New friends Sam Maas, Amanda Bellian, Lexie
Brown and Erica Calder enjoying Copenhagen. (Photo by Peter Hanscom) |
By Kala Larson
Harlaxton College Web Design Student
Friday, February 1, 2008
Converting dollars to pounds, the refectory food and attending classes in the Long Gallery instead of a Lecture Hall -- all of these things are examples of how life for the students of Harlaxton has changed in the last month. The real question is, how are students adjusting to all of these changes?
“Even though I am having the time of my life here, sleeping in my own bed for just one night would be like heaven,” said Amanda Bellian, 19, a sophomore from Akron, Ohio.
Along with missing their beds, many students have experienced homesickness for their family and friends. “After realizing how far away I actually was, I began to miss my family and my dog,” said Erica Calder, 21, a senior from Orlando, Fla.
One way that many students have been curing their homesickness is by the use of Skype, the online telephone program that allows people to call others with the same program and to even call landlines and mobile phones for mere pennies. Lexie Brown, 20, Mount Vernon, Ind., said that she was homesick and sad the other day, but talking to her mom on Skype made her feel much better.
“I was so bummed out about being away from home that I just laid down in bed and cried, and then my mom called me and after talking to her for just 10 minutes made me feel so much better.”
While some find comfort in calling home, others have adjusted by simply keeping themselves busy with school activities and traveling. With multiple school committees, basketball games (which have yet to be won), volleyball games and reading for British studies and other classes, there is never a dull moment around the manor or carriage house.
Enjoying "high tea" on Wednesday, fireside in the Great Hall: Arrena Svoboda, Brittany Kittleman,
Beth Truax and Katelyn Sandy.
(Photo by
Mike Dorsher) |
As the food from the refectory mostly tastes the same from day to day, students have been venturing out or ordering food in from the variety of delivery places in Grantham. Take-away menus can be found on every bulletin board around the manor and empty food boxes can be seen laying in the hallways waiting for the morning rubbish bin pickup.
“We ordered India food last week and it was wonderful. The prices were cheap for how much food we got and it was really fast delivery,” said Sarah Garvey, 19, from Cincinnati.
Since they arrived on Jan. 4, many students have made new friendships and have made Harlaxton feel like home. “I find myself calling the manor ‘home’ more and more as the semester goes on,” Calder said.
Even though students have only been at Harlaxton for a month, many have begun planning trips to see the world with people they have only known for a few short weeks. For example, Bellian, Brown and Calder have recently returned from Copenhagen, Denmark, a trip they planned after knowing each other for only one week. The close bonds that have been formed in the absence of their normal circle of friends makes being so far away not seem so difficult.
Keeping busy, experiencing new and exciting things, meeting new people and
making new friends are all great ways of avoiding becoming homesick and
adjusting to being abroad as many of the students at Harlaxton have done.