Settling in

Hi!
I hope you enjoyed the pictures from the last post.
Now I'll get into a little more detail about actually moving into the school and settling in.
So as I told you, at the time of my writing of the last post, I hadn't done too much besides move in to my room and go to one of the bars on campus (East Slope Bar) with two of my floormates. However, since then a lot has happened... mostly socializing... so I have a bit more to fill you in on.
The school had a "free shop" set up on welcome weekend for students to pick through what last years students left. And lo and behold, I realized that the only silverware I brought were two spoons and a knife. So, needless to say, I picked up some more silverware. I also found a cheese grater, a peeler, and a book (Emma by Austen). It was nice not having to spend the little cash I have to buy these kitchen essentials. Which brings me to my current frustration- my current lack of money. The loan company sent my check to the school and told me that the school is supposed to take out tuition and rent money, and then give me the rest of my loan (which I will then have to deposit in a bank, yadda yadda yadda). Which is fine. Actually, more than fine. It makes my life easier. Anyway, I've emailed the financial office to see how the loan money is going, because paying tuition and accommodation fees is part of what I have to do before I am completely registered. But I haven't heard anything back yet, so I am unregistered and don't have my loan money for things like food. I don't need a lot of money at the moment and I'm not in trouble for being unregistered (yet), but its still frustrating and I'm hoping it'll be cleared up soon.
Now for some more exciting and interesting news! Sunday night, the International Office hosted a "Home from Home International Night", where the international students could go and find other students from their home country. I've met a few Americans through that and even spent some time with them last night while out on another International Office sponsored event. I also met a girl from Bulgaria who I spent time with last night as well. They are all undergrads and most of them are only here for a semester or year on an exchange program. The ones who are here on exchange have been in Sussex since the beginning of September and they told me about ASSDA, which I guess is the WalMart of England. I think they said its even owned by WalMart. And I think this is FANTASTIC because I'm poor haha.
Yesterday was a pretty cool day. We had the Freshers Fair, which is where all the clubs and societies are out trying to get you to sign up with them. I doubt I'll have much time, but there was a lot of free stuff and a few clubs that I'm pretty excited about (the Film Society watches movies on Tuesday.... their first movie screening is Momento... it pretty much speaks for itself. Awesome.) I got a free day pass for the buses, won a free week pass for the buses, and got a lot of pizza coupons haha. I also signed up for the local libraries and received my library card. So besides just being fun, I got some cool free stuff and was able to get stuff done without having to take a bus into Brighton. I also did my first load of laundry yesterday (thrilling, right?) And omg, its SO expensive to do laundry here. 3 pounds to wash and 1 to dry. I'm sorry, but 4 pounds for one load of laundry is helllllla money.
Last night, the International Office put on a Pub Crawl. Like I already mentioned, I met up with the Bulgarian girl and the Americans. I met a lot more international students there as well, from all over the world- France, Japan, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Slovakia... Its been really awesome meeting all of these people from different places. Its an experience I think everyone should have. The actual pubs were fun too. Even though we really only went to one pub... the other three were bars. But I enjoyed them all. We went to the King and Queen, Tiki Tik, Pav Tav, and I don't remember the name of the other one. The last two bars were in an area called The Lanes, which Dad and I hadn't wandered into, but I've been told is the biggest attraction of Brighton. And all of the pubs were near the Royal Pavillion, so it was cool to walk around and see the Pavillion peaking through the gaps between buildings.
Today, there is an outdoor market on campus and two more socials that I'm planning on going to. So I need to start getting ready for the day!

Until next time,
Lenzie