Howdy!
My name is Sam Horril. Originally from the murky depths of South London, I'm an English and American Studies undergraduate at the University of Nottingham, and am currently doing my year abroad at Texas A&M University! I'm a self confessed music-geek and Trombonist, so I'm a member of the Universities' musical societies, have dabbled in a bit of radio with URN (a terrifying experience) and have helped out with Musicality, the musical theatre society.
Here's a picture of me at the first Football Game of the season! (the one without the beard...)
I spent a year of my childhood growing up in New York City (not as exotic as it sounds, trust me), and have been fascinated by America ever since. As soon as I realised I could do a year abroad with the University of Nottingham School of American Studies, it seemed natural to apply to study this course at this university. The opportunity to study the politics, literature and culture of America, and of course to be able actually live here again was a hugely exciting prospect in 2010 back at school in Croydon.
Why Texas? It was simple really. Having lived up in New York with my parents a decade ago, I've been lucky enough to have visited more than my fair share of American states over the years, including parts of the Deep South (my parents have always liked to pick edgy holiday destinations). But never Texas. Frankly I only knew a few things about the largest state in the US when applying; I knew it was huge, I knew that they loved American Football and I knew that they had lots of oil. But there's so much more to it than that. According to a BBC news article I read back in May, 5 of the 10 fastest growing cities in the whole of America are in Texas (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin). Cost of living is pretty cheap with petrol only costing $3.45 a gallon (if only....) and there are lots of jobs down here at the moment (mostly in oil and gas). It's very conservative on the whole, so taxes are low, too. I'll attach the link from the BBC website....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22649624
It's pretty hot in Texas.....
I arrived at my halls of residence on the 17th August, and it really reminded me of moving into halls in first year - despite having been at Uni in the UK for 2 years I was still pretty terrified of being in a new place. Luckily the International Student Services here at A&M have been really helpful in helping us all settle in!
I really needn't have worried so much when I first got here though. Everyone is so friendly! It's so nice having people thank me all the time for holding doors open, and being told "ya'll have a good day" by every shop assistant/person I encounter. I can get used to Southern hospitality!
My overwhelming first impression though? It's HOT in Texas. Stepping out of the plane while still acclimatized to the miserable UK weather while jet lagged was a shock to say the least. I thought I'd be used to it by now but I'm still hopeless - it got up to 105 last weekend during a football game and I was literally melting! Seriously the heat here is like nothing I've ever experienced (people I've spoken to reckon its one of the hottest places on earth at the moment). Luckily with America being a very civilized place, literally everywhere/everything is air conditioned, which it really needs to be.
Work, play, football!
Of course the main reason I'm here is to study - I'm doing courses like African American literature, which really is fascinating considering the plight of African Americans in the South. I'm also doing an American Environmental history course, and thought I'd give The History of Texas a go.
With Texas A&M being a big Southern university, Football is a big, big deal. We went to our first game of the season last week which was against Rice, and this was the sight that greeted us when we got to our seats....
Though I don't really get American Football, it's really quite extraordinary to consider the scale of it here. The atmosphere was amazing, and for that reason I'm going to go to a few more! Here's a picture of some of the us from Nottingham - Sian, Me, Dave and George, taking a break from the heat - it was 105 degrees!
Alongside studying and going to football games, I've signed up for a society called Town Hall, which organises and promotes live music performances on campus. It's would to work in marketing and promotions after university and am excited to meet some more Americans with similar interests to my own. I've got my interview on Wednesday - fingers crossed!
Howdy, Gig Em, Aggies Commit.....
There are many aspects of to Texas A&M which are unique. It has it's own Army (the Corps of Cadets, who you have to say "Howdy" to). It has it's own Police Force and Fire Department. The "First Lady" of campus is a dog called Reveille, and she has her own bank card, cell phone, and she goes to class with her Cadet who looks after her. Reportedly, whenever she barks during class, it means she is bored and the class ends. Here's a picture of some of the Nottingham exchange students with Reveille at the International Student conference.....
Texas A&M also has it's own language (well, kind of). Here's a few examples:
"Howdy" - used widely in the South and constantly at A&M (strangers greet you with it when you're walking to classes).
"Aggies" - each student here is an Aggie, and it's the name given to the football team
"Gig Em" - I honestly don't know what this means, but I still say it anyway.
There's so much more to say, but I'm aware I'm droning on a bit. College Station has been great so far, and while there's more than enough to keep us occupied here, I'm looking forward to exploring more of Texas - we have visits to Austin and Houston in the pipeline!
Thanks for taking time to read my first blog entry - I'll leave you with a picture of some of us exchange students from Nottingham outside the A&M campus.
Gig Em!
