with the sound of the ocean crashing

it sounds like sleeping on the beach here. the wind is so strong and it comes in bursts and it sounds (on the almost-top floor of my hall) like the ocean. nice to sleep to. but apparently it is ok to play basketball on the top floor at three in the morning, and to yell and slam doors. because i think that is what was happening last night.
i have a cell phone now, and talked to the csc last night until my brother's card expired of minutes, and that was really encouraging, to know that i'm missed. they're also all (well, almost) coming to see me for a few days in march, and i am really excited. i wish andrew could come; could just see him flipping out about this place. he'd love it.
anyone is welcome to call me at any time. i'm five hours ahead, but i don't mind getting calls in the middle of the night. if i'm in class, i'll try to keep it on silent. my number here (if you're calling from the states) is 011-44-791-338-6516 (dial exactly). it doesn't cost me anything to recieve calls. things have been working out the last day or two. but i wasn't really in that bad of a mood before. i kept thinking that i'm here, and that's what matters. all the things that happened were things that could have happened, and i wouldn't have traded them for not coming. so, despite being frustrated (and somewhat lonely), i didn't really feel horrible.
i went to my first class monday. american studies: hollywood & history. lol. we watched an old b movie and next week we finish it and discuss. there is also some reading handed out for next week but i don't have to buy a textbook. beautiful. hopefully i'll get my luggage today, then i can stop wearing this same pair of pants. also got a few groceries, and i have dinner every night with a group of americans if i bring dessert or a bottle of wine.
no classes yesterday. i got registered so i have my id and internet access, and all my id's i'd lost and my camera (which i found was lost after my last post) turned up. i'd put them in someone's camera bag for safekeeping and forgot about them. spent some time in northampton yesterday by accident. we'd meant to go to kingsthorpe, and someone told us the wrong bus. so we just did our shopping there (only like 10 mins farther away) and caught a bus back.
this morning i got up early for my seminar at 9:00 and nobody showed up except another american student. they say its possible it was cancelled due to lack of students so we'll just go to another seminar. i've got to go to the lecture for that class in a few minutes. then at 12:00 i'll talk to the math person on the phone (hopefully) to schedule linear algebra. at 13:00 i've got british studies, which is with all the other americans. then i'm done today. sorry for such a long post, but you aren't really required to read them i guess. just want you to know what's up.
with love.