What a beginning!

Well the time has come!  Here I am, three days into my adventure to Colorado State University; Fort Collins!  I arrived on Tuesday evening after an arduous and tiring journey through which I sat next to a crazy lady who was overly-proud of her obsession with Lady Gaga; a fat man who had to extend the plane belt to it's maximum, and both the international and internal flights I endured being the middle seat.  Joy!  Even so, the though that I was about to embark on something I had been planning and thinking about for the last two years kept me going, and before long I made it to Denver International Airport.  There I was met by Robert Booker, aka "The Colonel":

He directed us to the relevant bus (after Polly, Becki and me consumed a "Taco Bell") and we were on our way to Fort Collins - an hour and fifteen minutes away, our excitement kept us alive, but we all knew we would crash very soon!  I travelled with Polly and Alan (also from Leicester University), Becki from Swansea Uni, Grant and Joe, both of whom are from Oz.  They had been travelling for 23 hours and had somehow managed to arrive 45 minutes before they had even left...!

I moved into my room that evening and was greeted with this view:

 But I didn't do any unpacking as Grant and I went straight out for some food - a mexican fast food place called "Qdoba".  We both ordered a burrito the size of a newborn child and dove in.  It was too much and we took the remains home.  I then settled down after a shower and ablute for some kip.  Jet lag didn't let my body clock down, and, just like the last three nights, I awoke before the sun had risen.  I finally crawled out of bed at 6, ate the remains of my burrito and taco and went for a run... for a little bit anyway, before the effects of  the altitude kicked in - I'm pretty sure I had a cardiac arrest at that point... owh!  After which I met the others and we all went to a nearby bagel shop for some breakfast and walked to our Exchange Student Orientation in which we sorted Immigration, Immunisation and even had a trip to Walmart to purchase bedding and other essentials (like shower gel etc).  I then set up my US bank account and paid in all the money and travellers' cheques I had - $380 dollars in total!  Dinner that night merely consisted of the thought of food as I missed dinner at one of the dining halls thanks to Polly and her indecision.  Found a running buddy in her RA (like an older student but more responsible for the smooth running of the dorm), Melissa who has invited me to go jogging around the mountains (if I ever get used to this bloody altitude)  Sleep was short again that night thanks to my body clock, though I didn't go running this time.  

Yesterday was much like the day before it, orientation, though we quickly realised that we had heard it all the day before and the sentence "I'll speak slowly because I know your english is still improving" showed us that this orientation was directed at a different kind of international student!  The big part of yesterday was Tommy moving in, my roomie!  Tommy's great - plays guitar, loves life and is a really funny guy!  We're sure that actually we must have answered the questions on the "Student personality evaluation form" with identical answers - we're very similar.  We are already known as Tommy and Jack!  His family moved him in at about 9am yesterday and I spoke with them for a while.  They are lovely people, Cyndi (Mum), Larry (Dad and retired FBI agent!) and Jaqueline (older sister), they made me feel very welcome and have said I am always welcome in their home.  Great!  Home cooked meals here I come!  I will probably take them up on that as soon as homesickness kicks in - I am reassured by grant that it will do in about the third week...  I certainly do miss many people.  We then went to a carnival last night which was the Rams (the CSU mascot) welcome party for all new students, 5000 of them in total and it was magnificent!  Marching band, cheerleaders and an incredible atmosphere, I loved it and had difficulty picking my jaw off the floor.  As international (british and aussie) kids we are the centre of attention and we have photos taken with us and are generally loved by all.  What a delight!  A large group of sophomores (second year students) had a group picture with Grant and I which was funny:

The opening ceremony was incredible:

There were three more sides of the stadium just like this!  I love it here, the people are so nice!  Im sat in a great coffee shop we discovered last night on our wanders and am about to hit the new gym with grant!  Exciting times!  Will probably have forgotten something, but will update later!

All my love, whoever reads this, Jack x

ps.  This is a photograph I took from my window last night!