Of Holidays and Homesickness

It's autumn at Keele... can't you tell?

Four weeks. Four weeks until the end of this first semester and I still can't believe it! It seems sooo close... yet so far away. These past 9 weeks have practically flown by. I remember leaving my parents in the airport like it was just yesterday.

However, the past couple of weeks I had been stricken victim to homesickness and a mild, mild case of culture shock... It was a long fight against it, but I finally fell, and I fell pretty hard... I am sad to admit. But, after reasoning with myself and working consciously to change my attitude, I have overcome it, and it is the greatest feeling ever. I'm back to enjoying and appreciating my time here at Keele and in England. I'm also excited that Christmas is creeping ever closer and closer.

It's really starting to get cold, now. But it's not any kind of cold that I'm used to, and, in reality, it's not THAT cold. It is the kind of cold, however, that just seeps through your body and chills you... and the wind doesn't help. On most days, the temperature averages about 45˚F. Like I said, it's not THAT cold, but it is enough to make you feel eternally chilled. My many blankets have become my best friends at night~ ...and in the day time.

School continues to go very well. I got my first grade back on a paper the other day (not a big paper, unfortunately. Just a c.500 word commentary) but it was still quite nice. It was a 68, and I was very happy. (A high 2.1... apparently 70s are rarely given, so a 68 is very good.) I want to see how my essay for American studies comes back. That one was much longer, and I had to contextualise a quote from the 1970's on the role the Atomic Bomb played in Cold War American society. It was very interesting, I think, and I had a LOT of fun writing it. My classes are fun. I mostly like my Russian History and Russian language classes, though. Historical Research and Writing is so... Let's just say, after 3 years in Uni, I already know that stuff. However, I do have to take it for HIS2003 at UTSA, might as well do it in England! It is quite interesting, though, and on the Plus side-- NO FINAL. Woohoo! American Studies is nice, too, but it's just another American history class. :P Although, I have learned more about President Hoover than I thought I ever would.

December and Christmas break is coming up, and I have some exciting plans! December 2nd and 3rd I am taking a quick side trip to London and Oxford to visit one of my best childhood friends who is studying in Oxford. I've also been invited to the BUTEX AGM, which takes place the afternoon of the 2nd at the University of Westminster. The BUTEX scholarship committee is reimbursing my travel expenses, and I had already had plans to visit Oxford on the 3rd. Therefore, it kind of decided to work out. I am really looking forward to seeing Katelyn!

Then, it is time for Winterfest. I'm not entirely sure what it consists of, but all I know is that it was mildly expensive and I was very lucky to get a ticket... so, it better be good. :) That takes place December 9.

Then comes Christmas break. I will leave Friday the 16th to go to Chudleigh (You know... like the Chudley Cannons?) in Devon with Beth, one of my housemates. Then, I am super super excited to make it to Glyfáda, Greece again to see the one and only Sam, one of my best friends from High School for New Years! I can't wait to see Sam and the rest of my Big Fat Greek Family. :) I will leave for Greece on the 28 of December and return to England on the 6 of January.

I am a little sad that I won't be with my family next week for Thanksgiving. I think that is the only thing I am bummed about for the time being. Of course Christmas, but that is further away. I don't have to worry about that so soon. It will be different... the first time in 19 years that I haven't been at home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years. It's very, very weird. But I'll get over it! And I look forward to having a really good time in Devon and Greece. I think Skype is such a godsend. It lets me talk to my parents any time I really want to for free. AND I get to see their faces. It has really helped me muscle through this homesickness. While I don't want my experience here in Keele to end, it is comforting to think of how much time has already passed, and how much more time there is left. When I put it in that perspective, it makes me feel better knowing I only have 29 weeks left until I can see my family.

But enough of that nonsense! So far, since the last time I spoke, we've been bowling, out to the movies, and shopping in Hanley... quite a few times. It was all really fun! And the more and more I do here, the more and more I feel like I'm back in the States. Especially when we went bowling! It was set up in a strip mall. I haven't seen one of those in about 10 1/2 weeks. We did find a Toys R Us and BestBuy... and me and a few of my other American friends have decided we have to go to that strip mall sometime soon... just to remind ourselves of the US. Yay American Consumerism! We did locate the nearest Starbucks, Burger King, and KFC, as well. And though I am boasting our excitement about finding these things, that doesn't mean we aren't doing 'English' things, too. But I think everyone is beginning to become a bit homesick... and not just me or American nationals. Still trucking along, though, and still having a roaring good time! ((Nothing beats a simple night walk around Keele Village if you feel you need a little adventure. Keele Uni and Keele village are FANTASTIC places to explore. It's just so quaint and beautiful.)) The thing about study abroad is that you just have to focus on having a positive attitude... and staying positive. Otherwise, you begin to focus only on the differences between the two countries... and that's when that nasty culture shock sets in. However, if you can stay positive, Study Abroad is a wonderful experience! I've said it, and I'll say it again... I am so glad I came to England!

