Saying goodbye (+ an ode to Mathou and Victou)

Last week, I had to say goodbye to some of my best friends. It started off with me receiving a call on Tuesday to say that my dog had passed away. After 17 weeks without seeing him, I was so looking forward to being reunited with him when I would return to the UK for Christmas in the following week. You can therefore imagine my mix of emotions and my heartbreak to hear this news. Thanks, Paddy, for all of the memories you gave us and for all of the stupid things you did that would keep us entertained for so long.  

At the end of the same week, me and three friends left the Kent campus to spend two nights in Cleveland before saying goodbye for Christmas. We had a really fun last day together, just doing some gentle shopping, which was a lovely way to finish and mark the end of our first semester. Knowing I would be leaving and needing to say goodbye to Mat and Victoria at the airport, I had been preparing myself for the awfully sad and emotional Sunday morning that was looming. It obviously turned out to be even worse than I had expected, which I didn't think was possible. I have had the most incredible time in Ohio and so much of that is thanks to those two girls. Moving to another continent for a year was very scary and intimidating, but was made so much easier when I met two people who were in the same situation as me. Our mutual support for one another stopped us from being too homesick to do anything fun, and instead encouraged us to say yes to every stupidly-last-minute holiday idea and every late night movie night (apologies for the lab reports I had to simultaneously write, though.) 

Girls, I'll see you both soon for many more SMALL adventures and EXPERIENCES with the BOTH OF THREE OF US. In the meantime, I'll miss saying "NO THANKYOU" and "HE WASHED MY SINK IN THE WIND".  I'm hoping there'll be no more ITALIAN SALAD incidents and that you'll always fit your BAAs. 

Chicago Aquarium

A post dedicated to the amazing aquarium in Chicago. I just love fish so much. If my chemistry careers fails, I might go into that well-known fish photography profession.

(Top tip: If you click on the photos, they get bigger.)

Not a fish. But look at this little guy looking cute under the pretty flower.

Some strong swimmers.

This one's even in focus.

Also not a fish, but this is Biff the sea lion.

More pretty colours.

Not the coral reef, but still cute.

This is a Red-Bellied Short-Necked turtle (and me).

The Americans don't understand when I say..

• "Cheers"

• "Naff"

• "Lift" - However, some of the people I live with have started saying lift instead of elevator! I have converted them!

• A lot of chemistry words- obviously the classic Aluminium/Aluminum war occurs frequently, but there are also a lot of other chemistry related words that people don't know the meaning of. Such as "pipette" rather than "pipet" or "carbonyl" rather than "carbonEEL" 

• "Plait"- "you want to do what to your hair???"

• "Hair bobble"- "does anyone have a spare what????"

• Car "boot"

• "Hob"- this one gives me a lot of blank looks before I have to consult my personal thesaurus and say words like "cooker" or "oven".

• "Kettle"- one of the most upsetting things I've experienced since being here is that the Americans (if they drink tea at all) will not use a kettle, but rather they will put a mug of water in the microwave for two mins before dropping a tea bag into the mug. It breaks my heart every time. 

• Music words- The americans are very boring in their choice of words for the length of music notes. They say "whole note" for semibreve and "eighth note" for a quaver. People had no idea what I was talking about when I said the word "crotchet."

• "zed" - it's just "zee", here, apparently. 

• "crisps" 

• "chips". Maybe that's why the Americans are so confused and disgusted by "fish and chips"

• "revise for an exam". People have no idea what this means, and only some have worked out that I'm trying to say "study."

• "Proper" 

• "Reckon"

• "Keen"

There's probably a lot more. I'll think of them eventually. 

Orlando and Boston

I was lucky enough to go travelling two weekends in a row, visiting two very important cities. The first weekend of October took us to Orlando, Florida, which was booked about 10 days in advance (in our typical late fashion) and was surprisingly cheap despite us only being there for two days. Desperate to go away somewhere but only being able to go for the weekend had originally given us the idea of going to Pittsburgh, a city in the next State, but that fell through for various reasons. However a sceptical look on SkyScanner offered us very cheap flights to the Sunshine State, so we booked the tickets and impatiently waited for our newly planned holiday. Friday afternoon came around (albeit slowly) and we left Cleveland Airport with predictably mild October weather, and were somewhat astonished to step out of the aeroplane in Orlando in the ~32° heat and bright sunshine, especially with it already being 5pm. We jumped in an uber and went straight to the hotel to drop off our luggage before getting some food. Our enthusiastic uber driving was keen to have his radio on full volume and blast some heavy beats whilst driving with the windows down and the car rooftop open. You can imagine how exciting and moviestar-esque this was for us after a month in boring Kent. We sat in the back seats with our sunglasses on and absolutely loved it. 

