Orientation and Cold Snap!

Okay, so the last few days have been pretty busy so I won't be able to cover everything in this post. Expect more posts over the next couple of days.

Most of the time since my last post has been filled with orientation activities. I have actually gone through two different orientations since arriving. The first was with the program and the second was at the university. Pretty much everything we were told at the first was repeated at the second (such as how to stay safe). One interesting event during the first orientation was they brought in an MP (Member of Parliament) to speak to us about current political and social issues in Britain. He explained how their system works and such. They actually will be having an election while I am here!

The highlight of orientation was the trip to see my first (of what will probably be many) West End show! We saw Avenue Q, which I had already seen in the states. I have to say I liked to US version better because the actor who played Princeton/Rod kept switching between an American and British accent while the rest of the cast did a good job of keeping to an American accent.

Spending so much time inside has been a good thing because England is experiencing its worst cold snap in 30 years. A few days ago parts of the country got almost a foot of snow, which is practically unheard of over here. It is so bad that some areas are running out of grit for the roads. Some places have resorted to spreading sand on the roads to help vehicles get traction. Two salt mines are working 24hrs, but are having trouble keeping up with demand. Airports have either shut down or delayed many flights and rail service has been restricted in some areas. Relief is in sight though as it is supposed to get up to 6 degrees Celsius (43 Fahrenheit) by mid-week. Hopefully the winds will also die down.

When I had free time during orientation I went to a few museums. I'll post a couple of photos now, but talk more about them in another post. Try to guess which museums I've been to with the two photos in this post.