Back in the USA

So I arrived back in the States last night and for some odd reason it feels as if I've never left.  How does this happen?  How can it be that after five months of being away, I feel like it was just yesterday that I was in my room, driving my car and running errands?  I suppose it is because I by every sense of the phrase, hit the ground running.  Our flight got in, we returned home and I right away had to begin unpacking and doing laundry so that the next day I could complete a long list of items on my to-do-list.  

I suppose it is also because tonight (about 24 hours after returning) I began my summer class where I had already missed one session.  Low and behold there was no easing in at all, already I was two chapters behind and had a quiz on 3 chapters.  Yep, I am back in the American school system for sure, and if I want to pass I have to get back in to the mind set of scheduling, daily homework assignments and being in class for longer periods of time.  Gone are my days at Leeds where I only had sessions of one hour for each class once a week.  Gone are the days at Leeds when you could meander your way through the class, reading at your pace and working towards one essay that would be due many weeks into the semester.  Nope, that luxury is all over.  I now have to dance to the American tune.  Its back to to-do lists, schedules, early mornings and late nights.  I hoped this wouldn't happen, but I can't stop it, its inevitable.

I hope though, as I catch up to all of this I can use some of the English habits, of enjoying life a little more than what is listed in your planner. 

The end has arrived....

So just finished my last/only exam at University of Leeds and it was one of weirdest exam experiences I have ever had.  My exam took place in the Sports Center, so I went to the main entrance and waited around with some other students.  We were then told to look for our seat number (I was 269) and get in the queue.  So I waited in a line with 300 other university students to get into the exam room.  When I entered the room, a proctor was on a mega-phone telling us to put all of our coats and purses against the wall, and to only take our pencils and student id cards with us to the desk.  I felt like a part of a herd being shepherded around the room.  So I placed my things down, and headed for my seat, which probably took me about 5 minutes to find.  We were all facing forward and our papers were face down on our desks.  I was worried that it wouldn't be the right exam paper and since I couldn't look at it I was nervous I would turn it over and I would have another person's exam (you see there were more then one exams being taken in the one room).  

So when the man yelled over the mega-phone that it was time to begin, I was relieved to see I had the right exam.  The next problem, the answer sheet.  Unlike any kind of answer sheet I had before, the area you filled in were squares instead of circles (looked more like this.... [ A ]  ).  So while it said to fill the whole square in, all I could think was where are all the boundaries?  How do I know that I've filled in the right amount of square?  Will the computer read what I've filled in?  So I asked a proctor, who asked me if I'd prepared for my exam.  I said of course I'd prepared, but unfortunately I've never taken an exam in the UK and want to be sure I understand what "filling in the square" actually means.  He said that what I had done looked fine, so I hoped for the best and continued.  

I had 80 questions to answer in 60 minutes, and luckily I finished them all.  But when the exam was over, we had to sit quietly to wait for all 300 of our papers to be collected.  We then were let go to find our belongings along the wall and then were herded out of the room and back out into the open air.  Its just really interesting to me how impersonal all of my final projects and exams have been.  Unlike at home, we turn our essays in to the departmental office with a generic form during the office hours, and then collect it from the office when its ready to be picked up.  One class, I turned in my essay and my professor was sitting right there, but she didn't speak a word to me, only the secretary did to ask if I was turning in all of my material.  How's that for personal relationships?

My design project had to be hung up between the hours of 10 am and 12 and then we left our work there to be picked up the following week.  We could hang wherever we could find an empty spot, and I only knew 3 other people hanging up their work around me.  Everyone else was in a different section of the module, and I had never seen half of them before.  Then this exam...let's just say how the conduct their school system is just a very different experience than what I'm used to and I'm wondering how I'll adjust back in to NC State's school system.  There will be a lot more "checking in" and weekly assignments and personal contact that I will not have had for 5 months.  We'll see how that goes...huh?

WOW!!! Time flies!

So I am realizing that it is the point of the semester where I am almost finished!!! Can you believe it? Because I can't! Not only am I amazed that this semester is almost over, but I have all these mixed feelings about whether I'm excited to go home, sad about going home or looking forward to seeing people. I have no idea, and its especially hard to think about as I am stressing out over finishing up all my course work and planning my final trip to Spain and Italy (I leave on Saturday).

