Pedalling Photos, Parents & Prizes (Part III)

Its finally time for...

PART III: Prizes

First off, sorry for the delay in the final part of the post - there was a little problem named midterms and so my life has been on hold for the last week or so... Secondly, apologies for the very tenuous link between the title and content of this part - I wanted an alliterative title, and prizes was about the only thing I could come up with. Anyways, on to the post:

The rest of the week when my parents left was pretty mundane - getting back into the grad student life (i.e. lots of work and ramen, not much of anything else) until Wednesday. Wednesday started with a gym session - I'd booked a training session with a Sports Science major to set me a gym program to help me get in shape for the road racing season in Spring. I had already been for my fitness check and this session was my first run through of the program. It started off with a nice easy warm up followed by some squats and shoulder presses. Next came dead lifts. After starting with just the 45lb bar I informed Ben that it was pretty easy to do the set of 15, so he added 50lb to give me a bit of a challenge...

Now I had been stuck working at the department on my seminar talk until midnight the night before so hadn't really had dinner; by the time I had got in I really wasn't very hungry and just wanted to go to bed. I didn't really have much for breakfast either (big error...) and so wasn't feeling all that energetic and strong.

I then proceeded to force out a set of 15, during which I kind of forgot to breathe... Now you would think breathing is pretty easy to remember to do - after all we do it all the time right? Well combined with heavy weights and obstination it turns out I can forget the most basic things!

This resulted in me nearly collapsing, feeling sick, having to sit down for 5 minutes and drink lots of water. Feeling a bit better I then decided to stand up - bad idea. Suddenlymy vision went completely blurry and I sat straight back down again. It was a good 10 minutes before I felt any better and was a few days before I stopped feeling a complete and utter idiot...

With that mishap I headed to the department to give my first ever seminar talk - 80 minutes on "Amalgams and the Coset Graph". This was what I did my masters dissertation on, so it wasn't too scary and I think it was successful. Nobody fell asleep, there were only a couple of questions I couldn't answer and everyone seemed reasonably interested - not too bad for my first attempt!

I then headed to Livingston Campus armed with my camera and tripod to take the Rutgers Cyclocross Team photo. I arrived at the practice field to find... nobody. In their defence I was a few minutes early, but it was a good half hour later before everyone arrived. I finally managed to gather everyone together and started the 'photo shoot'. We started with some standard photos - the 'angry look' shot, 'nonchalently leaning on bikes' shot and the 'shouldering bikes' shot.
Earlier on someone had joked about doing a 'cage' shot against the snow barriers - with them all looking like they were trying to escape and me on the other side looking throught he cage. At the end of the 'serious' shoot I asked if they fancied doing the photo. I could kind of tell that people wanted to, so I kind of bossed everyone into going and climbing the fence. I'm pretty pleased with the end result, and it seems everyone else is too! Here's the picture:
As always, the photos are on my Flickr Page so please check them out!

Next up was the KEEN Happy Hour. This was on Thursday night and was a chance for KEEN to raise a bit of money, as well as do

some socialising/drinking. It was held at Public House in NYC (unfortunately a bar, not a good ol' pub...) and entry was $10 or a toy donation. This also got you a free raffle ticket you could place in one of the 6 prize draws - with some pretty good prizes. I arrived (having headed there straight from lectures), grabbed a beer and started talking to some of the other volunteers. It was really nice to meet these people outside of a KEEN session, and I met quite a few people who weren't regular volunteers (an

d hopefully convinced some of them to become regular volunteers!).

In the course of the evening I bought a few extra raffle tickets and put them in a few of the prize buckets. The prizes were really impressive, including tickets to a New York Yankees game, a huge stack of DVDs, a huge stack of books, some beauty vouchers, a free meal in NYC, a KEEN sports bag and much more! I put my tickets in a few of them and at 8 they were drawn. To my great surprise I won the stack of DVDs! There was a big selection with everything from the X Files to Walk the Line and one of the guys I had been talking to earlier asked me if he could borrow the X Files after I had seen

it. I told him sure, and then went back to the bar to grab another beer.

