Since orientation is finally over and I'm done shopping for stuff I need, I have time to properly write about some notable gastronomic firsts.
Pasties:
*Pronounced past-ee, past like "the ghost of Christmas past."
John and I first tried pasties during the Arcadia orientation last week in London. A pasty (singular, and short for Cornish pasty) is essentially a calzone, but with pot pie filling. Depending on what filling you get, it could very well be just like a calzone-shaped Hot Pocket. I had two pasties during the course of orientation from The Pasty Shop in the London - Euston train station. The first one I had was chicken and vegetable. The crust was soft and flaky, but not so flaky that it left a crumb trail down the front of my pea coat. The crust was lightly greasy, thus enabling the pasty to be sufficiently filling and a meal in itself if needed. The filling was just like that of a chicken pot pie -- chicken and vegetable in a thick broth-tasting sauce. Very delicious.
The second pasty I tried was a chicken balti. Thanks to my Interp class freshman year (the food class), I knew that balti implied curry in terms of food in England. So I ordered one and it was quite good as well. Not too spicy, but not too bland; exactly as you'd expect curry chicken in a pot pie to taste like. Actually, I really liked it a lot -- I'm getting hungry just writing this.
Fish and Chips:
OK, not much to say here actually. Fried fish filet with potato wedges. Mayonnaise comes with it (not tartar sauce!), and a wedge of lemon for seasoning. Quite alright, but I didn't notice anything distinctive from just taking a Gordon's fish filet and adding a side of fries. However, fish and chip outlets are plentiful throughout the UK, and I've only tried it at the food court in the mall on Queensway (London).
Profiteroles:
This is a very delicious dessert pastry that I had during my first night at homestay. At first appearance, I thought they were round eclairs, but they taste slightly different. For starters, profiteroles are moister because the chocolate sauce poured over the puffs does not harden. Also, the chocolate sauce may contain liquer (there was sherry in the chocolate sauce on the profiteroles I had). If that's not moist enough, cream may be poured over the puffs as well (which is how I had them). I consumed these cold, but I'm not sure if they can be consumed warm. Definitely recommended for chocolate lovers or just sweets lovers in general. Again, I'm getting hungry just thinking about them. ::Eyes jar of nutella, the closest thing I have to it::
Muesli:
I had some muesli at breakfast while I was at homestay. At first look, I thought I was having trail mix for breakfast, but my host family told me to add some milk to it and eat it like cereal. Indeed, it tasted just like I imagined trail mix with milk would taste. The muesli I had was a blend of almonds, coconut shavings, sunflower seeds, dried fruit pieces, and rolled oats. Definitely healthy and nutritious; I enjoyed it very much. It wasn't very sweet, but for not having any added sugar or honey, it was pretty tasty.
Showing posts with label homestay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homestay. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Homestay
Thursday - Saturday of last week was homestay. I explained in an earlier post what homestay is about so I won't get into it.
Every student in the Arcadia program got assigned to a British family located near the university at which they will be studying. The students studying at the University of Manchester were assigned to families in a nearby district called Wigan, about 20 minutes from Manchester by train. Prior to leaving for homestay, we went over the details and what to expect with the Arcadia folks. It turns out that I was "randomly" designated as the group leader, which meant I had to make sure nothing went wrong during the whole experience, and liason with the appropriate people if things did go wrong. Wonderful, but it forced me to at least introduce myself to everyone else, since I had been quiet for the orientation up til then. We all took the Virgin train from London Euston station to Wigan on Thursday. It took only 2 hours to travel 200 miles, so awesome.
