Michaela Carroll ’16

Last semester, I was lucky enough to make some amazing friends. A few were other American students, but most of them were international students (ie, not British students). I think this was partly because two of my classes last semester were upper level classes, so most of the students already knew each other and weren’t really looking to make new friends, and partly because I attended a lot of organised events for international students. We ended up forming a pretty big group and hanging out together all the time, which was great! But it  meant I didn’t meet many British students. This semester I met more British students because all of my classes are intro level or first year classes. I’m taking sociology, English, and criminology, and they’re all really interesting! I’ve become really close with one group of girls in a building close to mine, as well, and I met them through a girl I sat next to on the bus one day, and we just started talking! They’re all super welcoming and friendly, and they think I’m the “cool American” and make me pronounce things all the time, which I think is especially funny because that’s what I do to them!

 

But anyway, one of the girls I met last semester, who ended up being one of my best friends, lives just outside of Venice, and out of the blue, I was looking at flights and booked a trip to go see her on Fat Tuesday to celebrate Carnival! So here’s a few pictures we took of the trip (mostly spent eating and catching up!):

IMG_3917

We got our faces painted on the street!

Venice was so pretty- I took about a thousand pictures that look exactly like postcards!

Venice was so pretty- I took about a thousand pictures that look exactly like postcards!

These babies are called frittelle, and they're kind of like beignets, only with raisins and nuts and cream inside. Basically like little donut holes with nuts and raisins and a filling. They're amazing!

These babies are called frittelle, and they’re kind of like beignets, only with raisins and nuts and cream inside. Basically like little donut holes with nuts and raisins and a filling. They’re amazing!

We also had (delicious) pizza and gelato, and I stayed at her house and met her family- my favourite part of the trip was probably just getting to see my friend! And what’s better: she has two younger brothers, named Frank and Gio (Francesco and Giovanni) and MY brothers are Frank and Joe (Francis and Joseph)! So basically, we’re twins.

 

It was really wonderful to see her, and I know I’m going to miss all of the friends I’ve made this year. But I can’t get sappy yet, I still have another two weeks of class! I am getting excited to go home though- I miss my family and my friends at home, and I know that I’ll be able to come back. WOWAir has just put a new route in that goes through Iceland, making a flight from Boston to Iceland only $99, which cuts the cost of a flight from the East Coast to Europe more than in half!

 

School is starting to pick up- I have three big essays that I’ve just started for May, and I handed in an essay and a HUGE project this past Monday, and hopefully I’ll be able to start on my ICIP soon! For those of you reading along at home, the ICIP is an independent cultural immersion project, and you’re supposed to get an advisor at your host school and you write a paper and present it to them. However, Leicester apparently didn’t hire an advisor for us last semester? And we have one now, but he hasn’t really heard what we’re supposed to do… I keep stopping by and emailing, and I just asked the Holy Cross Study Abroad office for more information, and they told me WHAT I’m doing but I think it still needs to be approved by the advisor here. Hopefully that will be sorted soon, because it seems like everyone else has been working on their projects and meeting with advisors since September! But this year I’m definitely learning to adapt, because it seems like no one really knows the full story- I’m learning to take life as it comes!

 

I’m off for a scone and some tea (so English! And delicious…) so more later!

Michaela xx

 

So a few weeks ago, I had a totally crazy six days. The Friday before Valentine’s Day, I left for Edinburgh with two girls that I had just met, and then, I got back Sunday night, went to classes on Monday, and then left Monday night for Venice! That’s the short version, so now for the long one:

Edinburgh was absolutely gorgeous! We took the train there, and because I had bought a railcard last semester (an amazing investment) my roundtrip tickets on the train were around $125. That seems expensive, considering a lot of my flights have been about half that price, but I was able to catch the train from Leicester City Centre instead of taking a bus/train to the airport, flying there, and then repeating the process in reverse on the way home. So, we got to Edinburgh at around 4pm, checked into our hostel, which was directly across from the train station, and then went out to eat! And I actually ordered HAGGIS. I know. Organs cooked in intestines? I didn’t think I would either. But I cheated a little… I ordered fried haggis. To be totally honest, I think anything fried has to be pretty good. And here is the evidence:

IMG_3704

 

The next day, we did a free walking tour, which was awesome! There are these free walking tours in most major cities in the world, and they’re run on donations (so not completely free) but they’re great for getting an overview of the city and getting an idea of what you’d like to check out next.

