1. Spent longer than six weeks away from my family.
2. Been in a highly successful long-distance relationship.
3. Skydived.
4. Been on a cruise...incidentally, best holiday of my LIFE!
5. Had friends from soo many different countries.
6. Cried so much - from homesickness, from my friends leaving me, from happiness...
7. Been to an (American) football game.
8.Lived in a different country.
9. Been on a long-haul flight.
10. Got a really freaking good base tan.
11. Enjoyed singing along, and faux-grinding to Hip Hop.
12. Drank "Donny shots"....
13.... And Everclear....
14. ...And Jello shots.
15. Been asked on dates by American boys.
16. Been to a frat party.
17. Gone on a road trip (eleven hour journey hell YES!)
18. Danced on a bar.
19. Been asked if I'm from Australia.
20. Played Flip Cup...
21.... and Beer Pong.
22. Missed my friends, family and boyfriend SO much.
23. Skyped for hours.
24. Got Airmail letters... and parcels full of Galaxy (thanks Grandma and Mummy!)
25. Listened to soo much country music
26. Been terrorised by cockroaches in so many different places
27. Been truly, madly, in love.
28. Gone to a drive-through cinema.
29. Tried on hundreds of dollars worth of diamonds ( in St Thomas)
30. Slept on a church hall floor, and sang pro-trade union songs
31. Celebrated Thanksgiving,
32. Sunbathed in March
33. Felt like a real grown up.
34. Been to a real American State Fair.
35. Eaten raw cookie dough...
36.... And deep fried Pepsi....
37.... And Moe's (place of dreams)
38. Visited the place where Gone With the Wind is set
39. Gone to a rave, and been the only one NOT on Ecstasy.
40. Ran away from the police
41. Been 22 years old, from Mexico, and called Maria (or so my fake ID says....)
42. Spent so much money on Fro Yo.
43. Gone tailgating.
44. Seen real-life cheerleaders.
45. Been thrown in an outdoor pool fully clothed.
46. Shouted "COCKS!!" at the top of my voice, along with 90,000 other Gamecock fans.
47. Got in legit fist fights with men.
48. Been asked if us Brits don't have guns, how can we overthrow the government?
49. Spoken in " black" - Ohss daymn gurrrrl, holla, uh uh no you didhunt, etc etc
50. Learnt the Thriller dance.
51.Worn my hair in a topknot.
52. Used the words "Holla", "Y'all", "legit", and "fo sho" in day to day conversation.
52. Had so much fun.
53.Gone on so many adventures.
54. Grown up so fast.
Thank you to all the incredible people who made my year abroad the best year of my life so far... you inspire me, make me laugh, make me cry, are the best fun, you push my boundaries and make me feel at home, you are incredible listeners, and such amazing friends who I know I'll keep forever... You know who you are, and having you as friends makes me the luckiest girl in the world! I will never, ever forget being a Gamecock - it has changed me, and changed my life. I've done this, I can do anything - bring it on!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
LONG overdue!!!
Wow.... my last post was on Feb 25th!! I am so sorry, blog, for abandoning you for so long, but I have been super busy! This post is going to be super super long, so I will split it up.....
SPRING BREAK baby!!!
So, as many of you probably know, I went on a Carribbean cruise with my lovely International friends for Spring Break... one of the best weeks of my LIFE, hands down. Apologies to Anna (annaleary.blogspot.com), whose blog I have been taking sneaky peeks at to remind me of what we did! Thanks love!
