Week Fourteen: Personal

Each year in the Grove at Ole Miss they host a free concert, and this year the artists where to be Craig Morgan and Gavin DeGraw.  This caused a lot of excitement all week as the free concert was normally one of the best events of the spring semester.  So as classes and work continued during the week, everyone was rushing to get everything complete so they could enjoy the upcoming weekend.

When Friday finally arrived the grove was full of life as the stage was sat up and eager fans lay on the grass in the sun, determined to be right beside the stage.  However, unfortunately at 8 o'clock, half an hour before the concert was due to start it started to rain, or rather the heavens opened!  Yet as they say the show must go on! About 400 crazy students, including myself put on our coats and boots and set of to the grove to see the concert, which turned out to be an extremely good night despite ending up absolutely drenched!  


I had never heard of Craig Morgan before but he turned out to be a very talented country singer who I really enjoyed seeing.  But the highlight of the night was definitely getting to see Gavin DeGraw live, who I have loved since he first wrote the theme song for One Tree Hill.  Halfway through his performance however, the rain got so heavy that the power cut out and Gavin was ushered off stage.  Yet he did not let this stop him putting on a show, and sure enough he came back on just so he could sing some of his biggest hits which he knew his fans wanted to hear.  It really was a brilliant night, and I definitely think Stran should look into having their own free concert!


This weekend I also went to A- Jax for food, which is famous for its southern for.  Although I had tried southern food before I was told numerous times that I HAD to go to A- Jax, and I must agree the food was amazing! I tried fried pickles, meatloaf, southern fried steak and many other famous southern dishes, all of which tasted absolutely amazing!  I would definitely recommend A- Jax to anyone wanting a true southern experience.




In conclusion I had a really lovely week at Ole Miss, its nice to know that despite all the work that myself and my peers have to complete that we still have time to enjoy what Ole Miss has to offer, and to experience the Southern way of life!   

Week Thirteen: Professional

After the Easter weekend I realised I only had a month left in Oxford and a lot of work and tests to complete before I left. The next few weeks are going to be the busiest yet, with finals, essays, and unit plans.


As I arrived back in Oxford on Monday night, extremely tired after the madness of easter, and with a lot of unpacking and washing to do, I had to start straight into revision for an online test on assessment.  Although an online test may seem easier, they are actually quite difficult, as the questions are often worded in a confusing way, so that sometimes it seems like there is more than one answer.  However I have become accustomed to them over my weeks at Ole Miss, and the more you do the better results you tend to get.


This week I have also had to start working on my Notebook for my Introduction to Special Needs class.  I am lucky to have had some experience already in this field which makes the work for the class easier.  However for this class we are required to put together a notebook of the 13 categories of special needs recognised by IDEA, 2004, an American law passed to protect the rights and needs of many individuals with special needs.  These include: Autism, Deaf- Blind, Developmentally delayed, Emotional disability, hearing impairment, language or speech impairment, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopaedic impairment, other health impairment (including ADHD), specific learning disability, traumatic brain injury and visually impaired.


For this Notebook we had to put together class notes on each of the areas and come up with two additional strategies for each area.  We then had to organise it so that it is the correct order and place it in a binder.  The idea is that we will always have this folder with us.  As we get older and gain more experience with children with different needs, we will have strategies and knowledge of how to deal with them, and we will be able to add to the folder as we gain experience.


This notebook has been incredibly time consuming yet worthwhile as we will always have it to refer to whenever we need to.  This class had been extremely educational and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  Although I had a basic knowledge of children with SEN, I now feel that I know a lot more about how to teach and provide for these children.

Week Twelve: Cultural

As the Easter weekend approached, I spent my days studying for tests, and trying to get as much work as possible done so that I could go away for the weekend with Ava and Sarah.  Thankfully all this work provided as a necessary distraction at this difficult time.

