// happy birthday to me.//

i turned 21 today. twenty-one. legal everywhere now which is awesome. it just doesn’t feel like my birthday. i guess it’s cos i’m away from home, i’ve been out of touch with every single one of my friends and i’m in a different time zone from everyone. but it’s still my birthday.

the last couple of days i’ve been settling in at leeds. on tuesday we got to the hotel and just stayed in. watched a movie and went to bed. nothing exciting. yesterday we moved into dorms which was a bit crazy but i met two other girls on an exchange. one from texas and one from arizona. there’s a lot of southerns here so everyones all like ‘it’s friggin’ cold’ and i’m like ‘loooool it’s april weather!’ soo yeah. we went into the uni yesterday which is massive. i’m going to get so lost you have no idea. i’m going to be that kid i just know it. we did this quick intro thing which was stupid cos it just reiterated everything i already knew about this exchange program. i guess it was helpful to anyone who didn’t read all the spam they’ve been sending us for weeks.

after that we ended up wandering down into the city center where all the shopping is. finally got to a primark which was cool cos it was super cheap everything and cute fashionable clothes. definitely where i’ll be going for everything cos it’s in my price range. after that we wandered back to res and walked around here to explore. there’s a bar here but it’s only open until 11 so that’s a bit lame. we ordered pizza and they delivered right to my building which is cool cos i live in a complex of residences where there’s like 12 different buildings but we’re all in ‘bodington hall’. while waiting for the pizza i met a bunch of boys down in the commons who were playing fifa on xbox and learned that i happen to be in the 1st year rez. yay me. but apparently they’ve stuck other exchange students here. i guess it’s less of a case of putting us with people our age than putting us with british kids. they were all really nice though.

when they found out it was my birthday (tomorrow) today they were like ‘oh we’re going out to mission (i guess this is a club)! you should come along and we’ll all celebrate with you!’ so i think i’m going out tonight for my birthday. i feel bad though because now i have plans tonight and tomorrow and they don’t include my mum. she’s starting to realize that maybe she should’ve come until friday instead of monday because i don’t really need her. which isn’t so much the case, i don’t mind that she’s here and i like spending my days with her but i feel bad cos i do still want to go out because i know how crucial the first few weeks in res are. they establish your relationships and if i end up ditching everyone right away well i’m not going to be invited to go out anymore now am i? she says she understands but i can’t help but thing that underneath it all she’s a bit upset. if only clubbing was her thing, i wouldn’t care if she came along i just know she’d hate it.