Nostalgia

I've been feeling pretty nostalgic lately, for several reasons.

At the Mayan ruins of Tulum 

The first, and probably most immediate, is that I'm having a hard time believing that it's now been more than a year since I left for my study abroad experience in England. It was a wonderful period of time, where I met new people and saw amazing sights. I frequently consider the merits of buying a plane ticket to go back, despite the great expense.

Going on a cruise in the Carribean over winter break has helped with the desire to travel a least a little, especially considering that it was warm and beautiful while it was cold back home, but I definitely still want to travel so many other places in the future. I've been to Europe a couple of times (and still seen only some of the many sights available) and, as of this December, I've touched on a very small part of South America; however, I've never been to so many other places, and I hope to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way in the future to see a bit more of the world.

Another piece of nostalgia is the fact that this is my final semester at William & Mary. It's hard to think that it has already been almost four years since I began as a freshman and had no idea what a wonderful community I would build here. I love being a student here because of my friends, and because of the opportunities for new experiences (in classes, in clubs, and even studying abroad). I don't yet know what will come when I graduate in May, but I'm sure it will also be amazing if my time at William & Mary is any indication. However, I'm don't know where I'm going to find a group of friends as awesome as my friends in Spotlight Show Choir...so I suppose I'll just have to come back to visit everyone as frequently as possible (potentially to the point where they're a little sick of me, but such is life).

Not only does the idea of graduating make me feel nostalgic for my freshman year, I also feel
nostalgic for my childhood, because graduating from college seems like a landmark for growing up
and taking on new responsibilities. I don't know if I'm ready to think of myself as an adult quite yet, luckily I have quite a few months to get used to the idea.

Finals and Final Weeks

Sorry I haven't written in so long. I didn't want to have a blog post that basically amounted to, "I slept and studied...oh and I had some food in between that," which, up until last week after my last final exam, was pretty much my life.

After I got back from all my travels, I had a lot of work to be done. First I had a final essay for my Business and Tourism class. I turned in the essay a couple of days early, unfortunately I chose the wrong day to print my paper at the student guild. Apparently it was also the day before everyone's dissertations were due, so I spent more than an hour waiting for an eight page paper to print.

My first exam, for my economics class on behavior and decision making in the marketplace, was on May 7th. The exam setup here is incredibly different from my exams back at William & Mary. It was a bit like having another round of SATs or AP testing. Everyone is seated alphabetically, at individual desks, and they aren't allowed to have anything on (or by) their desks except a clear pencil case, their student ID, and a calculator if necessary. Even more intense, if you leave to go to the restroom during the exam (which you can't in the first or last half an hour), they check your pockets...and your forearms. My accounting exam was unfortunately on that Saturday (Why would anyone schedule exams on a Saturday? It's cruel and unusual punishment). The format of this exam, like my earlier one, was solely essay questions. Which was a little weird, considering it was accounting.

In between my second exam and my last (Strategic Operations, also on a Saturday), I had a final dinner with my fellow study-abroaders from William & Mary. It was only three of us this time (Maddy, Liv and I), because everyone else was taking advantage of their further free time to do more traveling. We went to Nandos and caught up on what everyone had been up to over spring break, and what other awesome things everyone had planned for the summer. Maddy actually left for home first, the day after outr last exam. It was sad to see her go, but I will definitely be seeing her back at William & Mary (especially considering that once again we will have nearly identical schedules, unsurprising considering our shared major).

The week following my last exam had been amazing however. That period between school ending and summer employment beginning is always wonderful, when you finally have absolutely no responsibilities remaining. The Sunday immediately after my last exam, after Mass was over, I walked into home with some of the other girls from the Chaplaincy. Audrey, Malorie and I headed down the high street before making a stop at the John Lewis. The view of Exeter from the roof top cafe was gorgeous, though I got a little too much sun (still worth it), and had a fun time chatting about everything from heart transplants to shopping (so a very wide range clearly).

Tuesday night I had my first night out in quite a while. I went out to Arena with a bunch of the girls (Lucy, Jen, Welmoed, Laura, and Lina), we had an awesome time dancing in the club. During the course of the evening I ran into several people, since Arena was crowded with everyone who had finally finished their exams, including Emily from Take Note. To commemorate the night, Lucy and I got our pictures taken in the photobooth. By the time it was over, I was kind of sweaty and disgusting, but I had so much fun that it didn't matter. I pretty much collapsed into bed and immediated fell asleep.

Wednesday was also a busy day. First, I had my final practice for Take Note, it was a bit sad thinking about how it was in fact my final practice. I'll definitely miss everyone from Take Note, it was one of the best parts of my term at Exeter and I made a lot of friends. Later in the day I headed over to the Chaplaincy for a barbeque. I had a lot of fun, although I had to make a few more goodbyes.

