Hello Kansas! - The Powers Family (Part 2)

Staying at Cheryl's for the first night was a great beginning to my year abroad...

Her house was very comfortable after a long day of travelling. I ended up waking up at 3am with the time difference...so my first full day was a really long one.

When I had been showered and was ready, I found that Cheryl had already made breakfast! Hot freshly baked muffins - they were amazing! (My mum never bakes so it was kind of a big deal lol)

I met Cheryl's husband Dick that morning also. He was also lovely like his wife and daughter. They decided to give Simon and me a tour of Lawrence and of KU!

The sun was splitting the trees and it was roasting hot! It was so exciting to see all of Lawrence and then see KU before we'd even checked in. Mass St looked like a cool, quirky part of town and then there was KU - I could not believe how massive it was!

Stirling Uni is absolutely tiny compared to any university I've seen/studied in America. KU not only has tons of different buildings, but most of them are huge! Don't get me started on the Sorrority and Fraternity houses - man they are big! They look exactly like the ones you see in the films, like old fashioned mansions with the Greek letters. I was so excited when I seen them!

We went past one sorrority house and there were a bunch of girls outside. Cheryl said they were probably doing their initiation. I couldn't believe it - I really felt like I was in Legally Blonde or something (even though that's set in California but oh well).

A Sorrority House, huge eh?

Later in the day we packed up our stuff at Cheryl's and got ready to check in to KU. Cheryl helped us both with it and I'm really glad she did because it was all a bit overwhelming. Basically, there were hundreds of foreign students, like me, who were all trying to register/check in and figure out what we were supposed to be doing. With Cheryl it made the process a whole lot easier.

Then she helped us both move in to our rooms with our bags. Interestingly, a lot of the other exchange students had families with them, helping them move in - which of whom, I assume had signed up for the family transportation program like me. I think it definitely helped having that bit of support with us.

Then I met Tori, who was to be my temporary roommate at Hashinger Hall for the orientation week until I moved in to Jayhawker Towers. She was a graduate student, 24 years old and from China and I think we both had difficulty understanding each other - although she was lovely. She had already met some of the other Chinese students and seeing that I was alone, they invited me to sit with them at dinner which was nice of them. So we went down to dinner and we ate.

I remember seeing a pretty blonde girl and we caught each others eye. She was alone. Seeing an empty seat next to me, she came over and asked if she could sit with us. We were all like, of course! No-one left each other out, everyone was friendly and made an effort. So she sat next to us. I found out she was Swedish, but her English was very good. So we chatted a lot and I was happy to find that she was really friendly.

Then I remember seeing another blonde girl at the salad bar. She looked really familiar although I didn't know her, I wondered if she was a student from Stirling. Later on I found her and asked if she was Scottish - and she was! She was the first Scottish girl I'd met and she was from Glasgow, like me. I also spoke to another guy who was from England, but studied in Edinburgh - so he could tell I was Scottish right away.

Later on, I found out that the blonde girl from Sweden and the Scottish girl were roommates - it was a really weird but cool coincidence as we could all relate to each other in some way. Then later on, I met two other Stirling students from the north of Scotland - which was really cool! One of the girls I knew from my course (although not very well) and the other I hadn't met before - although they knew each other. 

Although the whole point of the experience is to meet new people from different cultures and backgrounds, it was nice to meet other Scottish girls as they were outgoing and friendly. No-one could understand my accent and it was starting to make me feel a bit homesick - until I met them.

The first day was tiring, but had been a great start. I had met people and was ready to meet more and learn about the other stuff I was gonna have to take care of. The International Orientation Week had begun. 

To find out how it went, become a follower of the blog or check it out on Monday! Comments/questions are always welcome!