Accommodation

Today I've been looking into my accommodation options for York. I received an email from the Visiting Student coordinator saying I wouldn't be able to send in my accommodation forms until December 6th because of system maintenance, but I figure it's never too early to start checking things out! (let's be real, I've been checking out the colleges for months, but now I actually have to make some choices).

York has eight colleges, and each is known for its own personality and traditions. Students apply for their college separate from their program of study. Just about every room is a single, and some have en suite bathrooms, while many have a communal bathroom. Everyone shares a kitchen with their flatmates/housemates, and apparently they're centers of social activity. Originally I found the quaint town-house style of Halifax College to be quite endearing, and I thought I liked it best, but after watching the newer virtual tour videos from yusu on youtube (yusu = University of York Student Union), I REALLY love Langwith.

Here, you can take a look for yourself:

Not gonna lie, I really like the idea of having an art gallery near by. And the gardens around the college are beautiful! Some parts of York's campus are a little meh because it was designed and built during the period when minimalist architectural was all the rage, so it lacks some of the quintessential British atmosphere that old universities have. But Langwith has some of that charm! Also, HUGE kitchen. And it's a smaller college, which will make the transition from tiny little Wooster to huge tens of thousands of students York.

EDIT: WELL SURPRISE I just found out Langwith just moved to the Heslington East campus in October 2012, so it's now no longer in that complex near main campus. Those parts of Langwith now belong to Derwent. WELP. So much for that. I still really like the atmosphere and traditions of Langwith, and the new buildings are quite nice, so it's all good. I'll just need a bike :-)

(There's an updated video for colleges in 2012 here, to give everyone a better idea of what on earth I mean by all of this.)

I have no idea what my options for accommodation will be, but I'm crossing my fingers that Langwith will be an option. I do still like Halifax, but it's a walk from main campus. And Vanbrugh is cool too? Honestly, all the colleges have pros and cons to them, so I really will be happy wherever they place me (I'll be in England at the end of the day, nothing can be that bad!)

I also watched the video from their recent(ish) library renovation:

THEY HAVE A CoRE!! (Wooster people will understand this). Which is quite funny, because Wooster made such a big deal out of their innovative, Apple-store-esque collaborative working environment, when York has something almost identical. But what is most exciting is the bean bag area and the reading chairs with sound mufflers (Wooster's library needs those, people have no library etiquette anymore). And best of all, it's open 24 hours a day (Wooster, take note). I.S. is going to be a struggle coming back to a place where I have leave at 2 am! Oh well.

The campus is lovely, though, regardless of the excess of cement slab buildings. It will be a change to have to walk so far to get to classes and other dorms, or even take a bus, because Wooster's campus is so minuscule. It takes me ten minutes at most to walk from one end of campus to the other. I'm still excited, and it will be a nice change of scenery.

Offer Accepted!

Well, I'm exactly five weeks away from take-off, so I figured I could start blogging!

Today I officially accepted my offer from York! It was exciting and made me feel quite British, to say I'd accepted an offer (Americans don't usually use the word 'offer' when talking about acceptance to a school). It's been quite an ordeal working with Arcadia (the organization I'm study abroad through) this semester, part of which was York's fault, part of it Arcadia's. I knew I'd been accepted five weeks ago, but I never received my official offer from York, only a notification from Arcadia. But today I created my student account, found out what departments I've been accepted to, and accepted my offer!

I'm still not sure what classes I will be taking, but I know I've been accepted by the history and archaeology departments. York is known for its archaeology, so I really would like to take a course there, especially with the hands-on, practical course options, but I'm not sure it's going to work out with the number of credits I have to take each semester. Especially considering I've been accepted to only the practical on artifact analysis in the spring term, and not the group project section in the summer term, so I'm short 20 credits for the summer. The history course options are very exciting, though, and I'm looking forward to whatever I get to take while I'm there!

I'm getting very excited (and slightly nervous), I'm leaving so soon! It's all been such a rush since I didn't find out until quite recently I was actually going (given the multiple frustrations along the way). But I have my ticket booked, and I'm starting to think about packing, which will be an ordeal.

I've also bought tickets to see Patrick Wolf in Liverpool in February. For those who don't know, he's my muse and my everything, and one of my favourite and dearest musicians. I somehow managed to nab the tickets in the very center of the very front row! Hopefully I'll have some new mates to go along with me.

I have so many plans and hopes for my trip! York is such a wonderful city, Professor Hettinger told me it was a British Siena (one of my favourite places in the world, in Italy). It's also supposed to have tons of great museums and ghost tours. I'm looking forward to checking those out! I'm also hoping to get involved with some societies on York's campus, like their KnitSoc (for knitting and crochet), History Society, and Harry Potter society. And of course I'm looking forward to traveling all over the UK, as well as Europe. I'll have a five week break between terms and I'm going to try to get to a few places in Europe for sure, like Mont St. Michel, Siena, Switzerland, and possibly Berlin!