Tag Archives: classes

Shangke Errday

Chinese class 4 hours a day, 4 days a week. On top of that, a language pledge that relentlessly requires us to speak Chinese for the better part of the day. The IES Beijing Language Intensive Program is designed to put a full years worth of Chinese in one semester. How do they accomplish this? By quadrupling the work, and hoping half of it sticks. Every class kicks off with a dictation quiz, which to be honest is not unlike the ones we had at home. Except rather than having one or two a week, we have one every day, with two times the materials. The best way I can summarize is that our quizzes are like tests back home, and our tests are like finals. I can’t even imagine what our finals are like haha.

But not all is gloom and doom. After a few weeks of looking awkwardly at my classmates and saying, “Wo… yao… chi…fan” and having them respend, “Wo… ye… yao… chi… fan”, I think we’ve finally gotten the hang of things. Everyone is here to learn Chinese, and we there is no shame is asking questions to teachers, the Chinese roommates, or even other more experienced IES students. As much as we dread the inconvenience of the language pledge, we somehow get through the day with a combination of our oh-so-limited Chinese, wild hand gestures, facial expressions, nudges, winks, sign language, and ever useful “INSERT ENGLISH HERE zenme shuo?” (How do you say ______ in English?”. As my Chinese roommate once said, “If you don’t learn to fail, you will fail to learn”. Is this the famous Confucius wisdom that is innate to the people of China?

It amazes me how quickly people pick up on the language while here. Half the students right now are new students to this program, but the other half are continuing students from last semester. Most of them didn’t intend on doing it again at first, but it seems that they just loved the study abroad experience so much they extended it to a full year at the last minute. I feel thats a good thing. I was once sharing a cab with a bunch of classmates, and one of the returning students was able to pick up a conversation with the cab driver very well. I was shocked and amazed. And I though to myself, maybe by the end of the semester I can do that too. And maybe thats not such a long shot goal; last semester she was in the level I am in currently.

I always just thought the tongue would come naturally, and I realize that maybe not. I need to put a lot of work into this semester if I want to improve my Chinese. Talking with cab drivers, picking up new phrases and increasing fluency with my Chinese roommate, learning from other students, going out there and exploring Beijing with no inhibitions and delving into the culture. This is the kind of mindset one needs.

Oh and FYE, some photos

My Chinese Class. From left to right: Kaili, Lide, Jieke (Kelly, Cliff, and Jack, respectively). Why are there only 6 desks in the shot? Well, you guessed it. Only 6 students in the class, which seems to be the average for all the classes.

Just another manic monday.

Calligraphy Class! Don’t be fooled, harder than it looks.

And don’t forget about…

THE PANDAS!!! It doesn’t really fit with the class theme, but it had to be done. This one might know kung-fu.

Will update soon, with Chunjie adventures. Chunjie is Chinese new years/spring festival, btw.

Till next time!

Location: Room 407 at Beiwai University, Beijing, China

sweden week 2!!!

My classes have finally started here in Jonkoping, and the system of education here is extremely different to how Penn State is run. Instead of having all of our courses at the same time, we do one class at a time, for a shorter and more focused period of time. My first class is called Intercultural Encounters, and my teacher Ulla is amazing. Today was our second lecture, and she always has a story for everything we talk about. The course is focused on finding out about yourself and your fellow classmates, and we have a very diverse group of students. The majority of the class is the group of students from my CIRT program, however we also have new members of the class from Sweden, Holland, Hungary and Singapore. Though we only have the class scheduled three times a week, we have scheduled time to meet with fellow classmates and learn more about their cultures, their identities and their beliefs. I am confident that the course will be very useful to my future as a teacher, being able to not only learn more about other cultures, but to embrace the differences that every single student in my class practices. It’s interesting to learn that even Penn State students from my group have extremely different values and upbringing to my own.

At the same time that I take these courses, the university has also scheduled a beginner Swedish for the CIRT students. It doesn’t start until next week, but I am anxious to learn more of the language. Although I have already been through a similar experience of not understanding the language (when I was younger and living in Switzerland), I am still uncomfortable not being able to understand what is being said to me. I feel like the most common phrase I have been saying is: “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Swedish!” It will be nice to hopefully learn some basic phrases and be able to get along with a normal conversation on the street or at the grocery store. We had a basic introductory course to Swedish in England, however it was difficult to remember most of the things that were taught to us.

