Morgantown, West Virginia

The start of my exchange studies in USA in autumn 2011.

Coming here was kind of a trip, I seriously thought I'm not gonna make it to my destination. On a layover in Amsterdam, it was all a mess, the machine didn't give me a ticket, when I got it, there wasn't a seat, and the boarding started right that second although there was a lot of time till take-off. The plane was heavily overbooked and there were tons of people wishing to get on, met a girl from Norway, who was also going to the states to study and was already late, so we panicked together, (even more when two guys from Detroit said they wanted to go home the day before, but couldn't get on a plane and had to stay there in a hotel) at last we just went to the front of the line and told our sad stories, so they let us in after asking a lot of security questions, about everything, it was such brainstorming.. passed the test I guess, had to wait some more, when their computers broke down... at last we both got on a plane, but it took time and the plane got delayed about 2 hours, I was sure I'm gonna miss my connecting flight, but the captain decided he didn't wanna be late, so he.. did something.. or the winds were very much on our side, and we were just around half an hour late. Because of all the confusion I didn't have a boarding pass to a next flight as well, luckily the staff in Detroit was quick and helpful, one more short delay and a thunderstorm later I landed in Pittsburgh, met with 6 more new students and we were taken to Morgantown by a limousine! Apparently the mini vans were busy.. we certainly did not complain!

The town looks so much fun! Met some students who took me to the International house - the dorm I'm living in. Started chatting in the common room and later decided to go to a hookah bar with a bunch of other new kids, the bar is huge, great music playing and the people here are crazy, listened to their party-stories... it's definitely gonna be a good year! PS: a pumpkin pie and vanilla hookah tastes unexpectedly. good!

Orientation went well, got some information, a student id, local mobile number and a local bank account. Walked around town with Krasimir (Austria) and Simlis (Cameroon) and went basic-stuff-shopping to Walmart. Crazy store, they seriously have everything from baby-food to guns. All is kind of cheap. And Motown has a Starbucks, heavenly! Had a first taste of Motown nightlife. Went out with Sven (Sweden/Germany/Usa) and the others and went to a hookah bar, later just chilled at someone's apartment and went to a club called Karma, for my surprise they close clubs 3am, after which walked as up the hill as possible to the edge of the town. There are a lot of sororities and fraternities in Morgantown. Sven thought one of his friends is in one of them, it as empty but looked like a crazy party had happened, so got some pizza and snug into I-house again. I guess I can call it my first crazy night here.

Most exchange students get a free meal-plan, as the scholarship covers this. When having free food, oh god, it's impossible to stop eating. Most eating spots are diner-style, some are fast-food-chain-kiosks.

The weather has been crazy hot. Around 40 degrees and tit's humid, so the climate is exotic.

Morgantown is a tiny town and everything is oriented on the university, the whole town is excited about a new school-year starting, all the new students are moving into their, dorms, apartments, houses, there are parties everywhere, it's wild in the streets, nothing like I'm used to! I have missed living on campus.

The official University Welcome Event for the new students was held in WVU Coliseum, there were about 5000 of us. It was powerful, staff members were talking about the school, also WVU president Jim Clements and the school mascot: the mountaineer. People were speaking with passion and truly meant what they were saying, not like it usually is in Estonia, where it's common to read their speech from the paper and it's done, in the end all the people sang the anthem of the song: Country Roads by John Denver. We got a WVU t-shirt, schools ring and there was of course free food, in USA in every event there usually is free food.

Drove back downtown by the yellow school-buses, the windows were opened, the wind was blowing, the music was on and there were way too many people in every bus, we headed to the I-house, met with some more people and went to a party in some fraternity, it was a typical american house party, (the guys had to pay for the entrance, the girls got in free) free beer for everyone (people drink from the red solo cups not from cans or bottles usually) , Theme of the party was beach party. Lots of soft volley-balls which everyone tossed around, so they often landed in someones cup or were disturbing in any other way,. Typical party games are beer-pong and flip cup. At some point the police came and broke the party up, (in WV it's quite easy to get arrested) We headed to another frat, in a couple of hours police cancelled this as well.

There was an earthquake in Washington DC and Virginia, we could also feel it here in Morgantown. Were chillin down in the common room and a guy from Pakistan is terrified to death about earthquakes, he was mostly joking but nevertheless  did not let anyone go to bed and it was once again a great training for my abs!

Sunday evening had the first official house meeting at I-House. To get to know each other better and set the ground rules. Some of them were hilarious, for example they feel a need to point out that it's forbidden to put your bed on your table(???) or ride your motorcycle in the house.

