Looking back

Hello everyone, here is the first of my last two posts that I will be doing for this blog. It will be basically an overview of my experience, including what I have learned, how I have grown, and whether I would do it again.

When I stepped off the plane on September 28 in England, I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. The fall term was a crazy yet enjoyable one. While I was in England, I visited Oxford, Coventry, Birmingham, London, and Lemington spa. For the most part though I stayed on campus and though that may sound boring, I had adventures there that I will not soon forget. Assassins guild, karate, late night walks and talks, watching youtube videos, listening to crazy songs, dancing around the dorm, having unforgettable nights at the SU, a huge Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas socials, meeting new people, attack yogurts, modules, and class work all made up my time while I was at Warwick. There were times when I was home sick and longed for the States. There times when I wished for familiarity and a school system I was used to, but all in all, this was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Through the late nights, tears, laughter, and craziness, I had an awesome term and one of the reasons I am now glad I did this blog is that I now have documentation I can look back on to remind of everything that I went through there.

I have learned so many things and grown in so many ways by going to Warwick. I learned that one can make friends anywhere, and now I have made so many promises to go back and see everyone that I hope I can somehow keep them all. I have learned a great deal from my modules, which is to be expected. I have grown by being exposed to a different culture and what it is like to live in a different country. I am more open-minded now and hold more diverse views. My friends there taught me to think in a different way and see things in a different light, as well as look at myself differently and to first look at my own actions and myself when a problem occurs. I learned quite a bit in Karate and am resolved to continue with it at Cornell and beyond. I learned how to cook Thanksgiving dinner successfully for 19 people, and how being with friends on a holiday can make things a lot brighter when all you want is to be at home. I learned that I am great at keeping myself alive in the assassin's guild long game, but that I am a horrible assassin. I learned how to improvise on ingredients to make recipes I made in the States, and that my mom's cheesecake recipe is extremely popular. I grew as a person, a student, and a professional, and I learned that late night laundry runs and walks are great ways to get to know people better.

If someone were to ask me right now, would I do it over again? My answer would be yes, definitely. I had so much fun, learned so much, met so many great people, and made so many wonderful friends who I know I will keep in touch with for years to come. I know this experience will benefit me as a student, a soon-to-be graduate, and in my future career. I am certainly open minded now when it comes to the idea of relocation, and though I would rather stay in the States, the idea of living in a state other than NC is not such a scary idea now. If you have read this blog and have the chance to go study at Warwick Business School or in England in general, do it, go for it, you will not be disappointed. The people there are amazing and though it takes getting used to, England is a great place to live and it will not be long until you begin using British words like cheers or rubbish. My experience has been awesome and I am so glad that I went, even if I was a tad intimidated at the idea of going.

There will be one more post discussing my transition back to American society and being home, which I will be posting tomorrow. To summarize my experience in one sentence though, it was awesome. Like I said, if you get the chance to do an exchange or study abroad, do it. If you have any questions that were not answered in this blog, whether they be direct related to the exchange program, my personal experience, or anything else, please feel free to email me at Njw48@cornell.edu. I will be happy to answer and all questions. Thank you, cheers, and happy holidays!

brief synopsis of London, Candy Corn, Thanksgiving dinner, and 8am fire alarms

Hey everyone! Since my previous strategy of writing several posts and then posting daily as failed, I will now attempt a different strategy. I am instead going to write one rather long post on several topics every few days, hopefully more frequently than I have been since the term is very quickly drawing to a close. Moving on......

A brief synopsis of my trip to London...

While I would like to go over everything I saw and did in London, I have come to the realization that it still would not portray what it is like to actually be there. So I will briefly mention what I did and my opinion about whether or not it was worth spending the very little time seeing the attraction. Before I begin though, let me take a moment to mention that everything in London is arguably worth seeing since not many of us have the luxury of getting to spend a lot of time there. Either way is it definitely worth going to London. So if you come to England, try to spend some time there. One more thing, do not be disappointed if you cannot make it to every attraction/building/restaurant you wanted to see. London is quite big so really the only thing you can do is try to manage your time efficiently. However do not over schedule so that you are running from place to place and not giving yourself anytime to enjoy anything. Otherwise what was the point of going since you will then be more likely to remember running from place to place then anything you actually saw.

On to the first place...

1) The National Gallery. Located in Traflagar square, it is a collection of portraits and paintings done over the centuries by many different artists. I enjoy galleries so I did really enjoy this attraction. The paintings were interesting and the location is nice, not to mention admission is free. Even if you do not actually go into the gallery, I still suggest seeing the sculptures and works of art in Traflagar square. We saw huge lions, Nelson's column, and a big "ship in a bottle". Also there were many street performers doing tricks there, including a living statute.

2) China Town. Located in Soho, it is mainly a collection of Asian shops, restaurants, and the occasional work of art. I enjoyed this part of the day mostly because I walked in a shop and saw that they had A&W root beer which, after not being able to have some since I left the States, was lovely. It is definitely an interesting place to see but I felt quite happy basically rushing through it since it really did not appeal much to me.

