The Final Countdown

This is going to be a bit of a random blog post. I have so much to talk about so i will try and minimise it all down as much as I can, some are fun little facts and some are about my home cravings that cannot be fixed while I am here! - Enjoy! 

The final countdown is on, and boy is it coming in fast! - I know i say that every time but I just cant believe how quickly this while year has gone. 

Less than two months and I will be able to heal all of those craving for food that I've had while I've been here. I know what you're all thinking, she's in America and she’s craving food!? Trust me I didn’t think it would happen either! But its the little things, like Dairy Milk, Prawn Crackers and Irn Bru. Of course all the stuff that is bad for me. 

My body is literally shouting out for some of my mum’s homemade lasagne with garlic bread. - my mouth is watering writing this! And some decent chocolate! Hershey’s and Dove just doesn't compare to some good old Cadburys. 

These are all things I didn’t think I would miss because “America is the food capital of the world” but they just don’t have the right things for us Scottish girls needing some home cooked foods! Joanna and myself have been spending some nights at Kelly’s house because her daughter Maddie is an amazing cook and makes so delish meals so Sian and Shona, you girls are in for a treat when you first get here! The dining hall food is good, but just like anywhere, you get fed up of the same things every week and sometimes a little shepherds pie or decent spaghetti and meatballs is what you need to get you sorted! 

While I’ve been here however, my love for Starbucks has grown evermore and my craving for a medium peppermint mocha frap, no whip is unbelievable! So any Starbucks lovers back home, I’d love to know if thats available back home ;) wink wink. 

Final Four tailgate at Castle 

In others news however, 2016 marks not only the best year of my life here in America, but the first time in program history that both the Men and Women’s basketball teams have made it to the Final 4 of the NCAA tournament at the same time! How amazing is that!? Sadly the men least their final four game to North Carolina Tar Heels at the weekend :( However the ladies won and went on to play UConn in the final on Tuesday night, sadly the game didn’t go in Syracuse’s favour and we lost out on the chance of the title, however we will be back and we will win. I know it!

For me, basketball season has been one of the biggest highlights of my time here! The atmosphere on campus and in the SU area when there is a game on is truly indescribable and I’m going to miss it so much! Some of my favourite memories form being here have been from in the dome, at the games, meeting the players and just watching both the men and women’s team grow and break school records together! Resulting in Syracuse Basketball having their own official day. March 30th, put it in your calendars! 

This semester I have taken some extremely fun classes, one of which was Challenges of Zoo Management, where we learn all about the different zoo animals, and what they require to survive and we healthy while living in the zoo. Towards the end of the class we go on a trip to Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse where we get to go backstage and get unclose and personal with some of our favourite animals, which meant for me. I was up close and personal with a penguin (sadly pictures cannot be posted on social media due to the fact ti was all back stage in the zoo and the public generally cannot see this, sorry!), but the penguins, elephants, lions, bears, red panda’s, snakes, monkeys, all loved our visit I'm sure! I know I loved it!!

The home countdown is currently on 34 days so time is running out and going fast! Im just having a blast and embracing everything I’m doing! 

Cya soon! 

Second semester - part 1

March already!? Where on earth is this time going? 

#bleedorange 

I cannot believe that in two months i’ll be on a plane coming home and my year and time as an SU student will be over. I can still remember the phone call like it was yesterday when Graham Tait called me and I sobbed down to phone to him as he announced that I was going to Syracuse! - still gives me goosebumps now! 

Oh how I would turn back time to be in Sian and Shona’s shoes right now, you girls are going to have a wonderful time and I cannot wait to see all the adventures you guys get up to as the new ‘lockerbabies’ - Im so excited for you both and over the moon that two awesome girls will be filling mine and Joanna’s shoes here at SU. All of my friends are so excited to meet you! You’re going to have an awesome time, I promise. Come with an open mind, you never know what will happen while you're here!

