Hey guys!

Now that I actually have a few minutes to myself, I decided I'd update this thing.

My first week is over and I've settled into my residence building! I found out when I got here that my building, which is called Millstone, is entirely exchange students, which is great because it makes getting together super easy. My flat itself is very spacious, and my bedroom has a ton of storage (for all the things I didn't bring? haha). Millstone is part of a residence village called Endcliffe, which is actually pretty far from the university campus unfortunately. But from my flat there's a nice view of a pond in the middle of our village, and there's always ducks and bunnies running around outside. There's also a pub in Endcliffe called The Edge which is a 2 min walk from my building, which means we're pretty much always there haha.

The first night we all moved in was rowwwwdy. Practically half the exchange students (there's probably over a hundred of us) piled into one room to drink before we all headed to The Edge. I guess I got too excited, because after dropping my phone like 10 times, the screen finally broke, which cost me 65 pounds :(. I also almost burned down the building trying to make toast - it was literally on fire. One of the American guys nicknamed me "toast". So the toast thing, plus the phone thing.. I'm getting a pretty good reputation for being a mess! Haha.

I got to explore the city of Sheffield a bit this week too, a few of us went down to the city centre to see Leopold Square. The architecture is beautiful!! I also had my first traditional fish and chips with peas :)

I'm learning quickly that in England, every night is a drinking night. There's ALWAYS somewhere to go. Monday's are Leadmill nights, where mix drinks are 90p, and doubles are 1.50 (pounds)! Actually soooo cheap! In Canada, we pay $7 for one drink at a club, not including a tip. You also don't need to tip bartenders in England because their wages are pretty high. So far I haven't even spent that much money on going out, because taxi's are also reasonably priced, and since we can pile 5 of us into one, it ends up being cheaper than the bus.

Wednesday I watched the Chester & Everton football game at The Edge, Thursday I went to Bar One at the uni for karaoke and an international get together, WHERE I FINALLY MET A CANADIAN! He's here for the whole year which explains why I haven't met him yet, and he also goes to McMaster (and we have mutual friends) What are the chances?

Friday was a pretty chill night, one of my Australian friends Kat participated in "Take Me Out" which is like a live dating show. All the girls sat up on stage with a sign where their light would either be on or off, and then a single guy would come on stage with a personal video about themselves, and the girls would put their light on or off for the guy. After that, the host would go around and ask the girls why they liked the guy, which got pretty suggestive - I guess that's British television for you. The one girl said she liked a guy who would be interested in exotic dates like scuba diving, and the host said "oh, so you like to get wet?" hahaha, SO awkward!! Anyway, after that, the host would try and embarrass the guy and see which girls turned their lights off. Then, the guy had to pick from the remaining girls and they get to have a free dinner together. One guy started telling poetry and pulled out his yoyo... It was honestly hilarious.

Saturday was yesterday, and I got to go to my first proper football (soccer) match! It was Sheffield Wednesday - yeah, we're still not sure why they're named after a day of the week - against Brighton. Basically, they suck. They missed so many easy shots that even I could have made, and the game ended 0-0. Sigh :(

Saturday night was SO FUN! We went to The Edge first for fishbowls - which was like 6 shots of alcohol plus a mix, and it took us so long to drink. But it was definitely worth it! After that we all went to PopTarts, which is a pub night at the uni. It's all 90's music that everyone loves dancing to like the Spice Girls. It was probably the best pub night so far, I had a blast :)

Today we went shopping in the city in a shopping centre that's all cobblestone pathways, got coffee at Caffe Nero, and made a nice dinner together. We got some advice from our Italian friend Francesco on how to make proper pasta. We burned the garlic bread, but it was a delicious dinner :)

Okay so skewwwlll... It sucks. Finding my classes was challenging, and trying to navigate a different university's system is really frustrating. They don't really care if you have back to back classes in different faculties, and they give you literally NO time to get from class to class. Because of that, I had to switch a few things around. Dropping/adding classes is frustrating too because you have to do it in person, which I find really inefficient... But oh well! Next week should be easier now that I know where everything is, and my schedule is actually finalized.

Anyway, who cares about school. I started my travel plans finally! Sarah, Carolyn and I booked a huge trip for our spring break around Europe. Manchester - Rome - Brussels - Prague - London - Edinburgh. We're staying in Rome the longest, and we're planning on seeing other parts of Italy while we're there. My heart is realllllly set on Venice. Also, London is kind of just an overnight thing, since we couldn't get a direct flight from Prague to Edinburgh. The official London trip for touristy things is next weekend! Along with all these plans, I also have a trip to Amsterdam planned for the last weekend of February, and a St. Patrick's Day festival trip in Dublin. I'M SO EXCITED.

Anyway that's all for now. Miss you all! I hope Canada isn't too cold <3 (I know that it is)

LOVE U.