Once we arrived at the Wigan station, all the families were ready to pick up their student. Each family only had one student. The families were all of retired couples whose children are all grown and moved out. The couple I stayed with consisted of a retired head teacher (principal) and a part time magistrate (a judge). They had hosted about a hundred students before because they've been participating in the Experiment in International Living (EIL) program for about 30 years. They had lots of stories to tell me about pretty much everything: their daughter (who recently married and had a son), the town of Shevington (a suburb of Wigan and Greater Manchester), and anything that'd be useful for me to know this semester. We sat down and ate meals together. I particularly enjoyed muesli at breakfast and profiteroles at dessert (I may devote a Gastronomic Firsts post to these items). We also watched a lot of BBC during meals and after dinner, which ended up being more interesting than I had expected. Of course, the very few commercials on British television helps.
The following day, Friday, I went on a walking tour of Wigan and Shevington. I got to learn about the history of the town and look at the canals that were once used for shipping cotton from the United States. It was very scenic. We walked about the town, which was very nice and made me wish the suburbs back home were more walkable. It was only a 20 minute walk to the town center where all the shops, library, post office, chemist, etc were. The schools were nearby too. I also learned a lot about how the British government spoils its people! The country's unemployment problem partly exists because people don't want jobs. The jobs are available, but the benefits the government issues to the unemployed are fairly comparable to a full time minimum wage income; unemployed citizens don't need to pay for housing and receive a 
weekly stipend adequate to cover all living expenses. It works out to be only 10 GBP less than what they would make working full time for minimum wage. Absurd. Additionally, students in low income families receive 35 GBP per week once they turn 16 and attend college (the school that comes before university. There's a difference in this country). College is free, though. University tuition and fees are standardized throughout the country, at about 5000 GBP per year, which some feel is too "expensive." Oh, and did I mention they have universal health care? I'm not sure how I feel about all of this, but I won't attempt to go into here.
Friday evening, another American student arrived at my family's house for homestay. She's studying at Lancaster this semester. The whole group of families and study abroad students went out to dinner at a local restaurant. A good time was had by all. I tried the Yorkshire pudding for the first time, which actually is not a dessert, but an appetizer. One of the homestay couples mentioned that Oasis will be playing Manchester in June, so I'm going to look into that. :)
We students departed for Manchester on Saturday morning. All in all, everyone had a good time with their host families. Grace attended choir practice with her family, and then went to a pub immediately following hehe. Jen stayed at a really big estate so she got to see how the wealthy lived. It was the last slice of home-living for a long while.
Every student in the Arcadia program got assigned to a British family located near the university at which they will be studying. The students studying at the University of Manchester were assigned to families in a nearby district called Wigan, about 20 minutes from Manchester by train. Prior to leaving for homestay, we went over the details and what to expect with the Arcadia folks. It turns out that I was "randomly" designated as the group leader, which meant I had to make sure nothing went wrong during the whole experience, and liason with the appropriate people if things did go wrong. Wonderful, but it forced me to at least introduce myself to everyone else, since I had been quiet for the orientation up til then. We all took the Virgin train from London Euston station to Wigan on Thursday. It took only 2 hours to travel 200 miles, so awesome.
Once we arrived at the Wigan station, all the families were ready to pick up their student. Each family only had one student. The families were all of retired couples whose children are all grown and moved out. The couple I stayed with consisted of a retired head teacher (principal) and a part time magistrate (a judge). They had hosted about a hundred students before because they've been participating in the Experiment in International Living (EIL) program for about 30 years. They had lots of stories to tell me about pretty much everything: their daughter (who recently married and had a son), the town of Shevington (a suburb of Wigan and Greater Manchester), and anything that'd be useful for me to know this semester. We sat down and ate meals together. I particularly enjoyed muesli at breakfast and profiteroles at dessert (I may devote a Gastronomic Firsts post to these items). We also watched a lot of BBC during meals and after dinner, which ended up being more interesting than I had expected. Of course, the very few commercials on British television helps.