I came expecting it to be cold and snowy like, all the time? So far there has been one weekend where I couldn't leave my dorm because of how cold it was but apart from that, we haven't had it bad at all! Its been a crazy 'winter'! I still didn't manage to tick "build a snowman on the quad" and "sled down crouse hill" off my bucket list but we are estimated a couple of inches within he next few days so you never know! 

This semester I am absolutely loving my Zoo Management class. Ive came face to face with a sloth, given a bearded dragon a little massage on its tail and had a snake slither through my fingers. This is a class full of fun yet you still learn a lot. (I only really took the class for the penguins but its actually really good!) At the end of the semester, the zoo keepers take us to the local zoo and provide us with ‘backstage’ access to parts of the zoo that the public dont normally get to see, and for someone who is so obsessed with penguins like I am, this is exciting. And for those of you who are wondering if there is actually any learning and “how can zoo management be a class?” there is actually a lot of research that goes into the class as we are set the task of researching and designing a space for our chosen animal (penguins for me obv) and giving a presentation in order to “sell” our enclosure to the zoo keepers from Syracuse Zoo! - exciting or what?

Midterms are underway at the moment, so far I have only had one but the rest are in the calendar! 

Graeme is visiting again at the minute (best boyfriend ever or what!?) so there will be another blog post soon about all our adventures while he was here, I promise I wont leave it as long before I update you all again!

Thanks for reading!

Winter Break Adventures - part 3 - The journey back to 'Cuse

January 17th, the day I was heading back to Syracuse to start my second and final (sad face) semester! I cant believe the new scholars are announced in a matter of weeks! Good luck to you all! 

So I start my journey from Pasco in the early hours of the morning (5 a.m) and for those of you who know me well, will know that I am not a morning person so this was not the best thing for me to be doing. However, a sad goodbye to my family, through security and I was ready to board my flight to Minneapolis. I had a small suitcase with me for hand luggage as my bag was close to the weight and I bought things when staying with my family so the extra bag was needed! However, this was a small plane so my hand luggage had to go in the main body of the plane, no problem right?! WRONG! I had a close connection flight once I landed - intact I only had 30 minutes which was completely opposite to my journey on the way here, however, I believed I could do it and there wouldn't be any problems, well who was I kidding!? Since my hand luggage had to go in the main body of the plane, I had to wait for it to come out, baring in mind I only have half an hour to find my other gate and by this time we had already sat on the run way for 20 minutes with me checking my clock every 20 seconds because I knew how little time I had. So by this point I only have 10 minutes. I get off the plane and stand with the other people who are waiting for their bags, before we are informed that the door is jammed and they cannot get the bas out and no one has any idea how long it will take. My next flight is now boarding. I tell a woman that my flight is boarding and she some how manages to thankfully get the bags up quicker but reassures me that if I miss my flight then she will book me on the next one personally herself. Yeah, darn right she would! I Grab my bag when they are put out and I run for my life, shaking and needing the toilet so bad but I couldn't waste time for a pee so I just have to run awkwardly. I then have to get on a tram to my next gate. Fine. So as I arrive at the tram stop, the doors shut and a tram drives away right infront of me. By this time I can feel the tears building up inside of me and I’ve no idea when I’m gonna burst! Another tram pulls up about 3 minutes later and my stop is the second stop. I run to my gate which of course was the last one of the 3 gates in the building, and I get there as they are calling for final calls for the flight. I make it on and I’m sat beside a guy, around my age and we start to chat. 

We take off and my seat collapses back and so does the guys infront of me! The woman behind me then starts to shake and kick my seat in a hint to get me to put it back up. I ignore it for the majority of the flight but my seat is broken therefore overtime I put pressure on the back rest, It reclines back, resulting in her kicking and pushing my seat. The guy beside me is about 6ft 7 and can’t even put his tray table down because his legs are so long! However, long story short, she makes a big deal about my seat infront of the air hostesses to which they tell her a lot of the seats on the plane are like that and neither of us can be moved because it was a full flight. However the pushing and kicking continues until we land.