Some pictures from that day:

Edinburgh Castle from the entrance.

Edinburgh Castle from the entrance.

Edinburgh Castle from the road below- it's expensive to go into the castle but the view from outside is just as beautiful.

Edinburgh Castle from the road below- it’s expensive to go into the castle but the view from outside is just as beautiful.

Edinburgh at night.

Edinburgh at night.

I also went on a walking tour on my own that night, a “Haunted” tour, which wasn’t too scary but was very interesting. It talked about the folklore and myths surrounding Edinburgh, and a little about the dark side of the city!

The streets of Edinburgh were so beautiful.

The streets of Edinburgh were so beautiful.

That night we tried to go to a pub to listen to live music, but we didn’t end up staying long because the girls that I went with thought it was too loud, which was fine with me, as I was exhausted!

The next morning, we got up early and climbed Arthur’s Seat! It was absolutely gorgeous and a pretty easy hike, but it was very windy! It was worth it for the view. IMG_3820 (1) IMG_3848 (1) IMG_3820

 

So after that, we caught the train back, I quickly finished my work for seminar the next day, and fell asleep at 9pm.

 

More on Venice later!

Michaela xx

This semester, I actually only have class three days a week, and barely that. The trade-off is that there’s more reading, but having less class hours is really nice. So, to take advantage of that, I’m doing a ton of travelling! This weekend I’m going to Edinburgh, Scotland, for Valentine’s Day, instead of being sad that I’m an ocean away from the guy I wish I was spending it with! I met another international student at a tea hosted by the Chaplaincy at the beginning of the semester, and this past weekend we realised we were going to be all alone on Valentine’s Day. Instead of spending the day moping around, missing my boyfriend back home, I thought that it would be cool to go exploring.

Even though I’ve lived in the UK for nearly 6 months now and seen quite a bit of England (Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, London… and a lot of countryside on the train!) and Ireland (Shannon, Cobh, Cork, Tralee, Dingle, and Dublin) I’ve never been to Scotland. So instead of sitting around eating chocolate and watching chick flicks, we decided to go to Edinburgh! There’s apparently loads to see, and we haven’t quite planned out what to see yet, but we’ve booked tickets and accommodation, so we’ll figure it out on the 5-hour train ride there! I’m leaving directly after my class tomorrow which will be a tight connection, but worth it (hopefully!).

This semester, I also have plans to go to Venice (for Carnevale!) and stay with one of the best friends I made last semester, and then later in the semester she and I are going to Amsterdam to visit another friend! Then from there, I’ll be heading to Berlin and Prague with two friends, one from last semester and one from high school. After that, because there are no classes in April, I’m thinking I’ll go to Vienna and Budapest before meeting my family in Italy for their spring break! Having a month off for the Easter holidays is quite nice, and it looks like all of my papers will be due before then, so I might even be able to go home after April. The scheduling is a bit funny here; we have classes through March, nothing in April, and then it looks like I have four classes in May, but only in the first two weeks. But all of the assessments are due before then, so I’m not quite sure what the classes are for! Next week I’m planning to figure out what the deal is with that, so I can plan on coming home.

Another task I’ve been trying to cross off my to-do list this week is applying for jobs this summer. It’s a pain trying to do it while in classes and not on campus, but the Holy Cross Career Center has been really helpful. I had a video conference with them at the tail end of the year, and they always answer my emails right away! So that’s how my week has shaped up, and hopefully the weekend will be great!

 

 

Looking back over my first semester studying abroad, and seeing what’s different this semester, I really think I learned a lot about myself and the country I’ve adopted. So, in keeping with my New Years resolutions to bring more joy and peace to the world, I’m sharing these thoughts with all of you, so you can make the best choices for you, as you consider studying abroad!

