Location where Harry Potter was filmed
Actual scene from the movie!!!
The first picture of all of the flatmates!!!
Emily, Dan, and Lauren at the beach partyyy
This is how people dress for a rave. Boys too.
Gorgeous picture of Alnwick CastleSept 22-Sept 28
So I'm a little slow right now (about three weeks slow actually).
Where to begin?
I guess I can start with my dorm and roommates! I got so lucky because I love all of my roommates and even though we are so different, we get along so well! Emily and Toni live on my side of the flat. Emily is a really fun, hip, blonde girl from London...and Toni is more reserved but hilarious girl from Leeds. Then on the other side of the flat is Lauren, one of my good friends from Loyola, Jessica, from Sheffield who is probably THE sweetest girl I know, and Clare, a super artsy and stylish girl from Nottingham. We hang out and watch movies and cuddle and talk all the time. And we go out to the clubs together. Lauren and I have introduced some American games to Newcastle as well.
So Newcastle has "Fresher's Week" which is a big welcome week planned for all the first year students. They also have "Freshers Crew" who are "orientation leaders"- though they are often crazily, drunkenly orienting us while wearing outrageous costumes. We all bought freshers braclets at the beginning of the week which let us participate in fun activities during the day and get in free to some concerts and clubs and pubs at night. For our activities, we signed up for pole dancing and cocktail making!! haha. Pole dancing was so fun- we all made fools of ourselves and our arms were pretty sore the next day! Cocktail making was great too- they brought us to one of the best nightspots (called Vodka Revolution) and taught us how to make (and let us sample) about 20 drinks. I'm a big mojito lover and I got to see how one was made!!!
Overall the activities were great because we got to meet so many new people (many who I haven't run into again, but some who I'm friends with now). At night there were pub crawls (led by the freshers crew) and different theme nights at the clubs in the city. One thing about England is that just about everything involves a costume, and guys have no issues with dressing in stockings or tutus or other ridiculous things. Sunday night was held in the Student Union, which has 5 bars and a dance floor in the basement. Monday we went to a club called Digital which is ranked as one of the best clubs in the UK and the WORLD. It was crazy big and had great music, but I found that it was too crowded and chaotic. Tuesday was "pandamonium"...we were all supposed to wear these t-shirts and go to the student union, but we decided to take the night off and relax with the flatmates. Wednesday was a beach party at Blu Bamboo...a club who dumped 8 tons of sand onto their dancefloor. Thursday was the big hoorah- a rave at Tiger Tiger and Sam Jacks....we wrote on our shirts and our faces in neon pain and glowed throughout the night. Sam Jacks is my favorite nightspot thusfar...Its more relaxed than some of the other venues, there is no cover to get in, the music is good, and they have great dancers that do routines up on stage.
Freshers Week was definitely different than anything I've experienced at Loyola and I loved it! We got to know the school, the city, and the people we will become friends with over the next few months!
ALSO- that weekend we went to Alnwick Castle where part of the Harry Potter movie was filmed!!! It was so beautiful driving up to it....and once we were inside I could immediately recognize certain places from the movie (I'm such a dork). The part where Harry and his class learn to fly out on the grass was filmed just inside. The castle also had gorgeous gardens with a large fountain in the middle and a gated off section of poisonous plants (which we took a tour of).
Now I know SOMEONE must be thinking (mom? dad?) what about academics? I think my dad jokingly accused me of escaping to europe and taking online courses through the University of Phoenix! I SWEAR I go to class- though classes didn't start until September 29th. More on that stuff later.
xx
So I'm a little slow right now (about three weeks slow actually).
Where to begin?
I guess I can start with my dorm and roommates! I got so lucky because I love all of my roommates and even though we are so different, we get along so well! Emily and Toni live on my side of the flat. Emily is a really fun, hip, blonde girl from London...and Toni is more reserved but hilarious girl from Leeds. Then on the other side of the flat is Lauren, one of my good friends from Loyola, Jessica, from Sheffield who is probably THE sweetest girl I know, and Clare, a super artsy and stylish girl from Nottingham. We hang out and watch movies and cuddle and talk all the time. And we go out to the clubs together. Lauren and I have introduced some American games to Newcastle as well.
So Newcastle has "Fresher's Week" which is a big welcome week planned for all the first year students. They also have "Freshers Crew" who are "orientation leaders"- though they are often crazily, drunkenly orienting us while wearing outrageous costumes. We all bought freshers braclets at the beginning of the week which let us participate in fun activities during the day and get in free to some concerts and clubs and pubs at night. For our activities, we signed up for pole dancing and cocktail making!! haha. Pole dancing was so fun- we all made fools of ourselves and our arms were pretty sore the next day! Cocktail making was great too- they brought us to one of the best nightspots (called Vodka Revolution) and taught us how to make (and let us sample) about 20 drinks. I'm a big mojito lover and I got to see how one was made!!!
Overall the activities were great because we got to meet so many new people (many who I haven't run into again, but some who I'm friends with now). At night there were pub crawls (led by the freshers crew) and different theme nights at the clubs in the city. One thing about England is that just about everything involves a costume, and guys have no issues with dressing in stockings or tutus or other ridiculous things. Sunday night was held in the Student Union, which has 5 bars and a dance floor in the basement. Monday we went to a club called Digital which is ranked as one of the best clubs in the UK and the WORLD. It was crazy big and had great music, but I found that it was too crowded and chaotic. Tuesday was "pandamonium"...we were all supposed to wear these t-shirts and go to the student union, but we decided to take the night off and relax with the flatmates. Wednesday was a beach party at Blu Bamboo...a club who dumped 8 tons of sand onto their dancefloor. Thursday was the big hoorah- a rave at Tiger Tiger and Sam Jacks....we wrote on our shirts and our faces in neon pain and glowed throughout the night. Sam Jacks is my favorite nightspot thusfar...Its more relaxed than some of the other venues, there is no cover to get in, the music is good, and they have great dancers that do routines up on stage.
Freshers Week was definitely different than anything I've experienced at Loyola and I loved it! We got to know the school, the city, and the people we will become friends with over the next few months!
ALSO- that weekend we went to Alnwick Castle where part of the Harry Potter movie was filmed!!! It was so beautiful driving up to it....and once we were inside I could immediately recognize certain places from the movie (I'm such a dork). The part where Harry and his class learn to fly out on the grass was filmed just inside. The castle also had gorgeous gardens with a large fountain in the middle and a gated off section of poisonous plants (which we took a tour of).
Now I know SOMEONE must be thinking (mom? dad?) what about academics? I think my dad jokingly accused me of escaping to europe and taking online courses through the University of Phoenix! I SWEAR I go to class- though classes didn't start until September 29th. More on that stuff later.
xx
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