Looking Good For 900

To be perfectly honest, my Saturday visits to the Exeter Cathedral (whose full name is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter apparently...I can totally see why they've shortened that) were probably the most exciting part of my week. However, I do intend to use this blog to chronicle my study abroad experience as a whole, not just my favorite bits.

So, this was actually my first full week of classes, since I missed my Monday lecture for orientation the first week and we also only started having our class tutorials this week. The set up the academic term here is very strange to me. I have a similar amount of in-class time as I do at home, just portioned differently. I have a two hour lecture with my entire class once a week, plus a tutorial with a smaller group once a week. I am only taking four classes, which is the lightest workload I believe I have ever taken in college, but at least it will be more likely to allow me to travel. There don't seem to be any homework assignments for any of my classes, just final exams, essays or presentations. What intermediate assignments there are, do not actually have any impact whatsoever on our grades. We also only have classes for three months, with a month off before exams begin. Like I said, quite strange.

On Tuesday I did go out to have dinner at my Global Chum's house; I signed up for what amounts to a mentoring program within the University of Exeter. I would definitely recommend doing something of the sort when studying abroad, because I have, thus far, met far fewer actual University of Exeter students than I would have expected. International students tend to clump together in classes, because everyone else has already formed groups. Another way I hope to meet more Exeter students is to participate in social events on campus, as well as possibly joining one or two of the societies. Anyway, the mentor I was assigned, Cathy, is actually from Belgium, but she is still a student at this university and not an exchange, so I'm going to count it. She invited myself and the other two students for whom she is a mentor over for dinner at her house. Only one of the others could come, Roshan (who is from Singapore and is actually just starting university as he has just completed his mandatory two years of military service), but we still had a lovely time. I met several of her other housemates, none of whom seem to be native to the UK, but rather were from all over Europe. On Wednesday the mentoring program had a social, so although I didn't see either Cathy or Roshan (or Georgia, who is the last of our group of mentees, from Australia), I did meet quite a few other international students in the program and some students from Exeter as well. The rest of the week was pretty standard, I went to classes and did an excessive amount of reading for said classes, but other than the weather (which has been near constant rain) it felt quite like home.

On Saturday I finally went out to see Exeter Cathedral, which is absolutely beautiful. I was very glad to see that it was only slightly overcast, rather than rainy, when I walked over. I met Maddy at the Cathedral and, quite luckily, we ended up not having to pay the fee in order to enter. Unfortunately they were not giving tower tours at the time, so I will have to go back again (which will be no hardship at all). We wandered around on our own, rather than waiting for one of the guided tours. However we were cornered a couple of times by an overly enthusiastic volunteer, who proceeded to regale us with trivia about possible connections between our heritage and Exeter, some of which was quite interesting (and some of which was much less so). One of the more interesting facts was about the bombing of the Cathedral during World War II, which completely destroyed one of the chapels (luckily the only casualty was a cat). He told us that you could see the damage in the woodwork and pointed out the slight color difference in some of the sections, which was the only indication that spaces had needed to be filled in. To be perfectly honest, my very favorite part of the Cathedral was the spectacular stained glass, though I was also incredibly impressed with the stone carvings everywhere.

Later that night I returned to the Cathedral, along with several other residents of the Printworks (including both Jen and Julia, of my flatmates). We attended a candlelit choir performance, which was spectacular. The acoustics of the Cathedral were impressive and the audience was almost entirely silent during each song, which I found a pleasant surprise. As cliche as I know it is, I do believe that the choir sounded almost angelic, though perhaps that was owed in part to the atmosphere.

Oh, and before I forget, Happy Australia Day!

St. Ives

I went on my first day trip to St. Ives in Cornwall this past Saturday. It's a beautiful town along the coast, so I got to see some lovely seaside views. We took a bus from campus, the rip took about two hours, so not short but also not too bad. I ended up exploring the town with Maddy, from W&M, and Beth, from Canada. We wandered down towards the water, while the weather was still at least somewhat dry, and got some cool pictures of the coast. Then we headed back towards the town to get some food. We originally stopped at the Sloop Inn, but ultimately decided we'd rather eat somewhere else. We decided to stop at a place called the Balancing Eel, because they had fish and chips for Maddy and I, but also battered sausage for Beth (who isn't really into fish). The food was great, greasy in the way that fish and chips should be. Then we decided to look around the town a bit more, ducking into a few shops to escape the rain, and eventually gravitating towards Madeleine's for some tea. The tea sets were beautiful and the atmosphere was very relaxing. On the way back I tried a piece of clotted cream fudge, which was surprising good (clearly clotted cream is a big deal here, since they even make fudge out of it). We didn't end up stopping into any of the museums in the area, but it was still a great trip.

On a mostly unrelated note, I am loving the way that everyone around here seems to paint their front doors bright colors. I think it's mostly to make up for the fact that all of the houses seem to be connected to each other, look sort of the same, and of course, it's overcast quite frequently. In St. Ives, Beth and I were most impressed by this set of neighbors whose doors neither match nor clash.