 

1. Know yourself.

If you’re the kind of person who likes the small classes at Holy Cross, and learns well in those, stick to classes like that. Look for seminars and small class sizes, which are not always available at other universities. I can’t take classes like that at Leicester, but I know that I can do well in huge lecture halls as long as it’s not a class that I have to learn to do problems in. My sociology class was really interesting, and that was a lecture, but once a week it broke up into 10-person seminars where we discussed the readings. So I learned that that style worked for me, but the huge lectures in the physics department didn’t work.

2. Be able to ask for help.

When I first got to Leicester, I didn’t know ANYONE (except for the one other Holy Cross student, but we didn’t know each other well at all!), let alone anyone in the study abroad office. Turns out, there wasn’t one specific person I was supposed to contact- they were between leadership! But now there’s a new contact person at Leicester, and in the short email exchange I’ve had with him, he’s been so helpful. I wish I had known that I should have kept asking and asking before, but I was afraid of seeming like a pain. Now I realize that I shouldn’t have let that stop me! The study abroad office at Holy Cross didn’t really have answers for me but the people I did talk to at Leicester in the individual departments did, although I had to do a lot of legwork to find my answers.

 

3. Don’t let the small things bother you.

Sometimes it seems like everything is going wrong. You have no idea what anyone is saying in class, they all know each other, and there’s no one you can go to to ask for help. IT WILL BE FINE. That lesson took a while to sink in, for me, at least, because I felt like everyone already knew what was happening and had their groups of friends, and I couldn’t even go to the professor like I can at HC because they aren’t as friendly or accessible. And then, I joined some societies, and started talking to people, and it got easier. I don’t think I’ll ever feel as comfortable at Leicester as I do back at HC but I know this isn’t permanent. This too, shall pass, so make the most of the time you have!

 

In other news, I keep reading about all of the snow back home, and I’m SO JEALOUS! I love the snow, and seeing everyone’s pictures makes me wish I was there to enjoy it. Unfortunately no snow or cancelled classes here. It’s actually almost nice (read: grey but NOT raining) here. I hope everyone is staying safe and warm!

 

Michaela xx

The winter break is almost over and it has totally flown by! I flew home from Leicester via Shannon Ireland, where I stayed with my Irish cousins for a few days, which was very cool. I got to see the house that my great-grandmother was born in!    IMG_3222

She was born behind that red door, and the house is still in my family. It was pretty cool to learn more about my family’s history and even the cousins I had never met before I came to stay with them were amazingly kind and hospitable. On one of our drives through the mountains, we stopped at the top to take in the view. Ireland is definitely one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

IMG_3218

 

Then after getting home, it was a whirlwind of finishing up essays and seeing friends and family!

 

IMG_3269

 

 

We baked some delicious Italian pies, which are basically giant calzones- some were sausage and ricotta and some were tomato and cheese. All were delicious! We used to use about 40lbs of dough (making 40 pies- each is one pound of dough) but we usually do about 15lbs now. My cousins are all young so we usually make some of the pies half-sized and I think we ended up with about 25 pies.

IMG_3298

 

And of course I was so happy to see this one!

IMG_3357

 

And now, as the break draws to a close, I have still more work to do. I have another exam paper to write for one of my physics classes, and I need to sort out both housing at Holy Cross next year and my class schedule for this upcoming semester!

 

Finding housing for senior year at Holy Cross when you’re studying abroad is a confusing and challenging ordeal. Even if you make plans before you leave, when some people in your group study abroad and some don’t, those plans change, and then there’s a scramble to find a group when you get back. The deadline for housing isn’t until March, so hopefully it’ll all work out well.

 

For my classes next semester, I realized that the huge-lecture-hall style doesn’t work for me to learn physics, so I’m planning to take only humanities courses next semester. The way I had planned my schedule before coming to Leicester, I would take two physics classes last semester (which I did) and one would count as an elective and the other would count as my Thermal physics requirement. However, that didn’t work out, because although I got my courses approved before I left, they weren’t approved when I emailed them halfway through the semester! So it turns out that both of the classes will count for some credit- but both will count as general elective credit, and the thermal class wouldn’t count for Thermal physics. So next semester, I’m planning to take classes that will count for my core requirements and not try to count anything for my major, which means that I’ll have four classes I need to finish senior year for my major.