We began with an 11 hour drive to Florida...somewhere in our heads, we thought it would be a good idea to make the drive overnight. Good idea for me - I got about 8 hours sleep, mad love to Jai, who I pretty much crushed by leaning on her shoulder throughout the entire journey (apart from when she woke me up by dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies - bad pillow!!). Not such a great idea for the poor ladies who had to drive us - thanks Anna and Jor! I have never seen two usually well adjusted girls go so crazy from lack of sleep. But full of Burger King $1 hash browns and coffee, we boarded the ship... after a run-in with one of the men who was meant to be loading our luggage on... genuinely concerned our bags weren't going to make it onto the cruise! I was so overwhelmed when I got onto the ship - it was so beautiful, and HUGE, and my new home for a week. I could live on it forever - we had two nightclubs, two pools, six hot tubs, five restaurants, a beauty parlour, a gym, a running track, climbing wall, basketball courts, bars all OVER the place....though our bedroom was TINY! Rach's bed consisted of a fold down bunk, which the staff insisted on putting away, ladder and all, every day without fail. But the beds were the most comfortable I have EVER slept on, bizarrely! After a brief tour, we started off the cruise as we meant to go on; a huge lunch, followed by a nap and some sunbathing on the deck. Our first day was spent at sea, sunbathing on the deck (with gale force winds blowing, but with the reassurance of our Swedish captain that "vou vill burn in de sun viv the vind"), followed by a formal dinner in our best dresses, and a good dance in the nightclub... which ended in Kirsty and Anna disappearing for hours, drunk off their faces, and boys having to be taken back to their rooms in wheelchairs... waking them up at 8am to get onto the island was hilar!
Day 3 was spent in Samana, Dominican Republic - a Third World country, but still completely stunning. Kirsty, Jordan and I secured a ride on the back of a very old, decrepit and noisy motorbike taxi (the driver didn't speak a word of English - thank God for Jor's Spanish lessons!), down roads with no markings, or, apparently, driving code or regulations, with cars, bikes and people going down whichever side they please, at whatever speed, and up hills with no tarmac, full of pot holes, and passing people with no shoes. We spent the day on a stunning beach, with palm trees and white sand, and pure blue water. Luckily an all inclusive hotel on the beach meant we scammed free drinks all day, claiming we were hotel residents! We stopped by the open air market, full of fake gem stone jewellery and sarongs, before heading back to the ship on charter boats, and collapsing in a big pile on two beds watching Mamma Mia!
Day 4, we visited St Thomas, which was far more commercial and Western than Samana, being the US Virgin Islands - it even had a Hooters! But it was still stunning. We went on a two hour of the island in an open sided taxi, with a hilarious tour guide we dubbed "Mum". Coki Beach was beautiful - holiday makers were scuba diving in knee deep water because the tropical fish came in so shallow. We sampled lots of free, flavoured rum (chocolate being my fave, of course!) in the discount liquor stores, and browsed all the incredible duty free jewellery - Tiffany's half price, and beautiful huge diamond engagement rings for under $1000! We all agreed we would get our potential fiances to fly us out to St Thomas to choose our cut-price rings when he decides to propose! Take note, guys! In the evening, we had a blast at the deck party, dancing under the stars - in the middle of the ocean, with no lights in sight. It was completely beautiful. We all got very involved, doing the Cupid's Shuffle, and the Dollar Song... until the heavens open and we were treated to a tropical storm. But being die hard partiers, we kept on dancing, sopping wet, until Anna and I decided to jump into the outdoor pool fully clothed. Dripping wet, we had no choice but to hit the hay.
Day 5 I felt at home - British Virgin Islands, hell yeah! I had my nearest death experience to date this day. The taxi driver was a complete maniac... driving on the wrong side, speeding up sheer hills, nearly crashing, swerving done huge inclines and 180 degree turns... oh jeez. I get butterflies just thinking about it...but the beach was totally worth it. It was stunning, and boiling, BOILING hot. Pelicans were fishing, and there were little beach bars all the way along the shore, serving the most amazing drinks.... my favourite being the Bushwhacker (pronounced BOOSH-WACKA by our lovely Aussie, Kirsty :P ) - no clue what it contained, but we were drunk after two and it was stunning! We all got sun burnt, Jordan got yelled at by a Carribbean woman for moving her deck chairs, and we went for a walk along the beach, climbing on rocks and playing on rope swings.
