Everything is Still Bigger in Texas

It is just about been a month since the Nottingham Law group arrived in Austin, and time has just flown past! We had about a week to settle ourselves into our apartment and Texas life in general before classes started, and are now pretty much into the swing of things.

Classes here are slightly different to what we had back in Nottingham, the most obvious difference that can be seen on entry into a classroom is that everyone is much older than you! Law is a graduate degree here, so the majority of people are over 25, in some cases are married with kids, and you definitely feel like the small fish in the pond! Having said that though there are numerous advantages to it all, for a start the facilities and resources are fantastic in the Law School - the Law Library alone is larger than Hallward back in Nottingham, the discussion in class is of a very high standard, and of course there is a massive variety when it comes to choosing classes. In class, no longer can you get away with not saying anything, the professor will pick you out and grill you on the spot, and bad answers can reflect negatively on your grades, so you better come prepared! The professors themselves are mostly well renowned and have written a few/many books on various topics, in fact we had a week off one class last week because the professor was part of a death row inmate's defence and the case was before the Supreme Court!

Atmosphere on and around campus is pretty amazing, 60 000 students is double what we have back home, and when the Uni American Football team is due to play, the Uni colour (which happens to be burnt orange) is everywhere. The campus is dominated by a 100 000 seater stadium that is sold out every game the Uni team plays (wikipedia the 'Longhorns' for some info!), and this past week we were lucky enough to get tickets so see them play! We lost the game pretty badly, resulting in most people on campus being depressed for the rest of the day, but the UCLA fans who had travelled all the way from California seemed to be pretty pleased about the result!

The food continues to amaze me, we have had a few Tex-Mex meals that involve more cheese than most dairy farms produce in a day (seriously, the cheese to all other food ratio on your dish is about 50:1) but the novelty of free unlimited refills still hasn't worn off, and neither has the all-you-can-eat ribs for $10. Most supermarkets being open 24/7 is just another example of the conveniences people here experience without even thinking about it, but it is certainly causing us Brits to pile on the pounds! It's a good thing the Uni has a state of the art gym that is about 10 times bigger than the Nottingham one and is free to use, or we might not fit on the plane on the way back!

Next week we are off the State fair in Dallas, where literally anything can be deep fried (steaks, oreos, ice cream, beer, you name it!) and hopefully see our newly beloved Longhorns overcome their fierce rivals OU in the Red River Rivalry game, which can never be played on either team's home soil as the rivalry is just too intense!

Welcome to Oregon

After 36 hours, 3 planes, 2 airport floors and 1 retired federal agent I finally arrived at Oregon State University to start my American College exhange year.
OSU is a fairly large university in a small american town, where frat parties are the place to be and the 'football' team are religion. After my first week of orientation I have now fully immersed myself into american college life. This was kicked off by a convocation which is essentially a formal welcoming to all new students but it is a bit of a serious affair with the national anthem, speeches and saluting of the flag, all very american.
Its the norm out here for those living in dorms to have a roomate, my roomate Rudi is a future american football player from Inglewood in LA and out here in Oregon we have become quite the pair on campus, the tall blackman from LA and the englishman in a prodominatley white american university.
The accent does work a charm and already people seen to know me even if I've never met them before!
Anyway I will leave it there for now, dont want to give too much away to soon. More on the frat parties and 'football' games to come.

By
William Dunford
Studying Civil Engineering at OSU for a year

Go Wildcats!

Hi everyone,

My name is Sam and I'm currently studying Chemistry at the University of Arizona. I was a little apprehensive about being out here with all the problems Arizona is having with Mexico but I haven't seen anything that would make me think there are any issues.

I arrived the day before Undergraduate orientation started so I would be getting very sleepy in the afternoons due to jetlag but I quickly got over that.

There were two things I knew I'd have to get used to very quickly: the heat and the size of the place! It has been 100F almost every day here which makes a stark difference to when I left England. The actual city of Tucson is very spread out so public transport is a must! The campus is a lot busier than Nottingham with a lot more bikes so you always have to be alert..otherwise you'll get run over!

I went to my first American Football game last night. I couldn't believe how many residents of the city came out to support their team as well as all the students. The marching band, who performed before the match, were amazing. They would form various formations such as the shape of Arizona and an 'A' for Arizona. The atmosphere every time our team scored was amazing. Everyone went crazy!

The university system here is so different from back home. I'm in classes with people who have been studying for their bachelors degree for almost 5 years! There is a lot more work than I'm used to with exams every couple of weeks!

The university has set up a system where International Students are paired with a Tucson family. I will see my host family every couple of weeks. They've turned into my tour guide while I'm here and are happy to take me sightseeing to any places that I want to go. They've also said that I can come and take advantage of their pool and home cooked food!

