WU - Life in the US

It has been a looooooooong time since I wrote last now. I have warned about this and I am sorry for fulfilling my own fears and becoming too caught up in my daily life to even think about blogging. I have decided to make this blog entry more opinionated, the last one sounds like a how-to guide and that is not really my intention with blogging. It is a try and fail experience to blog, so you will just have to forgive my inexperience.

 

I have no idea where to start! Time passes in strange waves... Well, the good news is that I have pretty much gotten used to the way school works around here. Not that I can say that I like it all, but it is not as stressful anymore. Okay, it might have something to do with the fact that I dropped ENGL 203 Major British Authors. Note to anyone who wants to take literature courses abroad: take one at a time (one each semester). They demand a lot of reading for each class and that on top of everything else is a lot. If you choose to have two anyway I can promise you that you will have no life. I have a picture of my stack of books before I dropped the ENGL 203 class:

 

 

Impressing isn't it? I'm glad it's a little smaller now at least. There is always something due in some class around here, whether it's a test, assignment, blog or a quiz. It gets on my nerves and I can't remember the last time I was as tired as I am now. The thing that bug me the most is that we haven't had a real vacation yet. We had something they called Fall Break, but that was just a joke. We had Friday and Monday off, and I have Friday off anyway, so it was just a way to tease us. Now I can't wait for Thanksgiving Break that starts on Wednesday next week. For once I'm getting away from campus! I'm visiting one of my friends in Florida. I can't wait!!! On that note I might take the time to warn others that there is no public transportation here in Rock Hill, SC. And when I say no, I mean that it is nonexistent. No bus, no train, no nothing. If you want to get to the airport, get a cab and pay 60 Dollars, you want to go to the small mall they have here, 20 dollars. This is my greatest frustration. Which is why I got myself the SC driving license and will be getting myself a car sometime in the near future. So be aware! However, it's not all bad at least it keeps me from spending all my money.

 

From all this it seems that I don't like it here at all, doesn't it? Well, I actually do like it despite all this. I like that I can just go down to the cafeteria, slide my ID and eat as much as I want. The food isn't always the best, this is America after all, there are lots of unhealthy options to choose from. Somehow I always manage to leave there full anyway, I just have to use my imagination and pick and choose form different "stations". If I get really tired of the food in the cafeteria I can always go to the student center and use cafe cash  to eat there. Another thing I really like is that it's free to use the gym here. So if you don't use it's your own fault that you're out of shape. They have a climbing wall, pool, running track, cardio equipment, a weight room and a normal gym hall for volley ball, basketball and such. You can basically do whatever you want :) The one thing that really pleases me is that I've actually managed to make a friend. My roommate is a really nice girl form New Hampshire, which I have strangely much in common with. It makes me really happy to have an American friend and that I was this lucky with my roommate.

 

I don't really think there is anything else I have to say right now. If there is anything that I forgot, it is too bad. Next time, I guess. Whenever that will be ;)

WU - moving to South Carolina

Hi y'all!

I'm going to try to get up to speed with what's happened since summer started. You see I've moved from Norway to South Carolina to study at Winthrop University. I want to make the experience a bit less frightening for other Norwegians who want to study in the US and explain how I got here.

 

The hardest part for me is all the waiting - my patience has been throughly tested. I'm the kind of person who wants things done as fast as possible, so that I don't have to make the effort to remember to do something or have to worry about it until it's over. I didn't receive my letter of acceptance form Winthrop until the beginning of June, and when our applications were sent in the middle of  April I think that's too long to wait for an answer. It could have been worse, I know, but I'd expected better. On top of that I had some problems with financial support from the State Educational Loan Fund (Lånekassen). You see, to receive support for the tuition the Loan Fund needs a document that states your name, how much you will have to pay (specifically) and a signature from somebody at Winthrop. And as it turned out, Winthrop does not determine the fee until the middle of July. Luckily, it's possible to receive support for the year itself and send the documentation for the tuition later and receive the support for that when they have approved your documentation.

 

In between all this comes the visa application of course, which was my biggest worry. That is why I went on the web as soon as I got my letter of acceptance and submitted my application. You might want to visit the site beforehand though, as it's a lot of information to digest there. Among other things you will need to submit a picture of yourself. The requirements for this picture are endless so take the time to read it and test it on the website. Yes, you can test the picture without really starting the application process. There's not really much to tell about the interview. You can bring a bag, but it has to be small or you have to be able to fold it. You can bring your phone and other electronical devices, but you can't take them with you into the embassy building. I stressed a lot about this. There's really not much to be afraid of. You just have to be prepared for a lot of waiting.

