My excitement to return to Newcastle after my three-week Christmas break in America was unparalleled and, as was expected, life in England is still just as thrilling as it was last semester. What I wasn't expecting, was the increased difficulty that this transition proved to be in comparison to our first arrival in September. While we were all anxious to get back to our new lives full of sports, friends, and adventures both within Newcastle and beyond, the British education system had different plans for us. Nevertheless, we survived!! And now as a proud second-semester fresher at Newcastle University I'm beyond ready to start all over again.
(Finally) here's Newcastle: Part Two
Revision, Reading, and Other Things I Should Have Done Last Semester
Coming to England I was very aware that this year was going to be a significant change academically. Newcastle University is a much larger school than Loyola, I spend much more of my time doing "independent study" (mainly of the characters of Downton Abbey), and the assessments are less frequent but worth much more. Perhaps I fell into the trap of thinking that study abroad is supposed to be an easier year or I just largely underestimated the stress that an exam worth 100% of your final grade could induce, but nonetheless when final exams began on January 18th it was a HUGE wakeup call.
There are a few reasons for this:
1.) Christmas "Break"
While I have found very little fault with the British education system, if the Queen were to give me the chance to fix one thing about my experience in England it would definitely be the placement of exams after the winter holiday. As a spoiled American used to being done with exams before Christmas, it was especially hard to try to force myself to revise (another fun British word for "studying") while all of my other friends were relaxing and focusing on the upcoming semester. While I immensely enjoyed being home for three weeks, I think if I were to break down my activities it would look something like this:
2.) Minor Traumatic Brain Injury
This is just a fancy and over-dramatic way of saying that I got a concussion playing ultimate frisbee before coming home for Christmas. As silly as this sounds, this meant that all driving, exercising, tv watching, studying, focusing, and general functioning was off-limits to me which made for a pretty sad holiday season. That being said, I consider myself extremely lucky that it happened when it did and that I had my lovely family around constantly to take care of and entertain me (however voluntary it may or may not have been). Rest assured, this in no way altered my keenness for the sport that nearly cost me all my grades.
3.) Invigilators and Examinations
Luckily, when it came time for the actual exams I was feeling much better, but this didn't help the fact that exams at a large university are basically like the SATs on a more stressful scale. In comparison to the 12-student rooms supervised by familiar professors in which I was used to taking exams, the exam venues filled with hundreds of students and monitored by "invigilators" reading off scripted instructions was a little bit of a shock. The university gave us nearly three weeks for finals though, which was both a blessing and a curse because I was able to travel to Southampton for an awesome weekend but it also just prolonged the inevitable stress.
The good news? As of two weeks ago (and 2 months later than everyone else) exams are over. Fully rested, over-enthusiastic, and with a properly functioning brain, I am officially in semester two!!
My Personal Immersion Project
Anyone who has followed this blog in the slightest knows that what began as my attempt at joining a club in Newcastle has turned into my new obsession: ultimate frisbee. Despite my recent injury status (and scoldings from my doctor) I have continued to play since returning to England, playing in two incredible tournaments recently.
The first, Mix and Mingle, was a mixed gender tournament in Sheffield that we got invited to as part of a team called "Charlie's Angels", named after our captain Charlie (who coincidentally also owns a shirt that us Loyola students found offensive so we made our own geographical inaccuracies).
When we're not making jokes at each other's expense, however, we do actually play some impressive frisbee together and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to train, travel, and sleep on random floors with across the UK.
The following weekend, in a spontaneous turn of events, I was asked to play with the Newcastle women's team at Nationals in Glasgow which was yet another really cool experience. Our team went into the tournament seeded #1 and ended up as 7th, but the outcome was really irrelevant in terms of how hard the team worked and how incredibly proud I was just to be a part of it. While I'm not sure that this is the type of cultural immersion that Loyola had in mind for me, I can't imagine my time abroad without it or the people that I've met as a result. Now that indoors is done it's time to start looking forward to the outdoor season (which in my opinion should be outlawed in North East England) but I'm mainly just excited for what other crazy things this team has in store for us.
Feeling Okay
I refuse to admit that I'm already halfway through my time here. It's a weird combination of feeling like I only just got here but also like I've lived here forever- and for this reason we don't let each other discuss it very much. It's come up more lately though because it's time to plan our travels for the spring! So far this includes an 8 day trip through France, 5 days in Barcelona, Easter in Rome, and then a quick night in Florence. We're also hoping to get to Amsterdam for a weekend when it gets warmer. For me though, I'm trying to make sure I have just as many weekends in Newcastle as I do away from it. Coming to terms with the end of the semester means accepting that in a few months I won't walk outside to frozen fingers, gusty winds, and grey skies, and that to me is not okay.
A few weeks ago we welcomed the spring semester students from Loyola (one of my best friends, Kathleen, amongst them) to Newcastle and it was extremely bittersweet. While I'm beyond happy to be done with finals and getting settled into my new classes (though you'd never be able to tell from my "first day of school" face) I would very much like time to stop right here. Fortunately for all of us, we are still three months and a whole lot of adventures away from any type of goodbye's and can focus on these happy hello's for now.
I do also think it's important to note that study abroad is not always winning frisbee tournaments, attending fancy dress socials, and smiling in front of pretty buildings. Studying abroad has been one of the most rewarding but challenging experiences of my life- studying for final exams with a concussion in a foreign country certainly wasn't ideal- but ironically it's what has led me to appreciate being here even more.
If I can manage to love England- rain, headaches, stress, and all-
That's okay by me.
