January 8th - Joining the Community

Yesterday, I had my International orientation. I met a girl from Germany and another girl from Italy, but I was too shy to really talk to them properly, so I had another night of eating peanut butter sandwiches alone in my room while skyping with friends from back home. I'm not going to lie, the past week had been pretty rough. As I told my one friend, I've been in a very large and loyal friend group since I was 14. It's weird starting from the bottom again.

When I was a freshman in college, I had my core group of friends in my year and it was awesome. However, the people who really showed us around and taught us what Wooster was all about was a group of seniors who lived in a place called Reed House. They all "adopted" us and really helped us through that difficult transition period of our lives. My friends and I often discuss how lost we'd be without Reed House.

Luckily from me, one of the graduates from Reed House, Katie K., happens to be in the masters program at York this year! She and I met up in the city and she showed me the ropes. I officially love the city of York. All of the shops are cute, there's a DELICIOUS pasty place where you can get one of my favorite foods ever for a pound, there's history everywhere, and it's a nice manageable size. It's essentially an "Ellen-sized London." I was really grateful that she was there to show me around, or else I probably never would have left my dorm.

However, when I was coming back, I got off at a weird stop and got lost for a bit before I found the shuttle to take me to the stop that I had wanted. On that shuttle, I ran into the two girls from orientation. I found out that the girl from Italy is going to be in one of my classes and I THINK the seminar group that goes with it, so I'll actually know somebody in there! 

While in town, I bought a pot and a pan, so I can finally cook! While I was doing some reading for one of my classes, there was a knock at my door. A few girls in my house introduced themselves to me and invited me to go down to the kitchen to cook and eat with them. I happily joined them and was relieved that I'd finally met the girls on my floor. Everybody in the house seems really nice, and I can definitely see myself becoming friends with them.

We had a bit of a funny conversation at dinner, though. I was asked where I was from, and I said, "Ohio. Right where they're having that big freeze right now. Coldest it's been in 20 years." They asked me how cold, and I said that it was -10. The one boy nodded and asked how hot it gets in the summer. I told him 90, and he looked confused for a second before saying, "Oh. You use Fahrenheit, right?" I'm like "oh yeah!" So we used an app to calculate the Celsius version of Ohio's weather to better illustrate just how cold it is right now.

I must get back to this reading...I didn't know about the website where it's posted until yesterday and have quite a bit to do for class...but to quote Annie, "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

                                Cafe Nero is the UK's version of Starbucks. Much better!!!

                          My delicious pasty. I think I got the steak and potato one. It was perfect. 

                                                                Oh, you know. York.