Edinburgh Exchanges

G’day!

I’m Sabina and this blog will be all about my life for the next year as a student in Australia. I’m spending the third year of my degree studying Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland in Eastern Australia..

I’m 21 years old, originally from London and have wanted to do this exchange ever since I found out about it while surfing the international section of the Edinburgh website while bored at work during my gap year! The prospect of living abroad for a whole year as a student was too good an opportunity to miss. Two years later, after lots of admin, I can’t really believe I’ll be there in under a week! I’m extremely excited but can’t help feeling slightly scared.

The semester dates are the opposite for Australian Unis because they’re in the Southern Hemisphere so it means I’m joining in their 2nd semester which starts in two weeks time (July 21st). It’s a bit surreal thinking about it because it feels like I’ve only just finished exams, but the three month vacation of Christmas will make up for it.

I’ve already picked all my courses and am pretty impressed by my 4-Day-weekend timetable! Hopefully this will allow lots of long weekends at the beach or visiting other Aussie cities though it does mean my Wednesdays and Thursday are majorly crammed with lectures. I even have an 8am lecture which is far from impressive. Hopefully I’ll get into their outdoors lifestyle and embrace the early mornings!

I’m enrolled on a Marine Biology course which should be amazing since it has a field trip to the Great Barrier Reef! It’s really cool to have the opportunity to study completely different courses to those offered at Edinburgh and UQ has loads of Biology options. I’m especially interested in Immunology and Infectious Diseases and am taking some great courses in them, as well as some in Neuroscience and Pharmacology.

I’m going to spending the first semester living in college accommodation which is on UQ’s campus in a town called St. Lucia – 10 minutes outside of Brisbane. College life should be a lot of fun, especially since the one I’m staying in is known as the “party” college. It will be a great chance to meet lots of Aussies and get involved in student life down under. Most of the other Edinburgh students on the UQ exchange are staying in my college too which should be a laugh. I’m planning on renting a house for the second semester which will be good since I’m sure college can get a bit overwhelming at times. The independence of living in a house will be great and I’ve heard they often have swimming pools which would be amazing!

Once I’ve spent a few weeks getting used to my courses I’m going to look into getting a part-time job. I have some overly ambitious dreams about travelling round Aus and New Zealand and am going to have to seek out some funds to support myself if I want to live the dream. I’m not planning on coming back to the UK for Christmas either so it would be good to arrange an Internship or work experience over the Christmas vacation. I think this is going to be pretty hard though since I don’t have permanent residency.

My next entry will be written from Down Under during Fresher’s Week! Can’t wait!

Hey all,

My name’s Hannah and I’m a 21 year old about to embark on a bit of a mission across the pond to study my third year of Biological Sciences at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. When I say mission, am hoping it’s more of a painless transition from one continent to another. By all accounts there will be many similarities to help me feel at home; a common response from people having heard about my plans usually includes some reference to the excess of rain Vancouver receives (two thirds of the year apparently.) Usually this is followed by something rather more positive along the lines of “it’s beautiful” or “you’ll love it there.” Fingers crossed eh!

This time last year I had no intentions of leaving this city behind but when the international applications time came round curiosity got the better of me and a few months later I found myself with an offer to study in Canada for a year and thus with a decision to make.

Turns out it wasn’t that hard a decision and six months down the line I’m nearly ready to go…. Ish. Not quite got myself the all important visa yet but it’s all in the pipelines. Whilst the international exchange brings with it an excess of paperwork, fortunately, it’s not all in one go and something that has been relatively manageable. The geek in me is pretty excited by my course choices; Mammalogy and Zoogeography would surely appeal to anyone?! Although the lazy part of me is slightly daunted by the prospect of 8am lectures Monday to Friday of my first term.

It’s been an odd few months as on one side I’ve been dying to talk about every stage of the planning for next year (I’m quite a talker so people generally know what I’m up to most of the time, whether they want to or not.) But at the same time, whenever UBC comes up in conversation it’s a reminder of the year in Edinburgh I’m going to miss and more importantly the friends I’m leaving behind. I’m at the 6 week stage in the countdown and honestly there is a part of me that’s wondering if I’ve made the right decision. Spending this summer with the folks I’m going to have to manage without for the next year has so far been amazing but occasionally the little voice in my head asks “why would you go away and mess this up, dive in to the unknown and become a fresher again?”