That's about all of the update for right now! Until next time. :D Peace, Love, and England!

And, Finally, Some Time

     It's been over a month now, and I am truly sorry I have not been able to keep up with this Blog! Since I last wrote, I am now over half-way into my Fall semester at Keele University, and it is blowing my mind. But, can I say, it continues to be a real joy being here, and boy am I glad I got to come! England, once again, is absolutely amazing, and the people here are as much so. Where do I even begin? So much has happened in the past month. I guess maybe I should sit back and look at where I left you and start from there.

School here is very different than back in the States. You only have one lecture a week, with a seminar time that corresponds to it. The lecture, for the most part, is just like what you would see or experience in most any University in the United States, but the Seminar would be more like what you would find in an upper division class, with discussions and presentations being the sole focus. Thus meaning, there is a lot you're required to read or do. However, it really isn't that bad. I'm only taking four classes this semester-- Historical Research and Writing (Boring... but I have to take it for UTSA. Why not take it in England?), US History in the 20th Century (I always get asked why I chose to take US history in England... And I guess it is kind of like Hermione taking Muggle Studies... but I just wanted to see a new perspective on the United States, and so far it is pretty interesting. Especially seeing WHY all of the English nationals in the class want to take US History as well.), Russian Social and Cultural History (I think this is my second-favourite class. We read lots of Russian social literature and watch movies on Russia, such like October and Burnt by the Sun. Very interesting! Very exciting.), and lastly, Russian Language... which is the class I ALWAYS look forward to. Next semester I will hopefully be taking Politics and Cinema, a class on the Holocaust, the American West, and lastly, Russian II. We will see how it all goes.

A few weeks ago, the international students all took a coach down to Stonehenge and the Cotswolds (a Gorgeous little village with cute places to shop. For those of you from New Braunfels, think vaguely Gruene... but prettier.) It was a lot of driving for just a little time at each place (8 hours of driving > 3 hours of combined Stonehenge and Cotswolds.) We thought an hour was going to be too long at Stonehenge, but we found out that we were having too much fun trying to take (failed) pictures of us jumping in front of the rocks that we were late to the bus! Here are a few pictures from the trip:

 At the coaches getting ready to go into Stonehenge!

 Stonehenge in all of her glory.

 Downtown village center of the Cotswolds. Isn't it gorgeous?

Since then, we have also had a Medics Pajama pub crawl-- lots of fun! Basically, we all wore our pajamas and crawled around Downtown Newcastle. Though it was for Medics, you didn't have to be a medic to do it. However, I think I was only one of three non-medics who went with our group. The building I live in here at Keele is FULL of med students, which I guess is probably a good thing. The great thing about Keele University is that there is ALWAYS something to do! The Union is always open, as well as Sneyd Arms and other various bars around campus. If that does not suit your fancy, you can always go out to things like a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) which is basically a barn dance, or to the Cinema. Our group tends to go to the cinema every Tuesday on cheap day, where the tickets are only £3.95. It's not an action-packed night out, but it is relaxing and fun! And you get to see a new movie in a not-so-crowded theatre.

Last weekend, we had the Monster Ball. A big, Halloween Fancy-dress party. It was pretty fun! Not as fun as the first Icebreaker, but still good. Aside from the unnerving aspect of watching a kid lose control of his muscles after drinking a spiked drink. Needless to say, I didn't buy a single drink after that. Here are some photos:

Everyone wanted to party with the Banana! I lost my B2 along the way, but I still had a lot of fun at the Monster Ball!

Tomorrow is Guy Fawkes night. Can you say... BONFIRE?? Or something. I'm not quite sure what we are doing yet, but we will figure it out.

As for now, there's not all of that much really going on, aside from school. I have a paper due next week on the influence the Atomic bomb held in Cold War American politics and culture. Woohoo! Better get on that... And, of course, Winter Fest is coming up! Managed to actually get a ticket for that. It's ridiculous how quick those sold out! It will be fun, though. And I look forward to it!