3) Big Ben and the London Eye. Big Ben is of course the iconic clock tower which everyone now thinks of when they think of England. The London eye is the largest Ferris wheel in the world which takes you on a 30 minute trip in what is basically a giant glass ball. Both are a must see but because of their size, you do not need to be close to see them. There were several times just walking around when we saw them in the distance. I did not actually go on the London eye. I am rather terrified of heights so the idea of being rather high of the ground for a half hour where I can still see the ground in a structure I would not feel comfortable in just did not appeal to me. The other reason I did not go was because of the price. When my roommate and I went it would have cost us 18 pounds to go on, which would have been around $27 and we were both on a budget so we had to pass on it. However, if you do not mind heights and can afford it, I highly suggest going.

4) Buckingham palace, where the queen lives. It is a massive but impressive building surrounded by plenty of gates and security. It is quite lovely to see especially at night. I would definitely suggest seeing it and maybe getting a chance to see the changing of the guards. Unfortunately we were unable to go until night so were unable to see any guards at the palace. We did see guards elsewhere and my roommate tried to coax me into getting a picture with them but I blatantly refused since to me it would have been using them as a prop. Although other people evidently did not care and gladly used the guards as props, I felt sorry for them and possibly surprised one when I gave them a rather sympathetic look.

5) The Museum of Natural History. It is exactly what the name implies. It has been made famous by many movies, most notably "Night at the Museum". I absolutely loved going here. I found the exhibits extremely fascinating. The only thing that I wish was that I could have spent more time there. I could probably spend two whole days there and not get bored. It is highly educational, well organized, and a great place for kids. This is definitely a must see, even if you do not like museums.

Those were the main places I traveled to/saw while I was in London. I did see several minor places, but these are the ones that stood out to me. The other places are of course worth seeing but if you can fit the ones above in your itinerary you should be in good shape. The pictures of these places can be seen through the link in the first London post. Moving on to the next topic....

Candy Corn

I am aware that this is an odd topic considering that they do not even sell Candy Corn in the UK, but it has been a topic that has been brought up frequently in my dorm. Why is this? Well it started because one of my dearest friends here mentioned that she had never had any so I asked my dad to send me some and Donna to bring some which she came to England. This lead to vast amounts of candy corn being given to her and people around my dorm and no one can seem to get enough of it. They are all rather addicted to it. This leads to an interesting suggestion if you come to study here. Bring or have sent food from home. I know bringing may not be practical with packing space and customs but if nothing else, have someone ship some snacks or candy that you cannot find here over. Along with the candy corn my dad send some Frittos and some mix for Country Style gravy. The Frittos were a big hit and the gravy had some interesting reactions. I enjoyed doing it though so that they can get a taste of some of the food you can get in the States, even if you can only show them junk food. Most are eager to try foods new to them and it is nice to finally have something I can reference food wise from the States and they know what I am talking about.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is not a British Holiday. This made it weird for me to have to actually go to class on Thanksgiving, but I did find that it made it less hard for me to not be home that day. I believe its because I did not have much time to think about it and since there were few that were even aware of it being that day, I was not reminded of it often. Thankfully I still got to celebrate it this year though. A few weeks ago, I began mentioning Thanksgiving to my dorm mates and they got curious and asked if I would organize a Thanksgiving dinner for them. After much planning, shopping, and cooking, the day before Thanksgiving I successfully served a Thanksgiving meal to 19 people. I believe I spent 6 hours in the kitchen that day cooking and it was completely worth it. I had a wonderful time and I feel I was able to convey the meaning of Thanksgiving to my dorm mates. One of the best things about it was before the meal I had everyone eating name something(s) they were thankful for. It was a hectic, tiring, but awesome experience so if you do not mind the pressure, time, and effort that goes into it, I highly suggest doing it. I can even help but telling you where and when to shop, as well as how much food to buy. Either way I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and it made being away from home that day not so bad.


8am Fire alarms

The last thing I will talk about today is the fire alarm that happened at 8am on a Saturday morning at my dorm. The vast majority of people at my dorm were sleeping at this time but with the loudness and annoyingness of the fire alarm that did not last. Someone standing outside would have then seen a bunch of groggy and grumpy college kids coming out into the freshly fallen 1cm worth of snow cursing about the idiot of had evidently set the toaster on fire. Oh and did I mention most of us were in pajamas. This led to discussions of how we were grateful that we had decided to wear this pair of pajamas last night and how cold we were in our slippers or thing pajama pants. One poor guy had to go out in shorts and a t-shirt with no socks or shoes. Anyway do not be surprised if this happens at least once. Accommodation in Rootes is notorious to having this occur, but thankfully this was only the second fire alarm that has happened at Benefactors.

This is set to be one of my final posts to this blog. There are only two weeks left till I come home, so I will try to talk about anything I may have forgot to mention and then I will have a blog posting reflecting on my time here and one final one about transitioning back to the States. Things are currently going really well here, even though I am starting to feel depressed about how my final undergrad semester is almost upon me. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you never forget all that you have to be thankful for. Have a wonderful week and I will try to post again soon. Cheers! 