Tomorrow, I look forward to a few things that I have planned. First of all, we do not have class tomorrow, so I definitely am looking forward to sleeping in a little. But most importantly, I have my first “interview” with a girl from my Intercultural Encounters course. Her name is Johanna, and she is from Sweden. I have been sitting in the caf� section of the library for about an hour now, working on questions that I can ask her. It will be interesting to learn a little bit more about Swedish culture and traditions, although I am also nervous as to what she may ask me. It seems as though a lot of things we have had to discuss or write about so far and not common public knowledge in America. For example, for one assignment that was due today, we had to discuss our socio-economic status with the class. I have never really been asked to talk about my families social class or status and I, along with the other Americans, felt somewhat uncomfortable talking about it today. I have always been extremely privileged in my life to have a successful family, and have been able to participate in many activities, and been given incredible opportunities due to the comfort of my family situation, however it seems almost bragging to discuss this in class. I suppose this is one of those infamous “cultural differences” that will be discussed in further depth in my class.

Tomorrow night, I will also get a little taste of home by attending my first Swedish ice hockey game! I am so excited, because I think next to my family and Penn State events, the thing I miss the most from home are my almost daily viewings of the Pittsburgh Penguin games. I was able to download the NHL application onto my cell phone before I left (thank goodness!) so that I could keep up to date on my Penguins, but I miss the atmosphere of actually watching the game. Of course, I am certain I won’t understand a single word of the game, it will be nice to see the actions of the game.

On another sports note… PITTSBURGH’S GOIN’ TO THE SUPERBOWL! My parents were actually at the playoff game that advanced us forward into the Superbowl, as we try to capture our 7^th Superbowl win, and become solidified as the City of Champions. Luckily, there are a few local pubs that encourage sports, and one pub downtown will be airing the game (although I am sure with the time difference it will play pretty late at night, but I don’t care because this is extremely important!) My mom is even sending over my Roethlisburger jersey and it should arrive by mid-next week!

Anyways, that’s it for now… until next time… Peace, Love and STEELERS!

OH AND PLA!!! KELSEY IS COMING TO VISIT THIS WEEKEND!!!! 🙂

Location: jonkoping, Sweden

No homework?! Is this real life?

This week and next week are my trial periods for classes (or modules, as they call them here). I came in knowing pretty much what I wanted to take, after talking to my business adviser. My COMM adviser never really e-mails me back, so I’m just hoping that the class I am taking to count as a COMM credit does. Otherwise, I was told to take two GAU’s (international classes for business……I think any class here should count for that, but we’ll see), a GH, and a GN.

Module #1 (what I hope to count as a COMM class): Sociology of Media Audiences. I have previously taken sociology, as well as Cultural Studies of the Mass Media, and I found both topics to be incredibly interesting…..so that led me to this module. The lecturer (they don’t call them professors…) is pretty awesome. We have one assignment worth 45% of our grade and a project worth 55% of our grade. Yay for no exams! The only drawback: It is at 9AM on Mondays and Fridays. Yikes! The good thing about is that she puts everything on Sulis (their version of Angel), so you don’t REALLY have to show up to lectures. I believe this will sit pretty in my schedule.

Module #2 (what will almost definitely be a GN): Geoscience. I really struggled through my first geoscience module. Our lecturer is rather monotone, and I think I took a micronap at one point in time. I panicked and thought, “Oh no! I have to find another science class!” I thought I’d try out Clean Technology just in case I liked it better. I didn’t. Geoscience it is! The module grades purely on essays, so that could get interesting.

Module #3 (GH/GAU): Irish Folklore. This module is almost entirely international students, and the lecturer seems very nice. Sticking with this one for sure.

Module #4 (GS?): Social Psychology. I’m not really sure if I need this module for anything, but the subject interests me, and the lecturer seems pretty solid. In.

Module #5 (not sure if this counts for anything after just talking to my adviser…..which is unfortunate): Historical/Cultural Geography of Ireland. The module seems interesting, but the lecturer is a bit hard to understand. If it doesn’t count for anything for me, I will not be taking it.

