The Flat Hunt Begins....

Today was the first day of the massive flat hunt. Ithaca doesn't provide the students with housing here, part of the "orientation" process is to have us group ourselves together in a way that we hope is going to work out, and then go to suggested flats. It sounds a lot more overwhelming then it really is because once you figure out who you want to be with, there's a sense of camaraderie in the whole shebang. I'm going to be living with Jen, Mike, Brian, Andrew, and Jamie - a good cross section of humanities and sciences and parkies. Jen and I have decided that no matter what flat we end up getting we girls get a bedroom without dispute. The boys can duke it out for who has to sleep in the lounge if need be :)

We saw a really nice place today that was a good price, but it was almost too nice. It would have been perfect for a couple starting a family in a really safe, quiet neighborhood but for six college students it wasn't really going to work out. I don't think we would have worked out for the landlord either, even though she seemed really bent on having us sign a lease. Tomorrow we are seeing three more places, and hopefully we will find the right one.

We walked through Hyde Park today when we were going to the first flat, and it was really nice because there were lots of dogs without leashes but they weren't going crazy or anything. They were just hanging out. British dogs are clearly better behaved than American ones. When we finished with the flat we hiked back and had dinner at a little Italian place. It was pretty good, and now I am ready to pass out. I am in a serious time-warp.

Also, for those of you who I did provide a phone number, to call me you must first dial 01144, and then the number. I also think that you can text, and just put the same numbers before the actual phone number. International communication is not as easy as I expected it to be at all! You all should have seen us sitting on the floor of the London Center fiddling with our phones. Oh boy.

Tonight when my flatmates and I were walking home from dinner we were in a really nice residential area, and we realized that we were the only people making noise. Everyone else was completely silent. Crazy. I guess Americans really are loud. Ok time to pass out. Keep leaving comments! :)