Oh, happy day!

Today has been a delightful day of productivity and settling in.

I have now:

• Actually registered!  I'm all set with the university.  It required quite a bit of back-and-forth in life, but I am now good to go.  It's a bit of a relief to no longer feel as though I am here partially illegally.  :)
• Met the Vice Chancellor (the equivalent of the University President).  The international scholarship advisor walked me over to say "hi."  He has the world's sweetest assistant.  (Seriously.  She's fantastic.)
• Learned how to use the UEA library services...most importantly, I can now print!
• Registered with the National Health Service.
• Enrolled for my modules (courses).  More on those in a bit.
• Chatted with Mark a good deal about course selection and life in general.  Way too much fun.
• Had tea with the scholarship advisor and met her husband and toddler son.  Baby-sitting is coming my way!!
• Explored phone options.  I think I'm going to become a total sell-out and get an iPhone...
• Changed my room swap form in the Accommodation Office in an attempt to move into the City.
• Explored bicycle options.  I should have one by the end of the week.
• Explored the possibility of a trip to Stanford in April...see http://www.stanford.edu/group/amends/cgi-bin/.
• Considered becoming a Global Voice.  International students at UEA are placed on panels and put into classrooms to chat about life, the universe, and everything from the perspective of their home country.  Not sure how many folks will be interested in an American, so I'm going back and forth about actually applying.  We'll see.

Mark! At last!

Finally and at last, I have actually met Mark Zeitoun, the course director for the MSc in Water Policy and International Development. I have been emailing with Mark for nearly a year and a half about this program and the possibility of my studying at UEA; it was really cool to finally meet him.
I also got to meet the six other students in my program.  It's a really fun blend of folks.  Two older adults: one Canadian coming from a background in development and work on climate change adaptation and one native Norfolker who has been in the UK military.  Three young professionals who have done a blend of development, water surveying, and research assistance for 4-8 years before coming for a Masters, and one student who did her undergrad at UEA and came straight into the Masters.  A fun blend of nationalities (Canadian, two British, Swedish, Korean, two Americans) and experiences going on...it should be a grand time!
Several of the days involve hearing an introduction to the many modules (courses) we can take.  This, happily, also involves hearing from most of the Development School's teaching faculty.  It's a fantastic group of people...can't wait to dig in more surely!
I am already nostalgic about only being here for a year...sadness...better make the most of it!!

Induction Week

I ended my last post by mentioning that small part of life "classes."  I have Induction Week this week, an introduction to my module and the entire DEV (Development) School here at UEA.  The good news is that I don't have a great deal of actual work during this time.  The bad news is that I'm very, very scheduled.

Because of when I came in, I've already missed the introductory part of this, which they did Friday afternoon.  Sadness.  But it begins in earnest tomorrow, and I will be there for all of this.

So, my week, with my intended schedule of errands also built in:
Sunday, 23 September:
Today at 8:50 pm, I have a flat meeting in the kitchen with our Senior Resident and my neighbors.  I haven't actually met any of them yet, so that will be nice!  Of course, it will also be a bit strange, since I'm not really planning to live here for more than two weeks.  Hopefully, though, I will simply have lots of friends scattered about campus this way.  :)

Monday, 24 September:
(Notice the UK dating system?  I've also switched my computers to the 24-hour method of telling time. But I'll use am and pm here, just to interpret for the Americans.)
8 am: Fill out room swap form.
Register. (Because I arrived after hours, I'm still not technically here...)
9 am-noon: Study Skills Session with my coursemates
1 pm-5:30 pm: Presentation of Module Options (overviews of the classes I can sign up for as my electives)
5:30 pm: At this point, most offices on campus will be shut down.  I will also probably be completely exhausted.  I may, however, attempt to go into town to look at phones, do some shopping, etc.  Letting this time be flexible, though, since I may be dead.

Tuesday, 25 September:
9 am-10:30 am: Library Session.  (Hurray!  Let's learn to use the library!  They've already been incredibly helpful in getting me internet and UEA email access...)
11 am: Go visit the North Americas Scholarship/Study Abroad Advisor, whom I met at the Thursday night Marshall reception.  We'll be chatting about life in general, but also probably the easiest way to do that long list of errands I have.
1 pm-5 pm: More Presentation of Module Options
5:30 pm: I have to sign up for which modules I would like to take Tuesday night.
I also have some hope that perhaps someone will take pity on me and take me out shopping, etc. with a car...
Also, noon-7 pm is "SOCMART," an open house of all the UEA Student Societies we may join.  Time to go see all of the activities I could distract myself with!

