First Day Of School... Take Two!

Two major differences between living in the U.S and England have really managed to catch my attention the past two days... One, being that just about everyone goes by military time here (24 hour time). So when someone says I will meet you at 15:00 they really mean 3:00pm, not I will meet you in 15 minutes. This has taken a little time to get used too, but thankfully I have not been too embarrassed by any mistakes dealing with time. However I can not say the same for the other big difference I have come to find between the U.S and England.

Here in England, Monday is the official first day of the week, not Sunday like we are used to in the U.S. So when you look at calendars Monday is the first day listed on each week. Unfortunately I found this out the hard way. Sunday night I was preparing for my first day of school by filling my backpack with notebooks (which are also different here...) and pens and anything and everything thing I thought I may need. I took the time to pick out my first day of school outfit, but apparently I should have spent that time looking at my schedule more closely. When I looked at my schedule (or timetable as it is called here) the first day was filled with nothing which I automatically thought was Sunday, and then the next day, which I assumed was Monday like I would on a calendar at home, listed a class starting at 11:00am.

Fast forward to the morning, when I woke up at 10:15 to no alarm, because out of all my preparing, that was the one thing I had forgotten to do! I rushed to get ready, grab breakfast, and headed to the bus stop because I knew there was no time to walk. I ran to the bus stop, and just caught the bus in time. After finding a seat, I realized I forgot my schedule, which meant I had no idea where to go. At the next stop I got off and sprinted home, needless to say, at this point I was a bit of a mess. Again I grabbed what I needed, and left the house in a hurry to again arrive at the bus stop just in time. When I was finally seated on the bus for good, I was feeling better. I would make it to the school just on time, and would hopefully only be a few minutes late after finding my classroom. I also decided to count the large amount of running I had done as my exercise for the day.

As I rushed into the school, I passed a student that seemed to be confident in where they were headed, so I stopped to ask which way I should go, unfortunately I could not understand what they said, but instead headed in the direction he was pointing. After going up and down stairs a few times, and going in a few circles, I found myself outside of the classroom that was listed on my schedule. A very friendly student was waiting outside and asked if I was ok, I responded with a smile and asked if this was the class for the Civil Rights Movement, he looked a little confused but assured me that this was a "Civil something" class, so he was sure this was it. I snuck into the room and found an open seat towards the front of the lecture hall. While I was focusing on entering the classroom unnoticed, I failed to realize that the class was filled with almost all guys. As I sat down and got out a notebook to start taking notes the professor (or leader) was starting to lecture. I started to notice that what she was saying did not sound familiar to me...at all. I looked at the handout that was being passed around and right as I was reading the heading at the top "Civil Construction and Bridges" I heard the professor ask the class if they had there model bridges ready to turn in today. I immediately knew that was not where I was supposed to be. I quickly packed my things and headed for the door, of course being in the front of a lecture hall and leaving abruptly, I caught almost the whole classes attention, but as I rushed out the door, and lost my grip as it slammed very loudly I knew I had just made quite the scene.

My new home away from home

At that point I was very confused and found a place to sit and look at my schedule, It was then that I realized the day of nothing that I thought was Sunday, was Monday. And the class I thought I had on Monday, was in fact on Tuesday. You learn something new everyday right? It all made sense after that. I soon left after realizing I had no reason to be there and found the nearest Cafe to enjoy a much needed cup of tea. That afternoon I met up with some friends for a late lunch, and we all laughed about my first day of school. We all decided that when I am reminded of that day on the last day of school, I will simply just laugh.

After all of that, I went home and prepared for my actual first day of school, which was today! The good thing was I knew what classroom to go to, since I had already visited it. And I can now officially say I have had my real first day of class. And it was great! I ended up meeting another girl from Michigan who attends GVSU. She has been studying here for the past year and was reassuring me about classes and adjusting to the differences in classes. I only had that one class today, and am very much looking forward to the rest of my classes this week.

Window View

Also I have recently uploaded some pictures of the house I am staying in! My host family experience has so far been wonderful! I am definitely glad I chose to stay with a family. I feel as if I have already been able to become more adjusted to British life from things I have learned from the couple I live with, and the bonus being they have an awesome cat!

Front gate

My view from my 3rd floor window...