Today, I collected my student ID card (good for discounts on buses, free McFlurries, using university computers, and registering for classes), and completed the last of the paperwork for me to be fully accepted at Exeter. With all this paperwork, it amazes me that some Exeter student described German bureaucracy as "pedantic!" While waiting in the near-endless queue, I met a pair of recent Samford graduates, who are both at Exeter studying International Relations. It turns out that one of them went to high school with my cousin at Vestavia . . . small world! The other is from Knoxville, but is not a Tennessee fan (which was good news in my book).
We also got our cell phones this evening. We got the the Carphone Warehouse just before it closed, which was naturally at 6 pm, just like everything else in town, and had plenty of time to pick out what phones we wanted while we waited in the queue (there's that ever-present theme again). We both got Vodafone Nokia 6300s, which are nice little candy bar phones with a built-in radio (a nice touch for those long waits for buses and trains), with Bluetooth capability, which was a must, since we both have Bluetooth headsets to work with. For a total cost of just under 70 pounds, it wasn’t a bad deal. iPhones, for the record, were free with a new two-year contract (available exclusively at O2). In fact, there were some phones that came with a free laptop. Many of AT&T’s customers who come in and say “Where are your free phones?” would be pleased.
Tomorrow, I’m due to spend most of the day on orientation activities, and, hopefully, get moved into our new apartment on Blackboy Road (to think that someone objected to the name “Penny Lane” as racist!). Hopefully, there won’t be any more delays, as moving around every two days gets very old very fast!
Monday 29 September 2008
Sunday 28 September 2008
Link Weekend
For the last couple of days, we've been at Link Weekend in Birmingham. We had quite a nice time. We got to see a lot of the city, and even got to meet the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. We stayed with a very nice Welsh couple, and enjoyed chatting with them just as much as we did the Rotary events. We also made several new friends who Rotary scholars in the UK, and hopefully we'll get to see some more of them before the year is out.
We also attended a Barn Dance, which was interesting. It was like elementary school gym class square dancing all over again . . . although I like to think that just maybe I've improved a little bit since I was eight. However, compared to the others, I think I'm still just as inept. The buffet on the night of the Barn Dance was interesting; some of the sandwhich options were very unusual, by my standards. That said, I hear it was typically British, so I'd best get used to it!
Now, we're back in Exeter, sort of. We're staying in a hostel on the road to Topsham, which is one of the next towns past Exeter. We're actually closer to Topsham than Exeter, but still technically "in" Exeter. The walk out here took about an hour; it's over three miles! Needless to say, we're catching the bus to get back into town tomorrow morning.
We had dinner at a nice little pub/sports bar called the Hog's Head, which features a pretty cheap two dinners for £5.95 deal. They also have breakfast two for £3.95, which is probably what we'll be doing in the morning. Drinks, of course, are extra. We're looking forward to getting moved into an apartment so we can start cooking our own food (and eat for several days on £5) and not have to spend quite so much cash on eating out all the time!
Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a busy day, but of course that's been a pretty common theme of late!
We also attended a Barn Dance, which was interesting. It was like elementary school gym class square dancing all over again . . . although I like to think that just maybe I've improved a little bit since I was eight. However, compared to the others, I think I'm still just as inept. The buffet on the night of the Barn Dance was interesting; some of the sandwhich options were very unusual, by my standards. That said, I hear it was typically British, so I'd best get used to it!
Now, we're back in Exeter, sort of. We're staying in a hostel on the road to Topsham, which is one of the next towns past Exeter. We're actually closer to Topsham than Exeter, but still technically "in" Exeter. The walk out here took about an hour; it's over three miles! Needless to say, we're catching the bus to get back into town tomorrow morning.
We had dinner at a nice little pub/sports bar called the Hog's Head, which features a pretty cheap two dinners for £5.95 deal. They also have breakfast two for £3.95, which is probably what we'll be doing in the morning. Drinks, of course, are extra. We're looking forward to getting moved into an apartment so we can start cooking our own food (and eat for several days on £5) and not have to spend quite so much cash on eating out all the time!
Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a busy day, but of course that's been a pretty common theme of late!
Friday 26 September 2008
Phones, Banking, and Birmingham
The saga of trying to open a bank account concludes.
To refresh, I tried to open an account at NatWest already, and was told that I needed more documentation (specifically, proof of UK address). Apparently, the British government is terribly concerned about money laundering, and insists on having detailed records of everything related to banking. This is all well and good, until the records go missing, as UK government records have been known to do.
