It's Broadway!

Just a quick post this time to talk about my first ever Broadway experience...

So, the story starts 2 months ago, when at the International Orientation at Rutgers we had the chance to buy a Broadway Ticket for the Lion King or Billy Elliot. As luck, or rather lack of luck, would have it - me, Vukosi and Simon just missed out on the tickets - by about 3 people… Considering there were a good one or two hundred tickets it was *really* annoying that we missed out.

However, a couple of weeks ago it was announced that anyone that didn't get a ticket in the orientation would have a chance to get another ticket, this time to the Lion King or Mamma Mia. Needless to say, I didn't particularly want to see Mamma Mia, but I've always wanted to see the Lion King so thought this would be my chance. This time I made sure that I was one of the first in line and got my ticket for $25. Now to put this in perspective, the ticket included transport both to New York and back which would usually cost $17, so the actual ticket for the show cost me a grand total of $8 ≈ £5. NOw in the West End if you're really lucky you can get tickets to shows for £15, but on Broadway the cheapest Lion King tickets are $60 - So I saved at least £30!

So that's how I ended up on a coach last night with Tarek, Simon, Berna, Natalia and other international students. I've never experienced going to New York by road and, to be honest, I don't really fancy doing it again! The roads were crazily busy, before we were even halfway there we were gridlocked and it continued all the way to Broadway.

We got dropped out straight outside the Minskoff Theatre - the home of the Lion King on Broadway. Now most theaters in the West End I've been to are decorated to match the show - the Phantom of the Opera was like a Parisian opera house, Wicked had everything green, but they were nothing compared to this! There were full scale costumes, a mask that must have been at least 20ft tall, and everything was gold or orange.

We headed into the theatre and were shown to our seats. We may have been in the 2nd last row on the upper level, but we were smack-bang centre and had a perfect view. The seats were a lot bigger and comfier than on West End, and the leg room was amazing! The theatre was huge, and on each side of the stage, where the boxes are usually, there were two booths where the percussionists were, which was really cool as throughout the night you could see them play bongos, djembes, gongs and everything else in between.

Before we knew it, the lights dimmed, the curtain lifted, and the first sounds of 'Circle of Life' started…

I can't begin to describe what the experience was like - it really is something that has to be seen to be believed. The costumes were amazing - they captured the essence of the animals perfectly, and were ingenious. 'Elephants' and 'rhinos' walked through the aisles, 'birds' flew above our heads and 'gazelles' leaped all over the stage. The staging was incredible, with had the stage tilting, staircases emerging from the floor, people 'swinging from the trees' and the canyon scene was one of the best things I've ever seen in a theater. When the scenery first appeared for it, I was a bit disappointed - it looked like 3 MDF wedge cut outs with a box in front. I couldn't really see how this was going to replicated a stampede, but then suddenly wildebeest appeared *everywhere*. It was stunning, and that's all I can say to describe it.

The characters were all really well developed, Timon and Pumbaa were hilarious, Scar was fantastically devilish, and the adult Simba, adult Nala and Rafiki had stunning voices. I suppose I shouldn't expect otherwise from a Broadway show, but every single person was a fantastic singer as well as dancer, gymnast and puppeteer. I did feel kind of sorry for the people who were dressed as grass - seems like a bit of a crap part, but I suppose if you're in a Broadway show you can't complain! The music was also fantastic. The original soundtrack to the film was pretty damn good, and the new songs fitted in well and really fleshed out the storyline.

To try and demonstrate what it's like, here's a clip of the 'circle of life' scene from their performance at the Tony Awards… (so add to this a revolving staircase rising from the floor and half the stage rising up and you're getting close to what it was like last night):



I'm not even going to attempt to carry on articulating my night - needless to say it was amazing, and one I will definitely remember and gladly repeat! I'll try and post another update soon - I'm going to write one on KEEN, the charity I'm volunteering at in New York, but I've got a midterm coming up so it depends how much I can pry myself away from revision...

Later Days

The next installment of the David Chronicles...

Well, I've just survived a work week from hell and had a 5 hour nap (about as much sleep as I've had each night this week...) so thought I'd finally update you on the last few weeks. I've got 4 or 5 weeks to cover so I'm warning you that this may be a long one...

