Newcastle, U.K.

Minor: Creative Writing

September 3rd

Hi Retrievers! My name is Shruthe and I’m a double-major in MCS and Asian Studies. I’ll be doing the UMBC Exchange Program at Newcastle University in England for my entire sophomore year and I’m super stoked to take you all along with me!

Through my majors, I really want to work in international media and entertainment one day, so I’m honestly leaping at any academic/professional opportunity to go abroad. I’ve practically been manifesting this ever since I (very predictably) picked up Harry Potter for the first time and crammed my eight-year-old, adolescent brain with as much British culture, slang, and rhetoric as I could possibly consume. I’ve been around the U.K. a few times before so I’m hopefully guaranteed less of a culture shock for my first time traveling solo as well. Although, Newcastle is new territory for me within England, so it’ll be an interesting experience rather than going to where everyone usually does, like London.

The past few days have been an amalgamation of creating anxiety-induced photocopies of all my important documents, scrutinizing my checklist, prowling through stores for the bulkiest winter sweaters, and wondering if I should risk electrocution by bringing my hair straightener. Everyone’s been asking me how I’m feeling, being away from home for so long. It feels like I’ve just been on autopilot, without really taking the fact that I’ll actually be going away to a completely different country, across an ocean, for an entire year. I’m quite independent, so I’d like to think I’ve been ready for that aspect. Though I suppose reality will clock me when it’s time for all the incredibly fun stuff, like trying to open an international bank account or navigating the maze of metro networks there without accidentally ending up in France.

In terms of preparing for my travels, there isn’t too much straying from the norm to bring with me other than packing with a long winter and a lot of rain in mind. I’ve been operating on bits of the same advice that I’ve heard from different people, though there are three I’ve heard on rotation. One: bring adapters AND a voltage converter. Adapters will do the job alone if your devices are dual voltage, but if not, then you’ll be risking an unwarranted bout of electrocution as previously mentioned. Two: store all your most vital documents/information in a secure, accessible place (hence the photocopies). With policies fluctuating left, right, and center overnight, you never know the kinds of situations you might be in, so it’s better to have all your important details on hand. And three: make the most of your time abroad. The most attractive aspect about England specifically (in my opinion), is that you have the entirety of the U.K. and the rest of Europe on your doorstep. Paris and Amsterdam are just a quick train or flight away!

Newcastle only starts their first term in the third week of September, but I’ll be arriving a few weeks early to travel around and find my footing for a bit before the fall term quite literally sweeps me away. Next time I write, I’ll be across the Atlantic!

 

September 17th

Greetings from England! I haven’t been in Newcastle just yet; I’ve spent the past week meandering around London with my dad and some relatives before I go up North. It’s been quite interesting to come back to a lot of the same places I’ve been to when I was younger and see what has changed in the past few years. Personally, it’s only gotten busier. Seeing everyone scurry about amidst their own hustle in the city is truthfully such a refreshing change from the Maryland suburbs, as it can get quite isolating sometimes with UMBC being located so far from a lot of social spots. Despite already having been, I had to stop by the typical tourist areas around the Thames River, like the Big Ben and London Eye—and I won’t take any slander on them; it never gets old for me.

We then walked through Trafalgar Square, which is basically a mini-park right in the middle of Central London that’s full of statues showcasing iconic British characters (Mary Poppins, Mr. Bean, Harry Potter, etc). A lot of British films also hold their premieres at Trafalgar Square, so we even managed to grab a peek at the red carpet of the Downton Abbey film, where quite a few actors and crew were doing Q&As. Our first few days eventually ended with some well-needed shopping for a few dorm essentials I was going to take with me.