And school officially started. I enjoyed my first lectures "Intro to Mass Media" and "Intro to dance". The professors here are different from what I'm used to in Estonia. They talk differently and are all a little crazy I guess, they seem to like teaching, if not, they're really good actors.

Fall Fest is a yearly free beginning-of-a-school-year music fesival in Morgantown. As I heard it was times better last year. They had Maroon 5 and Ludacris!! It wasn't bad this year, when the company is cool, it's cool. Sven saw a person he almost knew on one balcony, so we joined them there for few drinks. As there was a strip pole in the bedroom (?), we were trying to learn some tricks with Lindsay (US), headed back to the festival, met with the others from I-House and the party was on, we were at the back, because it was possible to dance there, although sadly the rappers like to talk a lot. 3 Doors Down closed the night, in the end we went to one guys apartment that's located on the perfect place, and has a view right over High street, but there was no one there, it's kind of common here, people leave their doors wide open and get lost somewhere..

X-hale (hookah bar) is a popular spot. Don't wanna sound like an addict, but the "sexy time" tastes amazing and you can blow bubbles from hookah, it's fun!!

Other than the dance class and mass media class, I'm gonna take "principles of leadership" - probably the hardest I have as there's much to do, but it seems really useful, we gonna have discussions and practice, for example a team-project where we have to be involved in some kind of voluntary work and also have to interview some local leaders, it's also the class I have in 2 hours and have some homework already, so better start working. Also have "Interpersonal communication" - like social psychology. "International law and politics" class to fit into my field, and "Intro to PR". I have all-american professors in every class. The atmosphere in classes is pretty easygoing, people actually want to participate in discussions, also writing a conspectus in the notebook is popular here, not typing one.

There is a rec centre, free for the students. They offer a possibility to do every kind of sport you can think of, once we went with Ashley (Usa) to do some rock climbing. They have a pool and a huge gym, running fields, basketball, football, tennis, yoga and zumba classes.. you name it.

All this campus life is new to me, as in Estonia in my university there is literally no campus. I'm enjoying it a lot!

From thursday till saturday it's the WVU Up All Night in the Mountain Lair (students chillout area), it's not technically open ALL night, but there are usually some events and free food, free cheese nachos.. not bad.. also the "Saints and sinners" comedy tour visited Morgantown. First comedian: Patrick Jolle looked exactly like Adam Lambert!! After the show, some of us played pool, met more international students and chatted to one of the comedians. I never knew if he was serious or not so I just stopped being serious myself.

Went to Pittsburgh with another Estonian guy Lauri to see rappers Elzhi and Skyzoo! Incredible. The concert was in Oakland area, in a pretty ghetto neighborhood, the funny thing is, it was outside of the club, on a parking lot.. exactly next to a church. Next morning discovered Pitts, walked around downtown, tried to get to the Southside area, got on a bus and were so sure where we were going, until the bus turned into mountains and drove all the way up, the bus-driver let us stay on the bus and told us where to get off, didn't take money from us and even gave us a free ticket to get back downtown later, like it was her fault, although it was completely ours, for being too confident. She was just a really nice person. And the Southside area was nice, it was like a commercial centre.. shops, beautiful parks, street performers. We had time, so we went to the cinema to watch "Our idiot brother". Paul Rudd is so terrific in it, so charming and so is the rest of a cast, really likable and hilarious. It was a sincerely funny movie and had such a positive outlook. Where's the line between being just good-hearted and helpful or childish and naive? Got back to Morgantown around 11pm, as most of the people were in “Shooters”, headed there too. All the mixed drinks are 1 dollar until midnight, so as imagined it gets pretty crazy pretty quick, and the music was amazing. All the hip-hop I have missed.

Every sunday is a culture-evening in I-House. Pakistan night was the first. Ate delicious Pakistani food and Hassan was talking about his country, as he is a naturally funny person, his presentation was pretty comical as well, so random but well he gave us the facts, I guess the others are right, he is only serious when he is talking about war, otherwise he is just.. himself.

Decided to play soccer but didn't have the right ball and the courts were kind of invaded.. so ended up playing american football on the basketball court. With all the international people. Was fun, most of us learned the rules during the game, I am not sure all the rules are accurate, as people couldn't often agree on them, we played on I-house terms.

Watched the Video Music Awards.. crazy outfits and pretty good performances. Just, why didn't Wiz Khalifa win the best new artist?? Some dude won, who none of us hadn't even heard of.. ever.

One thing that pisses me off most here is that somehow every advertisement company knows everyones number and they call very often and offer all kind of loans, at times they call 8am.. Sven advised me to just swear or yell at them, luckily it hasn't come to this yet, but if they keep calling at 8am, it most definitely will!