Dear Ellie, friends and family,
I couldn't agree with you more about how different studying abroad seems to be for each person. Looking at your pictures and seeing the things you do couldn't be farther from what's been going on with me over in England. But even in the same country, no two students will have the same experiences. I've made a completely different set of friends than most of the other Americans studying at Reading and because of this, have also gotten involved in things I would have never dreamed of doing.
Example one, rugby. I've joined the Reading University Women's Rugby team. Pretty funny, huh? The great part is that I'm not actually bad at the sport, despite never having seen a rugby match in my life and not knowing any of the rules. It's a great workout and the girls are a lot of fun. I plan to go on rugby tour to Munich with them in March, which is going to be absolutely amazing.
I also stayed in London with my friend Dani at her mom's house. It was great getting to see a part of the city that I otherwise never would have gone to. We took the tube into central London one night and wandered through Covent Gardens and did a sort of pub crawl that ended at this fantastic Irish pub where we met officers of the Royal Navy. Needless to say, drinking with them was definitely an entertaining experience I won't forget.
We celebrated Halloween at Wantage with pumpkin carving, and I found out that although England gets into the Halloween spirit, they have a bit of a different take on the holiday. For the British, it's all about the fright factor. You should prepare to be scary here rather than dress up as anything. In an effort to adapt I became a witch one night (complete with broom, hat and long black wig) and a ghost the next.
I've also been getting involved in my hall by becoming JCR Secretary. The JCR are a group of students who are elected to help run most of the social events in the hall, including the formals (which are awesome!), as well as keep the students living in the hall well-informed and taken care of. The space for secretary opened up unexpectedly, and since a lot of my good friends are already on the JCR, I figured it would be another great experience. So far, it has :)
I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and can't wait to hear more about Costa Rica.
Much love xx
Lauren
