Callin' Baton Rouge

Last Sunday marked the day that I had been in Baton Rouge for one month. I figure that's enough time for me to form a pretty solid view on LSU and the city in general. So I'll update you briefly with what I've been up to and some of my more interesting experiences so far. I'll save some of the more exciting things for future blogs.

My time here started pretty badly. First, my pack with all my worldly belongings didn't arrive on my plane. Luckily it did turn up a couple of days later, much to my relief. Second, my first few nights were spent sleeping in a dormitory. This wouldn't have been so bad, except for the air conditioning being set to 'Antarctica', not having a sheet, pillow, or warm clothes, being so jet-lagged I couldn't sleep, and being charged about $70 a night for the privilege of staying there. Third, I went to visit the apartment I was meant to be living in on campus to see if I could move in early to get out of the dormitory. I was gutted to see the apartment was an absolute dive. There was no carpet anywhere, the rooms were only large enough for a single bed, there was massive air conditioning ducts in the bedrooms, roaches in the kitchen cupboards, and the bathroom and kitchen fittings were from the 60's or earlier. I had decided within two minutes that I was going to forfeit my $200 deposit and move somewhere else. Finally, the weather here is incredibly different from New Zealand. For the first few days, temperatures were peaking around 40 degrees centigrade, and the humidity was almost unbearable. All this, combined with the odd fit of homesickness, has made me ask myself "Is my decision to move to the United States the right one?". At this moment, I'm still looking for the answer.

Not everything since I arrived in Baton Rouge has been terrible however. In fact, the good things have probably outweighed the bad. I have already made many good friends, particularly with international students, including awesome people from the UK, France, Serbia, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Honduras. Alcohol is ridiculously cheap here (you can buy a 1.75L bottle of spirtis for US $10), so we have had many crazy parties by the pool, playing beer pong, watching football, and dancing all night at various student bars. The bars here are quite different from New Zealand: they  usually have a $5 door charge, often have free drinks from 8-10pm, have up to four bars where you can buy drinks spread throughout the bar, allow underage students in (the drinking age here is 21, but that doesn't stop them), and close at 2pm. I've also been playing a lot of basketball, and am starting to get my old skills back, which is good considering I haven't played for around eight years. I've entered a team of international students into the intramural 3 on 3 competition for this fall semester, which will be fun. We should be fairly competitive as we have some good players who have played at a decent level before. I will keep you updated on the blog!

Cheap alcohol has lead to some good nights out so far...

The LSU campus is spectacular! It is rated as one of the most beautiful campuses in the United States and rightly so. The campus itself is huge; it would take over 30 minutes to walk from one side to the other. Nearly all of the buildings are really nice looking, and are a nice tan colour with beautiful red tiled roofs. There are lots of massive oak trees lining the streets with squirrels running around all over the place, birds singing, and insects chirping. On one edge of the university are three really nice and quite large lakes, which house turtles, fish, and various birds, and which people run around to keep fit (I haven't done it myself yet, but will soon). Mike the Tiger (the university's mascot) even has a $3 million habitat built for him. The sporting facilities are also unbelievable: I have mentioned the stadium previously, but there is also an athletics stadium, baseball stadium, soccer stadium, basketball stadium, and the list goes on....This is not to even mention the LSU recreation center which has five state of the art basketball courts, about 10 squash courts, a climbing wall, swimming pool, huge weights and fitness room, about five football fields, and over 15 tennis courts - I'm sure there's more to it, but haven't had a proper look around yet.

Looking across the parade grounds to the law school

My friend Darko from Serbia in front of Memorial Tower

As for Baton Rouge itself, the city seems to not be too bad, but I'm yet to have a real good look around yet. From what I've been told it is split into two areas - south Baton Rouge and north Baton Rouge. South Baton Rouge is where LSU is based and is considered to be the nice part of town and is relatively crime free. North Baton Rouge is apparently a different story. As one man put it when we saw a lady out jogging around the campus lakes, "You wouldn't see that in North Baton Rouge unless she had a couple of big dogs on a leash and was carrying a gun". That's a pretty scary thought, I don't think I will be spending too much time there. The city has a giant mall called "Mall of Louisiana" which is like 10 New Zealand malls all put in the same place, it's just ridiculous and you can buy everything you need there. The only problem is getting there. In Baton Rouge, public transport is pretty much nonexistent. LSU provides a fairly good bus service, but all these buses just travel within a small radius around campus. If you want to get anywhere else you need to drive, which is why I'm already looking at buying a car.

The Ol' Misty (Mississippi)

Now that I'm somewhat settled in and getting into a routine I hope that I'll be able to find the time to update the blog more often with stories of what cool stuff I've been up to. For example, my next few blogs will be about classes I'm taking (and teaching), my first LSU game day, my apartment, and my laboratory I'm working in.

I'll leave you with this song "Callin' Baton Rouge" played with a video which basically shows you what LSU and Baton Rouge are all about. Most people here seem to go a little crazy when they hear this. Enjoy!