Sadly, we were only there for 48 hours before having to fly back to Cleveland but we managed to pack in so much in that short amount of time. It was truly an amazing and thoroughly enjoyable weekend. I rarely say that I'd like to revisit a place because there are so many cities and countries in the world that I haven't yet been to, but I can definitely say I'd love to go back to Orlando. Been there, done that, and I did actually get the t-shirt, but I would still go again.

We get back to Kent on the Sunday evening, and jet off again less than 84 hours later, this time to Boston, Massachusetts, for our "fall break" holiday. Our 6 am flight was not fun and it's the only time I'll ever be getting up before 4 am (or even 5 am for that matter) but it was worth it to have the whole of the first day there. Sadly, it rained for the majority of the time we were there, but we made the most of it anyway by putting on big raincoats and breaking our umbrellas in the strong North Eastern wind. They say that Fall is the best season to visit New England, and they're not wrong. We dearly missed the previous weekend's sunshine but the fresh air off the Atlantic sea felt so beneficial to both my mental and physical health, just by clearing my head with new, clean air, and the orange leaves on the trees in the low sun of the late afternoon was so beautiful to see.  

Boston showed us a vibrant nightlife, which we couldn't experience because of having a minor with us (sad 😞), as well as a lively, working business hub. It also felt very touristy, despite us being there during the working week, due to many merchandise/souvenir shops and a lot of photograph taking holiday makers. The big British and Irish influence in New England was obvious and supported by the (other) strongly accented Brits, looking at the different types of "English breakfast tea" that all the shops were proudly selling with pictures of the Queen's face and her Corgis. Along with looking over the Harbour towards the Atlantic, this did make me feel very close to home. Again, the holiday was too short but it was still great to go to a new State and see a little bit more of the world.

 Our next trip is in the planning so watch this space. In the meantime, here are some holiday pics to make you all jealous ☺ 

Outside Universal Studios, Orlando.

Relaxing on a rubber ring in our semi-private pool in Orlando, featuring an emergency-bought bikini.

The View of Boston from the 50th floor observatory deck.

Me looking out to England and dreaming of all the Heinz baked beans that I'm going to eat when I get home. 

Boston Harbour.

Boston Public Garden. This is just a bonus pic because I like how good my camera is.

Some photos

A badly taken photograph but we were excited that the three flags on this shield thing are the flags from our three countries (kind of). What a coincidence!! Akron, OH.

Columbus skyline along the Scioto River (please don't ask us for pronunciation). Columbus, OH.

The Cuyahoga river in downtown Kent, OH,

August

When I landed in America just over three weeks ago, some of the other international students and I were greeted by a few of the staff from the university who gave us a party bag which contained goodies including smelly chips (crisps), some chocolate cookies and a map. A balanced diet, you might say. We packed ourselves and our luggage into a tiny bus and a smartly dressed gentlemen drove us from the airport to the campus. There were about 12 international students on the bus, all of us from different countries and backgrounds. Having probably travelled for the least amount of time to get to where we were, it really put things into perspective.

The first week of term was purely for international students so there were many social activities and events planned for us, allowing us to meet so many people. At one event, all of the international student (about 300) were sat in a room on randomly selected tables. I was lucky enough to be sat with students who were from either Asia or Africa, and it was so strange to realise that out of everyone in the room, I was probably one of the students who were closest to their home country. It almost made me feel guilty for complaining about the length of my journey, or about how far away I was from home. It was so humbling to hear and learn about each other's cultures and experiences. Sharing lunch with those amazing people on that day will always be a memory that I will cherish.  

