Our first big job!

We knew that this title that we had been awarded would come with lots of responsibilities along the way and these started with talking to the press about how we felt about the opportunity that we had been given. I struggled at the start to think of what to say because by this point, none of it had really sunk in properly THAT I WAS GOING TO AMERICA FOR A YEAR!

Photographers came into school and took loads (and loads) of photos - but of course, they published the worst ones!

The Saturday after the announcement (Sat. 21st Feb 2015) we had our first official lunch / meeting with everyone on the committee, local Councillor Graeme Tait, MSP (Member of Scottish Parliment) Minister Paul Wheelhouse, it also gave our parents a chance to meet and talk about it too! - well for Joanna it was her mum and big brother Fergus who was clearly delighted to be there ;) - Joanna and myself made speeches in front of everyone that was there before we handed over a 'Looking for Lockerbie' book that was written by 'Doc' who - according to Fergus - is THE man that you have to be involved with when you're our there!

His book can be ordered from Amazon (here's the link) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Looking-Lockerbie-Lawrence-Mason/dp/0815681526

The afternoon was finished with a lovely lunch and a good wee chat with everyone who had taken the time to come and celebrate with us. We felt like celebrities, everyone was wanting to talk to us, hear how we felt and what we were excited, nervous and looking forward to over the next year! I had no idea what to say, everything had happened so quickly! 

One thing that we could both agree on though, for sure, was the fact that we werent going to let this opportunity go to waste :) 

What a weekend!

It all started with a little itch, an itch I didn't take note of or think anything serious of. Until that ‘itch’ became extremely red and inflated and even itchier than before! But still, I didn't think it was anything serious. Saturday morning arrived and it was time to head white water rafting! What an amazing day it was! It was probably the only time its rained and I haven't been bothered by it because I was already soaking from all the “ waves we were hitting and killin’ “ so the rain was really there just to make sure we didn't dry off - which we didn’t, not even once we were back and changed. It was disgusting but its all part of the fun! My ‘itch’ seemed to be sore but it wasn't exactly a pain I couldn't deal with and managed to ignore most of the time. We got back to campus and back to our dorms where I showed my roommate my ‘itch’. She was so shocked and told me that it was a spider bite as she had had one before and “that red ring around it, thats called a bullseye and its from spiders”! Smashing! I hate spiders more than anything and to have been bitten by one was not the best news i’d heard! That meant it was somewhere in my room, in my bed. Ewww! I spoke to my R/A (big sister/brother on our floor) who told me to keep an eye on it and basically disinfect my room, so thats what I did, everything on my bed that could fit in the washing machines, went in the washing machines.

An hour later, my sheets were washed, I hung them on the drying rack in my room and i hung my thick blanket/quilt over my curtain pole thinking, anything spider related would be dead from the wash and everything would be decent! Can you see where this is going? Literally as I hung my blanket over the curtain pole, the most hideous, creepy looking spider runs over the top of the blanket and somehow onto a towel I had handing on my wardrobe door. I shouted on my roommate who came running through, I pulled the towel down, screaming hysterically and jumping all over it. The damn thing still didn't die, not until I stood on it with my big size 5s anyway! Katie picked it up, binned it in the trash room and I pretty much slept with one eye open, crying all night.

I managed to get cream to stop it itching the bite, however over night it progressively got a lot worse and the mark I had on my back that I thought was literally just a mark, turned into the same kind of thing. ID BEEN BITTEN TWICE! This is where it gets more interesting, if you think being bitten twice is bad, just wait!

So, I called the medical centre on campus who diverted my call to a different number, the guy on the other side of the phone seemed lovely and I was ready to ask for some advice, thats all I wanted. Advice on how to deal with this bite or what to do. The call went a bit like this: “Hi Syracuse Medical, Can i take your name and your location and how can I help you?”. “Hi, my name is Ellen Boomer, Im in Salder Halls, room 241. I believe I've been bitten by a spider” “Oh okay, hem are you struggling to breathe at all?” “No I'm absolutely fine, Im only calling because I dont come from here and don’t know what to do with spider bites” “Okay, Ehm an ambulance will be with you  in about ten minutes and a doctor will come and inspect you. If you need anything or anything changes call us straight back, thank you!”

