Letter from Hannah, my emphasis

Things are good. Yesterday morning I got settled in and waited for other house members to arrive. There are five of us here right now. Kazia (pronounced Kaja), Lauryn, Jessica, Chelsea, and me. Apparently I've settled into the wrong room. Lindsay (staff member wo picked us up at the train station and showed us our rooms) got mixed up and put me in Nicole's (who isn't here yet) room. By the time we figured it out, I had already completely unpacked, so Lindsey said I could just stay there. I hope Nicole doesn't mind. It's the best room with the best view. It's the only room in this house that is meant to be a single, so it's cozy. I'll send pictures after Nicole gets here just incase she wants me to move. I hope she doesn't care. We're also waiting on Heather.

Our house has four bathrooms. The one by my room on the top floor is a huge room with just a shower and a sink. Next down is a bathroom attached to Jessica and Lauryn's room. It have two vanities, a sink, and a bathtub with no shower attachment. It is also carpeted. Then there is a bathroom with just a toilet and a sink on the landing. The last bathroom is in the basement by the kitchen. It has a toilet, sink and shower/bathtub.

Our kitchen has two fridges and a freezer. It has a stove (either the stove itself or the burners are called hobs, which makes no sense) that has a grill (a little oven) and an oven (another little oven) attached. Then we have a little washer and drier. They gave us a "welcome pack" of food, which included pasta and sauce, which we had for dinner.

We have a common room on the first floor that has several couches, a TV with VCR and DVD player, a desk, a guitar, some books, and some movies. The movies included BBC Pride and Prejudice (VHS), two Sense and Sensibilities (DVD), Persuasion (DVD), Bridget Jones's Diary (DVD - we watched it last night), Stardust (DVD), Clueless (DVD) and The Fellowship of the Ring (VHS). Kazia has never seen the Lord of the Rings, or read all the way through them. The common room is where we have the wifi, but it it currently reaching all the way up to my room.

This morning we were picked up to go to Nelson House and Masonic hall for various orientation things. We were given our food allowances for the next couple of weeks. We were also given tea, coffee, and biscuits. We had a tour of Nelson House, then allowed to leave for lunch before we had to come collect our books and go to various meetings if they applied to you (nothing applied to me, so I had a lot of free time). We (Kazia, Emily [from the U of R], another Emily [I think], and me) went to a sandwich place and brought them back to Nelson house to eat in the common room in the basement. It was pretty delicious. We chatted for a long time and eventually other people started showing up and it was a fun chatting without actually getting to know anybody time.

I got textbooks for two of my classes (Tudor and Stuart England, and Renaissance Politics). One was used. If the previous owner had left marks in them, they were free. Mine had no marks :(.

So apparently John Cleese lives in Bath. He's away right now, though. Jonathan Hope, the Dean of the program, told us we might see him, and I got excited about it. I was mentioning it later to Jamie (the only boy here right now) and he didn't know who John Cleese was! He's never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail! Or Fawlty Towers! Also, Sir Ian McKellen is currently doing a play here that we might try to see. I don't know what it's called.

We also had a meeting about social things. I took an application to sign up for volunteering at the dogs and cats home to walk dogs. I also signed up as interested in volunteering at Bath Abbey. It sounds really cool, but I don't know if being a tour guide is for me. We'll see.

We were given a shopping tour of the city. It wasn't wrong, but I got completely disoriented and couldn't figure out how to get home. Luckily other people knew, and we made it home without getting hit by cars, which has happened apparently. Also, apparently there have been several ASE student marriages in the past, either within the program or with English people they meet here. They don't get married while they're on the program, obviously, but later.

I'm liking it here, so far. Everyone seems to be nice. I miss you guys, though. I think that's all for now.