Hostel was not hostile (Day 1 VCUK)-9 Jun 2019

I did not sleep well however it was all fine and was just a result of me being paranoid.

some french girls cane in at 2am which woke me up and i think it was them who left at 5am very noisily. Then I woke at 7am to someone’s alarm and couldn’t fall back asleep. The bed was extremely uncomfortable and vaguely gross but not visibly dirty. It just Ave off sketchy vibes. I was on the top top bunk of 3. There we’re 3 stacks of 3 beds in my room and a sink and two big windows and a fan. I got really hot around 5am cause I think they closed the window. Besides that I was fine all night. The hostel makes really weird noises though. There’s this weird whirring noise that I think isn’t the hot water and then a noise like an owl and then the doors in the whole hallway can’t be heard. Also every time someone moves in the bed it’s moves the whole bed and every time someone walks in the hallway, above us, in our room, or next door it’s shakes the whole bed. i think there was at least one guy in our room cause I think I saw him this morning. I only saw one other person in my room cause she sat up in the morning and we made eye contact.

i went down for breakfast at 8amish and out all my stuff in the locker and then sat and had cornflakes with honey and some tea. The lady I made eye contact with in my room sat at the table with me but wasn’t chatty so I was unsuccessful at my one goal of making friends at the hostel sadly.

Then i hung out for a bit in the cafeteria ish common area and blogged. A japanese man came and sat at lunch table and ate for a bit.

my back and shoulders hurt a lot today from carrying all that luggage yesterday and sleeping weird. I should’ve brought the heating pad.

Jason asked to hang out again today. He wants to do the Tate britain today and the globe theatre. I want to hang out again but I think I’ll be busy today with vc people. Also I’m going to the globe later this semester and I’m not sure if we’re going to the Tate. It apparently has a Van Gogh exhibit rn so I’m defeinitely gonna go at some point.

VCUK starts today!!! I signed out at 10ish and then sat for a bit in the lobby and blogged before trecking up to the apartment for 11am.

Casey was already there so we hung out and chatted. Mallory and Carlee showed up by taxi and then 15 minutes later jess, julia, eric, and jake showed up bye taxi. The lady didn't come til 11 to let us in. She unlocked all the apartments and then sent us up. I was the only one from my apartment so it was sorta boring.

I'm in flat 5 with Krista and Emma and we all have our own bathroom. Lugging my luggage up all the stairs sucked. We're up about 4 flights and then it's our door and then theres one more flight . We have the biggest apartment and we all have our own rooms. It opens into a little room with lots of doors. All the doors in the flat close automatically which is annoying.

To the right of the stairs is a door leading to the main living area it has two windows facing the street and a tv and 2 couches and a fake fire place and a dining table with 4 chairs and a mini fridge (we call this the beer fridge). It also has stairs to a loft but the loft is where the apartment people store stuff and we were told not to touch it. On the right of the living area is another door (this one has a window which is sorta weird) that goes to the kitchen. I think the kitchen area used to be an outdoor porch. It's a square and on one side is the fridge/freezer (which looks like two mini fridges stacked on top of each other), the sink and drying board, and some cabinets. Then theres a window and then the other side has some cabinets and a clothes washer (that apparently drys too), the stove and oven, and some more cabinets. The kitchen came with plates and utensils and such and also pots and pans and a toaster and a plug in kettle and a microwave.

The first bedroom right across from the stairs is Emma's room. It has two twin beds, two closet cabinets and it's own bathroom. I almost choose it but decided I wanted the other one cause it was cuter. Her two windows face the street.

Further down the little hall is Krista's room. It has a weird angle and a bed, a closet cabinet and a end table. She has one window facing the back.

Then at the end of the hallway is the bathroom and my room. My room has a window facing the back with a cool view of a bunch of houses. I also have a bed, a closet cabinet and a end table. It perfectly fits all my stuff. There's also little pegs on the walls to hang some stuff.