We finally land in La Guardia and I have just been on the worst flight ever and I just want to get off, forgetting I put my passport in the pocket on the seat infront of mine and I just head off the plane without taking it back out. Before Its too late I realise this and run back down and tell the captain and the air hostess who both look confused to see me! I explain my situation and they tel me just to run, I thankfully get my passport and head back out. Now worrying about getting to my next gate for my final flight. But thankfully, there was some good in the story and i was flying out of the same gate I flew into so I have no where to go! Yay! 

Judy collects me from the airport and I head back to campus. I guess travelling by myself had gone too well on the way there that something had to happen on the way back, and they say bad things happen in 3’s! 

So far classes have been amazing and I’m loving my second semester already! I cannot wait to see what the rest of the semester had to hold, starting with Graeme’s second visit in 22 days! 

Winter break adventures - part 2

Just a quick update on my travels so far.  All was smooth from Syracuse to JFK and then onto Salt Lake City - hey - however, when I landed and finally got wifi in JFK I checked my emails and noticed that the flights that I had originally been booked on was not the flights that were noted on my tickets and the planes I was preparing to travel on, however, I just went with what was on my tickets and thankfully I got to Salt Lake City with no problems. Notice I didn’t say I got to Pasco with no problems. As I arrived in SLC I managed to connect  to the wifi, every 18 year olds necessity of course, however it was so slow that Netflix wasn't working and neither was FaceTime, both kept cutting out. Nevertheless, the three hour wait didn’t seem to be too bad with the help of music I already had on my macbook - Shoutout to Jess Glynne, Train and Biebz. 

Everything was going good and I even managed to get a seat upgrade so I got extra leg room and a comfier seat! Bonus! However, when we boarded the plane and were all ready for take off, the captain announces that there is a maintenance issue with the plane and he was unsure how long it would take, however, maintenance were on the way and were going to fix it he assured us. Another 10 minutes later he pops back on. I’m shattered, fed up, my butt hurts and just want to get to my final destination by this point, so I’m sat in my seat hoping that he is going to tell us everything is fixed and we will be off soon! But no. He announces to us that we all need to deboard the plane and it is going to take a minimum of 45 to fix the problem. I text my auntie and explain everything thats happened, bear in mind, my flights were already changed and my auntie and uncle, along with my two cousins had already been to the airport to collect me as there was no notification of my change of flights. So our meeting so far has been pushed back, at this point, 45 minutes. 

We get complementary snacks and drinks back in the airport with the hope to be boarding again pretty soon. 25 minutes after we expected, we were able to board the flight again and I am finally typing this on my way to Pasco, with wifi on the plane, to see my lovely family! Im going to tell the bed I love it tonight! 

What a start to 2016 eh! Hope the rest of the year isn't as stressful as this! 

-------

So here I am now, sat with my uncle and auntie close to the end of my winter break, and boy what a great time I've had. From bringing out my inner interior designer and helping them arranging their new house to making animals out of toilet tubes with my old neighbour from Lockerbie! 

This "adventure" has been unbelievably amazing and has been just what I need to kick start the new year and to tick some ore items off my bucket list when I head back to 'Cuse. 

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my first winter break as an american student! 

Love you all and I cannot wait to see what the rest of 2016 has to hold. Truth be told, its got a lot to live up to following 2015! 

Winter break adventures - part 1

First semester is officially over, which sadly means that half my time at Cuse is over but what a blast its been! I’ve met people I’ll hopefully be friends with for life, experienced things that isn't possible to experience in the UK and been on a rollercoaster of emotions, but hey! Thats college, right?

First semester was finished with a visit from Graeme (the boyf) before Winter break began with a visit from my family! Its been a wonderful month so far and I'm currently sat on a plane 36,000 ft in the air heading to Salt Lake City before finally arriving in Pasco, Washington State to stay with my Uncle Martin, Auntie Lisa and my cousins. With a short visit to an old neighbour from Lockerbie in Spokane. Fair to say its going to be a busy couple of weeks but I cant wait! 