I am venturing to an Irish music/dance module today, and hopefully that will count as my other GAU. If not…..then I’ll still probably take that over Module 5, just because it will be fun. hah.

Other updates:

I went to my first club here on Tuesday night for my friend Danielle’s birthday. It was called Trinity Rooms (which makes me think of church), and it was out of control. I felt old in there, though. I’m guessing most were 18-19 year olds. Drinks were very expensive, and it seemed no matter where I was dancing, there was always someone dancing all up on me. I don’t think I’ll go back. Pubs > Clubs.

I booked my first flight on RyanAir! Heading to Belgium in two weeks! Yay!

The internet went down in our house on Wednesday night, and everyone freaked out (we literally don’t do anything late at night that isn’t on the internet). Also, two random drunk Irish men wandered into our house that night. Not sure how they got in, but that was weird.

Almost forgot! Going to Galway this weekend 🙂

Can’t wait to plan more trips. I want to go everywhere!

No photos this post, but there should be a ton on the next post from Galway!

Location: Limerick, Ireland

“Ahh, Americans! So you must want hot dogs and hamburgers”

Hello there! So, back to where I left off. Last Saturday (January 8th) we had a free bus tour with IES around the surrounding areas of London. It was the most fantastic bus tour I have every been on! The whole thought behind this tour was not for us to explore on our own; it was so that we would have an idea of some places we wanted to come back to. Thankfully, I thought to bring a notebook. Our tour guides name was Owen; he told us a lot of really great information about living in London and discussed the history of the city in great detail. It was really interesting to be driving by the places we were learning about; I found it to be very effective and I actually learned a lot! I was really happy that I brought my notebook because I got to jot down the names of the places we drove through and the places Owen recommended we visit. Fortunately, they did stop the bus a few times for us to get out and take some pictures at Big Ben/Parliament Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The London Bridge, and Buckingham Palace. Something that I found super interesting was that “Big Ben” isn’t the structure but is the bell inside. I’m sure if I payed attention in grade school I would have known that; however, I did not. Here are some other pictures of the places we were able to get off the bus.

It’s still unbelievable to me that I’m in London! Our bus tour lasted about 3 hours that day and I am so glad that I went. The next day, IES planned a free trip to Windsor Castle for anyone who was interested. Not only was it a trip to take a tour of the oldest castle in England, but it was free so OF COURSE I went! It was really cool because our bus driver took the “scenic” route which let us see the (semi) countryside of London. We got to Windsor and took a small tour of the town before heading to the Castle. I couldn’t believe how huge this place is; no matter where we went in Windsor, we could see some part of the castle at all times. I was in complete shock. The coolest part for me was thinking about all of the history that happened there. It was built during the times of conquers and wars over the land and battles actually happened in Windsor at the castle where I was standing. I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. We took a break for lunch then entered into the Castle walls. I wish I could post every single picture I took there because it was just so incredible. We got a 2 hour tour of the publicly available areas (the space where the Queen/Royal family occupies when they’re there is not open to the public) and the rooms where the Queen still hosts “parties”. The detail in the rooms were out of this world and there were so many interesting stories behind even the smallest of things. I was so pleased with this trip – even more so because I didn’t have to pay!

The days that followed our great weekend was the start of class. Monday I don’t have any classes so I just hung out around the dorms trying to figure our travel plans. Words to the wise: travel planning for a group of people is stressful as ever. At least we got one success out of the whole day — we booked our hotel in Dublin for the St. Patrick’s Day festival! Now we just have to figure out how to get there. Tuesday was my first day of lecture; my classes that day were Intro to Criminology and The Performing Arts in London. I slowly caught on to their word usage throughout the class. The one difference I was not made aware of until this lecture is that they call lecture time lectures and tutorials are called class. It’s definitely going to be interesting trying to get used to the way the education system works here; good thing I like a challenge. Wednesday I only have one class, Historic London, and we only meet one more time on campus. Every other week we get to meet at different places throughout the city for our lectures. I’m really excited about that class because it isn’t just going to be us sitting in a room talking about the history of London — we actually get to go and explore the history! Thursday I had European Business Culture and Global Political Issues in the 21st Century. Unlike the rest of my classes, my first class was at 10am. I have about a 45 minute commute so I left at 8:45. Well, let me just start by saying that rush hour on the underground is much later then I would have expected. I had to wait for 2 trains to come and go before I even thought of trying to get on! I have never in my life witnessed so many people trying to squeeze onto a train. I now know why the majority of people here are not overweight, it’s because they wouldn’t be able to fit in any public transportation to get to work on time! I finally squeezed my way onto a train and managed to get to class 10 minutes early! That was a wonderful success. Both of the classes I had I think will be incredibly interesting.Oh, and another thing about college in Europe: syllabus week doesn’t exist.