 

I’m not sure if I want to go back, because I miss Holy Cross and my friends and family from home when I’m gone, but I know I have to, so I’m going to try to make the best of it. Which brings me to the subject of my next post: what I learned my first semester of study abroad! So more later!

 

xx Michaela

Another of my weekend trips was organised through the same tour group that I travelled through London with for my orientation. With them, I saw Stonehenge, Glastonbury, and Bath, England. We left early in the morning and traveled by coach to the beautiful town of Bath, called so because it was founded in the 1st century by the Romans who would drink and bathe in the healing waters.

IMG_2576

 

The baths themselves were beautiful and rest of the city had such a feeling of history- that isn’t something you see all over the US, just because everything here is so OLD.

IMG_2559

One of the actual baths- still in use today!

We were able to tour the baths and learned a lot about the history of the city. Bath used to be a gathering place for the royals in the 18th century- THE place to “see and be seen” by members of the upper class. The city was beautiful and after we walked through the baths we got to sample some of the healing water. Full disclosure: it tasted a little bit like sulphur. Although, when I first came to England, I thought that all of the water tasted weird (something to do with high mineral content, I think?) but I’m used to it now, so I guess if you grew up drinking “Bath” water, it would be fine! It’s supposed to cure any number of maladies, and one of my friends who came on the trip as well, who was sick, said that the water did help a little- she was better in two days! So I’m not sure how much of that was a placebo effect and how much of it was being out of university housing where you aren’t sharing space with 8 other people and their germs, but there you go.

 

That night, we traveled to Glastonbury and stayed the night in a hotel. It was really nice to have a relaxed night with some of the other international students I don’t get to see as much. One of the girls I met during the week of orientation, a student from Western Australia, is just one of the coolest people I’ve met here. She seems like she’s got her whole life figured out and she’s also nice and down to earth. That’s something I miss about the Holy Cross community- everyone seems like that on the Hill! I think it’s a very self-selecting group who choose HC, and that creates a very tightly knit campus, whereas (I think) due to the size of my uni here, it’s not as close and there’s a lot more variety in terms of how dedicated people are to their studies (or to partying, as the case may be).

 

The next morning, we woke up bright and early and got back on the coach to head to Glastonbury. We toured the Glastonbury Abbey, a beautiful ruin of an abbey that was destroyed to be used as building material for other houses. If you stand at one end, you can see a house in the background that looks suspiciously similar. The family who built that house (and picked apart the abbey) is the same family that’s responsible for bringing rabbits to Australia and destroying the ecosystem, because they didn’t have anything they could hunt. Some family, huh?

The house in the background is built from stones taken from the abbey.

The house in the background is built from stones taken from the abbey.

The ruins themselves were absolutely beautiful, and we had a gorgeous day to explore- no English rain, for once!

IMG_2616

You can see the intricate stonework, which is even more impressive considering that it was built in the 14th century without power tools!

You can see the intricate stonework, which is even more impressive considering that it was built in the 14th century without power tools!

Walking into the Lady Chapel.

Walking into the Lady Chapel.

Our next stop on the tour was Glastonbury Tor, but first we walked around for lunch. This may have been my favorite place because I found a natural foods store that sold GLUTEN FREE GNOCHI. I have never been so happy to see gluten free pasta in my whole life! They sell plain GF pasta in the grocery store here but it isn’t anything special, and I have to say, I’m getting pretty sick of having soup for every meal (perils of cooking for yourself- you make a huge batch of one thing on the weekend and then eat it for every meal for the next month). So stumbling upon that was amazing, and I bought about six kilos of GF gnochi. It makes me really miss the allergy kitchen in Kimball!

 

Anyway, Glastonbury Tor is basically this huge, steep hill with a castle type tower on the top.

The castle-thing (Tor)

The castle-thing (Tor)

So we climbed up the hill and ate lunch up there- the view was absolutely gorgeous. It was clear enough that we could see all the way to Wales! We could also see Stonehenge, but I couldn’t get a picture clear enough.

The view looking out from the top of the Tor

The view looking out from the top of the Tor

It just drops off at the edge like a cliff! It was a really nice spot for lunch, though.

