The Start Of Classes

So ‘classes’ officially started yesterday, which meant that work also started yesterday, which is why I failed to write a blog... Actually the main reason I didn’t, was that we were too busy duct taping a fellow corridor mate to the wall. And yes, it did work, but that’s a whole other story!

Back to the classes: I had three yesterday starting with a 9.30 lecture on Southern Literature. It was... interesting. I’m sure it’s much the same anywhere but the first lecture involved the standard “what’s your name? Where are you from?” introductions, followed by a brief description of the course and the schedule for the semester.  Most people’s introductions went something like this: “Hi i’m Matt, I’m from Groton, CT and I’m a Bio major so I don’t really like to read...” This went on with about 15 or so people saying the exact same thing varying from Bio majors to engineers and, well, you get the picture. Until about this time last week I had absolutely no idea what ‘majoring’ and ‘minoring’ was and so I feel I should explain:

 In England we gradually narrow down our subjects from the age of 15 until we eventually apply to do one or two at University. For me, that’s English Literature. In America, you don’t necessarily have to choose what course you want your degree to be in (your major) until your Junior or Senior year (3^rd or 4^th), although some people might know from first year, but even then it can still change. And so, whether or not you know what you’re going to major in, you still have to satisfy a number of course requirements by taking ‘Math’ and English and Science and a writing class and so on, making your range of subjects much broader. And so in my Southern literature class we were stuck with people who have absolutely no interest in the subject what so ever and were simply taking it to tick a box. Luckily our other classes of the day were much better and filled with ‘upperclassmen’ (Juniors and Seniors) who were focusing on English literature.  Needless to say though we’re both trying to drop Southern and are now looking at some graduate classes with the hope that they’re a bit more up to English standards.

While I seem to be gradually tearing the American system to pieces I don’t mean to at all it’s just difficult to slide into it from the English system. In fact I think there are probably more benefits to having a broader education for longer as it means you end up with fewer 25 year olds with a reading age of 8, who have no idea of the 8 times table. My roommate and fellow Warwick exchange partner Emily argues in her blog that it all comes down to a lack of individuality and the ability to ‘find yourself’ until a much higher age which she views as having a negative impact. While I understand her point I don’t see why in England we’re all desperate to grow up so fast and are expected to know what we want to do from the age of 18. I know it definitely helps but by that point in your life you have experienced very little of the world. Even though I was very lucky in that I travelled a lot as a child I would still consider this to be true for me. All in all neither system seems perfect but having experienced a little of American school life in middle school and University if I had to choose I would probably say that we could learn a lot from the US. Of all the things that I was ever taught in my 13 years of schooling, few things stay in my mind more than those that I learnt in the 3 months that I spent at Great Neck Middle school and I think that says a lot.

One Week In

So reading over some of my past few blogs I realised that I haven’t really focused on me at all and so I’d thought I’d take the time to write something short and sweet about my time in America so far comparing how I was feeling exactly a week ago when I arrived, and today, one week on.

For a long time leading up to the trip my feelings about it were mainly (well completely) emotions of fear, anxiety, more fear and bit more fear on top of that. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Emily then I would have bailed from the trip months ago, I very nearly did on several occasions. For anyone reading this considering studying abroad I don’t want to put you off but it is a lot of work and while I do love America, they definitely don’t make things easy for you - or themselves for that matter! But I powered through, not really thinking about the end result of all my planning and sorting and eventually flight day came and I rushed around the airport going through all the mechanics of getting through security and to my gate on time etc without still really considering the final result. So as you can guess, it hit me, probably somewhere over the Labrador Sea and oh my gosh I have never experienced butterflies in my stomach quite like it, so much so that I actually thought it was motion sickness or something serious, appendicitis maybe; yes I am a slight hypochondriac! As I briefly explained in my previous blogs the first evening wasn’t quite so great either: we struggled up 3 flights of stairs with our suitcases not realising that the lifts were working (thank God we’re on the third floor not the sixth!) and arrived in our prison cell of a room having not met a single soul on campus. Not a great start.

A week later and my prison cell is now a comfy home, still in need of a little decoration, but definitely more comfy and I have had a lovely day and know I’m going to go to sleep smiling. I can’t exactly pin down why it is that I’ve had such a nice day, definitely something to do with the sun coming back after the awful weather Irene brought with her, but also just the fact that everything’s starting to fit into place. I’ve met and got to know most people on my corridor and we’re planning a trip to Boston this coming weekend which is Labour Day weekend; I’ve skyped my friends and my family and I’m still constantly meeting and getting to know new people. I have my first class tomorrow morning which, I have to admit, I am rather excited about and I bought several of my course books today which, in my true bookworm style, I’m quite looking forward to snuggling into bed with after posting this blog and reading. All in all a very good day and it’s only going to get better... and colder... but I’ll cope with that when it comes to it!

