First Things First

I suppose I should start with a little bit about myself.  My name is Chelsea for those of you who don't know me and have somehow stumbled upon my blog.  I'm 22 and I'm about to finish up at the University of New Mexico where I study English Writing and Political Science.  However, I am spending my final semester studying abroad at the University of Leeds in Leeds, UK which is in northern England.  I've been here in Leeds for about one week.

I'm from Artesia, New Mexico a small town in southeastern corner of the state--shout out to all you Artesians reading.  Just four months ago my parents moved from Artesia to Dallas, Texas (which is a whole different story I may write about some day).  I spent the past three months of the summer with my parents in Dallas before coming to England last week.

Obviously, a large part of this blog will be about my European travels, adventures, and days since that is what's going on right now.  I'll post pictures and talk about the different cultures I experience.

I'm living in apartment-style university accommodation here in Leeds.  I have my own room and bathroom, and there are five rooms that share a kitchen.  My four other roommates are great.  I'm living with two Australians, one Bulgarian, and one German (who will all remain unnamed or with aliases for all you Facebook-stalkers out there!).  Anyway, we don't have any Brits living with us, so we're all kind of clueless, and our first order of business is to befriend the Brits so they can tell us all the cool things to do and places to go.  We all were hoping to have at least one Brit living with us, but it's working out okay, because we all get along really great, and it is important for all of us to learn about each others' cultures.  Isn't "world peace" part of the point of studying abroad?

We live in an area called Clarence Dock.  It is on the River Aire on the area before the river separates into the Leeds canal and the Liverpool canal.   It is only a few minutes walk from the City Centre (downtown) where there is world-class shopping, fabulously historic architecture, dozens of cafes, and is buzzing about with loads of different cultures--it is very European (although my German roommate says that it is very "British," not European--shows what I know).  We get to walk through the City Centre on our walk from Clarence Dock to campus.  It is about a 35-minute walk, but it's a nice walk when you get to see all of that.    

Clarence Dock is made up of several different apartment buildings with flats similar to ours.  It seems like mostly international students and freshmen live in university accommodation, and the older students live in private residences.  So, most of the Brits here are about 18, so we all feel old since we are all 21-23!  There is a common area with TVs, a bar, and pool tables in the center of the complex.  We've been there a few nights to watch soccer games or just meet other people.

For the past week, we have been shopping, spending time on campus, learning about each others' cultures, and getting acquainted with our home-away-from home.  More to come later on that.

That's the introduction, and I guess I'll pick up with where I left off next time.