Cornell and Beyond

wow, this post made me hungry

I must say, England isn’t all fun and games…you miss your family, freinds, pets, ect. You miss things you wouldn’t think you would miss, like running up Libe Slope because you’re late, or trekking to Collegetown in the rain from West Campus just to go from your dorm room doing nothing to your freind’s apartment doing nothing. And besides all the obvious things to miss, there was one thing I really wasn’t prepared for: missing the food.

Anywhere you go you can complain about the food, and but I have to say, I’ve had some of the best meals of my life in Ithaca. In my opinion, Cornell has some delicious grub, even if it is slightly overpriced. In fact I think I will list my all-time faves that I have a hankering for all the time here in the UK, that no fish and chips can assuage…

Trillium Noodle Bowl-Rice noodles with an oily delicious sauce, chicken or beef, cilantro and green onions, all piping hot and yummmmmmmmy.

Noodle House- This isn’t Cornell Dining but I miss Noodle House very much…they have huge servings of the most delicious pad thai I’ve ever had, as well as a super spicy basil (pronounced bahhzil here in England) noodle dish that satisfies my need for heat. (I think I’m going to make this my first meal when I get back to Ithaca.)

Souvlaki House- 3 words- Chicken with Artichokes – that’s all I need to say.

The desserts at Aladdin’s: they don’t have a desert menu so you are forced to get up and go look at the case in person…smartest selling tool ever…don’t get up and look unless you know you want desert, because either way you’ll end up getting one!

RPU fresh baked chocolate chip cookies…they would come out still soft and hot and practically cause skirmishes in the chaos that ensued in trying to obtain them… people would be waiting by the desert table for them, ready to take 20 back for their friends…a basket full of cookies would easily be emptied in a span of 5 minutes or less…

Mac’s Grab and Go pasta of the day with sauce: at under three dollars this is one of the best buys on campus.

And, the number one thing I miss that I know I will never find anywhere else besides Cornell?

If you go to Cornell, you may have already guessed it. None other than the

STATLER SALAD w/ SESAME GINGER DRESSING – you choose the ingredients, the dressing, the roll, the works. This is the mother of all salads. If you don’t believe me, try for yourself and then get back to me. ‘Nough said.

PS- Since I’ve been gone it appears another must try has popped up in Collegetown, and this time the initials spell TBP, The Burrito Place…I just like the name!

pancakes! lots of them!

Now I know why they call it Fat Tuesday in some countries.  I feel like I literally may explode at any moment.

Well, it’s called Pancake Day here in England (the day before Lent) and guess what? They eat pancakes all day!  From dawn to dusk, pancakes are everywhere.  A good majority of them are now also in my belly.

The English pancake is definitely distinct from the American pancake.  It’s much thinner (although not quite thin as the French pancake) although just as delicious.  The classical filling is a sprinkling of lemon juice and sugar.  So I had to try that one, of course…and then the maple syrup one, just to do it American style, and then the chocolate spread one just because it’s delicious,  and then the other chocolate one, but that one only because they put it in my plate before I could say no…right.  Now you see why I am about to explode.    I haven’t eaten that much in one sitting since I was in America.  (Hey, it’s true! We have mammoth sized portions back in the good ole US of A.)

On a completely unrelated note, all of my friends back at Cornell have taken up some guitar video game as their only source of entertainment.  The things you miss when you go to Europe for five months.

the most dangerous aspect of living in England

Is it walking the city streets at night? The rain storms that take you by surprise? Stuffing yourself full of scones and cakes?

No, for me the most dangerous aspect of living in England is crossing the street. I was warned before I left by a friend who had lived here for a year to “always check twice when you cross” but I still wasn’t prepared for how difficult it truly is.

I know that cars are coming from the opposite direction but I’ll just naturally look the way I’m used to, which spells trouble as you might imagine. An American girl’s best friends are these special “pelican crossings” which have two poles on either sides with blinking lights. At these crossings, cars MUST stop for you no matter what. However, these crossings aren’t everywhere, so I was forced to develop some strategies, such as waiting for other people to cross and then walking right next to them…this can backfire if the people you follow don’t know how to cross either.

And of course, the whole thing is worsened by the fact that I’m coming from Ithaca. Ithaca, the place where students bask in the fact that they take precedence over cars. I’ve seen cars at stop signs for over 5 minutes waiting patiently for the hordes of students going from class to class. To many Cornellians, traffic lights are mere suggestions for pedestrians. (Not a good standard to have, I realize now.) But it is very easy to get lulled into just expecting cars to stop for you and crossing willy-nilly. Well, England has quickly broken me of that little habit. It’s handy while you are safe in Ithaca but out in the real world, I suppose I should look before I cross

Oh, I forgot, I turned 21

Happy Valentine’s Day! (Well, for me it’s over, but back in the states there are a couple of hours left.) If you were in Ithaca, it was an extra special V-Day because you got classes cancelled! I am very sad that I missed the only snow day that will probably ever occur during my time at Cornell. Oh well, I guess when you’re in Europe you can’t complain much.

