Meeting Gold Medallists, Lords and Charge D'Affaires... (Part Two)

...PART TWO

Well when I left off I had just arrived home from Henley and about to head to London for the Fulbright Orientation. As I mentioned, I had an email from Kat (one of the staff at Fulbright and an absolute Godsend! Seriously, I think I would have torn out all my hair by now if she hadn't answered all my banal emails...) asking me to fill out 3 visa forms, acquire a passport photo and self addressed special delivery envelope all in about 12 hours before leaving for London!
After spending three hours in front of a computer filling out forms and trying to remember which countries I've visited in the last ten years instead of spending time with my parents and Rock I finally finished the forms and went to bed. I was starting to feel a little ill so needed my sleep but had to get up at 7am to pack and get sorted before my 11am train...
I arrived in London, dumped my stuff in my hotel and made my way towards Westminister Abbey for the Abraham Lincoln memorial lecture. Then it started to rain... and when I say rain I mean a ridiculous thunderstorm! I have never seen rain like it and so spent about an hour hiding under one of the archways at Westminister Abbey reading a soggy copy of the International Herald Tribune (the international New York Times) getting scared witless by the thunder and lightning.
Finally 6pm arrived and after briefly meeting my fellow Fulbrighters we sat through a lecture by Prof. Carwardine (a Fulbright alumni) on Abe Lincoln followed by discussions by Lord Owen, Lord Hurd and Lord Bingham. It was very interesting but went a bit over my head. Combined with the general lack of sleep and tiredness meant I was almost willing the lecture over but it was still very enjoyable and all speakers were excellent. This was followed by a couple of pints at a local with the other scholars before dinner and much needed sleep. The hotel wasn't bad - it wasn't anything flash but did the job and had free wi-fi which was much appreciated.
I met up with Emma, Phil, Mike, Andrew and Sam for breakfast (full English...) and we grabbed a Starbucks (feeling very American in doing so) before heading to the University of Notre-Dame for our first day of Orientating (is that the right verb?).
We had introductions from Penny Egan (head of the UK-US commission), a guy from the US embassy and Michael Scott-Kline (Awards Director) before an ice breaker called autograph bingo. It was quite a cool way to find out about people where we all got a card with 6 facts about people like `guest edited the Today Programme' and 'learnt Arabic in Cairo' and we had to find who was what and get them to sign the card. It was quite a nice way to find out random facts about people which led to our three minute introductions which were next.
The introductions lasted about an hour and a half as there were 35 of us to get through (a combination of postgraduate awards, distinguished scholars, journalists, MBAs, policemen/women, musicians and more) and it was amazing to hear what everyone is going to be doing. I think the most commonly used word by us to describe the group was 'random' and I was truly in awe of everyone else. I was the youngest by 3 or 4 years and there was a massive range of subjects being studied. They ranged from studying fertility (Phil) to Sir Walter Raleigh (Anna) to US media coverage of mental health (Mary) to Spanish (Mariama) to Social Work (Andrew) and so much more inbetween! I really felt out of place almost, and did not feel worthy to be there and be put in the same league as everyone else - but it seems like all of us were feeling like that. We are also being spread out across the country, although there are concentrations in New York and Boston there are people heading to Seattle, San Fransisco, Cincinnati, Mississippi, Chicago and a couple of the Police officers are doing tours all over the country. At least this means (a) there are plenty of Fulbrighters nearby in New York (7 or 8 at last count) and (b) there are plenty of couches I can use when I travel around the country!
After the introductions and lunch we had hours and hours of info thrown at us about life in the states, visas, the BFSA, the IIE, what its like to actually study there and so much more. I'm not going to bore you with the details but needless to say it got me slightly terrified and utterly confused. Luckily everything they told us we were given written down so hopefully after a second reading it'll be much clearer...
That night we headed to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to see the 3rd years do their final performance of `Damn Yankees' - a 50's musical based on Faust but set to a baseball storyline. It was as camp as Christmas but good fun - I think it was just what we all needed after such a serious day and the students were amazing. The girl who played Lola (a demon sent to seduce the main character) was ridiculously good looking, had an amazing voice and played 5 or 6 six accents flawlessy... some people are just *too* talented!
The next morning it was another Starbucks before heading back to Notre-Dame for a panel session with Toby Young, James Crabtree, Dr Clodagh Harrington and Will Straw all about current affairs in the US. This was really interesting and as 3 of them (excepting Clodagh) had been Fulbrighters it was really useful. Soon after we headed to the Texas Embassy for a tex-mex lunch after which there was time for a quick change before me, Alex, Anna and Andrew (+ wife) headed to the embassy for our visa interviews. It was amazing to see what being a Fulbright Scholar gets you - instead of a 4 hour wait outside and 4 hour wait inside we were all done within an hour! We were fast tracked inside, fast tracked to get our fingerprints scanned, then fast tracked to our interview, after which I was told I had been granted a visa and could go and study! Wooo!
