The End is Nigh

Hey Guys

Another update from Austin, Texas! We've got one month left here, and time is really flying way too fast!

It has been an absolutely manic semester so far. As part of my course I've been able to work with a Capital Punishment Clinic run by the Law School, which has been the experience of a lifetime without a doubt. The clinic screens and selects convicted criminals on death row who have compelling arguments for innocence or bad legal representation, and then assign students to work alongside lawyers investigating and researching their cases. With no idea what to expect, we went along to the first class and were immediately assigned to a man who was scheduled to be executed on the 4th of April! Working on his case was unbelievably eye-opening to the criminal justice system here in Texas, and getting to meet him and others at Texas's death made you really wonder whether taking a life like this could ever be justified. Long story short, we managed to stay his execution 8 hours before he was scheduled to be executed - see the news report at http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-05/justice/texas.scotus.inmate_1_sodium-thiopental-new-execution-protocol-first-execution?_s=PM:CRIME (Maurie Levin was the lawyer we were working with on the case!)

But it hasn't been all work. Living next to New Mexico we thought it would be silly to pass off the opportunity to go skiing/snowboading in the Rockies, so a while back we headed off for a weekend to an amazing little place called Sipapu, staying in a little log cabin there and enjoying the snow. For Spring Break, we drove from Austin to Key West - the last island in the string of little islands off Florida, a 1600 mile journey in total! On the trip we stayed in New Orleans and Miami, both great places well worth visiting! The French Quarter in New Orleans was something out of Europe, with great food, music and nightlife. Miami was similarly European, in fact felt a bit like Monaco with all the Ferraris and Lamborghinis and rich French people. Sadly I managed to get full blown Vertigo while in Key West, rendering me unable to walk in a straight line at all! Luckily one of the girls on the trip also got insured on our rental car, so we weren't stranded, but it could have been a lot worse!

Last weekend though I experienced a proper Texan weekend when my friend from Texas A&M invited me out to stay on his cousin's ranch. It was an awesome weekend of fishing, jumping off cliffs and hunting from the back of outrageously massive trucks, and almost reminded me of my home country of Zimbabwe!

Its been great fun out here. We haven't got long left though, so certainly will be looking to make the most of the last couple weeks. This weekend we are going to try out a water-park which supposedly has the best rides in the US! Should be good..!

Spring Break!

The month of March welcomed the traditional student holiday which one calls Spring Break. The dates of my Spring Break at UF fortunately coincided with the dates of Mardi Gras and of course, we decided to take full advantage of this. New Orleans was pretty chaotic with hundreds of people wearing fancy dress and drinking freely! Parades occurred in the day and night where marching bands and floats would enthusiastically move down the roads whilst throwing beads to onlookers. Some people took the beads very seriously and their necks were engrossed with hundreds of beads, however for me I had far too many painful experiences of being ambushed with beads that soon I began to dodge them! Most parties started in the morning and carried on late into the night and the streets were constantly filled with street entertainment. Aside from Mardi Gras, New Orleans provided some delightful Creole food and also beautiful buildings and shops in the French Quarter and I would love to go back and explore all the unique shops.

For the second half of our Spring Break we headed over to Panama City Beach in Florida for some traditional Spring Break action i.e. beach in the day and partying all night. Most of the clubs had ridiculous entry prices which we couldn't justify paying for so watch out for that and there are plenty of other places which are cheaper! Just because it is Spring Break, people believe they can rip people off! This was a fun experience but it was just like any other holiday in a place like Malia and Zante but still all in all a great Spring Break and a week to remember!

Howdy y'all

My stereotypical Southern title to this post is due to my visit to Texas during the last weekend in February. I went to Austin for a weekend to experience some Southern culture. Austin is renowned for its live music (hosting SXSW music festival), chilled out nature and just generally cool people. During the weekend I didn't meet one unhappy person! The general consensus among the people of Austin is to keep Austin weird and indeed it is like no other place I have been to so far. They have a pink State Capitol, live music every night of the week and drafthouse cinemas where you can be served food whilst watching a movie. Although it is a bit different to your typical Texan place, I still witnessed many men walking around in cowboy hats, shirts, jeans and boots!



Aside from Austin, February has left me wondering where the past few weeks have gone as they seem to have drifted by very quickly. At UF work has been the main agenda this month where many people have experienced mid terms. I still don't quite understand why they are called mid-terms when people generally have three lots of mid-terms so really they should be called third-terms! The other week, Gainesville hosted the arrival of a well known DJ called Steve Aoki. This was a massive event for small town Gainesville and a very enjoyable night for everyone.