So, heres a run down of how the family visits went - Graeme arrived on December 4th and in our time together we went to the SU soccer game, SU mens basketball, a shopping trip to Destiny Mall, went to see Lights on the Lake with Kelly and her daughter Maddie and on several occasions we ate out. What else do you expect when in America!? Having Graeme stay really made my time during finals go a little easier and a little smoother than I had originally expected. It was so nice to have someone from home staying with me, a Scottish accent to talk with and my best friend finally back! - soppy I know. We stayed with Kelly (my second or third mum while I'm staying here) for the first couple of days before I took Graeme onto campus and he got to experience college life for the first time! Everyone on my floor loved him and welcomed him with open arms, some literally and others just a high five or a shake of the hand. They all seemed so excited to have another Scottish person staying for two weeks! Once the he got over the jet lag and he wasn't waking up at 2am asking what time it was everything went pretty smooth. There were a few bumps along the way but I wont mention those. A tearful goodbye was said on December 19th and his second visit is being planned as we speak! Hopefully only a couple of weeks and he’ll be back! I guess he liked it! 

December 20th - I headed to Washington DC with some of the Remembrance Scholars for the annual service that is held on the 21st at Arlington Ceremony for the victims of Pan Am flight 103. We got to read out names of the victims at 2.pm and were to be finished by 2.03 pm for a moment of silence to remember those we lost on that long December night in Lockerbie. I had the honour of reading some of the victims who were killed on the ground in Lockerbie and are also known as the Lockerbie 11. As I finished I mentioned I was a Lockerbie Scholar along with Joanna and that we were here to represent the Lockerbie 11 during our scholarship year here. A piper played and members of the FBI and family members spoke before the ceremony was concluded with the presentation of a Pan Am 103 wreath that was made up by red, white and blue flowers was placed infront of the cairn. 

Representing Syracuse at Arlington

Joanna and I at the cairn

One thing I will never forget from this ceremony happened afterwards. A lovely little lady tapped me on the shoulder as I turned around I seen the tears streaming down her face. I held her arm as she asked if I was from Lockerbie. I smiled and told her I was and fighting through the tears she said “You tell them all when you get home, thank you. Thank you from us all”. We hugged and that was it, she never told me her name and I never seen her after to ask her more about why she was there. But I’ll never forget her.

December 22nd, I had my first McDonalds in 4 months and my first ever Chic-fil-a. Both were amaaaaaazing! And we headed back to Cuse. My parents and my sister also arrive tonight which I was so excited about since leaving Graeme was so hard and I was loving having someone from home around. 

They arrived late that night and the following day I took them on a tour of campus where they got to meet the lovely Juan, one of the Remembrance Scholars. We went into Hendricks Chapel where they could see my name on the plaque that the university have for all of the Lockerbie Scholars over 25 years. We had lunch on Marshall Street before I took them to spend some money on “Orange Wear” which was a necessity for the basketball game we were going to on the 27th. On the 23rd we took a random road trip to lake … and we had the biggest, fajitas, nachos and burritos ever. Christmas eve we went to Kelly and Dennis’ house for Christmas Dinner which was lovely. It was so lovely to be spending family time with both sets of parents (My real ones and my cuse ones). Christmas day we opened presents as usual and had a lazy morning before heading to “Grand Genesse Hotel for Christmas lunch, sadly there was no turkey but Kelly did kindly make us some! Boxing Day, Koren and I hit the sales at Destiny Mall while mum and dad went to the movies! Was such a fun day but I was totally shopped out. Basketball was next and Cuse were up against Texas Southern and thankfully came out on top! GO ORANGE! We went to Niagara Falls next and my family got to meet one of my friends who only lives 20 minutes away from the falls. Katie joined us for lunch and came to the falls with us. It was so nice to see her again especially since I didn't think I would see any of my friends over the break! So shoutout to Katie C for taking the time to come and see us! We visited Destiny Mall a few more times and ate out pretty much every night, so that 1 and a half stone I’d lost over four months has undoubtably been put back on! These visits included go-karting at Destiny, and carving our name into the table at Dino Bar-B-Que. (we asked the waitress I promise). Breakfast out with Kelly and Dennis yesterday and now here I am, after a 3 o’clock start this morning, I’m on my second of three flights of the day and due a well deserved nap! 