Friday night Jen came home from work and spontaneously decided we were going out to Arena. After throwing on some non-pajama clothing, the downside was the discovery that the line to get in was incredibly long (which I should have known because on the nights that Arena's crowded, I often get waved to by the somewhat drunk strangers queuing past my window). Lucy and I ultimately decided to head back inside, thanfully avoided what turned out to be an hour long wait for Jen and the others.

Today was my last trip out to the Chaplaincy, and my final goodbye to the people there. During lunch Malorie and I spent quite awhile talking (shout out to her, and good luck with her dissertation on how skeletons with fused ankles are more likely to have had arthritis in their hips...I think). Not long after I finally got back, at nearly 4 in the afternoon, I headed out to the Firehouse with my group from Arena (plus their friend Catheleine). Miraculously we found a table outside, where we had amazingly delicious pizza and strawberry cider. Yum.

Tomorrow is my last day in Exeter, with the exception of a quick stop back on June 11th to pick up the rest of my stuff and check out of my room at the Printworks, and I still haven't done any pack. Better get to that.

Getting Ready

This week was the final week of lectures, although I still have one essay and three exams to look forward to in May. I also registered for classes back at William & Mary this past Tuesday. It was amazingly simple, one of the benefits of finally getting a senior's timeslot. I got all of the classes I wanted, although I unfortunately could not avoid having early morning classes.

On Wednesday Take Note had a party/election for next year's executive positions. I enjoyed having a more social practice and got to know the people in the group much better, plus I had a lunch that basically consisted solely of junk food (healthy I know).

Friday, I met up with everyone from William & Mary at Ruby's (an "American" burger place in town). The burger was pretty good (it had avocado on it, which makes everything better), and it was great hearing about everyone else's spring break plans. I was still kind of jealous hearing about all the amazing places people are going, despite the fact that I am very excited about my own plans.

Speaking of said plans, I honestly can't believe that my trip to Italy came up so quickly. I leave Exeter by bus at 4:45 tomorrow morning, which is far too early in my opinion. But hopefully it will give us some extra time in Rome in the evening after we arrive, although it is likely that the time will be used to figure out where we're going and how best to avoid getting lost. We'll be spending three days in Rome, two in Florence, and another two days in Venice before returning home. I probably will not be posting anything to my blog until I get back, I won't be packing a laptop (or really anything that isn't absolutely essential). I will however attempt to check in on facebook every now and then.

I'll only be back in Exeter for about three days before heading to London to meet my Dad, Claudia, Michael, and Abby for their visit. I don't really know what we'll be doing, but I'm sure it'll be fun. They leave on the 19th and on the 20th I'll be back in London to meet up with a tour group. I booked onto a Trafalgar tour of Europe that will be going to Amsterdam, Heidelberg (Germany), Lucerne (Switzerland), and Paris. I'm definitely looking forward to a trip that requires no planning on my part, and I actually recieved a very well-organized package in the mail this morning with my itinerary and other useful information.

But for the moment I'm focusing on Italy: making a list of places I want to visit in each city, brushing up on some basic Italian phrases (which I will inevitably butcher a bit, but it's the thought that counts), and watching movies to get pumped (my favorite: Roman Holiday)

Augurami buona fortuna!

Hope Springs

So it's the end of another great week. Unfortunately, this was also the week that I had my first (I know, I can't believe it either, but it's only the first) actual assignment at the university, I'm not counting the presentation on how you do research that I had to do for my Business and Tourism class.

But back to fun stuff, we had another William & Mary meet up on Tuesday. Sarah, Liv, Sophie and I went out to Hubbox for some, almost, American style burgers and afterwards we made chocolate chip pancakes in honor of Fat Tuesday. Our attempts at pancake selfie shots were a bit lackluster, so you'll just have to picture it for yourself.

I also made some plans for later on. I bought a ticket for the A Capella Society Awards Ball, which is excitingly black tie. I mean, everyone knows that I'll take about just any excuse to dress up, and I have to put the formal dress and heels I packed just in case to good use somehow. I also purchased myself a ticket for Paloma Faith's upcoming tour. Her new CD, A Perfect Contradiction doesn't actually come out until tomorrow, but I loved the first single (Can't Rely On You) and her last two CDs. It's in London in late May, so it's still a while from now, but I definitely can't wait.

Yesterday, I procrastinated a bit with my essay in order to go on a walk down to the Quay with Sophie. It was absolutely gorgeous out, and it seemed a shame to miss out on it to write an Accounting essay. I did discover that Sophie is a great proponent of the dorky photo, so I have some new slightly embarrassing additions to my Facebook page for which I have her to thank.