Day 6 was another day at sea, spent mainly sunbathing, but also attending towel folding lessons (This sounds really odd, but each day our maids left an animal made out of folded towels, and they were so cool we wanted to learn how to make them! Though there were some scary housewives there with us, who for sure will actually make them, asking what starch to use, and feeling the towels and stuff.... Please god let that never be me!!), and line dancing class - which was absolutely hilarious, especially witnessing Kirsty shouting "YEEE -HAAAA!!" at the top of her lungs, completely out of time with the rest of the dancers! The evening was spent laughing harder than I've ever before - we played an 'adult game show', which was like a huge scavenger hunt, with about 200 people. We were Team 10, all girls - which would later prove to a bit of an issue, but we were helped out by a middle aged man sat behind us, who was accompanyied by his very disapproving wife and in-laws... they didn't seem very impressed, especially when he had to give his trousers to Kirsty, put Jai's bra on his head and let us apply lipstick on him! Two girls also had to kiss, we had to find shoelaces, an empty purse, men's shoes, tan lines.... and , the clincher, show the judge a tattoo that wasn't on your arm. NONE of us are tattooed!! So Kirsty took the initiative and flashed him a bit of breast, hoping he'd just go with it... unfortunately, our team was called up in front of the entire room, spotlight and all, for cheating!! It was so funny. I've never had so much fun... I think I nearly peed myself laughing at one point.
Day 7 ....I don't want to talk about it. We were MEANT to be spending a day in the Bahamas, swimming with dolphins and scuba diving, on a private island. Unfortunately, the sea was too choppy to send the charter boats out to the island, so we were stuck on the boat. (Rumour had it, that they sent the platinum (i.e. old) members off on a charter boat and couldn't get them off onto the island...or back onto the boat. So let Norwegian Cruise Line know if you see a boat of OAPs floating around the Bahamas.) So, the solution to our annoyance is, of course... to get really drunk. Made sense at the time. Kirsty and I had smuggled vodka onboard in mouthwash bottles, so after multiple trips to the breakfast buffet, we had enough glasses of orange juice to have a drink (or four). Anna decided to join in, and after a couple of hours, Kirsty and her bailed (wimps) and had a three hour nap together... during which Rach woke up, and decided she wanted to get in on the drinking too. Being the good friend I am, I had to keep swigging vodka oranges and cocktails with her... what else could I have done!? Unfortunately, the storm outside didn't make walking any easier... and it was seriously disconcerting watching huge lightening bolts when you were helpless in a ship! We ended up drinking strawberry daiquiris in a hot tub, with a marine and a Swede, in the pouring rain, followed by our final dinner, in the formal Summer Palace restaurant.
The cruise was incredible - the food, the entertainment, the boat. But the destinations were incredible - so different from anywhere I've been before. I really felt like I was on a commercial for a holiday/postcard. It was such a perfect break, relaxing, tanning, warm and full of cocktails and some incredible friends! It only made me get closer to the lovely bunch of ladies I went with, making our friendships even tighter... even if we all live thousands of miles apart! I love you girls! <3 It made me rediscover myself, fuel my appetite for travel and realise how incredibly lucky I am.
THE BRITS ARRIVE.
Only a week went by before my lovely British friends arrived - Bryony and Holly. It was SO lovely to have them here, show them all my favourite things and just have a really good chilled out week. We spent hours at the pool, sunbathing, visiting Walmart, watching Anna's little sister play soccer, eating Southern food, drinking Jello shots, teaching the girls how to play beer pong and flip cup, drinking Everclear slushies, making fake IDs and shopping. Unfortunately, a couple of nights out may have got a little out of hand... cue Bryony asleep in a bar, and a lot of Jello spew from Holly. Also, an addiction to Moe's (the BEST mexican food you will ever try) by the girls may prove hard to sustain after their return to Britain! But it was so awesome to see them - not only because we had so much fun but also because I had missed them SO much. Old friends are so good for the soul :) Thank you, you lovely ladies, for coming over! It was a blast... and it made me so excited to go back home to spend time with the girls who know me best! I <3 you both.
I also spent the weekend at Charleston with the USC ladies, sunbathing on Folly Beach and doing a bit of shopping in Urban Outfitters, and on Easter Sunday, the Global Community had a pot luck roast dinner - SO much food! I could hardly breathe! But soo good... and then a trivia, full of questions about the year - who'd hooked up with who, who'd been arrested etc etc. Good fun :)
ED HITS SC: TAKE THREE.
