5 Lessons From America!

Wow... I'm actually here, at Rutgers, in AMERICA! It still hasn't quite sunk in and I think it'll be a while until it does (probably once term starts).

A quick update since my last true post: First off, Verona was unbelievable. Me and my Auntie Jude went to visit her friend Sally who works for Saga taking tour groups to the opera and the Arena there and although we were only there 3 days we managed to pack loads in - seeing both Aida (amazing spectacle) and Turandot (fantastic and moving) and visiting Mantua - the 'birthplace' of Opera. I think I may possibly have been the youngest person to have ever been on a Saga holiday but I didn't really care and had a fantastic time. Next up was a week where I packed, visited Edinburgh with Mum, went to visit my Godmother Sharon and said my goodbyes to everyone. Next thing I knew I was getting up at 3am to travel to Newcastle and suddenly I was flying over the Atlantic (a bit of a shock!).

I landed on Friday just before 1pm EST and got through customs and immigration without any problems (even though I slept through the instructional video on immigration forms on the plane...) and collected my suitcases to start my mission to get to Rutgers. It was really hot and I queued up before getting into a taxi for a slightly scary ride to New Brunswick. I say to New Brunswick in the loosest sense as on the way we managed to get lost multiple times with the taxi driver asking about 5 different people how to get to Buell apartments. All in all it wasn't the best introduction to the USA but we got there in the end. Newark struck me as very industrial (and not that nice to look at) but once we got out the city I was struck by how green everything was. Even along the interstate there were loads of trees and bushes that we really really 'green'. You can definitely tell why they call it the Garden State!

After arriving at Rutgers I picked up my keys and got my picture taken for my Rutgers Card (for once, not too bad a photo) and headed into the apartment. None of my flatmates were in (although a lot of their stuff was, so I'm guessing one or two have already moved in and are away for the weekend). The apartment is pretty big and has everything I need - there are 4 bedrooms (with desk, bed, bedside table, drawers, under-bed storage and a massive wardrobe/storage area), two sinks, a bathroom, two big store rooms and a kitchen/living room/dining room with kitchen stuff plus a sofa, comfy chairs and dining table.

I just had time to head to the Post Office before it closed so I headed straight to the Campus Center and set up my post box. I therefore now have a permanent address people can send post to so please drop me an email if you want my address. After this I had a wander around campus and went for an evening run before turning in for an early night. The campus is pretty big, but everything I need is nearby. The Maths dept is less than 5 mins walk and the Football stadium around 10 mins; then there are things like the University Parks and 'Recreation Center' (i.e. gym, swimming pool etc) all even closer. I think its going to be a bit weird living at a Campus university after spending the last 4 years at a town one but I'm sure I'll get used to it pretty quickly - I can already see the massive advantages.

Saturday was a day to get some groceries, and this led to my first lesson on the USA:

Lesson 1 - America is BIG - If you go looking for groceries and don't know where you are going you WILL end up taking a 6 mile detour... and still end up with no groceries

Normally, if you just want a box of cereal or quart of milk then you would pop to the Campus Center, but with it still being the Summer Session this closes at weekends so I decided to venture to Piscataway to grab a few groceries. This turned out to be a mistake... I had looked online to find that there was an ATM on the road out the back of Campus about a mile up and decided to hunt it out, as surely if there is a bank machine there must be some sort of shops, right?? Wrong... turns out that banks are placed in the middle of nowhere and it was only after walking for an hour and a bit in the 32 degree sun and crossing the Interstate that I finally admitted defeat and turned back towards the campus. On the way back I decided to call into the local library (again, in the middle of nowhere) and ask for directions to the nearest shop. The lady was very kind and directed me up a nearby road with instructions of how to get to Piscataway town center - turns out she didn't mention it was miles upon miles away! After another hour walking I reached a Charlie Brown Steakhouse and decided to stop for lunch (it was around 1pm). After a nice turkey and bacon club sandwich I finished my diet coke watching the Little League World Series and asked how far Piscataway was. It was clear by the bartender's expression it wasn't really walking distance so I admitted defeat and ordered a taxi back to campus.