The London underground

Hello again and may I say Happy Thanksgiving! Although I guess it is a bit early. I am actually making Thanksgiving for my kitchen at my dorm, which means I am making enough food for 18 people! I will have help though so it will not be too bad. Anyway on to the topic of the day....

The London Underground

As I have already posted on here, I went to London the weekend before last. During this trip, my roommate and I used the London Underground frequently to get around well...London. Basically the London underground is a series of train routes under London. These routes are very convenient (especially for the tourist who does not want to walk everywhere or does not have the time to). For 5 pounds you can get an all day pass which very quickly pays for itself, especially for my roommate and I who probably took the trains around 10 times.

The only downside that I found to traveling using the Underground was that it is noisy and usually extremely crowded. There were times when I got squeezed into a train with very little personal space and I had to make sure to hold on to my roommates are when we were traveling through. It does take you all over London though and although at first it seems quite a bit confusing, with the assistance of a map, it really is not that bad. Taking a train on the Underground is definitely a must-do part of the experience of going to London.

Two more side notes, not exclusive to the London Underground, but I experienced because of the various train rides. First off a Boxing Day Pasty is the best Pasty ever! It has ham, potatoes, gravy, chicken, cranberries, and turkey. I got one at the train station and it was absolutely delicious. Second, Kings Cross was remodeling when I went through, but it is still a very nice station. Plus, for all the Harry Potter fans, it has platform 9 and 3/4 with half of a luggage trolley sticking out of the wall! That is it for this post. Enjoy time with the family this week and of course Thanksgiving! Cheers!

An interesting train experience

I apologize for this post coming a few days after I said it would, the week has been busier than I anticipated. The train system in the EU is rather well....fantastic. I do not live near anywhere in the States where I could take the train so when my roommate and I decided to take a train and visit London last Saturday, I was really excited. Train rides are nice because they tend to be priced pretty cheap, well if you go during an off peak time. Do not, unless you want to shell out about 20 or 30 pounds more, try to take a train to London on a Monday. I got a round trip ticket to London for same day travel and spent the whole day there and it only cost me around 23 pounds which is roughly $37.

Anyway the main train that goes to London and most other places around Coventry is by Virgin Trains. If you can book a trip on Virgin Train lines, which you can do easily through the Coventry train station, do it. The trains are very nice, clean, and comfortable. The ride to London is very smooth and if you go during the day, you get see a lot of lovely scenery. Although it was a bit intimidating for me at first. The timetables and train platforms can have a very intimidating feel if you do not know what is going on, but once you ride on it, you tend to realize it was silly to have that feeling.

I also got the opportunity on this trip to experience a unique panic that you only tend to get from trains...well I suppose you could also get this from the bus or subway if they were comfortable enough for you to fall asleep. Either way, on the way back from London I was extremely tired, and in being so tired, I fell asleep. When I woke up, the panic came. Did I miss my stop? Where are we? It is dark so I cannot get a visual of where we are? What if I missed it, how am I getting home? Would the train company help me? It was a very scary feeling, and upon reflection, part of the reason I prefer to fly. If you fall asleep on a plane, they would wake you up and even if they did not wake you, the noise from the other passengers getting off or the landing would wake you up and ensure that you got off at the right stop. On a train, they do not know where you are getting off so they cannot just check that you are off and often the people around you are not getting off at the right stop so they are not of my assistance. Thankfully, I did not miss my stop but I made a mental note of never falling asleep on an hour train ride again.

That was my experience with trains. If you make it here and have never been on one before, I suggest doing it and I am sure you will find it to be a lovely experience...well hopefully. Cheers!

London

Hey Everyone! As most of my fellow students know, I am heading toward the end of and by far the busiest part of the semester but the good news is that, since I went to London yesterday, I will be updating frequently over the next few days going over the various things I was able to see and do. My first post on it will be tomorrow when I go over the train system and the underground. For now, here is a link to the pictures I took while I was there: London Album. I am a tad disappointed that a few of the pictures are blurry but hopefully I will be able to go back before I leave in December.

In other news, everything is going great here in Coventry. I have now settled in completely and now even have a daily routine. Classes are going well and I am now starting on my essays that are due in January since I doubt I will have the motivation to do them when I get back home. I just last week actually started going to archery and I love that it is rather independent so it is mostly focused on individual improvement with coaching given when asked. I must say I will miss England when I come back to the States and I have already told my friends here that I have to come back and they have to come to America. I am having a fantastic time and I highly recommend coming here to anyone interested. Enjoy the album and I will begin a long series of posts tomorrow. Cheers!

How to deal with general assumptions, falsehoods, and stereotypes about Americans

I am finally better and I did not get mono so I am having a fantastic week! On an a note unrelated to the title, this week is reading week for most students...well students of certain majors. At Warwick Business School, there are not many teachers who give this kind of break. I actually only have one class in which I am off for the week. This led to worries about whether the students who have reading week would be loud and obnoxious while I am trying to work. Thankfully, this is so far unfound as most have either gone home or are actually being very productive. Moving on to today's topic......