I was also able to make a day-trip to Oxford in between, which had been on my bucket list for a long time. Being only about two hours away, it was super easy to get a direct train from London. One of my absolute favorite authors is R. F. Kuang, who wrote Babel, or the Necessity of Violence while she was studying at Oxford University. It was super cool to see the inspiration behind the story’s academic setting in-person. I was able to recognize a lot of street names and buildings merely from the book’s description. For the modern eye, Oxford is ripped straight out of a dark academia novel; with its Gothic architecture and cobblestone streets, you can quite visibly see the rich history of the city. I also wanted to go inside the Bodleian Library and Christ Church College, as they were both filming locations for some of the Harry Potter films, but unfortunately arrived past their visitor hours.

Nonetheless, it was made up with the rest of the stunning campus, and I ended up bringing a few Oxford souvenirs, as well as a book back with me.

The weather has been shockingly kind so far, and I’m hoping it stretches out as far as possible until the autumnal downpour of rain begins. Though I have to remember that it’s most likely because I’m down South right now, and the weather here is usually much warmer than it is further up the region. At the moment, I’ve been keeping myself busy with attending to miscellaneous welcome materials online that Newcastle University has been sending me and catching up with any outstanding student visa matters while I get accustomed to things. I’ll write to you all from Newcastle in a few days!

 

October 1st

I’ve officially moved into Newcastle! The fall semester is already underway and my first week here flew by in a blur of events. They hosted a Welcome Week for all freshmen and international/exchange students. Much like UMBC having around a week of freshmen orientation activities, Newcastle University calls it “fresher’s week” which is, in essence, the same thing. During this time, multiple different vendors and organizations come out to campus and give out free items/vouchers to students, which is really useful for people studying in the city. I’ve also already joined quite a few different extracurriculars, like the student-run campus newspaper, the Media & Journalism Society, Thai boxing, and even a travel club. I wanted to try as many as I could within their free trial periods (most extracurriculars here do require a membership fee, but it gives you access to a lot of cool events and discounts around the city).

Taking the metro here is something I’ve yet to do, but honestly, it’s not even obligatory for where I’m staying. My dorm is located right at the center of our campus, so it’s really convenient for me when I go to classes or even want to go to stores, as the buildings are all clustered around my accommodation. The city also isn’t overbearingly vast, so I’ve been walking pretty much everywhere, which I’ve been enjoying while the weather is still decent.

I’ve also been loving the café culture here; I’ve always been someone who gets more done outside than inside, so having a wide variety of budget-friendly cafés within my campus is very convenient. My favorite is an old-fashioned brunch spot only a 3 minute walk away from my dorm called Claremont’s Teahouse. It’s super quaint with a great menu, but sometimes my friends and I don’t even order anything. It’s nice to just sit and study with that “study-cafe” ambience around you—not to mention, a few of them have cats and dogs roaming around.

My flat is located in a block right behind the university’s International Study Center, so a good percentage of the occupants are international or exchange students, which is nice when it comes to doing activities or hanging out together. Everybody else who aren’t foreign students are mostly freshers, so everyone knows that we’re all sort of in the same boat. My wing in particular has seven of us total. In the U.K., flats are mostly mixed-gender, so we all get our single rooms and share a main kitchen together.So far, I’ve also been able to make a trip up to Alnwick, which is under an hour of a bus ride away from Newcastle, right at the coast of Northumberland. We explored the town for a bit and also visited Alnwick Castle, which was used as a filming and reference location for multiple projects, like Downton Abbey, and most famously–the first two Harry Potter films. It’s also the second-oldest castle in the UK that is still inhabited by an English noble family—for over 900 years. Geographically speaking, I really like how Newcastle is located in the countryside, as it’s an area of the U.K. I haven’t explored quite a lot yet. I’ll definitely be making a lot of day-trips when I can, so until then!

 

October 15th

Hey guys!

In typical English fashion, the weather has significantly cooled over here, bringing a total of two passing hurricanes since I’ve moved in. The sun has also begun to set quite early now. I was already aware that the Northern Hemisphere generally gets less sunlight during winter, but it was still quite a shock to spare a glance at the window by the end of a lunch study session and see the stars so clearly at 6 p.m.. The time formatting here has also thrown me off a bit; most European countries follow a 24-hour clock, which, for example, replaces 6 p.m. with 18:00. But I’ve taken the liberty of resetting all my devices to that time format so I’m forced to read it like that and get accustomed to it.

