October isn't Oct-over...But the Magical Wifi Certainly Is

Today was a dark day in our flat. The magical wifi, of which I have previously written, has come to a sad and tragic end, leaving us with one week left before our new wifi will be active. Still baffled by the amount of time it takes to get basic services like this taken care of in this country.

Up until today, I had been pretty proud of myself and optimistic about my triumphs over technology. As anyone who knows me will know, I have a profound connection to my television shows. Like a sincere attachment. It's kind of a big deal...I have literally cried watching Castle...on numerous occasions...I don't even care. With this being said, it should be pretty obvious that I'm rather distraught without direct access to my shows and the ability to keep up with them weekly, as I have grown accustomed to doing. Cue creative thinking and problem solving.

Everyone's first instinct at the juncture of "New City" and "American TV please" is to consult Netflix, yes? Yes. I figured that until I found acceptable ways to get my shows, I could just binge older episodes of New Girl and Community. And then I logged into Netflix, only to find that certain shows are simply unavailable from the UK. Among them: New Girl...Community. Sigh. But really, I can figure this out, right? Right. Turns out there's a happy little proxy server called "Hola" that allows me to trick my computer into believing that I'm still in the US. Turns out also that using this proxy server and having DIRECTV back home is the ultimate combination that lets me watch all of my shows on the channel websites by logging in. Since this discovery, I have cautiously and successfully convinced Sara that Survivor (yes, I'm still watching. yes, I still want to be the sole survivor someday) is worth looking forward to weekly, and that ABC sitcoms really aren't the worst thing ever. We can also get American Netflix, and are able to stream Castle from the beginning...you know, for the purposes of getting Sara caught up on all 7 seasons so she can watch season 8 along with me...certainly not because re-watching Nathan Fillion's antics over the last seven years makes my heart smile... :) That might be my biggest accomplishment of the month so far, just by the by, converting Sara into a Castle fan. Forget surviving my grad classes...it's all about TV.

Ok, now for the bit that I've truly found ridiculous this week. Sara and I have been preparing for the eventual collapse of our free wifi empire by running through ideas of other things to do with our lives besides sitting on our terrible couches and streaming endless hours of Castle (this option is still my top choice regardless of other activities, FYI). Anyway, so our ideas for things to do included the usual: going out in the world and making friends (something neither of us seem too keen on how to approach even though we desperately want friends here), crocheting (an old lady talent we apparently both have), and finding the best form of non-technological entertainment: board games. I'm pretty excited about all things board games, as most know, so the task became where to find such magical little boxes of joy. The answer in Durham? Nowhere. I've been on adventures, really. There's no equivalent of Target, as desperate as I may be for it. The closest thing we have is called Wilko, and it's pretty much a sad excuse for something akin to Walmart...which I really think says it all. Amazon is also largely unhelpful in the way of acquiring board games, though this appears to be our only option at this point. I can't even find a real version of Clue...how depressing.

Why don't we all take a minute to enjoy a nice little story about how desperate I've become for a classic board game now. Today, fresh on the streets almost not comprehending life since the sudden and upsetting death of our magical wifi, I went to class and then decided to browse for board games. I took the time to find out about and locate a...wait for it...Comic Book and Game Store and Cafe in Durham. *insert puzzled and disbelieving expression here* So, alone I wander up the hill until I find said store and cafe. It looked pretty normal from the outside and then I walked in to find all the nerds of Durham sitting around a singular table playing Dungeons and Dragons. I quietly walked to the board game area...whilst they all stared at me, probably assuming I was lost and/or confused. Literally, I shut the entire motion of their game down with my mere presence. Even the barista stopped making the drink he was working on to question my arrival. I took all of 57 seconds of intense awareness that everyone was staring at me to browse their selection of board games...which I found sad and unappealing before I quickly left the establishment, praying they would forget the incident of me being there and continue with their lives, and then I basic-white-girled my way back down the hill to the nearest Starbucks...where I am currently sitting...writing this...still riddled with shame.

All of this is to say there is no viable copy of the classic board game Clue in the whole of Northern England and I cannot deal.

So that's my bit of ridiculousness for the week. I'm sure there's been much more that I've neglected to mention, but this stands out as the most humorous of my encounters this week...and by week, I mean however long it's actually been since I last blogged. Sorry for my constant inability to keep up with blogging! 

On My First Week Back in Durham

This first week has been interesting, to say the least. I'm obviously thrilled to be back in one of my favorite cities in the world, and especially happy to be reunited with one of best friends and my first ever roommate, Sara. But, in addition to all the wonderful things Durham has to offer, it also comes with a lot of confusion and flat out strange/frustrating things. All of this week's ridiculous things relate to how quickly I expected to be able to get things done here...and how I was horribly, horribly mistaken...

One of the most paramount priorities I had upon arrival was setting up a bank account because, you know, money. It's ever so slightly important. So I go to the bank pretty much the same day I arrived in Durham (September 29, or thereabouts), and was like, "Hi, yes, I will have one bank account please" and the woman at the desk was like, "Sure, no problem, the first appointment for bank account-ing is October 6." I stood there for a minute in disbelief because in the US, it's fairly simple to same-day set up a bank account (correct me if I'm wrong here) so having to wait a week to do so was just odd. So I made an appointment and left feeling very weird about the UK banking system.

I set up my UK phone service the day we moved into our new apartment (October 1), and on the same day attempted to figure out how to get functional wifi into the apartment because much like the whole bank account thing, it's ever so slightly important. So we are then told that we can't have internet until we have bank accounts, and we're like, "...k. bye." We suffer and suffer over the next several days using our phone data plans as the sole means of communication with friends and family.

And then I had enough...I determined to hack into one of the wifi networks that would appear on my list of available networks. I attempted many passwords including, but not limited to 'password,' 'password1,' 'wifiplease,' and 'givemefreewifi,' all to no avail. Until I discovered that the router that was left behind in our apartment was still active...and the password was printed on the back of the box...facepalming for days.

Many much celebrations have been had at the discovery of our free wifi, and we finally felt like humans again. Everything got sorted, we set up our bank accounts and patiently waited for our bank cards to arrive, all while praying that the magical free running wifi contract doesn't end before we get our own set up. So then today, we go to EE (this is our service provider...it's weird, just go with it) and we're like, "Yes, we would like one internet please," and EE is all like, "Sure, no problem, the earliest we can have you up and running is November 2," and we're all like:

So please join us in our chants, dances, and endless hopes that the magical current wifi holds out until then while we continue to contemplate why every service in the country takes so long to set up that it is absolutely, truly...ridiculous.

Why Ridiculous Things?

Life is difficult as an international student. Not only are you facing the same anxiety and coursework preparation as your home country counterparts, but you're doing it all while learning how to navigate a foreign world filled with challenges and different words for potato products.

This blog is dedicated to the things that I will encounter over the next year that I find to be ridiculous as an international student studying at Durham University in the United Kingdom. These ridiculous things may be strange, humorous, or even legitimately infuriating, but it's all a part of the journey, and I hope you enjoy going on it with me!