How to Deal with assumptions, falsehoods, and stereotypes about Americans/American culture you may run into while at Warwick.

First let it be known to anyone reading this that I have not faced any discrimination by local citizens/students/professors or any Europeans while I have been here at Warwick University. 98% of the time it has even come up, it has been either a joking way by my friends or some of my curious fellow students have asked me about them.

I have only felt alienated on two separate occasions. The first was in a class where I am the only American and students there were trying to talk about it as if they knew about it. For example, when a student was asked whether it would be easier to innovate in Europe/the UK or in the States; he stated that it would be easier in the States because the culture and the language is the same everywhere. Evidently he did not realize how exactly diverse and spread out the United States is. Anyway the second occasion occurred just because one of my dorm mates has this tendency to only believe his opinions are correct, not just with me but with everyone, and decided to make a comment about the States that had true origins but was largely untrue. This led to a rather heated argument and now I think we finally gotten to the point where he just keeps quiet.

The truth is though that people are going to make stereotypes, assumptions, and believe certain falsehoods about the States. Why? Because very few have actually ever experienced anything in the United States for themselves and even if they have it is very limited in scope. For example, quite a few have been to New York city which is an American city but anyone who has been to NYC and practically anywhere else in the States knows it has a culture all its own and you can not base your entire opinion of the country on that one place; that is just the beauty of America. For those who have never been there, all these different beliefs come generally from the media, especially American movies, and word of mouth. Makes a lot of sense when you think about how many stereotypes there are about the British, particularly our/there movies, which to my experience are almost completely untrue.

So how should they be dealt with?
Well I believe there are three generally good ways (I am sure there are more, but I am just choosing to focus on the three)

Laugh
-I do not mean like laugh at them for being stupid or something, but laugh at the actual stereotypes. This gives the impression right away that evidently it is wrong but this approach is better when talking to people who actually know you so you can stop laughing and calming explain the stereotype without them thinking you are rude. Examples of this technique: I could not help laughing when somebody said to me....
"Isn't America like what’s on that show...um Jersey Shore?" (The laughing was followed by a rather quick no)

"Isn't it true that it is expected when you go to prom in America that you will sleep with your prom date?"
(After laughing, that was followed by a no and a where in the world did you get that idea)

"Aren't American High Schools like they are depicted in the movies...for example Mean Girls?" (This was laughed at just because in a way yes in many cases certain situations are similar to how they are in real life but as with most movies, the actual happenings of daily life are too boring and therefore amplified to make things more interesting)

Although laughing is great, you should still make sure to explain how you feel it actually is and also explain that it may be true in some places or situations but it is still a stereotype, which is something based on truth but has been blown out of proportion.

Explain it
-This approach works better in an academic setting or with those you do not know very well. I have generally used this when I heard someone make a comment and felt it was far off enough that it needed explaining or when people have politely inquired about American culture and it was in an Academic or non-familiar way. Basically you just calmly reiterate what they are saying so you are sure about what assumption is being made, ask why they have that assumption, and explain your experience with it the best you can. I have had one situation where they named one individual in which it fit, which I could not argue with but I could argue the point that just because it is true with that one person, does not mean it fits all Americans. I mean to be honest the only thing you can definitely say about all Americans is that we are all American.

Ignore it and just walk away
-This approach works best if used in a situation where you are talking to one of the few people here or are absolutely stuck in their way of thinking about the world and therefore will argue with you relentlessly if you try to diffuse what they believe. Thankfully I have only run into this I believe once. Really you just need to decide if whether explaining the truth of the assumption is really worth your time and trouble and if it is not, ignore the person and just walk away. An exception to that would be if you live in the same hall as them. In that case it needs to be explained to them that you do not like those kinds of comments and they need to stop. If they do not stop and they are making you uncomfortable or alienated, then there are plenty of people whom you can talk to on campus and it can get resolved.


I hope this is helpful and as a final bit of advice, DO NOT BE A HYPOCRIT. If you do not want someone to judge you by a stupid American stereotype then do not judge them by one you have of their country or culture. The whole purpose of this exchange is to expose those involved to different viewpoints and cultures. This includes being open about any preexisting beliefs and being willing to get rid of such beliefs if they are not true. Just come to England or any other country you travel to with an open mind and you will have a great time. Cheers!


Update

Hey everyone,
I am sorry it has been so long since I have posted and I am sorry that this is also going to be a rather short post. It seems I have become quite ill. My sickness began Sunday night and has attacked me vigorously since then, but on the positive side I am showing signs of recovery. I am gradually beginning to get better, but unfortunately being sick has led me to miss my classes this week. My teachers have been rather understanding though and as long as I turn in a form explaining my absence, the next day I attend class, it should be alright. I will post again once I am well, but until then, have a wonderful weekend! Cheers!

Words commonly used by Brittish students and their meanings

With the help of my very nice dorm mates, I have compiled a generous list of words that are typically used by Brittish Students that are not commonly used back home in America. So please enjoy this list and have a safe and happy Halloween! Cheers!