My name is Sam Horril. Originally from the murky depths of South London, I'm an English and American Studies undergraduate at the University of Nottingham, and am currently doing my year abroad at Texas A&M University! I'm a self confessed music-geek and Trombonist, so I'm a member of the Universities' musical societies, have dabbled in a bit of radio with URN (a terrifying experience) and have helped out with Musicality, the musical theatre society.
Here's a picture of me at the first Football Game of the season! (the one without the beard...)
I spent a year of my childhood growing up in New York City (not as exotic as it sounds, trust me), and have been fascinated by America ever since. As soon as I realised I could do a year abroad with the University of Nottingham School of American Studies, it seemed natural to apply to study this course at this university. The opportunity to study the politics, literature and culture of America, and of course to be able actually live here again was a hugely exciting prospect in 2010 back at school in Croydon.
Why Texas? It was simple really. Having lived up in New York with my parents a decade ago, I've been lucky enough to have visited more than my fair share of American states over the years, including parts of the Deep South (my parents have always liked to pick edgy holiday destinations). But never Texas. Frankly I only knew a few things about the largest state in the US when applying; I knew it was huge, I knew that they loved American Football and I knew that they had lots of oil. But there's so much more to it than that. According to a BBC news article I read back in May, 5 of the 10 fastest growing cities in the whole of America are in Texas (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin). Cost of living is pretty cheap with petrol only costing $3.45 a gallon (if only....) and there are lots of jobs down here at the moment (mostly in oil and gas). It's very conservative on the whole, so taxes are low, too. I'll attach the link from the BBC website....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22649624
It's pretty hot in Texas.....
I arrived at my halls of residence on the 17th August, and it really reminded me of moving into halls in first year - despite having been at Uni in the UK for 2 years I was still pretty terrified of being in a new place. Luckily the International Student Services here at A&M have been really helpful in helping us all settle in!
I really needn't have worried so much when I first got here though. Everyone is so friendly! It's so nice having people thank me all the time for holding doors open, and being told "ya'll have a good day" by every shop assistant/person I encounter. I can get used to Southern hospitality!
My overwhelming first impression though? It's HOT in Texas. Stepping out of the plane while still acclimatized to the miserable UK weather while jet lagged was a shock to say the least. I thought I'd be used to it by now but I'm still hopeless - it got up to 105 last weekend during a football game and I was literally melting! Seriously the heat here is like nothing I've ever experienced (people I've spoken to reckon its one of the hottest places on earth at the moment). Luckily with America being a very civilized place, literally everywhere/everything is air conditioned, which it really needs to be.
Work, play, football!
Of course the main reason I'm here is to study - I'm doing courses like African American literature, which really is fascinating considering the plight of African Americans in the South. I'm also doing an American Environmental history course, and thought I'd give The History of Texas a go.
With Texas A&M being a big Southern university, Football is a big, big deal. We went to our first game of the season last week which was against Rice, and this was the sight that greeted us when we got to our seats....
Though I don't really get American Football, it's really quite extraordinary to consider the scale of it here. The atmosphere was amazing, and for that reason I'm going to go to a few more! Here's a picture of some of the us from Nottingham - Sian, Me, Dave and George, taking a break from the heat - it was 105 degrees!
Alongside studying and going to football games, I've signed up for a society called Town Hall, which organises and promotes live music performances on campus. It's would to work in marketing and promotions after university and am excited to meet some more Americans with similar interests to my own. I've got my interview on Wednesday - fingers crossed!
Howdy, Gig Em, Aggies Commit.....
There are many aspects of to Texas A&M which are unique. It has it's own Army (the Corps of Cadets, who you have to say "Howdy" to). It has it's own Police Force and Fire Department. The "First Lady" of campus is a dog called Reveille, and she has her own bank card, cell phone, and she goes to class with her Cadet who looks after her. Reportedly, whenever she barks during class, it means she is bored and the class ends. Here's a picture of some of the Nottingham exchange students with Reveille at the International Student conference.....
Texas A&M also has it's own language (well, kind of). Here's a few examples:
"Howdy" - used widely in the South and constantly at A&M (strangers greet you with it when you're walking to classes).
"Aggies" - each student here is an Aggie, and it's the name given to the football team
"Gig Em" - I honestly don't know what this means, but I still say it anyway.
There's so much more to say, but I'm aware I'm droning on a bit. College Station has been great so far, and while there's more than enough to keep us occupied here, I'm looking forward to exploring more of Texas - we have visits to Austin and Houston in the pipeline!
Thanks for taking time to read my first blog entry - I'll leave you with a picture of some of us exchange students from Nottingham outside the A&M campus.
Gig Em!
No comments:
Post a Comment