A happy Molly in the beautiful Storrs Campus.

Stars and Stripes

So I’ve been stuck inside all day (I literally mean all day) because of this supposed Hurricane. It has been pretty bad; In Virginia I know there were a few tornadoes and there’s been lots of damage and flooding but it doesn’t seem to be any worse than any of the tropical storms that I witnessed when I used to live in Virginia Beach. In fact today has just seemed more like a normal English summer’s day; very wet, very windy and a bit chilly. So I’m afraid I don’t really have any exciting stories to tell about the Hurricane, sorry, I mean the ‘tropical storm’ other than a few power cuts and some leaks.

One thing I have noticed however as I’ve huddled under my umbrella and run between buildings to the various dining halls is the number of people wearing UCONN t-shirts and hoodies and even the occasional pair of slippers! Everywhere you look the UCONN sign is plastered and the Husky image is pictured. People are very proud of their school. And it makes me wonder why we aren’t quite so enthusiastic in England. There are plenty of people who wander around Warwick campus wearing a Warwick hoody but I would say that the majority of those people are in teams of some sort. The only University merchandise that seems to be worn around England is by tourists having visited ‘Oxford’ or ‘Cambridge. Is it that in England we are just too 'cool' to be seen as representing an educational establishment, or can us poor students simply not afford the £25 hoodies? Whatever the reason I have to say that I am really enjoying the sense of community and team spirit that's highlighted by the use of the UCONN logo everywhere.

It's this sense of community that England as a country is lacking. England has no patriotism whatsoever. The only occasions when there is vaguely any sense of community is when there are sporting events, when people have a common interest that unites them. Why can't Britain itself be a common interest? It would appear that a large number of people in our capital are far more interested in looting and stealing from their local communities than being a part of it, “because they can”. Here in America, I see the flag flying almost every day where as in England it’s illegal to fly the flag for fear that it might cause offence to other races and cultures. While I respect, and even enjoy, the fact that England is a multicultural and diverse country there is a point where we must still accept the fact that we are British and these people have chosen to come to Britain because of what it has to offer. Surely they will equally praise and respect the United Kingdom and our flag in the same way that any British person would? It is by no way excluding them or renouncing their cultural identity. In fact I think it does almost the opposite: culture is an ever changing thing and whereas before our flag may have represented a great, domineering, colonial empire, now it can be seen to show a country rich in other cultures and identities and one which embraces them.

I’m very tempted to go into a further spiel about how our respect for the military comes into this but I think I’ll avoid that bomb shell. For now, I need to begin some reading for classes this week...

Gin and Tonic Anyone... Oh Wait....

So two blogs in one day might be slightly keen but I need to get my thoughts down quickly or I forget them!  Yesterday was an interesting day as all the other American students started to arrive. Actually they started to arrive at 6am which I can’t say I particularly appreciated! We watched parents and siblings struggling with mini fridges, and wide screen TVs; saw massive pickup trucks and even removals vans, being emptied of peoples’ lives and transferred into tiny little box rooms like our own. Having done the rounds and introduced ourselves to everyone we were soon famous as being “the two girls from England” and caused great hilarity when we said words like “film” and “bloody”.

Having met most people, we arranged to meet up with some English friends to go down to the Student Union for an ‘ice cream social’. Yes, you did read that correctly, an ice cream social. It’s probably important to mention here that everyone on our corridor are freshmen (first years) and all very, very excited by that fact. The ice cream social at the student union was, I suppose, UCONNS version of Freshers but missing one very vital ingredient: alcohol. Coming from a country which is infamous for its drinking problems and where you are likely to walk past 15 year olds, knocked up, smoking a fag and downing a can of Strongbow, I was interested to see what Americans opinion of its drinking laws would be and if it was as harshly enforced as the rumours say or more relaxed like in the films – red plastic cups at frat parties and all that!

Our first introduction to the drinking age was at the beginning of orientation and, if i’m going to be honest, it was all fairly ambiguous. While they stressed that you could get fined by the police, or kicked out of UCONN, or even arrested, they all said so in such a way that implied “if you’re subtle enough and you don’t act like a complete drunken maniac, then we’ll never know”.  In no way am I underestimating the issues you could land yourself in if you’re caught drinking under age -one boy I met managed to land himself a hefty $300 fine and was fired from the summer camp where he was working- but at the same time they sound like they expect everyone to drink whatever their age and so I do wonder why the drinking age is still so high.

