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Here I am on the Roman Walls!

October 15th, 2016

Greetings from York England!

Ever since I decided to study abroad, I made it a goal to take up as many opportunities as I can; my trip to York was no different. This trip to York was FREE through the International Society at LJMU! Everyone on the trip was from different countries & not only was it incredibly fascinating to hear everyone’s stories and perspectives, but we also got to travel somewhere new together!

I spent the day exploring the enchanting city that was home to Roman walls and castles, lopsided stores and alleyways, and the European birth city of chocolate! There were dozens of chocolate shops and it was quite common to see crowds at the store’s windowsill because you could see delicious fudge being handcrafted right before your eyes.

I wanted to experience the most of my seven hours in York so I started by enjoying a traditional York Pudding. It was absolutely delicious but I found that York Pudding is everything you will find at a Thanksgiving meal (turkey, gravy, potato, string beans, mushrooms, and stuffing) but meshed together in a giant pastry! I also ate some York chocolate and a KitKat bar since York is where the KitKat was invented.

Beyond chocolate, York is known as a very old medieval city with a rich and haunting history. (Fun fact: York is the most haunted city in England!) In the afternoon I did a “Dungeon Tour” of York where the tour group of approximately twenty people and I became “peasants.” Similar to a haunted house, we moved room to room and learned about the haunting history of York such as the black plague and the witch trials.

The Clifford’s Tower was my favorite part of the day. It was exactly what I imagined a castle to look like but to see and touch it in person was unforgettable. Fun history facts: the tower was built in 1086 by William the Conqueror. However, over the many, many years of tragic events, the tower has been burned down and rebuilt dozens of times but much of it stands tall today. The Clifford Tower sits in the middle of the Roman Walls that surround it. The original structure of the wall goes back to the Roman period but the Danish Vikings destroyed most of the wall when they invaded York in AD 866.  The wall was rebuilt in the 13th and 14th century and that is what is remaining today! (I love history!)

York was a beautiful city with so much to offer. I would definitely recommend going if you are in the UK! I took tons of videos and pictures but sadly I didn’t properly save them :(. Ironically, the only video that was saved is me throwing a coin into a wishing well on the roof of Clifford’s Tower…I should have wished to never lose my videos, haha! Oh well, luckily I sent some pictures to my mum!

Thanks for following me & my adventures, until next time!

Signing off,

AmErica in Liverpool

Week 4: I did something new in York
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Arrived in York, England! Almost everyone in this picture is from a different country! (I’m also the only American!!)
Traditional York hot chocolate
At the York Ministry with members of the International Society!
At the York Ministry with members of the International Society!
Part of the York Medieval architecture converted into a modern café.
The Shambles; a street which inspired Diagon Alley in Harry Potter!
Here I am on the Roman Walls!
The Clifford’s Tower!
The Clifford’s Tower!
The International Society members on the York trip!

It has already been 19 days since I arrived in Liverpool, and with each passing day I feel more and more comfortable here. During my first week, I struggled with a brief bout of jet lag which saw me awake and asleep at all the wrong times, but I have long since conquered that. Overall, I have been able to adjust to life in a new city quite well.

During the first week I was here alone, so I explored the city by myself on foot. I was able to enjoy the great end-of-summer weather that there was in early September. I saw the waterfront and the Albert Dock, where I spent hours looking out across the River Mersey to the Wirral Peninsula on the other side and enjoying the breeze. I saw both of the huge cathedrals that the city is home to, the Metropolitan and the Anglican. I found my school, about a 15 minute walk from my residence accomodation. I found the Echo Arena. I found the Bombed Out Church from World War II. I found St. George’s Hall (which was used as a filming location for the upcoming Harry Potter spin-off) and dozens of other gorgeous buildings and landmarks.

As I explored the city, a wonderful thing began to happen. Rather than needing to use my phone as a map all of the time, I could recognize my location by sight and navigate through memory. It is an extrordinary thing to learn your way around in a new city, and it is one of the best ways to feel more at home in that city. Not feeling lost all of the time goes a long way toward not feeling out of place. Besides just learning the streets, there were a few other things which required getting used to. The money is different, they use many more coins here than in the U.S. They drive on the opposite side of the road, so I have to remember to look the opposite way when crossing the street. They use different terms, for example “Cheers” means thank you and they call courses “modules”, among many others. It is truly enjoyable to learn and adapt to these differences, and it gives me a great sense of appreciation for the culture of this place.