Sigma Pi

It has been a hectic few weeks since my last post. At the end of last term after all the exams and parties were over I flew over to New Jersey on the East Coast to stay with an American friend who was on exchange at Nottingham when I was a fresher. It was a quick 3 day trip but we packed loads in, sampled the delight of Jersey's pasta pizza, had a cheeky dabble on the blackjack tables in Atlantic City's casinos (East Coast Vegas) and spent a morning in the Bronx and an afternoon in Manhattan two VERY different parts of NYC. After all that I flew back to London for Xmas and quickly found myself in Blackpool, quite the classy jet setter I know.
After the usual NYE antics I once again found myself back at Heathrow bound for Corvallis, and luckily only a 24 hour journey this time. My roommate went back to LA pretty early at the start of this term so I found myself with little reason to stay in the dorms so got myself 'rushing' a fraternity. This basically means when you go over to the frat house and get to know everyone if you are thinking about joining. Once you like them and they like you, you receive a bid to 'pledge' to the fraternity, (very long winded process I know, the frats aren't quite as simple as a bunch of guys in a house partying). When you pledge (which i have now done) you have a little ceremony which is a very cultish experience and pledge you life and soul away to the frat which in my case is called Sigma Pi. The whole process hasn't finished yet though, during my pledge ship I have to learn about the frat and its history before i can be fully initiated as a full member which wont happen for me until next term. Its a very fascinating incite into the Greek culture of American Unis, and of course great fun as well. After this I am off to an athletes and housewives party with a sorority (house full of 50 odd girls). More to follow.

A new year brings a new semester!

Settling in to a new semester has been a lot more straightforward and less stressful this time around due to knowing the ropes at UF (also I luckily didn't have the worry of snow affecting my return flight!). We were warned that the weather was expected to get colder for January and February however we have been blessed so far with week long warm spells preparing us for the summer heat that will arrive in a few weeks.

Having been rather shocked with the quantity of workload I had to undertake last semester, I have chosen my modules wisely this semester ranging from modules on rock 'n' roll to ethical issues in American sport. Also, I have taken the opportunity to do an individual research module to allow me to do some useful research on my chosen dissertation topic as I have found my uni to be full of endless sources and articles.

Aside from work, so far this semester I have just been having fun getting to know the new exchange students. At UF in particular, we have a substantial amount of Australians which meant last week we celebrated Australian day - basically a day full of drink and BBQ's but a fun day none the less! Also, Tampa hosted Gasparilla 2011 last weekend. Gasparilla is a smaller version of Mardis Gras and a parade dedicated to pirates. It only lasts the one day but it is still atmospheric and a fun day out for whatever age you are!

America is currently football crazy with the Superbowl coming up this Sunday. Everywhere has superbowl themed events and food! The gymnastics season has also started at UF which is a very enjoyable event to see (however this may be due to me being a female!) and athletics will be starting up soon as well so although the football season may be over there are still lots of other sports to see!

Winter Update

With exams over, it feels apt to write another update here.

Every Canadian I meet seems to gain a certain amount of glee by informing me, ‘this isn’t the worst yet, wait till February,’ Now I think it is a sign of a particularly sadistic people that seem to enjoy the pain of others, yet the Canadians still present themselves as being like ‘America without the Americans.’ Just so you know, it gets so cold in Canada, that your tears freeze as they leave your eyes.

Work wise, it is worth stating two things about McGill. The quantity is harder, but the quality is not. To elaborate, there is more reading then Nottingham, quite a bit more actually. However, the quality of the work itself isn't harder. You just have subjects that are more broad. The harder thing to deal with is the second point, you have about a three day gap between the last day of term and final exams, meaning you really don't have time to do a lot of revision. So you can't slack on the reading during the term, or else you will have no hope for the exams.

The British Appreciation Society here is a good laugh, whilst I am abroad and want to meet predominantly Canadians, its nice to have a place where I can say 'mare' and people know what I mean. TO get my weekly dose of Canadian culture, I am going to see the habs (the Montreal Canadians - an Ice hockey team.) This city runs on hockey, so to get tickets is really fortunate.

So, that is all for now. I am sure I will update soon

Cougars!

