A Year In The USA | Weeks 3 & 4

My first ever hike up to the Wind Caves during Week 2

Like the last time, I'm starting off with a mini Q&A; this time, it's about accommodation and meal plans!

What is your accommodation like?
I live on campus in a shared dorm room. There's around 50 girls on my floor and 1 RA (Residential Advisor). I chose it because it was the cheapest and I wanted to save as much as I could for travelling. I expected it to be really low quality and basic, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got here. It was very spacious, clean and well presented, not at all like the prison-style room I had envisioned. Also, the bathroom situation isn't that bad either! I've never had to wait to have a shower or go to the loo and it's kept really clean and tidy.

Do you have a meal plan? And what is the food like?
With my accommodation, it's required that you have at least a 10 meal plan (i.e. 10 meals a week). There are more options such as a 15 or 20 meal plan, but I thought that would be too much for me. Like anywhere, it really depends where you go to eat. There are a few places where the food isn't so good, especially late at night, but at other cafés and shops it's really nice and tasty! Plus it's all American sized!

How much is your accommodation/meal plan?
My accommodation is $990 per semester (£610) and my meal plan is $1,330 (£820). Over the two semesters it's $4,640 (£2,870) which is a lot cheaper than my accommodation last year (which was around £4,200 NOT including food)!

Week 3

Just a really cool picture I took in Yellowstone

WOAH, what a week! It began with some friends and I heading to Yellowstone National Park for 3 days; a six hour car journey, but well worth it! There were 8 of us split over two cars; 2 Americans, 1 Spanish, 1 French, 1 Italian, 1 Swedish, 1 German and me (crazy huh?). I spent around $180 (£110) for the whole weekend, including food, petrol, camping equipment and souvenirs which was brilliant!  I could've budgeted a little more but I decided not to, solely because I wanted to really enjoy the weekend and not be thinking about what I could and couldn't buy. It was a lovely weekend,

The Multi-coloured Geyser at Midway Basin

surrounded by amazing scenery and amazing people, what more could you ask for from a holiday!

Another super exciting thing I did this week was join the Aggie Radio team! I had applied to be a DJ/Talk Show host/News reporter/Acoustic singer (so basically everything lol!) at the Day on the Quad which was an information day about clubs and societies, and I got an interview for it on Tuesday! It was really chilled and exciting, and I got to talk about my performing arts experience and travelling. After that, there was a quick meeting where all the newbies were introduced to all the directors and important people, which was fun! Allocations for positions are still to be made but I'm hoping to have my own Talk Show or be a News Reporter! But one thing that's for sure, is that I'll be performing a live acoustic session sometime this or next semester, so watch out for that!

Apart from the usual, going to classes, doing homework etc etc, I also got to experience my first American party...and it was a frat party, WOOO! Delta Sigma Phi hosted a Toga Party on Friday evening. It was No Toga, No Entry so my friends and I decided to go all out and make our own toga's and flower headbands! Click here to check out how you can make your own! It was so much fun and such an experience so I'm really glad we went!

Week 4

The Football Stadium during my first football game!

Week 4 started off with a BANG! It was the (American) football team's first home-game of the season, so the school organised a BBQ (free food WOO!) and the traditional Stampede to the Football Stadium. The stadium is at the bottom of a hill, so there was around 200 people who all stampeded from the top of the hill to the bottom; it was such a surreal experience! The school spirit at USU is absolutely incredible so the game was AMAZING (even though it went on forever). It was my first time watching an American football game so my roommate had to tell me the rules throughout the game, but it's really easy to pick up and it's actually really enjoyable to watch.

After, we went home, ate, got changed (cause it was REALLY hot) and then made our way to the Foam party! It was like the after-party of the football game because everyone were still in their Gameday shirts. We didn't get too foamy (huh? oh well) but had a good time, and then moved onto some other after-after-parties!

The rest of the week was spent doing the usual classes, homework, eating pizza and watching movies so it was just a really nice, chilled week. The football team also had their second home game of the season and this time it was a WHITE OUT! (i.e. everyone wears white).

These have been the hardest, but most amazing 4 weeks of my life so far; hopefully it continues that way!