We’ve had a few football matches so far at the city stadium, St. James Park—the 10th largest football stadium in England. I keep forgetting that when I hear “football” thrown around here, it actually means soccer. The fan culture here is honestly really intense (and I thought we go all out for American football in the States). The Geordie people of North-East England hold a lot of pride for their home team, Newcastle United F.C., in the Premier League, which is the topmost tier of English football. They’ve had their fair share of wins and losses so far; they most recently won against Union Saint-Gilloise from Belgium, so people have been celebrating in pubs all week. My accommodation is also only about a 15-minute walk away from the stadium, so game-day chants can be heard all the way from my kitchen window from noon to night. Truly, it’s quite the event.

So far, I’ve been looping throughout the city and doing a lot of exploring with some friends and on my own. Last week, I was introduced to the Quayside Market, which runs every Sunday by local farmhouses and co-ops. They sell all sorts of food and trinkets there, from cheese wheel pasta and Belgian waffles to hand-woven scarves and wooden trinkets. It’s located by the riverside, just next to the famous Tyne Bridge. The biggest difference I’ve noticed so far with Newcastle compared to a few of the U.K.’s other metropolitan cities is definitely the overall affordability. Newcastle has a plethora of student-targeted discounts, store vouchers, and meal-deals to take advantage of. In general, I feel like everything in the North East of England is a lot cheaper than some of the other more tourist-bound regions, so it works out really well for anyone who is on a strict student budget or if you just want to be smart with where your money is going.

There’s much more to explore within and around Newcastle, so we’ll see what more I’ll have to write about for the next blog! See you later!

 

October 29th

Starting this entry off with a moment of transparency—unfortunately, no study abroad trip is complete without its issues. Relatively, my phone has decided that now of all times was the perfect time to die on me (I’m literally typing this stuff out on my i-Pad’s Notes App instead). I had to go give my phone to the Apple Store to get it fixed and was told I probably won’t get it back for a while, so a word of caution to any future travelers: triple check that all your data is backed up somehow, whether it’s through iCloud, another device, or a hard drive. The last thing you want to do is end up in another country without access to external communication or your banking details…

It’s absurd how fast the days are moving, with mid-module assessment prep already underway. I’ve taken four main “modules” (classes) this semester in music production, marketing, writing, and visual culture. They’re all super interesting, especially my music production module. I’ve always been really interested in that whole process since I was young, so getting to work in an actual recording studio alongside other student musicians to create something together has been an incredibly engaging and fun experience. Most of the modules don’t require too much work outside of class, which is probably the most drastic change from American academics (in contrast, the exams/long-term projects are weighted much more over here). One module can be split into two different classes—a lecture and a seminar/workshop—so we get both theoretical and practical experience equally. Every now and then, I’ll have to read something extra to prepare for a seminar discussion, but overall, it’s still very well balanced for someone who wants to have time to travel around and explore when I’m not studying.

I’ve been liking how much you can do and see on your own as well. When I’m not exploring around with friends, it’s easy to find equally entertaining things to do on my own. Newcastle has a lot of quaint bookstores (anyone who knows me knows how much of a bibliophile I am) that offer discounts to Newcastle University students, including the massive, four-story Waterstones—the British equivalent of Barnes & Noble. I have great memories of Waterstones from when I was younger.; my grand-aunt would always make an effort to take my brother and I there whenever we’d come or buy us something and send it from abroad (she gifted me my set of traditionally-illustrated version Harry Potter books from Waterstones).

Halloween was also surprisingly a massive event here, though I do forget that it was a European tradition to begin with. I’ve noticed a general decline in Halloween engagement in the States over the past few years and it was always such a fun time having grown up with that, so getting to participate in it on a whole other level here in the U.K. brought back a lot of memories. We had a joint social held by all of Newcastle’s music societies, where the costume theme was any artist of your choice, so I decided to go as KATSEYE’s Lara Raj. It was really easy for me to commit without going all out on an actual costume.