I hope to maybe try and get back to doing this blog once every TWO weeks, because we know once a week isn't going to happen. But we'll see how it goes. Regardless, I will keep writing! Just bear with me on time.

Miss the States! Until next time, guys.

P.S. I had an interview posted on UTSA's Education Abroad Services' website on my BUTEX scholarship win. Check it out!

Insanity Before the Storm

    Hello all! I finally have a moment to sit down for a few hours and write to you all.

    England is absolutely INCREDIBLE. So far, I think this is one of the best decisions I have ever made-- it is worth every penny (of which I have to stop spending) The British are amazingly friendly and always willing to help. It's very much like the United States, as in, I am experiencing very little to no culture shock. The only real difference is the driving (scary) and the accents... which are very fun to listen to. I also loooove the area I am in. It's so quaint and pleasant. I would say "I could get used to this," but I am pretty sure I am already used to it.

    It's been absolutely crazy these past few weeks. As you know, the first week I was here, my family accompanied me. I was so very glad that they did. I think now how much more different the transition would have been without them, and I thank them for investing the time and money to come to England with me and help me adjust to my new environment. Regardless, I had a lot of fun with my family. While they were here, we took a train to London to see the end of the Tour of Britain-- which largely took place in Westminster. The craftsmanship that went into many of those buildings down there-- Parliament, Westminster Abbey-- was absolutely breathtaking! They truly are architectural marvels.

   I also managed to convince my family to head out to King's Cross station so that I could find the infamous Platform 9 3/4. We walked through the station and ended up where it should have been, only to find that it was not there! Upon further searching, we appeared to be blatantly lost, and a man stepped off his train and asked if we were searching for Platform 9 3/4. Thankful, yet mildly embarrassed that it was that obvious, we discovered that the Platform has been moved to the outside of King's Cross due to the large amounts of construction going on within the train station. It was a bit of a disappointment to find it in a small, metal shack on the street outside, but it was still awesome, and I still managed to take a picture of it.

 Big Ben on Parliament

 Parliament from Behind

 Tour of Britain outside of Parliament

 Westminster Abbey-- You all know what happened here. :]

 Continuation of the Tour

 

The Fam testing out the iconic London Telephone booths.

    I apologize, because I still have quite a few pictures from the time that my family was here that I need to put up on Facebook and such. But here are a few for you guys! Like I said, it was a lot of fun.

    At some point while my family was here, we also went to explore the city of Stoke-on-Trent and its history of pottery. (This area isn't called the "Potteries" for nothing.) Therefore, we took a trip to Gladstone Pottery Museum (Wedgwood, as historically awesome as it would have been, just seemed too expensive and out of the way) What we thought was going to be a simple afternoon outing, turned into an all day event-- it really was THAT interesting. Gladstone Pottery Museum was a former Victorian pottery factory that specialized in Bone China. It is characterized by its LARGE, iconic, coal-burning, bottle-neck Kilns which, in its heyday, used to litter (quite literally) the skyline of the City of Stoke-On-Trent. It was a fantastic place to visit, and if you're ever in the area, I suggest you try it out!

   Just a few pics:

   Finally, it was time for my family to depart. I tried very hard not to cry as I stood in line with them and waited for them to go through security at Manchester International Airport. I even commented to my mom-- who was having a harder time than I was-- "It's just like you're sending me off on the Hogwarts Express!" Nerdy, I know... but it was the most comforting thing I could think of. Eventually, I got choked up and had to leave after I said good bye and took one last, good look at my family before I left them for 9 months. It was sad, but I went immediately to find the Keele collection group, where I located my other American friends-- Joan and Hannah-- who had arrived just that morning from Ohio.

   The Keele collection was an ordeal in itself. We had all been instructed that we would all be on the 9:30 coach out of Manchester, and that the collection group would be there at 9:00 to register. Well, come 9:30, we are neither on a coach, nor has the collection group come to register us. Finally, at about 9:45, they show up. Apparently, they had decided to settle on the 1st floor of the building to try and take registration, when they had told every single one of us to meet them on the ground floor... which is where WE were. By 10:30, I had registered, and I was on my way to the bus with my friends... when they stop us and tell us there is no more room, and that the next bus would be along in 2 hours. Fantastic! I could have gone on, seeing as how I had no luggage, but I decided to stay with my newly-made friends.