After trying several banks (NatWest, Alliance & Leicester, Abbey’s, Barclays, etc), I finally managed to open an account at Lloyds TSB. It was a mercifully simple process, once they agreed to let me open an account. Meanwhile, Amanda visited every cell phone provider in town (Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, and O2) and collected information about getting cell phones. After we had both completed our tasks for the morning, we had lunch at Bella Italia (mostly because it was on the way back to the train station), and took a train from Exeter Central to Exeter St. Davids (where we had left our bags this morning), and got on the train to head to Birmingham (the one in England, not Alabama, pronounced "bur-ming-um") for Link Weekend.
We don't have our new cell phones yet (I suppose I should be properly British and refer to them as "mobiles," pronounced with a hard "i"), but we plan to get them either in Birmingham this weekend, or at the beginning of next week.
To refresh, I tried to open an account at NatWest already, and was told that I needed more documentation (specifically, proof of UK address). Apparently, the British government is terribly concerned about money laundering, and insists on having detailed records of everything related to banking. This is all well and good, until the records go missing, as UK government records have been known to do.
After trying several banks (NatWest, Alliance & Leicester, Abbey’s, Barclays, etc), I finally managed to open an account at Lloyds TSB. It was a mercifully simple process, once they agreed to let me open an account. Meanwhile, Amanda visited every cell phone provider in town (Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, and O2) and collected information about getting cell phones. After we had both completed our tasks for the morning, we had lunch at Bella Italia (mostly because it was on the way back to the train station), and took a train from Exeter Central to Exeter St. Davids (where we had left our bags this morning), and got on the train to head to Birmingham (the one in England, not Alabama, pronounced "bur-ming-um") for Link Weekend.
We don't have our new cell phones yet (I suppose I should be properly British and refer to them as "mobiles," pronounced with a hard "i"), but we plan to get them either in Birmingham this weekend, or at the beginning of next week.
Thursday 25 September 2008
Catch-22
Today, we looked at apartments and tried to open a bank account. We accomplished one.
Unfortunately, the one was accomplished was looking at apartments. We saw several we liked, but we haven't reached a decision yet. As far as the bank account goes, apparently, there is great concern about money laundering, so we have to be able to prove to the bank where they can find us. At NatWest, they told us that we needed a letter from the University to our UK address, which I requested this afternoon. I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow, and, hopefully, use it as proof of address to open a bank account.
Banking is so much easier to deal with in the US, and even in Germany! Never thought I'd be longing for the ease of dealing with Deutsche Bank . . .
Tonight, we bought our train tickets to Birmingham so we can attend the Rotary Link Weekend. It sounds like it will be great fun. We'll be staying with a couple of local Rotarians, which should be an interesting experience. Also, it will be nice to see several of my friends from orientation again, and make some new friends with the Rotary scholars in my part of the UK.
Unfortunately, the one was accomplished was looking at apartments. We saw several we liked, but we haven't reached a decision yet. As far as the bank account goes, apparently, there is great concern about money laundering, so we have to be able to prove to the bank where they can find us. At NatWest, they told us that we needed a letter from the University to our UK address, which I requested this afternoon. I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow, and, hopefully, use it as proof of address to open a bank account.
Banking is so much easier to deal with in the US, and even in Germany! Never thought I'd be longing for the ease of dealing with Deutsche Bank . . .
Tonight, we bought our train tickets to Birmingham so we can attend the Rotary Link Weekend. It sounds like it will be great fun. We'll be staying with a couple of local Rotarians, which should be an interesting experience. Also, it will be nice to see several of my friends from orientation again, and make some new friends with the Rotary scholars in my part of the UK.
Wednesday 24 September 2008
I've Been to London . . .
It's been a packed last few days!
On Monday, we made it to Atlanta to catch our flight, despite the car breaking down on the way! It was terrible: Amanda's dad had been saying nice things about the car for three solid hours, when it abruptly decided that it wouldn't crank anymore after we stopped at a truck stop outside Atlanta. He finally got it to start after playing with some fuses, and we made it to the airport. At the baggage drop-off point, the car decided that it wouldn't crank again, and required towing to get things fixed. Good news is, we had no problems at security, and managed to make it onto our flight with no problems.
Our flight was uneventful, and reasonably pleasant (a far cry from that horrid flight to Germany back in 2006). After arriving in London (Heathrow), we went through border control, baggage claim, and customs, and then took the Tube into London proper. We deposited our luggage at Waterloo Station, and took our backpacks to our hotel, which was within walking distance of Victoria Station. After checking in, we were well into the afternoon, so we grabbed lunch on the run, and headed off to the Tower of London.
