Driving in the US & IC Begins (sort of)

So it’s Sunday night as I’m typing this and IC 2022 is done. It was probably busier and more tiring that I thought it would be, but it was fantastic. I’m quite behind on my blog though so I’m going to try and whip through a day or two a post to bring you up to date.

TLDR; I didn’t crash, pretty pictures of UMass at bottom of post.

Tuesday
So i got to have a bit of a sleep in on Tuesday and try and catch up on some sleep. Check out is 11 in the US, so that’s nice and leisurely. About 9.30 I went down to the Starbucks that was in the lobby to get my Cappuccino and muffin. I usually drink a latte in Australia, but Cappuccino seems to be the safest order in the US. I went back to my room got packed then went down and caught the airport shuttle. After a bit of sneaking around because I wasn’t actually flying, I managed to get to the AirTrain and another $8 later took the 5 minute trip to the hire car area. There was bit of a wait but I ended up with a black Ford AWD SUV that drives very nicely.

Driving on the right is an adjustment, but as long as you’re switched on it’s not too bad. Driving with other cars is actually quite helpful it’s when there’s nobody around that it can be a bit harder to remember what to do. I only had one hiccup on a quieter back road when I almost had an accident because I forgot to check left again. I was looking t wrong way for oncoming traffic but luckily we avoided the crash. Other than that I’ve gone to the wrong side of the car many times and had a few to many run ins with the right hand curb (mainly when parking). I think it’s partially a function of just not being used to having the space on the right and partially because I can’t see the front corner of the car I’m driving from the driver’s seat.

Nonetheless, with relatively few hiccups and a brief stop for lunch I made it to UMass Amherst without any major issues. The Campus is huge and very beautiful. I’ve included a few pictures below. Accommodations were standard dorm room accomodation bed, dresser, wardrobe – nothing fancy. Each room was in a group of 4 rooms, 2 shared bathrooms, a kitchen and a lounge room. As of Tuesday neither of my roommates had arrived.

I almost forgot. Before UMass I went to the nearby shopping centre and amazed myself again at the range and size of Walmart. I wanted to pick up a few supplies. So after going inside, going to my car then going inside again to the the things I forgot I headed to UMass.

I spent some time getting myself unpacked and organised and by then it was time to get organised for the welcome luau. I dressed in my newly purchased Hawaiian shirt from Walmart and headed downstairs. I met April (executive director of FPSPI) in person for the first time. A group of us walked to the old chapel and got to know each other as we went. It was a nice dinner, a good chance to meet some people either for the first time or the first time face-to-face.

When we got back to the dorm I went to Walmart again, finally found Rooibos tea and got some real milk. And a few other things though I still forgot some items. I came back, had tea, and went to bed pretty early, I was still tired.

Phew, that post was long sorry. Hopefully it wasn’t too boring.