   So, we waited at Manchester Airport. It was pretty fun, despite the evacuation of Terminal 1 (because of a "Mysterious Package" being left alone in an open area) and the fact that everyone was very, very tired. We all got to chat, meet new people, and get to know our fellow internationals before going off to Keele. I wonder that, if we hadn't been delayed like that, would we have made the same friendships as internationals? Regardless, by 1:45, they had returned, and we were off to Keele University!

   Once at Keele, we had to queue for forever to pick up our packets and keys for accommodations... which was a pain. And then, they were providing buses for students with luggage, but we decided that it was NOT worth the wait, and a bunch of us decided to drag our bags the mile back to Hawthorns Hall. That night, Keele University had a "Welcome to Britain" party for the internationals, where they served us Fish and Chips, as well as Bangers and Mash. It was pretty fun-- met a few Internationals from Canada and other places.

   Keele has had many little events for us since we arrived at Keele-- such as the International Ball at Keele Hall, and other things. I think the next most exciting thing was the Icebreaker Event-- which was like a Giant club. It really was amazing, and I had LOADS of fun, danced all night and the such.

   Since I have been here, I have done something just about EVERY day and EVERY night, usually until relatively late. Needless to say, I'm very tired and I feel relatively drained. I did push through on Tuesday and try Rowing at Rudyard Lake. It was quite a bit of fun. Mostly international girls trying out for it, but that's all right. :] Sat next to a sick girl-- who I didn't immediately know was sick-- and I hope I am not beginning to regret it. Hannah's already gone through her bout of the Fresher's Flu, and I am beginning to wonder if I am picking it up... especially since I started feeling symptoms a day or so after I sat next to the person fighting it. ((For those of you who don't know, Fresher's Flu is just like... a bad cold. Not an actual Flu. I guess it just sounded better for alliteration purposes.)) Apparently, it's something that a great number of uni students get as they return to school, though... and having been running my body more than I am used to by staying up late and going all day, as well as exposing it to a constant battering of brand new germs from many different countries... it's no wonder I'm beginning to feel a little ill (sneeze-y, snotty, and the such... and a sub-par diet probably doesn't help...) I plan to take it very easy this weekend, visit Boots at some point today to grab some medications (Boots is like Walgreens or CVS for us) drink vitamin C, and hope that my immune system pulls back up to speed by Monday when classes start.

   Anyways, that's the quick and dirty version of what has been going on here, so far. I don't mean to sound rushed, but we are leaving at 2pm to go to Newcastle so that I can get a few last necessities, and I am cutting it a bit close. I will try to keep up with this more, now that school is about to start and I have a feeling things may just quiet down a bit. But we'll see!

   Peace, Love, and England, guys.

And So, It Begins...

     It's my first post ever, and I have to say I am kind of excited!

     This entry serves as a test post, as well as an update about things going on here in Texas before I depart Thursday afternoon. I plan to make weekly posts, and I really hope I will manage to keep up with them.

     As you all know, I am hopping the pond to attend Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme (Not to be confused with Newcastle-upon-Tyne) near Stoke-on-Trent, England (UK). It's a very small school compared to my home university of UTSA, with 6,000 or so students as opposed to a near 30,000. I've been told that, because of its size, Keele is really a place of community, and that excites me. It's also located in rural England, which I am really looking forward to. All in all, I hope to have a truly British experience while I am here, while striving to gain a new perspective on my country, the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, as well as finding a better sense of myself.

     My departure date is fast approaching. It has really been a long road up to this point, seeing as how I started the process to this entire ordeal at the end of my freshman year. Now, I depart this Thursday. It's almost surreal! From applying to Study Abroad, to applying to Keele, to getting my Visa, and now I'm leaving. It felt like just yesterday that I was counting down the days from six months away.

     Tomorrow, I am finishing up some stuff at UTSA, such as meeting with my advisor, saying good-bye to former co-workers, helping Education Abroad Services with their Study Abroad fair, and saying one last Farewell to many of my friends. I will miss everyone, but hopefully through the power of Facebook, Skype, this Blog, and other miscellaneous resources, I will be able to keep up with many of you. 

     Wednesday, I will be forced to finish packing, cleaning, and everything else. I will be gone for nine months, and it's already difficult figuring out what parts of my life to take, what parts to leave behind, and what parts to get there.

     Again, this is mostly a test-post, but I appreciate anyone and everyone for taking the time to keep up with it. I'll update with more, better information once I am actually in the UK. 

Peace!