Adventures in America Part 2: Life in the mountains

I've been living in the mountains for a few days now, and I have to say that mountain life is rather fun. It's great to wake up every morning to the sound of birdsong, the wind and a few cars.

For the past few days, I've had nothing much to do - in fact training doesn't start until Wednesday, so I've got yet ANOTHER day off to relax tomorrow. I've pretty much explored the area as much as I can by bike. I've been to Jackson up the road, and down the road to just past Glen.As can be expected, there's nothing but trees and mountains here and I love it. There's so much more wilderness out here than in the UK, and the scale of the place is vast. You could fit the UK in the USA 39 times and still have room to spare. It really is that big.

At the moment, there's students from all over the world here. There's 1 from Canada, 2 from Jamaica, 2 from Ukraine, 2 from Serbia and there's around 30 students left to turn up. We've developed some really good friendships already and we have some great banter in the evenings.Last night, I took them to Jackson Falls, and we made a campfire as well as taking our shoes off and going paddling at the base of the falls. I felt like a proper American, if only I had some marshmallows to toast like I did on the first night when I got here.

One thing I have noticed already is the reliance on the car. People drive literally everywhere. In fact, they were staring at me when I was walking down the road carrying shopping...as if my car had broken down. Petrol here is ridiculously cheap, and the place is so vast that you really are stuck if you don't have a car. Luckily there's a bike for me to get around on, but I really do think I would be isolated if I was walking everywhere.

Finally, American people are very friendly. From the lovely airline people I met in Boston, to the workers here, to the average American in the street. Everyone has the time to stop and talk to you, they all tell you to have a lovely day and everyone's smiling here. It's a world away from some places in the UK

Adventures in America Part 1: Boston, and 2 new friends!

I’m currently sat on my bed flicking through US cable TV – which is weird; I think it will deserve a blog of its own later. Seriously, how can they fit 3 advert breaks into a 20 minute episode of The Simpsons?!

The Massachusetts State Capital Building

The flight went well, I was surprised at the amount of ways I had to entertain myself on there. I got talking to the girl next to me, a medical student from South Carolina which was nice. Thankfully, there was just enough legroom. Delta airlines were constantly feeding us, from free peanuts, to pretzels, our meal, then pizza and ice cream. I have a feeling all the snacking didn’t do my eating pattern any favours.

Staying up this late is weird. I was walking down a street in bright sunlight when my body thought it was UK time. It’s an odd feeling, I can only describe it as half of me wanting to go to sleep, and the other half wanting to stay up. I hope I won’t feel it too much tomorrow. I've been awake for 20 hours now :-/

Quincy Market, where I picked up a liking for clam chowder

Boston is an amazing city. There’s so much American history here, the people are nice, and it’s all walkable. I saw the entire place in 4 hours! When I arrived, I got on the courtesy bus to the subway and got talking to the 2 ladies sat next to me. It transpired that they were a captain, and cabin crew member from Southwest Airlines who were staying on a stopover from their Texas flight. They were the nicest people I could have met! We got talking and I told them why I was there.

We ended up wandering in to Boston together, and spending the afternoon together. Debby, the pilot paid for my ticket on the tour bus – which was insanely kind considering that 3 hours before, I didn’t know her. We had dinner together in Quincy Market, I’ve now developed a liking for clam chowder – a sort of thick soup with fish bits in New England. I doubt I could have had the bravery to wander so much in to Boston if I wasn’t with Debby and Angela, I’m very glad I met them. That would never happen in the UK. Debbie said that people from Texas are naturally friendly, and it seemed that even though I spent a few hours with them, I had known them for years. We ended up exchanging email addresses so we can keep in touch too.

Myself with Debbie on the right, Angela on the left

America is...so different to the UK. I was expecting a bit of it, but I didn’t realise just how odd some things here are. For one thing, I nearly got ran over looking the wrong way at the road. A few people have asked where I’m from and seem really interested when I’m from the UK, with the next response being “So did you see the wedding?” Having lived in this country for a short time though – I really do think I’m going to like it here.

Tomorrow I’m off up to New Hampshire, to start training for work!

Adventures in America: The Prologue

I've decided to document my travels to America this summer in as much detail, as I want something to remember it by - but I also want to treat this as an experiment. What will I think of the place? How will I cope? The first blog in this series is a prologue, detailing what apprehensions I have before my trip

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At the moment I'm sat on an East Coast train speeding down to King's Cross. This is probably the last time I will have a definite internet connection so let's begin! My mind is a bit of a mess. I have this uneasy feeling in my stomach every time I think of what's going to happen. There's a realisation this time that unlike university, I really am on my own. There's no getting on the train to York if I'm sick and need some recuperation, no asking mum for some money if I run short.

Of course, that's part and parcel of the adventure here. In less than 24 hours time I will be sat on a plane, and in 8 hours I will touch down across the Atlantic ready to explore Boston at my leisure for an afternoon. My plan at the moment is to follow the freedom trail for around 2.5 miles. Downtown Boston is very compact and I can easily do this (and stave off jetlag in the process!)

I think the culture shock will take a bit of getting used to. I'm bracing myself for the question "Oh, you're English then. Are you from London?" and the general fascination that my accent will no doubt gather. I also wonder what jetlag will feel like. When I touch down, my body will think it's dinner time, but I will be wanting lunch.

But aside from all of this, I literally CANNOT WAIT! I want to go for long walks in the New Hampshire forests, visit a hospital at the cutting edge of stem cell research, see beating heart cells in a petri dish, see Vince Giordano's Orchestra, walk down 5th Avenue in New York, go on the Staten Island ferry, relax in Central Park, visit Louis Armstrong's birth place, drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, see Alcatraz and San Francisco - all this and more awaits me, so bring it on!