Studying abroad in the US
Hi everyone,
I have a couple of questions about studying abroad in the US that I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me out with. My character is a nineteen-year-old British student at Swansea University who's doing a joint degree in History and American Studies. Part of the course involves a year at an American university (probably the University of North Carolina or the University of California) but since I've never done anything similar I was wondering:
1) When he gets to the US what kind of help/support would be available to help him settle in? I've been looking around the websites of the various universities and it seems like he'd have a Study Abroad Advisor back in Swansea and there'd probably be an Exchange Student Orientation event, but would he maybe have something like a personal tutor or a student mentor? The information I've found so far seems to be geared more to actually getting to the university rather than what happens once he's there.
2) What kind of university related things would be most likely to stand out as noticeably different to a British guy on his first trip to the States? From lurking around forums and reading a few accounts I've gathered that fraternities and sororities, more regular assessments (mid-terms, pop quizzes etc.) and general cultural differences like language, sports and the weather might take some getting used to, but is there anything glaringly obvious that I'm missing? I've googled terms like "us uk university differences" and found some useful things but I suppose I'm looking for more...personal impressions, if that makes sense.
Thanks very much!
I have a couple of questions about studying abroad in the US that I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me out with. My character is a nineteen-year-old British student at Swansea University who's doing a joint degree in History and American Studies. Part of the course involves a year at an American university (probably the University of North Carolina or the University of California) but since I've never done anything similar I was wondering:
1) When he gets to the US what kind of help/support would be available to help him settle in? I've been looking around the websites of the various universities and it seems like he'd have a Study Abroad Advisor back in Swansea and there'd probably be an Exchange Student Orientation event, but would he maybe have something like a personal tutor or a student mentor? The information I've found so far seems to be geared more to actually getting to the university rather than what happens once he's there.
2) What kind of university related things would be most likely to stand out as noticeably different to a British guy on his first trip to the States? From lurking around forums and reading a few accounts I've gathered that fraternities and sororities, more regular assessments (mid-terms, pop quizzes etc.) and general cultural differences like language, sports and the weather might take some getting used to, but is there anything glaringly obvious that I'm missing? I've googled terms like "us uk university differences" and found some useful things but I suppose I'm looking for more...personal impressions, if that makes sense.
Thanks very much!