Happy New year! See you all when I’m back in Cuse!

First Semester - check! (Almost)

I cant believe I am writing this, but in two weeks, first semester will be over! Half my time here will be done - that makes it sound like I’m in prison! I’m really not, for anyone who hasn't clicked on, I love it here! I just cant believe how quickly time is going! It seems like yesterday we got off the plane and attended our first week of classes. Yet since that day we have survived midterms, the stress of picking next semester classes and our Remembrance Week. With no break from the moment we arrived we have welcomed Thanksgiving with open arms this week! A nice relaxing week off eating plenty food. - nothing new there with the food side then, we are in America after all! ;). I would be lying if I told you this semester was easy and stress free, however, I’d also be lying to you if I’d told you I haven't been loving every minute! Whether its been the first basketball game of the season or the last football game! I’ve done it all and I am so grateful for this opportunity.

Its already time for next years applicants to apply and to me, that seems crazy! I can remember getting the phonemail like it was yesterday! But to anyone reading this who thinks they may apply, want advice? JUST DO IT, FILL OUT THAT APPLICATION AND GO THROUGH THE INTERVIEW PROCESS AND IF YOU’RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE GIVEN THE SCHOLARSHIP, EMBRACE IT! You’re about to take part in one of the best years of your life. Make Friends for life and make memories that will last forever. Have I missed home? For sure! But its only natural and human! I remember the day I was told I’d been given the scholarship, lying in bed that night crying, thinking”What the hell have I go myself in for here!?” but seriously, don’t let homesickness or thoughts like that stop you from applying. There are so many opportunities and people here on campus that can help you through it all, and trust me (sorry mum) but sooner or later you realise you need to forget about home and just enjoy your time here, and trust me, it may take a few months before you realise it. But you will realise it, the time goes quicker than you know! There are too many things for you to be involved with hereon campus to remember home. You’ll be back there soon, take in the ‘Cuse experience while you can! Yeah people back home will stop talking to you even if they said “We will stay in touch, like, all the time. I might even come visit OMG!” but its things like this that let you know who you’re real friends are!

This semester I have taken part in - White water rafting, Ice skating with a class, 3 point challenge with the ‘Cuse basketball team (AMAZING), Pepsi fan cam at the dome, and the most stressful work load ever, but the work load is nothing when you look at all the other amazing things I’ve been able to do! This could be you! This could be your brother or sister, or your son or daughter. 

You could spend a year meeting and spending time with some of the most welcoming families there are out there. One family I’ll never forget are the Monetti’s - Their son Richard died on the plane, the reason we are here is because they lost their son, yet they have been themes kind hearted people ever and will always have a place in my heart and as their son said “A good attitude is worth 5 points; don’t sit back, make the most of everything. Do all you can while you can. Life is a one time deal” Its opportunities like this that allow you to build a bond with someone you never met. They fill a place i your heart. Remembrance week will make you cry, laugh and remember but it’ll also make you eternally grateful! You’ll miss home but your remembrance fam will be there and you’ll love them just as much as your own family. I know I love every 36 other scholars that I spent my first semester with! 

But seriously, If you’re thinking about applying and are unsure, drop me a message, a comment, anything! I will do anything I can to persuade you this is the thing for you!

