Life in Leicester

Meet Henry! He's my hoover. He cleans my floor. Rather, he attempts to -- his sniffing power isn't all that strong. But we're working around that.

I've been in this city for over two weeks, though I can't say I've done too much. My first night here was rather terrifying, being dropped off at a residence hall with absolutely no guidance for how to get my keys. Luckily, it was managed as was the finding of my room. 

I'm living in a six-roomed flat, but two of the rooms are vacant. There are three other girls here with me, and they're definitely the best housemates I could ask for. We share a kitchen, sitting area and shower/toilet facilities. Each room has the necessary furniture and a sink. My walls are hideous, but I just try to not look at them. 

It took a while to get settled in, to buy everything I needed to survive. In an attempt to purchase the cheapest items possible, I ended up several miles away from home, miserably failing at figuring out the bus system whilst carrying too many bags and standing in the rain. Luckily, I had a mobile by then and Lee was able to get me a number to order a taxi. So I got home okay in the end, only to receive an email about Tiny being put to sleep. Needless to say, my second day in Leicester did not go so well. 

Since then, things have slightly improved. I'm taking three classes, Modern American Writing (which really isn't modern, but we won't get into that), Medieval Literature and Victorian to Modern Literature 1870-1945. I only have 8 hours of class a week. Each class has a lecture (or two) and one seminar. The lectures are for over 100 people, while the seminars are approximately 10. I hate the lectures. They are delivered by a professor who types up their entire lesson and reads from a paper with powerpoint going in the background. They're supposedly offering historical and cultural information to assist our readings of the text, but I really get nothing out of them. The seminars are much better: they actually discuss the literature. The education here has really made me miss KSU's approach. At Kent, the professors would use the text to provide all the historical and cultural information in an interesting way, and while they had their lectures planned, they didn't read from a print-out. Basically, they weren't mindlessly presenting information out of context: they were actively engaging in the complete study of literature. Gosh, I miss it. One nice thing is that I'm only assessed by one essay at the end of the term. So it's kind of a low-stress semester until I've discovered that I procrastinated and have to write a 10-page essay in a matter of two days. Here's to hoping that won't actually happen. 

Uni aside, I've been having a wonderful time here. I know where to go to buy food. I know how to get to the train station. I know how to use british currency. I can't cook too many types of meals, but that's okay when you have the stomach of a bird. If you're wondering what my views of british foods are so far, I can't say much. I haven't tried anything strange, but I have noticed a few odd things whilst walking through the aisles of the shop. They apparently like rhubarb flavour -- I found rhubarb yoghurt and was a bit put off. The fresh fruit selection isn't quite the same, but I'm still able to get my apples and bananas. That means I'm not getting scurvy, mum. Also, for the record, all peanut butter is inferior to JIF. Thank you, family, for sending me a jar! 

As for exciting things that have occurred, Lee came from Paris to visit for a few days. A band we both like, Blood Red Shoes, played in Leicester so we went to that together. It was a really great gig and we were fortunate enough to push our way up to the front of a mass of people in the bar (this means I could actually see the stage). We also happen to like each other, so we are together. (That would be my way of avoiding sappy stories, hah.) 

But now I must return to planning trips and convincing myself that I should do some work for my classes. And for anyone who hasn't noticed, I have posted a link on the right side of this page entitled "Flickr Photos". I have most of the pictures I've taken in London and at the Blood Red Shoes gig up and that's the page where I'll be putting all of my pictures.