I'm back in Charleston after a lovely, but very busy, christmas holiday back in snowy old Leeds. Since i last blogged i managed to go back to New York to stay with family friends for thanksgiving and my 21st birthday (see pic above of the amazing ice rink in Central Park). It was amazing, mainly because i got to have an epic meal with a house full of Italian Americans, and because my family suprised me with a secret visit.
Anyhoo, this semester i have lots of fun trips planned. I'm going to DC next month with a friend from home who is studying at Wisconsin uni, and me and some friends from Nottingham are going to New Orleans for Mardi gras as it conveniently falls during spring break. I may also be going to south by south west festival in Texas to see my friends band, so lots is going on!
I really like my classes this semester. I'm doing a independent research study in preperation for my impending dissertation (joy), but i'm being supervised by a lady who works for the CIA which is pretty cool. I went out for dinner with a professor the other night to discuss this, and he indulged me and Matt with lots of red wine and told us tales of his travels which was enlightening to say the least.
Despite the work load, and there is a lot of it, there is plenty of time to have fun. I went out last night with a group of friends to a kareoke bar, and tomorrow night we are 'tailgating' the basketball game. Still loving Charleston, i think i might stay forever.

Despite it being November, at UF it still feels like summer with temperatures in the twenties! This is one advantage for being in Florida and another reason is that you only have to pack light clothes! I think it is going to be quite a shock to return to England at Christmas to face temperatures below zero.As the term is coming to a close, it means the work load has unfortunately picked up with the looming presence of finals. Although one good thing about finals happening in a few weeks is that it means that I can have a stress free Christmas (which is rather nice compared to my last two Christmas holidays at Nottingham).Thanksgiving is such a fun holiday to partake in. I was lucky enough to go and enjoy Thanksgiving with an American friend and her friends and family. The food was wonderful ranging from sweet potatoes covered in peacans, brown sugar and marshmellows to pumpkin pie! Also, we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to embrace Thanksgiving wholeheartedly where we witnessed some spectacular miming from Kanye West and Jessica Simpson. Nothing beats America on cheese factor!
Travelling has been one of my quests this semester to try and start exploring this vast country. Being only here a year I want to take full advantage of being here and see other states and be able to experience different cultures to that of Florida. I have ventured to DC, Boston, Miami, Atlanta and the Bahamas so far and have a long list ready for next semester! Travelling now is a lot cheaper than travelling from England every time. Hostels become your new best friend whilst out here!

Update from McGill

Sorry, I appreciarte this update is late, but the lure of midterms, meant that I kept on putting it off. Looking through some of the previous updates, people tend to talk about their life in the country and them furnish this with personal anecdotes, so I'll try and do the same.


I'll start with class. McGill lecturers are fantastic for the most part, and I have to say that I much prefer the class interaction here to Notts. However, I am also being told, that I dress too casually for class. A few times I have come to class in trackies, but this is too casually. These guys haven’t had school uniform for 14 years of their life, I feel this gives me a right to wear what the hell I want.Lecturers here mention Britain a lot, which I really do enjoy. However, they tend to make wild claims about home, which are not so true. This one was less forgiveable. Mostly because the lecturer is from Manchester. His claim that the Bank of Scotland is one of the biggest banks in England, was laughable. I will feel I have made a difference in Canada, if I can clear up this surprisingly common misconception that England and Britain are interchangeable terms.

Obviously, last weekend was remembrance Sunday. Canadians are fairly big on this. The Quebecois are less keen. Interestingly, the Anglophone (English speaking) schools take the day off from conventional classes, and spend the whole day teaching about the horrors of WW1 and WW2. The Francophone (French speaking) sometimes don’t even have a minutes silence. Probably one of the most interesting things that I have learnt about Canadian society. We are missing out in England though. Canadian poppies are off such a superior quality. None of this paper crap, they are made out of felt. These things could last me for years. Perhaps I am missing the point by saving a poppy from last year, to wear the next year, but I have to tell you these things are fantastic. Sturdy and with a fantastic clip mechanism.


If you ever go to Canada, get yourself to Tim Hortons. Its like McDonalds but for coffee, bagels and pastries. Probably the best thing about Canada actually.

Well, that's all from me

Hope everyone is keeping well,

Alastair

Dads Weekend

Once a year American Universities have a weekend dedicated to Dads. It is quite a nice idea but its slightly strange walking round campus seeing every student with their Dad in toe, some of the Dads even stay in the dorms. Of course I didn't have my Dad over for the weekend so I therefore continued to partake in the usual weekend activities at an American College, 'Football' games and house parties.