Full stop: period

Knackered: Tired, exhausted

Pissed: Drunk, totally wasted

Rubbish: terrible, awful, any word you would use to describe something as bad

Naf: (northern) Rubbish

Pub: Similar to a bar

Mince: ground beef

Toad in the hole: A meal that consists of sausage in Yorkshire pudding

Yorkshire pudding: A think pancake like batter which is cooked and served typically with gravy

Football: soccer

Can’t be asked/can’t be bothered: Too lazy/tired/bored to do something (typically productive)

Loo: bathroom

A pint: a glass of alchohol usually beer

Mash: Mashed potatoes

Knick/filch: stealing or borrowing

Bloody hell: similar to oh my god or oh lord. Used typically when feeling exasperated or annoyed

Flippin ell: similar to bloody hell

Nom: used typically when enjoying some sort of food

Pavement: Sidewalk

Shops: Mall

Tele: Phone

Snogging: Making out with

Cheers: Thank you

Trolley: Shopping cart

Coach: Bus

Revising: Studying/working

Resitting/Retake: Redoing previous work, what we call revising

Sorted: Something gets solved (for example: Lunch is sorted)

Fry up: Traditional full English Breakfast

Tea: dinner or the actual drink

1 sugar: 1 teaspoon of sugar

Salad cream: Honey mustard or at least very similar to it

Git/Prat: Jerk

*Note: be warned that most puddings here are not actually pudding…example: Yorkshire pudding, black pudding.

The Common room

In Benefactors we have a common room that I may or may not have mentioned before. I am not sure if the other dorms have common rooms or rather if they do, how they are set up. However, at I believe Benefactor's common room is unique in that you can see into the halls surrounding it on both floors. For some reason whoever built it found the need to put glass panels surrounding the common room instead of walls. It can be annoying though, especially until you get used to it. Just imagine that every time you leave your room for any reason, you are watched by whoever is sitting in the common room. This can be a bit embarrassing when you are cooking lunch in the kitchen and keep forgetting things in your room and evidently can also cause some interesting conversations. Although the funniest show seen from the common room probably happened this afternoon.

So my roommate and I are in assassin’s guild and were recently put on the wanted list for failing to make a legal mock assassination attempt within the allotted time. This means that a group called the inquisition, which consists of "dead" players and those who did not sign up for the long game, and those still in the game can now come after us with the intention of mock killing us. Anyway, it was about 7pm here and we were about to leave for Karate, so we were already in our uniforms, and we got a knock on the door. Not thinking about it, my roommate answered. It was an assassin from the inquisition, ironically the person she had assassinated. So he went and hid in the stairs and when we went to investigate, he saw us, and the chase began. Now imagine looking up and seeing two girls in karate uniforms running from a guy with cardboard shaped to look like a knife. I can just imagine how that must have looked.

The common room has also given inspiration to several names such as "the hall of shame", "the zoo", and the fish bowl. If any more stories like the one above come up, I will post them. In the mean time, here are some pictures to give a better idea. Cheers!

Kitchen fun

At the dorm I live at, Benefactors, on our floor there are 22 of us to our kitchen. I still fail to understand this since I think I have only seen maybe 15 of us, but anyway…Cooking in our kitchen has been rather chaotic at times. We have had two fires, only one of which required the fire blanket thankfully, and there are times when it is rather hard to get around because there are so many of us in there at once.

Although by far the most common incident that occurs in our kitchen is food appearing on the small part of open fridge space you have left, that you did not buy, and random attacks of fridge food. Let me explain….

Towards the end of the week or near to when you are about to go shopping, there ends up being more space available as you use eat/drink things. That is fine, except when you come in the kitchen, open the fridge, and gasp at the sudden intrusion of milk or vegetables or cheese that is now on your shelf. This probably does not seem like that big of a deal but it is when you try to get around that stuff to get to your stuff. When you try to go around it, instead of moving it out of the way all together, that is generally when the random attacks of fridge food occur. Picture this…someone put a yogurt at the front of your fridge space near the edge. Not wanting to move it for whatever reason, you attempt to go around it in order to retrieve your milk. While delicately going around it, you do not notice the yogurt beginning to tilt until….SPLAT. You look down in horror (well I did anyway) to see yogurt all over the floor, your pants, and your shoes. This is a fairly common occurrence, though usually it is not yogurt that is falling.

Apart from the attacking food, invading food, and crowded conditions, the kitchen is actually quite nice. Most everyone has their own shelf space, with a lot of us opting to also keep some things in our room, and with the recent exception of a sudden spurt of vegetable thievery, stolen food has been kept to a minimum.  

