Recap of what has happened so far...

since i didn't have the ability to access the Internet at Tony and Valerie's house (and i do say that i have to side with Valerie on the whole internet debate that is going on in their house, that it IS and useful thing to have) i keept an account of what i had been up to in the computer as a word file with the thought in mind to postit up on the internet as soon as i had gotten the Ethernet connection in my room. Well i'm now connected so here is what Rob has been up to since he left Edmonton on Dec 31st.
Rob.


I know it has been a few days since i got here and i haven't written in this thing yet, but i haven't really had the opportunity to do so, and most of the people who would be reading this don't even know it exists so its not like your missing out on anything!

Anyways, it is currently 6am in the morning on the 4th of January. I am waiting at Heathrow Airport for my flight to Manchester. I have spent the last few days visiting with my Dad's cousin Valerie and her husband Tony and their two sons Mark and Andrew.

But I'll get to all that later, i will do this thing right and start at the beginning.
I left Edmonton at 1:15pm on the 31st of December. It was the only available flight to England so i had to take it. There was no New Year's eve celebrations for me as i was trying to sleep during my flight so as not to suffer too much from the effects of Jet Lag. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

Dad saw me off at the airport, after a very nice visit with Gran, Joan, and Diethart. (this is an advanced apology to anyone whose name i misspell, it happens, please don't hold it against me, just add a comment with the right spelling please.) I will have to say that at that time i was very nervous, going away for 6+ months to live in another country can be very intimidating. I went through the regular roller-coaster of emotions that one goes through before taking on a huge venture like this. Excitement, stress, nervousness, fear, stress, excitement, the realization that you have less than a week to get organized and you haven't even started a thing, and finally the realization that this trip is real and not just something you have been telling your friends and family to make them jealous!
So by getting on the plane all of those emotions fell away and i have been trying to deal with the fact that i am in another country and that all this is a reality not some elaborate daydream i frequently fall into to escape the monotony of my regular life.
anyways, the flight over, i would have to say, was the best flight i have ever taken. The flight from Edmonton to Toronto was uneventful and not nearly as long as i thought it would be. There was a baby that wouldn't stop crying for the life of it, however i just popped in my earplugs and promptly went to sleep. But was woken up 15 min earlier and couldn't get back to sleep!
Flying over southern Ontario at night (well, 5:30pm) was absolutely amazing! If any of you have seen the poster in my bedroom, the one of the earth at night and all the cities are lit up, it was just like that. Really cool!
When we finally touched down in Toronto, after a 3:45hr flight, i had to hurry my way across terminals to get to the one i needed to be at in order to connect to my next flight.
My flight from Toronto to Heathrow was the best flight. I managed to get three seats to myself (after a little bit of elbow-nudging) for the entire journey. We got to watch Irobot as the in flight movie. Seeing as i haven't seen it and wanted to, it was a much more enjoyable flight. I didn't manage to get too much sleep on the airplane as i had had my 15 min nap on the other one and it was still early evening. So i just lay there, i did a few things to keep myself occupied, i pretended to sleep, i read a few of the books i brought, or i just lay there jealous of the other passengers because they had managed to fall asleep where i had not.
But after about 6hours and 45minutes, i finally touched down at my target country, England. I arrived in Heathrow and had to make my way to Gatwick Airport where Tony had arranged to pick me up and being me back to his place for the next few days.
Of course if anything can go wrong it undoubtedly will! As i arrived in Heathrow, i managed to get into the country, even though i was a bit stressed about whether or not they would let me as i had a return ticket booked for longer that the permitted 6 months, and that because i was doing a university exchange program i would need a visa, even though i was told i wouldn't need one. I am a worry wort aren't i?
when i got to the baggage claim i found that one of my bags wasn't on the carrousel! Good ol' dependable Air Canada had managed to lose one of my bags, the one with all my clothes in it! After a brief discussion with the baggage claim people, they told me to just go to my destination and call them with the address and they will courier it to that address. So on i went with no clothes other than the ones on my back! And to add insult to injury, like i needed more stress than i was already experiencing, i forgot my airplane ticket book (the one to Manchester, and my return ticket to Canada) on the counter of the baggage claim desk! I just left without picking it back up. Of course i didn't realize this until i had arrived at Tony and Valerie's.
I had to make my way through Heathrow to get to the central bus station because I had to catch the speedlink bus from Heathrow to Gatwick, for 17pounds. Not bad by British standards, however for a Canadian that is more than $40! this is going to be a very expensive trip. But I'm going to try to not let the money stand in my way. I am going to keep a level head and not go over board in my spending but i am not going to deny myself anything because it is too expensive.
Anyways back to my recap of the trip thus far. So i had to catch the speed link to Gatwick Airport, and then finally when i arrived at Gatwick i made my way to the arrivals lounge where i met up with Tony. From there he took me to his car and we made our way back to his place. Once we got my bags in his trunk i made to get into the car and went to the wrong side! Classic Canadian mistake. And probably not the last time i will do it too!
The rest of the day was spent recuperating and adjusting to my new surroundings. Mark, who had been out partying the night before, was at home, however he had been out until 7:30am the night before and was sleeping for the majority of my first day there. We did manage to cross paths as i went up to have a nap and he woke up. We said our hello's and then i went to bed and he went about trying to wake up.
The next day was just as blissfully uneventful as the last! I managed to get a full nights sleep, and in the morning my second bag was delivered by courier. I had called Air Canada the night previous and gave them Tony and Valerie's address. The baggage had arrived on a flight that morning and they sent it right over. As well my plane ticket was in the side pocket. They had found the forgotten ticket and sent it along with the suitcase.
Later that day Mark, tony, and I went to Marks and Spencer to return some shirts that i had bought the day prior. Then we went for a nice stroll along the Shore ham coast.
That night was spent watching Rugby and having a nice roast for dinner. A typical Sunday night in the Steel house. Andrew, who had been busy taking care of his sick girlfriend, came up for the night . It was good to see him again.Monday, being a bank holiday, was spent getting getting ready for my trip to London, and then to Manchester. I was busy transferring items between my two suitcases as i was only allowed one piece of luggage on the airline that was taking me to Manchester. So i decided to leave one bag, filled with all my summer gear and other items that i can do without for a few weeks, back at Tony and Valerie's and Tony is going to bring it up with him the next time he makes a voyage up to the area, as he does frequently on business.
I had originally planed to meet up with a friend from school, her name is Joey, in London to spend the day with her on the Monday. However i had forgotten her cell number and was unable to call her and let her know what was going on. I really hate standing people up like that cause it pisses me right off when they do it to me. Sorry Joey, I'll make it up to you somehow, i promise!
Later that night, at about ¼ to 5pm, Mark and I caught a train for London. We made it to his flat with relative ease, though lugging one large suitcase and 2 handbags wasn't exactly easy.We went out for Curry with his other flat mates later that evening and then spent the rest of the evening watching Richard Pryer and his movie Strung Out, or something to that effect.
I finally went to bed around 11pm but didn't fall asleep until about 12:30am and even then the sleep wasn't very good, i remember waking up at 2:30am. I had to get up at 4:30am to catch my taxi to the airport for 5am. The cab ride was actually really smooth (though i did try to drive again by trying to get into the car on the wrong side again. Thats twice now!)
The plane ride was shorter than i had anticipated and i met Mike at the arrivals lounge. He took me back to his home and that is where the story ends for the time being. It is currently 4:45pm and i am just playing around on the computer to pass the time until the Watson's return from a trip into town.
So it has been an eventful last couple of days as well as very uneventful.
I will try to get this log posted as soon as possible when i get the Internet connection in my Room at Lancaster University.
One thing i need to tell myself more so than anyone else, is that this log is meant to be my journal for this trip, not necessarily an e-mail back home. So if i find myself talking to the people back home through this journal i am going to have to stop and take a break and rewrite what i have written. But it is nice to share my experiences/cross-cultural encounter/embarrassing moments (and I'm sure there will be many) with the rest of my friends and family back home.
So until next time, when i have something more exciting to talk about.
Rob, Jan 4th/2005 4:50pm

