It is just over a month since I have been back as a Final year Psychology student at University in Glasgow. I am definitely settling back into the routine now, but the process of adapting back to this system has not been a particularly smooth one. I definitely remember many feelings of overwhelm, excitement, frustration and anticipation. I will share a bit of my experience with you now.

As a Psychology single honors student you get to choose 9 subjects out of around 25. This freedom to choose what you are interested in was definitely a treat. However, don’t worry about it too much, because once you get the time table of subjects you still have a couple of weeks to change your mind. The first thing that struck me about this process was that the majority of classes had finals worth 100% of the grade. Classes also only run for around 5 weeks and we have 4 lots of 5 week classes, BUT the exams for ALL of these classes are right at the end of the year. I think this seems daunting for any student, but for an EAP student who has just come back from the American system, where everything is continuous assessment and the exams and finals are rarely worth more than 20% (and believe me you get used to it that way – you have to!) it seems crazy to be doing it the way they are here!! But, although I havn’t survived the exams yet, I’m definitely feeling less at a disadvantage now as I realize we really are all in the same boat.

There are things that we are NOT in the same boat for. I went through a whole process of discovering on the 23^rd September that I would have to do a level three Critical Review because I did not do it while I was away. This was right in the middle of trying to figure out my topic for my 10000 word level 4 CR and my Maxi project and having just began getting my head around the amount of classes, so I did not welcome this news (especially sprung upon me this late in the game). I was frustrated that I wasn’t given any warning before hand and I hadn’t been given any direction as to how to go about it. I didn’t feel supported and I didn’t feel like my extra hard work and projects at Berkeley were being recognized. I was told that this would help me as practice for my level 4 CR and that I needed to be treated the same as the other Psychology students, but I felt strongly that it was not the same making me do this one on top of my level 4 work, while everyone else spent the whole of 3^rd year doing a practice on and then gradually building up a topic with lots of supervisor support in order to finish a second CR. So I began emailing and trying to find out about it. After much confusion (as they actually didn’t yet have a system for EAPs) I have actually managed to adapt the research topic and paper that I did in Berkeley into the format of a Critical Review. However this will be different for Psychology students to come as after the confusion this year I think they will figure out what to do before hand ext time.

I have been told by prospective study abroad students that they were warned that studying away would mean they missed out on good CR practice and this may affect their performance in fourth year. I was asked if this was true? I do not think this should be something that puts you off! I have now completed my level 3 CR and also had a look at some CRs of friends and something that I learnt from the process is that CRs can be in very different formats, but that if you put in the time and effort to know the subject and listen to the feedback your supervisor is giving you (they are there for you to ask questions) then there is no reason that you shouldn’t do well. You may have more questions to ask, you may feel like you have to put a little more effort in.. But I sware it feels worth every second of it. There has not been one single time that my frustration at the Department or the daunting workload has made me wish I didn’t study abroad.

Some more tips on settling back into being a Glasgow student. One of the main things for me that seemed daunting was the Maxi project (our final year thesis style write-up). My biggest piece of advice is get in touch with your supervisor asap. They are there to help you formulate your ideas. (Also look at supervisors while you are away, and choose one early as they do get booked up quickly). I was very lucky that I got a supervisor (Steve Draper) who is doing projects in a topic that really interests me [although I did find him on the internet ad approach him with enthusiasm myself] and as I did not have a particular topic in mind I was able to join up with him and another professor to be part of an experiment that is carrying out an intervention on the first year computer science students. But generally whether you are a Psychology student or not, Be Vocal. Get to know who is there to support you.

 This is a short Final Year! I only have 5 months until ALL my classes are over (in March!) And then only about a total of 7 or 8 months until I will no longer be a student! Or for me, I like to think that within a year from now I may be back in California – as I loved it there and I have every intention of returning, at least for a few months. So, this will be a BUSY year. But it will be a full year for everyone, and if you study away you will complete it not only with a Degree, but also with a years study at an American University on your transcript and MORE importantly a year of experiences, friends, and growth that you would never have got otherwise.