One American girl said she liked having the drinking age higher because, I assume, it means that you learn to have a good time at college and to make friends without alcohol, and, once you’ve settled in and matured a little, you can then drink ‘responsibly’ and on suitable occasions. I do understand this argument as, although I have been known to have my fair few drunken nights, I have never felt the need that in order to socialise I must have alcohol. While it does help, and I can’t deny that there’s nothing more satisfying than a Vodka Cranberry with a hint of lime on a Friday night (or any night for that matter), it’s more because I enjoy the social environment that comes with drinking and not the drinking itself.

While England has definitely not got it right with its constant statistics revealing that underage drinking is constantly on the increase, at the same time I think that America’s system is just far too extreme. It was initially raised to 21 in the 80’s in an attempt to decrease car accidents and yet I think America is now suffering a whiplash of defiance as students are just rebelling against the law and binge drinking for the thrill of it. Furthermore, it seems fairly hypocritical to have raised the drinking age to 21 in order to prevent traffic accidents, yet to allow 15 year olds on the road!!! Surely they pose more of a threat to themselves and to others than a few beers will do!

On another note why is it that an 18 year old can spend a year fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq yet when they get their few days leave they can’t enjoy a cool refreshing beer with their friends? Alcohol has played a massive role in many cultures history as a religious, social and even medicinal beverage yet it has now become something which, in America at least, is forbidden and so hidden underground and abused. While England’s drinking culture is going to the extreme, I do think there is a healthy medium to be found but that I’m afraid is another of life’s mysteries. As the founding Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said, "... alcohol has existed longer than all human memory. It has outlived generations, nations, epochs and ages. It is a part of us, and that is fortunate indeed. For although alcohol will always be the master of some, for most of us it will continue to be the servant of man"

Bubble To Bubble

So, as you may have expected, I think I may have bigged up my trip to Walmart a tad. It wasn’t very exciting, in fact by the end I had completely lost the will to live. I mean for starters there was barely anyyy peanut butter on the shelves, what’s with that?! Me, a peanut butter connoisseur (if I may say so myself) obviously bee lined straight to the aisle labled ‘PEANUT BUTTER’ but no, one measly jar of Peter Pan and a couple of Skippys. So that was a bad start to the trip and it culminated in eventually having to wait about an hour for our brand new American Phones for the bargain price of $10. Yes you heard me, that’s about £6. It truly is a beauty, the tiny screen and quaint little buttons... what am I saying, it’s a horrific brick. But I have a phone!

Anyways, now that I have covered Walmart as previously promised, I thought I should take the time to explain the URL name of my blog ‘bubble-to-bubble’; well, ‘across the pond’ was taken! I jest. In reality when I sat down and had to think about what this monumental move meant in my life and how it could be summed up into a short phrase I realised that, other than location, my life hasn’t actually changed that much. I have been moving, since about the age of 12 between various different bubbles. St Mary’s, my all girls Catholic boarding school in the middle of Dorset was of course the first, and with 27 girls in my year, the bubble was about as small as it could get; then to Warwick, a campus university in the middle of Coventry where busses and taxis to Leamington were a necessity, and now UCONN, the largest of all the bubbles, but a bubble nonetheless.

While my UCONN bubble is beginning to feel slightly smaller as I’m steadily learning to make my way around without a map, I realised the other day that America is really just one great, big, massive, world dominating bubble. In Immigration when asked where I was born, I replied ‘Berlin’. I’ve never seen a look of complete and utter confusion on a man’s face; he needed the country I was born in and not the city and either he had no clue Berlin existed or that it was the capital of Germany! I mean come on, I was born in an American Hospital in Germany; the American’s practically ran half of Germany for the last century! Similarly, when given some talks by UCONN international professors, Academics, from Australia and England and the likes who had immigrated over in the past 20 years or so, it was interesting hearing their perception of the American bubble. In fact, one of them even told us not to judge them for their ignorance if (she might have even said ‘when’) they can’t understand our accent or don’t know where our home country is on a map.

For most people this is shocking. How can they not know where England or France is? But how many of you reading this blog can name more than 10 states, or place them on a map? In the same way that Americans don’t really know European countries, neither do Europeans really know Americans states. Of course I’m making a lot of sweeping generalisations but I think it’s easy to forget that although America is one massive country, one big bubble, its split into multiple little bubbles (well 50 to be exact) in the same way that Europe is. I think what I’m trying to say is that yes Americans can seem ignorant about the world outside of the United States but no more so than most people. America is such a vast and diverse country, that they have enough to keep them occupied. 