I left off last time at the start of IMR - the new math grad seminar. Being held at the Hill Center (the math department) it was a chance to see where I'm going to be based for the next 5 years, as well as helping me prepare for grad school and get through all the admin stuff. It was also a chance to meet my peers, and grad students from other years.

It all started with tea and coffee with a few professors which was great. I met Prof Lepowsky who had given me some advice on selecting courses and a few of my course professors - it was useful to know that they are real people and not just scarily-intelligent exam-setting robots! This was the start of a very intensive 3 days - 15 lectures on everything from Linear Algebra to Differential Manifolds, other grad student's research topics and how to be a 'good grad student'. 100 pages of lecture notes, a scavenger hunt (only mathematicians would set a scavenger hunt that involved solving limits, differential equations and classifying algebras!) and a party with the senior grads later, I emerged as a fully fledged grad student... I also got my own website, which I'm gradually updating with things like contact info, my dissertation, which courses I'm taking etc (the website is here)

Then term started...

I've done quite a bit over the last 4 or 5 weeks so I'm not going to go over everything, so here are my highlights etc...

*Lectures - not so much a highlight, but a necessary evil taking up all my time. I'm taking 4 courses this term - 2 core courses and (because I got exempt from the other core courses) 2 extra courses (effectively 2nd year courses). I have two 80 minute lectures for each course each week (plus 2 lectures in a course I'm not taking for credit) and then 4 seminars a week (each 1 hour long).
For the two core courses I have to hand in a problem set every week, and for the two other courses I have to hand in a set every fortnight. This means that I alternate between 'nice' weeks and 'evil' weeks. For each set I have to hand in about 20 pages of typed solutions, on top of actually working out the solutions, so the workload is pretty intense... Even so, I suppose this is what I'm here for, so I can't complain too much! Combine that with not getting much work done last week (with me being ill) means that this week I've gotten to bed at 4am, 4am, 2am and 4am - this lead to a 3hr nap yesterday afternoon and a 5hr nap this afternoon (the first one planned, the second one unplanned) which certainly leads to a screwed up sleep pattern...

*Cycling - After finding out that I won't be able to row while here, I decided to take up another sport. It didn't take me long to decide on road cycling and I went to the first meeting of the Rutgers Cycling Club. They seemed a really cool bunch, and it seemed a sport I could really get involved with. I've decided to concentrate on road cycling rather than cyclecross or track - but hopefully I'll be able to pick those up some time during the next 5 years... I ended up getting a bike from Kim's Bikes - the local bike shop, and the owner's son cycles for Rutgers so I ended up getting a really good deal on it. It is an absolute dream to ride and I've been on a few long rides, including a great one along the canal in the glorious sunshine. Being ill the last fortnight, the rides have been sparse, but I'm hoping to step up the training again, and look to be racing with the cycling club come the spring.
One note about cycling - it takes a while to get used to being on the wrong side of the road... Normally it doesn't really bother me, but roundabouts are terrifying! I swear when I first went round one I thought I was going to die - it just seems so wrong to be going round them the wrong way...

*New York! - So the first weekend after term started I decided to visit the city that never sleeps and see what all the fuss is about. Me and Simon, my flatmate, headed up to have a look around and meet some of the other Fulbrighters. It really is an amazing city - there is so much going on it is crazy. We first went to the typical sights round Manhatten - the Empire State, Rockafella Center, Times Square before meeting with the Fulbrighters. Now a bit of advice - never try to organise a group of around 20 people meeting in New York - it is the worst logistical nightmare ever imagined. We decided to meet at the Apple Store just off Central Park (such a cool shop) and it seriously took us about an hour to find everyone. Afterwards we had a wander around Central Park and caught up. It was really nice to see how everyone was doing and it was a shame it was such a fleeting visit. I'm heading back up to New York next weekend to start volunteering at KEEN NY (the New York branch of the charity I volunteered at in Oxford helping at youth clubs for disabled children) so hopefully will start seeing more of the Big Apple more regularly.

