These past few weeks in Leeds I have felt like I am still on break. It has been a blur, surreal and just completely weird that I am in England...living. It has not been until this week that I have realized that I actually have school work I need to complete and responsibilities to tend to. I still have to apply for internships for this summer, have essays to write and above all things ARTWORK to complete! I'm coming to this realization slowly but surely. For example, I went to the library for the first time today. I checked out books and started to do research.
I was originally under the impression that I would just jump into my school work, do work for classes everyday and be just as productive and motivated as I have been at home. However, it has been a slow process of getting to that point. Its weird because this is not like me at all. I have found that its not because I don't care, it is because it has just taken me that much longer to adjust. I never thought this would be the case, but I am still trying to figure out my routine here. Some differences between school at home and here:
1. At home I have classes everyday and we have class time for each subject at least twice a week, but here I have all my classes on one day out of the week, and then every once in a while I have class on monday or wednesday
2. At home we have assignments and projects throughout the whole term to monitor our progress, here most of my classes I only have 2 assessments (1000 word essays) throughout the whole semester each worth 50 percent
3. In GD we have intensive studio time throughout the whole week, here we only have a 1 hour lecture and the rest is up to us
4. In GD at home we are very product based and have many projects completed by the end of the semester, but here we work on the same project all the way through and are very much graded on our process
5. At home a lot of the lectures are mandatory to attend and your attendance is kept track of, here the lectures are so big and there is no affect on your grade based on your attendance (or at least not in the classes I'm taking)
6. At home, passing is a 70%, here a 40% is passing and it is hard to get above a 70%
There are many more things I have noticed, but as you can see there is a lot to try and get used to. I am just now really starting to get a handle on things and have started to realize that while we don't have class multiple times a week, there are expectations of us, we just need to make our own goals and deadlines. We need to structure ourselves, our professors aren't going to do it for us.
I am enjoying this type of learning system so far, mainly because I am an independent person, so I like the independent system. However, you could easily get lost here and forget to get things done. Furthermore, you could easily go out 7 days a week, and sleep all day (but don't worry I have not gotten into that pattern). Besides the school system, everything is really amazing here. I am starting to figure out what I need to do here, adjusting to the fact that I am actually here and am learning how to get around. I even have started to participate in more of campus life. I have attended a few film society meetings, gone to a Bell Ringing meeting, and a wine society meeting! There is so much to be offered to students here and I am starting to feel comfortable enough to take advantage of it. The adjustment period is still continuing, but each day I feel just a little more apart of life here.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Day Trip Pictures
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND
Posing with my Beatle friend, outside "The Cavern" where the Beatle's first played in Liverpool
Albert Dock, the interior of the square where many of the tourist places including the Beatle's Museum and the Tate are located
The Tate Liverpool Cafe wall, where we had a wonderful light lunch
YORK, ENGLAND
Diana (my Canadian friend) and me on top of the York Minster
York's main river Ouse
The York Castle
Posing with my Beatle friend, outside "The Cavern" where the Beatle's first played in Liverpool
Albert Dock, the interior of the square where many of the tourist places including the Beatle's Museum and the Tate are located
The Tate Liverpool Cafe wall, where we had a wonderful light lunch
YORK, ENGLAND
Diana (my Canadian friend) and me on top of the York Minster
York's main river Ouse
The York Castle
Been A While...
So it has been a while since my last post, but I have been busy trying to get used to classes, life, my new flat mates and getting over being sick (ugh...).
Give and take. I have learned that in life you can not always have everything that you want and while the grass may look greener on the other side, most likely it is not. It is just different. As some may know I have moved into a new residence, one for first years and undergraduate students versus postgraduates and mature students. Some of my main reasons were the travel time to get to campus from my old residence, and the quiet/atmosphere. I wanted to be able to walk to campus versus taking the bus, and I wanted to be with British people and really experience life on Leeds campus. So far, it has been everything that I wanted, friendly people who talk amongst themselves, cook dinner together and go out together. They have been kind and asked if I would like to be included in the festivities. However, while I find their socializing very kind, it can become quite frustratingly loud at times.
Take right now for example. In the flat either below me or above me or next to me there is a very loud party going on. Normally I would say oh well and possibly join in. However, I have been sick and would like some quiet time but I can't seem to find it even with ear plugs in. So in that sense the other residence was "better". But it is what it is, I will get used to this atmosphere but as a 21 year old surrounded by 18 year olds just ending their first year in college I find myself feeling old and a little bit less "fun" than them.