This weekend was the second time I've seen the 'beavers' play 'football' however this time we didn't turned up and therefore deservedly had our pants pull down by the Washington State Cougars. Game day at OSU is a big affair and many ex-students and in this case loads of dads usually stay in town for the evening and hit up the parties, bars and the only club in town. I have to say it was a new experience to dance with a girl in a club only to find out that next to her, her grey headed slightly over weight dad was dancing next to me with another girl well under half his age, americans really do like the whole happy families thing.

College of Charleston

Hello! I probably should have blogged before now, but better late than never i suppose! My name is Nikki Barr and i am currently studying at the College of Charleston in South Carolina (go Cougars!). I'm not really sure where to begin in describing Charleston. For me, the biggest attraction are the beaches, each of which are just a twenty minute drive away, and since a few of my American friends have cars, this means i've spent plenty of weekends attempting to surf and building sand castles (because you are never too old to build a sand castle!.

'Downtown' Charleston is full of beautiful buildings, however you don't see any skyscrapers here on account of the architectural board which ensures that any new buildings adhere to charm of the old town. King Street, the high street if you like, boasts plenty of upmarket shops, such as channel, reflecting the fact that Charleston still remains very wealthy post civil war.

The college itself is pretty amazing. The fraternity and sorority scene doesn't impact the student body here all too greatly, which is great because in many ways i find the concept ridiculous. There are however, plenty of societies to become involved with including student radio, the watersports club and all of the other obvious sports teams. One thing that i would say is that classes are very different to lectures or seminars. The classes resemble school lessons much more closely, and people are very keen to express their opinions which makes a change from awkward silences in many of the seminars i've had back home. The work load is definitely more demanding though; whilst it is easier work, you have a lot more of it!

I've managed to travel quite a bit whilst i've been here. Before i arrived in Charleston, i went to New York for five days which was very intense. I'm also planning to return there for thanksgiving and my birthday as i'm lucky enough to have family living in Queens. I've also been to Birmingham, Alabama with another student from Nottingham. We went to the civil rights institute which was definitely a worth while experience. We also went to another area in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, to meet one of my friends at East Carolina University who had rented a beach house for the weekend. So despite trying to settle in to a new place, meet new people and study, there is definitely room for travel.

This weekend is halloween and it is a very big deal in America. Plenty of my friends are going all out on their costumes; it doesn't necessarily have to be scary. We are going to a rave on friday night and to a concert on saturday with parties inbetween. Celebrations start wednesday night and go on until sunday so i've been warned to get all of my work out of the way to fully take advantage. Needless to say we are all very excited.

All in all, i've been here about two months now and so far i can honestly say that coming to the states was the best decision i ever made. I'm absolutely loving it!

Life as a Gator

Hello!

My name is Hania Piotrowska and I am currently studying at the University of Florida. I have been here 9 weeks which is crazy when you think about it as it doesn't feel that long. Campus is a lot larger than Nottingham, we have a football stadium which seats over 90,000 people, a basketball/volleyball court, numerous pools and gyms, a golf course and actual alligators! I thought this was just a myth that alligators would be on campus but you can easily stand about 10 metres away from a gator in a pond on campus - surreal moment!

International students have the option to stay in an international hall (Weaver Hall) where you usually share a room with an American (or if you are lucky, a single room). This is a great way to immerse yourself with other international students ranging from Vietnamese to Polish to Brazilian. Also another advantage is that Weaver is on campus so you are in walking distance of most things.

UF also has a group called Navigators. This is a group designed for international students where you get paired up with an American in a buddy system. They put on trips and so far I have been to Universal Studios with them, tubing at Ginnie Springs, Lake Wauburg and I will be going paintballing with them this Sunday. This is another fantastic way to meet more people.

Apart from all this fun I seem to be having, I have also had to knuckle down and study. The system is very different from Nottingham. Here you have monthly assessments/exams unlike Nottingham where you have all the work at the end of the term. Depending on what modules you pick it can be a lot of work and at first it seemed very overwhelming but as long as I stay on top of it all then it is fine. Plus, I have still found time to enjoy Gainesville's nightlife and travel at weekends which has already provided lots of fun moments and I am sure will provide many more!

Go Gators!

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

First steps into Canada

Arrival.

As I turned out and left to go into immigration, I was pretty nervous. I had some horrific experiences from the Department of Homeland Security in the states, and was wary of much the same. Thankfully, all was fine. Got all my documents processed within 10 minutes and my immigration official spent most of his time making fun of the Quebecois. Even though I was going to Montreal, I decided to fly to Toronto and then make my way up to Montreal. I had always wanted to go to Niagra Falls, and now seemed an apt opportunity. On first impressions, Toronto is an amazing city. It has the skyscraper feel of New York, but the people seem friendlier. Hopefully my detour en route to Montreal will work out, and so far so good!

