So yes, Norwich is excellent. I was honestly just so excited to leave London that any change would have been nice, but Norwich is absolutely adorable. We're talking cobblestone streets, winding backroads with corner pubs, a meandering river with arched bridges, Tudor-style buildings, and did I mention the castle in the middle of the city? (Really. It's just a giant stone cube as far as I can tell right now, but we're touring it later), green fields everywhere, sheep in said fields... It's everything that I hoped that England would be. I don't know nearly as much about Norwich as I do about London, so don't worry, but I can give you a really broad overview: before the Industrial Revolution, Norwich was one of the four largest cities in England. It was a very important center for the medieval wool trade, both because there were a lot of sheep here and because of its proximity to Amsterdam. Norwich is in Norfolk, which is in the eastern part of the country, and it was/is mostly wetlands. The wetlands were drained some years ago and became very rich agricultural ground, called the Fens. I'll be learning much more about this later - be excited. Today, apparently, Norfolk is kind of like West Virginia to the English. It's not so far north as to be considered completely redneck, but national lore says that people here are all inbred and so have webbed feet. I haven't seen any of this, but then again everyone has been wearing shoes. I've been waiting for a nice day to go into the city to take pictures, but there hasn't really been one of those yet. It rains all of the time! And supposedly this is the driest county in England. Awesome.
The University of East Anglia is built on the outskirts of town, so we have to take a bus to get into Norwich. The school (and you can't call it a college, because that means something different here. Teenagers have the option of going to a "college" during their last two years of high school in order to better prepare for their A-level exams. A-levels, as far as I understand them, are kind of like NEWTS. You have to have certain grades on your A-levels in order to be accepted to study that subject at a university. Once you pick your subject, you stay with it forever becuase your entire time at university is based on that subject. No such thing as a liberal arts education over here. My flatmate wanted to do literature, for instance, but her best A-level grades were in psychology, so that's what she's doing. I think that it sounds awful.) was built around the 1960s, so the buildings are all actually really ugly. I mean, really, really ugly. Absolutely nothing like quaint, medieval Oxford. Thankfully, the land is beautiful. There's a river right behind my dorm with more weeping willows than I ever imagined in one place, and sheep and horses grazing just on the other side. I've been going for lots of runs by said river and by the lake near the academic buildings, which is good, because I've also been eating lots of chocolate. Cadbury's is so much better over here!
Anyway, I live in University Village, which is the freshers living area on the outskirts of campus. We live in flats - I think that there are 26 in my building. My flat has six people in it, but for the first few days it was just international students. So basically, it was Dickinson people and a few Australians. And the crazy Italian kid in the flat across from mine. Can't forget him. We each have our own rooms with a teeny, tiny bathroom attached. The shower is literally 2 feet by 2 feet, and it's just a drain in the floor. They're affectionately known as "shoilets" because you could in fact use the toilet, wash your hair, and brush your teeth at the same time.
So yes, it's tiny, but it's really nice to have my own space again. The one downside is that my window faces the courtyard, so I can hear all of the drunken conversations that happen below my window. Last night there were several Dickinsonians gossiping about other Dickinsonians,and one night I was woken up at three o'clock in the morning by someone playing guitar and singing "Little Lion Man" at obscene volumes. I was so confused that I thought it was Kyle, and had literally thrown on my coat and run half way down the hall before I realized that it was three a.m. in England and it would be a physical impossibility for him to be outside. 
I really enjoyed having our first few days here without the freshers, because it allowed all of us international students to get to know each other a little bit first. I have an Australian flatmate, Laura, who is the coolest person ever. She spent the last three months traveling everywhere that you could imagine in Europe. So jealous. We would all head to the pub on campus at night, where they had international trivia, karaoke nights, and other fun/cheesy icebreakers. It was all very low pressure, and I met some really awesome people.
It was a bit overwhelming at first when our British flatmates moved in, but we've been having a really good time since then. We all get along really well, and it's been fun. We've been sharing various cultural elements (my great contribution has been A Very Potter Musical. Yay, America!) and trying out different accents and foods. I made Amy and Becca American pancakes one night, and I think that they fell in love. They've promised me an English breakfast in return. I've also gotten close to some Dickinson people whom I didn't know as well before, so it's been really great. I feel like I'm overusing that word. Too bad, 'tis the truth! The only downside of living with freshers is that they have almost no work to do--their first year at uni doesn't count toward their GPAs. Why? I don't know. But they only go to uni for three years, and all that they have to do their first year is pass, which, by the way, is a 40 percent. This seems incredibly silly to me, because they have absolutely no incentive to do work. So I'm over here writing a 12-page paper comparing commercial theatre in London and New York, and reading tomes of Romantic poetry for class, and my flatmates are going out every single night. Grrr. Ah well.
So the past two weeks have really involved getting back into the business of living, figuring out how to budget my own food (SO SICK of chicken. Oh my gosh. I got frozen shrimp today--big step), going to class and getting back into academic mode, meeting people, and joining societies, and all of that good stuff. I've joined the crew team on a whim, so I'll let you know how that turns out! Professor Qualls had all of us over for dinner our first night here, so we got to meet his family and have delicious food. After dinner, there was a miniature flea market to help us set up our flats--we each got to choose bedding, and then there was a lottery system to get cooking utinsels, lamps, and whatever else people have left over the years. I think it was great that he did that, although Jess, David, and I got some really weird looks walking back to campus hoisting comforters under our arms (or, for David, Superman style) and weilding frying pans. I got similar looks the first time that I spoke in my Condition of England Novel class (great class)--my instructor was apparently so stunned by my American accent that he literally stared at me for thirty seconds and then just moved on. Good start! But my flatmate assures me that people here think American accents are sexy, so I'll take his word for it (note: I don't think that this is why my lecturer was staring). I love this country!
Professor Qualls also took us to a football game in Norwich, which was hysterical. Norwich's club is nicknamed the Canaries, sure to strike fear into the hearts of all, but we beat Leicester City 4-3. It was actually a really good game, and I loved listening to the fans. I couldn't understand a thing that they were screaming, but one was to the tune of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." Oh, football hooligans.
I've also been to my first nightclub, which was...an adventure. I couldn't hear for the entire next day, but it was fun. My entire floor went and danced all night long, and I had a really good time. Apparently, the club that we went to is full of "chavs," however. I'm still unclear as to what a chav is, but I think that it's a guy who thinks that he's really cool but isn't. So basically a middle school boy, or a lot of frat bros. Regardless, I enjoyed myself, but I'm pretty sure that this is the reason that I'm sick now. Ah well.
My goals for Norwich have been a) to stay upbeat and positive, and not to worry about the little things, b) to try as many new things as I possibly can, and 3)to get better at meeting people and being more social, and so far all things seem to be going well! I've just been trying to take advantage of things as they come, whether I wanted them to or not, because I have literally been working for years for this opportunity. For instance, Laura, Amy (another flatmate), Jesse, and I booked tickets to Dublin spontaneously because Ryanair was offering roundtrip flights for fourteen pounds. Does it get better than this? I don't think so.
Tomorrow we're going on a hike along the Norfolk coast with the Dickinson group. I'm so excited, so hopefully I'll be feeling better. We're going to see the beach where the end of Shakespeare in Love was filmed, and, more importantly, I get to hike along the British coast! Phase one of Frolicking Through the English Countryside is a go. So yes, I'm having an absolutely amazing time, but I miss all of you and think of you often! Much love!
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