I was waiting for the barman when Nichole came up asking me about a raffle ticket number. I checked my tickets against the number and sure enough I had a match - and I had won the NY Yankees tickets! I was ridiculously pleased :) I then told Nichole to redraw the DVD's - after all, out of everyone there it wasn't really fair that I took two prizes - so she did, and in a nice coincidence the guy who wanted to borrow the X Files won them! The night ended with a goodie bag - containing everything from a Team USA Beijing Olympics towel to 3 free tickets to the Brooklyn Botanical garden!

Along with the yankees tickets my prize included two vouchers. Each of the vouchers are worth either $50 of waxing or $200 of laser hair removal for men or women in NYC. Now, I don't think I have $400 worth of hair on my body, and I certainly don't want to find out so I'm offering these vouchers up. If anyone wants these then I would be happy to give them to you. They need to be used in the next fortnight, and can't be used together, but otherwise there are no restrictions. If you want them, leave a comment and I'll get in touch. It would be nice if you would consider a small donation to KEEN for them, but don't feel obliged.

At the Happy Hour Nichole was also selling the brand new KEEN NY wristbands. They are really cool and a bargain at only $3! If you want one, leave a comment and I'll get you one from Nichole - here's a picture of one:

That Saturday was KEEN swimming - my favorite session! That week, I was first partnered with a autistic boy for the first half, and then a 5 year old girl with Spina Bifida for the second session. The first athlete was pretty interested in the water fountain at the end of the pool so we spent most of the session trying to swim under it and trying to stop it with our hands. The second athlete had no sensation below her knees so me and her other volunteer had to carry her around - this didn't stop us having a lot of fun! She had just turned 5 so had got a fake Minnie Mouse tattoo at her party so she proceeded to use this 'super hand' to either push away from the wall (when I would lift her out of the water as she 'flew through the air') or push me away (when I would go flying backwards and under water - much to her delight!).

It was a fantastic session and was followed up by some drinks at Brother Jimmys - whose slogan was "Put some South in yo' mouth"! I then got to experience some true Southern food - frickles. Now you may ask, as I did, "What on earth are frickles?" Well it turns out these are fried pickles. Yes. Pickles. Deep-fried. Needless to say they were rather unique in taste and texture and one was more than enough for me... I also got to try deep fried onions (served in a bucket!) and sweet potato fries (which were amazing!).

I then headed back to Penn Station with Nichole who was meeting some people from her old school in North Carolina - I then ended up joining them as they headed into Times Square. It turns out the two girls and teacher were here for a conference and it was great to talk to them and find out their impressions of New York. It also turned out that they (along with Nichole) were headed to see Memphis, the same musical I had seen with Mum and Dad. I therefore assured them that they would love the show - and sure enough they did!

Heading back to New Jersey, Sunday was a day of work, getting all my problem sheets done (or at least trying to!). I also decided to start getting serious about losing some weight and getting fit for the cycling. To that end I joined Daily Burn which is a website that you can track your nutrition, exercise and body measurements on. I'm really impressed, especially as it's free, and since joining I have now lost around 10lbs from my personal training assessment 3 weeks ago!

On the sports side of things, on Wednesday I finally got out on my first group ride with the Cycling team. It was a designated "fat & slow" ride for those of us who are "over insulated & speed challenged" and we did a 20mile ride at around 15mph. It was great fun and we finished by doing some sprints and chase-downs which was definitely my favorite part of the ride. It was great to really work the legs to exhaustion and a lot of fun to really push yourself to catch someone who has sprinted ahead. I then went out again on the Friday and am heading out again tomorrow so the cycling is certainly stepping up a gear! (No pun intended...)

