Hi everyone,
Welcome to the University of Nottingham's new blog, on which our current students, researchers and staff are going to share their experiences of travelling and working in the USA and Canada.
If you are a potential student, alumni or current American or Canadian student studying at Nottingham, we'd love you to join us and share your photos and stories of your experiences of Nottingham and North America.
I'm delighted to report that our undergraduate North American Ambassadors have started to leave the UK to start their year of study at various institutions including SUNY, LSU, Texas A&M and the University of Toronto...Check back on the blog over the coming weeks and months to keep up to date with their experiences, or if you are a potential student or alumnus who would like to meet up with them on their travels!
In other news, I will be visiting Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Washington DC, New York and Charlottesville, VA from 15 September - 1st October so do get in touch if you would like to meet with me to discuss studying at Nottingham.
Until next time,
Ceri
Thursday 30 July 2009
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Hi from LSU Baton rouge,
ReplyDeleteIts been a whirlwind 3 weeks in Louisiana for me. When i initially arrived, a week before term started, to do all the international orientation, it was somewhat different to the now hectic and vibrant environment on campus. We were helped greatly in the first week or so by what i have now come to realise is standard southern hospitality, being shown round Baton Rouge by bus and welcomed with a Cajun evening were just two examples. I have experienced several parts of the culture that is extremely unique in this part of America. It is truly shocking to see how much life here revolves around food! I have been lucky to try some of the local specialities so far, cajun jambalaya, cornbread, 'raising canes' (a fried chicken place that began as a business project by an LSU student)but its fair to say if i continue enjoying this part of american life so much i may well need two seats on the plane home....
The other clear motivation for southern life is football. The whole campus will turn into football mecca come september 12th. They have already begun to set up for the big first home game, and they are expecting 200,000 people to be on campus eating, drinking and socialising before hand...an exciting prospect!
Class has begun, i'm about two weeks in, something that again is quite different to Nottingham. I cannot quite categorise them, all classes are like workshops, large lectures that you are allowed to interrupt with questions. But this is another thing that I will get used to.
The other side of life, the social side, has been great so far, I was lucky to turn 21 2 days ago, so I am finally allowed to once again do everything that i'm allowed to do at home. Although to be honest the 21 drinking rule is not strictly adhered to here, it is difficult to enforce such rules when other laws, such as being able to buy 'drive through' daiquiris, somewhat undermine the legal system!
I am visiting New Orleans for the first time to celebrate my birthday this friday, so then my introduction to the south will truly have begun
until next time,
Ian
Matt and I (Ben) have joined forces to document our first couple of weeks in the United States. Before arriving here in Albany, Upstate NY, we both spent time in other places to begin the transition into American culture. Matt spent his first few days in New York City, and I spent my first week in Boston. Both truly spectacular cities and equidistant from Albany, state capital of New York!
ReplyDeleteBen: Whilst in Boston I spent time with close family seeing the sights, swimming in lakes and experiencing local culture. I rode ‘The T’, the equivalent of the London Underground, travelling around the centre of Boston. I also ventured further to the islands that lie immediately off the coast of Boston to Fort Warren, an old penitentiary. The view of the Boston skyline from the top of the watchtower was truly spectacular. I was lucky enough to experience a concert in the park by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the theme of stars, concluding with an amazing rendition of the Star Wars theme by John Williams. To top off the trip, I was also fortunate enough to go to the ‘American Idol’ Summer Concert Tour, one of the highlights of my time in the states so far.
Matt: One of the biggest reasons in me choosing Albany was how close it is to New York City (just 2 hours by train and 3 by bus). After flying into JFK I decided to spend a couple of days exploring the Big Apple before heading up to the university. The place was incredible and all the buildings were so tall! The place was so massive I barely saw anything (though included the essentials: Statue of Liberty, 5th Avenue, Central Park and Abercrombie) before I had to leave but I’m planning a bunch of return trips
More to follow below!.....
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry was too many words -continued from above...
ReplyDeleteNow in Albany, we have just concluded our first week of classes after a gruelling week of orientation. Long lectures, long hours and even more information, not to mention the insane amount of food that is available here! We managed to form a ‘Brit-Clique’, a group of friends from the UK who are there for each other and are experiencing things at the same time. We mostly spent our orientation week exploring the campus, the local shopping mall, the State Capital Buildings (fascinating in architecture and size), the New York State Museum, attending our very first minor league Baseball Game (in the pouring rain) and most importantly discovered SUNY Albany has 4 fountains!! The largest of which is in the centre of campus and is used as a swimming pool with students walking in, sunbathing by and splashing around in what has been so far amazingly hot weather – until the cold winter sets in and the fountains are turned off and drained; but have no fear, Fountain Day comes around in April where the fountains are turned back on everyone parties like there’s no
tomorrow!