We had a free dinner set up with IES on Friday at the National Art Gallery Rooftop Restaurant; the view was unreal. We had a rooftop view of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, The London Eye, and many other buildings. The meal itself was pretty good, too.
This weekend we decided that we were going to explore around Parliament Square/Westminster Abbey a bit more. It was so much fun! We went into the back entrance of the Abbey and explored in there for a bit and then walked along the River Thames by Big Ben and crossed the river. It was so gorgeous. It truly hit me that I’m in London when I was looking at the Parliament buildings along the river. I was speechless.

There are so many things that I am learning about myself being here; and I’ve only been here 2 weeks. I’m excited to see what else I’ll be learning, but I’m trying to change my normal behavior and live in the moment as much as I possibly can.

Location: Chelsea, London

Life is still good

The first week of final exams is over and tomorrow starts the second (and last) week of them. I already turned in my 3000 word international politics essay and sat my geography exam. The exam went well and the essay, well, it’s finished. It was really hard to care about those two modules because I was just interested. But that basically sums up my entire university career: stuck in modules/courses/majors that I actually don’t like. Whoops. Anyway, I just have one exam left and it is for my favorite module “Sexuality, Subculture and Stigma”. I’m already feeling prepared because I did a lot of work/reading throughout the module and the topics on the final are of personal interest to me. So that should go well.

Onto more exciting matters.

I’ve been back in Leeds for almost 2 weeks now, but until a few days ago I hadn’t unpacked. I had just been busy working so I left my suitcase to sit in the middle of my floor. Well, when I went to unpack it (Thursday?) I discovered that my jumbo container of shampoo my mom bought at Wal-Mart for me had exploded. Yes, it was in a bag, but that didn’t help at all. So I sorted everything into two piles: shampoo-ed and not shampoo-ed. Cleaned off my food stash and then looked at the suitcase. I used 2 mops, my one towel, two t-shirts and a sock to scrub and wash and dry and repeat. It took me over an hour to get most of the shampoo off and I decided that was OK. I then called my mom about my clothes. She told me just to put them in the wash and it’d be OK.

I did.

It was not OK.

The housing office man thought it was funny. The cleaner did not. Housing man gave me a free wash to try again (it worked!), but it still ended up costing me about 10 pounds ($16) to do laundry that day. It’s super expensive here and I was quite annoyed. But it’s all good now! And aside from a faint scent of shampoo and the taste of it on one of my toothbrushes, you can’t even tell.

My friends and I have been hanging out/procrastinating/all that loads even though we’re super busy with exams/essays. And it’s been loads of fun, as usual. I’m getting a new flat mate too since one of them dropped out last semester. One of the girls from my belly dancing class said she got moved to my building so we think it’s her! Could be exciting.

I’ve also bought my one way ticket to Madrid for April. I’m visiting my best friend who will be studying abroad in Cordoba. Since I have the entire month off, we’re going to travel to Italy and such. I can’t book my return yet, though, because we haven’t figured out where exactly we’ll be. Good planning, yes?

Am also going to London (yes, again) in two weeks to have a pre-birthday thing for Bertie with his friends there and to (hopefully) go back to the Comedy Store. Yes, I spend a lot of time in London. It’s still my favorite place in the world, though.

I have so much more I could say, but I shall refrain from flooding the internet with any more babble.

xxx

Location: leeds, uk

Final exams/essays after Christmas break? Boo, England.