Montreal

Arrived at McGill, which has an unbelievable campus. Pretty pleased with my location, as well. I have a 7/8 minute walk from my place to lectures. The view is pretty stunning as well (see picture above). First few days were a bit difficult, as I had to buy so much stuff, and it didn’t leave a lot of time for socialising. Going out on Friday night though, which should remedy all of that. Actually, I am quite excited for the start of class and to get back into the routine. Found out the gym here is amazing value, at £30 a year. Even the weather has been absolutely gorgeous, although I doubt that will continue for much longer. The only real problem I have encountered thus far is with mobile phones. Things are very different to Britain. No voicemail or caller ID unless you pay for it (and it costs a lot), and what has really upset me is that you have to pay to receive texts. I am sure later updates will be more interesting, but I’m just settling in at the moment.

So that about wraps things up, hope everyone is keeping well.

Alastair

Howdy from Texas

Hello! So a quick introduction - my name is Laurence Wilkinson, I am a third year Law Student, and I have been sent to the University of Texas in Austin in an attempt to understand the Law as written by Americans, a completely different proposition to the Law as written by Brits apparently. So, after packing my life into a 23kg suitcase, and just about surviving the 10 hour flight from Heathrow to Houston on a BA plane (that surprisingly wasn't on strike), I arrived at George Bush International Airport in the Lone Star State.

The first thing that was noticed was the temperature - arriving in from cold rainy Blighty into 40 degree humid heat was definitely a shock, but thankfully absolutely everything had air conditioning! There was still a bit of a trek to get from Houston Airport to Austin - to start with I had to get a bus from the airport into Houston central. The fare would have been $1.25, but only in change, and as the smallest note I had was a $10, and so the driver shook his head with pity and jerked his thumb to the back of the bus. On the road I marvelled at the expansive concrete freeways, which at points looked more like rollercoasters than roads, swooping and ducking and diving in order to connect the various routes to each other.

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and they don't lie. The cars there are mostly Ford, Chevrolet or Dodge trucks, twice as long as your average British motor vehicle, and pretty much twice as high. The malls on the side of the road seemed to go on forever, with megastore after megastore. The people weren't too small either - some of them tall enough to reach the roof whilst sitting down, others of them wide enough to take up most of their neighbor's seat as well as their own.

I then had to take a Greyhound from Houston to Austin, and it was quite an experience. The man sitting in front of me had a 3 hour long conversation with himself, pausing only to protest the alleged crushing of his knees inflicted by another passenger, who was told in no uncertain terms that he was to cease his 'bouncing' on his chair or else. Needless to say the bouncing was not mentioned again (although whether it had happened in the first place was debatable) and so the conversation with himself about the weather and the fishing conditions for the coming week continued.

I arrived into Austin at 9 that evening to be met by a wonderful UT girl who kindly took me to my apartment, where I was united with my fellow travelers from Nottingham, who had arrived in earlier that day. By this time jet lag had taken its toll, and after attempting to make conversation and failing miserably, we decided sleep was a good option and hit the hay.

The next morning we were fully awake by about 6AM, our brains telling us that it was now the afternoon and time to get up, and so we got up and started to sort through the items left behind by the previous Nottingham UT colleagues, and there were various things of use under piles of Law notes and countless saucepans. We then met our landlord Bill - a very pleasant man with a ponytail and numerous cowboy hats in his office. He gave us an introduction to Texas property Law, and then set us on our way to get our electricity, banking and other essential things sorted out.

We caused a stir in Bank of America - 5 Brits all crowded into a small-drive through bank to open new accounts was a very exciting prospect apparently! Many gifts were lavished upon us, and photographs were taken to record the moment. Our banker was extremely friendly, and doubled as a tour guide answering endless questions about the best place to... and the cheapest place to find... We spent the rest of the day sorting out various things, and enjoying American norms of 24-7 shopping and free refills on drinks - luxuries we were unaccustomed to back home. Everyone was we met was friendly and happy to meet us, as far as we were aware anyway.

Texas is a very new experience for all of us, and we look forward to the things to come!

Toronto in a month

Hi all,

I have not been blogging in a while and I came back after a holiday, two presentations and a hope to come to canada in a month. I have booked my fairly expensive high season ticket in July and will stay in Toronto and god knows where else for a couple of weeks and I am sure its going to be loads of fun :-)

Nastaran