After a little over a week of living by myself, my flat-mates arrived. They are all fellow SCSU students, and they are all great people. Two of them, Erica Surgeary and Shannon O’Malley are also keeping blogs which you should check out as well. All of us get along great, and it is nice to have others in the same situation learning how to live in this great city together.

Our first major outing as a group was to a food festival in a local park. There were hundreds of stands with foods from all different cultures. I had the interesting opportunity to try a zebra burger which, somewhat surprisingly, was quite good. We have also gone to a pub in the city center to watch the Liverpool F.C. match versus Chelsea. There were hundreds of joyous Liverpool fans singing together as they defeated their competitors. This was a somewhat foreign environment for me personally as a Chelsea supporter, but it was impossible not to enjoy the electryfing environment.

The people here have been nothing but kind, welcoming, and helpful. I have already met and made friends with people from all over the UK, from Ireland, from the Netherlands, from Romania, from Hungary, from France, from Italy, from China, and from India, all come to study here in Liverpool. Indeed, Liverpool is a great student city. It is accessible, safe, cheap, and full of things to do. It is striking how similar we all are despite our different backgrounds, and the world feels just a little bit smaller for it.

Classes finally begin tomorrow, Monday the 26th of September, after a week of registration and introductory information. I am looking forward to studying Shakespeare, British literature, and fiction writing here at LJMU. I can’t wait to meet all of my professors and my classmates. Here’s to a good semester!

Chris Rowland

Liverpool - Chris Rowland
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Chris Rowland
The food festival in a nearby park.
A burger made with zebra meat.
The massive Metropolitan Cathedral.
A view of the Radio City tower in downtown Liverpool.

SCSU at Big Ben

October 7th – 9th, 2016

Week 3: Eye Did It All
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SCSU at Big Ben
In Trafalgar Square
St. James Park
Big Ben!
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
On the Westminster Bridge I saw filming of the newest Transformers movie with Mark Wahlberg!
Harry Potter at the Platform 9 ¾ in Kings Cross Station
SCSU on Abbey Road!

September 14th – 25th, 2016

I can’t believe it’s been just over a week since I arrived to my new home! Everyday I’ve been enriched by the beauty of the city, the dynamic culture, and of course, brilliant English accents. (cheers mate!) In my short time here I can already see that Liverpool is a dynamic city that is perfect for university students. There are tons of free museums, art galleries, and restaurants, a very lively nightlife, and countless of food options to choose from.

I had the best Indian food the other night!

This past week I’ve been exploring the city with my 5 other flatmates, all from SCSU. We live in the same flat but we each have our own room and toilet (that’s what they call a bathroom!). We share a large kitchen & living room space where we find ourselves each evening drinking tea and chatting about our daily adventures, telling old stories, and playing cards. We’ve also made good friends with our neighbors, especially the flat above ours who are all lads from England, Ireland, and Wales! Their accents are sometimes hard to understand, especially scousers; which are Liverpool natives that speak a different and fast pace style of English. I find myself saying “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” too many times throughout the day, but everyone here is so genuine and kind that they don’t mind repeating themselves.

As seen in my video, I’ve taken the bus numerous times to get to IM Marsh campus at John Moores University (I’ll post more about LJMU next week). So don’t worry, I’m not just here on holiday (vacation) for four months. My modules (classes) don’t start until Monday, September 26th! However, I had “Induction Week”, which is similar to new student orientation. I’ve been enrolling in my Event Management courses and learning the ropes of what it means to be a Uni student in Liverpool.

One thing, of many many things, that has surprised me was that I was going to be with Event Management freshers (freshmen) during Induction Week. Just like me, they are new to the city. It was a relief that I wasn’t just a blue fish standing out of water, well, until I say something and people realize I am an American!

Surprisingly, the most frequent question I’ve been asked is if I’ve seen celebrities!

I’ve made friends with people from all over the UK and they tell me how much they love my accent; how crazy is that?! Sometimes I feel like a celebrity because anytime I speak, all eyes turn to the “American in the room” but it gets better then that… When anyone asks where in America I am from, I say New York (sadly no one really knows where Connecticut is)  their eyes light up and smile instantly. I’ve noticed their excitement is not about where I am from but it’s that I’ve simply seen New York City before!

The majority of my blog posts will be featured via video. If you’re viewing/reading this post as a Southern Owl or LJMU student, and are interested in the exchange program, I hope you keep following me on this adventure! You can also email me anytime at ericasurgeary@gmail.com if you have questions.

 

Well, that’s it for now mates, until next week, wish me luck on my first week of modules!

 

Signing off,

– AmErica n’ Liverpool.

