After an exhausting 16 hours journey I finally arrived in Michigan, and to be honest it felt like having arrived somewhere in Alaska!
lucky I was wearing quite some layers and it still felt like I was about to freeze any second
I remember stepping out of the plane and walking through a hallway past an opened window, and even though it was only a second, my whole body was shivering. Right there and then I knew that no matter what I've been told and how many warnings I got...it's going to be worse. I had to wait quite a while in a queue before finally getting to the people who controlled passports and visa and of course I was nervous because even though everything should be okay with my visa... from what you hear abouth American immigration philosophy you just have to worry. When I finally got to show my visa, J-1 papers and passport, all the woman asked me was where I would live and how long I would stay, then she took my fingerprints and I was allowed to enter American ground. I made it! I arrived in my new 'hometown' for the following 5 months. I stepped out and took a cab to get to my hotel which cost me around 50 dollars but I didn't feel like taking a bus in a city I didn't know to get to a place I had no idea of during night-time. The hotel was more than okay, a nice room, huge bed, television and clean bathroom, what more do you want for two days, what more will make you happy as a 'poor' student!! I fell asleep the minute I sat on that comfy queen size bed and slept through the whole night, well I woke up really early but I planned on doing that anyways. On the brightside: NO jetlag!! Next morning, I got up and got ready for my first trip to Grand Valley State University as all international students were supposed to meet that day (9am!!) to take a trip around the campus and get to know each other. As google told me that the hotel and campus wouldn't be too far away I was confident of finding the place I needed to be at 9am. Well as most of you know I am a hopeless case when it comes to orientation, I even get lost driving around in Luxembourg City, so I should have expected to get lost in the first place. I left the hotel at 8am but the way was longer than expected and when I finally arrived at the campus, I didn't know where to go from there. I thought once I was there I'd probably just know where to go and on top of that I had a map, a quite detailled one actually. So you might have figured out by now that I cannot read maps and that the campus is huge! Add the freaking cold to that and out comes a desperate Catherine. My legs were aching so badly from the cold, my hands felt like they were non-existant and my nose could easily be compared to Rudolph's (you know Santa's helper). Anyways, I started to worry about freezing to death and missing the whole conference and tour, when I saw a guy in the distant. As desperate as I was, I started running or sliding for that matter towards him and asked him if he knew where Lake Ontario Hall was and if he could point me in the right direction. As it turns out I have been walking into the wrong one for quite some time and needed to go back from where I came from, the good news were that the guy offered to accompany me even though he wasn't planning on going anywhere near that hall. And that was when I found out that most Americans are very outgoing and helpful when it comes to international people. Finally there, I bursted in, the presentation had already begun and I was the last one to join. Well I'm used to arriving late so who cares, first impression: chaos queen. We then learned about uni, took a tour around campus and went to a few shops to get basic stuff for our dorms. To be honest I didn't pay attention during the tour because a) it was freezing cold b) everything looked the same under the snow and c) getting to know the people from the tour seemed more important
GVSU at its best : snow storm
After the tour, we all went to a mongolian bbq which was amazing, the food was great and we all got to know each other a little more. Unfortunately I found out that all the other students have been picked up from the airport and moved in on campus, which I was told was impossible at that time. Of course I was angry because I had to spend money on a cab and on the two nights at the hotel but it was a good day and I got to enjoy one more free breakfast and a night in a queen size bed before moving in with my flatmates.
Next day I gathered my stuff, called another cab and got myself to my new home: Laker Village. I found out that my new flatmates were all Americans and best friends, which kind of frightened me because it meant that they stick together and I didn't know if a new member was exactly what they were looking for. When I moved in only one of them was already back from the winter break but I shouldn't have worried, she was very friendly and after talking for a while I knew that we would get along just fine. After having unpacked, two internationals I met the day before, and I were off to that big supermarket (Meijer) to get basics and food to survive the first days. The trip was one of a kind!! The bus system is a bit f*cked up, during the week it's okay but on the weekend the buses don't run late and only every hour. Of course ignorant as we were, we picked out a sunday to go shopping so after having missed the last bus, because there was just too much stuff to discover in that huge American supermarket, we decided on taking yet another cab. And the expenses just kept piling up!
Basically, I realized that we were living out in the sticks! Don't get me wrong, I think Grand Rapids isn't too bad but where I live, in Allendale, 20 minutes from downtown there's really nothing to do as there's only our university and a few restaurants (which you can only get to by car). To get to the next shopping mall you'd have to take the bus downtown (20 minutes) than change buses at central station and take another one to the mall (40 minutes) all in all it's a day trip if you want or need clothes. You see I'm really experiencing different lifestlyes during my overseastudies. But even if not everything turns out as imagined, that's life and that makes you grow and makes you realize that sometimes you have to deal with things you don't like, but you'll manage and that's what counts in the end.
discovering downtown
have patience I'm telling you it's going to be worth it in the end! xxx
After the tour, we all went to a mongolian bbq which was amazing, the food was great and we all got to know each other a little more. Unfortunately I found out that all the other students have been picked up from the airport and moved in on campus, which I was told was impossible at that time. Of course I was angry because I had to spend money on a cab and on the two nights at the hotel but it was a good day and I got to enjoy one more free breakfast and a night in a queen size bed before moving in with my flatmates.
Next day I gathered my stuff, called another cab and got myself to my new home: Laker Village. I found out that my new flatmates were all Americans and best friends, which kind of frightened me because it meant that they stick together and I didn't know if a new member was exactly what they were looking for. When I moved in only one of them was already back from the winter break but I shouldn't have worried, she was very friendly and after talking for a while I knew that we would get along just fine. After having unpacked, two internationals I met the day before, and I were off to that big supermarket (Meijer) to get basics and food to survive the first days. The trip was one of a kind!! The bus system is a bit f*cked up, during the week it's okay but on the weekend the buses don't run late and only every hour. Of course ignorant as we were, we picked out a sunday to go shopping so after having missed the last bus, because there was just too much stuff to discover in that huge American supermarket, we decided on taking yet another cab. And the expenses just kept piling up!
Basically, I realized that we were living out in the sticks! Don't get me wrong, I think Grand Rapids isn't too bad but where I live, in Allendale, 20 minutes from downtown there's really nothing to do as there's only our university and a few restaurants (which you can only get to by car). To get to the next shopping mall you'd have to take the bus downtown (20 minutes) than change buses at central station and take another one to the mall (40 minutes) all in all it's a day trip if you want or need clothes. You see I'm really experiencing different lifestlyes during my overseastudies. But even if not everything turns out as imagined, that's life and that makes you grow and makes you realize that sometimes you have to deal with things you don't like, but you'll manage and that's what counts in the end.
more of my first impressions and activities in the next blog post!
I know I haven't been posting new entries regularly but it's really hard to keep up, there's so much to do and I'm not only talking about fun stuff here. University turns out to expect a lot from its students, more than the Australian or English one, so most of the time I spend my days studying, writing and running from one class to another. I'll try to write about everything more often though, because recapping all of this is harder than just writing it down once you experience it. I don't want to sound scatterbrained but somehow with all the new things and people you start forgetting details, jokes or simply interesting events so easily and quickly.
I know I haven't been posting new entries regularly but it's really hard to keep up, there's so much to do and I'm not only talking about fun stuff here. University turns out to expect a lot from its students, more than the Australian or English one, so most of the time I spend my days studying, writing and running from one class to another. I'll try to write about everything more often though, because recapping all of this is harder than just writing it down once you experience it. I don't want to sound scatterbrained but somehow with all the new things and people you start forgetting details, jokes or simply interesting events so easily and quickly.
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