 

When it comes to communicating with Winthrop over the summer. Be persistent! If you don't receive an answer within a couple of days send a new one and to another person. All the Norwegians had problems reaching Lindsey, who was our assigned contact. On the Winthrop web page under the international center tab there should be a general e-mail address to the international center and then someone will respond. This has been my constant worry over the summer. Will everything work out? One important thing: to get the document that states what the tuition is, you need to ask someone at the international center for it.

 

Generally, they are good at what they do here, but this year they changed the computer system. And like in Norway people + new systems = a lot of waiting and confusion. Let's move on to nicer stuff! When you came here there will be an option to go to Walmart to get stuff for your room. Really fun, especially if you're arriving late. I arrived at 8pm and there was a pick up at 9pm and we got to leave our bags in our room and then we went to Walmart. Imagine walking around in a huge warehouse like store at 11pm, strange feeling. What I regret not doing is reading about the residence hall that I would be living in. I ended up finding out that you have to buy your own toilet paper where I live. So go to the web site and read about it.

 

The classes here are pretty demanding. The fact that everything counts a certain percentage of your grade is stressful to me. Being used to just handing in papers every now and then that won't be graded and leaving it all on the final exam, it takes some time getting used to quizzes and participation in class being graded along with all the tests and hand-ins.

 

Campus is really beautiful, I must say. The only downside, as in all of the US, you can't get anywhere without a car. Luckily, you have the basic needs in walking distance. We even have a Starbucks shop on campus! I'm sure that I'll come back to other aspects of campus life, but this will have to do for now.

 

Later!

Working and reading 'the Vampire Diaries'

Hi!

It's been a while since last time I wrote. I will try to write more often and find something interesting to write about.

I'm working much these days. For those of you who don't know, I work in a coffee shop. My boss called me this morning and told me that the girl who was supposed to work the evening watch had the stomach flu. Since nearly everyone of my coworkers are on holiday now I had to take her watch. Surprisingly, this annoyed me to the point that I almost got mad, and those who knows me knows that it takes a lot to get on my nerves. I can't really explain why I reacted this way, other than I really had been looking forward to having the day off. There is just so little to do at work these days and of course that can be a relief when you are tired, but mostly it just makes you even more tired (or maybe you just take notice of it, since you don't have anything else to do).

 

I came prepared for a quiet day at work for once. I had stopped by a bookstore and bought "The Vampire Diaries" by L. J. Smith. I've watched the show on TV and liked it. A friend of mine have read the books and said they were pretty different from the series, but I took the chance. In my experience 'different' doesn't have to mean 'bad' and can be quite refreshing. I've read three chapters and I must agree with my friend, the book it quite different. My first impression is that I don't like Elena in the book, which is a different experience for me. Most of the books I've read have a main character that I can sympathize with on some plain, but I just can't stand Elena's shallow, self-centered personality. We'll see if she grows on me, but I'm a bit sceptic. It is Stefan that makes me want to know what happens, for once I sympathize most with the guy. That's a new one. It will be interesting to see how I feel when I've finished the book.

 

Since there's not really that many people who know about my blog yet, I guess it doesn't really matter if I'm not that good at blogging just yet.

 

See ya!

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

I saw the last addition to the Twilight franchise today and I actually think I liked it:) Movies based on books are always hard to comment on, especially for those of us who have read the book. The movie will never be as good as the book, no matter how hard they try. However, they can make a good representation and I think they nailed it pretty well in this one.

 

Of course, there are scenes I missed from the book. One of them is the scene where Jacob cuts his hand in the kitchen and the clean up Bella has to do afterwards. It is not an important scene, but I would have liked to see it. Minor detail.

 

As it happens I also finished "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" yesterday. Honestly, it was unintentional, but I'm glad I did. Since the producers of the movie have based some of the scenes on this side of the story as well, it was nice to know the back story for those as well. As Stephenie Meyer said in her introduction: Even the small characters matter. I liked Bree very much after reading her story. After being in the head of a real newborn just for that short period it took to read the book, I really understood how different Bella really is as a vampire. It's a pity Bree's story had to be a tragic one. I was nearly begging for better ending for her and seeing her life she would have had with the Cullens if the Voturi had been merciful. It is still hard to accept.

 

I hope Stephenie will write more stories like this and maybe make a collection of them instead of one book per person. There are many characters from the Twilight Saga that I would love to know better and see through their eyes.

 

Well, that was it for today. I hope I will be more awake next time I write ;)

 

Peace out!

Introduction

I’m not a very experienced blogger, but I thought I’d give it a try. Honestly, I don’t really know what to say. This blog is just a way to air my thoughts and let the people know and don’t see too often know what goes on in my life if they’re interested. Others are welcome as well of course :)

I think I’ll be writing in English for the most part (for the practice), but there may pop up some Norwegian here and there too. I hope I’ll find something to write about and that someone finds it interesting.

Bye for now!