Liverpool Week 2
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Bold Street - A very popular street in Liverpool with many delicious restaurants and coffee shops!
This is Julia! I met her in June when she and twenty other LJMU students came to Southern for three weeks. She is from Italy and is president of the International Society (club). At the Liverpool Food & Drink Festival, she encouraged me to try some items on the menu that is behind us; kangaroo, camel, and zebra!
Bringing a little Southern pride to Liverpool!
Classic British telephone booth
Museum of Liverpool at the Albert Dock- Here I’m with Event Management freshers on a treasure hunt in the city for Induction Week!
Coopers Coffee Shop - A pot of tea and Welsh Rarebits with a poached egg and a side of homemade tomato and apple chutney. (AKA the best meal I’ve had so far!)
A beautiful sunset from my room!
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool

 

Museum of Amsterdam

By Rebecca Weinberger

You may or may not already know, but Amsterdam is one of the most fascinating places to visit. Why? Amsterdam is rich in culture, historical monuments, and politics.

Today in class we focused a lot on religion and politics in the Netherlands. Our guest speaker, David J. Bos, Ph.D., took us on a journey through the history of Amsterdam. Some interesting aspects I learned were the differences between religions, and how religion plays a major part in today’s votes for office, such as parliament. Pillarization (a separation of society) still takes place even today. In comparison, one might look at the requests catholic, orthodox protestant, socialists, and liberal protestants made when demanding that their religion deserve the most privileges – good education, health care, and media were the aspects each religion had most in common. Throughout the ages, segregation and religious battles continued. Today anyone can vote for parliament, providences, and the European parliament.

Amsterdam has come a long way from hundreds of years ago. After class we winded down and ate a short lunch in the University of Amsterdam’s cafeteria. Later, we visited the Museum of Amsterdam. There were audio recordings, which talked about the history of Amsterdam, as well as rooms that depicted modernized culture and artwork. Spoiler alert! Inside the museum are many artifacts and knowledge about gay heritage, and the effects of Amsterdam’s drug and brothel culture. As the night ended, we came together as a group and chatted in the courtyard of our dormitory, then took a walk to get a “late night” snack near the infamous Red Light district.

First Day in Amsterdam

By Erica DeBlois

We’ve been here since Friday and the weekend gave us all a great opportunity to get the lay of the land and explore different parts of the city.  Settling in and getting comfortable for the month-long classes, we all have been talking about what we’ve seen and how interesting the Dutch people and their culture are.

The most interesting thing to me so far is how many bikes there are and the many different and creative ways I’ve seen people riding them. There have been some bikes with single riders while on other occasions, there have been one bike with three people on it: the person peddling, a small child on the back wheel, and another on the handle bars.

Since getting here, we’ve explored many different restaurants and tried many new foods.

Today marked our first day of actual class and we got to meet Mirjam, the program director here at the University of Amsterdam. She gave us an introduction to Dutch life, told us what to expect from the program, and gave us our welcome packets of information. She talked a little about how that the Dutch built Amsterdam on the sea and we are actually below sea level.

We reconvened after lunch to discuss our overall experience so far here in the Netherlands and specifically what we are going to learn about. We got our first reading assignment and are all set to kick off tomorrow with our first guest speaker!

From left to right: Hope, Steve, Kelly, Tim, Miles, Sophie, Andri, Patrick, Charlie, Tom, Peter, Scott, Dan

By Steven Cardinal and Miles Mcconville

So today marks our halfway mark on our grand adventure in the beautiful Skálanes, Iceland. Today the students of SCSU AND Liverpool John Moores University continued working on the projects that we’ve been assigned for the next few days.

The projects are aimed at consolidating the knowledge and skills the group has learnt so far on the trip, such as studying the hydrology of local rivers, looking at the sea bird population, and investigating snow conditions.

Some students accompanied Dr. Heidkamp on an expedition to install another weather station in the area on top of Baegsli (938 meters). Unfortunately, weather conditions and wet terrain prohibited those hiking from reaching their destination. Although it was a bummer the goal wasn’t reached, we did learn a valuable lesson in trusting our gut when a situation is presented that doesn’t feel 100% safe. The mountains are not going anywhere and will still be there to climb another day.

Meanwhile, one group traveled to the mountain pass behind Seyðisfjörður to measure snow levels and density. Stakes had been placed earlier in the week and were revisited to see their progress. Due to the unseasonably high temperatures we have seen around 15cm of snow melt over the past three days. The site will continue to be monitored over the coming days to track its progress and record its findings.