That tearful time

This week was Remembrance week and Friday marked our biggest even on the calendar for myself and my fellow scholars. I got up as normal, I went to my econ class as normal, yet what wasn't normal was the fact that I couldn't focus and take in what Professor Evensky was telling us about the Macro Economics system. (not that I understood much of it anyway). 

My mind was just elsewhere.

I came back to my dorm and started to get ready. I walked back and forth in my room reading the speech I had prepared for the ceremony. I felt confident. I ran through it all in my head, trying to take away the fact I got rather upset during the practice last week - today is a new day I kept telling myself.

12:45 arrived and we (the scholars) were meeting together at 1 inside Hall Of Languages where we would get our pictures taken and have our roses handed to us. I kept running through my speech in my head as we all congregated together. I knew this was going to be though, but just how tough? That I was unaware of. We all had fun taking pictures and chatting casually before all the seriousness began and people kept asking me if I was nervous and all I could say was “Im ready, I’m prepared in my head but when I get out there, anything can happen” and we would all just laugh off our nerves. 

Laying a rose for Andrew

2.03 arrived and we headed out in our separate paths down to the wall of remembrance where each of the 35 seniors laid their rose in memory of their student whom they were representing this year. I lay a rose in memory of Andrew McClune. A past Lockerbie Scholar who sadly passed away here in SU, 13 years ago. I introduced my rose laying by mentioning how “Andrew had dreams of joining the Royal Air Force and founded Syracuse University’s curling team. He was known for being highly ambitious and always on the move” before stating “I lay this rose of behalf of Andrew and act forward in his memory”. Myself and fellow Lockerbie Scholar Joanna Barrie were then introduced and invited to speak. For those of you who were not there, my speech went like this 

“I respectfully stand before you all, whilst we all take time to remember those affected and touched by the tragic event many years ago.

On December 21st 1988, Syracuse University lost 35 of its most outstanding students, my small hometown Lockerbie, in Scotland lost 11 residents and us as a community in the world lost 270 men, women and children on the Pan Am 103 flight. 

I am here today to act in their memory. To Look Back, Act Forward and to never forget. 

I wasn't alive when this tragedy happened and at the time of the disaster, my family was not living in Lockerbie, however,when you grow up in such a small, close knit town, you begin to feel like you were there that night and you share the heartache with those people who were there the night the plane landed in our small town and being able to come as far as we have today and have joined another community that is Syracuse, mourning the same tragedy 27 years on is simply surreal. I cannot thank any one person enough for this opportunity I have been given. It really is an honour and an absolute privilege.  

We are not only here today to celebrate the lives of the students we lost the night of the Lockerbie Air Disaster, but also fellow Lockerbie Scholar, Andrew McClune who sadly passed away during his  scholarship year here, 13 years ago. Andrew was a young curler just like myself and played for the Universities curling team. He is described by his friends back home “as a star, he was academic, sporty, fun and kind, everything that you would want a friend to be, it was him. He was without exaggeration the nicest, kindest man.” We cannot forget to act forward in his memory also. 

I now have a short poem written anonymously to share which I feel is significant for the reason we are gathered together today.

Fighting back the tears

“I thought of you with love today,

but thats nothing new.

I thought about you yesterday 

and days before that too.

I think of you in silence,

I often speak your name.

All I have are memories,

and your picture in a frame.

Your memory is my keepsake,

with which i’ll never part.

God has you in his keeping,

I have you in my heart”

Today, tomorrow and Forever, we must look, back, act forward. and never forget these outstanding people, whom we lost 27 years ago. ——

Thank you.”

This truly was the hardest thing i’ve ever had to do. To look up half way through my speech and see people I didnt know, in floods of tears and smiling back at me, was one of the most moving and heartwarming yet heartbreaking things I've ever seen. 

The tears ran down my face as I finished of my speech and a little more when the bagpipes were played as people were invited up to the wall to lay their own flowers in memory of any of the victims. We all then left and went to Hendricks Chapel for the congregation where myself and Joanna were presented on stage with lovely Lockerbie buttons. 

