" Hearts at peace, under an English heaven."

After 10 hours of flying, another hour of waiting to pass through immigration, 2 train rides and much baggage lugging, I finally made it to Sheffield!

My flight was not too bad: the airplane was barely crowded so I was able to lay down across several seats and get a little shut eye. Upon arriving in the UK, there was already snow on the ground, which I was not too thrilled about in light of my many bags. And it was quite cold (35F) and dreary yesterday in both Manchester and Sheffield... why did I leave North Carolina again? Oh well, from what I hear they had snow again in NC and here it was a lovely 41F and sunny today!

I met up with my roommate Claudia yesterday at the airport and we both struggled to haul our bags all over the country. The train ride to Sheffield was spent plotting future British escapades, getting to know one another, staring out into the beautiful snow-covered English countryside (they have so many sheep here!), and chatting with our now good friend Mr. Ken J. Bates.

Even though the weather here is often bleak, the people most certainly are not! Everyone I have met has been simply charming and more than willing to help us with our bags, directions, and advice.

A list of other things that have caught me off (the changing of the) guard:
1) How much Europeans value minimalism
2) Pay-t0-use toilets and the fact that they do not flush like ours do. In fact, they really don't even flush at all
3) How difficult it is to cross the street and the fact that street signs are located near the ground and not on a pole- seems inconvenient to me....
4) No water fountains
5) How cold and dreary the weather can be
6) How EXPENSIVE it is to live here- the exchange is a horrible 1.6 dollars per pound. POUND me!
7) How EARLY it gets dark here. 5:45 and it's already pitch black!
8) Tax is included in the price!

There are others that I'm sure I've forgotten, but, I'll continue with more important updates. Claudia and I are staying at this cute little Bed and Breakfast for our first two nights. I don't have a picture of it yet (forgot this morning) but I'll post one soon. We were served a traditional English breakfast of toast, eggs (sunny side up), bacon, mushrooms and a tomato.

I had orientation today at the university's student union. The student union is very accommodating (plenty to do with bars, a cinema, restaurants, and more all right there!) and a great place to get work done or just hang out. I'm signed up for 3 classes now including Journalism and Political Communication, Ethics: theoretical and practical, and Contemporary movements in Social change.

We also bought phones and toured the city a bit. It is a beautiful place, older buildings mixed with incredible new-architecture. I can't wait to further explore and learn about this city. My goal is to do 3-4 new things each week which may include seeing an art exhibit, visiting a park or museum, or simply learning about the city.

SHEFFIELD