Looking past the Tor.

Looking past the Tor.

Some of the group posing for a picture!

Some of the group posing for a picture!

Our final stop was Stonehenge: mystery and history in one! We took a guided audio tour that explained the history behind Stonehenge as well as some of the myths associated with it. I’ll leave those for you to read up on, as this post is getting pretty lengthy, but here are a few more pictures to enjoy!

IMG_2678 copyIMG_2663 copy

xx Michaela

For Halloween this year, I went to Dublin with a group of international students, and it was definitely the most unconventional Halloween weekend I’ve ever had! First of all, getting to Dublin (without flying, mind you) took nearly twelve hours- we left before sunrise and when we finally checked into our hostel it was dark out. We took a coach through the country and then a ferry took us straight into Dublin. The ferry was actually fun (for me- although I didn’t get seasick like nearly everyone else!) but it was super windy.

 

 

IMG_2371The view was also beautiful- we were sitting in the front of the boat looking out onto the water and as we approached the port I managed to get one (foggy) good snap.

IMG_2374

 

While in Dublin, we went on a pub crawl (Halloween themed, of course!), toured the Guinness Factory, and took a bus tour around the famous sights of the city, including Trinity College and the Book of Kells.

IMG_2399

We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the actual book, but in the Long Room (really just a long room- they aren’t joking) I managed to get a cool shot of the ceiling. One thing I really loved about Ireland (and am enjoying every day about England) was how OLD everything was. It really seems steeped in history, and it’s pretty cool to see. A lot of the building we’ve seen are older than the United States! That isn’t even that shocking, but I’ve never really though about how new everything at home is.

The Long Room

The Long Room

I’m getting excited to go home though- being at a huge uni is making me appreciate how small and tightly knit Holy Cross is- I miss seeing my friends walking across the Hoval or in the gym. Leicester is big enough that it feels like I’m living in a city when I’m just in the middle of the campus. The campus itself is pretty small, but my classes are huge and everything is much larger.

 

Dublin was quite the adventure, and I’m definitely planning to go back to Ireland- I’m actually flying out of Shannon to go home for Christmas! Because there’s no Thanksgiving here, people get ready for Christmas right after Halloween, so we’re singing Christmas carols in choir and there are decorations everywhere!

 

One last thing I loved about Dublin:

The horse-drawn carriages!

The horse-drawn carriages!

xx Michaela

 

Greetings, dear readers! It’s been a busy week here in Leicester, the rainy capital of England! (Not really, but it’s been raining and windy for the past two weeks.) Classes are in full swing, which means problem sets due every Monday and Friday, which isn’t the best, but it’s still less work than home! I’m definitely settling into a routine more, and taking advantage of all Leicester has to offer.

 

Going out is a HUGE thing here, way more so than Holy Cross. It’s Wednesday, which is a big night at LetsDisko, one of the club nights at the O2 Academy, and I’m writing this as one of my fellow American exchange students gets ready to go! They’re pretty fun, but if you have class early the next morning, not such a good idea. Luckily, I don’t have class until 12! The lower drinking age probably plays heavily into that, except it means that weekends get really, really expensive. Most clubs are £3-5 to get into, which translates into about twice that in US dollars! And then buying drinks while you’re out is expensive as well. It’s a good way to get to know the people you live with though, especially because I’m living in what’s basically freshman housing. The freshers are enjoying their newfound freedom by going out EVERY night… and I can always hear them coming back at 3:30am!

 

On a more academic note, I went to a really interesting talk by American astronaut Stan Love. He showed us a video compilation of parts of his trip to space, where he worked on the International Space Station- you can watch it here:

I also got to take a picture with him after!

The talk was very interesting because he talked about how he became an astronaut (majored in physics at Harvey Mudd and then worked as an engineer!) and the potential for life on Mars. His views on that were that it’s significantly easier to live in Antarctica- breathable air, habitable temperature, and no need to wear a 300-lb space suit, but people don’t move their families to Antarctica. Apparently your effective conscious time stepping out onto the surface of Mars is 3-5 seconds- you’d be unconscious before your foot hit the ground. I enjoyed getting to hear him speak, and it was really nice to hear a familiar accent!

