Monday August 18th
Today is the first day of our International Student Orientation. Since
we are living off campus, we got collected by a shuttle from Lewis and Clark at
6:40 am. A bit of a ridiculous hour of the morning if you ask me, but we were
being served "coffee and cakes" at 7 am before orientation officially
started at 8 am. When we walked into the UC ( University Center ) we had to
queue up and everyone received itinerary of what the day would consist of.
Everyone was given different colored folders (red, blue, green and yellow) and
depending what color folder you had would depend on which sessions you attended
and at what time. We were all also given name tags with your name (obviously!),
where you're from and a group number which would be important for specific talks
we were all getting on Wednesday. At the start of orientation all 200 of the
International students had to introduce themselves one by one. Turns out
there's 11 Irish out here also - 7 of which are in my course - but we're all
from University College Cork.
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| Some of the folders and information we received during orientation. |
We had talks from several different departments in the University, all of whom were so welcoming. We were also able to get our student cards - known as Griz Cards. These cards are considered close to sacred to everyone on campus, you pay for your printing with them by putting money on them and you can also buy food on campus or buy some of the University Merchandise with them also. Something I have noticed here is how big the American Universities are into their merchandise. And not only the students/staff members attending the University but even the locals in Missoula - everyone wears the merchandise which I think is really nice! The Griz Cards are also used for library to check books out and are used to get onto all the city buses for free otherwise it's $1 which still isn't all that bad, but when you've got to get 2 buses to go someplace and two back again then - it all adds up.. Places in Missoula also give students discounts if their Griz Card is presented and in some places you can also pay for your stuff by using your Griz Card.
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| My Griz Card! |
| We met so many lovely people from all over the world it is amazing and everyone is so friendly. All the staff in the University are so friendly and they just want to get to know you and when they realize you're not from this country they get so excited and intrigued as to why we would pick Missoula. After a seriously long day in college the Missoula International Friendship Program held us a welcome dinner in the International House where we got to meet even more International students. For anyone living in Lewis and Clark the Foreign Students and Scholar Services (FSSS) office had arranged shuttles home after dinner. When Fiona and I got home we got to meet our neighbors downstairs from us and it turns out I had already met one of these during our orientation. That night, there was a house party at their house which a lot of the International students all went to. All I have to say is that the University of Montana are very lucky to have such a lovely but incredibly crazy bunch of students this year. |
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| Stine, Kate, Dervla, Eoghan, David and I at the first house party of the year! |
Tuesday August 19th
We had an 8 am start for Orientation this morning and again the FSSS
were so kind as to arrange shuttles to the University for us again today. There was also a few sick heads about the place this morning as I
think a few too many us partied maybe a little too hard the night before. This
morning started off with meeting some more people from different departments in
the University. We all got split up into our different groups again, according
to the color of your folder and we got a tour and also a talk about the
services available in the Curry Health Center. Which if I may add are
phenomenal. This afternoon included a lot of visa documentation and for those
who needed it, immunization and TB tests. As I am lucky enough to have been
born in the United States, I didn't need to attend any of the visa
documentation which from what I was told by my friends, took quite some time. I
was able to finish up nice and early and I headed home for a relaxing evening
as I was completely shattered. I took this time to FaceTime home for a while
and it also gave me some time to work on my blog. There was a Meet and Greet
organized at the International House from 7 pm - 9 pm this evening for all the
International Students but Fiona and I couldn't find the energy to go and
attend. So instead we just chilled out at home and relaxed for ourselves.
Wednesday August 20th
This morning there was more visa documentation, giving me a chance to
sleep in a little bit. I went into the college at about 11 am where I met up
with Fiona and Elliot after their busy morning in the social security office.
We met up in the UC and sat here for a while before both Fiona and I sent
postcards home in the post office in the University Center. We went upstairs to
the first floor where we had lunch and then headed off to a meeting about being
in college here and we also received our itinerary for Thursday and Friday
orientation. All during this week one of the dining areas in college called
Food Zoo were holding a buffet style - all you can eat - for $5.50 dollars. All
during the year it's all you can eat but the prices vary for breakfast, lunch
and dinner. The food here was amazing! The view wasn't all that bad either. The
Grizzlies were in for their dinner (this is the name of the University football
team). They are so muscular it is unbelievable and it made me feel so tiny.
Each of them easily ate two full plates of food and most of them returned for a
third plate which they also cleared. It blew my mind.
At 7 pm there was a meeting for anyone who wanted to join the Missoula
International Friendship Program (MIFP). This organization was set up by the
local people in Missoula who wanted to get to know the International students
better and learn about their different cultures. I am really excited about this
program because you can request to get matched with a family that has dogs and
I really miss my little dog back home in Ireland. One of the girls that works
in the International House also told me that her host family are great that
they take her on day trips and invite her over to dinner or for special
occasions. It isn't required by the host family to take us on trips but a lot
of them like to be able to get the opportunity to do so, which I think is
lovely.
This evening was the last day of our International Student Orientation
and for anyone living in Lewis and Clark we got a lift back from college and we
were so lucky. In Missoula, the buses stop running at 7 pm and there's also no
buses on Sundays. Today though, there was a massive downpour of seriously heavy
rain which we had to run through to get to the car. The thunder was loud and
the lightening was terrifying - as it always is in this country. However we got
home grand and we just stayed at home again this evening because we were still
shattered.