So yeah already I'm thinking about the things I will miss once I leave England:

1. The Otley Run (a fun and intense night of pub hopping)
2. English Pubs in general
3. Tetley tea
4. Leeds night life
5. MY FRIENDS OF COURSE!!
6. being close to Europe
7. not having class every day of the week
8. Leeds shopping district
9. cheap student tickets at the theater
10. England's wonderful transportation system
11. the accent!
12. the wide variety of student life (the student groups and events)
13. the style
14. The Leeds Student Union (what a wonderful feeling knowing you can grab a pint in between classes, I haven't done it often but its nice to know its an option)
15. Hyde Park in the sunshine!
16. The words: cheers, love, car park (they just sound so PROPER)

That's all I have for now and I'm sure I'll think of more, especially when I return to the States. Its just an amazing feeling knowing that I have done it! I have lived overseas and tested out another country's university system. I have traveled and I have seen things that I never thought I would see.

This may be a bit of a sentimental post, mainly because its sad to think I'm even at the point where I have to think about coming home. But everything good must come to an end I suppose, and mine is almost here. I just hope I end it knowing that I have experienced all that I could!

Back in England!

I just arrived back in Leeds Saturday night at 2 am and I am still overwhelmed with all the places I saw, the people I met and the cultures I experienced.  There is so much going on in my head, but I do know that this experience can never be taken away from me and I will have these memories for a lifetime.  

After Nice, France, we headed to Geneva, Switzerland.  Geneva was a pretty town sitting right on Lake Geneva and looking out towards Mont Blanc.  While I was there I toured the UN as well as the Red Cross Museum.  Switzerland is a beautiful country, with picturesque landscape and villages spotting the hillsides.  But it is also a very expensive country and it did quite a toll on my bank account.  Just to get "cheap" food was equivalent to about $10.  I now know though if I ever go back I want to go to the Alps.

After Geneva, it was onto Vienna, Austria.  To get there we took a night train.  This was a very interesting experience.  Think plane seats but with 6 people crammed in a car facing each other while also trying to get a good nights sleep.  Sounds comfortable doesn't it?  I probably finally got 2 hours of sleep once I figured out I could push my seat down so I could be horizontal, but I really had to curl up in order to fit.  However, once we got to Vienna we had the whole day ahead of us and it was a beautiful day.  Vienna itself is a mecca of culture.  There are art museums and operas and a wonderful market full of decadent foods. 

One night in Vienna we waited in line to get standing tickets so we could see an Opera in Vienna.  The line took about 2 hours, we got 4 quid tickets and then got to stand for 2 hours to watch just the first act of the opera in German.  Need less to say, it was really interesting and we got our money's worth with just the first act.  But it was rough to stand for that long.  

After Vienna, we headed up to Prague, Czech Republic where we got to see the lively Easter Markets and learn about all the effects communism had on the area and see how some of those affects can still be felt.  

After Prague, we were off to Berlin.  Another city full of recent history that can still be seen and felt.  It was interesting as well because Berlin is now a very liberal city.  It went from being a city being oppressed by communism and Hitler's regime, to being one where alcohol can be drunk in the streets and marijuana can be smoked in the parks.  However, it was a wonderful preparation for Amsterdam, a city of much controversy.

Yes, while I was there I walked through the red light district and enjoyed the atmosphere of a coffee shop.  But once you go outside of this area there is a lot more culture than many know, including the Van Gogh Museum which was a wonderful display of many of Van Gogh's works.

This is where my trip ends.  There are many more stories to tell and many more things that I saw and experienced.  But this is just a synopsis.  Now its back to essay writing in a currently sunny (crossed fingers) Leeds.

Adventures in Europe

Hello Everyone!!! I am currently in Nice, France where I have been enjoying the sun (as well as my sunburn) and the beautiful Meditteranean Sea. So far the trip has been wonderful and I can hardly believe that my friend Diana and I have been traveling for 2 weeks already!!