That’s it for now; I’ll be offline until after Reading Week, which is basically a week off of classes for students to catch up on assignments, or travel, so I’m sure I’ll have loads more to write about then!

 

November 12th

Reading Week is over and I’ve (begrudgingly) returned to classes with a relatively fresh mindset. Most people I know had travel plans during this period and they encouraged me to do the same (you would be surprised about how much you can do in a single week).

Wednesday morning, I got on a 10:30 train to London to visit my aunt and meet up with my friend who was flying in from her own trip to Barcelona. This was technically my first time traveling long-distance within England on my own, so I was really excited just to get to do that all alone. The train systems here are super effective because of the interconnectedness and frequency, but they can also be a bit confusing if you don’t pay close attention to the arrival/departure times and different stops. Once you get the hang of it, though, it’ll be second-nature navigation. There ended up being an incident with the electricity lines, which caused our train to stop halfway through for about half an hour, but because it was single and direct, I made it through the rest of the journey without a hitch.

 

Whilst in London, my aunt took me around East End, where we passed by the Tower Bridge, Millennium Bridge, and the Soho district. The next day, I showed my friend around Westminster since she had never been there before (it was super trippy playing tour guide in a foreign country). We then got on the Tube and went all throughout Covent Garden, where a lot of different markets were being held. A tip for any future London travelers—the Citymapper app is your best friend for any mode of transport you want to take; it gives you the exact times, lines, disruptions, and routes.

A few days later, the travel club me and my friend are a part of had planned to do a hiking trip in the Lake District National Park the

Sunday before classes resume. There was a great deal of rumination on whether or not we should go after being kind of tapped out from our London escapades, but we decided to do it for the sheer experience of hiking up the Windermere peaks in the freezing Northern rain (the absolute ideal idea of fun for sure). We caught our coach bus at around 8:30 am for a two and a half hour journey from Newcastle to the Lakes. First, our group stopped by Keswick, a small town at the bottom of the peaks, where we did some shopping and had an early lunch. Keswick is home to a lot of British chocolatiers, really good pastry shops, and a whole lot of sheep pastures. When we got to Windemere, we hiked up to the top. We were all a bit disappointed that we weren’t able to catch the sunset due to all the rain and fog (which we honestly should have expected anyways) but the view was still worth the hike.

Right when I got back, I spent some time with some classmates who had also returned to get a head start on a few end-of-semester projects. Because of the nature of the classes I’m taking to transfer back for MCS credits, my finals are a bit more practical. I have two oral presentations, a paper, a mock PR campaign, and a full-length song to record and mix before the holidays, so I wanted to lay the groundwork for most projects before my brain very conveniently forgets about them. These next few weeks are honestly going to be a monotonous cycle of classes, end-of-semester projects, and perseverance through the cold weather. But I’m sure I’ll end up finding something spontaneous to do, just to make the passing time more interesting. Until then!

 

November 26th

The temperature has dropped extraordinarily over the past few weeks here; I hope it’s much less intense back in Maryland! It’s been a while since the sun’s been out and I’ve had to layer up inside of my own dorm on some days (word of caution for any future travelers: the English winter definitely requires a level of fortitude). A lot of native students have been telling me this time of year, coupled with the daily rain, biting winds, and passing flu, is when the “seasonal depression” hits. I haven’t gotten fully hit by the extremities of the flu myself, but rather have hints of a cold consistently creeping up on me on and off every other week. Personally, I’ve been relying on multiple mugs of tea and tangerines to get myself through (vitamin D is a huge necessity for anyone dealing with the weather here in the U.K.).