The dirty duck

Today I thought I would talk about a local pub called "The Dirty Duck". First a description off of Cornell's SU site:

The Dirty Duck is a modern twist on the traditional pub, serving real, freshly cooked, value-for-money food and a variety of real ales, wines, premium beers and spirits.
During term-times we have serve our new lunch menu from 12midday - 4pm Mon-Fri, followed by a superb traditional evening menu from 4-9pm. On Saturdays our full menu is available all day 12pm-9pm. On Sundays we offer a great-value carvery (with a selection of roast meats) from 12pm onwards. During Vacation, our menu is available (minus carvery) from 12-9pm Monday til Friday inclusive, and we are open for drinks until midnight Monday to Thursday and till 1am on Fridays.
There is also a range of bar snacks and specials available throughout the day.
Real Ale - Real Food - Real People - Real Welcome


I agree with this description, but I will go a bit more in depth. The dirty duck, when you walk in, is quite a cozy place where there are plenty of places for pub-goers to sit and relax. Their are various pictures of ducks on the walls and they even have a beer called "duck soup". While the people do tend to get loud, the music stays a nice volume and plays decent mix of songs. The prices at "the duck" are very reasonable and the food is delicious. I have had and highly recommend their fish and chips, steak and ale pie, cheese sticks, chips, and cheesy chips. The food is really a good value for your money and a pint of beer is decently priced. So if you feel that the pub, rather than the party scene, at Warwick suites you best. Head on over to The Dirty Duck.

General update

Hello everyone! I am honestly going to updating as regularly as possible from now on. I realized what I had been doing that has been preventing that so I am going to fix that and put more posts up. For now, I wanted to give a general update of some of the things I have been through and learned since I last posted. The first thing I found out is something that had I lived in a dorm before I am sure I already would have known, but here it is....Do not under any circumstances get romantically or physically involved with someone in your dorm. Mind you I learned this from watching my friends here and I know there are often exceptions to that rule, but still it has lead to a few awkward interactions between my dorm mates. The second thing I found out is that when my weekend starts out going downhill, it will not stop until I have hit the ground. So basically I had a really rubbish weekend. Finally, if you want a good sense of paranoia in your life, join assassin’s guild. I joined and the long game started Monday. Monday I came back to the dorm and found out that, already, two of the three people targeting me had been in the dorm. Needless to say, I was quite a bit paranoid for the remainder of the day.

My classes are going well and my sleep schedule is starting to be affected by everything I have been doing lately, but that is pretty Cornell normal. As is the norm for me, I am learning more in some classes then in others simply because some interest me more. For the most part though, I have been having an awesome time. The only thing is that I am missing certain things about the States. For example, I am missing going into a store and seeing brands I know, I miss being mocked jokingly for my southern accent as opposed to my American accent, I miss not saying rubbish when I am describing something I do not like, and I really kind of miss the currency. That last one might sound odd but I was kind of excited when I found that my friend had a dollar hanging around. Silly no? Anyway that is about it, though I plan to go to Coventry this weekend and will post more about it. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask! Cheers!

Combatting Home-sickness and a general update

So it is now the middle of week 2. A lot has happened in a short amount of time. I am finally now officially settled in. I have completed practically all my forms, got everything sorted out with the bank, am working on assignments regularly, am now enrolled in all my classes, bought everything I have practically needed to buy, have signed up for all the societies and sports I want to do, am eating regularly, and finally over the "fresher flu". It has been rather hectic but I have made a lot of really cool friends, have made trips at midnight to do laundry, have figured out the bus system, have mock assassinated someone, have almost had a debate with a teacher about the merits of optimism, made a trip out of town, and done some karate. It has really been a lot of fun and I got over the transition phase a lot faster than I thought I would. I do have plenty more time here, to pick up Briticisms, laugh with my friends, and work hard in classes, but I must say I will miss this place. Now having gone through everything, including culture shock and home sickness, I highly recommend doing this exchange to any interested individual. It is even possible for upcoming seniors, I am one and I actually am doing a phone interview with a company in the states this Friday. Oh, before I go into the other topic of this post, I have another Ellie-ism, "I cannot see the pasta from the noodles". Just try to imagine about 5 college students with raised eyebrows blatantly staring at her with confused expressions. It was pretty comical. Now that I am settled, I am going to try to update more regularly, but I cannot promise that since things can get really hectic.

Now then for the topic of the day...."How to combat home-sickness".

Home sickness generally affects everyone at some point or another when they have to be away from home for an extended period of time. For some it can take two days for home sickness to appear, for others 2 weeks, and still for others an indefinite amount of time. To be honest, I really envy those who do not experience it. I am generally get it off and on during the first 20 percent of the time I will be away and I have gone away to Cornell several times (I hail from North Carolina) and now obviously I have gone to England. Having said this, I have developed some strategies that help me and may help you one day:

1. Do not think about it. In practice, this is generally hard to do. It is hard to stop thinking about something, even if you tell yourself to stop, but it can be done. I try meditating and focus on nothing and sometime it does work. Although by itself it is not very effective, it is effective in conjunction with other methods.

2. Get your mind off. This is similar to the first but instead of just telling yourself not to think about it, you actually try to distract yourself. This can be done by listening to music, watching a movie, going for a walk, talking with local friends, doing some sort of sport, working on homework, reading a book, etc. Really anything that can distract you, works.

