Wow, I’m not sure whose idea it was to get a bus from New York to Charlotte, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone! 13 hours over night with a bunch of loud people, loud music and not much space! Oh well, we are here now, safe and sound. We easily found Chris and Gerald waving our ‘UNCC Welcomes You’ sign in the air and they drove us straight to the Hampton Inn.
Walking into the Hampton Inn was a fun experience. Brianna and I were greeted cheerfully by Shanika, who is the friendliest, funniest person that I have come across in North Carolina. She loves Australians and was so welcoming. She was so excited to meet everyone. Her energy is very contagious! The only problem with check in was that nobody could find our reservation! After a 15 hour bus ride, all we wanted was a bed!
Eventually Shanika sorted it out and handed us the key to a room. Brianna and I dragged our gigantic suitcases up to the lift to level three and let ourselves in a room. We were greeted with the smell of cigarettes and an occupied bed. I don’t think either of us had moved so fast before! We got out quick! We made the trek back downstairs and Shanika was so disappointed she’d let us down even though we assured her she hadn’t. We eventually got keys to a vacant room and settled down quickly.
Soon after we’d settled in we heard a knock at our door. In bursts Emily Herbert, followed by Kelly Williams, the only male on the program with us. He’s doing a great at being one of the girls though! We spent the rest of the day walking around Charlotte, trying to find shops and places to eat. We walked to Walmart, which was an amazing experience! There is just so much to see. We got ourselves a trolley for all the goodies we wanted to purchase. The four of us each got a pack of water bottles, some lollies and some other snacks without thinking about how we were going to get it all back to the hotel… Thank goodness we discovered the shuttle service or I think we would have been dragging it back to the hotel!
Brianna, Emily, Kelly and I ran into Jade and Rachel and we all went out to dinner together. We ended up at a bikini bar but the food was really good and so was the service! It was a good night. Late Saturday night, Tyla and Simone arrived. I noticed a Facebook update saying they were at the Hampton Inn. The rest of us were all in Emily and Kelly’s room, eating snacks we’d bought from Walmart (our first pudding party), so I sent them a message on Facebook to come down. They joined the party for a little while and everyone got along instantly.
On Sunday we met Lauren who joined us for the second pudding party (I think these are going to become regular events!). We also had our first Sunday night ‘family dinner’ at the local Thai restaurant. As a group, we have decided each Sunday will be ‘family dinner night’ and we’ll try a different cuisine each time.
Monday was our first day at UNCC. We met all the program coordinators and had a brief introduction to the US education system. I am looking forward to learning much more about it. It was raining so we could do the campus tour, but it’s so big I think it would take a few days to get around! I think one of their buildings is about the size of our campus at Newcastle University, Central Coast. Crazy! We had lunch in their big dining hall. Its $8 for all you can eat/drink anything! They have just about any food you can think of. It definitely beats the cafeteria at my university.
We visited two elementary schools this week. They were both so welcoming! The staff and students were both excited to have us there. The students had prepared questions for each of us to answer and enjoyed learning about the differences between Australian and American schools. I think they mostly just enjoy listening to our accents! We managed to convince one of the principals to try Vegemite! It wasn't very well received. So far we have only had one positive Vegemite response from an American but I'm determined to find more!
The university organised to take us to a local country bar as part of learning about culture in North Carolina, which is in the south of America. Most of the group bought flanno shirts to get in the country spirit. When we arrived at the bar we weren't expected a large number of people to be waiting out the front on a Wednesday night, but there were quite a few. When the bar opened the people made a beeline straight to the dance floor and got into lines. Then the line dancing started. I have never seen anything like it. The dance floor was full within minutes of people line dancing! When the dance floor was full people just started dancing up by the bar! There were line dancing lessons so we had a go, but it is a bit more advanced then the Nut Bush so most of us gave up! It was definitely an entertaining evening.
So far we are all having such a good time. It's crazy how quickly you can bond with people you don't know. 3 days feels like 3 years. I'm really looking forward to the next two weeks I get to spend with my new friends learning about the American education system.
Louise Kimpton is participating in our January 2012 Teacher Education and Practice Program at UNCC, North Carolina. Louise is going into her 4th year of a Bachelor of Teaching (Primary)/Arts degree at the University of Newcastle.
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