*Food - American food is different from British food, and when I say different, I mean really different. First off, words don't necessarily mean the same; when I was asked if I wanted some 'Veggies' with my meal I thought it was some weird "Buy a lunch, get a free vegetarian" offer... Also, the word might be the same but the pronounciation different; I still can't pronounce yoghurt or raspberry so that they understand me first time.
Next up, cereals. These take on a completely different form than back home - everything is either chocolate coated, or bright red, green, blue and orange. I found a pack of Raisin Bran and thought I had finally found a healthy cereal, only to open up the box and be shocked and appalled - they coat the raisins in sugar! I mean, this is a simple breakfast of bran flakes and raisins and they can't help but add sugar - as of now, I'm sticking to toast.
Ask any Brit here about tea and it seems we all agree - Lipton's tea tastes like tea, but only if you add sawdust, grit and anythign else you might find on the ground. Not to be disrespectful to Lipton's, but their tea just doesn't come close to a good cup of Tetley's, Yorkshire, Rington's, PG Tips etc. Hence my excitement when (a) mum sent me some Earl Grey in the post and (b) I found a local shop that stocked a full range of Twinings!
Finally, a non-US specific moan: why did people think condensed soup was a good idea? Obviously it saves space, and probably makes it last longer, but it is one of the worst ideas in the world. When I was ill last week, I decided to have the stereotypical comfort food and opened a tin of chicken soup. Now the problem with condensed chicken soup, is that if you are ill and feeling naseous, then the last thing you want to see is condensed chicken soup partially mixed with water. Seriously, why make it look like that?!? Sorry, rant over...

*Shopping - Americans have truly turned this into an art form. My nearest mall is Menlo Park and I assumed being a 'local' mall, it would only have a handful of stores. How wrong I was. The mall had any store you could name: Macy's, Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale, Barnes & Noble, American Apparell and a HUGE food court. Top that off with a Target next door and you pretty much have naything you could ever need in one place.
You might remember me complaining about not really being able to get much food anywhere locally - well then I discovered Stop & Shop. Think of a huge Tesco's, and make it even bigger... They have everything you could ever want to eat, and then some. They have a massive freezer section (about a 1/3 of the store) and in the veg section, every few minutes they freshly 'mist' the root vegetables - giving them a nice sheen, but it does soak you if you stand too close when it goes off!

Well that's about all for the updates right now, I'll try to update again soon!

Later days

P.S. By the way, the British accent is still working it's charm :) It seems most days I get at least one girl saying how cute it is, it's all rather flattering really!

P.P.S. I'm going to try and put some more pictures up on my Fickr page, so have a look here

The long awaited (and much needed) second post! (Part Two - Rutgers)

Seeing as I'm on a roll (i.e. I've actually posted something recently - see part one) I thought I'd carry on with my update.

So after arriving back from Miami I headed back to the apartment and immediately went for a run as there was still no one else there and after spending a week with 90 other Fulbrighters I didn't particularly want to spend the evening sat on my own in my room! It was still ridiculously hot and I had another running 'incident'... I didn't stray into sprinklers like last time as I took a route around the back of the soccer pitch but as I was running along, minding my own business and listening to my iPod, suddenly a beast jumped from the bushes into my path. I nearly had a heart attack as I tried to stop suddenly/change direction/jump over it all at once. Needless to say I felt like a bit of an idiot when I realised that the 'beast' was actually just a gopher (which is like what would happen if a beaver and squirrel decided to cross breed...). Now in my defence, the gopher was pretty big (I think it had been snacking on the leftover hotdogs from the stadium...) but I still felt like a bit of a wimp - so I ran a little bit further than I planned to make myself feel better about myself...

Arriving back at the flat, slightly flustered, I unpacked all my things and read through some of my Fulbright info I had recieved before getting a much needed early night in bed. The next morning I met one of my new flatmates - Czanad (pronounced Chanad) who is a 3rd year Hungarian MicroBiologist who had been on holiday in Colorado for the last few weeks. It was nice to see someone else about the flat, and useful to have someone to ask questions like how on earth the bus system works here... The buses are all lettered, and during term time it all makes sense, even to the point where the L goes to Livingston campus, the B to Busch etc. However in the holidays they seem to pick the routes by random, so advice from Czanad was much appreciated.

