Week 1 in Derby, England

After the terrible arrival, things here in Derby are starting to look up. Kellie and I were the first to settle-in in Flat 3C at St. Christophers Court. On Friday night, we met our 1st flatmate, Aimee. Aimee is a native of the UK and is sweet and has been extremely helpful. She has made us feel so welcome and doesn't mind being our tour guide around Derby until we learn it ourselves. There 6 rooms in our flat so we were looking forward to meeting the other 3 girls. Saturday night, Aimee, Kellie and I were all chatting my room when we heard a man's voice outside in the hallway. We originally thought that it was someone brother helping them move in because we requested an all-female flat. However, boy were we mistaken. Somehow, Derby mixed up our all-female preference for a mixed flat so we met Gianmarco another fellow international student from Italy. Gianmarco is a very sweet person who loves authentic Italian food and buses. Then, later that night, we hear more manly voices in the hallway and we meet our 5th and 6th flatmate, Reece and Dion. Reece and Dion are both from the UK and are 2nd-year students at Derby. Dion is studying at IUPUI in the Spring! To get to know our flatmates, we asked if they wanted to go to The Standing Order Wetherspoons (Spoons) as the natives call it, for some drinks. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. Everyone here RAVES about Spoons and it's the hottest place to go. We originally thought Spoons was a club. However, Spoons is just the places everyone goes to before they hit the clubs because they have cheap drinks and 2 for 1 pitchers for £12. Spoons is an old bank converted into a pub so it's filled with charming character. After Spoons, we stopped by McDonald's to see if it's really better than the American McDonald's and I can report back that I'm not that impressed but that's just my opinion.

Enjoying our 2 for 1 pitchers at Spoons

The University of Derby is rated #1 in International Experiences so they have constant welcoming events for students but they're a lot different than how an American University would welcome students. Derby hosts all sorts of events through the end of October and some of the notable welcoming events are a "Pints with the President", "Wild Welcome Party", "Foam Party", "Freshers Crazy Jungle Rave", "Derby Fest", "UV Rave", and "Cheese and Wine Welcome". IUPUI would never host a sanctioned wild welcome party at a club or a crazy rave. So, I'm sure this semester will be very different from the states, I'm guessing partying is in the University of Derby's DNA. We'll see if I can hang with them (I probably won't be able to lol).

Yesterday, September 23, Kellie and I attended an international student informational session and we're able to enroll in at the university or "uni" as they call it here. We're required to take 3 modules or courses and they're going to transfer back as 5 credit hours each so we'll be taking 15 credit hours while over here. Yesterday when we were enrolling, something didn't seem right with our schedule and we could only find 2 courses that would work with us. So, we asked around and scheduled a meeting this morning with the American/Canadian Exchange Student Advisor and we worked some things out. The two courses that uni was telling us to take were at the same exact time on Friday which we couldn't do. So, after much deliberation and questions from the advisor, we realized we could be placed in a module that originally someone else at the university told us we couldn't. So now, it looks like our classes will only be on Thursday's and Friday's and once we get our finalized schedule, I'll share it with you.

I feel so much calmer now that I know we're in classes that will transfer over, are of interest to us, and will allow us to travel for 5 days in a row!

We'll be keeping in contact with our advisor this week to see our finalized schedule come through but things are definitely looking up here.

Here are a few things I've learned this week while in Derby.

1.) Everyone has funny accents and no one thinks the American accent is "attractive"

2.) Blisters are inevitable so do yourself a favor and get some "blister plasters" (blister bandaids).

3.) It's 100% acceptable to pass out on the street after a night of drinking, the locals call it "a good time".

4.) Most people stopped called their currency a pound, they call it a quid.

5.) We have a cleaning lady named Joy for our Flat???

6.) The main campus is a 25-minute walk from our flat and Derby Centre is also a 25-minute walk so my flat is in a great location.

7.) Their food here isn't that great.

8.) I walk at least 10,000 steps a day normally averaging around 6 miles.

9.) The bartender at Spoons already knows me... don't tell mom.

10.) Always look right than left when crossing the road.

Tonight, Kellie and I will board a train to go to Manchester Airport to fly to Munich, Germany. Can't wait to share Oktoberfest and our dirndl's with you!!

See you soon.