After two whole months of being apart, Ed returned to SC for the third and final time. It was so, so, so nice to see him. Being in a long distance relationship is SO freaking hard, but we only have three more weeks now, before we're back to being regular boyfriend/girlfriend! Yay! I actually can't wait. We had a very busy week...hanging at the pool, playing squash (and getting BADLY beaten by Ed, as usual!), and doing lots of eating and drinking! We went to see The Most Dangerous Man in America on Thursday, about the release of the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam war - it was so interesting, very well made, and inspired me to go do a bit of reading about the war when I got back! We followed it up with mexican food and sweet tea at Tio's. We hit up a house party on Friday, after FAR too much Crystal Light vodka, $5 entry for a cup (which I repeatedly filled with grape flavoured Everclear), where the rugby team and most of the international boys were auctioned off for charity - cue lots of bare chests and grinding! It was hilarious, but packed, so Ed and I went for a bit of dancing at Sharky's, and plenty of $1 jello shots. Then (made sense to our drunken heads), we had a sit down Chinese dinner at 3am... calamari to start and shrimp stir fry! Seemed to prevent a hangover though, so no complaints! Saturday night was spent at the drive-in movies with the girl, which was so much fun! I actually felt like I was in Grease. They even had the same cartoon ads for hot dogs they do in the background of "Stranded at the Drive in...." song! I got FAR too over-excited about that. We watched Clash of the Titans (shit), and Shutter Island (A-MAAAAAZING!!), stuffing our faces with Pringles, toffee popcorn, cherry coke and Rolos, under a blanket, looking up at the stars when we got bored. It was pretty cold but totally lovely, American and romantic! Sunday, we hit up Charleston - Ed's first time. We wandered around the city, took a bike taxi ride down to the battery to see Fort Sumter, and sat on the pier for a while, saw the stunning houses in Rainbow Ride, visited the open air markets, and went for a lovely seafood lunch at the Crazy Oyster, before meeting the girls for pizza at Mellow Mushroom. On Tuesday, Ed had a "fake birthday" (his actually being when he's in Cal, without me), so we visited the State museum, and acted like kids, digging archaeological finds from sand pits, playing on balance boards and looking at visual illusions. It was really fun and wet our tastes for the Smithsonians we'll be spending days in, in Washington in June! I cooked us both a three course meal in the evening and had a candlelit picnic - tapas, paella and cheesecake, with lots of red wine, listening to music and talking rubbish.
It was so lovely
... I could spend every day with Ed and never get bored, and somehow we manage to spend hours together doing nothing! It was horrible seeing him leave this morning, but I will be in Cali in 3 weeks tomorrow, so I can't really complain. This year apart has made us so much stronger, more independent and let us have some awesome experiences together, so it's all good.
So, as many of you probably know, I went on a Carribbean cruise with my lovely International friends for Spring Break... one of the best weeks of my LIFE, hands down. Apologies to Anna (annaleary.blogspot.com), whose blog I have been taking sneaky peeks at to remind me of what we did! Thanks love!
We began with an 11 hour drive to Florida...somewhere in our heads, we thought it would be a good idea to make the drive overnight. Good idea for me - I got about 8 hours sleep, mad love to Jai, who I pretty much crushed by leaning on her shoulder throughout the entire journey (apart from when she woke me up by dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies - bad pillow!!). Not such a great idea for the poor ladies who had to drive us - thanks Anna and Jor! I have never seen two usually well adjusted girls go so crazy from lack of sleep. But full of Burger King $1 hash browns and coffee, we boarded the ship... after a run-in with one of the men who was meant to be loading our luggage on... genuinely concerned our bags weren't going to make it onto the cruise! I was so overwhelmed when I got onto the ship - it was so beautiful, and HUGE, and my new home for a week. I could live on it forever - we had two nightclubs, two pools, six hot tubs, five restaurants, a beauty parlour, a gym, a running track, climbing wall, basketball courts, bars all OVER the place....though our bedroom was TINY! Rach's bed consisted of a fold down bunk, which the staff insisted on putting away, ladder and all, every day without fail. But the beds were the most comfortable I have EVER slept on, bizarrely! After a brief tour, we started off the cruise as we meant to go on; a huge lunch, followed by a nap and some sunbathing on the deck. Our first day was spent at sea, sunbathing on the deck (with gale force winds blowing, but with the reassurance of our Swedish captain that "vou vill burn in de sun viv the vind"), followed by a formal dinner in our best dresses, and a good dance in the nightclub... which ended in Kirsty and Anna disappearing for hours, drunk off their faces, and boys having to be taken back to their rooms in wheelchairs... waking them up at 8am to get onto the island was hilar!