I think the most reassuring thing anyone’s said to me was something along the lines of “you’ve done it once before and come out on top so at least you know you can do it again.” I’m also thankful for the fact that everyone around me has been incredibly supportive both in and out of university. Whilst I think that my failing exams might have been good news for some people, those same people smiled and congratulated me when I learned I had passed (another obstacle overcome making international exchange more of a certainty.) My genius plan to combat any feeling of indecision is the use of the lonely planet guide to Vancouver. A quick flick through the pages to read of the three beaches on campus (one nudist – not sure I’ll be found on that one), the mountains, ocean, and, of course, the snow…. Well I guess it explains itself and it’s pretty hard not to get excited.

So my plan is to make the most of the month and a bit I have left and then set off on a whole new adventure. Am pretty convinced that Edinburgh’s not going to vanish over the next 12 months and it’s comforting to know at the end of the year I’m returning to a place and people I know and love but hopefully having had a truly memorable year.

The list of things I absolutely definitely have to do before I leave for Haverford College is ever-growing.

One thing is joyfully crossed off, only to be replaced by three more: Will I need a bikini? Should I take travellers cheques? Where the heck is my health insurance form?

But before I launch into a spiel about my hopes and fears, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Hannah Jaenicke, an English Literature and History student from Manchester (you’ll discover later just how much I love my hometown) who is currently both terrified and excited about what will happen in (less than!) a month’s time.

Luckily for me, I’ve got three weeks in America before Haverford starts, as I’m visiting the American half of my family. My American passport exempts me from visas and immigration queues, and I’m lucky in that I’ve got relatives scattered across America from West Coast celeb-ville, to the rural Deep South.

However, I’m not going to be dependent on them – instead, I want to strike out on my own, forge my own path and all that jazz. And at Haverford, I’ll truly be able to do this – I’m the only student from Edinburgh there and, judging from the international students’ mailing list, one of only six exchange students. Argh!

I chose Haverford partly because, as the only Edinburgher there I can’t become trapped in the exchange-student social scene as many do. But I also wanted to go because it’s both totally different to Edinburgh – tiny (only 1169 students!), suburban (although Philadelphia is nearby), and with very small class sizes; but also familiar in that it has many active societies, a similar social make-up and is academically rigorous. Hopefully, this mix of the familiar and the alien will provide for an interesting and exciting year ahead.

Despite my excitement at making new friends, exploring new places, and living the American college dream, I’m going to really miss a lot of what I’ve taken for granted at Edinburgh. How will I cope without the fantastically handsome architecture and views about which I’ve become blasé? Will I lose my enthusiasm (almost as good as talent, right) for ceilidhs? And, most importantly, will I become Americanised – gaining an accent and an attitude which I’ve always tried to avoid? When I return, will I think everything historical is “quaint”, and refer to Britain as England? Please, no.

Of course, I have slightly more practical concerns, too, regarding how to call home, the cost of airfare, and whether I should get a job or not whilst over there, but I’ve pushed those petty wonderings to the back of my mind, whilst I contemplate an existence without the BBC, decent national newspapers, and nights that end in chips and kebabs.
Until I get to Haverford, all of my questions will remain unanswered, and all I can do is hope, speculate and wonder about what awaits me in Pennsylvania.

A student’s life at Edinburgh University is beautiful; lush green of the meadows, epic heights of Arthur’s seat, drunken windy cigarettes with fabulous bohemian idealist students. As an anthropology disciple I am particularly fortunate, having moved from London at the tender age of eighteen, I stumbled across this Scottish capital with vast dreams and explorative eyes.

These years at Edinburgh have been better than the most moving Radiohead song or that amazing feeling you get when Humphrey Bogart looks at his lady in Casablanca, even better than the thrill of insignificance front row at Manu Chao at Exit festival in the blistering heat of Serbia. It is this same feeling of insignificance that inspired me to embark on my most exciting adventure yet; a year abroad in Singapore.

Edinburgh’s been good to me, but the world is massive and in my lifetime I am likely to not even cover one tenth of it. Thousands of different languages, different ways to make tea, different ways to express love, hate and respect; all things my academic contemporaries seek to explore, understand and explain.

