<p>@Weatherman,
As far as I know, i guess im staying on campus? Nothing’s been said about a host family, I kinda hope im in halls with US freshman rather than put with other internationals. (Wait, how old are you in your first year of college? I know that its a bit different to the UK…)</p>
<p>And travel, hmmm. i know i’ll have to see New York at some point, it would be stupid to go to the US and not take advantage of being relatively close to NYC. Im sure it’s all stuff i’ll figure out when im there. But I’m soooo excited haha.</p>
<p>Well, first of all, don’t call it an “aeroplane” this side of the Atlantic :P. It’s an “airplane” or an “airliner”.</p>
<p>That said, people do travel quite a bit. I live in north Georgia, and a couple of my friends spent this spring Break in Michigan (they flew), while a number of others went to various beaches in Florida (they drove).</p>
<p>As far as expense, well, being from the UK you’ll probably laugh when we say that the threat of $4 a gallon gasoline has us in a national panic right now. Lodging will depend a lot on the part of the country, and I can’t advise much since my family has a rather extensive network of friends and relations in the southeast that we usually stay with when traveling.</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh, and most US students are between 18 and 19 as entering freshmen.</p>
<p>Thanks Yondermountain.
And guys, when i get to the USA, im going to use all my weird english slang on purpose just to freak you all out!
AEROPLANE!
COURGETTE!
Colour, Flavour, Honour, Tyre, …um. I can’t think of many more, but i know there are lots out there.</p>
<p>Anyways, yeah. Originally I was offered to go to University of Georgia, Athens. I got all excited about going there, then the international department at my uni in england pulled it out of the options, and I was left with Maine. Not that Maine isn’t great n’all, just i was looking forward to a little bit of sun (We don’t get sun in the UK. it just doesnt happen. ever. ever ever ever. When it does come out, we literally worship it.)</p>
<p>Oh good, so i’ll be kinda the same age as US freshmen. i was terrified for a moment that they were much older/ younger than me for some reason.</p>
<p>EDIT: ‘Petrol’ prices have us going crazy here, dont worry haha. We get it from the same place you do! (Luckily everything is nearby in blighty)</p>
<p>Aw, if you’d gone to UGA I could have been much more useful, that’s my neck of the woods.</p>
<p>And yes, from what I understand one of the biggest culture shocks for most foriegners who come here is the amount that we Americans drive. For example, I drive about 60 miles a day just going to and from school. There’s no such thing as public transportation.</p>
<p>Yeah. I LIVE on public transport at uni. you can get a bus or train to absolutely everywhere here. If you visited england, you’d be able to see a lot of the whole country in about a week and a half, you’d get through 2 major cities a day, then run out after a week, get bored and go up to scotland. I drive up to scotland all the time (I can see the scottish border from my house though!)</p>
<p>Hopefully I’ll find local friends to get lifts from/ spend thanksgiving with. Honestly, I still don’t even get what thanksgiving is all about. I thought it was the american word for christmas for a long time! (Yes, I know all the history behind it now…) but i just didn’t realize how big of a thing it was. Omg , I really am na</p>
<p>Aw Lucy…you aren’t going to find it too too much warmer in Maine…but at least there will be sun!</p>
<p>Make sure to visit the south sometime. Especially near the summer, so you can enjoy the 100+ degree heat.</p>
<p>For Thanksgiving try to find a friend that doesn’t live up north so you can actually eat tasty food for Thanksgiving break! They’ll probably let you come to their house.</p>
<p>@ Furtherweatherman</p>
<p>US gas prices are roughly half UK prices, by the way.</p>
<p>But I get public transport everywhere at home.
