Ana, ‘13

This Saturday I went to Jamestown, Williamsburg and Prime Outlets for shopping .Dr. Nuray Grove, the English as a Second Language instructor, organized the trip for her students in her ESL class. I am not in that class (I guess the University believed my English is good enough), but because there were some free spots, she invited other international students and I got to go.

I was impressed by everything I saw. I was a little surprised by how much it resembled some old places in Europe that I used to visit quite often. I imagined USA as “the land of modernity”, where everything was new and advanced, while in Europe, as the old continent, it was natural to find some beautiful medieval places. But apparently there is not always the case, as these beautiful pictures from the “new continent” show:

I saw another face of America, an older, more peaceful one.

I am not sure how much of it is actually American though. It was interesting to see the British flag virtually everywhere. It reminded me that Jamestown was just an European settlement across the ocean. The true character of the USA was formed after the British left…

I had lots of fun that day, and I was happy to spend some more time with other international students. I really don’t care what nationality my friends are, and it’s not a criterion for choosing my friends. And since nationality is a random factor in this process, and since this campus is mostly populated by Americans, there was a much greater probability to pick at random ( nationality-wise) American friends (just in case you missed the nerdiness of my posts : ) ). I know many international students (thanks international orientation!) and am friends with many; but I am not one of those who hang out only with internationals. This was a perfect day to catch up!

I am sorry we didn’t take many group photos; this one is the only one I found with more than 2 people. From the left, Nikolay, Danyi, and me:

But we took a lot of crazy individual photos:

Of course, then was shopping! Because I only brought a few winter clothes from home, and I decided a while ago that it would be much cheaper to buy clothes from here than have my parents send me from home as was the original plan, and I was extremely busy (or lazy!) lately to go shopping, this was the perfect opportunity. But send a girl with reasons to shop in a big mall! Guess what happens! Money flows away out of my pockets (or debit card, whatever)! When my parents heard about how much I spent, I drove them crazy. It would have probably been cheaper to send me stuff from home after all. But I don’t care! I was happy!

I had a very great time, even if by the end of the day I was simply exhausted. Recently I formed the habit of taking naps in the evening, and on Saturday I took 2-3 naps after 8:30 PM when I got to my room! It was totally worth it, even if I didn’t do anything to ease the very busy week I have in front of me.

See you soon! And remember, less than a month to apply for Richmond Scholars!