On the strength of his advice I decided to explore New Brunswick a bit more and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. New Brunswick isn't a huge town, but it has plenty of stuff in the center - as well as the student center it has a wide range of shops and I managed to get food, toiletries, a cell (mobile phone to us Brits) and a load of stuff for my room all pretty cheaply. Getting back to the flat with so much stuff was quite interesting, but I managed and dumped all the stuff in my room before meeting the third flatmate - Simon (pronounced more like Seemon) who is a first year Physics PhD student from Belgium. We are quite a mix of people but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get on well with both of them and think we'll have a good flat for the year.

Sunday was a quiet day (which really means I can't remember what I did...) but I think I spent most of it getting sorted for the start of International Student Orientation, which began on the Monday morning.

Me and Simon left pretty early as we were warned that there would be loads of queues, and we arrived at 10 on the dot (the registration was between 10 and 12). What we didn't expect was a queue out the door and only *just* getting registered before midday. Luckily we met Vukosi, a South African Fulbrighter I met at Miami so at least we had some company during the wait.

After a brief introduction we were thrown head first into the Orientation process. I thought the Fulbright Orientation had been intense but this was something else. They were constantly throwing info at you (health insurance, tuition fees, registration for courses, Visa stuff - all of it 'urgent') and seem to want you to be in about 3 places at once... On the upside there was plenty of free food, I got to see a lot more of College Ave Campus and I met some really great people. I spent alot of the week hanging out with Simon, Vukosi, Tarek (a half-Egyptian, half-Welsh Comp Sci Phd first year), Natalia (a fellow Brit here for a year exchange during her undergrad) and a few others. It was really nice getting to know everyone and I'm hoping to stay in touch with them all while I'm here.

One of the highlights of the week was the Skit night where the volunteers (all International Students) put on a sketch show about what it's like studying at Rutgers as an international student and in the process we learnt the Rutgers Fight Song - it really has to be heard/seen to be believed so I've included a video of the University Glee Club singing it. The part in the middle where they all go a bit crazy and start yelling "R U RAH RAH, R U RAH RAH, OOH RAH OOH RAH RUTGERS RAH!" is the Rutgers chant and can be heard at most sports events etc. Enjoy!



(and if you want the lyrics to sing along (!) then here's a copy the Rutgers Fight Song)

I also got an opportunity to order my course books - and nearly had a heart attack in the process! In the UK, a course textbook is nice to have but not essential to the course - a lecturer may refer you to the text for additional reading, but all the course topics will be covered in lectures. In the US, the textbook forms the backbone of the course - the lecturer might expect you to pre-read sections so his/her lectures form supplementary coverings of topics and most of the time the problem sets will come straight from the textbook. So a textbook is pretty essential - and the library doesn't tend to have more than one copy of each book - so buying them was pretty much given. What I didn't expect was to pay around $500 for 6 textbooks! I suppose it was a necessary cost but that didn't make it easier to hand over that much money for books I know will haunt me once exams come round...

The Orientation seemed to be over almost as soon as it started and I was thrust into the IMR - Introduction to Mathematics at Rutgers - a 4 day mini-conference for all Math PhD students starting. I've got a lecture in a bit so I think I'm going to leave this post for now, but tune in next time (hopefully soon!) for:

IMR! START OF TERM! FINALLY SOME MATHS! NEW YORK!!! I MEET OBAMA!

(That last one isn't true... I just wanted to see if you were paying attention...)

Later Days

David

P.S.
As a bonus I'm going to share with you some of the Rutgers branded items you can buy here - I told some of you that you can literally buy *anything* with Rutgers on it, and here is my proof (all of which are available online at the Rutgers University Bookstore):
A licence plate cover:
A baby-gro:
Golf Balls:
And even a standard lamp...

The long awaited (and much needed) second post! (Part One - Miami)

Well, first off I owe an apology to all you avid readers of my blog - this update is more than a little late and should have been written at least 2 weeks ago...

Now that I've got the apology out of the way its time for my update. I'm warning you now that because I'm covering about 3 weeks of stuff this is going to be a long one... Consider yourself warned!

The last post left off just as I was starting to settle in to Rutgers - I had walked a bit around the area, been to the football stadium, got lost and was sorting out my room (and still didn't have any bedding...). The next day was the start of my trip to Miami for the Fulbright Gateway Orientation - a chance to meet Fulbright Scholars from all over the world and also to prepare for the reality of being a Fulbright Scholar.

