Welcome to Harlaxton!

Today is my third day at Harlaxton and I am finally unpacked and getting moved into my new life here in England.  I am glad I am done with long plane rides for a while, I left from Minneapolis to Detroit where a boy a couple years older than I was sat in front of me from London.  We had a three hour layover in Detroit so we got some food and he gave me lots of advice, which was very helpful.  Then we left Detroit and headed towards London Heathrow.  They took pretty good care of us on the flight including a warm meal, complimentary wine and beer, and a decent breakfast in the morning.


After arriving at Heathrow I had a very interesting time trying to get my suitcases (48 and 52 pounds) plus my backpack and carry-on bag throughout the airport to a different terminal.  My luggage weighed more than me - the good news was that the luggage cars (trolleys) were free.  The bad news was that we had to get on a train to get to the next terminal and the trolleys were not on a train.  But I ended up getting all of my luggage to the meeting point where some teachers met us and there was a bus waiting.  The bus ride took a little over two hours to get to the manor, but I was sitting in the front row so I had a pretty good view to take it all in.  Overall I only got about four hours of sleep when we arrived at the manor about 12:00 PM England time.

First view of the manor from the bus

My bed on the far right

Words can not express how beautiful the manor is that I am lucky enough to be living in.  It's hard to remember when I am sitting in a dorm room, but just a look outside reminds me that I am living in such a magnificent castle - not many people can say that.  We had our first British Studies class where I met my discussion teacher and they served us some wine.  The last few days have just been filled with orientation session and various administrative stuff.  The manor is so huge we are still getting lost and continue to find secret pathways every day.  I live on the fifth floor of the manor with three other girls.  One of them is from UWEC with me and the other two go to Indiana- Evansville.  We have a rather large room with two single beds and one bunk bed.  Mine is the single bed in the far corner.  We also have four desks and a bay window that looks over the courtyard in the back of the manor.  They are currently doing construction out there, but it is still gorgeous!

Yesterday was probably the busiest day I have had here so far.  In the morning we had a rather long orientation session and then we took a shuttle into the town of Grantham.  The shopping area is about 4.5 miles away from the manor.  We had a very interesting time trying to find the items we were looking far (this is when I miss my Target store).  Finally we found the Asda store which is very similar to Walmart in the US.  We got some snacky foods, school supplies, shampoo, and I got a set of drawers for some of my clothes because our closets don't have any.  I was a long trip with lots of walking and I was definitely worn out.  Then at night we had a high top dinner where all the faculty were introduced and we had the best food since we've been here - way better than the refectory food (our cafeteria).  Afterward I was so tired so I stayed in my room, unpacked some more and finally put up all of my pictures.  A lot of the students went into Grantham to see what the pub/club scene was like, but I am sure I will have plenty of time to experience all that Grantham has to offer.  I was so tired last night I easily slept through my roommates coming home late and my alarm at 11:00 AM.  Candace and Danielle came to my room at noon to finally wake me up - but it was a needed sleep and maybe now I am close to getting over this jet lag.

Today we took our student ID pictures, but we pretty much have the whole day free to get ready for tomorrow.  Also, my roommates from Eau Claire will be very proud to hear that I joined the Harlaxton College volleyball team.  Not sure yet what that really means, but I believe we will be playing other schools in the area - should be fun :)

School starts tomorrow at 8:30 AM.  I have three classes on Monday and only two the rest of the days.  We leave for London on Friday and I am so excited to start traveling and seeing what Europe has to offer.  So far everything else is going well and I am excited for the rest of the semester!  I will probably update this sometime next week after my trip to London.  I miss everyone sooooo much! Love you all!