I finally made it back to the UK. Once again, it was horrible luck that plagued me while traveling back. My flight from Syracuse to JFK was canceled on Sunday, Dec. 31st, but my flight was still scheduled out of JFK on IcelandAir for that night! So my mom, younger sister and I drove 6 hours to NYC. We got half an hour away from the airport when I was warned via Twitter that the flight was most likely canceled. And by the time we got to JFK, it was. It was also starting to blizzard. So we left JFK in the blizzard to drive 7 miles to the nearest hotel with a vacancy. On the way, we got a flat tire. We ended up waiting in a Target parking lot for 2 hours for AAA to come and replace it. It was still a blizzard. By the time we got the hotel, but Aunt, who is a travel agent, found out I had been rebooked for Tuesday night: 48 hours later. Lame.

Two days later, I spent 12 hours at JFK until my flight left. I got a passport stamp for Iceland at 9:30am local time and it was still pitch black! Crazy. Then I got to London again!

Bertie met me at the airport and we took the tube to King’s Cross where we got our Orange Wednesday 2-4-1 deal at Pizza Express. I was so exhausted that I dozed off on the 15 minute tube ride from King’s Cross to Bertie’s house in Highgate afterward. I then crashed for a few hours until Bertie got bored and woke me up to play table tennis.

We spent the last few days watching far too many films, going to the cinema, playing lots of monopoly and table tennis, watching BBC iPlayer too much and doing nothing productive. We went out to a hill to watch the London fireworks on New Year’s Eve, which was nice and relaxing.

Anyway, now I’m back in Leeds. Sitting in my room and pretending I’ve started revising for my two exams or writing my 3000 word essay. I don’t really like the “exams after Christmas” thing. My mind is just not in the game. Luckily, my international politics class and my geography class overlap A LOT so while I write my politics essay I will also be studying for my geography exam. In theory.

I have to work out my schedule for next semester still. Having a change of advisers really messed up my year abroad in terms of the “study” part, but it should work out. It will. I was assured I could graduate in December if I did a full year and I will.

Oh! I’m also using a site called DailyBooth now. You take a webcam picture every day/however often you like and it loads it to your DailyBooth profile. It’s quite handy for a quick journal entry and all that: www.dailybooth.com

Location: Leeds, UK

First semester in Leeds: Done.

Since I have the time (stuck in London due to weather), I figured I should make this post now.

I’ve finished my first term at Leeds. It was an interesting few months with lots of fun, a little confusion, only occasional difficulties and a lot of new memories. Before I forget everything I did/learned/tried, I suppose I should write it all down.

1. UNI

University in England is quite different than in the US. And I like the system more, I think.

Firstly, classes are structured differently. I would have one lecture a week for 50 minutes and then one tutorial/seminar a week. The tutorials/seminars are 50 minute classes with only 10-15 other students from the lecture. Basically, it’s a time for discussion and debate. You can ask questions and argue and learn a lot more, I feel.

Second, there’s no busy work. By that, I mean there’s no random assignments that are due in every week just to waste your time. There aren’t even exams, actually. Everything is assessed with essays. You’re given the essay topics at the beginning of the semester and then you will either have just one essay due in January as a final or 2 smaller essays, one due in November and the other in January. Or you can have a “final exam”, which is just a closed essay writing in January. Basically, there’s just less busy work. Granted, you are expected to read more, but I like that because I can tailor my selected readings and essays to my interests.

Overall, I just feel like I learn a lot more and retain 10x more here than I do at PSU. In fact, I’ve never studied in the PSU library or even touched a book there, but at Leeds I frequent the library at least once a week and have been reading fascinating texts about sexuality, stigma, eating disorders, the UN, climate change, mental illness, business ethics and so much more.

2. FRIENDS

Coming to Leeds, I knew three Brits there. I met them last year when they were studying at Penn State. One, I had started dating at the end of the spring semester, and the other two were going to be his housemates. I was skeptical about it because I didn’t want to linger around with them. I wanted to meet entirely new people. It was one of the biggest motivations for me to go to England after all.

And I didn’t linger at all. Aside from bumping into my boyfriend’s housemates when I’d go around, I never saw them.

Instead, I made some fantastic new friends. I never made a good friend group at Penn State, and since coming to England I’ve realized that I mesh a lot better with English culture than American. So that’s a big part. Anyway, more on that later.

My friends at Leeds are an eccentric bunch. They come from all over the UK and have different tastes in everything: music, movies, politics, etc. But we all get on really well. For my birthday, they made me cake and took me out along with making me memorabilia plates and mugs to take back to America with me. They are the kind of people that I know I can rely on. In fact, one of them is letting me come visit him at his home in Somerset after the New Year.