We began in Barcelona, Spain where I was able to revisit sites that I remember from years ago when I was there with a high school group. It was very cool to be able to remember where I was going as well as to utilize my spanish speaking abilities. I believe that my second time in Barcelona allowed me to find more interest in the city. There is so much beauty there, beautiful parks and markets and interesting sites as well. Some highlights were listening to street music and watching street performers, seeing Park Guell again and eating a wonderful paella dinner.

We then flew to Rome, Italy to begin our Italian tour. Since I was only there a year ago things seemed very familiar and I could remember my way around quite well (which was cool). You could definetely feel a different vibe from Spain to Rome as well. In Barcelona the streets seemed more empty late at night...however, in Rome when we arrived at 8 there were still many people shopping and walking. In Rome, we walked around the Roman ruins, Piazza Navona, the castle and the river as well. Since I had done a lot of the sites only a year ago Diana and I split off from each other quite a bit. I attempted to explore places I hadn't seen before (the Isola and the Parco Gianicolense) but on the way to finding the park I just ended up getting lost on that side of the river. Which was definetely and experience and a lesson in map reading.

We then took a train towards Pisa the next day but stopped in Florence for the afternoon. Another place I had already been, and could recall the areas and streets fairly well. It was raining here, but we walked around the markets, the Duomo and the river. We attempted to see the David but the line to get in was 2 hours long!!! I've decided that while I don't enjoy traveling in large groups it definetely has its up sides for getting into museums faster.

We then finished our travels to Pisa where we stayed for 2 nights. However, Pisa can be done in an afternoon because all there is to see is the Leaning Tower (which is 15 Euros to go up!!). But it was nice to be able to sleep in and watch some TV instead of walking and touring all day.

It was then off to Venice. I was VERY excited about Venice and it definetely lived up to what I thought I would see. Right away we were walking across bridges and along small and narrow streets. There are no motor vehicles or bicycles and it is easy to get lost. Venice is the one place where a map is no use because the streets never go straight for long and will dead end where you thought they continued. So in Venice, we got lost a lot...but it was okay because its an island and you can't get off! In Venice we took day trips to Burano, Murano (glass blowing) and Lido each had its own feel and different nuances. It was also in Venice that we had one of the best hostel experiences yet. It was in Venice that we met our travel buddy for a few days, Robert from LA.

Robert had been traveling for 20 some days already and had been wanting to go to Nice but never made it, so he decided to tag along. It was fun having a third travel buddy (as well as a guy to help with our bags...lol). But the 3 of us headed to Nice, where we have laid on the pebble beach, walked along the shore and seen Monaco and their fancy cars (as well as had my first gambling experience...and it was a bad one at that...but don't worry mom and dad I only lost 5 EUR to the slot machine).

That is a very short but long summary of my travels so far in Europe. Tomorrow we head to Geneva, Switzerland. This trip has been wonderful, life changing and has already allowed me to grow. I have learned how to use European transportation, figured out ways to communicate in languages I don't understand and find my way back to a hostel every night. This is the time of my life and I am looking forward to the next two weeks! Hasta Luego, Ciao, Au revoir!!!

Comic Relief

Hey everyone! So I just got back from a great trip to Ireland! We stayed at a hostel in Belfast, which ended up being a much quieter, smaller place than it was made out to be, but still nice. So on Friday we just walked around and saw some sights. Then on Saturday we went to Dublin. Where we did a really good free walking tour which told us all about the history of Dublin, plus we saw pretty much all the main sites! We then took a tour of the Guinness factory (where we tasted fresh Guinness, straight from the brewery...if you say you don't like Guinness you would if you tried it fresh), then headed back to Belfast. Then on Sunday we took a tour of Northern Ireland where our main destination was the Giant's Causeway. It was beautiful with the typical Irish cliffs and the roaring sea. On the drive there we saw wonderful landscape with sheep dotting the hills every where you looked. Beautiful...no other way to describe it.

Anyways, when I returned I was quite tired since I hadn't gotten much sleep all weekend with many early mornings, so I decided to watch a little television, and ended up watching all these shows on Comic Relief. Let me explain what this is very briefly, because I found it very intriguing. This is the brief description from the website (www.comicrelief.com)

"Since 1985, Comic Relief has inspired the nation to have a laugh while raising cash to help change lives. Our vision is a just world, free from poverty.