We headed straight from the embassy to Winfield House, the US Ambassadors residence, for the reception. We had time to do some portraits and groups shots with Juliette Atkinson who has photographed royalty in the past! Then it was time for the reception - I was expecting it just to be the scholars and our guests (unfortunately Steph couldn't make it as her supervisor wouldn't let her have the time off) and the US Charge D'Affaires (the US Ambassador is currently waiting for approval from the White House before he can take up the position) however we were informed that 520 people had been invited and all to honour us! This was rather daunting and so I had to get networking and thanking people for coming. It was quite funny as you could tell who was doing an MBA or journalism as they were quite good at making conversation etc however I was more than slightly embarassed to walk up to people and say "Hello, I am one of this year's Fulbright Scholars..." I did talk to some very interesting people though, including Simon Lewis and a couple who were scholars in the 50's and are now setting up their own University. One person I wanted to talk to but didn't get a chance to is Baroness Amos who was the first black female member of the Cabinet and the forthcoming High Commissioner of Australia.
After the drinks all the scholars headed to a local for some pub grub and conversation. I had some really interesting and quite deep conversations and was reminded of how intelligent, diverse and fascinating a group I was now part of.
Slept well that night feeling quite run down with cold/flu (I always get ill at the end of term - I think my immune system thinks it can take a vacation when I do!) and so woke up the next morning with absolutely no voice whatsoever... Even my morning Starbucks couldn't help and so I spent most of the day writing down notes rather than trying to speak. All the others found it quite humourous and we made our way to Westminister to get on a river cruise down to Grenwich. The cruise was really good and I learnt some new things about London before we landed and headed to Cafe Sol for yet another tex-mex lunch. I hadn't had much tex-mex before the Orientation, and I don't think I need any more for a long time now either! We gave the staff some champagne and then I decided to head off as I was feeling crap and just wanted to get home to bed. I left with a few of the others back to the centre and stopped off at my favourite shop in the whole of London - the Apple Store. I had decided that my 23" iMac wasn't the most practical of computers to lug about so I wanted to get a 13" MacBook which I could use at the department and while travelling while leaving my iMac at my flat. I had decided to pay for it out of my first grant payment and get it all set up before heading out but am currently discussing with parents as they want to get it for me for Christmas as they say they can't really get me much else (like stockings and little presents) as I probably won't be able to take them out with me. I opened and set it up on the train home and posted the last blog post from it so its all working now! It is ridiculously cool and I'm really pleased with it. I went for the most basic model as I don't need it to do amazing things - I've got my iMac to do that - I mainly want to be able to access internet and emails and word process and LaTeX on it - which it all does perfectly!
I arrived back home around 8 and had a quick dinner before pretty much crashing out for the night.
Next up - the Lake District the next morning to meet Becca, Katie and a few others - 6 hours on a train and I got there, had a nice walk with Becca before we all headed to Bowness for dinner and drinks before the heavens opened... I've never slept in a tent with it raining so badly but surprisingly we all stayed dry and packed up the next day for a quick jaunt on Windemere in a boat before meeting Paul, Steph, George and a load of Paul's friends for a drink before the drive back. By this time my voice had pretty much gone and I was feeling pretty awful so I slept the entire way back and went straight to bed!
Next day I headed down to Becca's in the afternoon and we headed to Gianni's for dinner. We have been to this restaurant so much and it was really nice to have a 'last supper' of sorts and it was good to just catch up really. Then on Tuesday Becca came up here and we chilled out for most of the day - chatting, jamming and the like. She also gave me my birthday presents - two great photos framed for my office out at Rutgers and then two really personal presents. First, she had been up a couple of weeks earlier to nab the photo album she had got me when I turned 18 and had filled the rest with photos from Uni and left some pages for people to sign before I leave which was really thoughtful. Then she had made me a film for me to take out with me - it was of the area so I could show people and watch if I got homesick. It was really thoughtful of her and I definitely was welling up watching it. Then it was time for her to leave - for graduation, then Thailand) and I'm not going to see her before I head out so it was rather an emotional affair. I'm really going to miss catching up with her - but at least there's Skype and she's planning on visiting around Easter time so it should all be ok.
Since then I've been sorting out my room and thinking about packing - it's a very scary thought! I've also been chilling out - I'm not going to get much of a chance after this week as we'll then be sorting out stuff for the party, then it's the party, then graduation, then Verona and then before I know it I'll be flying - argh! It's going to be hectic but I can't wait...
Well that's it for now - sorry for the mammoth posts - hopefully I can keep it shorter next time...