Today we went out for lunch at the Old Firehouse, which is supposedly the pub which inspired J.K Rowling to create the Leaky Cauldron. I can definitely see it, it has that sort of ramshackle run-down look that I picture when I think of the Leaky Cauldron. Anyway, the food was really good. I had beef, potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding (which is not actually pudding as I am used to it, but more of a puffed up pastry), and fudge cake for desert. Thus far, my experience with food here has been pretty great, so I'm not getting why people say no one comes here for the food. I guess we'll see if that perspective sticks.

Most excitingly, today in Exeter we had completely clear blue skies and not the slightest hint of rain. I'm doubting that this will be a frequent occurrence over the next five months, but a girl can dream can't she?

First Day of School

I know it took me awhile to write this next post, but it's been a busy week. On Monday, the day after my first post, we had an orientation with the University of Exeter. It started out with a welcome talk which was pretty interesting, but not much different from what I remember from freshman orientation (although it was considerably less exhausting). We were informed that if we do intend to travel after exams are over we should not leave the British Isles because border control might not consider "My luggage is still there" as a valid excuse to get back into the country after school has finished, so good to know. On that note, I love the way the semester is scheduled here; we get three months of classes, then a month off, and then the last month is just for exams. Weird, but definitely cool. Anyway, after the welcome talk we went on a campus tour, which I certainly needed. Unfortunately there are just as many hills on campus as there seem to be in the rest of Exeter, and I'm not talking gently rolling hills either. On our tour I met a girl from Vancouver, Sophia, so I'm expanding my group of friends who are not also from William & Mary. Finally we went to our study abroad coordinator meetings with whichever department we were taking the most classes, so that we could finally get registered. This was certainly the most stressful part of the day, lots of people didn't get any of the classes they wanted (Jen, one of my Australian flatmates, didn't get into most of the history classes she wanted), and some didn't get into anything (which was the situation my other Australian flatmate, Lucy, found herself in). Luckily, I am registered for four classes, not all of which I am thrilled to have, but at least I will receive some sort of credit for taking them.

That evening we went to an orientation quiz night and buffer, I won't deny that I was mostly there for the food. The quiz was fun and the food was good, even if all of the food was either bread, covered in bread, or just happened to be some shade of brown. Our team (which comprised of Lucy, Jen and I as well as three girls from Germany and one from France) didn't win, but we had fun attempting to figure out the correct answers. I was really only useful on the questions about literature and the single question that referenced Star Trek (kudos to my brother for making me watch it when I was little).

On Tuesday I went to my first classes, which were not actually my first classes as I missed the first sessions of my economics class on Monday due to orientation (my economics course: Behaviors, Decisions, and Markets). I had Strategic Operations Management first; I can't deny that I was not looking forward to this class at all, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed listening to the professor (which is good since this class, as well as each of my other classes, lasts for two hours).  Professor Steve Brown, who told us that we could just call him Steve, informed us that he had just had surgery and if he winced during the lecture it was not because he hated us. He also said that if everyone lived like America, we'd need 9 planets; he did, at least, follow this up by admitting that if everyone lived like the UK, we'd need at least 4. He was definitely not prone to censoring himself and when he found himself discussing the lack of female CEOs in the business world, he quipped "we're all equal, but we seem to be equally stupid." I don't doubt that the class will be difficult, but it does at least look as if it will be entertaining. My second class of the day was Business and Tourism, which is actually a first year class, so it shouldn't be too difficult. The professor mentioned a hotel that costs about $65,000 a night, its crazy that anyone could spend what plenty of people don't even make in a year on one night in a fancy hotel. I share this class with Maddy, one of the girls from W&M with whom I traveled. I actually share three out of my four classes with her, it'll be nice to have a familiar face.

On Wednesday I don't have any classes, although starting next week I will have a seminar/discussion for my Strategic Operations Management course. I did still end up going to campus in the afternoon for another of our orientation activities, a traditional Cream Tea. What this entails is: tea (of course), and scones on which you spread jam and clotted cream. Believe it or not there is a regional disagreement on whether you are supposed to spread the jam or the clotted cream onto the scone first. It was pretty delicious, but very heavy, and I would definitely never use clotted cream as a spread by itself because it kind of freaks me out (it tastes good, but it looks a little strange). Simon, who hangs out in our flat a lot even though he doesn't live there, spent the evening insisting I was saying the word 'scone' wrong (he thinks it should be said so that it rhymes with 'on' rather than 'own'). He also found the fact that we say 'aluminum' rather than 'aluminium', our refusal to spell 'behavior' or 'neighbor' with a 'u', and our use of 'z' instead of 's' somewhat offensive.

Tea Time!