That's it for the moment, but I'll write again soon.

P.S. I am a firm believer in the idea that it's spring as soon as you have flowers that bloom, and don't die from the cold (this exception is necessary because sometimes you'll see crocuses bloom in the snow), so it's officially springtime in Exeter!

Time Flies...

...when you're having fun.

This is definitely a statement which applies both to this semester's study abroad program, as well as to my university experience as a whole. This afternoon I finished my sixth week of lectures at the University of Exeter (meaning that I've passed the halfway mark for actual classes), and yesterday I filed for graduation at the College of William & Mary.

I can't believe how quickly college has gone by. This time next year I will, hopefully, have some sort of job lined up for when I leave William & Mary and enter the "real world." It certainly doesn't feel like it has already been nearly three years since I moved in to my freshman dorm in the oh so lovely Botetourt Complex (Goochie Mamas where you at?) and it definitely doesn't compute that I will only have two more semesters on, in my completely non-biased opinion, the greatest campus ever (like I said, no bias at all...none whatsoever).

Anyway, I can't say that I wasn't completely terrified to be leaving my comfortable home town for college life, just like I found each move to a different state (or even a different house) unnerving. I might not get homesick while I am away, at least very rarely, but I do have a tendency to create unnecessary anxiety leading up to change. There's something about leaving a community that you find familiar, and the people with whom you have developed relationships, for someplace new. As the period of change approaches it almost doesn't feel real, and sometimes it takes some time to believe it happened even after it's already passed, you wonder how you can ever create the same sense of community someplace else. But you know what? You always do. It never takes long before you find some group of people with whom you share something important, be it a love of a particular TV show, band, or life-changing experience (like being a study abroad student perhaps). A few weeks later, or days or months (it all depends on who you are, and where you're going of course), you find yourself feeling just as at home in that new place as you did in the old, and you will find yourself being just as opposed to moving on when the time comes.

While I understand the desire to settle in one place forever, of being one of those families who have never moved, even from their neighborhood, I don't think I could ever do that. There is something wonderful about seeing someplace new, whether it is a spectacular city abroad, or simply a small town in your home country. There's so much variety in the world, how can you not want to see it all? Change can be something amazing, it can give the chance to remake yourself and expand your perspective about what is out there for you.

I guess what I am trying to say, however clumsily, is that there's no reason not to believe that the changes coming will bring something wonderful into your life. I would never have imagined myself as a show choir vocal director, a yearbook editor, an aspiring public relations professional, or a blog writer. You may find yourself somewhere completely different from where you thought you'd end up, but who's to say that there's anything wrong with that?

The Unfamiliar Territory of England

Since I've been here a month now (I can't believe it's already been that long), I feel like I can share some of my opinions about England (or at least the parts of it I've seen), instead of a recap of my activities of the week (which were fairly limited this week anyway, Netflix anyone?).

The Weather:

If you've ever been told that it rains in England, they're not lying. It rains. A lot. I've given up on having a good hair day here. It is a rare occasion that it's not extremely windy or rainy (and quite frequently it's both), and that blue sky is not likely to last long. It has been known to be raining one minute, sunny the next, and then  start raining again ten minutes later. Walking home today the sky was perfectly blue to one side of me, and on the other it looked as though the sky would open up and begin pouring rain any second (it did start to rain, but it's sunny again already...for now). I have been told that it will rain less soon, but I'll believe that when I see it.

The one upside of the mercurial weather is that it gives me plenty of chances to get good pictures with different lighting. I walked by the Cathedral again on Friday when the sky was blue, and those pictures look much different from the ones I took the first time, when it was rather overcast.

The Terrain:

Unfortunately the terrain here is no more kind to my poor shoes than the bricks at William & Mary, and the hills are much worse. Exeter seems to have the kind of hills that look gently rolling from a distance, but up close make you want to cry. Walking up the hills on campus makes you wonder how you could have ever considered yourself in shape, and walking down them makes you fear for your life (that one might be only me, I keep imagining myself tripping over a rock/nothing and finding myself rolling down the hill into the street). Upside: my legs will look amazing at the end of my five months here.

The hills are a lie (with the sound of music)

The Buildings:

I love all the old buildings here. The Cathedral is more than 900 years old, and it's not even close to being one of the oldest buildings in the UK (to put things in perspective, William & Mary just celebrated its 321st birthday and it's the second oldest college in the US). Exeter in particular seems to have a lot of brick buildings (St. Ives did as well, but they were mostly white or gray brick, rather than red). The houses, at least the ones that I walk by, are mostly connected town houses. My favorite part is the fact that most of the people seem to paint their doors bright colors, in order to differentiate their identical homes from each other I suppose.