Thursday August 21st
The Foreign Student and Scholar Services organize several trips for the
International Students throughout the college year. One of which is a trip to
Glacier National Park. Some place I've always wanted to visit! Today was the
only day we were able to sign up for it and Fiona, Elliot and I were determined we were
not going to miss out on the opportunity to go, seeing as the park closes for a
lot of the year due to the bad weather that's experienced in this part of the
country. We were up at 6:30 am and we got the city bus from outside Lewis and
Clark at 7:12 am. We were at the FSSS office for 7:30am - the first in
line. Fiona, Elliot and I got signed up and paid nice and early
so we were delighted. There wasn't anything of importance on the Orientation
Schedule for today. It's mainly orientation for freshman but we had most of the
events already done.
Instead we decided we would go do some shopping as we had some stuff
to get. We got two buses to go out to Target and Walmart where we got a
few bits and bobs for ourselves and we were starving at this time so we ate in
the Subway that's in Walmart. We then got the bus from Target to Southgate Mall. We all had some clothes to get and hiking boots were my priority as of
the moment I only have winter boots and I would need hiking boots for hikes /
field trips and also for trekking around the place during the snow we are
destined to have out here. We all did very well for ourselves picking up some good
bargains in shops like JCPennys, Aeropostale, American Eagle and Hollister. To
finish our day off we got some frozen yoghurt from Roxiberry which was amazing
and all organic - except for our toppings of course! Thursday night being one
of the main students nights out here, of course we had to do something for our
first Thursday here, so we went downstairs to our neighbors for another party
with a lot of the International students attended. Another fun night was had!
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Friday August 22nd
Today was a very relaxed day. Both Fiona and I slept in until after 11
am. We did a minor cleaning up of the apartment as we are hoping our roommate
is going to move in today and we haven't really been at home much all week with
orientation to clean. We got the city bus - which is known as Mountain Line by
the way - to the college because the university were offering up library tours
today for any of the International Students, which were not mandatory but I'd
feel a lot more comfortable going in there after being given a tour of the
place and the facilities available to us there. The Mansfield library is
absolutely unbelievable. There is five floors - you walk in to level 3. Levels
2 and 1 are both below you and levels 4 and 5 are above you. We first toured level
3 and then went downstairs to level 2 and level 1. Fiona and I were desperately
searching around for the science section to see what variety of books were
available to us. Our last destination was level 5. The tour finished for Fiona,
Elliot and I here. We found exhibits of a variety of animal skulls in cases and
we also found the section of the library containing the Geology books and also
the section containing all the Wildlife Biology books. We were in our absolute
element. I have never seen so many books on such a wide variety of animals in
one section of the library it's fantastic! Elliot counted at least seven rows
of Geology books and both Fiona and I were absolutely blown away by the
selection of Wildlife Biology books here. We immediately picked up a few and
started browsing through them and we even ended up checking out three books
each to bring home to read also. After this we just headed home and cooked our
dinners. Fiona ordered her camera and we just chilled out and both worked on
our blogs for a bit. We went over to Dave and Elliot's apartment and watched
them cook their dinner- while giving some clearly unwanted advice - before
coming back home.
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| Some of the books I got out of the library to hopefully read during my spare time |
Below are examples of a mountain lion skull and a grizzly bear skull
which are on exhibit in the Mansfield Library.
Saturday August 23rd
Today I got the bus out to Target to do some food shopping, Fiona and Elliot
were supposed to meet me on the bus, but they got caught up in a meeting, so
off I went by myself. I got some folders and notebooks and stuff like that too
because classes start on Monday. I got back home about 4 pm maybe and I went
and made dinner because I was starving. Garlic flavored chicken with roasted
garlic potato cubes and peas, carrots and sweet corn. Masterchef or what like!
We also got invited to our first ever toga party hosted by our lovely neighbors
downstairs - and togas were mandatory. So naturally, having never made a toga
out of a bed sheet it took me the best part of an hour to finally get it right.
Since I had no safety pins I improvised and used hair clips to pin it all
together until Fiona got home and brought safety pins. Everyone had togas on -
it was brilliant fun and what a great way to kick off the official start of
college on Monday.
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| My toga made from a black bedsheet held together with hair clips! |
Sunday August 24th
Today is GO DAY! on campus, this is where all the different dorms
compete against each other in various different events. Seeing as we live in
Lewis and Clark, we're not on campus but if we want to we are able to
participate. Fiona got nominated to do the ALS ice bucket challenge today by
her sister so naturally she nominated me -_- . We both did our challenges which
I may add was freezing! And of course we donated to such a fantastic cause
which to be honest I had never really heard too much about it before these ice
bucket challenges went viral and a ridiculous amount of money has been raised
which is so good! There was a festival on in Missoula both yesterday and today,
called the River City Roots Festival, and we had good intentions of going in to
see what the craic was today but a massive black cloud came over our heads so
we decided against leaving as we've about a 40 minute walk to town and there
are no buses on Sundays so this would have been a major risk to take! Our
roommate moved in today also! Her name is Sarah and she's from Montana. Fiona
and I helped her to move all her bags and stuff up from her car and we cooked
up our dinners. Fiona had her first day at work in the Food Zoo, one of the
dining areas in college where you can get a buffet all-you-can-eat and it's not
expensive. I went to Walmart this evening with Sarah so she could buy stuff for
her bedroom and I had to get some meat for the week. Came home and did the
clothes washing, turns out even though the washing machines and dryers are huge
here, you technically can't fill them up cause nothing will wash or dry
properly. Seeing as I nominated Elliot to do the ice bucket challenge, we
dumped water over him tonight! Afterwards, we went home and just got organized
for classes starting tomorrow! Nervous and excited at the same time but getting
to hand pick which classes I wanted to do this year was probably the most
exciting part for me!
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| Elliot getting great satisfaction throwing water over me for the ALS ice bucket challenge. |
Check back in next week for my first week of classes in the University
of Montana!
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-Shannen