Thursday I had Intermediate Management Accounting, which will hopefully be more interesting than it sounds, but it will at least be the last accounting class I will need to take. After I got back from campus I went on my first grocery run (I had gotten a few things to get me through the week a bit earlier at the Co-op, but I hadn't been out to the big grocery store). The benefit of our location is how close we are to all the shopping, so it was only about a 15 minute walk out to the big Sainsbury's on High Street. I hadn't really anticipated how strange something like grocery shopping might be in another country, I had a great deal of difficulty finding things. I was also quite displeased to discover that they don't sell large jars of peanut butter, just small ones.

I have today off from school, and will continue to do so throughout the semester (there is an accounting tutorial on Fridays, but it is optional and you are only intended to go if you have questions after the week's lecture and seminar). I did go out and finally get a SIM card for my phone, so that's one more thing checked off my list.

This weekend will be quite busy. I'll be going on a day trip to St. Ives (which is along the coast) tomorrow as one of the orientation activities; on Sunday, I'll be having a roast at the Old Firehouse Pub, which is the pub which inspired the Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter series. Can't wait, and I'll write again when I get the chance.

The view from my window (above and below)

Toto, I Don't Think We're In Kansas Anymore

So, I meant to write this first entry while I was waiting in the airport for my flight, but somehow I convinced myself to put it off (and continue to do so last night when I had some spare time). But, I know I have to write this now or I'll never start, especially since classes officially begin tomorrow (although I'll be missing classes in order to attend orientation).

Now, for some explanation, I'll be spending the next five months of my life as an exchange student at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. I'll, hopefully, have lots of exciting experiences and see new places, although I am a little nervous about adapting to a completely new place (but at least everything's in English, if I start having trouble understanding that then we might have some real problems). On a less exciting note, I do still have to study and attend classes, as my calender oh so helpfully reminded me.

About me, I'm a junior studying Marketing at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. My name is Katherine, but I generally only answer to Katie, never ever Kathy though. I love music and books, and I hate truly cold weather. I also love my family; my dad, stepmother and younger sister all live in Virginia with their too cats (my dad still insists that he hates cats, I don't know who he thinks he's fooling). My mother and older brother both live up north, my mom in Connecticut and my brother is studying computer science up in Boston.

There are several reasons I decided to study abroad. I wanted to see a greater portion of the world than I have managed so far. I have traveled abroad before, but definitely not for any stretch of time that even nearly equals this one. I love to travel and there are so many places on my list of places I want to see someday, and you have to start somewhere. I want to see for myself how capable I am of integrating myself into a new place where I know very few people, although I do know a few people from back at William & Mary, but it will be especially interesting to meet people who have completely different backgrounds from my own. I have never ever heard anyone say that they regretted their study abroad experience, and I have heard many people say that they have regretted not having one, so I think that's a pretty strong endorsement.

I flew with two other girls from William & Mary, we bought our plane and bus tickets together so that if we got lost on our way to Exeter, at least we wouldn't be lost alone. I actually flew over here overnight, so we arrived at about 7 in the morning, UK time, at the London Heathrow Airport. It was surprisingly simple getting through customs and getting my visa (I am so relieved that we were considered non-visa nationals and therefor did not have to do the surprisingly, or not, stressful and complicated online application). I got my bags no problem, I restrained myself to only one checked bag, one carry-on small suitcase, and a small purse...in short, I was absolutely ruthless. We then proceeded to the bus station to wait another 3 hours for our National Express bus which was supposed to depart at 10:55. Unfortunately for us, this was not to be. The bus arrived on time and we waited in he queue (yes, that is what they actually call lines here), and waited, and waited. Eventually we were informed that the bus door was not closing so we couldn't take it at all and that they were going to call for another bus, we weren't going t be leaving for another 40 minutes or so. It was about 12:30 by the time this bus showed up, and it turns out they would be taking us to Bristol where another bus would be waiting to take us to our intended destination in Exeter. Despite all the confusion, the bus was actually rather enjoyable. It was much easier to get to sleep on the bus than it had been on the plane and, when I was awake, the views from the windows were gorgeous.

There was some confusion finding the Printworks, the housing complex where I will be spending the next five months, mostly because it was dark and we almost missed the street signs, but we did get there alright. I was very glad that I had decided to purchase a welcome pack of bedding and cookware, because it meant that all I had to do was unpack and set up, rather than going out to buy stuff. I also met two of my flatmates, both of whom are from Australia, and one of their friends who lives in another of the flats upstairs. We played Heads Up Charades and, since all of them are Australian, every time an Americanism popped up they turned to look at me. What does a Michigan accent sound like anyway?

This morning I met up with a group of other people staying here and we walked over to the University campus, so that we would know how to get there for our orientation tomorrow morning. It's actually a really nice walk, although an unfortunate amount of it is uphill. We also walked into the city center and stopped at Wilkinsons for a few necessities, like hand soap and a trash can for me, and duvets and pillows for those of us who did not purchase welcome packs in advance. We didn't end up getting cell phones as we originally intended, but I can definitely do that later, we're only about a five minute walk from all of the shops.

I, surprisingly, can't wait for classes to start so I can see how different they will be from the ones back home, but I'm fairly sure I will be a bit less excited once they actually do start. Wish me luck!