By Emily Bagshaw
Being about a month into Fall term at Oregon State University, I think I am fully appreciating how helpful having a week’s ‘holiday’ in the surrounding area was before starting the term. Arriving to your destination early (even for just a few days) can help you adapt and settle into your new environment quicker, as well as give you a head start with exploring the area and getting the ‘holiday feels’ out of the way. It’s also a great way to kickstart your curiosity in terms of where you can explore during the term and holidays!
My Personal ‘Holiday’ Week
OSU is in Corvallis, Oregon – a small (by American standards) town right in the middle of Oregon with little around it in terms of airports, so I chose to fly into Seattle, Washington and make a small trip of the drive down! (Top tip: use Student Universe for flights as I got mine discounted by £200)
Starting off in Seattle, I got around 2 days to explore the city which was awesome! The first day I headed down to Pike Place Market to check out the original Starbucks (and bought a mug of course), browse some of the indie stores and pig out on my first American burger! This is also where the famous ‘gum wall’ attraction is, which is objectively disgusting, but in some dystopian future where they’re making clones of us, at least I’ve got some spare DNA here.
On my second day in Seattle I went shopping for the first time at Target (oh my god how can a store be that big!?) for some flat essentials, and then took the monorail into the centre to see the Space Needle! Coincidentally, there was also a food fair on in the centre which was a very nice surprise.
Day 3 I started my drive down to Corvallis via Portland. I had a specific bookstore earmarked in Portland called ‘Powell’s City of Books’, which is so big they give you a map when you first enter! This drive down through Portland and into Oregon was the first time it hit me that I’m actually IN THE USA!? I’m still seeing little things every day that are just so quintessentially American it gives me a little laugh, but sometimes this cultural shock can be a bit harder to deal with.
Finally once I reached Corvallis on the 3rd/4th day I made sure to explore the town as thoroughly as possible while I still had a car. Doing this, I found so many cute little murals sprinkled around the town, as well as some amazing food spots that I have now frequented multiple times. Additionally, I was able to have conversations with local shop owners, one in particular who told me about a ‘Fall Festival’ art fair going on in the central park which was so vibrant and fun! Some of the places I found in these two days were new even to my American flatmates, and now they love going with me, so I really suggest having at least one day like this.
Benefits of This Experience
- Cultural Exploration: Arriving early allows you to ease into your new surroundings in a more exiting way than immediately working/studying. You’re going to have way more energy at the start of the year to explore your city, so use it well!
- Logistics and Orientation: Exploring the area helps you grasp the public transport system, local shopping, markets, and essential services. This means you won’t be scrambling to find things once classes begin.
- Language Familiarity: Although not a problem in the USA, I think arriving early would give you a good chance to acclimate to the local language at your chosen destination, which would be invaluable once your classes begin, and you start socialising!
- Reduced Stress: By arriving early, you can enjoy a more leisurely introduction to your new environment and get all the holiday feels out of your system early. For me, this really helped with being able to commit to my studies from the get-go instead of having FOMO about exploring.
Overall, I hope if you decide to take the leap and go abroad, you utilise all the time available to you! Arriving early gave me the opportunity to explore not just my college town, but further afield too, and gave me a positive kick off to the year 🙂
Global Opportunities 