3. Stay busy. Fill up your schedule, although this may seem like an idea that would just add to your overall stress because of the what-ifs (what if I take on too much? what if i cannot get my work done? what if i do not get enough food/sleep/quiet time/etc?), it is actually a very successful strategy that I accidently implemented back in the Spring. I had an absolute crazy academic schedule with Labor law and a writing intensive English course on top of my other courses and being casted in a play. Needless to say I would generally go from Friday to Friday realizing that I had not really had a chance to think since the previous Friday and I will say to me now, it is a blur. However, it was still effective, I just did not have time to think about being away from home and pretty soon it was thankfully the end of term and I kept my grades up. Still wondering about how I managed that....anyway....

4. Talk to family. Sometimes the best remedy is to call your Mom, Dad, sister, brother, grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousin, spouse, lover, boyfriend, girlfriend etc. Sometimes it can help just to hear their voice and know that everything is going alright with them. It is especially nice with my family and fiancé since they are all extremely supportive. A strong support network can go a long way.

5. My last tip for today: Talk to a friend. Call up a friend from home or message them on Facebook or Myspace or whatever it is you use to contact your friends. Hearing from a friend back home can be comforting and it is of course a great way to stay in touch. You can also talk to friends where you are or otherwise those around you. Chances are they have been there before and know what it is like. They can lend a sympathetic ear or maybe you can vent together. Who knows, maybe they can even share there own tips for getting over it.

One more thing....Do not forget it will pass. That is all for today. As they say at Warwick, Keep Calm and Carry On! Cheers!

Organizations/sports clubs

Hello everyone! So as you can this posting will be about Organizations, aka Societies or Clubs, and Sports clubs. At Cornell we have clubfest, here it is called the Societies Fair. It happens during what is called Freshers week, aka the first week of classes. Like at Cornell, there are a ton of clubs at Warwick. They have just about anything you can think of and if they do not then you can easily make your own. Here is the link for the website listing all of them: www.warwicksu.com/societies.

If you go to the site, just click All societies under the societies heading. There are generally membership fees for every club and you do have to join the general SU club to join any societies listed. The cost this year was 10 pounds for the general membership and then it varied by each society. Some of the societies cost 5 pounds, some 3, and some are free. There are over 250 societies and they are broken up into different categories: Academic, Activities and Games, Campaigning, Cultural, Film and Media, Food and Drink, Hall Societies (which allow you to play sports with the people in your dorm against other dorms), Music Appreciation, Performance, Religious and Belief, and Welfare, Charity and Action. I am in 5 societies, which include Assassins Guild and Team America.

Assassins Guild is a society where members go around fake assassinating each other and the longest surviving player wins. Evidently the long version of this game can go on for 3-4 weeks. The premise during the long game is that you receive two targets and some details about them (nothing too personal) and then have to track them down on campus and fake assassinate them, generally by tapping them on the torso with your choice of mock weapon. Some examples of mock weapons include cardboard knives and swords, rubber chickens, toy water pistols, and stuffed animals. I do not know how much fun the long game is because it does not start till next week but I will post my progress. I was able to play a short version of the game and it was a lot of fun. I highly recommend joining it if it interests you.

Team America, I actually do not know much about yet. Evidently they organize socials for different holidays and events that are based on American culture. The examples I heard of included Frat parties and Thanksgiving. The latter I was especially excited about since I was afraid I would not be able to have it this year since obviously the Brittish do not celebrate it.

Now then on the Sports clubs. There are many Sports Clubs and teams available at Warwick. Examples of these include Aerobics, many forms of Martial Arts, Skydiving, Sailing, Ballroom Dance, Hockey (including ice hockey), and Lacrosse. I am actually in three sports clubs. They are Archery, Mountaineering, and Shotokan Karate. I will keep updated how those go, though I will say I got quite a workout from karate last Friday.

For a full list of offered sports clubs, click here. Be warned though that you will not definitely know what is being offered until the sports fair, because some are not offered every year.

On that note, I just realized that I may have signed up for too much but as long as I do not get behind, I should have a lot of fun.

Campus pictures

Here are some pictures of campus that I took...enjoy! Cheers!

WBS/registration/classes

Hello again, sorry about the late posting. I seem to have less time than I thought I would have. So the exchange is with Warwick Business School and they do their registration slightly different from ours. You have to pre-register in the summer for classes, which for us is somewhat normal, but even then you are not fully registered. I believe it is because of being an exchange student but you have to fill out a form with your desired courses and have it signed off before you are officially enrolled. Do not worry if you do not register for modules before the start of term because you will have plenty of time to do so when you arrive. I am signed up for 5 classes, which equates to 48 CATS. They use CATS instead of credits but I believe having 48 Cats for exchange students is normal. I am taking Project management, supply chain management, equality and diversity, Innovation and High tech enterprise, and Managing organizations. They are all very interesting but take note that unless you plan to try and just read books from the library during term, it will cost more than 10 pounds, as it says on the website.

I am now approaching my second week of term and my first week went well, minus a scheduling error on my part. All my teachers were very nice and I am should be fine with my course work. It is rather easy to lose focus though because unlike at Cornell, where you have typically more than one lecture per week for each class, you only have one lecture a week and generally also a seminar. So you do not get pushed so much on your work and thus it is very easy to procrastinate. The examinations will also be different unless you are staying for more than one term. Instead of having the traditional exams, I have 4 papers and a journal I have to do. By the way, if taking a visiting course and the teacher does not go over the assessment for it, do not be afraid to ask about it. Next posting coming soon, promise. Cheers!