 

Finally, I just booked my tickets home! I leave at 11:40am and land at 1:30pm- a 6-hour flight crammed into less than 3 hours thanks to the time difference. I’m starting to plan some weekend trips, and I’ll talk about those as soon as I finalize everything!

 

xx Michaela

Now that I’ve been here for two weeks, I think I’m a little more qualified to see the differences between home and here. Leicester is way different than Holy Cross in so many ways. The biggest difference (pun completely intended) is the size of classes. I had one lecture last week, and it was 106 people. My biggest class at home was probably 22 people! Classes are taught in a lecture format and they aren’t super mandatory, but they have things called tutorials which are like seminars for your lecture, and those apparently have ~10 people (I haven’t had one yet) and workshops where you go through problems as a class, also smaller. I’ll probably figure that out more this week- I have two classes tomorrow.

 

Another big difference is campus life. Students don’t hold parties as much as they go out to bars and clubs, which makes sense because everything is 18+, but it’s harder to meet the people you live with. It also gets super expensive. The residences (called accommodations) are a 20 minute bus ride from campus, which is tough, because you can’t exactly go back if you’ve forgotten something. You also don’t have to buy books because the library has them, but it means spending a lot more time in the library.

 

The very simple things that you take for granted are the hardest, though. I’m self-catered, which means I don’t have a meal plan but I do have a kitchen. Unfortunately, the stove is electric and I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out how to turn it on. I actually had to call reception, which is like the help desk, and ask them how to turn my stove on. Of course, it has a little hidden power switch! Should have known. All of the outlets actually have them. I guess that’s good, because it probably saves energy, but if you forget to flip the switch your phone doesn’t charge overnight! And then your alarm doesn’t go off… been there, done that. The sinks are different too; they have two faucets, one for hot water and one for cold, which is tough for washing dishes because the hot is too hot to touch, but the cold doesn’t get the dishes clean! I’ll be really happy to get home and have a dishwasher.

 

I’m think I’m adjusting pretty well, all things considered, but I’ll be happy to be home for Christmas- still have to buy my tickets!

 

xx Michaela

When I arrived in Heathrow, the first thing I wanted was a HUUUGE glass of water. Planes are so dehydrating, and sleeping half upright while squished in a tiny little seat is super uncomfortable. Which taught me the first very important thing about London: EVERYTHING IS SO EXPENSIVE. Seriously, a liter bottle of water is like £3 which is basically $6. It’s outrageous.

After I got over the shock of paying that much for something that should be free (hello, Boston water fountains!) and grabbed a sim card for my phone so I could let my parents know I was alive, I went to the meeting point for our tourist group. It was, handily enough, at a place called “The Meeting Point.” We waited for everyone to get there and then went to our first hostel! It was pretty nice, only three people to a room, but we couldn’t check in yet because it was only 10am so we went to our first destination! At this point everyone had been up for at least 18 hours and we were all exhausted, so we bonded over that. The tourist group was mostly Americans, but a few Australians, some people from Taiwan and Canada and one guy from Singapore.

Over the course of the next four days, we saw the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye (which we actually got to ride!), the monument to the great fire of London, which is called the Monument, and dozens of other famous historical places. Of course, here are some highlights (my personal favorites):

photo 1

Big Ben on the first day

 

photo 4

The view from the London Eye

 

The Tower of London as seen from a boat on the Thames, which was pretty cool. It was more of a ferry than anything else.

The Tower of London as seen from a boat on the Thames, which was pretty cool. It was more of a ferry than anything else.

Platform 9 and 3/4, in King's Cross Station- I HAD to see it!

Platform 9 and 3/4, in King’s Cross Station- I HAD to see it!

The 311 spiral stairs in the Monument- my legs were shaking by the top!

The 311 spiral stairs in the Monument- my legs were shaking by the top!

The actual monument from the outside.

The actual monument from the outside.

After the four days in London, we went to Oxford for a day, and toured the Oxford New College, which was beautiful, but by then we were all ready to stop living out of our suitcases and settle down, so we headed to Leicester! More on that tomorrow, though- have to go to class!

xx Michaela