Alas, The Time has Come.

It’s nearly midnight on Wednesday evening and the thought of flying over the pond in 35 hours is becoming more and more of a promise than the illusion that it has been for quite some time. I will be flying out on Friday with United Airlines at 11am up to Washington D.C., and then over to Heathrow Airport in London to face Jet-Lag head on. With a couple shots of espresso and the adrenaline that’s running through me at this point, I think I’ll be able to handle it decently. After spending Saturday in London, I’m going to Oxford for part of the day on Sunday to meet up with my Co-Year Anisha so that we can get to know each other before we’re both at Atlantic, and it will be neat to get a tour from a native with the town and legendary school. On Monday I’m not really sure if we know what we’re going to do yet, but one option that popped up was to go to Bath for the day and explore around, and hopefully go to one of the Baths themselves and jump in! I’ll be heading over to Atlantic by rail on the 11^th sometime in the morning so that I can be there when everyone arrives with the banging of pots and pans by my second years.

Ah, for other wondrous news that has come up lately. I received news that I will be in the house “Dyfed” at Atlantic [One of the 7 houses, the others being Tice, Powys, Morgannwg, Sunley, Whitaker, and Gwynedd], which is the house closest to the castle and the center of Campus. I have three “dormmates”: Ondrej [Pronounced “Ondra”] from the Czech Republic, Juan Sebastian from Colombia, and Hedd from Wales, who I will be living with for the whole year. Both Ondrej and Hedd are second years, and Juan is my co-year. I’ve heard amazing things about all of them, so as you can predict, I’m pumped to be able to live with such great people.

During my first two weeks or so all my co-years and I will be going through induction in order to choose our service [I’ll update you all as soon as I decide!], our activities, as well as the classes that I will be taking there. Another completely amazing thing that we all get to do is go camping together for three days in order to have immensely ridiculous bonding, and experience the environment that is our new home.

Btw, my parents had a going away party for me that was awesome; I had the opportunity to see some people I haven’t seen in a very long time, and a bunch of people were there who really mean a lot to me. Thank you to all that came and made an effort to be there, you know who you are!

Also, the first few weeks will be very chaotic for me, so I can’t promise an in-depth post for everyone, but I promise I will do my best to update y’all weekly on what’s going on.

Here is my mailing address:

Atlantic College
C/O Kevin Irby
St. Donat's Castle
LLantwit Major
Vale of Glamorgan
CF61 1WF, UK

Also, here is the direct number to my dorm: +44 1446 799259 Ext. 1259*

*I wouldn’t suggest calling simply because it’s outrageously expensive, and not to mention the time difference means confusion. I will be six hours ahead over there, so please take that into consideration that it’s before 9pm if you do call our of courtesy for my dorm mates [means you’d have to call before 3pm in the States].

As I emphasized in the post before, I can basically only talk to you if you use Skype on your computer. I will not be using my Cell Phone at all because it’s a dollar a minute+, and each text message is 35 cents [Ouch!]. In fact, it’s possible that I may not even have a cell phone over there if it isn’t practical.

I will be taking loads of pictures, which you can all see by going to [picasaweb.google.com/Irby.Kevin], and will put many of them on the blog if they are related to what is being updated. You’ll notice that once you choose an album there will be a map on the left side of the screen, with which all my pictures will be tagged with the location in which they were taken. You can put the map into “hybrid” mode so you can see a satellite view of it as well…It’s pretty neat! There’s a bunch of pictures of the campus, so make sure to check those out as they are a good sum of what my new home is like.

As I spend my last day in America with friends&family, I’d to thank everyone who is tuning in for your support, and wish the best of luck to everyone here in Texas and hope that all of you do great this year! I wish you all the best of luck on College Apps, and hope that we may end up in school together again one day. You can always comment on my posts [Which is easier for me than mass emailing], so make sure to ask questions or make suggestions about what you’d like me to post!

Sincerely,

Kevin