My year abroad was the best thing I ever could have done, I learnt real life lessons and I have made friends for life. I seem to be slightly stumped on what to say in this blog, just because the whole thing was so fantastic and is already starting to blur into one big memory. But what I would say is grab every opportunity as it comes, make friends with everyone and get involved with every trip, club and activity you can, because it really does fly by and it’s over before you know it. When I returned to the UK I definitely had a bit of a culture shock,…

One of my biggest worries before going abroad was whether my long term boyfriend and I would survive living 13 hours away. We had lived together for the first two years in Manchester and had both decided to go abroad in our third year. He would be studying at the University of Vermont in Burlington and I would be studying at the University of Maryland in College Park. The Universities were both on the East Coast of America and looked fairly close on the map, how bad could it be right? However it wasn’t until we both got into our respective universities that we realised we were actually about a…

So I did it. I had the real USA college spring break style vacation (yes I did just say vacation, I am a real American now). But anyway I loved it. I headed to Mexico with 4 of my friends and we sunbathed, swam, and had the most amazing experience, in one of the coolest countries I have ever visited. So prior to my trip whenever I would tell anyone I was going to Mexico, particularly Americans they wouldn’t say have fun or that is amazing. They would always say ooo ‘be careful’ or ‘be safe’, now I’m not sure if that is because there is so much anti- Mexican…

Before starting this post I just want to firstly say that going abroad is like nothing you will ever experience. The only thing I can relate it to slightly is first year of University. You want to do everything, get involved with everything, see everything and say yes to everything anyone asks you to do. That is why budgeting has been so so difficult while abroad. Before I came to the University of Maryland and started my year abroad in America I would say I was good with managing money. I never went into my overdraft and I had a job since I was 16 and did babysitting before then…

Before going to America I expected the food, even the food in the dining hall to be AMAZING. I had visited America before doing my year abroad and knew that American portions were typically gigantic food was covered in excess amounts of salt and sugar and lots and lots of bbq sauce. However, I think I kind of forgot that this might be enjoyable for a 10 day holiday but maybe not for an entire semester. I found that I very quickly got sick of fast food, greasy food and extremely sweet food. By the time I came home for christmas I was craving good old bangers and mash with…

Before leaving on my year abroad I felt that everyone had talked to me about the dreaded “roommate” situation. Everyone who had been on years/ semesters abroad before me had horror stories lined up about their roommate. So of course I was nervous. I hadn’t shared a room with someone since I was 9 years old and to say I was a bit worried would be an understatement. When I was given my roommate allocation I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was allocated another international student. Although a lot of people asked me if I was disappointed she wasn’t American, honestly I wasn’t. I knew that if I…

So with mid-terms approaching I thought now would be the perfect time to highlight academic differences between the University of Manchester (UoM) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). I have now been at UMD for almost 2 months and I can confidently say that there are huge academic differences between the US and the UK. Upon arrival at UMD the US academic system seemed really overwhelming at first. The first week of classes contained similarities with that of UoM as professors handed out syllabi and ran through the overall content of the class and discussed exams etc. However, there  seemed to be so many more essays, tests, quizzes…

It’s been a month since I arrived at the University of Maryland, College Park and I know it sounds cliche but it feels like I have been here for my whole degree. I have learned that when you are forced to make friends in such a short space of time when you are away from all your friends and family, they really do become your family. I knew before I came to Maryland that I wanted to travel and that is exactly what I have been doing, in fact, since I arrived on campus I have only spent one weekend actually in Maryland. So far I have visited Washington DC,…