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...

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!