I also went to karaoke on Thursday with some of the cycling grad students which was great fun - there is nothing better than listening to cheesy retro rock being sung by slightly drunk people. I also got given my cycling kit! Its very... erm... spandex-y but is also seriously cool - I can't wait to go out riding tomorrow so I can use it :)

This weekend I had my first experience of KEEN in the Bronx - and it was pretty awesome! I was paired with a kid with mental retardation who had never been to KEEN before. We spent the session doing a variety of things, from basketball to quoits to playing with the parachute. At the end of session we do the "proud circle" where everyone says what they did that made them feel proud during the session. It was touching when my athlete turned to me during the circle and said "can we play some more after this?" I then felt really bad when I had to tell him that he was instead going to have to go home and wait until the next session before we could play some more - he was heartbroken.

That evening I was invited to Nichole's birthday meal. I was delighted to be asked, especially as the other guests were Nichole's boyfriend and friends of hers for many years. It felt great to be included in such a close knit group and they were really welcoming.We went to a great vegetarian restaurant called Dirt Candy and the food was amazing. I had portobello mushroom mousse to start followed by grilled spicy tofu with broccolini. I swear that food could even turn my Uncle Mike into a vegetarian! Unfortunately the evening ended far too early - with me having to leave straight after the meal to make sure I got the last train home.

Finally, I had a midterm yesterday - this time in Real Analysis. I was a bit worried heading into the exam but I think it went ok. Could have gone better, could have gone worse - like pretty much every other exam I've ever taken! We broke up for Thanksgiving break today so tomorrow will be spent cycling and trying to catch up on work before heading to West Chester for Thanksgiving - but more about that in the next post!

As always, please feel free to leave comments!

Pedalling Photos, Parents & Prizes (Part II)

Now for the second installment!

PART II: Parents

Its true what they say, and there is no rest for the wicked, so after a short lie in on Monday morning I sat in lectures slightly distracted and waiting for a text which came around 3pm - Mum & Dad had landed!

Just like myself 3 months ago, Mum & Dad have never visited the States before, so we organized this trip so that they could see where I live, where I study and the country I live in. Then we were heading to the Big Apple for some shopping and sightseeing.

Due to my crummy lecture schedule I had to wait until around 7pm to see them, but they assured me they would just get settled in to the hotel, and maybe even try to sleep off some of the jet lag.

I had decided to get Mum some flowers and Dad some wine for when they arrived, a little thank you to them for visiting, so I headed to the only flower shop I know of in New Brunswick. A few minutes later I emerged with a Fall-themed arrangement and headed for the only wine and liquor store I knew of to get Dad's wine - only to find it shut... bugger...

I seemed to remember another shop the other end of town, and couldn't really give Mum a present and not Dad, so set off while texting them saying my bus had been delayed (a little white lie, but I really wanted it to be a surprise). Needless to say, the liquor store was a lot further than I remembered, and had a very limited selection of wines, but I managed to find a nice Californian Red for him to enjoy - if only I had remembered a corkscrew! As it was, it was 5 days later in NYC before we could finally open the wine - but I think me and Dad agree it was worth the wait.

So I arrived at the hotel 20 mins late with flowers and wine in hand to be greeted by such a big hug from Mum I was nearly knocked to the floor. I didn't mind in the slightest though, and sat down on the bed for a good catch up.

It was great to see them again and they presented me with a small suitcase of stuff I had asked them to bring over. In it included text books, music books, my Bose speakers, some clothes and reading books, as well as some things I wasn't expecting - my Brit's survival kit. I was ecstatic to find everything from Marmite to Bisto to Suet and, most importantly - Mum's homemade raspberry jam. It's strange how you miss little things, and I never though that I would ever miss gravy granules - but after only finding jars of ready made gravy at the local supermarket, I was ridiculously happy to get some Bisto!

