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The not so similar life
It has been a couple of months now since I set foot on campus. I’ve been amazed by the difference in how UoM (University of Manchester) and UMass Amherst (University of Massachusetts at Amherst) are run. I have to say that one blogpost may not be able to portray my understanding and feeling but I will have a go. First and foremost, I will avoid mentioning UMass Amherst Dining as I believe no blogger or blog post can do it justice. No wonder it has been rated in the top two for several years running. If you are in Manchester and wondering why the big deal about food, it may…
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A Brief Discussion on Classes at Amherst, Christmas and the Canada Road Trip
By James Eyke (University of Massachussetts Amherst, USA) Whilst exam period back at home is a month long period of stress and near constant work, the same cannot be said for over here. The classes I took were much smaller than lectures, one in fact had only six people in it, allowing for a more one-to-one learning experience. This is very helpful in my subject area, Chemistry, because it is relatively hard and allows me to easily get clarification on an area of confusion. Throughout the term we were given two midterm exams, multiple problem sets and homework, keeping us on our toes and up to date the whole time.…
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Academic Experience and First Semester at UMass Amherst
By Lucas Smith (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) With second semester starting imminently, I am now half way through my placement here at the University of Massachusetts. This semester has gone very fast, as I expected it to. Still, I think I have managed to cram in as many activities and experiences as possible. Already it has become a year that I will never forget. Moving into my second semester here I will now be more accustomed to the academic aspect of my placement. While we were all told in our pre-departure meetings about how teaching vastly varies across the globe and from institution to institution, the reality really only…
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Reflections on Study Abroad on my return to Manchester
By Hamish Russell (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) It’s been six months since I landed back at Heathrow, and almost four since I started back at the University of Manchester after my semester abroad. Getting back into everyday life with family and friends was easy, but adjusting back to the university work in Manchester was actually quite difficult. Having been working at a very different pace while in the US, the workload that I’ve been hit with so far in third (and final) year has been tricky to adapt to. As well as that, it’s been almost strange not always planning a trip to somewhere new, as if that’s the…
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After some time in Amherst
By James Eyke (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA) Well the first few weeks of being here certainly have been very interesting. When I first got off the plane the first thing that struck me was the heat; the first full day was the hottest day of the summer so far. So for the first two weeks we had what felt like tropical weather, which was all very nice. After we were taken care of and settled in nicely by the brilliant International Programs Office, we had a good few days of leisure before classes started. One of the more interesting nights was a frat party at a frat house. One…
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Arrival and first two weeks
By Lucas Smith (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA) So I have touched down in Massachusetts, got settled and started classes. On one hand, it seems to have all happened so fast. However, it does seem a long time ago since I last sat down to write a blog piece just before my departure. The first two weeks here have been amazing. As to be expected, the first few days were a shock, and this probably was not helped by the continuous travel from Manchester to Amsterdam, then Boston and finally Amherst, all in the same day. However, in the following days I got out and about the campus. The campus…
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Pre-Departure to Amherst
By James Eyke (The University of Massachusetts at Amherst). After a long summer, all the preparation and sorting out for travelling to America is about to come into effect. Visa in hand, I will soon be stepping off the plane into a completely new environment full of opportunities and heading to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Naturally, one starts feeling very nervous around this time. Having not travelled as far as Northern Spain in the past 15 years, thousands of miles across the ocean is quite a daunting task. The thing I am most apprehensive about with regards to my journey however, has to be getting from Boston International Airport to…
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Post-UMass Travels, Part 2
By Hamish Russell (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA). So before I head home after six of the best months I could have asked for, I’ll give a little update on my travels. The first port of call after leaving Philadelphia was Washington D.C., the capital of the USA. I spent my two days in D.C. mainly on and around the National Mall visiting pretty much everything, starting with the Lincoln Memorial on the west side and ending with the Supreme Court building to the east. I also spent some time in the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, which was huge, but somehow made to feel small by the sheer number of people inside…
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Post-UMass Travels, Part 1
By Hamish Russell (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA). So now that my time at UMass is up, the travelling has got underway. My first stop was staying with my roommate and his family for about a week and a half and seeing the Boston and Cape Cod areas. After making the journey from UMass to his house – during which we had to turn around and drive back to UMass because our room keys were still in our pockets, and we didn’t fancy the $150 fine – we had a couple of days of just chilling out after the exam period. Once we’d recovered, our first stop was Martha’s Vineyard. The…
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The End… Almost
By Hamish Russell (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA). Now that final exams at UMass Amherst are over, I thought I’d fill you in the goings on of the last few weeks. First up was the UMass Spring Concert, which featured the Goo Goo Dolls as the headline act – they were seriously good, despite it being almost unbearably hot and cramped in the Mullins Centre’s standing area. The weekend after the concert, I headed over to Boston to pay a visit to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, where I was given a bigger event than I was expecting… The game happened to feature a memorial…
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Visiting Philadelphia
By Hamish Russell (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA). Spring break was a really nice change of pace for me; having already done the clubbing sort of holiday with my UK-based friends I was more interested in hearing the tales that others brought back, and staying clear of the fray myself. So, while many of my friends from UMass headed to Cancún for the week, I caught my flight from Boston to Philadelphia. As soon as I landed I was thrown into the culture of a new city, with new terms for seemingly trivial things replacing the new words I’ve become accustomed to while in Massachusetts. I was told off for…
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Exams, new experiences, and the cold
By Hamish Russell (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA). When -6 starts to feel like it’s not particularly cold, you know you’ve settled into New England – or so my new friends tell me. With the weather in the northeastern United States as bad as it has been, I’ve not been venturing out too often since my trip to New York – but a good time is still to be had. Encouraged by some of the Americans I’ve made friends with, I’ve started ice-skating fairly regularly. While fun for us, we’ve had a mixed reaction from some of the regular skaters because of some of our antics, which have included skating…
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