Day 42: Old Searches and New Experiences

     Good night fellow Gamecocks and readers! Admittedly, I'm writing this one a bit late so one or two yawns may be had typing it up. Last week was a tough, but good week. Exams are in full swing over here at LSU. Personally, I have two exams and one project due this week alone. Thankfully I discovered that the student union building (and more importantly Chick-fil-A) is open until 11 pm on weekdays, which was a life saver tonight! Anyways, I want to tell you about the events of last week and weekend!

     As per usual, the week did not see too much excitement (unless you count classes, homework and test as exciting). The long weekdays saw me attempting to stay on top of my assignments and reattempt my previous mission to find an internship. For those of you who do not know, as Media Arts major at the University of South Carolina, each student is required to complete an internship as a part of their degree. Unfortunately for me, Baton Rouge is not exactly a hub for media related internships. While there are media internships in Baton Rouge, they are far and few in between. This means that the limited number of positions makes for a pretty competitive field. If you are looking for a Media Arts internship, I would personally recommend keeping an eye on positions back home in Columbia.

     The end of my school week saw me finally utilizing there perks of being 21 years old. I had my first (responsible) experiences in "Tiger Land." For people who are familiar with Columbia, Tiger Land is Louisiana State University's equivalent of Five Points. It's essentially a large amount of bars that are clumped together in one small area. Due to it being a bye week in LSU football, the bars were not as packed as they usually are (according to my local sources). None the less, they were still fun and provided just what you would expect from a bar. Fun fact, in Louisiana, you are able to enter some bars as young as nineteen (obviously you are unable to order). As such, you have bars like Fred's (upperclassman bars) that only allow 20+ year-olds and Mike's (underclassman bars) which allow 19+ year-olds. Like anywhere, always be safe in Tiger Land and never drink while driving. Ubers are available in surplus to take you home. Always remember to double check the cars credentials and ask, "what's my name?"

     That's all for this time. Stay safe Gamecocks and have an excellent week.

Day 37: The Good Ol' Days

     Good afternoon Gamecocks and other readers! It's that time of the week again!  As per usual, the weekdays did not see too much excitement. Exam week had officially kicked off! LSU does their exams a bit differently than how it is in South Carolina. Most of the larger classes will have you schedule a session in the testing center. The testing center is a large, 400+ computer testing center that facilitates all of LSU's electronic test. This ensures that, even in large classes, the tests are still monitored and regulated. However, as I discovered today, the testing center can be a little finicky. Sometimes the test are not uploading correctly, which means that you cannot always access your test even though you have an appointment. So its always beneficial to not wait to last minute to schedule your test or you might risk missing it due to technical difficulties.

      Despite my testing mishaps, its been a great experience here at Louisiana State University. However, the National Student Exchange was right about missing home from time to time. It truly is a huge adjustment to go to another University. Not only are you in a different city, but you are also in an different university where the entire process is different. This has also been the first time in my life where going home is not a decision I can casually make. I know this sounds like I've abandoned all hope of adjusting to life here, but that's not the case. The biggest help to me in this shift in my life is the fact that I made connections here. I had friends who I could count on to help me get through the whole process. They have truly helped me in feeling like I belong here and that this whole experience is worth it.

P.S. As a bonus, below is a picture of Mike the Tiger (the school's mascot). It may or may not be related to me feeling guilty about not posting more pictures.

Day 30: Let's Geaux Tigers!

      Good afternoon world! This past week was excellent as it was full of celebration and new experiences. The start of the week began with the usual routine of returning to classes and getting in the school mentality. However, on Tuesday, I turned the big 21! Unfortunately for me, this also meant no big celebrations due to it being the middle of the week. Being far from home meant that I would be making frequent trips to the post office due to all the gifts coming in. Thankfully, the post office here isn't much different from the one back at the University of South Carolina. I simply had to sign in on an iPad and approach the pickup desk to receive my packages and letters. As it turns out, there are cakes online that apparently you can ship people. Not going to lie, it was surprisingly good for internet cake.

      The rest of the week went just about the same as always. Most of the days were spent attending class and completing homework. On Friday, I was finally able to celebrate my birthday. My friends and I went out and I was able to order my first beer. It wasn't my favorite, but it was definitely a first in a lot of new experiences I've had here. Saturday saw to the arrival of the infamous gameday!

     I spent the whole of Saturday with my friends. We stayed in our conveniently air conditioned apartment and tailgated before the game. As game time got closer, we went out into campus and made our way towards the stadium. Unlike South Carolina, Tiger Stadium is located on campus. So long as there is a green space (grass) that isn't reserved, you can set up anywhere on campus. We also made our way past Mike the Tiger's habitat. Mike was out on gameday, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get any good pictures of him. The game was amazing and LSU absolutely kicked Northwestern State's butt. I was lucky enough to get close seating to field. However, leaving the game was a bit of a nightmare. Traffic was terrible leaving gameday and I had to drive my friend home who lived off campus. When the game ends, LSU turns all streets into a one way exit road. Luckily for me, traffic delayed me long enough that the roads had switched back to normal by time I headed home. All in all, it was a great week!

Day 23: A Week in the Life

     Good morning Gamecocks! It is a beautiful and (luckily) sunny day here in Baton Rouge. The past few days have not seen a drop of rain, which is unusual for Louisiana. None the less, it has been an excellent week on exchange. The week consisted of me attending my classes and trying to get ahead of school work. It's taken longer than I thought it would, but I am finally getting adjusted to how different things are at LSU. For the past two weeks I have been getting used to new websites and finding my way around campus.

     The weekend was much more relaxing. I did do a little bit of work by searching around for internships. Let me tell you, Baton Rouge does not have much in the sense of media arts internships. Once that was out of the way, I went over my friend's place to celebrate game day! It was a close game, but Louisiana triumphed over the University of Texas. It's also exciting times coming up this week as it will be my 21st birthday! This week will certainly be one to remember and I can't wait.

Day 16: Making Adjustments

     This past week marked the start of what some students dread: the start of classes. Luckily for us students, we got to enjoy a couple easy days during the infamous "syllabus week." At first, all of my classes seemed a little overwhelming. I was in a new school that uses a completely different system. I also had to sign up for three different online sites as well. It was a lot juggle at the start of school, especially when I am still trying to find my bearings here.

      However, I am proud to say that the course load has become more bearable and easy. My advice to any incoming college student is to develop time management skills. For me, that meant looking at my classes and putting all my assignments in a planner or calendar. It's also very important to make sure that you make time for yourself. In college, it is way to easy to get caught up in your school work in classes. Take time to treat yourself. Go out with friends, watch a movie, or try something you have never done before. Time management planning and making time for myself greatly helped me adjust to my courses here at the university.

     Unfortunately, I did not due too much this week besides go to classes and focus on my course work. I made time for my friends and met with them in between classes. I went to UREC a couple days to make sure that the days of the "Freshman 15" are behind me. Lastly, I went to a well known restaurant around here called "The Chimes." The Chimes is a southern-Cajun restaurant that is on the outskirts of campus. It is a very nice place and the food looks amazing! Sadly, I went to hangout with my friends after I already had dinner, so I did not get to partake in any of the amazing smells that surrounded me. Maybe next time. I'm coming up on a month a being here and clearly, I still have a lot to explore in Baton Rouge.