Being sick in a foreign country, that is a whole different issue. Now, I have realized I am only going on my third week here in England and I have found my survival skills have started to kick in. First of all, I needed to find food, ways of communication and a doctor. I have also learned that while I may want to be pampered and have my food brought in to me and tea be made, I have to do these things for myself. It is a harsh reality of course, realizing you don't have your mom there to take care of you. I have dealt with this in North Carolina as well, but at least there I had a car to drive myself places, knew the doctors and knew how to handle absences. Here I am starting a fresh. I have to walk or take public transportation to get to a supermarket and I still don't quite understand the system of how things work here.
It will all come in more time and I am learning. Figuring out ways to cope, sucking it up and doing the things that need to get done. It is all a part of the experience and I am finding it kind of exhilarating knowing that I really am more on my own here, even more so then when I started college.
Some things I've already started to become accustomed to.
1. Driving on the left side of the road (luckily I've had fewer run-ins with being hit)
2. The bus system (I've started to get on the correct bus now and look like less of a lost puppy)
3. Having classes meet only once a week (though while I'm used to that, I have yet to get used to what my expectations are for the class)
4. Using an electric kettle (so much faster than a teapot)
5. Calling it "take away" vs. "take-out"
6. Living with boys (at first a little weird, but not so bad anymore)
Some things I have yet to get used to.
1. The accents, I still have a hard time understanding some of the accents, especially the northern ones
2. Not wearing coats when you go out at night (I swear girls go out in mini-dresses and heels when its 20 out...some of my flat mates didn't even wear coats one night when it was snowing!)
3. People going out almost 7 days a week (in the states I can hardly do 2 without feeling like I'm behind in my coursework)
As I said earlier, things are different everywhere you turn. It is not meant to be better or worse. I am still just adjusting to life here in Leeds and each day I feel just a little bit less like a tourist and more like a student in England.
Give and take. I have learned that in life you can not always have everything that you want and while the grass may look greener on the other side, most likely it is not. It is just different. As some may know I have moved into a new residence, one for first years and undergraduate students versus postgraduates and mature students. Some of my main reasons were the travel time to get to campus from my old residence, and the quiet/atmosphere. I wanted to be able to walk to campus versus taking the bus, and I wanted to be with British people and really experience life on Leeds campus. So far, it has been everything that I wanted, friendly people who talk amongst themselves, cook dinner together and go out together. They have been kind and asked if I would like to be included in the festivities. However, while I find their socializing very kind, it can become quite frustratingly loud at times.
Take right now for example. In the flat either below me or above me or next to me there is a very loud party going on. Normally I would say oh well and possibly join in. However, I have been sick and would like some quiet time but I can't seem to find it even with ear plugs in. So in that sense the other residence was "better". But it is what it is, I will get used to this atmosphere but as a 21 year old surrounded by 18 year olds just ending their first year in college I find myself feeling old and a little bit less "fun" than them.
Being sick in a foreign country, that is a whole different issue. Now, I have realized I am only going on my third week here in England and I have found my survival skills have started to kick in. First of all, I needed to find food, ways of communication and a doctor. I have also learned that while I may want to be pampered and have my food brought in to me and tea be made, I have to do these things for myself. It is a harsh reality of course, realizing you don't have your mom there to take care of you. I have dealt with this in North Carolina as well, but at least there I had a car to drive myself places, knew the doctors and knew how to handle absences. Here I am starting a fresh. I have to walk or take public transportation to get to a supermarket and I still don't quite understand the system of how things work here.
It will all come in more time and I am learning. Figuring out ways to cope, sucking it up and doing the things that need to get done. It is all a part of the experience and I am finding it kind of exhilarating knowing that I really am more on my own here, even more so then when I started college.
Some things I've already started to become accustomed to.
1. Driving on the left side of the road (luckily I've had fewer run-ins with being hit)
2. The bus system (I've started to get on the correct bus now and look like less of a lost puppy)
3. Having classes meet only once a week (though while I'm used to that, I have yet to get used to what my expectations are for the class)
4. Using an electric kettle (so much faster than a teapot)
5. Calling it "take away" vs. "take-out"
6. Living with boys (at first a little weird, but not so bad anymore)
Some things I have yet to get used to.
1. The accents, I still have a hard time understanding some of the accents, especially the northern ones
2. Not wearing coats when you go out at night (I swear girls go out in mini-dresses and heels when its 20 out...some of my flat mates didn't even wear coats one night when it was snowing!)
3. People going out almost 7 days a week (in the states I can hardly do 2 without feeling like I'm behind in my coursework)
As I said earlier, things are different everywhere you turn. It is not meant to be better or worse. I am still just adjusting to life here in Leeds and each day I feel just a little bit less like a tourist and more like a student in England.
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