Drive Thru Life

It’s Friday. We have a Grade 3 hurricane heading directly towards us.  Or so I keep being told. In actual fact, the sun is shining, the crickets are chirping and the birds are singing. So, while I’m sure you’re all desperate to hear about living through a hurricane, those dreaded things that wipe out cities and send small girls to far-away lands with witches and talking scarecrows, I’m afraid I’ve got nothing to give on that just yet. So, for now, I think it’s appropriate to mention some stereotypical Americanisms that I just can’t seem to escape from.

Firstly there are sooo many fast food restaurants. I know it’s the home of fast food and obesity etc but seriously?! In particular Dunkin Donuts and Subway seem to be the top two appearing on every other road so I suppose I can’t really complain as I am partial to a lovely subway wrap. Mostly because I’ve fallen into the trap of believing that it’s really healthy and not at all bad for me. I am happy in my ignorance. I have to say though that I am slightly disappointed with the lack of Chic-fil-a and Hardy’s curly fries, two fast food restaurants that I discover in Virginia a few years ago, but I will keep searching!

Post (sorry 'Mail') boxes at the end of drives, yellow school busses, massive pick-up trucks there really is a plethora of stereotypical American sights. Despite being told to think otherwise, America really is how it appears in the films (sorry ‘movies)! But most hilarious of all are the drive thrus (throughs?). During our hour or so journey to the coast yesterday we passed several drive thru fast food restaurants, a drive thru pharmacy, post office, supermarket, bank and the list really does go on.  Initially the feeling is of utter horror and abhorrence at the complete laziness of the system. But then you look around and notice the enormity of everything. If you were to park up and walk between all of the above it would probably take you about 5 hours and so really, in the same way that Internet Banking is so much easier and more convenient, so too are drive thrus.

In fact considering the massive parking costs that have recently been inflicted on Salisbury's residents (my home towns), drive thrus could be the option for those of us who simply need to pop in to deposit a cheque or to pick up some milk without acquiring an extortionate parking fee... although I can’t really see it happening in the small market town of Salisbury, but you know what I mean there is logic there somewhere!

I’m just about to set off on a trip to Walmart after lunch at the student union. A student union which I would just like to mention has several food shops, a minimart, ice cream parlour and our very own bowling alley!!! I’m pretty sure that my shopping trip to Walmart is going to be one of the highlights of the week so I’m getting fairly excited. Not least because we’re getting a kettle and I will be able to get my daily top up of decent tea (yes I did bring out a massive box of earl grey. Don’t judge). Haven’t quite thought out how we’re going to get everything back to campus on the bus but I’m sure we’ll figure something out...

Lets Start At The Very Beginning...

I am finally taking the leap onto the World Wide Web and opening up my strange musings and experiences of American University life to friends, family and anyone vaguely interested. So, having fought my way through customs and immigration (quite literally) I have now arrived in the beautiful, country campus of the University of Connecticut, in the rural town of Storrs and have spent 3 days being ‘orientated’ into my new life. I have moved into my new room, which vaguely resembles a prison cell, and have got lost on the massive campus which makes the University of Warwick, my home university, look pathetic in comparison! The sun is shining, the air conditioning is constantly below freezing and, well, the campus is pretty much empty. The bulk of American students start arriving tomorrow and this weekend, as classes start on Monday, so that is when the true excitement will begin.

This week has been orientation week for us international kids; we’ve been forced through numerous talks on our visa requirements, and the state laws, and the University code of conduct. I expect we know more about the University than most of the students who graduate do! And while, yes, lots of it has seemed dull and pointless, not helped by the mind numbing jetlag, at the same time I can’t help but think that I probably should have had something like this at Warwick. The kind of talks where you can ask all the silly questions and not actually feel silly; ‘is it better to take laptops to lectures or to write notes?’ ‘Where do the buses go?’ ‘How does the grading system work?’ Thinking about all my closest friends starting Uni in the next few months I am reminded of the whole process of being launched into a completely new setting and system of learning and not actually having a clue what the norm is. I guess in England the point is that there is no norm, you’re supposed to ‘be free’ and ‘do whatever’s best for you’ but it’s always nice to have guidelines!

All in all my first few days have been tough, not going to lie. In fact, I seem to recall spending most of my first night planning on how to get to the airport to get a flight home and trying to calculate in my head how much money I would lose/save if I did go now. I never did work it out. But the second day was better;I had a pillow for starters which always helps and I realised that the way to not get strange looks from fellow corridor mates was by using the women’s bathroom not the gents... woops. I have also finally managed to meet some people; the first few days were a bit too busy and organised so sustaining a conversation with anyone was always rather rushed and frantic. Today we went to Avery Point, another of UConn’s regional campuses which is on the coast. There we learnt about the ins and outs of hurricanes and tropical storms; oh the irony seeing as we have both on the way... I’ll keep you posted on that front!