I realized I forgot to mention a somewhat important event: my birthday! I turned 21 about a week ago. It was actually a unique and memorable 21st birthday.

First I went to dinner with another study abroad student, Jess. We went to this restaurant called Nando’s which was allegedly Portuguese food but seemed like the usual chicken and burgers to me. It was pretty good, and my appreciation for it was probably heightened by the fact that it was the first time I had gone out to eat since I had gotten here! Side note, restaurants that I’ve been to have a really odd arrangement for us Americans. You come in, are seated, and then go up to the counter to order and pay. You have a table number you give the waiter/cashier and then they send off their food to your table when it’s done. (I’m sure the fancier restaurants are different.) This is really strange the first time you go through it, and you can’t help but feel like an awkward foreigner. Jess and I sat awkwardly for about 2 minutes when we were ready to leave because we weren’t sure if we should tip. Really cool, I know. (If you’re curious, we ended up hightailing it out of there. Sometimes Americans are known for being really good tippers since we’re used to tipping for everything in the States. We American students don’t have to worry about getting that label.)

After that, we proceeded onward to our next stop, the Bristol Hippodrome, where we watched a lovely performance of Swan Lake. If you’ve never seen a ballet before, I would definitely recommend going. It was pretty impressive, and I don’t even know that much about ballet. At one point the lead was spinning for at least a minute with one leg never touching the ground. And I am not exaggerating.

After the ballet, I hit the town with some of my flat mates. We went to this really cool bar/restaurant that had stunning original architecture and huge, billowing fabric ceilings. Following that, we went to a couple of clubs. (Well, at the first club we went to the queue (The Brits love their lines!) was massively out of control, so we waited for about 5 minutes before leaving.) The one we actually ended up played a nice mix of dance, drum & bass, funk, and house. (The best I can describe drum & bass is higher class techno. I’d never heard of it before, but to be honest that might be my ignorance and not necessarily a cultural difference.)

So as you can see, a lovely time overall. And when I got back my flat mates suprised me with this life sized Thornton’s Chocolate champagne bottle. 100% solid milk chocolate. I’m still working on the cork.

Is 21 as big a deal here as in the states? I don’t think so, but the friends I met here made sure that it was a great birthday nonetheless. And how many people get to say they went to the ballet on their 21st birthday? I do!

Bristol looks beautiful. If you don’t mind me asking, what program are you doing that allows you to be there?

Hello,

Well, I think you are referring to which study abroad program am I doing this through, but your question brings up other valid points as well.

I am enrolling in the University of Bristol as a regular student, and I did this through the Cornell Abroad office. So I pay tuition for the semester here (which is actually NOT more expensive than Cornell tuition) plus a Cornell International Program fee, (about 4250)…why does Cornell charge this? The Cornell Abroad FAQ explains.

However, there are a huge number of opportunities for study abroad, throughout the world. Don’t be limited by what you see here, study abroad is a personal decision that should reflect your interests, (both academics and otherwise) and personality, among other things. It just so panned out that Bristol was right for me, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice!

I don’t think you meant this in your question but I’ll respond to it anyways, in terms of what courses I am doing that allow me to study abroad. I am a biology major at Cornell, in the school of Arts and Sciences. Even though I’m flying through in terms of required classes I need to take, if there were a class I couldn’t put off, I could apply to get major credit for the class taken abroad. (Pre-med isn’t as easy as that, but that’s a whole other story.) And I think each college does it differently, but although my grades will appear in my transcript exactly as they are sent over, they will NOT be calculated into my GPA. Other majors may find it easier/harder to study abroad but I firmly believe that whatever you do, if you really want to study abroad you’ll be able to do it. Cornell is great in terms of providing a veritable plethora of opportunities. (Sorry, I just wanted to use the word plethora again.)

I hope that answers your question!

a somewhat limited introduction to rugby

Today my flatmates took me to spend a lovely afternoon watching my first ever game of rugby in a local tavern/pub…

–> Insert expletive here <–

Have you ever seen a game of rugby? If you have you’ll understand why I say that. We got there after the game had started so spent the first half hour or so stalking people at their tables in order to sit down. This was actually ironic because once we did sit down I couldn’t really see the screen anymore, only hear the shouts. However, from what I did see, the sport seemed absolutely BRUTAL. Imagine a faster paced version of football that incorporates wrestling and removes protective padding, and that sums up what I watched. I actually felt the pain that some of the guys must have been going through as they were brought viciously to the ground. One particular head-butt to the stomach made me gasp a bit. I will say because play didn’t necessarily stop when someone got tackled it was fun to watch.