Later on in the evening, we had the pleasure of meeting Andri Snaer Magnason, Icelandic presidential hopeful and author of the book Dreamland, which discusses the environmental concerns surrounding hydroelectric power and aluminium smelting processes within the country. Hearing Andri discuss the impacts of damming opened our eyes to how not to just accept an environmental solution without doing some research.

Not long after we were treated to a boat ride out in the fjord guided by Oli, the owner of the Skálanes nature reserve. It was a blessing to interact with both of these amazing individuals today. They have broadened our horizons on what it really means to care for nature and why it is so important to protect it. We can’t wait to see what else this adventure will offer us.

Iceland
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SCSU student, Steve Cardinal, trekking through the snow.
Dr. Patrick Heidkamp leading students through the Icelandic wilderness.
From left to right: Hope, Steve, Kelly, Tim, Miles, Sophie, Andri, Patrick, Charlie, Tom, Peter, Scott, Dan
Oli
On the boat again..

By Janee Petersen and Jacob Gant

All Work No Play

Today was the first time that work dominated the entirety of the day. Many of us were on cooking, dishes, or cleaning duty. This even included cleaning the guesthouse bathrooms.  Everyone is expected to help with the day to day operations of Skálanes.

The course work began immediately after breakfast with an orientation of the weather stations which we will be installing here within the next few days.  The weather stations will monitor conditions such as precipitations, temperature, wind speed and the barometric pressure.  They should collect data at Skálanes for years to come.

Next was a lecture and lab exercise on hydraulic river modeling. We took various measurements and readings from a stream running through the property. The rest of the day was spent working on individual research projects.  Some of us have projects relating to Skálanes and those of us who will be doing research in other parts of Iceland were paired up with our friends from Liverpool to help with their projects.

Although today was low key and we stayed inside for most of the day, it was still an all-inspiring experience to be able to do homework, listen to music and hang out with our new British friends in such a beautiful place.

Ps. We all needed the rest anyways considering Iceland is the land of no sleep (New York has nothing on us).

 

By Kelly Bickell, Becca Hubley, and Luke

Explorations Around Skalanes

The students are noticing a recurring theme where activities are considerably more extreme than expected. We started the day as potato farmers. Using our knowledge that we acquired yesterday doing soil profiles, we had to test soil in a wide array of areas in Skalanes to find the most suitable spot to grow potatoes.

The SCSU and LJMU students took advantage of the 60 degree Fahrenheit weather by hanging out on the farm house deck once we all finished our field work, which overlooks the ocean, meadows and snow covered mountains. Once the students felt rejuvenated from naps under the hot sun, mushroom soup, and laughter, Skalanes employees and the professors led two groups of students up nearby mountains in an effort to plant weather stations at high altitudes.

A small group of students climbed a more challenging ridge in order to place a temperature meter at higher altitude, as well as planted snow stakes for an LJMU student’s dissertation data collection. Although the climb to the top of the ridge was long, steep and tiring, it was worth it to see the incredible view.

We all ended our night with a bumpy car ride, pizza and drinks in Seydisfjordur, and what seemed like the longest walk ever back to the farm house at sunrise. Yesterday was a good day.

Striated Mountainside

By Sarah Gummo, Hope Finch, and Grace Skyrrow

I had legit chicken nuggets that were lamb. – Charlie Comstock

Here are a few important things that Dr. Heidkamp conveniently failed to mention when we signed up for this trip:

  1. We’d be fording frigid rivers on foot (at 1 am and with disastrous but hilarious results).
  2. We’d be surrounded by angry Arctic Terns who find pleasure in dive bombing and pecking unprotected heads.
  3. Iceland doesn’t believe in common roadside safety features such as guard rails.

Hope and Peter Drenched

Despite wet boots, sore heads, and mild strokes from straddling cliffs in our sweatbox vehicles, we have all enjoyed another beautiful day in Iceland. After departing from our beloved Berunes Hostel, we enjoyed a packed car ride past waterfalls, striated mountainsides, and through one extremely long tunnel, which has been the only bit of darkness experienced since our arrival on Sunday.

We were then given a guided tour through the Alcoa Aluminum Plant, which ended with our first giant meal of the trip at the plant’s canteen. We continued our drive after lunch, stopping at Karahnjukar Power Plant and Fljotsdalur Station briefly, before soaking at Laugarfell Hot Spring and eating soup and bread. Our final drive in the stinkmobiles ended, and we were left on the side of a winding gravel road to make a 3 km hike.

Hike to Skalanes

 

The trek to Skalanes is where things really got interesting, ending in near hypothermia (only if you ask Hope), drenched pants, and one great story.

We have arrived at Skalanes, with a heightened respect for beds and an awe-inspiring view.

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