This is a picture from my bedroom window looking into the courtyard.

Sunday morning I didn't bother going back over to Woodbrooke. I had my last good "full english breakfast" and then went for a walk along the road that comes into the University of Birmingham. Guess what I found? An ATM. so I was able to take out cash rather than try to use a credit card for the taxi. They said it would cost 10% extra. Remember that the dollar is only half the value of pounds in the first place.

I took the taxi over to the Best Western "Westley Arms" hotel in Acocks Green. I had two bits of bad news. The first was that I couldn't check into my room until 2pm. It was 11am. I also found out they charged a huge amount for internet access. I stowed my luggage and then went for a walk. I went in one direction and walked a ways, turned around, and came back to where I started. Then I kept going in the other direction for a long ways and finally turned around and went back. It was a very nice walk; I did pretty well. No pain in my feet really. That's great news. When I got back to the hotel, my room still wasn't ready. And lunch wasn't going to be served until 12:30. They put me in the lounge of the restaurant and I had a beer. So that was fun. I finally decided just to go into the bar and have a little sandwich. It wasn't easy figuring out what I was supposed to do to get waited on. Finally I asked and was able to order a turkey sandwich on a baguette ... and a beer--one of the more local kinds of brew. The sandwich, when it finally came, was dry, and the beer was, of course, warm. Still, it was a good experience. I watched the gran prix like one of the regular blokes. People from reception kept finding me to tell me when my room was ready and even tried to put me into a different room. I just took my time and enjoyed my lunch. The room was nice but--surprise, surprise--small. I was tired, so I started watching the "telly." I took a nap, actually several naps. At about 8 or 9 I got some room service (hamburger and fries and, of course, a pint). I made the arrangements for getting up early to get to the airport. I did manage to get up at 4am, take a quick shower, finish packing everything up, call for a taxi, and make my way back to the airport. I happened to get a Muslim driver. I had a good chat with him.

It was awful at the airport. At first I couldn't tell where I should go for my flight. They don't have check-ins based on airline. You look at the board, find your flight, and go to the check-in line it tells you. I finally asked a security guard. i had to walk through to the other terminal and then I could see my flight and which check-in line. That was a long line. I managed to do the kiosk check in with my passport. Then I went through the line and got to the front and gave my luggage. Then I had to go up the stairs and to the waiting area. They don't tell you what gate until it's time. Everyone hangs around in the same area. So I had a coffee and a blueberry muffin. That was good. When the board said my flight was ready to board, we all walked through that door and to the gate and got on the plane. I was a bit cramped. Somehow I ended up with a window seat on both planes. I don't remember much about it.

When we landed in Paris, I could not see my flight to Rome listed anywhere. Finally, a security person, who couldn't find it either, told me to go up the stairs to Air France and ask them. I did and I found my way. The Charles DeGaulle airport was hot and crowded. Very dfficult to tell what's going on. I managed to find the toilets; what an experience that was. The plane ride wasn't too bad. Both times a woman sat next to me. Guess what. On the plane from Paris I managed to buckle my seat belt. Either I got smaller or the planes got bigger!

At the Rome airport we waited about an hour before we got our luggage. What a mess. Then I tried to wait for the other person, Rachel. I waited and waited. Finally, I decided to take a taxi by myself. There were signs saying you should only use metered cabs, the "white ones." I couldn't find any and these guys kept coming up to me trying to tell me there was no difference. I went back in and asked at information. She and a girl standing nearby said I should expect to pay 40-50 euro for a ride into the city. The taxi driver had wanted to charge me a flat rate of 40 euro. He had a very nice car and we talked a bit along the way. I managed to get into the gate at the American Academy, had to talk with the porter -- he kept my passport, didn't know why -- and then went inside the big building. Finally, the receptionist greeted me and showed me around a little bit and brought me to my room. Erin, the grad assistant from IU, the one who graduated from EC, was there to greet me too. She seems very nice. I had my EC hat on--it was my arrangement for meeting Rachel in the airport.Erin got a big kick out of my Earlham College hat.What was really strange is that our leaders used as an illustration the American practices of wearing a baseball cap and the way in which it can reflect different subcultures.

That first class was Tuesday morning. i didn't really get into the discussions about cultural images. I was quiet as usual. We meet again on Friday. I'll need to be ready to participate. We had a tour of their library. It's small but very nice. I look forward to spending a lot of time there in the future days.

I'm getting accustomed to my room. I have a desk with an ethernet connection to the internet. I'm managing to get power to my laptop with my power converter/adaptor. I need to get some regular adaptor plugs, since I don't really need a converter for my laptop. I also have a nice bookcase, but not very many books to put in it. I did bring my Arabic books but haven't had a chance to get back into it. I have a wardrobe for my cloths and a little night table with some drawers, my drawers are in the drawers, to be exact. Not that you needed to know that. I have a sink for washing up, but the full bathroom is across the hall. I think that's going to be okay. I made a little mistake this morning however. As soon as I finished my shower I realized I hadn't brought my towel in with me. So, I had to dry myself off with my dirty t-shirt.

My bed is a couch. I thought it was a pull-out couch. I figured out that the bed rolls out from under the couch. At first I thought it was strange to be laying practically on the floor and to have my bed on wheels. I was afraid I would get into bed and have it roll across the floor. My neighbor actually slept that way on his bed. I realized the bed has legs that fold down to form a nice little cot. I was comfortable. My favorite part of the room, besides the internet, is the overhead ceiling fan. It makes the heat tolerable. There was a time last night when I actually wanted to put a sheet over top of me. 

 I decided to put pictures online through Snapfish. Maybe this link will bring you to my page of albums. I guess you have to have a Snapfish account to look at pictures. Sorry about that. Nothing much there yet.