Kingston, Keane, and the K3

Today was orientation, which I was so excited about since it meant I would meet some other students and hopefully learn my way around the campus (which is about a 30 minute walk from where I am living). The university is smack in the middle of the city—which I had decided to describe as a miniature London. It has everything you can possibly imagine, including all the charm and history a European city. I didn’t have a whole lot of time for photos, unfortunately, since we were on a fast-paced walking tour, but there will be pictures soon! I wish I could bring you all here, though, because a photograph will never do it justice. The town borders the River Thames, which thrills me, because anywhere with water feels a little bit like home. I love it here.

I met so many wonderful people, I could scarcely begin to tell you about all of them. But a good group of us—several of whom Karee had met at the airport upon her arrival—stuck together for most of the day, and then got dinner together at a nearby pub (which I enjoyed because they were playing Keane when we arrived) before going to The Slug and Lettuce (also a pub) for a free drink with the orientation staff. I, of course, drank the pitcher of Pepsi, which I had almost entirely to myself.

Before we could enjoy the food and drinks, though, we had to sit through several grueling hours of information sessions, leaving our brains mushy and our eyelids heavy. I nearly fell asleep during one of the sessions, but managed to wake back up before the following one—and a good thing too, because we covered SO many things that are so important. There is so much to do and to think about. It really is overwhelming. It’s hard too, because you have to go to different places around “campus” to accomplish different tasks—but the campus is spread across the whole city. They took us on a tour today, but I couldn’t tell you where anything is, because I was merely following the crowd! I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually, but to help myself out, I am venturing there tomorrow after lunch. I’m sure you will see some good photos from my walk tomorrow.

On a side note, apparently the bus system is a bit more confusing that it seems, or perhaps I just totally missed something. But Karee and I got on the K3 which, as far as I could tell, stopped at Long Ditton, which was about a block away from our street. Karee and I were both aware when we were getting closer, recognizing areas we had been before. And then…all of a sudden…we didn’t recognize anything anymore, and had no idea where we were. She asked the man sitting behind us whether or not the bus stopped at Ditton, and he said, in an American accent, that he did not know. We got excited that he was American, and talked to him briefly; he had only been in town for a short time but will be living here for the next three-and-a-half years. He was very impressed that we were studying abroad and wished us luck! Encouraged, we got off the bus that had obviously taken us too far, and waited for the same bus going back the other direction. We asked the driver to stop at Ditton, which he kindly did, and we arrived home safely…although quite cold.

An adventure is not an adventure if you don’t get lost or confused at least once! That’s my motto.

Love,
lvp