I feel like I sound like a salesperson. Haha! that wasn’t my intention!. It was just that I have had a few people tell me that they felt like the workload on return and what they would miss here was a ‘put off’ to studying away and I strongly think that it is a real shame to look at it like that. And that I guess you cant really know what I’m trying to say until you do it yourself, but studying away for a year (and having the visa and study paid for you) is an incredible opportunity that I am really surprised that only two people in my department actually took.

So I want to tell you about my last month in California after my exams finished. I completely recommend either traveling or staying on in California after term is over. It is a different experience living in a place while you are not basing your social life around classes and assignments. I decided not to travel far in my last month as I wanted to spend the time with the friends I had made over the year… and fortunately for me many of my friends were PhD students or professionals who were not leaving California as soon as term ended (as many EAP students do). It is definitely nice to know that when I return (which I have decided to do after my final year in Glasgow) there will still be many people I know in Berkeley… So I moved out of the I-house and into my friends flat near the center of Berkeley and got in touch with friends allowing different opportunities to arise.

Here is an end of year resident photo of some of the 700 residents at the International house. 

 I had planned to do a road-trip up north with a few friends (but it was delayed). Even though I did not end up going on this trip this time, I have heard great things about northern California (above SF) and would like to go up to Washington, Seattle and even as far as Vancouver in Canada on a trip one day (perhaps next time). Instead I was offered to go to Yosemite again for a friends birthday and to camp and do a 16mile hike up half-dome. I have been to Yosemite in mid summer and once when it was snowing in winter. This may have been my third time, but it was a very different group of people and a completely different experience due to the season as well. It is a magical place only 4 hours from Berkeley. In spring the waterfalls are gushing with water and the half-dome hike and mist trails are amazing. I completely recommend going, even more than once if you get the chance (it’s not expensive if you share a car load down and a camp site).

On the day we hiked it was beautiful blue skies and sunshine, but we could hear thunder. It turned out that the dome we were hiking up to was underneath a huge thunder and lightening storm. Here are some pictures. One is a silhouette of me on top of half dome in that storm (shortly after which we got down as my hair was starting to stand on end from static electricity!)… and the other is a photo of the mist trail that we just climbed.

 I also managed to do a lot of blues dancing in my last month and absolutely loved it. In fact a blues dancing friend of mine is coming to Edinburgh to teach a weekend Blues workshop in October and I will definitely be going to join in that (it is nice to be able to meet with people in different places in the world!) and it was through this group of friends that I went wake-boarding and wake-surfing with some friends too.. In my time in California I managed to get out on the water this way, and also kayaking and sailing with friends on the bay. It’s a wonderful climate for doing water sports.

Another past time that I took up in that last month in Berkeley was climbing. I went to the climbing gym with some friends on a few occasions and had a lot of fun (there are climbs for every level). Here is a photo from Mission cliffs climbing gym in SF, but there are various gyms called Ironworks in Berkeley and Oakland too. I also went down to an outdoor bouldering and climbing rock known in the climbing world as Indian Rock. The pictures of climbing outdoors are from there.

Between doing these activities, there were so many places in nature to go and beautiful weather to get out in. The bay area is stunning and I am glad that I took the time to get out and appreciate it. However, I was able to get down the coast during my Christmas break and spring break and I do recommend making it to Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and even San Diego if you get the chance. The road-trip down along the 1 is beautiful and often EAP or other groups of people decide to get a carload and make trips down the coast and every time I hear them talk about it, it is positive.

 The one bad thing about this amazing month after my study was that I did not want it to end. I was getting very comfortable with all my free time, not spending too much, but having so much fun and I was even making new friends in my last month in the country. This all made it even harder to leave California behind and gave me a serious dose of home-sickness for California when I returned to Scotland.

Meetings began last week and we only had our first official meeting last night where we held voting for council positions. The main position is Chair and then there is Vice-Chair; Communications Director; Secretary; and Treasurer. The Chair position went to a guy called Bret, who is very enthusiastic and has been in the council for the past year and a half. He definately has the experience and was Vice-chair last term so will do a good job. But fresh blood can also break its way into these positions – and I demonstrated that!.. Running against four other council members I managed to get voted on as Vice-Chair position.. This means I will have more responsibility on my shoulders and will step in for Bret when-ever he is not there.. But it is also a great chance to rub shoulders with the board-members and make contacts with the interesting and qualified people involved with the I-house (which is a huge organization).  As the Vice-Chair I will even be lucky enough to meet weekly, alongside the Chairman, with the Executive Director of the I house – Martin Brennan- See Bio:(http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/05/11_ihouse.shtml)

