First Journey to Cranfield

I decided I would take the bus to Cranfield to get a feel for how long it would take, and to finally see the place where I will spend a lot of time over the next year. The bus station is about a 5-7 min walk, then a 35-40 minute ride due to the number of stops and the fact that the route isn't the quickest or most direct to the school. I really should've brought my camera though, there was barely a cloud in the sky.

The first thing I saw as I got off the bus was what looked like field goal posts, but then realized they were for rugby. I walked around campus for a bit, found the building that I think my classes will be in and found the registration building for tomorrow (Friday). Seems like there are many international students as I have heard probably 4-5 different languages as I walked around. I did see a Yankees hat too. I did find out from Chris, one of my roommates, that the last bus from Cranfield leaves at approximately 5:30pm. This might mean the purchase of a car comes sooner than anticipated, as I think I will need to be on campus at night a good deal. A taxi fare from the University is 10£.

I spent some time looking around the library, and then flipped through a few of the many racing and engineering magazines they have available there. I had decided I would take the bus back to Newport Pagnell to explore a little bit and find some lunch. The town looked very enjoyable on the bus ride to campus. Much more traditional English feel and look than Milton Keynes, which was expected. I wish I had been able to find more accommodation options. I found a pub that had a large crowd outside, and seating outside to enjoy the weather so I stopped for lunch. I had a pint of Wainsworth bitter and chicken Tikka masala. Both were enjoyable and hit the spot, but the food was a bit on the pricey side.

The rest of the day was spent looking at a few different cell phone stores, buying an umbrella for the "heavy rain" tomorrow, and I got in a small run and bodyweight workout in my room. Dinner was a frozen bangers and mash that was not very good, needed some salt and pepper. I'll try to remember next time.

The picture at the top is the view out of my balcony window.

Welcome

I am attempting to document my year spent in the UK studying for a MSc in Motorsport Engineering and Management.

My first flight overseas was very easy. Not much turbulence at all, though I still didn't sleep as much as I would've liked to. I did run into a small issue though trying to get a cart for my 4 pieces of luggage. I needed a 1£ coin, but the change machine wouldn't accept the 10£ bill that Dad and Jane had given me. After a few minutes of actually trying to wheel around 3 bags while carrying a backpack I saw an ATM. I needed cash anyway, so I withdrew some money, and luckily the ATM's here seem to give you two 10£ notes with larger withdrawals (the change machine would not take a 20£). Luckily it accepted the new 10£ and I was on my way.

The school had sent a driver to pick me up, so I waited a few minutes for her to arrive, as the plane was a little earlier and customs and baggage was fairly quick too. Sitting in the left side of the Mercedes was a little eerie, as was being on the wrong side of the road. We took the M25 up to the M1 to get to Milton Keynes. We did get really close to being hit when a car cut us off though, that would've been fun I'm sure.

My landlord met me at my new home to give me keys and go over basic stuff. From there I unpacked most of my stuff and went out to find a grocery store and some food. I found a Waitrose, which seems to be somewhere in between a Harris Teeter and Whole Foods. Bought some cereal, milk, frozen dinners and a few other things.

I then decided to go try and find a store to buy bath towels and some hangers from. I found a couple of options and headed out in the rain. I thought my jacket was rainproof (it was, must've worn off over time) but it turned out to be far from it. By the time I got to the store I was basically drenched. It didn't help that I apparently didn't remember the location exactly correct, as I walked around a while trying to find it.

On the way back I grabbed some dinner at a pub. I was hoping to dry off, which I did, but unfortunately the rain didn't slow down at all. I had a tuna melt sandwich and a pint of cask Greene King IPA. The sandwich was simple but good. Beer was good as well, but far far far from what I'm used to as an IPA. The walk back home was wet and I was glad to be home.

I stayed up till about 10 trying to get rid of my jet lag by watching F1 on demand on BBC.com.