Things I Learnt At LSU

The musings of a Brit girl in Louisiana. I like answering questions. This is my regular blog. And my twitter. And my instagram as well I guess.

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#33 From my observations of gay culture here, it's a very different animal than the gay culture in the UK.

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#32 People love to quote Harry Potter to us. 

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#31 Apparently, the pronunciation thing is a sore subject (sorry tumblr!)

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#30 What the hell is your pronunciation of pecan about?!

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#29 Louisianans (and those from other Gulf states) grow up being taught about - and how to prepare for - hurricanes and tropical storms.

[somdoutlaw-deactivated20130925]

[gotsickofmyoldurl]

I corrected it

[brainmilks-deactivated]

I’m from Pennsylvania and that is accurate. I don’t say it though but EVERYONE ELSE DOES AND IT’S JUST. NO.

[dem-deutschen-volke]

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#28 LSU's campus is so beautiful. (This is the view from my bedroom window.)

[thingsilearntatlsu]

how are you enjoying the fair city of Baton Rouge so far? Have you noticed the softness of the drinking water compared to the rest of the US?

It's amazing, Baton Rouge is so different to how I imagined it to be, the history and the culture is so interesting. The drinking water is crazy soft - my home area of England has really hard water so that's what I'm used to! The water here is like, sweet. I'm getting used to it haha!

[thingsilearntatlsu]

Hey I'm from Baton Rouge I'm glad your having a great time at LSU. What are some of the best things about being down here. :)

It's amazing how polite people are! As somebody who appreciates good manners, it's so refreshing that people hold doors open for you and are so friendly. The food is incredible as well! Really love being here :)

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#27 If I ever thought that there were too many Starbucks in the UK...

[thingsilearntatlsu]

I'm loving this blog! I have two questions... well one question and one request. Question: How does grading here compare to England? I know there's a complete different and often very harsh scale... Request: Once it gets cooler (and yes, we'll get there... eventually!) can you please try and blog about gumbo? And crawfish next spring!

Okay so grading is really different. Here it's mostly a scale of 90% plus is an A, 80-89% is a B etc., but in the UK once we get to higher education/university, we don't get graded with letters. For some reason (and nobody explains why) our percentage grades correlate to a special university system. So a First is 70% and up. A 2:1 (just pronounced 'two one') is 60-69%, and a 2:2 is 50-59%, and a pass is 40%. 

Now obviously, to the Americans I've explained this to, a 40% pass rate sounds great, but it's not as fantastic as they expect because we're marked much more harshly on the fewer pieces of work that we do. We tend to write much longer essays than are set here as well. 

People keep suggesting to my roommate and I that we take opportunities to try Cajun food and Louisiana specialities, and don't you worry, crawfish and gumbo are both on the list! :)

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#26 When it comes to rainy game days, all fashion sense escapes Baton Rouge as ponchos become the item to wear.

[thingsilearntatlsu]

Welcome to LSU! Are you coming here for you're degree or just for the year? Also how are you coping with the weather? I just got back from a semester in England and I'm still not used to the humidity.

Thanks! Here for a year abroad :) the weather is oppressive to say the least, I ask people on a regular basis why people live in this humidity but having said that it makes a welcome change from cold cold and more cold weather. Would love to hear where you went and how you found it in England and your experiences if you travelled or tried things in Britain! :) 

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#25 Chance of rain in Death Valley? NEVER.

[thingsilearntatlsu]

#24 They don't mess about with their storms here. 

[thingsilearntatlsu]

Hello! Just wanted to say I go to LSU and I really love reading your blog, it makes me laugh. People always hate on Louisiana but you don't seem to, which makes me happy!

this literally started out as a space to share some photos and weird quirks about campus life with my mum so I'm glad people have started enjoying it! :) aw poor Louisiana, it has been pretty nice to me so far :D

[thingsilearntatlsu]

Why did you choose to go to LSU?

because I wanted a different experience from the places with major cities that people go to (like nyc and los angeles) and I figured I'd get a different feel, a different kind of culture down in the South. LSU was the southern-most option so decided to come here; I also want to base my dissertation on Louisiana history :) I'm so glad I did though, it has been such a good experience so far.