The following day, Friday, I went on a walking tour of Wigan and Shevington. I got to learn about the history of the town and look at the canals that were once used for shipping cotton from the United States. It was very scenic. We walked about the town, which was very nice and made me wish the suburbs back home were more walkable. It was only a 20 minute walk to the town center where all the shops, library, post office, chemist, etc were. The schools were nearby too. I also learned a lot about how the British government spoils its people! The country's unemployment problem partly exists because people don't want jobs. The jobs are available, but the benefits the government issues to the unemployed are fairly comparable to a full time minimum wage income; unemployed citizens don't need to pay for housing and receive a 
weekly stipend adequate to cover all living expenses. It works out to be only 10 GBP less than what they would make working full time for minimum wage. Absurd. Additionally, students in low income families receive 35 GBP per week once they turn 16 and attend college (the school that comes before university. There's a difference in this country). College is free, though. University tuition and fees are standardized throughout the country, at about 5000 GBP per year, which some feel is too "expensive." Oh, and did I mention they have universal health care? I'm not sure how I feel about all of this, but I won't attempt to go into here.Friday evening, another American student arrived at my family's house for homestay. She's studying at Lancaster this semester. The whole group of families and study abroad students went out to dinner at a local restaurant. A good time was had by all. I tried the Yorkshire pudding for the first time, which actually is not a dessert, but an appetizer. One of the homestay couples mentioned that Oasis will be playing Manchester in June, so I'm going to look into that. :)
We students departed for Manchester on Saturday morning. All in all, everyone had a good time with their host families. Grace attended choir practice with her family, and then went to a pub immediately following hehe. Jen stayed at a really big estate so she got to see how the wealthy lived. It was the last slice of home-living for a long while.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
<24 hours
I have finished packing. It actually wasn't too bad. In fact, I'm not bringing a whole lot of stuff; I only have one large suitcase of clothing, a smaller suitcase of stuff (including peanut butter <3), a duffel bag for Week 1/potential luggage loss, and a backpack for my electronics and documents.
Today I went to NYC and bought a gift for my homestay family: a NYC snow globe depicting King Kong terrorizing the city and a baseball key chain. There were a few snow globes to choose from, with varying degrees of NYC loyalty and patriotism. I went with the King Kong one because I thought it was the most special, while still being appropriate in case my homestay family is anti-American. I also bought a baseball keychain because baseball's pretty American and "I <3 NYC" was written on it. Gotta have the "I <3 NYC" merch.
I'm spending my final 24 hours at home not really doing anything. I think I will try to finish the book I've been reading (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. "Like you need any help with that!" you may jest). As for the bigger picture, I'm feeling pretty excited about spending a couple days in London meeting other American students in the study abroad program and just taking in the sights! As for the even bigger picture, I'm pretty optimistic about how the overall study abroad experience will turn out. I'll definitely be trying new things and, whether good or bad will come of it, I will be glad, regardless, for having the opportunity to see what's out there in the rest of the world. Corny, but true.
And now I will peace out. My flight isn't until 6:25pm tomorrow, so feel free to call me if you want to chat. I will sincerely miss every one of you. If you would like to stay in touch with me (outside of this blog), just ask me for my contact information (I even have Skype!).
Good bye and see you in London!
Today I went to NYC and bought a gift for my homestay family: a NYC snow globe depicting King Kong terrorizing the city and a baseball key chain. There were a few snow globes to choose from, with varying degrees of NYC loyalty and patriotism. I went with the King Kong one because I thought it was the most special, while still being appropriate in case my homestay family is anti-American. I also bought a baseball keychain because baseball's pretty American and "I <3 NYC" was written on it. Gotta have the "I <3 NYC" merch.
I'm spending my final 24 hours at home not really doing anything. I think I will try to finish the book I've been reading (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. "Like you need any help with that!" you may jest). As for the bigger picture, I'm feeling pretty excited about spending a couple days in London meeting other American students in the study abroad program and just taking in the sights! As for the even bigger picture, I'm pretty optimistic about how the overall study abroad experience will turn out. I'll definitely be trying new things and, whether good or bad will come of it, I will be glad, regardless, for having the opportunity to see what's out there in the rest of the world. Corny, but true.