I'm meeting with any Arizona students who want to come and study at Nottingham in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping to get lots of them to sign up so other Nottingham students can experience what I'm experiencing here!
I'm so glad I took up this opportunity!

Hi everyone,

What with it being induction week for international students here at Nottingham I thought it would be as good a time as any to report back on my trip to the States.
I had a great time! Sitting here watching the rain pour down outside it is quite hard to remember the blistering heat I experienced everywhere I went but sunburn doesn’t lie. It just hurts.

I started out in Boston and got lots of research done at the JFK library, ably assisted by the library staff. It can be quite difficult to get work done at the JFKL because the research room looks out over the bay and on a sunny day has a lovely view of the water. I also managed to see a friend’s band play in Cambridge, which is a lovely area, although due to time constraints I wasn’t able to visit any of the Harvard museums but the campus in general seemed very scholarly (and privileged). I also met up with a really nice Nottingham-bound student and did my best to put a friendly face to the University. I hope she has a great time now she is in Nottingham and settles in quickly.

My next stop was in Binghamton, NY, to stay with a friend from my undergraduate days. Once again I had a great time, although there isn’t really too much to do in Binghamton. Still, we indulged in some baseball (like rounders but a bit harder), football (proper football, as in soccer) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns (old school). We even went to a beach, albeit an overcrowded manmade beach on a lake. I met lots of great people who made me feel very welcome in spite of my crazy Nottingham accent.

Another 7 hour Greyhound trip took me to Washington DC for a fortnight of research at the National Archives. I have to say that the nation’s capital was the most impressive place I visited (sorry Binghamton!). It was really fun seeing all the famous monuments, statues, buildings and museums. Favourite museum: Natural Science, a freebie like all the Smithsonians but with a massive collection of exhibits and fossils showing the beauty of the natural world and the elegant explanatory power of evolution. Favourite restaurant: Haad Thai on NY Ave, tasty Thai food with friendly staff. Favourite monument: the Washington Monument is just awesome in that it is visible from almost everywhere, although the Lincoln Monument is so iconic particularly considering the historic speeches that have been made there (I’m looking at you Martin Luther King, not Glenn Beck); the walk around the area to see all the monuments was extremely pleasant with some wonderful views of the city. Favourite statue: Albert Einstein, an interesting depiction of one of the 20th century’s greatest figures, only ruined by a middle aged mother who insisted her daughter clamber all over Einstein to get a satisfactory photo; they took forever but I’m sure it was 100% worth it.

I was fairly reluctant to leave DC as I had a lovely time there but Austin, TX, proved to be an intriguing antidote to the business-like demeanour of DC. Unsurprisingly, it was ridiculously hot in Austin. The food was pretty good; I mostly ate Mexican, which wasn’t as hot as I was hoping for but good nonetheless. I also got to see the famous bats leaving from under Congress Bridge for their nightly feeding which was an incredible sight; huge numbers of small bats flying so fast they become a virtual blur. As ever I spent most of my time in the library but still managed to see plenty of Austin.

All in all I had lots of fun in the States and feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit some really interesting places. It certainly made me want to revisit these places, and explore the US in general, when I don’t have to work and have more free time to explore. Don’t know when I will get to go out there again but I’m looking forward to it!

Ben

USA, I love you!

Hi everybody!

My name is Veronika Poniscjakova, and I’m going to spend this whole year at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT.

When I left Slovakia with my uncle (obviously my family doesn’t consider me competent enough to get to the USA on my own in one piece), I was a bit scared, as I didn’t really know what to expect. Thankfully, everything turned out to be fine and I’m slowly getting used to life outside of Europe.

The first city I visited in the USA was New York. I fell in love with the Big Apple the very moment I got off the plane and I promised myself that I would move there one day no matter what! I spent five amazing days in NYC, but obviously that is not just enough!
Even though I’ve seen almost everything I could have, I believe there’s always something left to explore, there’s always something new that can surprise you!
I loved visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, 5th Avenue was astonishing, Central Park was entertaining, I even went to the UN building, which was one of the best experiences I've ever had.
I guess I could easily get used to the lifestyle of 'The City That Never Sleeps' but I had to move on and start my new life in Connecticut.

The university reminds of our own university, except that it is enormous and extremely easy to get lost here.
The people here are nice and helpful (which you can appreciate after you get lost), and very open.
I didn’t find my hall too amazing though. It is one of the oldest halls on the campus, plus, having no air-conditioning in 95 °F is not exactly enjoyable either; However, I was lucky to get a nice roommate, which compensates the suffering caused by the bathroom - shared by 20 people!

The classes seem to be really demanding, I had to study from the very first day, I’m also taking Arabic, which may be challenging but I hopefully I won’t fail.
I hope that hard classes and being underage (the fact of which I’m not really fond) won’t prevent me from having an amazing time in the USA and hopefully I’ll have the time of my life here!

Cheers,

Veronika