Classes have gone well so far, it has been a pretty tough week getting to know where the classes are, in my case (Ben) what classes to actually take/drop and what books to get and most importantly how much they are. The standard cost of a semesters book load can range from anywhere between $200-$500- (extortion we know). The classes we are taking are:
Ben- Broadcast Journalism, Visual Culture, Getting to Know Albany and The History of Social Change.
Matt- The Quest for Equality in America, 20th Century American Literature, American Foreign Policy and American Writers after 1800.
The accommodation has also been a bit of a rollercoaster with some getting used to. All of the Nottingham gang/Brits (apart from me, Ben) are downtown in the Alumni Quad where most international and transfer students are housed, meaning that roommates can be either. A couple of us have American roommates, which is awesome! I am currently on campus in Dutch Quad, also known as the ‘Jock Block’ where most of the athletes are housed. I applied to be here for the Kosher meal plan offered, being Jewish! I also wanted to be close in proximity to classes and gain a real American experience. So far so good, although it is a pain having to get the bus downtown to see my friends (although it is free), and I get the best of both worlds this way.
Keep reading for more from universities across the states as well and Matt and I updating you from Albany, along with Holly Novick, a Nottingham ambassador also here in Albany!
Until next time...
Ben Lassman and Matt Biggs
Greetings from SUNNY Toronto!!! Sunny? I really wasn't expecting to say that...
ReplyDeleteMy journey here was a complete shambles. My flight from Paris to Montreal took 2 hours longer than scheduled, so I missed my transfer to Toronto. It took me over 16 hours of 'travelling' to get here. I wouldn't have minded if I was going to New Zealand or something... However, any anger was quickly extinguished by the helpfulness of the Canadians and the drive through Downtown Toronto to my house - passing the giant beaming phallus, a.k.a. The CN Tower. One word - WOW. It's my new favourite view, and I can see it from my house.
I haven't been in Canada for long because school starts later than the US here. But I've found time to explore Kensington, China Town, Toronto Islands and the stylish Bloor Street - home to Tiffany's, French Connection, Gucci etc - which is actually situated just one block from my house. Is that jealousy I can sense???
Accommodation- well I chose to live off campus
(only 2 blocks away though)in a shared house. I have 14 housemates and have met 8 of them so far. There is only one other exchange student from Germany and the rest are Canadian. The division i live in is a pretty tight community always throwing parties, which is cool because I was worried that I'd made the wrong decision. In fact later today we have a BBQ but I doubt it will top the one I was at yesterday - on a rooftop, directly opposite the CN Tower (Ok enough of the Tower...)
Orientation for exchange students begins tomorrow, so I'll finally see the Campus. I am hoping to meet more International students whom I can go sightseeing with, as my housemates have seen everything in Toronto 10000 times.
Anyway, it's Labour Day and I have a BBQ to get ready for and then I'm going to experience Toronto at night! I am celebrating my 22nd birthday out here in a few days, so hopefully I'll have some stories from that.
Keep tuned,
Paul Ashfield @ The University of Toronto.
p.s. I was going to attach a photo, but i'm extremely computer illiterate so don't know how to.
Hi from SUNY Albany,
ReplyDeleteI arrived in Washington Dallas first and I literally had to run through immigration and practically missed my connecting flight to albany... but luckily didn't! However, one of my cases definitely didn't make it! Anyways, so the first few days I had no clothes which was NOT ideal, but a quick trip to walmart sorted me out for the beginning. Moving into a dorm room when the whole place is like dead! cos no other students are there yet is pretty daunting to say the least!
Anyways, now I feel I've settled in much better as everyone has arrived, and just sorting out classes and what to take and what not to take depending on my interests... Takes a bit of getting used to as the classes are really different and more discussion based.. think someone else wrote this as well.. but I'm sure for all of us it's just a matter of time...
Other than the initial draw back of no case, I'm sooooo happy with my corridor- everyone's american and really friendly, plus it's nice to meet people from all over NY... even though the majority are from the city or long island it seems...