Meeting Gold Medallists, Lords and Charge D'Affaires... (Part One)

Wow - what a few weeks I have had! Last time I properly updated I had just finished my finals and starting to enjoy my freedom. The story continues... (this may be a rather long post... don't say I didn't warn you!)

So the day after I had finished so did Hazel so I got drunk. After I had finished I had one pint and then pretty much went home and went to bed - but Hazel finished at 12.30 and I was much more awake so we had champagne in the MCR! After that, as I mentioned before, I spent a lot of time doing good old admin and form filling. I swear for every form I filled in another three forms appeared...

After about a week suddenly everyone else started finishing, in very quick succession. So suddenly it was Saturday of 8th Week and Lucy was the last of us to finish. My parents came down that weekend which was lovely but I felt quite bad because I had to leave them loads. Firstly on Friday it was Schools Dinner - a great tradition when the third and fourth year mathematicians at Wadham have an amazing 5 course meal with wine and port with all the tutors to kind of say goodbye. We got the tutors presents and the food was fantastic and ended up convincing Steve (our tutor in first and second year) to come out clubbing which was certainly an experience and a half. Then I had to leave them for Lucy's birthday followed by Croquet in the gardens and the Warden's Garden Party. But then we had a lovely dinner on the Saturday night and did lots of packing on the Sunday before they set off back up North.

Then 9th Week was the week of good times and goodbyes. We had some great times like Finalists Fling (ending in Kukui - a Hawaiian themed night club in Oxford) and cycling to Blenheim Palace - but then some of the best were when we just sat around chatting and it really reminded me how many good friend I have at Oxford. I decided to write a letter to everyone in the flats plus a couple of others - just to tell them how grateful I was to have them as friends and how much I want to keep in touch with everyone. I gave them out when people left and some were incredibly difficult to write - I certainly shed a tear or two which isn't all that like me. Other than goodbyes I also had a lot of cleaning to do :( The flat gets inspected at the end of the year and the college fines for anything not clean enough. As I was the alst in the flats I had to do all the last minute stuff and clearing up. Even though the rest of the flat had done loads of work I was still up till 4 cleaning which wasn't my favourite thing to do! I also took James my bike and it was great to catch up with him - it also happened to be Mel's 21st Birthday (Sam's sister) so we had a lovely meal and a great day.

From Oxford I went straight to Henley to work Regatta week. For anybody who doesn't know, Henley Royal Regatta is a massive rowing event held on the Thames at the venue of the last two British Olympic Regattas and every year Remenham Club hire Wadham BC students to work their bar. It's pretty good money and great fun so this was my 3rd year of working there. This year was even more busy/crazy than usual as it was Remenham's centenary year so there was plenty celebrations - culminating in Prince Michael of Kent visiting on the Friday to unveil a new Honours Board and to watch a Spitfire Flypast especially for Remenham. The prices are pretty expensive (£8 for a pint of Pimms!) but it gets bought as if it's going out of fashion - we sold 40 kegs of Pimms and ran out of pretty much everything by the end of the week. A definite highlight was on the Sunday evening after we finished our shift Andy Triggs Hodge (gold medallist at Beijing with the GB M4- and a member of Remenham) came over and started chatting to us, asking how the week had gone etc. It was really nice of him and something he didn't have to do.

Another highlight of the week was definitely getting my results and the associated celebrations... I got a First! I was ridiculously pleased and it still hasn't sunk in. It means I'm definitely off to the States, and has given me the confidence to think maybe I am good enough for a PhD.

After Henley I arrived home at about 8 on the Monday to find an email from Kat at Fulbright asking me to fill in 3 visa forms and email them to the US embassy that night. Needless to say I didn't get too much sleep (I didn't realise how awkward visa forms are!) and then had to get up at 7 to get sorted before heading into London for the Fulbright orientation. But the last three days have been so jam packed they deserve a post to their own so that's the END OF PART ONE... 

(I told you it was going to be long...)

I'm off to the States!

Found out a couple of days ago that I GOT A FIRST! :)

So I'm definitely off to Rutgers :) I'm off to London for the Fulbright Orientation but I will write more once I'm back...