I was really excited when the end of class on thursday arrived, as this meant we would leave for Ava's beach house in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where I would spend my first ever american easter.  We arrived late that night and went straight to bed.  On Good Friday we walked around some of the tourist areas of Gulf Shores, including a few souvenir shops, and the famous Lambert's Cafe, where the waiters throw hot bread roles at you while you are eating, and play practical jokes on you to keep you entertained!  In the end we where given that many rolls, and other free side dishes, that we took away about 5 to-go boxes!

The majority of the weekend was spent relaxing by the beach which was something we all needed, after a busy few weeks.  However on Sunday morning we caught the ferry from Gulf Shore across the bay to the city of Mobile where Ava is from.  We then made our way to her Aunt Michelle's house for our first traditional American Easter.

I was extremely excited about spending Easter Sunday with Ava's family, as Americans make a far bigger deal out of Easter than we do.  At home I'll get given a few easter eggs from close family, however here the children believe in the Easter Bunny the way they believe in Santa Claus, which I personally believe is a lovely idea.  The children wake up on Easter Sunday to find an Easter basket that has been left by the Bunny, and lots of little eggs hidden in their gardens for them to find as well!  I loved the idea of being a child for a day and participating in these wonderful traditional events, and was extremely grateful for the opportunity to do so.

When we arrived in Mobile, Ava's Mum had made baskets for me and Sarah as well as her own three children, which contained an teddy rabbit, flip-flops, jewellery, and lots of chocolate! We then had a beautiful easter lunch of honey roasted ham, homemade bread rolls, potato salad, green bean casserole, cupcakes and Key-Lime Pie (a typical dessert for this part of the country).  After we had eaten as much as we possibly could, we where allowed out into the garden, where the adults had hidden over 150 eggs for us to find!  It was definitely one of the most exciting afternoons as we all raced around like children, trying to find as many eggs as possible, and if we where lucky we might even find the golden egg!

This weekend I was truly spoilt by Ava's family, and it has made me really appreciate the wonderful friends I have made and how well I am looked after.  It was also a wonderful cultural experience to celebrate easter with an american family.  However unfortunately Good Friday is the only holiday the Americans get at easter, so it was back to Oxford for class on Monday.

Week Eleven: Personal

Everyday this week has been about 30 degrees, meaning that almost everyone brought their assignments and revision to the swimming pool to complete, yet with the heat it was hard to concentrate on much.  The days are slowly getting longer and considerably hotter, and there is much more to do around Oxford, including lovely walks during the warm evenings through the forest and trails that surround where we live.  The semester seems to be flying by before I'm even aware of it, and days are being spent trying to both study and fit in as much other things as we possibly can, as we have all just realised how little time we have left!


On Friday one of my close American friends Ava hosted a dinner party, where she prepared a number of Southern dishes, my favourite being her own recipe for buffalo chicken mac and cheese!  The food out here is something that I absolutely adore, so I was delighted at the opportunity to experience some home cooking from a native southerner.  This was also a brilliant opportunity to spend time with numerous international students and American students, who we have become friends with over the past few months.


Being away from home for such a long time was never going to be easy, yet the idea of leaving our new home and returning to the UK is equally frightening.  Personally I have hardly been homesick at all, with too many new experiences to preoccupy myself with, however when I woke on Sunday morning I got the news that my granny had passed away.  This was probably one of the most difficult things I have had to hear, made worse by the fact that I am miles away from home.  I have no doubt that the next few days are going to be extremely difficult, yet at a time like this I am comforted by the amazing friends I have made while I have been studying here.  With the absence of my real family, my new friends are truly like my family over here, and they are doing their best to look after me during this difficult time.


The week ahead brings yet another 3 tests, and much more work to be doing, which hopefully will be a welcome distraction during this time.  There is no doubt that being away from home was always going to be hard at times, and I'm sure all students studying abroad will agree with me that there are parts of home we miss, yet with only a few weeks left, we truly have to continue to make the most of our time here.