Our mission, thanks to our comedy heritage and the fantastic relationship we enjoy with the BBC, is 'positive change through the power of entertainment'.

And our biggest tool, in trying to achieve these two goals, is the ability to inspire people across the whole country especially those who don’t normally do charity - to do charity."

So while this is an organization, there is one day that is chosen to be "Red Nose Day", where everyone in the nation is encouraged to do something 'funny for money'. So for the past few weeks, but mainly this past weekend, there have been people doing funny things for money. For example, there was a show on TV called "Lets Dance for Comic Relief" where celebrities around the UK danced their versions of famous dances to help raise money. Another example (though not very funny at all), is 9 UK celebrities got together and decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in order to raise one million pounds for mosquito nets in Africa (they ended up raising close to 3 million). HOW COOL IS THAT?! Just this year they've almost raised 60 million pounds!! Anyways, I couldn't stop watching this event! I was amazed that a whole nation comes together (particularly on one day) to raise money, learn about the world and be entertained! See for yourself, here are a few videos I found.

http://www.rednoseday.com/about_rnd
(video on what red nose day is)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_huKc-z0BU
(a short skit done by English footballers and a tv show character for entertainment on RND)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VULq7oRugiU&NR=1
(a news clip on the celebrities who climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief)

Small Rant

So I am taking an on-line class on Environmental Sustainability. The topics are really interesting, including topics on air, water and land. The course includes writings on how the developed world is effecting the developing world and what some of the issues are with our earth's resources. How conflict occurs over water, how land has been overtaken by agriculture, and how biotechnology is a potential way to help improve our situation. So as you can see there are some interesting topics, ones that are especially relevant to us today.

However, what I am disliking about this class is all of the reading that must be done on-line. I feel like this is a topic that should be discussed. I feel it requires more interaction. I think many would agree. Another interesting thing, is an article my mom sent me the other day about education in the UK and how emphasis on outside classroom work (mainly on-line) is potentially beneficial for students and their learning. However, from my experience so far with on-line classes I find I have less motivation to learn more than what is given to me on-line. I find myself being so bored with reading the on-line material, that no matter how interesting the topic, I lose interest.

I may be old-fashioned (interesting I know since I grew up in the technology generation), but I like contact with the outside world. I like to have interesting conversations with people about topics in order to improve my learning. I like to be hands on, to see the world, see what's going on for real versus reading it all on the web. I think the web is a good starting point, but it is not a means to an end. There is so much more out there to see and experience!

I was watching a show on the BBC the other day discussing my generations use of facebook and how it has actually created social problems for my generation. That people my age depend on it so much that they have lost the social skills of past generations. Some main factors for this are that people can change who they are on facebook for however they want to appear, their language changes (aka jk, lol, awk., most def., whatev...you see my point), and they speak more on-line than going out and practicing socializing face to face with another breathing human being.

I of course say this as I type on my on-line blog, and just got off facebook because I needed a break from my course work. But then, I am a prime example of what I feel is a problem with technology. I am a firm believer that our generation (and future generations) need to remember to get off-line more often. We need to use what the internet was created for in the first place, a place to find information/research and communicate. And I mean this in the most basic sense. I don't mean research as in only find your information from the web or communicate for 5 hours a day (you know what I mean, checking your e-mail every 5 minutes, talking on chat services, checking your facebook account all the time), I mean use the internet then GET OFF and go get a life!

I myself need to work on this. I find myself on-line when I'm bored all of the time. My friend Diana and I were talking about this the other day. We were discussing how we get so caught up with what is on-line that we missed out on what was a gorgeous day. We were lamenting that we hadn't gone for a long walk, a jog, sat outside and read a book or visited a nearby park. I don't know how to solve this dilemma and I am by no means suggesting that the internet is evil, in fact it is a very useful and potentially a salvation for some of our environmental problems of today. All I am saying is we all need to take a look as to how much we use it a day, and why in the world we aren't taking more advantage of the wide world we have in front of us!