3. TRAVEL

Perhaps I didn’t travel as much as expected, but it’s because I was having too great of a time in Leeds. And it wasn’t a mistake at all! I traveled to Ireland for a weekend, which was beautiful. It was a fantastic trip and I love the Irish now.

I also visited Austria. I went to stay with my friend, Chelsea, who was studying abroad in Vienna. Well it was a good time, and I ate my weight in German/Austrian sausages, it let me down a little. It was a pretty city, but it just didn’t feel like home. Maybe getting stranded there slanted my view, too. But because of getting stranded there I got to venture into Slovakia so I could fly out of Bratislava.

I’ve been to and around London loads, too. Since Bertie lives here when he’s not at Leeds, I have a place to stay and he’s been a great host. I’ve really gotten the hang of this city and it’s still my favorite place in the world.

4. LEARNING

a. Politics

The politics of Britain in…interesting. They had major riots in London and sit ins in Leeds in protest of the tuition cuts. Tuition prices are going to double, but I still have a hard time sympathizing since PSU is putting me $120,000 in debt. Still, it was fascinating to watch the events unfold.

I also learned that some English really despise the Royal Family, that half the Scottish want independence and that everyone picks on the Welsh. It’s a weird politics. And usually the British are complacent and mock it more than anything.

b. Culture

I adore this culture. It suits me so much better than American culture. First, the people are just better friends. They’re nicer. Americans tend to be shit friends more often than good friends. By that, I mean that they say they’ll do something or pretend to be your best friend even if you don’t know each other well and then not show up and disappoint you nine times out of ten. In England, I’ve found that while people are less likely to initiate a conversation with a stranger, they are much more genuine in their relationships with people. They will either be your friend or not be. It’ll be definite. You’ll know where you stand. And the ones that are your friends are much more reliable than anyone I’ve met at PSU.

Then there’s British TV. I never watch TV back home. Not really anyway. I don’t follow shows. Here, though, I am in love. They have these panel shows that are fantastic. They’re funny and intelligent. BBC iPlayer is one of my favorite inventions. Seriously.

Food. Yum yum yum. People who say English food is shit have never eaten it properly. First, their Chinese food is 10x better than ours on average. No contest. Second, they’re pizza is 20x better. I hate pizza back in the US, but here I go out to Pizza Express every Wednesday and have myself a delicious pizza pie. With dough balls, of course. Third, they have awesome bacon! Fourth, fish and chips, toad in the hole and bangers and mash are yum yum yummy. Last, there are more healthy options everywhere. Aside from chips. The English love their chips.

Drinking culture. It’s so different than in America. It’s talked about differently. People don’t have alcohol on some pedestal of holiness or something. They know what it is and that is that. People drink in a more relaxed manner. Pubs are very chill and just a nice night out. Clubs are, well, clubs. I don’t care for them much. But even the bars aren’t like the ones in State College where students insist on getting wasted and making fools out of themselves. Typically, they’re more relaxed and just fun. Oh, and it’s legal here. Which I think is a fantastic thing and that America has it wrong.

In terms of political correctness and all that jazz, Britain is so much more relaxed than America. They just have a much more chilled attitude and think it’s hilarious how uptight we are. I think it’s funny, too.

c. Life

1. When traveling, stressing yourself out doesn’t help matters. Even if you get stuck in a country where you don’t speak the language and have already gone over your budget and have class you’re supposed to attend back in the UK and are ready to cry, it’ll be OK. And it’s OK to cry.

2. It’s OK to ask for help. Even if you’re stubborn and proud, it’s all right to ask for help. Someone will always be there.

3. Even if you are super organized and a budget fiend, you will spend more than you plan. A lot more. And you will be angry at yourself until you realize it’s only money and you have to spend it on something.

4. The only thing you’re guaranteed to have in common with your flatmates is that you live in the same flat. You don’t have to be best friends and it’s perfectly fine if you’re not.

5. Every inconvenience will eventually be funny.

6. Bacon is easy to cook.

7. As is pasta. And everything goes with pasta.

8. There’s no point in comparing your experiences to someone else’s. As long as you’re happy and having a good time, it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Wish I could insert some pictures, but it just won’t let me. Have a very merry Christmas!