But that’s about twice as expensive too though lol.</p>
<p>“US gas prices are roughly half UK prices, by the way.”</p>
<p>Oh my goodness!!! And I thought $3.70 (approximately 2 british pounds, i think) was bad. The thought of paying $8 for gas has me ready to faint, and feeling bloody lucky that it’s so “cheap” here. (is that a proper English use of bloody?)</p>
<p>“Aw, if you’d gone to UGA I could have been much more useful, that’s my neck of the woods.”</p>
<p>Me too, Atlanta isn’t too far from Athens, and I do go over there “semi-often”</p>
<p>“one of the biggest culture shocks for most foriegners who come here is the amount that we Americans drive. For example, I drive about 60 miles a day just going to and from school. There’s no such thing as public transportation.”</p>
<p>So true for most places. Only places where public transportation is any good is DC and NYC, but you have to be inside the city to reap the advantages.</p>
<p>“I thought it was the american word for christmas for a long time!”</p>
<p>I was told that by an Englishman before as well, it’s the holiday we started because the settlers were so thankful to be out of England! lol jk </p>
<p>If at all possible, do try to get with someone that lives in the southern US for Thanksgiving, otherwise you’ll be missing out on the real treats of Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>One thing to warn you about, if you didn’t know already, it snows a LOT in Maine. Don’t know if ya’ll get much of that in England because of the Gulf Stream, but it does snow there, and can get very cold.</p>
<p>@ Futureweatherman - yep you used “bloody” right.</p>
<p>I was prepared for an arctic winter in Mass, and although it was frigging cold by English standards (London barely gets below 32F most of winter, it’s usually slightly mild) it only snowed like 3 times.
Hardly ever got hurty cold.</p>
<p>True sunsloth, but this was a very mild winter everywhere in the USA. I think this winter should be back to normal. After all, I am a future weatherman ;)</p>
<p>Wow, how did you decide on Maine?? I’m in southern Maine, and U. Maine is two and a half hours north of Portland. It will take you over four hours to drive to Boston, and eight hours to get to New York (if the traffic is good).</p>
<p>Orono is pretty isolated - I think they party a lot because there is not much else to do.</p>
<p>We had a VERY mild winter this year. Be prepared next year - dress warmly!</p>
<p>If you have any specific questions about the state, I’d be happy to answer them. Be sure to visit Acadia National Park - it’s gorgeous. If you like outdoor activities like skiing, you’ll love it here.</p>
<p>PS - I was engaged to a Brit, and I loved his accent! He could switch between an American and an English accent, depending on who he was talking to. I don’t think he even realized he was doing it.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is normal, but my family in Ohio definitely had the kind of hospitality and delicious Thanksgiving dinners that you guys are attributing to the south. Maybe they were anomalous, though, since most of them came from Kentucky.</p>
<p>I had never before heard that Thanksgiving is only properly done in the south.</p>
<p>As it goes, I had mine in a Legal Sea Foods in Boston with one Belgian/Brit, three Germans and two South Koreans.</p>
<p>5 of us had the Thanksgiving meal (it was tasty, huge serving) and 2 of us had lobster.</p>
<p>That’s traditional, right?</p>
<p>Haha, lobster.</p>
<p>I say south because I prefer my food spiced to a good flavor. A lot of the food I’ve had up north was kinda bland. </p>
<p>I had friends that considered Boston Market to be a good Thanksgiving dinner at college…</p>
<p>so bland. (obviously not the same as a home-cooked meal though)</p>
<p>Also, reading TSR I find it funny the misconceptions about the US and US colleges, hahaha. </p>
<p>A lot of gun violence fear…</p>
<p>someone even asked if it was legal to be gay in all the states! haha</p>
<p>and i don’t know how popular fried turkey is out of the deep south. even in georgia i met people that had never heard of frying a turkey</p>
<p>trust me, a cajun fried turkey is the most delicious and unhealthy way to eat a turkey…and isn’t that what thanksgiving is all about?</p>
<p>Fried turkey, really? Haha</p>
<p>People love to diss English food, but I’ll always miss it when I’m abroad. (For more than a few weeks)
Beans on toast, bacon sandwiches, chip butty, sunday roast, battenburg, jaffa cakes, prawn cocktail crisps, branston pickle, HP sauce, mature cheddar, quality sausages… Pret a Manger stores…</p>
<p>yes…try it once. you won’t go back! i swear!</p>
<p>a lot of that sounds delicious…I could dig it.</p>