A Northern Gal in a Southern State!

Hey y’all! My name is Vicki Woodward and I am currently in my third year of studying law with American law, having studied my first two years at the University of Nottingham in the UK and now studying my third year at the University of Texas in Austin! I am originally from a small town called Burnley in the north of England but for the past summer I have been living in Florida whilst working at Walt Disney World!

Me and friends in front of the castle in Walt Disney World (my work location!)  

As part of my law degree I had the choice of studying at several different locations all over the world but for me there was only one choice; it had to be the USA! I have loved the states since my first visit in 2008 and have always found the US legal and political systems interesting. I knew even before I was accepted at the University of Nottingham that I wanted to study abroad, it was part of my reason for choosing the university in the first place and let me tell you, it was the most exciting news ever finding out that I would be studying in America for a year!

Having decided that I wanted to study in the US, my first choice of places to study was the University of Texas. I had heard that Austin is an amazing place to live and has a culture quite unlike anywhere else in the world. It’s safe to say that so far Austin has not disappointed! I have been here about three weeks now and so far living and studying here has been a little overwhelming! From the hundreds of food places serving every kind of food you could imagine to the different societies and activities available at UT, people weren’t joking when they said everything is bigger in Texas! I have so many plans and so much to investigate; I have to remind myself to study at the same time.

A view of central campus including the Tower

Within my first three weeks I have already tried to experience as much Austin culture as possible, including exploring the city, eating at some amazing food locations and a quick visit down to San Antonio. But the most cultural thing I have experienced by far is the University of Texas’ first American Football game of the season against New Mexico. I have never seen a football game before so this was a whole new experience for me and it was incredible! I’m not a huge sports fan but the atmosphere in the stadium made it impossible not to be enthusiastic. The whole stadium was completely filled with UT fans wearing burnt orange Longhorn shirts; and just to put it into perspective, the football stadium here is bigger than Wembley Stadium in London, that’s a lot of orange!

 

 

A couple of pictures from the Texas v New Mexico game

 

 

<-- Even the dog was a UT fan!

 

 

 

 

 So that’s my experience so far in the great state of Texas, I could talk forever about the exciting things I have done so far (my first time at a UT societies event and going to see the bats fly from the bridge at South Congress to name a few) and all the things I have planned including a trip to Houston this weekend but I have hopefully managed to keep this brief. I know that this year is going to be an incredible experience, not only do I have the most amazing opportunity to study in a great university but I’m going to experience so much more than that! I hope to be able to visit so many places and do so many different things. I hope to do well in my studies, but the real goal is to make the most out of my year abroad and come home happy that I have seen and done everything I could in the time that I had.

(P.S. In an attempt to be a “true American” We have found and repeatedly visited the local Starbucks: Priorities!)

Caramel frappuccino for me please!