Hello! My name is Natalie, and I’ll be studying at the University of Leeds this coming year. I’m a rising junior majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and I have plans to attend medical school.

I’m going to talk a bit on the background of my study abroad and what’s happened so far, and then I’ll address my goals for my GeoBlog.

I’ve known that I wanted to study abroad since I started at Penn State, and the reason I decided to go to England, specifically Leeds, is because of some pretty awesome friends. Nearly my entire group of friends this past year was study abroad students, and the majority of them were British.

The Eberly College of Science has a few different universities with which it has “science partnerships.” By my understanding, that pretty much means that PSU has evaluated these universities’ science courses and have deemed them of acceptable quality. Within this list, I had options to go to France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, and England (and maybe a few more? Can’t remember…). I favoured England over all the others (and I also have family there–my granny grew up in England), and within had choices of Leeds, Bath, or Sussex. I had friends from both Bath and Leeds, and it was mutually agreed upon by them that the cost of living in Bath was much higher than in Leeds. Thus, by my rationale, it seemed most practical to live somewhere a bit less expensive so I had more money to travel and do other things.

A lot of people have asked me why I’m going for the whole year, as not many people do so. In fact, I’m the only person from Penn State going to Leeds for the whole year. The answer to that that question is kind of vague, but mostly revolves around my experiences with the study abroad students at PSU. In addition to my friends this past year, I had a whole other group of foreign friends in the spring of my freshman year. Everyone I have met who was abroad for only one semester was really not ready to go home, but those here for the whole year were about ready to do so. I think I’d rather be ready to come home, than be left hanging with all the things I wanted to do still. So we’ll see if my feelings on that subject change, but I really think I’ll enjoy England and be happy for the whole year. I hope!

So I spent most of last winter and spring sorting out what courses I planned to take. Unfortunately, I was not able to get as many Leeds courses to specifically replace PSU courses required for my major as I would have liked. However, I did get enough to result in my schedule comprising of a few courses in my major, all 400-level electives required for my major, and nearly the rest of my PSU gen ed requirements. I’m going to have a lot of catch-up to do senior year (I’m expecting 6, 400-level BMB courses senior fall!). But it will be worth it, and so all will be well. Somehow.

I got my official acceptance from Leeds in April, and everything was sort of left for a while. I started looking into UK Visa stuff in June, and it was a bit of a pain. Leeds was late sending me my Confirmation of Acceptance to Study (CAS) number which allowed me to get my visa. Some UK visa bureaucracy stuff that was out of their control. So once I got that, there was an online application, I had to go down to Pittsburgh to get my photo and fingerprints taken (Yikes! I’m in the system now), and then had 2 weeks to send a ton of stuff in. MAJORLY stressful. So much that had to be “just so.” And I was paranoid. Not really for any good reason, but more because transposing a number or not being clear enough about something could equal not getting my visa. And thus I would have to reapply, pay more money, and it might even screw up my entire next year. So that was a stressful time. But all is well now. I have a pretty sticker stuck in my passport that says “UK Visa” and has a pretty picture on it (much better than my passport photo)

Getting a plane ticket was also kind of fun. I scoped out Travelocity looking for cheap flights, and found one for $480! The reason it was so cheap is for 2 reasons: I have a layover in Boston and another in Reykjavik, and the airlines are Jet Blue and Icelandic Airways.  I figured for the price it was really good considering that I don’t really mind the layovers, and I really don’t have anywhere to be. That is to say that I fly 8th Sept, get to England the 9th, and don’t really have any obligations till the 12th or so. I’m flying into Manchester, and will take a train to Leeds.

So, moral of the visa/flight is that I can at least at this point GET to England 🙂 Now that I have those, it’s kind of starting to become “real” in my head!

I’ve also just gotten my housing sorted out. I’m living in halls (dorms) about a 25 minute walk from campus. There’s due to be 5 in a flat, sharing a kitchen. I’m doing self-catered which means that I don’t have a meal plan, and will be cooking! I’ve decided to do self-catered mostly because I’m kind of sick of eating dining hall food, and it will give me a chance to get out into the town to go shopping and such. It’ll be interesting, considering that I’m not used to having to cook meals, but I’m looking forward to the change/challenge.

Hmmm….what else to talk about…

I guess a big thing about getting ready to go is all the logistics. I’ve a ton of things to sort out still, like banking over there, telling the phone and insurance companies over here that I’ll be away for the year, figure out a budget (It’s going to be SOOOOOOO expensive! Yikes!), and the list goes on and on!

I think the biggest thing now is PACKING! I’m just bewildered at how I’m going to pack for a year in a suitcase and a backpack! I’m not really planning on sending anything over. Just too expensive, and that also means I’ll have to get it back home. I guess I’m just telling myself that my goal this year is to learn to live as lightly as possible. I want to do as much as I can while I’m over there, but don’t have all that much money to spend. So we’ll see how it all works out! But back to the packing…My friends’ preliminary advice with regards to packing was to pack your favourite clothes, and not to bring any basic things (like T-shirts) which can easily be bought in England. So beyond that…I think I’m going to have to keep in mind the weather, as I seem to be pulling out mostly summer things, with it being as hot here as it is now. However, there is an 18 degree difference Fahrenheit between the high here and in Leeds for tomorrow. Yikes! And I need to start converting degrees again…I was doing really well during the school year with Celsius, but the summer has been Fahrenheit-theamed. Sounds loads hotter to say 100 degrees rather than 38!

So that’s kind of my story of how I got where I am now. Kind of long.

So, one of the most important parts of this intro post: my goals for this GeoBlog.

• First and foremost, I expect this will be one of the most important experiences of my life, and thus I would love to have documentation of my thoughts, feelings, and observations to look back on at the end of the year as well as later in life. And I’m sure there is sooooo much I’d forget if I didn’t record it! And of course, one of the requirements of having a GeoBlog is actually writing in it, and thus that will be an incentive to keep up with it.
• Second, I expect to keep my family and friends updated on my time at Leeds through the blog, and of course anyone looking to study abroad, whether it be Leeds, England, or anywhere.
• In terms of content (my thoughts at this time, which of course may change), I expect the beginning will chiefly address getting set up in England, culture shock, and my feelings about studying abroad. Over the past two years, my time spent with international students has really peaked my interest in differences in culture and language. Thus I anticipate writing quite a bit about the differences between British and American culture, as well as the destinations of my other travels. Of course, interesting tidbits will be thrown in whenever they arise. I’m thinking that maybe by about December, I’d like to make a note to myself to spend some time thinking about and blogging about the personal growth I’ve noticed and experienced. And as a side note, I have a camera which I love, so once I have pictures to post, they’ll be in here 🙂

Well, that’s all I can think of for the moment. A very long post, but it gives what I think is necessary background, as well as kind of showing where my head is on the subject right now, about 6 WEEKS from departure.  

I expect to write again near the end of August, and we’ll see what’s happening then! (Hopefully I’ll be mostly packed, or at least know what I’m taking!)

Natalie

Location: Allison Park, PA