We had to hurry a bit at the Tower of London, but we did manage to see everything. I enjoyed it, although I think there were some parts that Amanda would have prefered to have skipped. I got a lapel pin with the "White Tower" (the big building in the center dating to the Norman Conquest). Afterward, we purchased our railcards so we could use our tickets to Exeter.
After everything else was closed, we made our way to Hard Rock Cafe London, the little restraunt that started it all. We had a great time, and even got to visit the Hard Rock Vault, which is the only place in the world where you are allowed to touch Hard Rock's decorations. It is located in a former bank vault, underneath the Hard Rock London store. After our visit, we called it a night.
The next morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast in our hotel (which included Frosted Flakes . . . I never associated them with being British, but apparently they are!), and proceeded to Buckingham Palace. The tour there was wonderful, and we had a lovely time at the gift shops afterward. (They featured numerous children's items which featured "Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been . . ." on them, hence the title of this post.) We are going to have to go back to visit the Royal Mews, at the very least, and to do some shopping around at the gift shop.
When we finished at Buckingham Palace, we had just enough time to grab lunch at the Brass Monkey before returning to Waterloo Station to collect our luggage and catch our train to Exeter. When we arrived in Exeter, we looked for my host counsellor, who was meeting us at the train station. However, we couldn't find her. After a few minutes of searching, I was able to find a pay phone to call her from, and we discovered the problem: She was at Exeter St. David's (the main station in Exeter), and we were not. She assumed that we were at Exeter Central (which could easily be mistaken for the main station), but we were not. We were at Exeter St. Thomas, which is a little station that is lightly used. It took her about ten minutes to drive across town to collect us and our luggage, which, thankfully, only weighed around 250 lbs (110 kg) spread across eight bags.
Tomorrow, we'll be looking for a place to live, and trying to get a bank account opened up. Hopefully, we won't run into any problems, and we'll be able to get settled into somewhere in short order.
On Monday, we made it to Atlanta to catch our flight, despite the car breaking down on the way! It was terrible: Amanda's dad had been saying nice things about the car for three solid hours, when it abruptly decided that it wouldn't crank anymore after we stopped at a truck stop outside Atlanta. He finally got it to start after playing with some fuses, and we made it to the airport. At the baggage drop-off point, the car decided that it wouldn't crank again, and required towing to get things fixed. Good news is, we had no problems at security, and managed to make it onto our flight with no problems.
Our flight was uneventful, and reasonably pleasant (a far cry from that horrid flight to Germany back in 2006). After arriving in London (Heathrow), we went through border control, baggage claim, and customs, and then took the Tube into London proper. We deposited our luggage at Waterloo Station, and took our backpacks to our hotel, which was within walking distance of Victoria Station. After checking in, we were well into the afternoon, so we grabbed lunch on the run, and headed off to the Tower of London.
We had to hurry a bit at the Tower of London, but we did manage to see everything. I enjoyed it, although I think there were some parts that Amanda would have prefered to have skipped. I got a lapel pin with the "White Tower" (the big building in the center dating to the Norman Conquest). Afterward, we purchased our railcards so we could use our tickets to Exeter.
After everything else was closed, we made our way to Hard Rock Cafe London, the little restraunt that started it all. We had a great time, and even got to visit the Hard Rock Vault, which is the only place in the world where you are allowed to touch Hard Rock's decorations. It is located in a former bank vault, underneath the Hard Rock London store. After our visit, we called it a night.
The next morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast in our hotel (which included Frosted Flakes . . . I never associated them with being British, but apparently they are!), and proceeded to Buckingham Palace. The tour there was wonderful, and we had a lovely time at the gift shops afterward. (They featured numerous children's items which featured "Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been . . ." on them, hence the title of this post.) We are going to have to go back to visit the Royal Mews, at the very least, and to do some shopping around at the gift shop.
When we finished at Buckingham Palace, we had just enough time to grab lunch at the Brass Monkey before returning to Waterloo Station to collect our luggage and catch our train to Exeter. When we arrived in Exeter, we looked for my host counsellor, who was meeting us at the train station. However, we couldn't find her. After a few minutes of searching, I was able to find a pay phone to call her from, and we discovered the problem: She was at Exeter St. David's (the main station in Exeter), and we were not. She assumed that we were at Exeter Central (which could easily be mistaken for the main station), but we were not. We were at Exeter St. Thomas, which is a little station that is lightly used. It took her about ten minutes to drive across town to collect us and our luggage, which, thankfully, only weighed around 250 lbs (110 kg) spread across eight bags.
Tomorrow, we'll be looking for a place to live, and trying to get a bank account opened up. Hopefully, we won't run into any problems, and we'll be able to get settled into somewhere in short order.
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