So I have not yet completely got into my role as part of the I-house team, but I am well on my way and all it took was a bit of enthusiasm and motivation.  The moral of this little note is to let people know about the opportunities that are everywhere. I actually didn’t think that someone with no experience would have a chance to take on any of the main roles, so I did not initially put my name forward. I hesitated and almost missed out on this experience, but fortunately I was lucky enough to get a second chance (in a last moment of asking for interested candidates) and I realised that there was no point in holding back out of fear of the unknown or of competition..

We have a whole month off in Berkeley over Christmas (Unlike many of the other UC campuses it only has two semesters, but starts ealrier and gives a longer christmas holiday, which I really like). I decided to stay in America and explore the coast of California and I’m so happy I did. Living at the International house (which also has some American students staying there), meant that I made friends who I could travel with or visit over the holidays. I spent Christmas with a friend in Santa Cruz and then travelled down the coast to Big Sur and later to the O.C and San Diego, getting back to Berkeley in time to have a week off in the sunshine and some proper days out in my local city, San Francisco.

Santa Cruz: This is a gorgeous little community/town that is about a couple of hours down the coast (depending on if you take the scenic route = the highway along the coast, or the faster freeway that goes through silicon valley = quicker but not so pretty). I absolutely loved Santa Cruz and its near enough to Berkeley to visit on a weekend. It’s a great surfing spot and right at the start of Monterey Bay (which just after Christmas, on a warm, sunny day with clear blue skies, I walked 5 hours in my bear feet along the endless stretch of sand, catching the sunset on the way back.) A nice way to spend a day in December! Santa Cruz also has gorgeous Redwood forests in the hills (but then Berkeley has some lovely views from the hills directly behind the house I live in too, and Redwoods in Tilden Park which is just a cycle ride away.)

Further down the coast:  It is true that the further you go the hotter it gets. I could believe that a typical day at the start of January in Orange County was over 80 degrees Farenheit (they don’t do Celcius over here – that’s in the high 20s Celcius). San Diego is a beautiful City (I never visited the University as its not actually very near to the city), worth a visit. You can even get a cheap train called the coaster up to just south of Laguna Beach and get off and check out any of the little towns on the way up there.. or go across to Coranado Island (the island just off the coast of San Diego)..

San Francisco:  I left my own City last in my holiday travels. (although I spent a few days when I first arrived in SF, I did not go and see the Golden Gate Bridge or get out on the bay).. So I spent a wonderful day in San Francisco with a friend and we went out Kayaking on the bay. (I totally recommend it!) – You can Kayak under the bay Bridge and also up the canal into the city where all the floating house boats are. Also, the Golden Gate bridge is a must see. I went a whole semester without visiting it because I thought that I’d seen it from the photos I’d seen and I had other things to do and places to go (I managed to get to the opposite coast-NYC and the border-San Diego, before seeing this stunning landmark on my door step.) You can rent a bike (or buy one for your time in Berkeley) to Cycle across the bridge, or just walk or drive it.

That’s just a little taster of a bit of what I did, but there is so many possibilities of what you could do in California over the holidays or just in a day or a weekend off.

A few things I found out..

The gym only costs $10.. its amazing.. that includes entrance to a few outdoor pools (including one up on the hill out the back of Ihouse called strawberry canyon and a lovely one called Hearst pool, which is outdoors surrounded by stone statues and made out of marble!!) and entrance to all gym facilities and openrec sports (times when courts and spaces are made available to play almost any sport you can think of) and it also includes all the Group-X classes (which are things like Yoga, Pilates, fitness classes etc etc etc.. Loving the Yoga myself!) So its well worth getting your membership!

Also, note.. if you go to live in I-House it doesn’t provide you with Linen… I didn”t realise and spent a whole day trying to find a place that sold cheap linen in Berkeley (It doesn’t exist.. only the Cal shop sells any and its expensive and plain!) I ended up borrowing a sleeping bad from a local friend I made (which came in very useful for the free Ihouse retreat that we went on and camping in Yosemite too!!) And then later a friend I made who had a car took me to the nearest Target to get linen.. Target is so so cheap for linen and paper (was only 10 cent for a notebook!) and almost anything you need.. apparently Ross is good too and Emeryville has some good stuff.. You can get to these places on the BART, or by bus, or you could find a friend with a car as that will definately come in handy!