I did have the chance to make a trip to Edinburgh over the weekend with the travel club I’m a part of. I visited a few summers back, so it was nice getting to come back when the peak tourist crowd had subsided a bit. There’s a famous notion that Edinburgh is where all the most prolific writers are from; it is also labelled by UNESCO as the world’s first “City of Literature”  because of its great literary heritage. So many of the streets here are decorated with murals or statues of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his Sherlock Holmes works.

We went to the National Museum, the Royal Mile—a bustling street with gorgeous Georgian architecture—some medieval war memorials, and of course, cooed at some Scottish cows that were grazing around the city. There’s also a really famous hiking trail up Arthur’s Seat, which is essentially a very large and extinct volcano. When speaking with locals, they mentioned how Arthurian legends consider it one of the many possible locations of King Arthur’s Camelot. I do believe that the myth is rooted more in folklore than archaeological evidence though, since I’ve read about different places being more accurate locations; Somerset, South Wales, Cornwall, etc.. I also hiked up to the top of Arthur’s Seat when I made my first Edinburgh trip with my family years ago, so I didn’t plan on doing that this time, but it was funny hearing a few other friends complain about the hike up (so much of Edinburgh is built on significant elevation above sea level).

It was really nice to see how the entire city was already decked out in full Christmas spirit; almost every building was decorated with lights and ribbons. Christmas markets are also a huge event in the U.K., with one being in almost every major city. During this, local and international vendors come together and sell all sorts of food, decorations, handmade goods, and more. You can spend almost an hour just walking through and looking at each stall because of how much there is to see. My friend and I each bought a knitted sweater, though we were definitely more focused on trying the different foods there. We tried the traditional haggis, Scottish meat pies, and even did some fudge tasting for free. I didn’t have an issue with this personally, but one thing about the U.K. overall (Scotland included) is that a lot of their meals are very meat-heavy. For people who are vegetarians or vegan, there are definitely options, but you have to look in the right places to find them.

That’s all I’ve been up to for now; hope the weather isn’t too bad for you all over there!

 

December 10th

Hello!

I’ve been swamped with preparing for finals the past few weeks, so it’s been pretty busy around this time. The weightage here is also quite different compared to American universities. Instead of having multiple assignments throughout the semester, it’s more common for courses to place an emphasis on independent studying and put 80%-100% of the course weight on the final exam or project. A lot of professors spent some time in classes trying to convince the international students not to freak out if they got a 70% on their finals (apparently that’s also quite common?), which I’m certainly not used to. Unlike in the States, British universities also typically hold all of their fall semester finals right after the holidays, which I personally find kind of inconvenient. I’ve had quite a lot to catch up on since my phone mishap as well, so I’m trying to get as much done by the time Christmas holidays come around. However, the finals are overall quite engaging in the sense that I can physically apply what I’ve learned in a practical field. One of my professors even presented the opportunity that whoever scored the highest percentage for presenting a client’s mock PR campaign would be able to participate in a relative advertising internship for the next year—though I unfortunately can’t do this as an exchange student.

On the flipside, our winter holidays begin next week until the beginning of January, when we return for our finals. I’ve made plans with my friend to do a week-long backpacking trip through Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris once we’re off classes, so at least I have that to look forward to. It was super easy to get a flight from Newcastle on a student discount (a plus of having a city airport only 25 minutes away), even with it being during peak travel times. We also got a discounted, year-long Railcard, which allows us to travel between the three places via train. It’s super convenient to have when you want to travel anywhere among the U.K. and Europe. Neither my friend, nor I, have been to Amsterdam or Brussels before so it’s quite exciting for us. I’ve been to Paris before when I was younger, but it was tainted with the inevitable event of getting pickpocketed at the Eiffel Tower metro station, so hopefully this trip will be a much better experience for me to remember. I also took some French classes back at UMBC, so we’ll see if they come in handy while I’m there. I’m just hoping I get my phone fixed in time for me to travel—just when I thought it was back in working condition, I had to take it back to the Apple Store yet again for another fix. How convenient…

Once I’m back from the holiday break, I hope to share all the exciting things we do during my Europe trip!