Living situation

At the beginning of this week, I was extremely stressed out with my living situation. If you've read anything here before, you'll know that I'm living in a dorm that is extremely close to my campus (it's across the street). I had a few bad days where the noise of the undergrad students, the sometimes terrible food, and things like that were getting to me. My mom made a good point that I just needed to settle into my routine, see how much time I'll *really* be spending here, and then reevaluate the situation. I, in my hasty nature, started trying to find a private flat somewhere around here, only to realize that: a) they were pretty picked over - by now, most students had already taken up the decent ones; and b) the ones that were left, although usually inferior, were crazy expensive! I soon realized that it probably wasn't an option, at least on my own, to try and find a flat around campus.

Well, I did start to get into my routine with induction week. Although we didn't have lectures or seminars this week, we did have some meetings and introductions...and I've also had a ton of reading to do. And it truly has helped me feel better about my living situation. When I went to the meetings, I pretty much just had to step outside my front door and cross the street. When I go to the library to study or check out books, same deal. When I need to print something, I hop on over to one of the many computer clusters around campus. When I work out, I go to the union that is on the same street as my dorm.

The benefits of living here are really starting to shine through again. Sure, it's frustrating when I can hear people screaming and partying on the floor below me. Or when there are thirty minute lines to get food at dinnertime. But, I've made a resolve to try and find remedies to those types of situations as they pop up. When it's too noisy here to read, I'll pack up my things and go to the library. When the lines are too long or the food isn't ok for me to eat (I'm allergic to wheat), I'll go get something somewhere else, or I'll make an effort to be down at the cafe right at the opening time. I've realized that I really have to put my effort in too...things aren't always going to be perfectly catered to our liking. Sometimes you just have to adapt and find solutions to the problems.

I'm probably going to eat my words a little bit later tonight, when all of the undergrad students will be going out to the clubs for their first weekend here in London, while I'm sitting in my room sick. :( Calm, deep breaths...