This is a photo from my Wales trip. The Conway Castle was one of our stops as I wrote about in my previous post.

So far, I am making loads of friends here and meeting someone new everyday. We are technically in "Freshers Week"; however, all years are here on campus. I was surprised to learn that they have a whole week of orientation and meetings with tutors before they even attend their first class beginning Monday, September 29. Also, when referring to any university, it's more common here to say "uni." "College" here is "high school" back in the states. That difference took awhile to get used to, but I've worked it out now.

Last evening, my dorm neighbors and I stayed up late talking about all of our differences in slang, which lasted a long time and I'm sure will continue for the next three months. Two words commonly used are "wicked" and "posh" meaning "awesome" and "trendy," respectively. Some accents are especially hard to understand and I have to ask people to repeat themselves, which I feel extremely rude doing and sometimes it takes four or five tries to understand them. It's worth the work though because making a new friend is such a joy--and I believe they like hearing our accents as much as we like to hear theirs.

The uni held a dance and party last night in the campus club. Again, seeing alcohol served on campus and people carrying it out and into their dorm rooms is such a foreign sight. Most of them are responsible with their drinking privileges, but some get very loud and out of hand. Most of my American friends don't drink and it's nice to have that reassurance and security. I'm sure after Freshers Week, things will settle down a bit and more studying and less drinking will be happening. As long as people are being safe though, it doesn't bother me.

Peace.