You Say Tomato

There is vast potential in the chance to immerse oneself in another culture which is a vehicle for personal growth and self-discovery.  However, it is important to keep in mind that one responsibility in this experience is actually studying.

British universities are run very differently from American ones in terms of testing.  The University of Warwick employs a trimester system with Autumn, Spring, and Summer terms.  Typically, a student will take classes in one term and take the final exams for those classes the following term after a five week break.  This sounds really great, especially as a student may spend the whole five weeks preparing for his exams.

Here is the catch: it is not uncommon for finals, which are simply called “exams” here as they only occur once per class, to be worth up to 100% of the final grade.  Better not have the flu on test day.

I am enrolled in International Marketing, International and European Employment Relations, Ethical Issues and Social Responsibility in Contemporary Business, and Managing Human Resources.  Of those four classes, I only have exams in three, so I am feeling a little lucky.  Procrastination, however, could lead to panicked frenzy because in the UK exams are do or die.

Fortunately, my classes are interesting.  Each class has a lecture that meets once a week for an hour or two hours.  (I have two, two hour lectures back-to-back on Mondays, so sitting for four hours straight is literally a pain in the butt.)  Some of my lectures are taught by multiple professors.  Other classes have seminars which are led by other members of the staff.  I like the seminars because I get to do more hands-on, group-based work.

It is going to take some readjustment to get used to meeting with my classes only once a week.  At Carolina our classes have multiple meetings in a week which compels students to revisit the course material several times.  Repetition is key when learning, so I need to plan my time at the library accordingly.

Speaking of courses, when I first arrived in England, the other students in my dorm asked me what my course was.  I was puzzled as to why they wanted to know which classes I was taking, especially as they are all first year students and are, thus, not taking my third year, or senior, classes.  It turns out course means major (not class) and classes are called modules.  Life has been a lot less confusing since I figured that out.

Other English terms/phrases I have encountered include: chips (fries), crisps (chips), alright (what’s up), postbox (mailbox), lorry (truck), lift (elevator), and phone box (phone booth).  Plus a lot of words are pronounced differently.  A word of advice, watching TV shows like Sherlock and Misfits could help if you’re planning on spending an extended period of time here!

The other day I tried Skittles and Mars milkshakes with my roommate, a law student from France.  Skittles and Mars bars are from England, so I thought it would be appropriate for us to taste-test the two drinks.  The Skittles drink tasted a bit like strawberry au lait, a popular drink in Japan, gone wrong.  It had a slightly sour aftertaste which will not have me coming back for more.  Happily, the Mars drink tasted just like what one would imagine a liquified Mars bar would.

The University of Warwick is a little far from a lot of the touristy areas of England.  However, walking around the campus is fun and a source of novel experiences.  For instance, I found this fire engine (fire truck) parked out by one of the buildings:

You call 999 when in an emergency in England!

Other interesting facts:

• English trivia night consists of a lot of American songs from the 70s and 80s.
• The dairy in this country is absolutely amazing. I've had the best grilled cheese sandwiches here.

Claire in Coventry

Hi!  I am Claire, a junior at the University of South Carolina double majoring in International Business and Human Resources Management, and minoring in Japanese.  I was born and raised in Tokyo where I attended a small, international girls’ school, so the move to South Carolina a few years ago was like a mini-study abroad experience for me.  I definitely had to learn a lot in a short period of time.  It was scary to move to another country at first, but with the help of relatives nearby, my parents’ support, and well-disposed, benevolent friends I eventually became accustomed to life in Columbia and have come to consider it one of my homes.

Now I am on a brand new adventure: I will be studying at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England until the end of June.  The University of Warwick was established in the 1960s.  Despite being a fairly young institution, the university is well known in England for its strong math and science programs, and was recently ranked 3rd in the Top 50 Under 50 QS University Rankings which compares universities from around the world.

I am going to be honest: I was stressed about moving to England at first.  Don’t get me wrong, I think this opportunity to immerse myself in another culture is awesome, but having to do life things (like finding my way to campus, opening a bank account, buying a phone, and picking out kitchenware) without my usual support group seemed really daunting.  In order to feel more in control of my life, I planned everything I needed to accomplish once I arrived in England (almost) down to the very second.

Then, winter storm Hercules happened.  I was originally supposed to fly out of the US on January 2nd and arrive in London the next day, but my flights were rebooked three times due to all of the snow.  While I feel lucky to have  snagged a flight out to England as they were high in demand, my flight landed in London the same day classes began at Warwick, so I was unable to attend my first lecture or follow through with all of my other plans.

The storm's affect on my perfectly planned schedule, however, was probably one of the best things to happen to me.  It made me realize that, as much as I want to, I simply cannot micro-manage my life.  Things happen.  You’ve got to roll with the punches...to get to what’s real.

Okay, I am stopping with the Van Halen.

While I would love to write about all of the super cool English things, since I only arrived in the UK on Monday, January 6th, I do not really have enough material to do that just yet-- I have been spending the majority of my time running errands and trying to settle in.  I did, however, see the stereotypical red double-decker bus in London when I was on my way to Coventry; too bad my camera was packed away in my bag!

Anyway, I went to a Sports Societies fair yesterday.  Societies in the UK are equivalent to student organizations in the US.  The University of Warwick is on a trimester system, so during their first term they had “Freshers Week" to introduce new students to the university.  However, as it is currently the beginning of their second term, the Students' Union chose to host a smaller event: just the Societies fair which they called "Refreshers".  Even though I am really not a sporty person, I thought I would go check it out.  I dragged one of the other Carolina IB majors studying here along with me.  Nothing really caught my eye, but I did take this fancy picture of the Students' Union building (no editing done here--the clouds were honestly that color):

Afterwards, I met up with yet another USC IB student and went to the nearby Cannon Park Shopping Centre.  This place is home to several stores, but two that I frequent are Tesco and Seoul Plaza.  Tesco is a superstore chain and the one near my campus (pictured below) has a large variety of relatively decently priced goods.

Seoul Plaza is my favorite.  It specializes in Asian foods, which I realize is not very English.  However, I think it is so cool that there is a well-stocked Asian food store within walking distance from campus.  It even has a whole section dedicated to Japanese cuisine (my comfort food).

It looks like this on the outside:

And like this inside:

The University of Warwick, like many British universities, does not offer meal plans to students, so I will be cooking a lot.  While I hope to try making some meals traditional to this area, I am also very excited about being able to prepare Japanese dishes!

Now that I know where to shop, have many of the other important necessities figured out, and have met with my Personal Tutor (a faculty member whom I can turn to whenever I need help), I just need to get my textbooks so I can really dive into my studies.  Then I get to travel to the places here I have read about all of my life.  Wish me luck!