So, to continue my story of my journey a bit:
On Friday morning, at 9am, my advisor, Steve Maggs, was kind enough to pick me up and take me to campus, where I was able to get my desk sorted (for now), and apply for a bank account on campus. Steve was having some issues with his car, so his wife and daughter ended up picking us up Friday afternoon. His daughter is 7 years old, with the cutest little British accent of course. At school on Friday, they apparently named a pet spider Steve. But his name wasn't just Steve, it was Steve the Persevering Spider. What does Steve the Spider do, you may ask? He perseveres. It was probably the coolest thing I've heard since I've been here.
I also was able to grab a couple of pints on Friday at lunch and in the evening with all sorts of university people, whose names I need to work on remembering, but it was quite entertaining. I learned about a pub game called "Spoof." This is where everyone has a choice of 0-3 coins they may choose, held secretly in their hand. Depending on the number of people playing (i.e. 6) there is a maximum number of coins that may be in everyone's hand collectively. The goal of the game is the exactly guess the number of coins in everyone's hands (collectively) in a round. If you do, then you are safe. The last person remaining must buy everyone a round of beer. Quite an expensive loss, so I decided not to participate until I get my first paycheck.
I found a Methodist church this morning as well, and enjoyed a nice little communion service. I remembered to take my camera, so please enjoy some pictures of the area where I am living.
More to come soon!
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| The closest grocery store. Apparently, it's very posh. |
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| Going into Talisman Square from Waitroise, headed towards my flat |
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| One side of the square. The entrance to my flat is just past the Clarks shoe store. |
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| Other side of the square, they are going to add more shops, it seems. |
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| The view from my flat, I can see the back of the grocery store! |
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| Additional view from my flat. |
There's an episode of The Office (the American version) where they are in a bar trying to figure out who has a coin. They all slam their hands down on the table at once, and the person guessing has to figure out where they heard the coin hit the table. Is it kinda like that? If not, how do you figure out how many coins they have? Just curious. Sounds fun.
ReplyDeleteKenilworth looks quaint, just like a lovely little English town should!
Everyone reveals their coins after each person guesses and if you guessed the total, you are out (and safe from having to buy the round). It has to be exact though. If no one guesses the exact number, they start over. So, say there are 6 people, then the max number of coins possible is 18. Everyone picks a number between 0-18, no one can pick the same number as someone else. Then everyone reveals their coins and they are counted. Kinda cool. :)
ReplyDeleteVery fun! Did you get any pictures of the church?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found a church nearby. The more people you can meet, the sooner you'll find your bestest UK buddies =) Good luck getting everything sorted out. I know you'll feel infinitely better after you get your first pay check =) <3
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