Jan 6th/2005

Okay, right now i am feeling very unconnected. I have not had Internet access for the better part of a week. though i have managed to check my e-mail a couple times since i got here, i feel as though i haven't been in contact with anyone since i left.
I have gotten fairly settled here in my dorm room. It is quite a lot smaller that i anticipated, but i should have realized that it was going to be a dorm room and that dorm rooms=small/barely livable spaces. Though i don't believe i will be spending huge amounts of time in my room. The college is really nice, but i haven't met anyone from my floor yet. It is just a strange feeling that i am the only one here and that there is no one around. The facilities are nice, though i thought that there was going to be a lounge/t.v. room like the ones in lister hall back home, but there isn't i am situated in a hallway with about 6 doors per side and there is a bathroom and a kitchen connected to the hallways but that is it.
I ordered the bedding pack for when i arrived, but it is the poorest excuse for bed clothes that i have ever seen! The pillow is so flat that i would not be any worse off if i just decided to skip the pillow and sleep directly on the mattress. There is no bed sheet, i thought there was going to be. I have a douvey with cover which is warm enough but that extra layer of comfort would always be nice.
So today was spent going through all of the orientation info that we (the international students) are going to need in order to get established here at the university. Needless to say it was a long day! But i survived. Yesterday they held a welcome dinner for all the students who had arrived on the 5th. It was really nice, though the food wasn't that great. I met a lot of nice people here. Though mostly Americans from the Midwest. It is really strange but there are an abnormal amount of Americans studying here. I only just today finally met a couple of Canadians, all of whom are from York University in Toronto. Anyways i should go and make a list of all the food i am going to go and buy so i don't have to rely on the shops here. As they are majorly expensive.
Later.
Rob.