Back at campus I decided not to give up and so headed in to New Brunswick on the free Rutgers Bus (which I didn't know about that morning). This was really nice as, unbeknownst to me, the bus visits all the other campuses (Livingston, Douglass/Cook) before getting to College Ave where I hopped off the bus and started exploring. New Brunswick is really nice and I had a root around the shopping areas before finding a C-Town and 7-11 where I got myself some cereal, milk and a few other essentials before grabbing a bus back to the flat. Back home I looked in the mirror to realise lesson number 2:

Lesson 2 - ALWAYS wear sunscreen in summer and don't have aviators on all day... or you WILL end up looking like a lobster-panda hybrid...

Consider yourselves warned! I decided to try and take my mind off the sunburn by going for a night run but soon I discovered yet another lesson:

Lesson 3 - If you go for a night run in the university parks, there WILL be surprise sprinklers (and you will end up quite damp...)

Not only will you end up damp, but because it will be a bit dark you will not really see the sprinklers until it is too late and you will let out a little yelp in a slightly girly way... Oh dear.

After that escapade I retired to bed to watch a bit of Grey's Anatomy and catch up on some emails. This morning I decided to have a bit of a lie in then grabbed some cereal and jumped in the shower. After coming out the shower I had a sudden realisation and hence discovered the next lesson:

Lesson 4 - Getting locked out your room in only a towel after showering DOESN'T just happen in the movies...

Not only that, but you will then have to knock on a neighbouring flat's door, in said towel, and ask to borrow their cell phone to get let back into your room - great... After that fantastic start the rest of the day has been spent unpacking - so now my room looks a lot more lived in (and a lot less chaotic) and I decided to head to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights annual Meet-n-Greet. This is where fans of the Scarlet Knights come to get autographs from the players and meet the new squad. Now, for the final lesson of the weekend:

Lesson 5 - American Football is RIDICULOUSLY HUGE here. Seriously, RIDICULOUSLY HUGE...

Now, bear in mind that this wasn't a pre-season game and most students aren't back yet, so pretty much all the people there were locals. The festivities started with performances by the Pep Band and Dance/Cheerleading squads before the kids got to play on a load of inflatable games while everyone waited for the doors to open. Once they did everyone descended onto the pitch to see the players. I was first struck by the sheer size of the stadium: this is a University team, yet the stadium has a larger capacity than St James' (and I bet you it sells out more too...). Then at the amount of people there - there was well over a thousand, and of all ages too. It was great to see how passionate people were about the game and I can't wait to go watch a game or two.

That seems a good note to end on and I think I'm going to grab an early night before Miami tomorrow. I'm going to give the run a miss tonight (I don't want to get damp again...) but will try and get one tomorrow morning before setting off. I'm really loving finding out more and more about here and can't wait for the days, weeks, months and years ahead. I leave you with a picture of the Scarlet Knights Stadium:


P.S. Please leave comments and let me know who's reading - I'm intrigued to know! If you want to leave a comment then click on the title of this post then scroll to the bottom of the screen - you can even post anonymously...

I'm Here!

I'm here!!!!!

Expect a longer post in a bit but I just wanted to let everyone know I arrived yesterday safe and sound. Currently nursing a little bit of sun burn due to it being ridiculously hot (32 degrees!) and me forgetting to put sun cream (sorry, sunscreen...) on...twice...

Anyways, off for a run then will try to post properly later...

Gatherings, Graduation and Goodbyes

Wow, I can't believe suddenly it's all over. In the space of a couple of weeks I am suddenly a graduate and my undergraduate career lays behind me. As clichéd as it may sound, it truly feels like only yesterday I was arriving at Fresher's Week a nervous little First Year Undergraduate - and it is even more surreal to think that I'm going to be arriving at Orientation at Rutgers as a nervous not-so-little-anymore First Year Graduate...

But before that happens I've had an amazing week or two starting with spending quite a bit of time with my parents. I've been around the county taking photos to remind me of home and doing things like eating fish & chips at Bamburgh Beach (something I know I will miss) but mainly we were getting sorted for `the party'.