The bathroom is sorta gross but it's ok. It's just dated and has a lot of hard to clean crevices cause the room is old. The whole house is old and so everything is shaped weird. The dirty crevices are where the tile meets the wall, where the toilet and sink hit the wall and stuff like that. The floor is the grossest cause it's old. The bathroom has a toilet, sink, and bathtub shower which is of course about 5 feet off the ground. It's such a big step from the tub to the ground I really don't understand why all the bathrooms are like that here. Also it has a half wall of glass but then it also has a curtain but the curtain has NYC on it which I think is funny.

All the girls came up and visited to see my apartment and then went back down and took naps. This is the biggest flat and they want to have parties here but I don't want to get in trouble. I'd be fine with a kickback but I don't want a rager.

Emma and her aunt finally showed up and chose the purple room (the front room) and unpacked. I unpacked in the back room.

Krista lost her passport so she came really really late. She left it on the airplane and didn't realize til security. She always looses stuff and I hope this doesn't cause any problems.

Emma, her aunt, and I went out to explore a bit. (we just walked the block which I had already done on my way here). Her aunt has lived in London for 15 years but I get the sense that she doesn't really know anything British really. She just knows where all the basic stores are and stuff but doesn't know what the cool candy is or good british drinks. We went to Tescos (its a tiny express tescos though) which is around the corner and Emma got some basics. I just bought tea and some kit kats cause I want to go big shopping later and I still don't know what I want. They have peanut butter kit kats here! I'm not sure why kit kats are such a big thing here.

Then we went back to the apartment and Bill had his meeting at 1:30. He originally said 2 and then changed it to 1 but didn't show up til 1:30 and everyone didn't know. He was vaguely annoyed cause some people had gone out for lunch but honestly he was late and he's a mess so. He just gave us our tube passes and then left. Xander and Anthony showed up. Bill told me that he had a drink with Lance before coming here and Lance spoke very highly of me. I love Lance he's so great. I'll prob have him write one of my rec letters in the future.

Then we went to flat 3 for our flat meeting from the flat lady. Flat 3 is nice but way smaller than ours. But they're the "1st floor" (the one above ground floor) so they have really nice big windows and a little balcony. She told us the rules of the flat and everything. Apparently we get a cleaning service every Friday and we have to strip our beds and they will make our beds and vacuum and mop the floors and clean the bathroom.

Then we went back to the flats and unpacked. Krista finally showed up and then we just hung out a bit. Krista accidentally locked my safe shut and now I can't get it open and it just beeps.

I was trying to get everyone to go to Sunday Roast at the pub around the corner at 4pm and get a pint but a lot people were super tired and didn't want "sunday roast". So we hung out til 5ish and went then went to the pub (me, krista, emma, and anthony). I got fish and chips and Guinness and it was soo good. The fish and chips were maybe the best I've ever had. The music in the pub was sooo strange. They played bohemian rhapsody and the rick roll song and it was very strange. Apparently British people really like old 2000s music that you can sing along to because the people I met yesterday said the club music was all weird old 2000s music.

Then we went to M&S (food store) and anthony went back to the flat. M&S was inside St. Pancras but it was pretty big. I was told Sainsburys and Tesco were like a shoprite level and that M&S was maybe the next step up like a Kings and then there's waitross which is really expensive apparently. M&S was sorta disappointing cause they had a weird layout and then only had M&S brand. I think I'll shop at the small tescos from now on. I got watermelon and grapes and apples and blueberry pancakes (they're already made, you just heat them up).

Then we went to Boots (which is like a CVS/Ulta) which was right next door. I got shampoo and conditioner (the other stores had weird brands that I didn't like). I got the keratin shampoo and conditioner, which actually wasn't that expensive here, and aveeno body wash (which was expensive but the old body wash I could find).

Then we went back to the flat and I took a shower and then facetimed home and went to bed.

I'm excited for this month. It's gonna be good I think.