Definitely learning to do the accent and its getting there.. slowly! Labour day weekend was good fun, no school on monday! ... funny thing though, was I must have asked a load of american friends what is it for? Why do u celebrate it? the majority had no clue. Plus the lack of information many americans seem to have about any other country other than the US. That was a tad shocking... but its all just getting used to.. and everyones really friendly... so, so far so good :)
Holly Novick
hello readers. i think i am the first one to post from reed college in portland, oregon on this blog. so, in the vain of my fellow nottingham bloggers: HELLO FROM REED COLLEGE
ReplyDeletei wanted to open my attempt at a blog with a quote from nabokov about keeping a diary, but needless to say i can't find it....hours in the library have fried my brain (in a good way).
my time at reed college thus far has been a great learning experience, and very enjoyable, though in different ways than expected. i spent a few days in seattle prior to driving down to oregon with my parents. the city was great and i visited the "experience music project", which had a brilliant jimi hendrix exhibition, and a whole load of exhibitions about the emergence of grunge during the 90's. it's a music scene i have become interested in recently (i recommend to any michael azzerad's "our band could be your life" in relation to this), and so i found it all really fascinating. i pottered around seattle a bit with my parents, went to its legendary fish market, and found out that the first ever starbucks has been transformed into a furniture store!
i took a wonderful, scenic route down to oregon by car, navigating mount hood; needless to say the views all along were spectacular. however, the journey did take slightly longer than planned, and rather than taking about 3 hours (if you head straight down the freeway on the I-5) it took about 6. disaster.
when i arrived in reed the campus was rather dead for the first week due to the fact that none of the american students had turned up yet. although reed do a great job with inaugurating everyone to reed college, and making us all feel welcome, i do think that most of the international orientation was geared towards students who were unfamiliar with western customs or who didn't speak the language. having english as my first language and having been born in the states, as well as already having done 2 years of higher education, meant that a lot of the stuff they explained was slightly irrelevant. we had a lot of talks about academic honesty/plagiarism, which we are fully aware of having done 2 years at nottingham. however, things started to get into their natural swing when the american students turned up. the only drawback with this was that all of the freshmen went on 4/5 day long "odysseys"- hiking/rock climbing etc through the mountains- after their first night. though any fears that we would feel left out were soon dispelled, and the american "o-week"- equivalent to our freshers- was all good fun.
....
....(continued post from above)
ReplyDeletereed's annual "noise parade" wherein most students on campus just get together dressed in colourful clothing, and bang anything to hand/shout a lot, was lots of fun...a parade, some might say. there was lots of fire and a few people playng bagpipes/saxophones, which is always welcome.
i have got into the swing of my classes, and the copious amounts of work that goes along with them! despite people spending loads of time in the library, we all manage to get into town and mooch around a bit. portland has got a brilliant array of music shops, which i have been gradually exploring with the resulting doom of my finances. i also bought a ticket to music fest north west last week, which is a 4 day music festival around portland, this year involving the likes of modest mouse/explosions in the sky/arctic monkeys/frightened rabbit etc. a lot of the venues were over 21, which meant i missed a bunch of people i really wanted to see, but got my fair share of music joy inbetween writing essays and hitting the books in the library.
i think all of the nottingham representatives at reed have really felt like they were made to hit the ground running this year. all of us on years abroad are made to join juniour year classes, and in some cases we have dipped our toes into something new, a new field that we have not ever undertaken at university level. i started the term taking a philosophy metaphysics class, but found that not having done any philosophy proper at nottingham, this was all a bit too much, so it hastily got dropped! also, everyone here approaches conferences (equivalent to our seminars) with such enthusiasm, and has no qualms about speaking up and making their opinion about the work known, which was quite daunting at first but in many respects a welcome break from the regular diffident english student. i hope to meet a few more people on my course, and get to know some upper classmen a bit better; i think this is slightly easier than at nottingham because students in their 2nd/3rd/4th years tend to live on campus too (the college is only about 1300 in total), unlike at notts where everyone moves out of halls after freshman year.
sorry if this makes no sense. it's nearly 1am here and i have had loads of insurance documents to scan all evening (i have contracted a pretty bad ear infection since getting here (typical), and so insurance companies need to be notified etc), which was a mind-numbingly repetitive activity.
hopefully my next blog entry will be more coherent, and i can reveal a bit more about the non-academic side. i am very much in academic mode at present!
all the best to fellow study abroaders, i hope you have an amazing year.
tim @ reed college, oregon. xx
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