We headed out to dinner and stumbled upon a fantastic restaurant called Due Mari. It specialises in Italian & fish, and it is definitely the best meal I've had in America so far - Duck Confit & Pumpkin Nudi to start followed by pan seared cod on butternut squash and brussel sprouts. Pair this with a nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and along with fantastic service and pretty reasonable prices made it a exceptional restaurant.

Leaving Mum & Dad I headed back to the apartment to unpack my goodies before an early night followed by lectures the following morning. That afternoon though I got to show Mum & Dad a bit of New Brunswick, the math department, Busch campus and my apartment. It was nice for them to see all the places I'm constantly babbling on to them about on Skype.

This was followed by a trip to Highland Park, dinner at a Steakhouse followed by a much needed supermarket trip. The Steakhouse was great, although neither me nor Dad were brave enough to go for the 32 oz Porterhouse, and I'm pretty sure mum would have been content with just the salad bar!

Princeton was the plan for Wednesday, and after a short train journey we arrived at a ghost town. Walking through the university we saw a grand total of 2 students and got slightly worried that there had been a mass evacuation of the area... It turns out it was their fall break during which most students leave town - so we didn't have to worry about a flu epidemix or nuclear fallout after all.

Brunch was traditional american pancakes, with maple syrup of course, and we started to explore. Princeton is a lovely town and there are some great shops - highlights include a massive book shop, homemade chocolate shop, hand-blown glass shop and the Bent Spoon - an amazing ice cream/sorbet shop that even gives G&Ds a run for their money!

That night was Due Mari again for another fantastic meal, and I briefed Mum & Dad on getting to Philly - I had lectures all day on Thursday and so I was sending them to see the Liberty Bell, reenact Rocky and try a Cheesesteak. unfortunately, I hadn't counted on the Philly train service going on strike, so I was a little surprised the next afternoon to get a text saying "we're in NYC instead!"

Meeting in NYC we headed to B&H - the biggest photography store I've ever seen - Dad has been looking at getting a wide angle lens for his SLR for quite a while now, so he was rather pleased at both getting it, and saving a good $200/300 from what he would pay in the UK.

It was a bit of a pain having to head back that night, but at 10am on Friday morning we were back on the NJ Transit heading to New York, and soon arrived at the Sofitel - our hotel for the weekend. The Sofitel was the definition of grandeur and sophistication. From the classy art deco bar to the widescreen HDTV in each room to the ridiculously comfy beds (which you could actually buy for $5000!). This hotel was pretty amazing!

The weekend flew by in a flash, but was so unforgettable. We found a Christmas market in Bryant Park, saw Times Square by night, went up the Rockerfeller center and simultaneously froze and took amazing photos, shopped on 5th Ave, went to a Broadway show, visited Ground Zero, walked down Wall St, tookt eh Staten Island ferry pas Ms Liberty herself and much more!

Highlights are definitely the Rockerfeller, Broadway and Ground Zero. I wasn't sure we were going to get Mum up the Rockerfeller (especially after she struggled with the church tower in Oxford) but she made it right up to the 69th floor, and eventually even cam outside to admire the view. I would definitely recommend heading to the top on a clear night - the views are spell binding and if you are taking a camera, remember a tripod!

Me & Jame shad been trying to get Mum & Dad tickets to a Broadway show for their Christmas box but without much success, so on Saturday morning we asked the Concierge if he could get us any. His first offer was tickets to most shows worth $100 for the paltry price of $250 each... I think not! He then mentioned that the less famous shows often sell remaining tickets on teh day of the performance, and told us that Memphis was meant to be both good, and reasonably easy to get tickets for.

Sure enough, arriving at the Shubert that afternoon we offered tickets for the top level, center and 4 rows from the front. We said yes straight away and returned at 8pm with no knowledge or expectations of the musical.

First off, let me just say that the musical was amazing - and possibly the best show I've seen on the West End or Broadway. It is in essence a love story between a black female singer trying to make it big, and a white local radio DJ trying to promote soul music during the 1950's in Memphis amid segregation and racism.

