Passport – Check. Visa – Check.  Insurance – Check.  Foreign currency – Check.

It looks like we are all set to go – well except the packed suitcase. While it’s easy enough to pack the essential documents the biggest dilemma facing our group of 10 first year undergraduate students from the University of Edinburgh is what will the weather be like.

We’re heading stateside to Charlottesville and the University of Virginia (UVa) to experience life at an American university. We’ll be tasting classes, soaking up the atmosphere at sports games, enjoying the culture and perhaps most importantly the food.

At home we’ve seen freezing temperatures and snow flurries and despite our hopes of escaping to warmer weather this week started unusually with heavy snowfall in Charlottesville where the average April temperatures reach about 22 °C. No one is quite sure what to pack, will it be shorts and t-shirts or woolly jumpers and jackets.

Whatever the weather this trip is sure to be one the most exciting and equally challenging two weeks of our university lives. UVa have provided an action packed programme that will let us sample classes and be part of one of the biggest Birthdays in Virginia – Thomas Jefferson’s – while enjoying the beautiful scenery of UVa which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

For me this is an opportunity to go somewhere I’ve never been before and I can’t wait to get there! My image of what American university is like comes from films and TV shows and while I’ve been told this is quite accurate it will be great to see first-hand if the image is true.

Every day while we are on the trip we’ll be updating this blog with all the latest news from the places we’ve visited to the food we’ve tasted and the classes we will sample.

Alasdair