Location: London, England

Introduction to Geoblogging

Hello, my name is Sarah Hill. I am a junior here at Penn State, majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Next semester, I will be studying abroad in New Zealand. I can’t wait! I already have my passport, plane tickets and student visa.

Getting the visa was an experience! I was expecting it to take as long as a passport – about 6 weeks or so, but only two weeks after I sent it to the Embassy, my visa came back, ready to go.

Buying a plane ticket was fun – turns out from start to finish my plane rid is going to be 31 hours long. That’s hard to imagine. I’ve flown before as far away as Barcelona, Spain, but New Zealand is going to be a lot longer and farther. It’s so exciting to imagine that I will be on the other side of the world! And the time change – right now its almost noon tomorrow in NZ, a whole eighteen hours ahead of here!

I am really excited to explore Wellington – that’s the capitol city of NZ and where I will be studying abroad at Victoria International. Just the other day I picked out my future classes: Maori Studies, Mathematical Logic, and Cell and Developmental Biology. It seems their class system is very different from Penn State. My three classes will be worth 55 points, with 60 points the maximum limit of points a student can enroll in. At Penn State I would be easily taking twice the number of classes so I am curious how these classes will be different. Perhaps they will go in more depth or cover more topics to cover the time.

That’s all for now. In just a few short months these posts will be coming from across the globe. Will I ever cease being amazed with technology?

Location: State College, Pa

Life or something like it

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and I apologize for that! I’ve been super busy with course work and whatnot for the last two weeks, but that’s all done now so back to the posting.

I submitted my first assessed works this week. My first essay was a 2000 word essay question for my Sexuality, Subculture and Stigma module that revolved around the stigmatizations of gender and sexuality as signposted by 19th century law and culture (and the development of sexology). I got way too into it and spent a lot of time doing enough research to write a dissertation, not a 2000 word essay. My other essay was a 3000 word one for my International Politics module regarding the UN and its failure to meet its Charter aspirations. I didn’t like the subject, I don’t particularly enjoy the module, and I was so engulfed in my previous essay that this one got a bit shafted. I think it ended up being decent enough, but I prefer to worry about classes I really enjoy and feel gain more from so I’m not bothered.

Halloween was good fun. I never go out at PSU because a) I’m underage b) the costumes for girls don’t appeal to me and I would freeze and c) I prefer to watch movies and avoid strange people 😛 It was lots of fun here though. We had a mini-party in the flat across from me and then Bertie and I went to the theater just before midnight to see Paranormal Activity 2 since we didn’t want to go clubbing with everyone else.

I had my 20th birthday last week, too! My birthday’s on the 11th, but I was going to London, so my friends and I celebrated it on Tuesday the 9th. We did a half-Otley run (Otley run is an 18 pub pub-crawl) beginning at 6pm and had a blast. It was a great night and my friends gave me homemade cards and a plate and mug that they decorated together and signed to commemorate my year here. It was really sweet. My friends made a balloon man named “Party!Paul” that had to be carried around all night and if someone popped one of his limbs they had to buy drinks:

I went to London the following day and stayed with Bertie. On Thursday, my actual birthday, he took me out to a nice lunch and we went to Camden for a bit so I could hunt for a record bag. We didn’t find any before we had to head to Leicester Square to see the premiere crowd for Harry Potter. It was insane. We got there just as Emma Watson was arriving and she looked awesome. We stayed until all the big names showed up then grabbed a quick dinner before going to see a show called La Soirre. It was a good night overall. We spent the rest of the weekend loitering around London and having a Lord of the Rings (extended versions) marathon for 12 hours complete with movie theater popcorn that we went to a cinema to buy. Yes, they thought we were odd.

Aside from birthday shenanigans, it’s been pretty quiet for me with mid-term assignments due. I’ve been keeping up with my belly dancing class (just got back from a social with that where we went and saw a performer), making movies in filmmaking (I’m acting and producing! Basically, my life goals), keeping up with work, cooking a lot of spaghetti, and wondering what to do with my life.

Am off to Vienna in a little over a week, so expect a post when I get back from that!

xxx

Location: leeds, uk

A semi-organized post of my life in Leeds, UK

A brief overview of my life now is necessary, methinks. Let’s see how organized I can make this.