James & Sam arrived on Thursday night with Ben & Darren (Sam's brother and his boyfriend) and we had a really nice chilled evening staying up and chatting and generally catching up. Friday, however, was a bit more manic!

Firstly we had the problem of getting everyone down from the station - this involved 4 separate car trips (each a hour long round trip) and my brother and dad were stars in sorting it all out. Next we had the problem of where to sleep everyone - solved by my Auntie Jude lending us her motorhome - where Hazel, Jo and Hedd slept - meaning we only needed 3 people to each room - not 5 as we originally thought!

All morning was spent making lasagne and this was dutifully eaten by everyone that evening - to the sound of a lot of happy tummys! When everyone did arrive things did slow down a bit and we spent the rest of the afternoon in the living room catching up and talking about the future. The night was devoted to the annual (2 years counts as a tradition, right?) Bamburgh Bar Crawl. If anyone has never been to Bamburgh, don't be too impressed... Bamburgh has only 4 bars (all of them connected to a Hotel) and they are all within about 250 yards of each other so it didn't take too much effort to complete. It was really good fun and included a rather fun drinking game where you take the name of the person across the table and then one person is 'it' and they have to say the name of someone 3 times in a row before the other person can respond with their name once. It doesn't sound too complicated but add in the confusion of having someone else's name and alcohol and it becomes very entertaining!

Saturday morning was a frantic rush for the showers - unfortunately I was last and after 19 people before me there was no hot water whatsoever - before climbing into our costumes (sometimes literally). I was really impressed with the effort all my friends and all their costumes we had
Me - Rutger's Baseball Player
Steph & Lucy - Cheerleaders (The "Double D's"!)
Paul - Indiana Jones
Nicole - Scarlet O'Hara (including mahoosive dress!)
Wik - A Scarlet Knight (the Rutgers Mascot)
Tom - Captain America
George - Mafia
Jo - Minnie Mouse
Hedd - Stars & Stripes
Hazel - Cowgirl
Christine - Hawaiian
Simon - Cowboy
So altogether a bit of a motley crew! I'm going to put up a post of all the photos so you can all judge their efforts for yourselves... They also got me some really amazing presents that I'm definitely going to keep for many years to come. I got my camera off my parents as an early birthday present so I wasn't expecting anything - but they had got me a new lens for it, and my brother and Sam had got me some USA guidebooks and a digital photoframe to take with me and put in my Office :)

Guests started arriving around 2pm and the festivities got underway. The Pimm's was flowing, the bucking bronco was going and everyone had a great time. It was really nice to see family and friends I hadn't seen for ages and everyone had well wishes. I even made a speech! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for coming and I had special thank-yous to Becca, all my Oxford Friends (especially Steph and Nicole for putting up with my stress this year), Gran, Granda and Granny, James and Sam and of course Mum and Dad. It was a surprisingly emotional time and I had to head inside afterwards for a couple of minutes on my own to get my head sorted. I think it was really one of the first times it had hit me just how big a move this was, and not just for me but for everyone around me too.

The rest of the day was spent drinking, playing rounders and generally having a good time. It all rounded off with a big game of Mafia, involving all the Oxford lot, James, Sam, Ben, Darren, Dad and even Gran! It was really good fun but it wasn't long before the long day took its toll and we all headed off to bed. The next morning was rather subdued and we all headed in to Alnwick to see the castle and leave the family to go to Rory's (Kate's little boy) Christening. The castle was really interesting (I am ashamed to say I had never been before!) and Daniel (a friend from High School) not only took us on the general tour, but also used his time off to show us around the inside rooms - an amazing tour guide! Finally, we all headed to the Lord Crewe on Sunday night for a 'last supper' which was great fun before staying up playing 'The Thing' and the Oxford Game before once again heading to bed.