Leaving the flat that morning I headed to the train station, arriving in plenty of time to get a cup of tea from Dunkin' Donuts (unfortunately not to try the donuts) before hopping on the NJ transit up to Newark Airport. The train journey was surprisingly pleasant - the train was a double decker swish number with plenty of seats free and plenty of space for my luggage. I was sitting reading my book and generally minding my business when (about 5 mins into the journey) a conversation was struck up between the strangers around me. Considering that no-one knew anyone else I found this rather surprising and decided to join in (after all, even if I made a fool of myself I would never meet these people again!). After talking a little about how hot the weather had been recently, they asked about where I was from (another lesson: everyone will love the British accent and will ask you lots of questions about the UK, including usually 'Why did you choose to come to America?' - I think the UK has a special place in the hearts of a lot of Americans so the thought I could actually leave there is shocking to them...). After letting them know I was studying at Rutgers I mentioned about being a Fulbright Scholar - I have never seen a reaction like it! Everybody was amazed and impressed and couldn't praise me highly enough. I knew that Fulbrighters were well respected in America but I didn't realise the amount of acknowledgment I would get from (a) complete strangers; and (b) non-academics.

This set me in a rather good mood for the flight to Miami and the week ahead - and I wasn't disappointed. The flight was uneventful but also long - I didn't realise it would take nearly 3 hours to fly just 'down the coast' - as my 1st lesson showed me - the US is HUGE! I arrived at Miami airport and attempted to find a couple of other Fulbrighters I had organized to share a taxi with. A useful hint: trying to find 3 people in Miami airport, all arriving on different planes, at different times, none of whom you've ever met or seen before is COMPLETELY FUTILE! Needless to say I didn't meet them and ended up just heading to the hotel by myself.

Arriving at the hotel I was greeted by an all you can eat buffet for us which I promptly dug into (after surviving on pretty much only cereal for 2 days this was much needed sustenance). I met a few of my fellow Fulbrighters and headed to a bar on the bay front for a drink and some salsa dancing (don't worry Dad, I was watching not dancing - so I didn't break Wilson tradition...). Then it was off to bed to get some sleep before the sessions the next day.

The next morning I got up bright and early and headed for a run around Miami - my roommate Fabian came with me and we explored a bit of the bayside. I thought running in the heat in New Jersey was bad but this was truly something else - the humidity meant it felt like you were running through sludge, it was pretty horrible. We then headed to Miami Dade College to be greeted by a bag of freebies and a packed schedule for the next few days.

The next few days flew by - we had lectures every day on subjects ranging from what to do if you're arrested (or rather, how not to get arrested in the first place), to 'culture shock' (the process of adapting to life in a new culture), to leadership (as Fulbrighters we are expected to be cultural leaders), to the US judicial system (the supreme court is a fascinating topic) to a jazz seminar (which consisted pretty much of listening to our own private performance by a jazz band for an hour and a half - bliss). I learnt so much during the week and it was hard to absorb all of it in, but then I think the main thing I took away from the week was not stuff I got form the classroom.

I've got to tell you something - every single Fulbrighter I met at Miami is amazing! They are all really cool, grounded, amazingly intelligent and friendly people. I can't list everyone here because I'd inevitably miss out some people but I made some really good friends there - and ones I'll stay in touch with in the future. I've included a picture here of some of us before heading on the airtrain.

During the week there was so much to do outside of the lectures - we had a cruise of the bay and 'star island' seeing such sights as the house from Scarface, and many celebrity homes, we had a night at an all-the-meat-you-can-eat restaurant, we went to a local club which had amazing live music for free(Jazid if anyone is ever in Miami), explored little Havana, and had a night at a private club on South Beach where we swam in the Atlantic (much warmer than the North Sea!) and tried to spell Fulbright in the sea... There is photographic evidence, but I think we ended up spelling FULBRGHIT - you win some you lose some...

All in all it was just a fantastically good time, and one I'll remember for a long long time. And I've now ticked another state of my list to visit!

This is the end of part one, tune in next time for part two:
MORE RUTGERS! MORE FREE FOOD! MORE ORIENTATIONS! FINALLY SOME MATH!

Later Days

David

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!