STUDENT HOUSING

1. I have to cook. My culinary skills before coming to the UK were, well, nonexistent. Now, however, I am master of bacon and god of cheap food. I have learned that oil makes things not stick. I have learned that chicken and I do not mix on a grill. I have learned that bacon goes with everything from salad to bread to soup to pasta. I am becoming a chef. A cheap chef that specializes in canned soup, bacon, and salad, but a chef nonetheless.

2. Two words: No Roommates. This is the best part of student housing. I need my privacy and I like to conquer my living space with dirty clothes, music, and random things. I also like to sleep whenever I want, control the lights, and not worry about bothering someone else.

3. En-suite bathroom. My shower was broken when I first came. I reported it that day and the next day it was completely replaced! I have the newest/best shower in the building and everyone is envious.

4. Flatmates are weird. I don’t particularly care for mine. The two guys I live with are OK, but we only pass by each other in the kitchen. One of the girls is quite nice, but too peppy and, frankly, she remains me too much of a stereotypical American girl (which I’ve never been too fond of). The other girl is, well, let’s just say no one gets along with her. She’s snobby and acts too posh. And steals my spatula, which is a necessary tool for my bacon-making.

FRIENDS

1. I have an adoptive flat! It’s the one opposite mine. There resides Joe, Peter, Rachel, Freya, and Jenny. They are all English (well, Peter is Welsh) and fantastic. Elliot and Dora from the other flat on our floor have joined recently, as has the Canadian, Garen, upstairs. We go out a lot together and make flat meals and have fantastic times. I never made a real good group of friends at Penn State, but these people are just wonderful. We’re all dorky and quirky and cool in different ways. We don’t judge each other and since we’re all 19 or older, I think we understand a lot more about life than the other Freshers.

EXTRA CLUBS/STUFF:

1. I joined film-making! I’m so excited. I want to work in the film industry and Penn State never gave me the opportunity to experiment, whereas here I am able to. We have a meeting tonight in an hour and a half.

2. I also am joining belly dancing. Because I can. Because it looks fun. Because I want to do something random and different.

3. The gym here is much newer than the ones at Penn State. It’s very high-tech with TAGs that monitor your workout at each machine. And touch screen monitors with built-in games. I am a gym-addict and I go once a day. Apparently girls in England aren’t so keen on exercise. I heard this before, but have definitely discovered it’s true. It’s sad that instead of running and being healthy I’ve found that many take up smoking and extreme dieting to stay “fit”. It’s part of the culture that I don’t care for, to be honest.

CLASSES

1. Pros: Seminars. Lecture for 50 min once a week and then a seminar for 50 min once a week. Lectures are big and boring. Seminars are 10-20 students and a graduate student and it’s discussion and questioning. It’s a much more progressive way of learning.

2. Cons: Limited module choices. Since I’m study abroad, I can do any module I want, basically. But, for those in a degree they are only allowed one class a term as an “elective”. I found that it makes students have a much deeper knowledge in their specific subject, but that they are not as well-rounded in their education.

CULTURE STUFF

1. My biggest fear is crossing the street. Instinctively, I am used to cars in America. This means I risk my life to cross UK traffic since I have yet to grasp they’re signs/postings/which side of the road the cars will be on.

2. The English drink a lot, but it’s so much more controlled than at Penn State…because it’s actually legal. It’s expensive, though. Penn State really should tell us about that additional cost. But, yes, legal drinking makes for a much more relaxed night out. It also means that there are fewer students vomiting because they’ve binged horribly or making terrible decisions. I always believed the US was a bit off with the drinking age, but now I have been assured that we are.

3. The English do, in fact, drink tea. Lots of tea.

4. “All right?” is apparently NOT a question. It just means “hey”. Don’t answer “Fine, you?”. They will be confused.

5. Taxis are so much cheaper!

6. English society is, generally, more open than American. They are much more tolerant of different religions, races, sexualities, and thoughts than America is. They find it unreal that America still debates over homosexual marriages and abortion rights. But they are interested in US politics. They like to hear about all different sides.

7. Fancy dress is massive. That means costume themes. I went as Lara Croft for my first one, which was themed “English People”.

And that’s it for now. I am going to make a salad and bacon for dinner then head off to film-making!