Oh, and on a really quick completely different note. I have a friend in my dorm, who says particularly obvious comments so I will be posting some of them periodically and calling them Ellie-isms, and no that Ellie is not her real name. So the Ellie-isms for today is "That spike is particularly spiky." and "I am going to use my plate, because well it is mine."

Dorm life

For those of you who have actually lived in a dorm, dorm life here will not be that odd for you. Before coming here, I had never lived in a dorm. Let me explain why that is. My first two years of college were spent at a community college and therefore I lived at my parents. Then when I transferred into Cornell as a junior, I was told that I could start in the fall, but would need to find my own housing. So now I live in a house on North Campus. Anyway there are several dorms on campus, I think I have gone over that I am in benefactors. Well benefactors is the only dorm where you can have a roommate. So my room mate came in Saturday and she is a very nice Britain. We are getting along very well so it works out. I really like my dorm life here though because there is a strong sense of community. We look out for each other, and check in with each other, and will bring tea to each other. We will all hang out in the kitchen and the hall and it is really nice. Oh, one thing that is bit annoying though is that to be in a two bed dorm, you have to live on the second floor. That is fine but the common room on the first floor has windows on the lower and upper floor so whenever you go to your room, if someone is in the common room, they will just stare at you. It is quite unnerving actually. So this occurrence has gave way to all sorts of nicknames for the common room, like the zoo and the fishbowl. Anyway...so about 22 of us share a kitchen so it can get crowded in there sometimes but for the most part it is quite nice. The cleaners who do your bathroom, kitchen, and living area are really nice. My main advice, if you live in a dorm, is to get out of your room and meet others around you. I know that sometimes you really just need to get things done, and so you do not want to be very social, but it really makes you feel welcome and at home. Hope that helped! Oh, once again if you have any questions, you can post them or email me! Cheers!

Orientation

Sorry, it has been a while I last posted. I have been rather busy with different events, on top of dealing with jet lag and now more recently what is know as Fresher's flu. Anyway International Orientation ran from September 28 till October 1. It was a really great experience, and I highly recommend going if you can. It was a mix of informative and cultural learning events. For example, there were department meetings, times scheduled to pick up your university cards, bank talks, and health registration, which were mandatory things to do. Then they also had trips to Coventry and oxford, bus and campus tours, different parties, and they fed you dinner and breakfast everyday. I feel it really helped to get me settled in to this place where it is rather different than what I am used to, because you can meet all these people who are from everywhere you can think of and really bond with them. I have met several people from Germany, Ireland, /Sweden, France, America, Africa, and most of my dorm mates are from the U.K. So I have been learning a lot, not only about other cultures, but also our own culture and how it differs from the rest of the world. Freshers (freshman) orientation is currently running right now and they have been showcasing the sports groups (I am going to do karate with my roommate :) ), clubs (I think I am going to join the assassins society), and many different parties.

One note about parties....the drinking age here is 18 yrs. old, so even if you cannot drink in the states, you can here. There are actually four pubs on campus which makes for some good fun. However, I would not suggest going and partying all the time. Yes, have some fun but do not neglect your studies and the things you have to get done. Anyway....

One last thing. It may feel like information over lode when you first get here, and you may feel like everyone is pulling you in every different direction. Do not let yourself panic and if you do panic, talk to someone. There are plenty of resources on campus and keep in mind that you are not the only one feeling that way. I will posting another blog today and then two more tomorrow. Cheers!

Coventry

On Thursday, we went on a walking tour of Coventry, the city surrounding Warwick University. We got to learn some of the history, especially about the local church which was bombed in WWII. The main walls managed to survive the blast and are still standing today. Shortly after the attack, building started on a new church and a roof connects the two structures, as a symbol of the past and future combining. It is quite beautiful.

One of my favorite parts of the church is displayed in the picture below. Evidently after the blast, a cardinal found that two pieces of the roof had survived and were laying the shape of a cross. He tied those pieces together and then behind it, put the inscription "father forgive". This is meant as a prayer to seek forgiveness not only to those who dropped the bomb, but also to all who participated in WWII and all other wars. The main message being to forgive others and then maybe wars can be prevented.

The other thing Coventry has is a bunch of places to shop. I could not take any pictures of the structure though because you are actually not allowed to. There are many different clothing stores and places to buy food. It a great place to buy kitchen ware, and there is a local IKEA that you can easily walk to. Also their market is fantastic. Not only does it have fruits and vegetables like many traditional markets, it also has anything you could possibly think of. It has a place where you can buy spices, clothes, kitchenware, candy, trinkets, meat, fruits, vegetables, fish, and toys; to name a few. It is only a short bus ride to get there and the bus fare is pretty decent. So if you come to Warwick, making a trip to Coventry is a must! 

Oh, almost forgot. So the picture of the statue below is of Lady Godiva. On the tour you get to hear the legend behind that and also learn why perverts are called peeping toms.