My First Month
A CATCH UP
This post is rather late because I have been SO busy, but better late than never. Here's what I got up to in my first month in New York.
On our last day of orientation, the uni set up a mini fairground on campus! We queued ages for the ferris wheel, but it was so worth it seeing campus all lit up in the dark, and it actually felt very magical. Like a real 'pinch me I'm actually here' moment. We also tried deep fried Oreos!!! Sounds disgusting but they were so so so good, and I'm wondering if I can persuade Mum to try make them when I get back home!
Wednesday 23rd August, classes began. - seems flipping ages ago now! It still feels so bizarre calling all our lectures/ seminars a class- a major throwback to school days. It felt bizarre being in classes when nobody at home was at school or uni, and they were full on from the get-go. After my first three days of classes I already knew that the American education system is very different, and so far a lot harder than in the UK. All my classes have participation marks, and American students contribute so much more than at home, so I sit in every class stressing whether I have said enough- and most of them I have no idea what to even say! I also have so. much. homework. Last year we could get away with not doing the readings for uni most of the time, but here if I miss even one I would have no clue what is going on, which means I have up to 100 pages of reading for each of my classes every week! It's very, very different to being at uni in the UK, and much like being back at school- classes are very structured, they are small and largely discussion based.
Wednesday 23rd August, classes began. - seems flipping ages ago now! It still feels so bizarre calling all our lectures/ seminars a class- a major throwback to school days. It felt bizarre being in classes when nobody at home was at school or uni, and they were full on from the get-go. After my first three days of classes I already knew that the American education system is very different, and so far a lot harder than in the UK. All my classes have participation marks, and American students contribute so much more than at home, so I sit in every class stressing whether I have said enough- and most of them I have no idea what to even say! I also have so. much. homework. Last year we could get away with not doing the readings for uni most of the time, but here if I miss even one I would have no clue what is going on, which means I have up to 100 pages of reading for each of my classes every week! It's very, very different to being at uni in the UK, and much like being back at school- classes are very structured, they are small and largely discussion based.
I've also already had my first test, which went horrendously; my Mum told me to just put it down to experience; a very bad one haha! We were given blank paper to write our answers on, which completely threw me off track, and the Professor said he only wanted 2 paragraphs on each question. I'm used to writing long extended answers to exam questions, so of course I handed in a flipping essay whilst everyone else literally handed in one side of writing! It will be very interesting to see how I did next week; I do not have high expectations!
Although I have struggled with the differences and the step-up is very hard, it will be interesting to see which system works best in the long run!
Another thing to comment on is the seats in class. Not only do the seats have wheels, but the tables do too. Every time I go into class I nearly end up on the floor, and I look like an absolute lunatic. I've come to the conclusion American students have had a lifetime of experience with these crazy wheels, so I'm going to play the British card again on this one.
I've also found being on different time zones quite difficult- I am 5 hours behind UK time, and it can easily make you feel quite disconnected from home, family and friends. When I wake up, my family are all busy at work, and when they can call in the evenings, I'm always in class. I'm beginning to find ways round this; I try to FaceTime my Mum and Dad about once a week when they have a few hours spare- although I've worked out to never FaceTime when really homesick because it just makes it worse. I also send messages just before I go to bed, so that when I wake up in the morning I have lots of replies which is really quite nice to wake up to. I also have a Facebook group and photo sharing with my family which makes it really easy for them to keep up with what I'm up to! I got my first piece of post last week from one of my neighbours at home, which completely made my day- when your so far away its the little things that count.
There are obviously also some great benefits to a different timezone: I get Netflix whenever I want it!
Other things I've been up to:
LUMA Projection Arts Festival: downtown was transformed into a lights festival, where several buildings had pieces projected onto them, and some in 3D; very cool!
I've eaten a lot of smores! We made our first smores on a real fire, and although my first one was a bit of a disaster and marshmallow went everywhere, I loved it!
Fall is already coming! The weather turned here quite suddenly, and it felt like being back in the UK. Already shops are preparing for Halloween, and the trees are beginning to turn! Campus is surrounded by woodland, so it's going to be so beautiful when fall (already using American terms automatically!!) is in full swing! NOTE: since I wrote this temperatures have increased back to an average of 25'c. The t-shirts are back out, and the knitwear tucked away. Sunburn and freckles have made a reappearance too.
Bike ride in Binghamton: Last Sunday we signed up for a bike ride and ice-cream stop around Binghamton, and it was so much fun. Warm weather suddenly returned, and there was an event called 'Blues on the Bridge' which created such a nice atmosphere to cycle by! I have to admit, I totally forgot the whole US drives on the other side of the road thing, and I'm not the most co-ordinated person at the best of times; I fell off my bike and crashed into a car cycling in Lancaster. However, it didn't take long to get used to it and we were with a group so it was fine, and we spent the whole day laughing, it was awesome!
