Round-up of Semester 1
SEMESTER ONE
(This post was written Thursday 14th Dec!) Yesterday I handed in my final paper for one of my classes, which means I have finished my first semester of studying abroad! I thought I'd do an overview of my first semester; my classes, some of the places I've visited etc.
CLASSES
Human Rights & Advocacy: the UN
Global Social Problems
Religion and Politics in the Middle East
I have to say I have really enjoyed them all, but my favourite one was probably the law class, which I found so interesting. We studied the international law of war, jurisdiction, environment, weapons, movement of persons and intellectual property. For a while I considered doing a law degree, and this class was not like anything I had ever studied before, and the Professor was great.
As the ultimate dream is to work with or for the UN, of course I signed up to this class straight away. We basically studied the SDGs which were developed in 2015 in relation to one region of the world. I feel like I'm now a definite expert of Climate Action in China now!
My soc class was a lower level class than the others, so it was definitely more straight forward than the others, but nonetheless so interesting. This is where I learned all about British Imperialism and the Opium Wars etc. It was really cool because we would study a different global social problem every week, and I got to learn an American perspective as well as offering to the class what I thought from a British point of view.
I would say the hardest class was my Middle East class. I have never studied anything about the Middle East before, and had very little knowledge compared to the rest of the class. We had to produce a 10 page final paper which I dreaded from the beginning, but I felt so amazing when I handed it in haha!!!
Overall I think I've done OK. I already know that I got an A in my law class which I think - but I'm not entirely sure - is a 1st at home, so I'm over the moon with that. These classes have completely finished now, and I'll start new ones next semester, which I am really looking forward to!
CHALLENGES
Of course, theres been a few challenges along the way, and I've definitely experienced my share of homesickness. I did really badly on a test roughly half way through the semester and I lost all confidence in that class; and I really just needed my Mum to tell me I was doing ok! The workload has also been very difficult, and as a 17 week semester it has been so tiring; so at times I have completely just wanted to abandon all work and go home! The hardest part is definitely being on a different time zone- when I just need to call home at night everyone is asleep, which can quickly make you feel very lonely. Also communication by text is hard enough as it is, and with the added time zone difficulty it has resulted in a few mis-communication errors!!! However, I've made it out the other side alive haha, so all is good!
SOME OF MY FAVOURITE MEMORIES
I've already done posts about my first 2 months which were the most exciting few months of the semester, so those were definitely some of my favourite memories. You will also have already seen and heard about my fall break and thanksgiving trips, so go catch up on those if you haven't already!
Here's some other highlights:
In October we took a road trip to a little town called Skaneateles, which was beautiful. It was right in the middle of fall so the drive was so pretty too, and it was right at my 8 week mark. When I think of the happiest moments of this semester this day always comes to mind! Another weekend I went on a Hike and Bike trip to a place called Watkins Glen which was also so beautiful. I wasn't expecting the bike part to be so long - it was 20 miles in the end! - but the view of Watkins Gorge was so incredible, it was definitely worth it. We stopped to refuel on the best ice cream I've had since I've been here which made it even better!
I also went with my UN class for a trip to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City! I visited at Easter with lancs on the 'Your Global Exploration' trip to Boston and New York, so it was my second tour - but I really loved it! We had to go smartly dressed because we sat in on a NGO meeting in the morning, so I felt so official!!!
A few weeks ago my friend and I went to see an Ice Hockey game downtown which was sooo fun. Anyone that knows me will know that I'm such a competitive person, and I always get into games far too much! There was a fight in the middle of the game which was so funny; the referees just stood by and let them get on with it and they ended up on the floor!!! Our team won which made it even better.
Last week all the exchange girls got together and we had a British Christmas dinner to prepare ourselves for coming home! My friend cooked a full roast and it was incredible!! It made me so excited for Christmas and we watched Love Actually after; it was a perfect afternoon!
Of course I have to include the two snow days we've had this week, which has been the most perfect ending to the semester. On Tuesday a snow plough woke me up, but then I fell back to sleep and when I woke up again, there was no snow! I thought I had dreamt it. So on Wednesday morning when I was woken up at 7.46am, and saw there was actually snow, I was straight up and met my friend to go and explore and take some nice pictures. Everything looks so much better covered in snow; I'm so excited for next semester now!
I definitely did do more exciting things in September and October. There were times where I forgot that I was actually here to do work and this year completely counts towards to my degree so I need to do well; and this meant trips to the library rather than anything further afield. November and December were mainly spent studying; apart from thanksgiving break. I'm looking forward to next semester and some new experiences; now we know what to expect we can be a bit more adventurous!
It's a little sad to think I'm now halfway through this experience; but I keep reminding myself that we still have the same amount of time we've already had - which is pretty long! I definitely cannot wait to go home though, and enjoy a Christmas completely school work free- thats the first time since I started secondary school that I don't even have to pick up a single pen!!!
xo Elsie
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