Wednesday, 26 September:
It's break day!  Or, in my case, run around campus doing everything else that needs to happen day!
Formally, I have:
11 am-noon: Information Session for International Studies (reading through the description, I may not actually need to attend this...it looks like it's geared mostly at students for whom English is not their first language.  That being said, I may still go in order to meet people.)
1 pm-2 pm: Careers/Professional Skills Information Session (again, I think this could be a bit optional if I end up getting distracted somewhere else, seeing as how I won't be going directly into a career upon finishing this Masters.)
Informally, this will probably be the day of the bike, bus pass, phone, etc. acquisition.
1 pm-5 pm: I could go to SPORTSMART to see all of the UEA sports groups I could join.  This I might skip out on.

Thursday, 27 September:
9 am-1 pm: Study Skills Session I
2 pm-5 pm: Study Skills Session II
(These study skills sessions involve things like learning about UEA assessment methods, how to write papers for UK academic settings, etc.  They will be partially repetitive but also probably incredibly helpful as I begin a new kind of learning.)

Friday, 28 September:
Freedom!  I am pretty much wide open, which means either sleeping forever in total exhaustion or getting up and doing all of the errands I should have been doing all week.
7:30 pm: DEV Masters Students Party.  That seems like it could be dangerous...  ;)

BUT WAIT!  I have just read some of the fine type in my Induction Week Schedule, and it turns out I am not expected to attend all of the Module Info Sessions...I can just go to the ones that are interesting for me.  Well, hmm...this may change things a bit.  Or I may just be that goody two-shoes that I so enjoy being and listen to all of them in the hopes of learning as many faces of instructors as possible...
Yeah.  Reading through the schedule of which modules are presented when...I'm totally listening to all of them.  You never know when an epic instructor is teaching something that might otherwise not be your favorite choice...

Errands

I have a giant list of errands.  They are getting a bit out of hand...I thought that if I were to write them all on the blog, I might feel a bit more obliged to actually do them before people start reminding me that I haven't.  So, in no particularly order, I need to:

• Acquire a phone.  I had to mail my phone back in the United States in order to get out of Sprint's contract, so I am entirely without a device.  Though I actually have a cheap phone courtesy of my friend Megan, who studied abroad here last year.  She thinks there might even be some minutes left on it...I haven't actually touched it, other than to carry it around in my purse in case there is an epic emergency.  I think that I might be making the dangerous leap to an iPhone.  I'll be in England for two years, so could easily have the standard two-year contract and then own the phone outright, at which point I will have a device and can simply get a new SIM card when I go to different countries.  There is also an incredibly cheap plan involving SIM cards only, if it turns out it makes sense for me to buy a phone outright (now that the iPhone 5 has come out, iPhone 4s may be relatively cheap).  I'll have to price things out...
• Acquire a bike.  Norwich is beautiful, but I know that I will not go in nearly often enough unless I get a bike.
• Acquire a bus pass.  Ditto, more or less, on the above.  The Marshall very nicely pays for a bus pass for me, so I'll be able to get around happily even when it's pouring.  (Which it actually won't do all that much here...we're in the flattest and driest part of the country.)
• Fill out a room swap form.  I am currently in a very lovely room that has its own shower and toilet.  And while that's lovely, it also costs quite a bit more than I really want to pay.  I will be attempting to find something cheaper, but swaps won't be considered for at least two weeks.
• Register for the National Health Service.  I am covered, since I will be here for quite a while, but I need to sign up and get myself an NHS number.
• Register for the Norwich Library.  I've actually already done this, but I needed to mention.  My library card will be on its way in the mail shortly!
• Find the post room.  Speaking of my library card in the mail...I need to find the post room at UEA and figure out how picking up packages works.  I will be sharing my postal address on the blog, but I am waiting for my final room allocation so I don't change it in two weeks and get everyone confused.
• Look for a job.  I now have access to UEA's Employability system, an online listing of job openings.  I am hoping that I will find something research-based in my department, but we won't know about that for several weeks yet.  It would be interesting to work in a shop in Norwich or something, just to get a greater awareness of the local scene.  We will see!  It is lovely that, given my Marshall stipend, I do not strictly need a job for basic life.  It would be helpful mostly for flights back and forth from the US.  But this one is, in some ways, the least urgent of my to do list.
• Do laundry.  Here's another one I've actually already taken care of.  There is a laundromat on campus, but I have successfully navigated my way through the British tradition of not using a dryer and simply hanging up clothes to dry.  I washed clothes in my shower and had them hanging all around my dorm room.  It looks a bit ridiculous, since I haven't really unpacked or moved in all that much.  There are random articles of clothing on every surface...but it seems to have worked!
• Paperwork.  I still have a great deal of paperwork to read through and complete, both from the Marshall Commission and UEA.  Someday, I will no longer have my life depending on a three-inch stack of information.  Maybe.
• Marshall Class Service Project Write-Up.  Oftentimes, Marshall classes participate in a service project together to give back to the United Kingdom a bit.  I volunteered to write up a few ideas and circulate them to our group.  (Someday, maybe (though probably not), I will learn not to open my mouth in these situations.)
• Class.  Oh, yeah.  There's that thing called study.  At some point, I should probably pay attention to my classes as well.