Visited the Zoo!: Today we went to Binghamton Ross Park Zoo! It was very small, but the animals they did have were really cute and I especially liked the Red Pandas, which put on a full performance for the cameras!
Sunset Hike: This evening we went on a Sunset Hike with our university Outdoor Pursuits centre. Although we basically missed the sunset by the time we got to the top it was nice, and I'm really enjoying spending so much time in the outdoors here!
On my first few days here when I was unsettled and just wanted to go home, I wrote down in my journal the dates for when I'd be a quarter way, half way, and three quarters way through this semester. Although I'm not not counting down the days anymore, I look at these marks as a sense of progress; how far I've come. I'm now a quarter way through this semester, which in the beginning felt so far away. So although it might not seem a big deal to anyone else, I'm so proud to have been living in a different country, thousands of miles away from home for 5 weeks!
I have some exciting plans for Fall Break (hint: city break) which I am counting down the days to! And next week I'm off to Ithaca, which is about an hour away, for a hike which I'm also really looking forward to, hopefully I will get some beautiful pictures.
Although I have struggled with the differences and the step-up is very hard, it will be interesting to see which system works best in the long run!
Another thing to comment on is the seats in class. Not only do the seats have wheels, but the tables do too. Every time I go into class I nearly end up on the floor, and I look like an absolute lunatic. I've come to the conclusion American students have had a lifetime of experience with these crazy wheels, so I'm going to play the British card again on this one.
Classrooms have chalkboards! And those awful chairs.
I've also found being on different time zones quite difficult- I am 5 hours behind UK time, and it can easily make you feel quite disconnected from home, family and friends. When I wake up, my family are all busy at work, and when they can call in the evenings, I'm always in class. I'm beginning to find ways round this; I try to FaceTime my Mum and Dad about once a week when they have a few hours spare- although I've worked out to never FaceTime when really homesick because it just makes it worse. I also send messages just before I go to bed, so that when I wake up in the morning I have lots of replies which is really quite nice to wake up to. I also have a Facebook group and photo sharing with my family which makes it really easy for them to keep up with what I'm up to! I got my first piece of post last week from one of my neighbours at home, which completely made my day- when your so far away its the little things that count.
There are obviously also some great benefits to a different timezone: I get Netflix whenever I want it!
Other things I've been up to:
LUMA Projection Arts Festival: downtown was transformed into a lights festival, where several buildings had pieces projected onto them, and some in 3D; very cool!
I've eaten a lot of smores! We made our first smores on a real fire, and although my first one was a bit of a disaster and marshmallow went everywhere, I loved it!
Fall is already coming! The weather turned here quite suddenly, and it felt like being back in the UK. Already shops are preparing for Halloween, and the trees are beginning to turn! Campus is surrounded by woodland, so it's going to be so beautiful when fall (already using American terms automatically!!) is in full swing! NOTE: since I wrote this temperatures have increased back to an average of 25'c. The t-shirts are back out, and the knitwear tucked away. Sunburn and freckles have made a reappearance too.
Bike ride in Binghamton: Last Sunday we signed up for a bike ride and ice-cream stop around Binghamton, and it was so much fun. Warm weather suddenly returned, and there was an event called 'Blues on the Bridge' which created such a nice atmosphere to cycle by! I have to admit, I totally forgot the whole US drives on the other side of the road thing, and I'm not the most co-ordinated person at the best of times; I fell off my bike and crashed into a car cycling in Lancaster. However, it didn't take long to get used to it and we were with a group so it was fine, and we spent the whole day laughing, it was awesome!
A-Cappella: last Saturday we went to the Dollar show; where we payed $1 to watch BU's A cappella groups perform and they were all incredible! It was so good, and amazing to hear A-cappella in person; my only other experience being from Pitch Perfect!
9/11: On Monday was the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, where unfortunately 15 Binghamton alumni were killed. The uni planted a memorial flag garden where people could pay their respects.
Visited the Zoo!: Today we went to Binghamton Ross Park Zoo! It was very small, but the animals they did have were really cute and I especially liked the Red Pandas, which put on a full performance for the cameras!
Sunset Hike: This evening we went on a Sunset Hike with our university Outdoor Pursuits centre. Although we basically missed the sunset by the time we got to the top it was nice, and I'm really enjoying spending so much time in the outdoors here!
On my first few days here when I was unsettled and just wanted to go home, I wrote down in my journal the dates for when I'd be a quarter way, half way, and three quarters way through this semester. Although I'm not not counting down the days anymore, I look at these marks as a sense of progress; how far I've come. I'm now a quarter way through this semester, which in the beginning felt so far away. So although it might not seem a big deal to anyone else, I'm so proud to have been living in a different country, thousands of miles away from home for 5 weeks!
I have some exciting plans for Fall Break (hint: city break) which I am counting down the days to! And next week I'm off to Ithaca, which is about an hour away, for a hike which I'm also really looking forward to, hopefully I will get some beautiful pictures.
xoxo Elsie
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