Okay, seeing as how today is my second day in Wisconsin, I'll have to do a recap of everything that transpired until now. Be warned: this recap is a novella.
My parents dropped me off at the Charlotte airport at around ten thirty in the morning. My mom came in with me and helped to point me in the right direction while my dad went to park the car so that he could come in to get his hug and kiss goodbye. After waiting around for what became an uncomfortably long time, my mom went to take care of the car so that my dad could go ahead and say goodbye. After a teary-eyed hug farewell, I went through airport security. As I was laden with my laptop bag, an additional carry-on bag, my pillow, and my traveling companion (teddy bear), it took me a while to get through.
Once I and all of my objects were deemed safe, I headed towards the specified gate on my ticket. My plane was scheduled for takeoff at eleven twenty-five; I arrived at approximately eleven ten. As she was scanning my ticket, the flight attendent said that she had begun to wonder where I was. Seeing as I was already mildly stressed out (I prefer to arrive around an hour early to everything), this did not make me terribly comfortable. Once I had arrived at my seat, the gentleman who sat behind me offered to put one of my bags into the overhead compartment. I thanked him and looked to take my seat.
The other two seats on my row were occupied by a young father and his daughter (who couldn't have been more than six). My seat was supposed to be the one next to the window, but the little girl was happily sitting there, staring out the window and chirping about what she saw. The father asked me if she could sit there for the rest of the flight and I agreed. I didn't want to take that experience away from a child and I had too much stuff in my hands anyway.
The flight was scheduled to be two hours and forty minutes. I slept until ten minutes before the descent. Once I had disembarked and collected my hulking luggage from the baggage claim, I went to the help desk and asked where I needed to go to find my bus. The helpful info-desk lady pointed me in the right direction and soon I found my bus route. The driver took my both of my suitcases, my extra carry-on bag, and my pillow for me and recommended that I visit the lavatory. I opted to follow his advice, and when I returned, I sat down and waited half an hour for the bus to arrive.
Once I and all of my fellow passengers were on the bus, we left the airport in Minnesota and headed towards Menomonie. It was an hour long drive; I fell asleep again. I woke up right as we were entering the on-ramp. The bus dropped me and my belongings off at an inn, but it was hardly ten minutes before someone from the university came to pick me up. At this time I discovered that the inner lining of my right shoe had split; it was hardly life altering or important, but it continued to irritate me for the rest of the day and was therefore worthy of note.
When I arrived at the university there was something of an issue with my caretaker's access card; however, this was quickly remedied, so I was brought to the front desk and given the key to my room. Once all of my possesions were in my room, I was told that the international exchange students would be going to Wal*Mart to purchase any necessities. Though I am technically a national exchange student, I have been somewhat lumped in with them (something I will never complain about).
I walked across the pedestrian bridge to get to the international dormitory and waited in the lobby for the other students to arrive. I was not the first to arrive; five students from Saudi Arabia were already waiting, two of which were completing their sunset prayers (maghrib). Not long after they had finished, the rest of the students arrived. Everyone went about shyly introducing themselves to one another. As I was the only one of the group that was actually from the United States, I was tasked with the surprisingly difficult task of explaining that I came from South Carolina.
Not too long afterwards, we walked to the bus which was in the parking lot next to the clock tower. Once we had all coalesced in the vehicle, we took off towards Wal*Mart. When we arrived, it was explained to us that the bus would be leaving at seven fifteen.
"And not seven fifteen in Saudi time," they explained. Many people laughed at this, so I asked for an explanation.
"See, in Saudi Arabia, if something is scheduled to start at seven, it'll usually start at eight. Seven is the time you wake up to head in that direction." I understood because that is apparently the norm in Spain as well. Well, as they shuffled into Wal*Mart, I took off like a shot, collecting all of my items very quickly. After I had checked out, I was worried that I may have purchased too much. Boy, was I ever fretting over nothing. Each of the twenty-something students had an entire shopping cart filled with items. On the ride home, all of the items took up one side of the bus and we took up the other.
Eventually, I got back to my room and commenced unpacking. Once all of my things had been put away, I cleaned the dishes and silverware that I had purchased and put my foodstuffs in the refrigerator-freezer-microwave combo in my room. All of this being done, I decided to check out the hall lavatory. Now, I had never used a hall lavatory before and was not keen on the idea, but I was pleased to find that it (for the time being) was quite clean and exceptionally spacious. I brushed my teeth and went back to my room to sleep.
I awoke this morning at around eight fifty-five. Having nothing to do with myself until the campus tour at two o'clock, I ate breakfast, took a shower, and lay about like the lazy git I am. I arrived at the international dorm about fifteen minutes early and sat about in the lobby. Once most of the students had amassed, we took off. We first walked back across the street to my dormitory, went inside, and then went down a tunnel I hadn't previously noticed. This took us to the cafeteria/fitness center that is clearly visible from my bedroom window. From there, we split into groups of three.
The leader of my group took us to a different building to collect three more students, and then we toured through the rest of the campus. We passed by Harvey Hall, where the majority of my classes will be held, and various additional dormitories. We then entered the campus office in charge of access cards and certain fees. I went to get my access card while the other students paid their fees, and when we were done we were shown an additional cafeteria in that same building. Next we toured the gymnasium, and then a student activities building with yet another place to eat.
One of the students kept complaining about how hungry he was, which was actually entertaining as he was being quite dramatic about it. Audible though he was, he was being good-natured about the whole thing, and after we had a quick tour of the library, we went to a small pizza joint nearby. This university is amazing: the prices of your textbooks are included in the fees. You only borrow them for a semester, and after you are done with classes, you return them. This just wowed me.
The pizza joint was called "Toppers", and is apparently a chain restaurant. It was pretty nice: much like an upscale Pizza Hut to tell the truth. One of the students had to go to the bank, so our group leader asked for me to help the other three order. I agreed, and we went inside. The cashier was patient and only looked mildly stressed about the hundred dollar bills she was expected to break. I have to admit I was impressed with her handling of the situation. After everyone else had ordered, I decided to give it a try. I confessed that I had never been to "Toppers" before and stared at the menu for a good long while before ordering a macaroni and cheese pizza with gyro meat. The cashier said that I was brave for someone who had never eaten there and happily took my card.
Once everyone had finished eating, we headed back to the dormitories. I went back to my room, tidied up a bit, and then walked back over to the international dorm for today's adventure to Wal*Mart. Some new international students from China, Malaysia, and England had arrived, and I introduced myself to a few. We went to Wal*Mart, I bought some essentials for laundry, and watched as the additional students bought the carts of items as well.
Once everyone had finished, we headed back to the dorms, I went into mine, came up here, and had a nice long chat with my parents. Then I sat down at my desk about an hour ago and began to write out this post. Cheers, mate! Sorry about the length and all, but there are no summaries for cheaters.
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