Monday was a day of goodbyes, and hence quite emotional - especially seeing as it was the last time I would see Jo, Hedd and Nicole before heading off so a few tears were shed and suddenly the party was over. Since then, I've been sorting out suitcases (shopping for suitcases is ridiculously stressful...) and everything else to try and get sorted for America before heading down to Oxford for Graduation...

We all headed down on Friday (31st) to Oxford and had the journey from Hell... nearly 8 hours in the car, numerous road works and just crazily busy roads meant we were all knackered when we finally got here! However, we checked in at the Randolph and got to our rooms, which, in a word, were unbelievable. The shower was huge, the bath massive, you sank into the bed and pillows, the room ginormous and the whole thing spotless. You can see how this hotel earned its 5 stars. It is a massive treat to stop and I doubt I'll ever stay in anywhere this nice for a very very long time... We had time for me to pick up my doctors notes to take with me to the US and get changed before we headed out to Pierre Victoire, a French restaurant we have been coming to ever since Open Day 5 years ago. We had a fantastic meal, as always, and James, Sam and I went to meet a few of my mates at a local pub before turning in for the night.

Graduation day was, to be honest, weird. We had an amazing breakfast here before I headed to college to sort out my new gown, then headed back to the hotel to chill for a bit - where Mum and Dad gave me a really nice hip flask, and James and Sam gave me some lovely cufflinks for my graduation. Needless to say, I used the cufflinks but not the hip flask! Walking back to college, I suddenly got very pensive, and I thought a lot about the future and my time at Wadham and Oxford. As the Vice-Chancellor commented on later, the Oxford Ceremony is quite solemn and I think the whole proceedings led to a very thought-provoking atmosphere. At 11.30 we headed to the Hall Balcony to meet the Dean of Degrees (Ray Ockenden) for pre-drinks before lunch with everyone's family. Lunch was really nice and it was great to show everyone Hall (as Sam put it, she felt like she 'was eating at Hogwarts'...). All the family got lead out then while the graduands got told what to do in the ceremony. Basically, the rule of thumb was to bow to everyone and often and then at one point say 'do fidem,' meaning 'I swear' (or as Hazel corrected us, it more correctly translates to 'I give my heart to you' - pedantic classicists! :P)

The actual ceremony went off without a hitch: we sat down, watched loads of degrees, got called up, bowed, spoke latin, bowed again, got led out, changed into new robes and hood, waited for the BA's, processed back into the hall, bowed again and then left again. Outside, we waited for the parents but suddenly the heaven's opened and it was a mad dash to college to avoid being soaked through. At college, James, Sam, Paul and Steph joined us for afternoon tea and the photos began... I still think I have a pemanent fake smile ingrained on my face from smiling so much and the professional photographer had me looking over my shoulder, staring in the window, me with Mum and Dad, me with everyone and then with a degree certificate and mortar board... All very stressful and that was before the photos with friends taken my the Mums and Dads! Soon after it was Simon, Wik and Lucy's turn to say their goodbyes (very sad...) and then we headed back to the Hotel for a nice hot bath before dinner.

Dinner was at Brasserie Blanc, Raymond Blanc's more casual in-town restaurant. I can honestly say it was possibly the best meal I've ever had - and the company was the best too. I had Rillettes of Pork to start (amazing), an 8oz Sirloin for main (you didn't have to chew it was so tender) and a summer fruits, strawberry sorbet and champagne dessert (the champagne was freshly poured at the table). All in all it was just fantastic and a perfect ending to a fantastic and memorable day.

Unfortunately, Sunday was a day full of goodbyes. Firstly to Tom and George before saying bye to Wadham itself. Next up was Hazel before my Mont Blanc buddies - Nicole, Steph and Paul. It was all a bit emotional and Steph refused to let me go at one point - trapping me in a bear hug and only letting go when me and Paul prized her off... Next up was a quick shopping trip at Bicester before another big goodbye - this time to Sam and James. It's surreal to think I'm not going to see them before I head to the States... Finally, a 6 hour journey back during which I slept, typed up notes, read, listened to music and was generally indolent. Now I'm off to bed to get ready for starting to sort out stuff to pack tomorrow - ah, the stress!