I'm here!!

I am officially official:

This card gets me into my flat, the library, etc.
DEV=Development, my school
PGT=postgraduate (hurrah! I'm a grad student now!)



I arrived at UEA Friday just after 5...aka, just after everything closed.  I had the opportunity to explore campus a fair bit while tracking down where things like keys and my username were.  (I must admit, I probably would have preferred if I did not trek around with my baggage.  Nonetheless, it was nice to see campus...definitely everything I dreamed of and more!)  Everyone was incredibly helpful and friendly.
The campus is absolutely gorgeous.  I was able to share a taxi from the train station to the campus, meaning I went through several back streets of Norwich and got a good feel for the city.  I also thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with my taxi buddy, a girl traveling to UEA from the coast to visit her boyfriend.  Of course, I thought when I asked if she would like to share that I might have just made my first British study buddy at UEA...but it was not to be!  I have met several other international students through orientation, etc., but the British students are mostly moving in today.  Campus is likely to be much more lively tomorrow!
Today has involved lots of helpful information for international students, the meeting of many friends, and the acquisition of groceries.  This evening's entertainment agenda includes looking for a job, reading a great deal of paperwork, and "Doctor Who."  It's possible I didn't mention those in the order they're most likely to occur...

UEA Arrival

Just in case two orientations weren’t enough, here’s one more!

Most international students actually arrived earlier this week; I think I’m one of the last to trickle in. Friday, UEA is repeating sessions in the morning and afternoon on managing money, library services, safety and security, residence living, that kind of thing. I don’t think I’m going to make it to Norwich in time for either of those sessions. So I will likely spend Friday settling into my room and start official activities on Saturday.

Saturday includes a session on “Studying in the UK” with a “learning enhancement tutor,” a briefing on how the international students advisory team can be useful for us, and a “quiz around campus,” which I’m assuming means a scavenger hunt. We also have a postgraduate studies introduction and a presentation from the students’ union.

Sunday we have a treasure hunt around Norwich, which should be a fabulous way to get to know my new home a bit more!

Oh…hi, England!

Hello! I am now posting from England. Prepare for a flurry of posts such that you all will get sick of me, and anyone who has signed up to receive these posts via email (which you can do in the sign-up form on the right of this page) will immediately unsubscribe. This week has many delights left in store…

Wednesday, the plane landed at Heathrow at 7 am local time (that was 2 am Eastern Standard Time). We were dropped off briefly at the hotel, and then had a briefing and planning meeting there with our wonderful staff from the Marshall Commission.

Wednesday’s delights involved a trip on the London Eye (a large enclosed Ferris Wheel-esque sight-seeing tour) and dinner with current Marshall Scholars (including those in their second year of Marshall study). Most excitingly, Wednesday=SLEEP. All of the sleep. Bed at 9; awake around 7 to shower and eat breakfast at the hotel. Events began at 8:30 am on Thursday…

…including a visit to the Houses of Parliament, a Q&A briefing with current Marshalls to discuss life in the UK, the prepping of our bank accounts (perhaps the most exciting thing all week), and numerous briefings with Commission Staff. The evening culminated in a reception sponsored by Her Majesty’s Government, which involved many delightful people (including the international scholarship advisor from UEA – hurrah! someone from my school!), a wonderful discussion with our Marshall-Sherfield Scholar (doing postdoctoral research work), and…bed!

Friday we will be extensively briefed at the US Embassy and then be shipped off to our universities! It’s really beginning, folks.