Assimilation

Sept. 28 - Friday night I went to the Bournemouth Fire Festival with Naomi, another postgraduate on the upper floors of Corfe House. It's strange how postgrads are stuck up at the top two floors of an otherwise all-freshman dorm so far away from campus. But I digress.

The festival was really neat. It was in the Bournemouth city center, and that's really close to the beach. So imagine hundreds of flaming clay pots that normally hold plants stuck into the ground at the park.

There were also vase-shaped fireplaces, a row of hot coals that stood above the stream and spherical fireplaces that hung from the trees. Additionally, there were metal art sculptures that were designed around actual fire, live music and food. Needless to say it was a great place to warm up. After the festival Naomi and I went to the beach where we met up with some other postgrads who were from Romania, Italy and Taiwan. Julia, the girl from Taiwan, speaks Spanish about the same level I do, and she lives in Corfe so that was pretty neat.

Today (Saturday) I met an American who had just moved in the day before. Oddly enough, his name is Michael and he's from Los Angeles. I guess you could say it's a comfort to meet another American over here because they have something in common with me. I've met several Americans so far and it's always a kind of relief to speak to them. It's a huge thing to have in common right off the bat. Yes, we're from the same place but we're both international students. We're foreigners.

This evening I played a card game with several people from China who live on my floor. Their door was open so I just went in and introduced myself. One of the guys was super friendly and explained the game to me (he made it up himself and designed the cards as well). Eventually Cloe,

their British flatmate, came in and played with us, so it was a truly international game.

I'm beginning to feel like Poole is my home. I feel relaxed. The accent doesn't seem nearly as intimidating or different anymore. Now, it's just people speaking. Of course it still sounds different, but I've found I'm much more comfortable opening my mouth to ask questions, order food or just talk to people. I guess you could say I'm assimilating into this community, though I still find it strange to not hear Spanish everywhere like in California.

A quick update on my phone: it's locked with AT&T, not Verizon. That means it will be cheaper to unlock. However, if I can get some account information from the Porterville Recorder, I can send that to AT&T and they can unlock it for free through iTunes. It turns out there was a law passed in July saying carriers must let customers unlock their phones so they can sign up with a competitor. It'll take some time to get this sorted, but since I haven't had my own phone for a month and a half, I'm not too worried. It's nice not being connected.

Sept. 29 -  Today was all about American football. It was my second practice, and it was incredibly different from the first. I made sure to eat something beforehand and have plenty of fluids during practice. I brought a lot of coconut water, and that helped so much. But my legs are dead right now. At the end of practice we did 50 yard sprints for conditioning. One rep consisted of one 50 yard sprint followed by walking back to the line. We rested for about 10 seconds and then sprinted 50 yards to the line and then sprinted back again. There were 12 rounds of that. During the sprints I could feel my groin and quad muscles straining and pulling. There were a couple times I yelled out at the end of the runs with a simple "damn it!" because I could feel my legs straining. I thought about quitting, but if there's one thing CrossFit has taught me is that every workout ends eventually. Just push through because it'll be over soon. And when you finish after not quitting, it's that much sweeter.

So I don't think I actually injured myself (we'll see tomorrow morning). After the practice we stayed for all the freshmen, and some of them were straight up gassed. Some complained too much too. But it was interesting watching the workout from the sidelines. Football practice is so difficult, especially if you're not in shape.

And in the evening I went to Bournemouth to meet up with the club at a bar to watch NFL games, and that included Vincent, a 52-year-old former cornerback who played for England in his younger days. It was great having someone with that kind of experience at the practice.

But while riding the bus today, I marveled at how radically different my life is. I essentially blew up my old life in Porterville and moved 7000+ miles away to a different country where I'm playing an American sport I never felt the need to play back in my own country. I'm living a totally different life. But the great thing is this: it's feeling like home. Like I said in the previous entry, the accents are melting together and they're starting to sound familiar.

I think it takes some serious guts to do what I've done, and I'm not just tooting my own horn here. Who wants to feel like a total outsider? Who really has the desire to start over and begin with nothing? Who feels the need to uproot themselves, distance themselves from all they've come to love and learn and be comfortable with and try completely new things without a car, phone or bank account? I really do feel proud of myself. I've done it. I've accomplished my dream and survived the awful feeling of fear that first week.

So here's to class beginning on Tuesday and this final lager of the night (which is the French version of Coors Light).