O and in Berkeley.. you get a Class pass on your student ID and all buses (around the whole area and to SanFrancisco) are free.. Its great!

Its worth getting a bank account set up straight away.. .Bank of America has been great for me, the holes in the wall are everywhere and they even give you a debit card with CAL on it (beware they are so CAL proud over here.. its cool the wear all the colors and logo tops, shorts and even socks.. unlike at home!!)

One more tip.. If you want to get season tickets for the american football, there is a chance to get them free early on (but I missed it) Its worth finding out about as the student area ones sell out so quickly once your here..

Well I could keep going on and on, but you will definately find a lot of things out for yourself, and if there are things that you wonder about feel free to ask.. If you are considering whether to try and get to Berkeley.. well I think its absolutely fantastic, but then I bet others would say the same about where they are – but I can’t see how you can get much better then here

Berkeley’s Telebears system begins before you arrive in the country. I managed to get the telebears site (the site you sign up to classes with) working and immediately found big problems with the list of classes that I had agreed with my home University that I would take (as they met the requirments of my course). For a start some of the classes didn’t exist any more and there didnt seem to be a similar alternative (e.g comparative Psychology). Then I realised that 6 of the 8 classes I had to choose my first term classes from had exams on the same day! Fortunately there were two times on this one day, but that still meant that by taking two classes I immediately ruled out four others (and as I had a late appointment time on telelbears I did not immediately enrol for many of these classes)…

Beware it is almost impossible to sort out all your classes in advance and I do not know anyone who actually did. It worried me a little, but we were all told that if we just emailed the professors, explained our situations and turned up to the classes we would probably get in. This is only partially true. You do have a better chance of getting in, however I was turned away by some courses that were full and gave no exceptions. . and the longer you leave it, the harder it gets (with the occasional exception of a class that lets you straight in last minute). I had quite an experience of trying to get into many different classes, being turned away, or told to hang on without any certainty that I would get a place.. and then also finding out that 4 classes only makes 12 units and i needed 13 units as I come under the college of letters and science over here.. so the question of whether to take a whole other full class or not arose!.. It would be boring to ramble on about all that, but if you are taking Psychology classes at Berkeley, or just having difficulties with telebears i’m happy to answer any q’s.

What would I have done differently?? Once the time came that you are allowed to put more classes than you are going to take onto telebears, I recommend doing just that. If you are not enrolled in classes do two things. Email the proffessor directly (i did this, but not until very late in the process) and also try and find a backup class that you can enrol in incase you don’t get your other one (that way you won’t try the back-up later and find thats full too). Worrying a little was useful for me as it made me try lots of options and my classes sorted out great (partly due to making an effort and probably a bit due to luck)

I ended up getting classes with great proffessors (which was pretty lucky as I didnt actually take that into account when I was selecting my subjects) I also managed to get units for being a research apprentice. under the URAP scheme. It is 9 hours extra commitment a week, but I get to run experiments and work alongside one of the professors in an area that really interests me and it’l look great on my CV as well as fulfilling the research requirment that Glasgow University sets. (Although its not good to rely on this as its very competitive and only a couple of people are selected to work with each proffessor.. You can increase your chances by applying to more than one proffessor, a friend of mine did this and managed to get a place in a different lab to me- I only applied for one position and am lucky that I got it: but URAP is worth looking into..But even if you do get it, you don’t find out until after classes have already started, so you need to have a back-up.. even if that means taking another class that you end up dropping – like I did and getting a $10 fee to drop it..!)

So, I remember very clearly that sorting my classes was a stressful and annoying process that went on forever, but its harder for me to express that now as it all worked out. I do think that you need to try to make it work out (and not just leave everything to fate), but don’t worry too much if you find it difficult.. You are an exception if you don’t. Also You can only sort the fall semester to begin with (I still don’t have my spring semester classes sorted, but I’m hoping that it’l be easier second time round!)

Good Luck..

