Ever Had Olive Toast?

I slept like a baby last night. Didnt wake up until 11am European time. But at least by forcing myself to adjust to their hours right away, I don't have to suffer from jet lag. =) (due to flights be closed though, one of our girls didnt get her luggage so please pray it arrives!)
Last night I had the opportunity to sample 'olive toast'. It's apparently from a high-end bakery that gives the school base free bread and such every monday and friday. Im not a fan of olives, but it was interesting, lemme tell yah. The bread was good... I may just pick out the olives next time. aha.
This morning we (4 of us girls - the only ones that were able to catch flights on time) got settled in and unpacked all our stuff. They broke the devastating news to us that after this weekend, they will no longer serve us coffee here! It's tea from this point on. Ugh. Brits n their tea. Not that their instant coffee is that appealing anywas. =P Oh well. Their tea is actually 'quite lovely'.
Im sitting by the window in our room right now.... actually, this whole side of the room is windows that take up about half the length of the wall (and we have a raised ceiling so it's a GORGEOUS view!) I think I've fallen in love with the rolling fields. There's a ton of deer out there too. I havent gone exploring the grounds yet, but I braved a quick exploration of some of the 75-odd rooms inside. There's still a lot I haven't seen but I think I want to wait to explore with some of the other girls. They were all sleeping when I went around yesterday. One of the girls here said this morning that she feels like she's living in that old castle from Beauty and the Beast and it totally does! (As soon as Disney came out of her mouth, I knew I'd love her! =P) The rooms are gorgeous. Some of them are all floor to floor walls of windows that look out over the massive grounds. So beautiful. Others are still like those old studdies and book rooms from centuries ago. The one room still has all the old painted leather hanging on the walls like they used to use for wall paper back in the day. It's the original leather, too. One of my fav rooms in the bathroom. No joke! There are murals painted all along the top of the walls that were apparently one of the most expensive things done to decorate this manor when it was built. Plus, we have a flipping fireplace in our bathroom! AHA! I love it. All the rooms have the ornate mouldings all along the ceiling and most of the floors are the original wood flooring - which is pretty sweet, but doesnt help when its already so cold in here. I live with my slippers on. (I brought the mint ones, Syd! lol) Our drawers, mirrors, and armoirs are all the originals too so my clothes are going to smell like old smoked wood and probably moth balls by the time I come home. Downstairs there are stained glass windows, and a massive wood staircase that goes upstairs. Then upstairs there's a cast iron staircase right outside our room which leads to the boys' dorms. I haven't gone up there to explore yet, but I'm planning on doing so before the rest of the students arrive. The dining room is probably my favorite room. Huge windows, double doors that lead to the fields outside, flower vases of yellow daffodils on every table, and an attached grand room with an old piano that can be heard through the vents throughout the entire manor when it's played. I have yet to visit the coach house - which is the size of probably 2 or 3 of my houses - where our classes will be held. Apparently we get 10 different speakers from all over the world during our 12 month lecture phase. Im so looking forward to the classes!
Oh! Do you know what's cool? In the basement of the manor I found a room full of spiritual teaching books and if you follow it around and through a hallway, there's a room called the 'Boutique' and it's full of stuff that people in past DTS's have left behind either on accident or because they couldnt fit it all to take home. So we're allowed to help ourself to anything down there or leave anything when we go home too. I found an electrical adaptor, which is brilliant because their plug-ins are weird here and I wouldnt have been able to use my computer, camera, or hairstraightener without it! But there are tons of clothes, shampoo bottles, shoes, umbrellies, etc. Handy =)
Breakfast this morning was toast on steroids - I've never seen pieces of bread that big before! They must have specialized toasters or something - and super rich milk. That's something I'll have to get used to. I'll also have to get used to sharing my room with ladybugs - but here they are black with red spots. Weird, huh? Know what else is weird? Im eating 'Flame Grilled Steak' chips. Can't decide if I like them or not.
Anyways, I think I'm gonna go check out the grounds n such. I'll probably write more later today, as I dont actually have classes until Monday so I'll have more time in the next few days to blog than I will when I've started classes.
Cheerio! =)