Tour of my American Campus

AMERICAN CAMPUS TOUR

This week I'm showing you some pictures from around my campus, to give you some idea of what an American University is like! The grounds are very well kept, and when we first arrived (when it was summer) it was absolutely beautiful, so a lot of the photos I've used are from back in August! Of course, its beautiful when it snowed too, so I had to put some snowy pictures in!

From outside my building.

The walk down to campus has been so beautiful in all the seasons!

Beautiful flowers everywhere in the summer, there must be about 100 people just working on keeping the grounds looking amazing.

A photo from my second day in the US!

This part they call the spine; its the main route between most classes and when its hot its so busy with everyone working in the sun. Its such a lovely atmosphere.

This view is looking down to the peace quad - here they hosted welcome information events etc.

They haven't added the flowers to the 2018 display yet because the weather has been terrible! But hopefully should be able to get a nice picture there before I leave as the weather is back up to 12-22'c!

Dotted around campus in the living areas are hammocks which are so comfy to lay on in the summer!!!

All living communities have a commons area with computers, pool, table tennis, a football table etc. Here they hold lots of events throughout the week, and theres often a lot of free food!

Post gets put into these tiny post poxes!

FOOD

Across campus there are resident dining halls in the living communities, and then retail dining places such as Dunkin Donuts, and then the Market Place too which has a range of food places but is a bit more pricy. Lots of people go there to work and theres a lounge with TVs too.

The dining halls make fresh pancakes for breakfast most mornings! Seriously so yummy, and so cheap too. Two chocolate chip and banana pancakes cost about $2!

My fave coffee place on campus is Dunkin. Ice Coffee is my fave and its not as popular at home (here everyone drinks it, even if its -10'c outside) I'm defo gonna miss it when I leave.

Now technically Denny's is not on campus, but its only a 15 min walk from where I live, and about 2 mins walk from where campus actually ends. Personally I think the dining hall pancakes are 100x better and soooo much cheaper, but it is nice to go every now and again with all the girls.

SPORT

The Sports facilities on campus are insane. Sport is taken very seriously over here, many students are offered scholarships to play on the school team, and their games are like proper events. The basketball was probably the best because there were cheerleaders, kick line and the game I went to was really competitive so there were really big crowds for both teams. Baseball is quite fun to watch too, although I have to admit to having no idea what is going on. In my head I keep thinking its rounders, but it really isn't haha!

The gym is also state of the art and membership was so much cheaper than back at home. I think it cost me $180 (about £136) for the year and it includes all gym classes too. I've been to a few spin classes and have really enjoyed going to Barre classes. Barre is like a mix between ballet and pilates (I think?) and its low impact but super intense on the muscles that you do use.

We also have a Nature Preserve on campus which has been nice to walk through in summer and winter.

ACADEMIC

Most of my classes have been very small, but there are lecture halls too. A lot of classrooms have that american style where the desk is connected to the chair (what you don't know is that the chair is on wheels so it is literally so hard to sit still).

I'm not the biggest fan of the library here - and don't even have a picture to show of it! Its very old and dark and I just haven't been able to work well in there. I do most of my work in starbucks; somehow the background noise really helps me focus.

ENTERTAINMENT

There are also lots of music and theatre shows; my favourite has been watching the A Capella groups. I'm so sad A Capella isn't very big at home! It has definitely been one of my highlights this year. In the union there is also a bowling alley which is free - I'm pretty mad I've lived here over 8 months and haven't been! Maybe I can squeeze in a game before I leave.

In the summer there were lots of S'mores around the campfire events, and they are starting back up again now its getting warmer! I had never had a s'more before I came here!

I stole my flatmates cap for this photo and now I'm thinking I really need my own. The University store is huge, you could literally get a full outfit (or like 5) in Bing clothes if you wanted.