Stuffing Elephants into Shot Glasses

Tory Ribar, the study abroad adviser at Bristol, recently asked me to write 100 words about my study abroad experience. (Actually, she asked Troy Long, and he pawned the duty off on me quoting, I imagine, "love to, but my buddy here's an English major..." In other words, "I'm an Engineer -- I spend my time on worthy things." In other words, another Engineer assuming his rightful position above the writer.)

Well, I was thrilled. Or I was until the first word. I wrote as concisely as I could, and the first draft still ended up at over 400 words. I felt like I was trying to stuff an elephant into a shot glass. This was going to be a lot harder than I'd anticipated.

So I got all my homework done early, found a beer deal at Sainsburys, freed up an evening, and sat at my laptop.

Two hours and hundreds of taps on the DELETE key later, this is what I came out with:

'Why Bristol?'

English or American, Chelsea or Man U. fan, everybody's been asking that question of Eric Anderson, an international student from Chicago, Illinois. If a glossy pamphlet attracted Eric to Bristol, it's the unexpected gems that have made his experience worth galaxies.

For instance: Eric never expected to play point guard on the Bristol Men's Basketball 1^stTeam, read his poetry in a nasally Chicaaago accent at a crowded pub, collaborate with the Bristol Writing Club president on a play, or backpack through 11 countries in 18 days.

So 'Why Bristol?'

For Eric, the list keeps getting longer.

It was passable. More importantly, it was done. I sent it off along with this picture:

Yes, that's me sliding down solid rock.

Immediately, I felt better. The past week, I'd been frustrated with Bristol. There was a stupid grade issue that was souring other aspects of life. I had some tough decisions looming on the horizon: do I work in Los Angeles or Africa? Do I apply for the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships or not? Plus, after blitzing across Europe, the English lifestyle was so slooooooow.

In turn, I was ignoring the important things all around me.

Writing those 100 words helped me see the bigger picture again. I saw how many awesome things I'd done. I saw how glad I was to be here. I saw how many challenges I'd overcome and how many opportunities I'd pursued.

I went to a study abroad social where current international students would meet with Bristol students preparing to study in the US or Australia or Singapore, wherever.

I found my way over to the USA poster, a chaotic jumble of students trying to find their corresponding home/future study abroad university.

There, I found two students planning to go to the University of Illinois next year. I talked to them for an hour and a half. I answered questions about American culture, advised them about where to live, what libraries to study in, where to get good pizza and what days double bacon cheeseburgers are $5. I explained why not to jump in the Morrow Plots unless they're trying to be instantly expelled, and what kind of work to expect in Engineering courses. I urged them to go to American football games, tailgate, take advantage of the ARC, join clubs.

Afterwards, I realized several things.

For one, I realized how great of a school University of Illinois is. Those two Bristol students chose a winner. Annotating different key places on their campus maps unleashed torrents of memories. Good or bad, I missed that school with ferocity but not with desperation. I missed it in a good, make-you-smile-for-no-reason way.

And I realized 100 words to sum up my experience is plenty. Too much, even.

I can sum up my three months -- nay, any worthwhile study abroad experience -- in one word: appreciation.

Appreciate your time (because it's not as much as you think), appreciate the cultural differences (because you're not as similar or different than you think -- you just are), appreciate the challenges (they're beatable -- all of them), the moments you just want to scream "these English can't do ANYTHING right" (they really can't -- just accept it), and appreciate every time you step back and have a chance to remember where you are, what you're doing, and why it matters.

London Weekend 2009 Part 1

London.

Thanks to Hollywood and literature more than anything else, the city had always enchanted me. 

It was where Peter Pan soared over Big Ben; where Marlowe bobbed on the River Thames and framed his search for Kurtz; where Shakespeare's plays were first performed right beside bear-baiting pits and brothels; where 007 called home.

They say if you're bored in London, you're bored with life. 

But as I walked through London with 44 other University of Illinois students from across England, it wasn't London I was bored with -- I was bored with being in a new place surrounded by old ideas.

Cocooned in American accents, blitzed by the familiar names of locations from Champaign, I realized I'd changed.  The month and a half in Bristol had distanced me from U of I by more than time and place.  I was a different person, too.  Just different enough to be uneasy around all the orange and blue.  Just different enough to be bored, even annoyed, with our UIUC way of communicating.

From the first night's dinner chat, it wasn't hard to see that many of the UIUC students were treating study abroad as a party abroad.  They chatted clubs and nightlife, one-upping stories with crazier stories.  Nothing is more University of Illinois than crazy nightlife stories.  It's basically a social currency.  And students will go to mad-crazy-wild-stupid-dangerous ends to get as much of this currency as they can.

I'd left my stash of this currency on the plane.

Don't get me wrong: I've had the time of my life at Illinois.   I love a good time.  I enjoy listening and sometimes partaking in the fantastical excessiveness that tops the social agenda of your typical UIUC student.   Plus, who better to go to a London club with than U of I students?  

Still, I felt they were blocking me from London.  Odd, I know, considering they were the reason I was taking advantage of this free London Weekend in the first place.  But I was in a unique situation.  I was the the only U of I spring study abroad student at Bristol.  By comparison, there were six of 'em at Leeds.   Which means most of them had never had the challenge of sitting on a plane to a place where you don't know a single person.  I did.  I'd had to build a new social life. And the one I built in Bristol was different from the one I'd left at U of I.  

This bored annoyance diminished over the course of the weekend.  There wasn't enough space in my head for minor discontent and all the new experiences in London.  London's way too good for that.  And the 44 study abroad students were way too much fun.

For one, we had four things bringing us together: 

1. Free money (or at least money that's disguised as being free).

2. Free nights in a hotel.

3. Free food.

4. Beer -- free or enough of it not to care.

Put 44 U of I kids from across England in a London hotel with all four of these criteria satisfied. And what does that mean?  

That's the epic of London Weekend 2009 Part 2.

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