The play was at times quite shocking, and has a really unexpected ending (I won't spoil it for anyone) but it was truly the music that made the show. Between soul, RnB, rock & roll and gospel the music was stunning and the singing even more so. The leads (Montego Glover & Chad Kimball) stole the show, but that wasn't to say the rest of the cast weren't great. My two favorite songs were the 'showstoppers' - Glover's 1st act belter "Colored Women", and Kimball's 2nd act soulful "Memphis Lives in Me." I've put clips of both of these below:

The trip to Ground Zero was understandable a lot more subdued and sombre - and it really moved me. The site itself is mainly conspicuous by the absence of anything other than a construction site but the memorial center was what really brought home the scale of what happened.

It was while watching videos of survivors & relations of the dead I started to really understand the scale of this thing. This wasn't a couple of hundred people, this affected thousands upon thousands and really shocked America. Suddenly I understood the passion and patriotism Americans feel regarding the war on terror. I felt that America had lost more than just the Two Towers that day; they had been personally violated on their home soil - a horrific experience for any country. The memorial is due to be completed before I leave, and I certainly want to revisit, as the plans look like a fantastic tribute to those that lost their lives, as well as proof that America, although hurt by these events, will keep fighting and stay proud.

Oh, and I've got to say that I was a bit disappointed by the Statue of Liberty - I suppose after spending so much time in Manhattan surrounded by ridiculously tall buildings I was expecting something bigger... maybe France should offer to upgrade it?

Leaving Mum & Dad in New York was hard. I had had an amazing week and knew I was going to miss them when they went - but unfortunately life had to go back to normality, I could be on a permanent vacation (although that would be nice!). I left Mum in tears and me on the verge, and headed back on the good ol' NJ Transit (I'm getting to know those trains far to well...) to New Brunswick.

That's the end of Part II - the final installment brings us up to date - including embarassment at the Gym, more photography and my streak of luck at the KEEN fundraiser...

Pedalling Photos, Parents & Prizes! (Part I)

As I always seem to do, a short disclaimer - the next three blog posts are going to be pretty long. I was originally going to post just the one, but its kept expanding until it needed to be split. I've been writing the posts on the train to and from New York and it seems when I handwrite I tend to babble on more than when I'm directly typing in the entry.... As always, please comment: I like to hear what you think and welcome any constructive criticism. All that said - here is:

PART I: Pedalling Photography

It seems like ages since I last posted, but I've had a hectic couple of weeks, so sorry!

So much has happened that I'm going to fill you in on the main three events - the Highland Park Cyclocross race, my Mum and Dad visiting and the KEEN Happy Hour - oh, and not forgetting the great American tradition that is Hallowe'en!

So when I first turned up at the Rutgers Cycling Team welcome meeting we were warned that to get our free, snazzy, Rutgers Cycling kit we would have to volunteer at the HPCX race in November and the Rutgers Road Race in the spring. Not too bad considering we would be getting $200+ worth of kit!

I had never hear of cyclocross before coming to Rutgers and had certainly never seen a cyclocross race before, so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I arrived at the Rutgers Student Center parking lot on a drizzly Hallowe'en afternoon.

Gradually more and more members of the cycling club arrive, introduced themselves and I promptly forgot their names (remembering names has never been my strongest suit - I only found out one of my flatmates names 7 weeks into term, and even then it was only by looking on his departmental website...). We piled into various cars, trucks and minivans and headed for Jamesberg, the site of the annual cyclocross race held by Rutgers and Highland Park Hermes.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't think I expected just a regular park, complete with tennis courts, play park and small forrest. This was going to be transformed in just 5 hours to a 3mile cyclocross course with everyone riding from amateurs to Olympians... yeah, right!

