Road Trip! (Part 2) - Lake of the Ozarks

Quite a few of us went to the camping trip at the lake.

It was a long journey...So luckily for us the frat guy took his RV! It was the coolest thing ever - it had a bedroom, toilet, table and chairs all on four wheels...pretty astonishing (well, for me it was)! 

The RV

As there were a lot of us going, two of the other guys from the frat house went and took their cars and a couple of tents...we had a lot of stuff to bring with us! The journey was long and I spent a lot of it reflecting on how lucky I was. Here I was in the States - I had only been there a couple of weeks and already I was travelling with a great group of people. Time to get drunk!


When we eventually got there it was pitch black...I was still pretty excited but a little bit worried. We were in what seemed like the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night - it was dark, quiet and a little eerie, it felt a bit like something out of a horror movie ('Jeepers Creepers' comes to mind)...But the guy from the RV Park came out and got us - so we found the others who had got there before us.


Lucky for us they had already started a fire. They already had drinks, so they offered us one too. It was really cool but I hate creepy crawlies and there were flies everywhere so I couldn't get comfortable. I was petrified that there would be spiders - my worst fear. So we sat by the fire and relaxed for the first night.


The next day was a great one. A lot the guys wanted to go fishing in the morning so we went to this place with a ton of boats. We didn't actually take the boat out the dock, but we sat in it for a little bit. Some of the group were up for swimming while the others weren't. I was split in the middle...I wanted to go for a swim but was scared to do it in the lake...eventually I plucked up the courage and jamp straight into the water! It was freezing - but quite refreshing in the hot sun.


Some people left but a couple of us stayed nearby - so I soaked up the sun while we were waiting. A family on another boat came over and spoke to us. They were from the area and they were curious where we were from...they got a bit excited when they found out I was from Scotland and the guy I was with from England. Then our ride arrived...

The 'beach'

We went to a different part of the lake - which looked more like a holiday resort rather than a campsite. It was beautiful - there was a manmade beach with sand and a restaurant/bar nearby. So finally I could sit out in the sun properly and attempt to tan, plus go for a swim! Which is what I did...even when some of the others went fishing later in the afternoon.


That night we decided to cook a barbeque...with some alcohol for the night. One of the English guys ended making most of it with the French girl...it was like they were our parents. We played a couple of drinking games...(well, we were in the ‘game room’) like ‘Kings Cup’ and ‘I never’ – but not beer pong. Which is weird now I look back...why didn’t we play that?? Oh well.


It was a fun night. The next day we went home, but not before me and the Swedish girl had done a bit of sunbathing at the pool on the campsite...and off we went.


The ride home seemed much longer than the ride in. It didn’t help that most the others were sleeping...I can’t sleep when travelling – I very rarely do it. So I tried to keep our driver company with some chat (frat boy).

I felt sorry for him because he was clearly exhausted and seemed to be suffering from a very bad cough...


What was to come from that cough, we would find out when we got home.

Read about it on Monday by becoming a follower of the blog! Feel free to ask questions...

The 1st Frat Party...

We had only been at KU for about a week and we managed to go to our first frat party!

Basically some of the Australian/English guys we already met had went out to explore the campus (at night) and met a couple of frat guys! So they invited them to one of their parties and we then got invited too...so we decided to go.

Some of the other exchange students that we met from the 'Wild West' party on Wednesday came round to our flat while we got ready and we all went down together.


I was so excited I wouldn't shut up about it. What would it be like?

Beer Pong!

My only experience of a frat party was watching it in a teen comedy film like, "American Pie: Beta House" and "Old School". I wondered if they were really as crazy as the movies made them out to be. I wondered whether they would have red cups...


They did! They were everywhere..in the hands of frat boys, littered on the floor, stacked on tables, placed triangularly on each side of a long table while guys tried to throw a little white ball into them. Later found out this was actually a drinking game called Beer Pong! I think most of us exchange students were pretty excited to see those red cups in action...


The fraternity house we went to was the Jewish fraternity! We nervously approached them in case they decided they didn't want us there - but it turned out they were a really friendly bunch of guys! One of them shook all of our hands as we went into the house and they let us drink their beer for free! They also had the legendary jungle juice which had a combination of liquor, fruit and Everclear - which I thought was screen-wash...so I only had one. Then there was rumours that it ended up being laced with pills so definitely avoided it after that.


The frat party was cool but a little awkward seeing as we didn't know anyone. I remember standing when this guy told me I looked bored. I was like I'm not its just a bit awkward and then he was like, "Where are you from?"...So then I told them and pointed and said that we're all exchange students. So then he was like, "Are you all Scottish?" and I was like, "No but we are, and those girls are English and she's from Sweden and she's German and this guy is from Australia". He got so excited about the Australian,


"I wana go hug him that's so cool!' he exclaimed. I was like "Me too!"

So talking to him some more I found out that he was originally from Los Angeles but grew up in Kansas. Some of the other guys I spoke to were from Chicago, Seattle and Kansas - it was pretty cool!

End of the Frat Party...

After the frat party we went to a house party down the road. It was pretty random now that I look back, I duno how we even ended up down there but they invited us in and gave us more free beer. One of the other Australian guys did the whole drink beer from the tap upside down over the keg...was pretty funny.


My roommate got the frat guy's number. Only two of them had a mobile at this point, me and my other roommate had to get a cell phone. I'm glad she got his number because he helped us out a lot the first couple of weeks...


I think the alcohol helped break the ice to be honest. The group meetings and orientation week were good but after that night I felt a lot more comfortable with the other international students.


I forgot to mention on my last post that the next day I saw a sorority house do their initiation (at least that's what I think it was)...It was really weird. They were all dressed up in dresses and boots and they all walked out into formation. Then they sang a song and did little dance moves, the song was pretty funny. They went into harmony and sang like an octave higher and then lower and one minute it was slow and then really fast. Then they all walked back inside with their hands behind their backs...it was pretty creepy. I saw them doing this several times when I was at KU as their house was accross from Jayhawk Towers!

Check out the blog next Monday and find out about Hawk Week - when the KU students officially started. Comments/questions are always welcome! Thanks for reading...

Jayhawker Towers! Getting Settled...

It was our first weekend, we had moved into Jayhawker Towers and started getting settled...

On  Saturday an event had been organised where families were donating old furniture and homely items to us international kids. We tried to get there as early as possible. My roommate emphasised that we grab one essential item - a television set. 

It was really funny when I look back - she had us all organised and divised a plan for us to go for separate types of stuff. It was pretty effective because it meant we didn't duplicate items. 

Some amazing people donated couches which was great as it would save us buying them. Of course, this made them a popular choice and they weren't light enough to just grab and run with like everything else. So for these, we had to put down our name and then they would be drawn from a hat. All of us put down our name and hoped for the best. Luckily, my name got called out for one of them! (Although it was part of a weird corner sofa)...My flatmate got another one! Hers was a pretty half-decent 3-seater...

We came back with a couch, an armchair (kinda), tv set, a table to put it on, some glasses and some other stuff.

Also that morning while this was going on, families were taking some of the students for a tour of Lawrence. I didn't bother going because Cheryl had already shown me around, although I think a couple of my roommates went.

I can't remember what else happened that day - although we ordered our first Indian that night. It was nice but not as good as it is in the UK.

I think the day seemed to go slowly and drag because we went to our very first frat party the night before! To find out how it went check out the blog on Monday!

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!