With itchy feet to explore the area, my two bffls and I are keen to use our free time to get out of the university campus and travel to as many places as our bank accounts will take us. Our first few trips have been fun so far, having just got back from a long weekend away in Columbus. However, having lived in big European cities for all of our lives, it is so interesting to visit the Midwestern American cities because they're all so small and boring! Considering Columbus is the capital city of the state, it is just not comparable to London or Paris or Vienna (the capital cities of our respective countries). Maybe it's unfair to make those parallels, but seeing that England isn't much bigger than Ohio in terms of area, Columbus felt like a small corner of a wealthy city in Yorkshire. There is like one main high street which housed independent card shops and thrift shops, and a line of big tall buildings on the bank of the river. It was beautiful to see and I'm pleased we went, but it's just so interesting that that is the extent of a big city in this area of America. We're currently planning our next trip and we're aiming for somewhere bigger and further away. Vacation anyone?

A trip to London

I don’t think I had quite anticipated how stressful it was going to be to apply for and plan this year abroad. Having first put my name down in November 2017, I didn’t expect that 8 months later I would still be going through applications that were both long and boring. The application process was beginning to ruin the fun and excitement of the year ahead, and with a to-do list that increased daily, it didn’t feel like I was making any progress. It felt like a “two steps forward, one step backward” sort of thing. I had also been advised to not book flights before my visa had got approved, so the main goal was to get all the admin stuff sorted quickly in order to get my visa, buy a plane ticket, and then hopefully feel like I was actually going. 

Amongst (literal and metaphorical) piles of paperwork, I didn’t actually start feeling properly excited about my year abroad until about a month and a half ago when I had the compulsory trip to London for my visa interview. I’d been really nervous about it, with the anticipation of finding out what it was going to be like as well as wondering which really important thing I had inevitably forgotten to take with me. 10 minutes late for the time I’m supposed to be there, I arrive at the US embassy to be greeted by a long queue of people doing the same thing as me, US police with big guns, airport style security and, by sheer chance, someone I used to go to school with. Anyway, we get our bags checked, go through to like an outdoor waiting area to queue up again, show some documents and then go upstairs to this like huge waiting room with the interview booths along the wall. For something so government and official, I still can’t believe how lax it all was. People were talking on the phone, watching stuff on the internet, eating and drinking, basically doing everything that I thought we wouldn’t be able to do. Two interviews, about 8 queues and a couple of hours later, I’m told my visa has been accepted and that I would see my passport again in a week! Hurrah!

A fortnight later I picked up my passport (now containing a visa) from a random mail depot and booked my flight. Since then, I actually feel like I’m going away and it’s made me so excited. I’ve got loads of cool things lined up and I’m really looking forward to the flight (well, not the long journey, but aeroplanes are fun). I’ve still got a few things to sort out before I go but I think I’m on top of it all. So yeah, I feel like I can actually look forward to it all now! The long applications are paying off!

Pre-USA

Before going to uni in September 2016, I had always been a bit in love with Paris and learning French, which meant that the idea of studying in France for a year as part of my degree really appealed. Fast forward 12 months and I discover that actually, the option to study in France wasn’t quite what I had imagined, so I ruled it out. I was reminded that I could alternatively study in America for the year which was something I had always overlooked, being so set on going to France. I had never considered the USA option until this point, hearing good reviews from previous Study Abroad students which sparked my interest and lead me to begin research into the country as well as life at an American uni as an international student. Learning about all the different modules (or “classes” as they’re known in the States) that I could take alongside having the chance to travel the country and try new things, I become more and more excited to put my name down and apply.

Initially, I would change my mind a few times a week about the whole idea and my decision would frequently fluctuate between the US, France and just staying in Leicester due to the thought of saying goodbye to everyone at home and travelling to the other side of the Atlantic for 12 months. I have never really travelled on my own before, and I’ve never been to America, so doing both of those things at once for the first time seemed too scary and I struggled to convince myself that it was a good idea. After speaking to my well-travelled big sister who gave me lots of encouragement, I started to consider that this whole thing wasn’t quite as scary as it looked and that I would probably be OK. It seemed more likely that I would have a really good time and that I’d regret not going if I decided to stay in Leicester for the year. Since then, I’ve had many doubts and I’ve been very close to dropping out but I hope I’ll look back in the future and thank myself for going ahead with it.

With planning and applications nearly finished, I’m now probably too late to drop out, leaving me rather committed to packing my bags and going. I’m incredibly excited but also really nervous, wondering about anything and everything that could go wrong, as well as what it’s going to be like to say goodbye to everyone. With just over two months to go until I catch the flight, it’s going to come around so quickly but I’m very much looking forward to (what will hopefully be) an amazing year.