Part A in the USA

I find myself in the unenviable position of trying to compress the whole of last semester into one paltry blog entry. Admittedly this was a self-imposed challenge so I shan't complain too much. My memory isn't what it used to be so I will no doubt omit various details but hopefully you'll get a reasonable impression of what it was like.

"You're from Scotland? How long have you been learning English for?"

Improving one's English was the reason given by almost every international student for coming to Memphis during our orientation, with one notable exception. As the sole Anglophone in the group, improving my already impressive knowledge of the mother tongue was not a particular goal of mine. I have, however, improved my knowledge of American English whilst here as well as becoming better acquainted with ebonics. For those unfamiliar with the term, ebonics is an African American dialect, or language depending on your viewpoint. As a Scot I'm familiar with this condundrum due to the Scots language being subject to a similar debate. I may be biased but I'd argue Scots originated at a time when the English language wasn't yet standardised so can legitimately be described as a language. Ebonics, in comparison, is far more recent and therefore cannot. Even as a native-English speaker I struggled to understand a lot of the African Americans I met. I can only imagine how my fellow exchange students managed.

In contrast to my home university, where there is over 1000 international students, Memphis is rather more modest in its intake of foreigners. Only 20 exchange students were starting at the same time as me, most of them either German or Japanese. I may have chosen a former British colony but I found myself surrounded by our former enemies, with only a Frenchmen as an ally.

The international crew minus the Japs.

And some ally he turned out to be! Matthieu from Paris confirmed all stereotypes associated with Parisians as well as my suspicions that the Auld Alliance is as dead as the "special relationship" between the UK and the US. I spent the entire semester trading insults with him in what I think was a jovial manner, although I'm not entirely sure his were in jest. The Germans, by contrast, were more genial towards me and I became friends with several of them. One of whom was Victor, a business student from the Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt (think that's right). As well as being around the same age as me, he also shared my rather morbid sense of humour thus we quickly became friends.

Victor and I

Victor differed from the other Germans, not only because he had a distinctly American-sounding twang to his accent but he rarely spoke German or associated with his countrymen. His reckoning was that whilst in America he wanted to integrate fully into the culture, and thus speaking in a language other than English would not be conducive to this. With that in mind, he decided to explore the possibility of joining a fraternity. If you're anything like me, your knowledge of fraternities/sororities was probably gained solely from watching films like Animal House and Old School (which is called Auld School in Scotland, American readers). The reality of "Greek life" is somewhat different.

Frat's all folks!

I decided to join Victor in "rushing" the fraternities at the U of M. Rushing is the recruitment process for Greek organisations and consists of 5 days visiting the various fraternity houses on campus so as to gauge which one suits you best. Whilst visiting you get a chance to speak to the current members to learn more about each fraternity. As the week goes on you narrow your choices down to a final 3 who then (hopefully) make a "bid" for you. Although I received bids from all 3 of my choices, I opted not to join any for various reasons. Victor, however, joined Phi Gamma Delta (commonly known as Fiji) which he is now a full member of. So well done Victor!

Victor and his Fiji brothers (Victor's the one dressed as if he's attending a funeral)

Pardon me girls, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?

Another American tradition made famous in popular culture by Jack Kerouac amongst others is the road trip. I was only able to make one such trip last semester, a 6-hour drive to the city of Chattanooga in east Tennessee. I, along with my friends Steffanie and Whitney, were heading there initially to watch a beauty pageant a friend of ours was competing in (an experience that possibly merits its own entry). My knowledge of Chattanooga was largely based on the Glen Miller song 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' so I didn't really know what to expect. I was delighted to find Chattanooga a picturesque city surrounded by the Appalachian mountains, entirely different to the largely flat Memphis. We spent a couple of days exploring the local acquarium (which gives mention to the wonderful River Clyde), attending said beauty pageant and going to Rock City (no relation to Detroit), located on Lookout Mountain. Ironically enough I never did see the Chattanooga choo choo.

(l-r) Whitney, me and Steffanie on Lookout Mountain

A sporting chance.

My semester wouldn't have been complete without taking in some American sports. As a U of M student, I was able to go to football and basketball games for free, and being a sucker for a bargain, I did. With a rather toothless attack (unlike the real life tiger present at home games), the university's football team are hardly a model of success, but being a Scotland/Partick Thistle fan I'm used to supporting the losing side.

Me at a Tigers game whilst sampling some of the local cuisine.

The basketball team, on the other hand, are far more successful and boasted (until very recently) an unbeaten run of 64 games. I enjoyed watching both sports but I'm not fully convinced of American football's merit. Conversely, I'm fast becoming a basketball enthusiast and regularly attend games. Hopefully I'll watch a baseball game before the semester is out. Until then I think I'll blow the final whistle on this entry.

Website Story

After much deliberation I have decided to pander to unpopular demand and create a blog documenting my time here in Memphis, Tennessee. For those of you who don't know (which should be none of you) I decided during my 2nd year at Napier University to study abroad (or two) through the International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP) for my 3rd year. I had grown bored of dreary Scotland with its parochialness - not to be confused with Loch Ness by my American readers - and the chance to spend the year abroad was too great an opportunity to turn down. This blog will attempt to summarise my time here for the purpose of posterity and to save me bombarding my friends with colossal emails.

The question I was asked most before leaving for the States was either "why America?" or "why Memphis?". The question I get asked with worrying frequency here is the latter. To answer the first question, I decided my linguistic skills, or lack thereof, would limit me from integrating into a non-English speaking country. This left me with a selection of former British colonies. I overlooked (criminally you might say) Australia due to the gargantuan distance involved and thus discounted New Zealand for this reason. Realistically it had to be either Canada or the USA.

"Canada, it's not the party, it's the apartment above the party."

The above quote by my apparent sound-alike (if drunken Memphians are to be believed)and fellow Scottish diaspora member Craig Ferguson was a nice little analogy although it goes no way in explaining why I chose the land of the free over the land of the Cree (ahem!). The mundane truth is I decided on America due to there being far more universities offering classes that matched what I'd be taking at Napier. This makes perfect sense when you realise I'm studying Communication, Advertising & Public Relations - three quintessentially American areas of study. It's ironic that I'm in a city famous for soul music given how often I'm accused of selling mine after I tell people what I'm studying.

On the subject of music, Memphis is culturally one of the richest cities in America (monetarily it's sadly not so well endowed). How many other cities can claim three of the most recognisable faces of country, rock 'n' roll and blues as their own? However, Memphis was not my first choice. I had originally wanted to study at Loyola University in New Orleans but due to there being no spaces available there or at any of my other choices I was forced to reconsider. ISEP offered me either Louisville, Kentucky or Memphis, knowing nothing of Louisville I chose Memphis.

I have a whole semester behind me now so I'll try and condense that experience into my next entry. Until then I hope you enjoy this little introduction and feel free to leave a comment expressing your enjoyment/tolerance of my writing.