The most amazing people I've ever met! 

It really has been an honour to be a part of, I feel so lucky and so humbled by everyones comments from not only that one day, but throughout the whole week. To know how grateful people are for myself and Joanna to be here, really is mesmerising. We are the ones who are eternally grateful. 

Its time to Look Back and Act Forward

October 25th through October 31st marks this years Remembrance Week here at SU and what an absolute honour it is to be involved this year. In the past I've always seen previous scholars pictures and head about how much of a moving ceremony it is that takes place on our beautiful campus. Lets just hope the weather stays dry or doesn't snow!

This years 35 Remembrance Scholars have been amazing in involving myself and Joanna into their plans for the week and I cannot wait to be a part of it. 

This year, myself and Joanna decided that it would be a privilege to represent the Lockerbie 11 - the eleven residents of our small hometown in Scotland who were killed the night of the attack along with fellow Lockerbie Scholar, Andrew McClune. We both felt it was so important for these 12 figures to be remembered along with the 35 amazing students that SU lost. Back home, families were broken and worlds were shattered, and this year, its our responsibility to act while we are here, in honour of these people we lost. 

This year marks the 27th anniversary of the Lockerbie Air Disaster, 25 years since the Lockerbie Scholarship was set up and the 13th Anniversary of Andrew's death. And its just so coincidental that its suddenly came back in the news with the announcement of the two new possible suspects!How weird!?

I have tried so hard not only to remember Andrew through the work of the scholars and each even we have planned for the week but also, through knowing how much of an amazing and aspiring curler he was, trying to get a team set back up in his memory. Unfortunately, the ice rink south of main campus no longer affiliates for curling so there is nothing I can do on campus in order for a team to be organised. However, after meeting with Doc Mason, who's son played in the SU team with Andrew when he was here, he told me that before every game after Andrews death, the team would huddle, put their hands in and shout "For Andrew". I want to be a part of that. I want to do something for him. It seems that achieving second place in the 'Andrew McClune Memorial Trophy' back home 3 years on the run still isn't enough for me to feel like I've done enough. Something else needs done on campus and I'd love to be that person who solves that missing piece of the puzzle. 

Our week of remembrance begins with the homecoming football game on Saturday. SU vs Pittsburgh where the dome that is usually packed with people screaming "Lets Go Orange" will fall silent for a minute in memory of those we lost that night, 27 years ago. 

In memory of these people we must 'Look Back, Act Forward' and most importantly never forget! 

I cannot wait to be a part of it. This experience just keeps getting better and better.

Family Weekend! :D

As promised, a blog post dedicated to my Uncle Martin who made the long, overnight journey to come and stay with me this weekend for campus' family weekend! * big cheesy grin inserted here * After not seeing him or any of his family for so long, unless it was through the power of facetime, it was so lovely to finally see him again!

I had lots planned for us and there were a lot of opportunities here on campus that had been planned especially for family weekend. There was the Kenan Thompson the comedian from 'Kenan and Kel' or SNL as he is now on. The Big football game on the Saturday, Syracuse VS LSU (Louisiana State University). This was a big game due to the fact, Louisiana are number 8 in the nation and Syracuse are no where near that, yet we have been playing our best we have ever played in a long time this season and managed to secure a 3-0 form our past three games. All the acapella groups on campus help an evening for us to go and watch, along with loads of other things! - theres too many to name to be honest.

So, Friday night - Uncle Martin arrived at Judy's house as thats where we were both staying for the weekend, and I went there after classes on the Friday to go and see him. Uncle Martin had got himself a parking pass for South Campus, so it meant we could park the car and get the bus right onto campus, not realising that parking was free on campus all weekend! - DOH! However, we were able to park right outside my dorm and were then able to take advantage of the free food in Sadler dining hall - some more than other as Uncle Martin went back for seconds :P . We then met up with my roommate Katie and our friend Katie - the names weren't going to be hard for him to remember - and we headed to see Kenan Thompson! I was excited for this, even though I had no idea who he was, the Katies reassured me he was funny and we should go, so we did! And he was, just for a short period of time, which was disappointing. However, tickets were only $5. It should have been $20 but no one told me family tickets were $15 but nobody questioned it, so I shouldn't really complain.