I decided to go a week before I officially needed to be at my University as I wanted to get a feel for the area and also take part in the optional International student Fairs, Talks and Programmes. However, since I booked my flight I have found out that my Accomodation at the I-House doesn’t start until the 21st of August and I arrive on the 15th (The I-House doesn’t let you go early unless you have proof you classes start early and mine do not!). I’m going to spend two nights in a hostel in SanFrancisco exploring what will become my local big city and then go to Berkeley for the optional international programmes on the 18th, 19th and 20th (before my mandatory check in on the 21st). All the good temporary accomodation is around the same price – $59 – so getting out there a week before is going to cost me around £175 (thats 6 nights at that price and the exchange rate is around 2 to 1 at the moment)…but I don’t regret it, I really think that it will be worthwhile joining in the programmes and having a chance to settle in. Plus the weather should be pretty good in August!

Its about this time that all the Health insurance and extra accomodation costs spring up and I praise the fact that I have been working hard and applying for little scholarships and the Saas Student loans too.. as they will definately be needed.

Most things have been tied up, However if you go to Berkeley there is a complex course enrollment procedure where there are different Phases that you have to electronically enrol in classes. I was warned that many classes will immediately become full and that I should not worry, but put myself on the waiting list and sort out a place when i’m there (as an international student the subjects are requirements for my honours and i will probably get priority) However.. Problems that I did not forsee have arisen.. Glasgow Psychology department gave me 8 courses that met the requirements for my Honours and I have to take four of them in semester one and the rest in semester two. However when i went to enrol I found out that most of my chosen courses have their final exam on the same day (and half of those have the same exam group that makes it impossible for me to take both subjects at once!).. I’v managed to get on the waiting list for two of the subjects (that have exams at different times on the same day) and i’v enrolled in one other subject (with a seperate final exam date) But that still leaves me one subject short and it leaves open the possibility that the same problem will arise with the exam dates in the spring semester… This problem is yet to be sorted, I have been looking at alternative subject topics to enrol in and hopefully Glasgow Psychology Department will be able to talk to me about my options.. But its never nice to have complications this close to going.. I’l let you know how it eventually works out. . .

Flight prices have been soaring up recently because of the Fuel charges getting higher, so I booked my ticket a while ago, giving myself a week before the date I had to be at my enrolment in Berkeley University – this allows me to get a feel of the place and also to join in some of the optional enrollment programmes. I have not yet got my Visa sorted, but there is no chance I can afford to wait for it before getting my ticket. My flight out is August 15th, from london.

Up until Yesterday I was still unsure of where I would be living while I was in California. I applied for the International House in Berkeley, but was warned that it is quite competitive and I should have a back up. As I had no desire to share rooms in halls with first year American Freshman and the other options like coops didn’t suit due to certain reasons (like the fact i’m a vegetarian), my back-up was to go out there and find a place once I arrived. This was becoming a little worrying as I had only given myself 1 week before my term started. When I travelled before coming to Uni in OZ and NZ, I was very happy to not know where i was staying much before hand, but it feels different when you know you will be committing to a contract in a place and where you stay will be a big determinant of the sort of people you meet. The International-House said they’d get back at the end of May (I applied in April, around easter as I got my acceptance through quite early) But on the very last day of May, I got an email telling me that they would let me know some time in June… Making me wait even more – I found myself checking my email expectantly almost everyday!

And yesterday I got my acceptance for I-house through. I am now about to send back the acceptance contract. I think the accomodation sounds great. You can see the sort of thing that they offer on their site: http://ihouse.berkeley.edu/ There are aspects that i would not have originally chosen, like the fact that undergraduates (like myself) are only eligable for double rooms, So I will have to have a roommate (But you never know: I might find that a positive new experience-i’m willing to go into it with an open mind and hope it works out well).

Its 16th June now – This time in two months time (Aug) i’l have arrived in Berkeley and be moving into my ‘International’ House!! – Now thats Real…

Next main step is needing to confirm the accomodation I will have out there (I know where I live will make such a difference to my experience) I applied to the International House and was told that they will get back to me at the end of May,.. Then on the last day of May they told me that they would let me know some time in June! I find myself expecting to find out almost everyday. Its funny not knowing when i’ll hear, especially when its waiting for an email that will make a big difference to my stay.