to make it a more public place just before the French Revolution, but this did not come to pass. My favorite Louvre quote is about the magnificence of the collection and the importance of culture to democracies: an aristocrat commented, after the revolution, that if they had only opened the Louvre, they might "have saved the monarchy…"

    And finally, a more mundane-but-essential comment on plane seat arrangements--one of the most important issues for air travel (wish I had warned you)! Aisle for bathroom freedom, window for view and something to lean on when sleeping. I believe in the "law of the air," due to the demands on the body during a flight: if you have to go, just get up and go. Although no one wants to be woken up, pretty much everyone understands these necessary priorities.

    love, Auntie MA

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