My summer since exams has blinked by and despite working at the International Film Festival and travels around Eastern Europe to slow time, two weeks today my life as I know it will change. I will be plunged into Southeast Asia onto an island with around 4 million inhabitants, into a world of Buddhism and cleanliness, a country associated with the exotic, the distant and the sling; a gin based cocktail. The exchange fair lured me with ideas of island hopping and a previous student of Singapore convinced me with tales of every night being lady’s night. Mostly it was the passion with which he spoke of all the sunrises he’d seen that exemplified to me heading out to Asia was an opportunity I could not walk past.

It feels distinctly like my first scuba dive, with a lot of equipment to sort out; a heavy oxygen tank filled for survival, cloudy goggles so you can’t see perfectly and big flippers for ultimate freedom and mobility.

Yet when you’re sitting on the edge of the boat all alone your filled with a large knot of excitement and fear you can only imagine what lies ahead. The smell of noodles sometimes gets my heart racing and talk of the Olympics in China makes bright colours and loud music seep through my senses. I could read every lonely planet guide and Wikipedia entry on Singapore but the knowledge I seek can never be read in a book.

As cliché as it seems I’m looking for excitement and adventure, looking to take the kind of photos you’d show your kids with pride and looking forward to relaying stories of the impossible and unimaginable. I’m ready to jump now.

Hello prospective readers of my blog! My name is Kate Roberts, I’m originally from York and this coming year (08/09) I will be studying at potentially one of the most exciting (and hot!) universities offered – the University of Miami in Florida. To couple this with the sort of idyllic symmetry one wants in life, I will be studying potentially the most exciting subject in the world… geology and physical geography. The study of not just rocks and fossils, oh no! But of other fascinating phenomena, such as dinosaurs, volcanoes and soil.

OK, fine, my degree sounds hideously boring. My host university will hopefully make up for that! Although I truly LOVE to study dinosaur fossils on a daily basis, I realise that it is not everybody’s cup of tea, so I will be concentrating on other more exciting happenings in this blog. Thus, all of you readers who study more socially appropriate subjects, such as medicine or veterinary, can breathe a smug sigh of relief and continue reading.

Miami, Florida… When I first applied for the exchange, the idea of spending my geology practicals in crystal blue lagoon seas and colourful coral reefs completely clouded my judgement on any other factors and it was only a few days before the deadline that I really thought about why I’d come to my decision. On a family trip to Miami many years ago, we were driving along Key Biscayne (a famous Floridian coral spit offshore from the city) and were surprised to come across the marine and atmospheric science school for the university. It was poised on the most beautiful white beach where a number of small boats were taking students out to study dolphins offshore, and I remember turning around in the back seat of the car and gazing longingly at the students. As the building disappeared into the distance I remember feeling a pang of sadness that I had the misfortune to be born British, where the closest university experience I could ever hope for was a chilly field trip into the North Sea!

Now, even with 6 weeks until I leave, I still can’t quite believe that I will be studying in the building that I gazed at with awe so long ago. Although petrified at the idea of going through another freshers week, and living so far from home, I can’t help but feel thrilled that I am lucky enough to be spending my third year in such an amazing place! Next year is just an unwritten blank page in my life and I am so glad that I get a chance to completely relocate myself for a year; something that I know is harder to do after full time education.

Being a Christian, I am both excited and nervous to find an American church that is vaguely normal, whilst no doubt experiencing what may be some extremely excited American preachers along the way…! Loud, fundamental Christianity is really not my cup of tea, and right now I’ve read that there is some kind of crazy revival going on Florida – something which I’m sure will be mentioned in my future blogs!

More about me: I love to dance and do sport, so all-American university passions such as cheerleading and baseball are looking very attractive! In my first two years I competed with the Edinburgh university trampolining team (which had its ups and downs…!) but I’ve found out that Miami do not have a bounce squad and so I may have to settle for dancing and gymnastics. Miami also has a professional American football team, and apparently social life at the university revolves around their games, so watch this space – I may come back singing all kinds of cheesy football anthems!

Another fact about me - I love ACTING! I loved being part of the Bedlam theatre (drama) and Footlight (musicals) societies whilst in Edinburgh, so one of the first things I’m going to do is sign up for the Miami University winter musical (High School Musical, anyone?)

So, that’s all from me on my first blog. For the time being all thoughts of next year are filled up with visa applications, housing applications, roommates and meal plans. I’ve been choosing my outside courses this week and there are some crazy ones offered. Cheerleading…? Ballet…? Mormon studies…? It looks like I may come back from the US with a little more than an increased knowledge of soil erosion…

From York (but not for much longer),

Kate x