They directed me to the emergency ambulance on campus, now I was freaking out! My roommate wasn't in so I went across the hall to get my friend to come and wait with me until they got here. Right enough, 10 minutes later and ambulance arrives outside Sadler, the gurney is taken out the back of the ambulance and two student paramedics - as the ambulance service is student run on campus - come up to my room along with this huge DPS Police officer. Everyone on my floor is out, looking, wondering what is going on. I was so embarrassed. I firstly thanked them for coming, explained my situation before showing them my bites. They told me I could either go to the hospital were they would just give me more cream or I could wait till the medical centre opened on Monday and go there. Why could I not have just been told that on the phone!? Anyway, DPS took my SU ID and they left basically. 

Then, to make things even worse, I get a text message on my phone, about 10pm telling me there had been fraud on my bank account and they were freezing my account and cancelling my card. Fantastic! The week before family weekend when I'm planning to go shopping with my uncle, they cut off my card.

So, Ive been eaten by spiders, embarrassed on my floor by the paramedics and DPS had my bank account hacked into. I just wanted home. I missed my family and I just wanted them to be able to give me a hug and tell me everything was going to be okay.

Instead, I went on twitter and put on my own social media, where your personal views and expressions are supposed to be expressed and put that I was homesick. This then obviously pissed some people off back home who thought i was being ‘selfish’ and that I ‘needed to get a grip and realise what an amazing opportunity I had’. Oh trust me, I knew what an amazing opportunity I had but If you had all been through what I had in the space of two days, when your 7,000 miles away from your family, your friends, everything that comforts you. Would you not be homesick too? No one knew what a horrific weekend Id had and what Id been through, yet everyone was quick enough to jump and tell me I was in the wrong when I put I’d been a little homesick. Gob open brain engage later mum calls it. 

I am unbelievably grateful and cannot thank anyone enough for this fantastic experience Im having right now! Working with and meeting new people is amazing and experiencing all the fabulous things that SU has to offer is only beginning for me. 

1 month down.. 

71 days till my first UK visitor

90 days till my next 3!

Im having a blast! I love this place! But homesickness does happen.

A sea of Orange

Lets start with a bit of background. In June 1940, Syracuse officially adopted orange to be their official college colour after a ‘class of 1890 reunion’ where Frank J. Marion who felt he was responsible for the change in school colours from pink and blue, to Orange! This decision came around after they had attended a track meet with Hamilton college and they were wearing their college colours to represent themselves and felt that it didn't suit their reputation. They met with the Chancellor of the school after their meet who agreed that blue and pink wasn't suitable either. They decided on orange and olive green originally, however these colours had already been claimed along with orange and blue although Orange itself hadn’t, until Syracuse University claimed it and made it their official college colour (the blue we use is for lettering purposes only). 

As a student from the United Kingdom, sports teams and colours are only a big deal when it comes to the games being shown or you, yourself attending a game. Especially not University teams anyway, barely any of them in the UK have their own colours that people wear and parade around in. So when I arrived in Syracuse, moved all my things into my dorm and visited the bookstore - which at a first glance, doesn't look like it sells many books! - I was mesmerised by how many people were actually wearing orange and how much of a big deal it was here! I mean, I knew before I got here that ‘orange wear’ was the thing for Syracuse, and I did know that it was a big deal, but I wasn't prepared for how much of a big deal it actually was. It seemed that if you didn't have at least something orange in your wardrobe or even on your person, it was time to question yourself whether you were at the correct university. 

When I arrived, I only had one piece of ‘orange wear’ which was a big jumper, not exactly suitable for the hot weather that we are having at the minute so some shopping was definitely on the agenda, and it wasn't even shopping for just normal clothes. These clothes had to be orange! I felt like I needed a whole new wardrobe! 

You were welcomed into the bookstore, onto campus, into your dorm, even in shops such as ‘Target’ or ‘Wegmans’ by a sea of orange wear! It was crazy and got me extremely excited for this next year that I was going to be having! 

Judy - one of the organisers of the scholarship - always said that she felt bad for all the other universities in the area because none of them were as big as SU or got as much recognition as SU did. To be honest, I don’t think anywhere got as much recognition as SU did. I have never visited a place where everyone knows your colour and is extremely proud to show off that you are part of it! 

After recently attending my first American Football game - SU vs. Rhode Island. I feel like I experienced everything that the photos show. All the Freshman got free tickets to the game so our whole dorm was filled with people wearing orange, having their faces painted with orange paint and some students even went as far as wearing orange body suits - I for one would not recommend that in this heat and the heat inside the dome! 

This idea of ‘a sea of orange’ doesn't always come from the clothes though, even in the dome, the seat covers are obviously orange! Its officially my new favourite colour!