Well I was soon proved wrong, after 4 hours of raking leaves, staking the course and putting up multiple gazebos the course was finished and members of Rutgers and Hermes tested it out. I expected a pretty basic loop course, but I was way off mark here. The course wound about, went up and down hills, had sharp hairpins and one particularly interesting section where, in the space of 20yds it went up a hill, had 3 90° left handers, one 90° right hander and went back down the hill it started on! Mental! Clearly cyclocross wasn't as simple as I had imagined, and on the Sunday I found out this was clearly the case...

It was great to meet all the other members of the cycling team - I had only briefly met a few of them at the meeting and I got on really well with everyone - and it got me very excited about eventually racing with Rutgers.

Heading back to the apartment I had a quick shower (the course was already quite muddy) and got changed ready for the evenings Hallowe'en party. I had originally planned to go into NYC for the Hallowe'en parade with Tarek, Natalia and Berna but with an early start needed for the race on the Sunday I decided instead to head to a party held by one of the older math grad students.

To that end, I was picked up by Justin and with Shashank, Moulik, Li Zhan and Xiao Ming we headed to Sara's in Highland Park. By this time the rain was really pouring outside (not a great sign for the race...) and after getting lost and rather damp we arrived at the 'Haunted House.'

That certainly showed me how much more seriously Americans take Hallowe'en than back home. Sara had completely decorated her house with severed heads, floating ghosts, singing pumpkins and flying witches.

Sara herself was in a Jack-the-Ripper-esque costume and two of the 4th years were "Lowe Deehi" and "Heidi Lowe" forming the mathematically geeky double act of the quotient rule... If that wasn't geeky enough, Shashank had gone to a party the night before with a piece of paper with "i" written on it - it was an imaginary costume... *groan*

There were creepy snacks (including 'mud pie': chocolate pudding with jelly snakes) and an American 'Hallowe'en classic' on the TV - something involving Snoopy and Charlie Brown. However, about an hour into the party the spirits were at work and suddenly the electric went! Now the assortment of battery operated ghoulies were pretty innocuous when the lights were on, but in pitch blackness and a small amount of candlelight they took o another level. I'll happily admit that happening upon a floating head in the doorway at the toilet I nearly leapt out of my skin (luckily I managed to stifle a shout...).

It seems like electricians enjoy Hallowe'en just as much as every other American, since it was a good 90 minutes before power was restored. So we spent the time telling ghost stories/gossiping about our professors (perhaps the same thing?) around a coffee table filled with candles and fake skulls.

Unfortunately, at around half ten I had to head back to the flat. The first CX race was due to start at 8am so I had to be at Jamesberg (where the race was held) at 6.30am, meaning a 5.20am meet at the Student Center, resulting in a disgustingly early 4.30am wake up... I realise that from rowing I should be used to early mornings, but this was ridiculous - even by Boat Club standards! I had one saving grace though - American Daylight Savings Time is a week later than the UK, so although it confused me regarding time difference for a week, I have never been more grateful for an extra hours sleep...

I got picked up by Nick at 5am and started on my many cups of tea that morning. If I was going to last the day then caffeine was a definite must.

Arriving at the parking lot, team members started arriving in varying degrees of consciousness and we headed back to Hamesberg for a course check before racing started. It had been raining constantly all night, but had slowed to a small drizzle by 7am - so the ground was more than a little soft underneath. This, I was told, would make the racing a little slower but certainly more 'interesting'.

Now I had been warned that once racing started there wouldn't be too much to do as a volunteer - mainly it would be keeping an eye on the course and performing any necessary repairs when the riders crashed through the tape barriers (as I was assured they would). Because of this I had decided to bring along my DSLR - if I was going to have a load of free time I may as well take some photos.

So once racing was underway, I positioned myseld at various parts of the course and started taking pictures. And more pictures. And even more. I ended up with around 700 photos (with at least half being pretty bad) and kind of became a team photographer - taking pics of racing as well as podiums and even the BBQ guy for his website.

I've put my photos up on my Flickr Page but before you check them out I should probably explain how CX works.

