Week One

After the initial hecticness of arriving in a new country and moving in, week one has been surprisingly quiet. With the Americans not arriving until later and most welcome events scheduled for next week, its been a few days of settling in, mixing with our fellow international students, and watching a bit of Top Gear and the football (soccer).

We returned to Walmart to do a bit more shopping, and looking at phones to possibly buy. Although we found plenty of snacks- more types of Oreoes and Pop Tarts than I ever thought possible, there was not so much success on the phone front. Its not an option to simply buy a replacement sim, as you apparently need a U.S Driver's License! The rules here can be confusing, as people driving on their phones is commonplace but the strictness surrounding alcohol is staggering. I didn't realise just how much of university nightlife back home revolves around drinking- try explaining the concept of pre-drinks to an American! So much of the Freshers events at Leicester were going-out orientated, it's extraordinary watching the American version play out on a larger scale without it.

Patriot Premiere was an event at the Patriot Center, the 10,000 seater basketball stadium. The 'Green Machine' band played (brilliantly, everything from Stevie to Kanye), cheerleaders danced, the support songs were taught (not so brilliant). Then suddenly, the place turned into a dancefloor with some moves you wouldn't really see back home often! The same happened the following evening at a similar welcome event, where a circle quickly formed to allow dance-offs, something I thought only happened in films! The enthusiasm Americans seem to put into everything is great and refreshing, but sometimes a little intimidating in situations like this!

For the majority of this week there hasn't been many American students to chat to, as they moved in later than internationals, but it has been great to meet and make friends with people from all over the world. Once they realise I'm from England, one of the first questions I get is 'so what EPL team do you support?' (West Ham). We attended a sports expo at the gym complex where we played in a few different sports- Soccer (I know, I have to try and stick with it) and Wallyball (volleyball in a squash court basically) were pretty fun, but cricket was a humiliating experience from start to finish. Admittedly I was playing with a group of Indians who know their cricket, but still! Thankfully I was more at home in the Aquatic Centre, and I'm going to make an effort to keep swimming regularly. You have to make the most of the free fitness facilities!

Its been a surreal week, partly because of the culture shock of American life- getting stared at for walking everywhere instead of driving will never go away- but also because its been more of an international experience than I was expecting, and in a good way. I've met people from the States, but also India, China, Japan, the Netherlands, France, Saudi Arabia, Korea... and the odd Londoner too! On the last night of the first week, everyone on my floor of the accomodation all met up as a whole for the first time. It was great to mix with everyone, and a bit of late night beach volleyball didn't hurt either. Overall it's been a crazy, yet fantastic week, and I'm really glad I decided to do a year abroad.

Then again, classes start tomorrow!

A

Welcome to the Culture Shock

     After only a day and a half already so much has happened that it’s difficult to explain in short messages, so I thought why not blog the whole thing? For those of you who don’t know, I’m starting a year abroad of study at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia, about 15 miles outside Washington D.C. I’ll be returning to the University of Leicester to complete my American Studies degree in just over a year’s time, but for now I’m an international student in the United States.

     And what a strange experience it is! I arrived at 3pm EST (Eastern Standard Time, 5 hours behind the U.K) and met my fellow American Studies students from Leicester, Joe and Georgia, at Washington Dulles airport. We took a taxi to the University which was pretty much deserted. The American students haven’t arrived yet, and the office we were supposed to check in at was closed. After a while of panic at being stranded in the middle of a HUGE campus (there is a car park that must be about a third of the size of the main Leicester site alone), we found some friendly staff who helped us find our accommodation.

     We settled in and unpacked a little, and I met my roommate, an exchange student from Tokyo. I’m on a floor with mostly international students and while I haven’t met many of them yet, everyone is incredibly friendly. To a cynical Brit it’s a bit of shock to be so welcomed, the highlight of which came in our epic trip to Walmart. With no bedding we provided and only a quick glance at the map, the three of us from Leicester tried to walk to the shop through a suburban area where we quickly became lost. It was incredibly surreal just to see the neighbourhood; the pop culture image of the big house with white fences, huge ‘yards’ (gardens), people sitting on their porches and kids running around unsupervised, and an American flag outside almost every home was on full display. We must have looked incredibly out of place, not least because we were walking- everybody seems to drive everywhere.

     Thankfully we found a woman to ask for directions, explaining we were students from Britain who had just arrived and were slightly lost. Immediately she decided to get her car and give us a lift there which completely threw us off- I was a very confused Brit at that point! But it was such kind thing to do and we were very grateful. We made it to Wal-Mart and picked up some bedding, and then were helped to find a bus home by a strange man who was friendly enough but a bit too conversational. Our conversation quickly jumped from Rifles to Scottish Independence to Mick Jagger’s marriage- and after 21 hours awake, I was completely lost! It was a relief to be finally getting some sleep.

       Day 2 brought international orientation. After a few talks and Domino’s pizza (which is huge here, although it can’t beat a 3am Leicester delivery after a night out) we split into groups and took part in a ‘scavenger hunt’, exploring the campus to solve challenges. It was a pretty fun way to get to know the campus and again, the international people I encountered were all incredibly nice. Among them were two Scots we met, and I have to admit it was refreshing to hear some of the sarcastic humour of home! We took a trip to find a closer supermarket, as well as finding a local comic book store (which may have made my day!). By the end of the day we were incredibly tired but had to stay up to fight the jet lag and adjust to American time, and ended up sitting in the entrance to one of the residences watching Top Gear on BBC America. Some things never change!

     I promise not every post will be this long, don’t worry! But I’ll keep this updated as the year goes by. At the end of the first night of failed check-ins, Wal-Mart troubles and exhaustion this experience seemed more daunting than ever. But its genuinely been great overall so far, and there’s still so much to see and do.

A