The University:

To be perfectly honest, the classes here seem much easier than what I'm used to at William & Mary (but that could just be the fact that there aren't any weekly assignments, beyond reading, just a final essay or exam). What's weird is the fact that sometimes you'll have assignments during the term that don't count for anything, I don't understand how anyone is motivated to actually complete them. I guess it's just one of those things where once you're used to it, you can't imagine doing it any other way. However, I really like my professors. Steve, who teaches Strategic Operations Management, is rather cynical and also pretty funny. My professor for Management Accounting is incredibly awkward but super enthusiastic. Last lecture he rapped about strategic decision making (and the lecture before that he found a YouTube song about about the Simplex method of linear programming).

This past week the University was having Student Guild (sort of like their Student Assembly) elections. I was bombarded with flyers and, more excitingly, the occasional free candy bar. I couldn't seem to avoid them. I would put my hood up and my headphones on, and just do my best to look as busy as possible. And they still tried to talk to me! Apparently I just can't look intimidating or, at the very least, uninterested no matter what I do.

The Printworks:

I love living at the Printworks. It's located in the city centre, so I'm close to just about everything. We do live right next to Arena, one of the clubs, so it can get pretty noisy. The management is really friendly and helpful. I've had to ask them to fix things in my room twice already, both my radiator and my water had problems (the former of which wouldn't turn on, and the latter which wouldn't turn off), and they fixed both fairly quickly.

The People:

I feel like anything said with an English accent sounds more intelligent, and I just love listening to anybody with one talk. Though my, completely stereotyped, expectation that the content of their conversation would be more intelligent has been entirely demolished. Students here are just as likely to talk about drinking and partying as students anywhere else, and I think students at William & Mary are actually more likely to casually have academic discussions (in true twamp fashion).

I don't know why, but I expected to be more homesick than I am. I mean, don't get me wrong, I miss my family and my friends and even, occasionally, I miss William & Mary. I guess its because you basically do the same thing when you start college. You leave your family, the friends you know, and your hometown (and sometimes your home state) for someplace completely different. Culturally, Connecticut and Virginia are almost like different countries. In the northeast you don't smile at people you don't know and if a stranger asks you where you bought your purse because they think it's cute, you might think that they plan to steal it and consider calling the police.

People here are pretty friendly, but it has been difficult to meet people who are actually regular students at the University. International students tend to conglomerate in classes and so you don't interact much with anyone else. One of the best things about getting involved in A Capella here, and in the University Catholic Chaplaincy, is the opportunity to meet more people from the University community. On the subject of the chaplaincy, I did end up playing piano for them during service this morning. It was...interesting. Suffice to say I have never played piano as the accompaniment for a choir before and we'll leave it at that.

The Food:

I don't know how food here got such a bad reputation, aside from the fact that it's not very good for you. I haven't had a meal here yet that I haven't enjoyed. Also, I think tea is basically the most amazing drink ever and I would choose it over coffee any day, so at least I had that in common before I came here.

Sunday Roast (with Yorkshire Pudding)

Fried Sweet Potato and Aubergine Curry

What's strange is grocery shopping here. Some things they call by completely different names; If you want cilantro, eggplant or zucchini, you better get used to calling them coriander, aubergine, and courgette if you ever want to find them. Also everything expires so quickly, I know that means that they use fewer preservatives, but it just makes grocery shopping harder. And all I want is a gigantic jar of peanut butter, why do they only sell it in tiny containers? Why?

The Tribe:

Last night I met up with a bunch of the other William & Mary exchange students (Sophie, Katelyn, Sarah, and Maddy) who, with the exception of Maddy, I see rather infrequently. We went to an Asian restaurant called Wagamamas (I think that name gets funnier each time you say it) and the food was really good. It was nice to catch up with everyone about how their classes had been, where they had been in the area, and their travel plans for the future. Shout out to Katelyn, who turns 21 this week!

The Point:

Sometimes things are different in ways you ever expected, you can't anticipate everything. I think the best way to get used to a new place is to just jump into the community and get involved in something fun. I'm not here just to explore everywhere but the place I'm actually studying, and I want to make connections with the people who study here (as well as other international students), which is basically impossible if I don't do anything on campus outside of classes. That's not to say that I don't want to travel other places, because I definitely do, but I don't think it will be the end of the world if I don't make day trips every weekend. I think I'll leave most of my traveling for my month long spring break (already planned a trip to Italy, booked flights and hostels and everything!) and the couple of weeks after exams are over. Anyway, the goal is to learn something from my experience, but mostly to have fun.

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)