Starting to Settle In

This past week I experienced vacation like symptoms such as snapping pictures at every Kodak moment, trying new things, making new friends, and walking aimlessly. Inevitably the next step for a vacation feeling would probably be to pack up and head home. The last few days I've caught myself thinking it's about to end and it will be time to go home but in reality this past week has not been a time to just vacation and leave, rather a time to acclimate and settle in.

I've done just that. I have found my room to be a peaceful place to just sit and relax. I have explored the City Centre multiple times and much more has yet to be discovered. I have my class schedule and have walked around the Chester main campus dozens of times. In order to stay in shape and meet some English lads I am in the process of joining the University's basketball club. Then yesterday I was able to go to church which was a nice piece of home to have. 

Lewis and Clark never made it to Chester did they?

I have met a great deal of new people in the past week. A majority of the international students that came here in the spring are from the U.S. but there are a few Europeans as well. It's fascinating to talk to the Europeans and see how different things are for us. Take education for example, in a majority of Europe you don't pay for education all the way through college nor do you pay for medical coverage. I can hear the roars of some Americans shouting "socialists!" already. Then there's the right to bear arms. Over here all that would mean is the right to have a right arm and a left arm. People become startled when you talk about private ownership of weapons so casually. But that's just the way it is. Everyone becomes so accustomed to what they've grown up with and for the most part accepts their cultural norm. A little extra on European education... of all the men from the U.S. on exchange, not one speaks another language besides English. The Europeans all speak three. I think Rosetta Stone may be calling my name. 

We went bowling the first week

Totally not tourists at all

Transportation in the city is very different than Wichita. You can walk everywhere. For a town of around 80,000, Chester is very compact and full of tons of things to see. The Roman walls and the Cathedral have to be my favorite two things I've seen thus far. To think that the walls could still be standing nearly 2000 years after they were built and that the cathedral was constructed nearly 1000 years ago blows my mind. The Riverside area and its running/walking pathways are a recent discovery on the South side of Chester's City Centre. If you get on facebook you will find a video of me skipping along one of the Riverside pathways on my profile. I probably deserve an Oscar for it. 

Photos from the Riverside area

Marvin, Brian, and me

The morning frost

Just down the path from the iconic filming of us skipping

I do not have classes on Mondays so my first class of the week is on Tuesday. I'm taking a hodgepodge of courses or modules as they're called here. I'm taking Inclusive Practice, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Cognitive Psychology, Renaissance and Reformation History, and an archaeology of history class that I'm unsure of the title. More to come on my studies (the only reason I came here cough*) in a future blog post. 

I leave you with a quote. 

"If they give you ruled paper, write the other way." - Juan Ramon Jimenez