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.