I won’t attempt to explain the rules, I’m not sure I got them myself. (Plus, there are different versions of rugby with different rules) but you can find that here.

The game that I watched was England vs. Italy, and apparently everybody knew it would be a pretty easy win for England. This is because Six Nations (the teams) were not too long ago Five Nations, until Italy joined. So it seems Italy still has some catching up to do.

Anyways, I will try to continue my cultural immersion but for now I will leave you with
ENGLISH SLANG OF THE DAY: bangers and mash = sausage and mashed potatoes, a staple here
ENGLISH PRONOUNCIATION OF THE DAY: Toe-mah-toe (Go ahead, say it aloud…)

photos for your viewing pleasure

I thought that I’ve been here long enough to give you a lovely little photo montage of the wonderful city I get to call home for now : )

This is the Bristol Cathedral, which this picture truly doesn’t do justice. I was lucky enough to visit it during Evensong, which allowed me to hear the boy’s choir. A must see of Bristol, in my opinion.

This is Cabot Tower, which is in the middle of this gorgeous sprawling park that has all these wonderful nooks. Do I sound like a guide book? Sorry, but it really is fantastic. Plus, it’s on top of a big hill so there are all these wonderful views of the city. On a clear day you can see for miles around. (See below)

One of the aforementioned views. Did I mention I live super close to this park? I was taking a walk and all of a sudden I saw a patch of green in the corner of my eye. I was drawn to it like a horse to water. That’s one thing you can’t get in a city, the beautiful scenic backdrop of nature. This park is a great refuge and comes close though!

The park.

This city is amazing, it’s got the advantages of a big city, but is small enough that you don’t feel too overwhelmed, as I might have otherwise coming from good ole Ithaca. And don’t get me wrong, I miss Cornell. (The beauty, the people, did I mention the people?) But being able to spend a good five months in Europe has it’s pro’s also ; )

PS- Please accept my apologies for the plethora of adjectives such as “beautiful, gorges (Ithaca inside joke), and wonderful.”  I couldn’t help it!

Not quite USA University with accents

Well, since I didn’t get any requests, I’ll assume you are happy to hear me blab on about any aspect about being in England I care to tell you.  

Since this is a university blog I might tell you a little bit about what it’s like going to uh, the university, of course.  That makes sense, right?  You’d be surprised at how different everything actually is.  It’s not quite USA University with accents.  I promise. 

First of all, the undergraduate here finishes in 3 years, not 4.  So although technically I’m a junior at Cornell, I probably equate to a 2^nd year student here.  Most people have structured schedules depending on their department, or major.  It’s not like Arts and Sciences at Cornell, where you have a lot of room to pretty much take classes in whatever interests you.  The structure would probably more equate to Cornell’s engineering school, where, with some exceptions, your 4 years are very much planned out and structured for you.  It’s unusual to cross register with departments, so each department pretty much takes “ownership” of the students taking that subject.  For example, each department creates its own timetables, or schedules, for classes.  This usually isn’t a problem, since mostly everyone only takes classes in one department.  It did give me a bit of run around, since I am taking classes in 4 different departments.  However, everything worked out for me, although I did have to change things around from what I had originally planned so that none of my class timetables would conflict.

The full class load here is 60 credit hours, which I think would equate to 15 hours at Cornell, or something about there.  But unlike Cornell, this semester is divided into two terms.  So I have spring term, a four week break, and summer term.  (Yeah, you heard me, four week break.  Jealous much?)  So some classes will technically end by March, while others will continue till May.  However, I think all the exams will be in May! Geez!

Have I been too confusing?  Apologies if so, but I’m trying to make sense of it as much as you are : )

My classes have been overall actually quite interesting, and quite varied.  I will be learning about avian biology, art connosieurship, and social psychology, to name a few. 

Oh, and I forgot about the best part.  You don’t really need to get any textbooks here.  Well, you can, and people do, but it’s very different from the states where you automatically know you’ll be spending a couple hundred bucks a semester on books for classes.  This is because a lot of our reading is only “recommended,” so there isn’t any pressing need for any book at any particular moment.  This makes it a lot more feasible to use the library as your primary source for texts, at least in my opinion.  I’ve had no problems so far, and will let you know if that situation changes. 

One more thing that shocked me: some student dorms are upwards of 45 minutes from campus! Ouch, I’m just lucky that I’m not living in one of those!  Count your blessings when you can roll out of bed and get to class 10 minutes later. Cornell, I will never complain about walking around you ever again.