And now I will peace out. My flight isn't until 6:25pm tomorrow, so feel free to call me if you want to chat. I will sincerely miss every one of you. If you would like to stay in touch with me (outside of this blog), just ask me for my contact information (I even have Skype!).
Good bye and see you in London!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
9 Days
John and I just bought our Eurail Global Passes for the legen-(wait for it)-dary spring break trip across Europe. Oh yes, the reality of Europe is totally hitting me with full force.
Today I was supposed to make a list of things to pack. The day's almost over and I don't have a list yet. However, as far as electronics go, I think I'll only be bringing two that rely on outlet power (laptop and hairdryer), which feels like an accomplishment. Is it?
As for the gift for my host family, I will be venturing into NYC next weekend. I've received tips from a couple friends (Thanks Sweta and Gus!) that non-US people seem to go gaga over "I <3 NY" merch, so I'll probably shop along those lines. Of course, ideas are still welcome, as I still have a week before I go to the 212.
Today I was supposed to make a list of things to pack. The day's almost over and I don't have a list yet. However, as far as electronics go, I think I'll only be bringing two that rely on outlet power (laptop and hairdryer), which feels like an accomplishment. Is it?
As for the gift for my host family, I will be venturing into NYC next weekend. I've received tips from a couple friends (Thanks Sweta and Gus!) that non-US people seem to go gaga over "I <3 NY" merch, so I'll probably shop along those lines. Of course, ideas are still welcome, as I still have a week before I go to the 212.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
10 days
Hey everyone, I'm still alive and have not crumbled from crippling fear. Over the past few days I've grown more confident and less scared about living abroad for a handful of months. Europe! Yay the feeling of going to a foreign land (a foreign land in the western world, but still a foreign land) is washing over me so I'm actually more excited than scared. Also, Natalie gave me a really cute Paddington Bear for Christmas which is preparing me culturally hehe (I've been watching some Paddington Bear cartoons on Youtube).
Also, I got my housing information today. Apparently I'll be living in an off-campus self-catered dormitory in the Fallowfield Campus of Manchester. Everything about it seems great except for the off-campus aspect of it; a quick querying of Google Maps tells me it's roughly a 30 minute walk to the academic campus. It is along a really convenient bus route, so I'll deal. I guess I've been spoiled by the convenience of Morewood Gardens back at CMU. Haha. Some good things about the Fallowfield location, though, is a 5 minute walk to Sainsbury's, which is a supermarket, and plenty of social places like bars, shopping, etc. Should be a fun time.
There's still some stuff I need to do.
Also, I got my housing information today. Apparently I'll be living in an off-campus self-catered dormitory in the Fallowfield Campus of Manchester. Everything about it seems great except for the off-campus aspect of it; a quick querying of Google Maps tells me it's roughly a 30 minute walk to the academic campus. It is along a really convenient bus route, so I'll deal. I guess I've been spoiled by the convenience of Morewood Gardens back at CMU. Haha. Some good things about the Fallowfield location, though, is a 5 minute walk to Sainsbury's, which is a supermarket, and plenty of social places like bars, shopping, etc. Should be a fun time.
There's still some stuff I need to do.
- PACK! Lots and lots of packing. The challenge is fitting everything I need into 2 checked bags (note to self: call British Airways to make sure I'm allowed 2 pieces of checked baggage), a backpack, and a carry-on.
- Buy a voltage converter for my laptop.
- Buy a gift for my host family. After the Arcadia orientation, I will be spending 2-3 nights with a British family, "homestay," to get a more immersive experience of British life. I will be bringing a gift that is reflective of my "home." I could bring something that's uniquely American (but what? High cholestrol? Ok just kidding.) or something unique to my region (the Jersey shore? the NY metropolitan area?). I can't really think of anything special, maybe saltwater taffy or something nifty made out of seashells, I really don't know. If you have any ideas, feel free to share them with me.
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