A quick walk around campus to show Uncle Martin where I was living before the short drive back to Judy's and an early night before the big LSU game in the morning! I was so excited about this! So excited that I left myself half an hour to get breakfast, showered and ready for the game - I missed sleeping in a double bed that felt like clouds when you lay on it, not a single bed with a solid mattress. So I overslept a little, we still made it to the game and boy was the dome packed and noisy! There wasn't only loads of orange, like the scenes I was used to as I entered the dome. There was so much purple and yellow from all the LSU fans! I knew this game was going to be exciting.

Uncle Martin REALLY enjoying the football!

The LSU tigers ran out on the pitch, the dome echoed with screams from their fans and boos from us loyal SU fans. The tension built, "code orange" was displayed on the big screens and the place roared as the smoke rose and the boys in orange ran out. My goosebumps were huge, I just loved this! I was in complete heaven in this place! The game started and of course I still didn't understand a thing that was going on and us english had our own opinion about the 'lazy players who only ran for 30 seconds and needed to come off because they were tired'. We knew this wasn't the case but I'm used to rugby where the play is constant and there is no switching about. Dad had already raised his concern for me and Uncle Martin attending the game together and we are both just a gob on legs and dont really think about what we say, so there was a lot of "get up and deal with the pain you big bas****" I couldn't help but laugh, I was having a great time!

The scoring kicked off and both teams got plenty touchdowns, LSU sadly more than SU and they ended up taking the 24-34 win. 

A wonderful dinner at Judy and Ed's was had before we headed out to "An Acapella Evening" as mentioned before ^^^. It was so much fun and reminded us both so much of Pitch Perfect, which we decided was like THE best movie ever, although he hadn't seen the second one - he has now, he text me the other night telling me that it brought back memories from our weekend together :') 

Sunday came and we planned to go shopping as winter here is crazy cold and I had a few jumpers and a few hats. Basically, I was not prepared for what was coming, at all. So we decided to head to Costco - not like the one in the UK I can tell you that! - for the majority of our needed items. Between my uncle Martin and myself we have a pretty good sense of direction! So getting somewhere - with the help of satnav - wouldn't be an issue. We thought. We headed on the right road, everything was looking good! Neither of us had been to Costco in Syracuse before so we did rely a lot on the satnav which told us we were approaching our destination, an exit off the freeway appeared, yet it didn't seem close enough to where our final destination was so we decided against taking it and we would just take the "next exit". We then DROVE PAST COSTCO AND THERE WAS NO 'NEXT EXIT'. So we came off at the nearest exit and turned around, hoping that there would be an exit in a similar place to the one we should have taken, but of course, there wasn't. So another journey past where we needed to be, off the freeway and turned around AGAIN. We joined back on and took the correct exit this time. Costco was on the right hand side so Uncle Martin decided to turn right, thinking that it would take us to where we needed to be, bearing in mind, everyone else here was going straight on, however, we turned right, there was no one in the car park. It would have been just our luck that it was shut right? but it wasn't! We just went in the wrong way. Anyway! We got what we needed and headed out again after our free slice of pizza and a soda, all because I'm an SU student, how fab is that!? :D We then hit Walmart, Target and Dicks Sporting Goods in Destiny USA Mall. We managed to get all we needed bar some winter boots! 

Our weekend was then complete with dinner and Dinosaur BBQ and Gannon's ice cream! There aint no better way! It really was truly amazing with my fabulous uncle and I cannot thank him enough for making the long long long journey to come and see me! Love ya lots and hopefully see you soon! xxx

Myself and my Uncle Martin! - Cheeeeese!

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!