CX is a unique mix: part road cycling, part off-road cycling and part cross country running. The course is a loop, generally approx. 3 miles, and the number of laps is calculated mid-race. The first two laps of your category are times and the laps are calculated to roughly equal a set time: 30mins for beginners and working up to a full hour for elite men.

The course is mainly off-road and its generally rather twisty, with a handful of sprint-worthy straights. The other distinctly CX feature is the presence of 'barriers' - a pair of them in HPCX> These are planks of wood hammered into the ground across the course, forcing the riders to dismount, shoulder their bike and jump (if they have the energy left) or stumble (generally if its the last lap) over them before remounting. This isn't the only part that riders dismount: generally when a hill is particularly steep, or a section particularly muddy, it seems beneficial to dismount and run that section, followed by a quick remount and a nice lead over your rivals.

I don't think I am quite doing CX justice here, it is something that has to be seen to be believed, but hopefully my photos give a flavour of the mud, sweat and tires involved... CX certainly looks 'fun' (read that to mean painful) and I can't wait to try it out next season. At the moment I'm going to concentrate on getting fit for road - and photography! I feel that I got a few good shots and am eager to keep up the cycling photography.

Arriving back home that night, instead of getting started on the weeks work I started uploading photos and tinkering with them - resulting in the following team collage which the team hopes to print off and hand out to sponsors - something I'm pretty chuffed about!

Thats the end of part I, but stay tuned for part II (Parents) and part III (Prizes).

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...

Run up to Finals (aka getting very stressed over 6 hours of exams)

Well finals are now under a fortnight away 'o'
I've got 6 hours of exams coming up:

1.5hr Graph Theory Paper - Friday 6th Week (5th June) 9.30am
3hr Lie Algebras & Representation Theory Paper - Monday 7th Week (8th June) 9.30am
1.5hr Axiomatic Set Theory Paper - Monday 7th Week (8th June) 2.30pm

It doesn't seem all that much on paper - considering it is half the amount of exams I've had each of the last three years - but I'm getting a bit stressed about it now. I just feel I'm not going to be anywhere near ready for it. I also have no idea what kind of marks I'm going to get for my dissertation. I have a sinking feeling that considering my examiner it might not be as high as I hoped.

But anyway, enough about scary exams - I've been filling in VISA forms this week (slightly terrifying!) and am about to start on my Citibank forms (very complicated!). Also, the preparations for my leaving party are well underway. My dad has managed to get a Bucking Bronco from somewhere and I'm going to order some Rutgers Stash from their website to put up around the place. Can't wait!

It is finally starting to sink in that in 2 and a half months I'll be flying to the U.S. At my uncle Paul's wedding last weekend it was really nice having all my relatives asking me about my impending departure but it was also slightly daunting. It suddenly made me realise the enormity of my move - living for 4+ years in a country 40 times the size of the UK that I've never even visited... At the same time the thought of the challenge of it all really excites me - I really like the fact that I'm not going to know anyone, or the area and it'll be an 'adventure' at least!

Well, it's time I should be back off to finals revision but I'll hopefully post once I'm through the other side...

David

First Post

Well I've set up this blog as somewhere I can write about my experiences when I head across to America... I'll probably not update it much before I head across but keep checking just in case! In case you didn't know, I'm off to Rutgers University, NJ to study for a PhD in Pure Mathematics (Group Theory) in the Fall (did you notice me trying to use the US lingo :-P ) and I've been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for my first year's study. This means I'm actually going to be heading out to the States on the 14th August when I'll be heading down to Miami for 5 days for an Orientation week (and getting paid to do it ^-^ ) before another Orientation week in Rutgers for International Students. Oh, and I've got an Orientation week with Fulbright in London before I leave the UK!  Hopefully 15 days of Orientation should leave me fairly prepared for the States!

Big exciting news this week - the Fulbright Schoalrs have been invited to dinner at the US Embassy on the 9th July! Should be pretty fun and not something I usually do... :-P

Anyways, more updates later

David