Day 3 was spent in Samana, Dominican Republic - a Third World country, but still completely stunning. Kirsty, Jordan and I secured a ride on the back of a very old, decrepit and noisy motorbike taxi (the driver didn't speak a word of English - thank God for Jor's Spanish lessons!), down roads with no markings, or, apparently, driving code or regulations, with cars, bikes and people going down whichever side they please, at whatever speed, and up hills with no tarmac, full of pot holes, and passing people with no shoes. We spent the day on a stunning beach, with palm trees and white sand, and pure blue water. Luckily an all inclusive hotel on the beach meant we scammed free drinks all day, claiming we were hotel residents! We stopped by the open air market, full of fake gem stone jewellery and sarongs, before heading back to the ship on charter boats, and collapsing in a big pile on two beds watching Mamma Mia! 
Day 5 I felt at home - British Virgin Islands, hell yeah! I had my nearest death experience to date this day. The taxi driver was a complete maniac... driving on the wrong side, speeding up sheer hills, nearly crashing, swerving done huge inclines and 180 degree turns... oh jeez. I get butterflies just thinking about it...but the beach was totally worth it. It was stunning, and boiling, BOILING hot. Pelicans were fishing, and there were little beach bars all the way along the shore, serving the most amazing drinks.... my favourite being the Bushwhacker (pronounced BOOSH-WACKA by our lovely Aussie, Kirsty :P ) - no clue what it contained, but we were drunk after two and it was stunning! We all got sun burnt, Jordan got yelled at by a Carribbean woman for moving her deck chairs, and we went for a walk along the beach, climbing on rocks and playing on rope swings.
Day 6 was another day at sea, spent mainly sunbathing, but also attending towel folding lessons (This sounds really odd, but each day our maids left an animal made out of folded towels, and they were so cool we wanted to learn how to make them! Though there were some scary housewives there with us, who for sure will actually make them, asking what starch to use, and feeling the towels and stuff.... Please god let that never be me!!), and line dancing class - which was absolutely hilarious, especially witnessing Kirsty shouting "YEEE -HAAAA!!" at the top of her lungs, completely out of time with the rest of the dancers! The evening was spent laughing harder than I've ever before - we played an 'adult game show', which was like a huge scavenger hunt, with about 200 people. We were Team 10, all girls - which would later prove to a bit of an issue, but we were helped out by a middle aged man sat behind us, who was accompanyied by his very disapproving wife and in-laws... they didn't seem very impressed, especially when he had to give his trousers to Kirsty, put Jai's bra on his head and let us apply lipstick on him! Two girls also had to kiss, we had to find shoelaces, an empty purse, men's shoes, tan lines.... and , the clincher, show the judge a tattoo that wasn't on your arm. NONE of us are tattooed!! So Kirsty took the initiative and flashed him a bit of breast, hoping he'd just go with it... unfortunately, our team was called up in front of the entire room, spotlight and all, for cheating!! It was so funny. I've never had so much fun... I think I nearly peed myself laughing at one point.Day 7 ....I don't want to talk about it. We were MEANT to be spending a day in the Bahamas, swimming with dolphins and scuba diving, on a private island. Unfortunately, the sea was too choppy to send the charter boats out to the island, so we were stuck on the boat. (Rumour had it, that they sent the platinum (i.e. old) members off on a charter boat and couldn't get them off onto the island...or back onto the boat. So let Norwegian Cruise Line know if you see a boat of OAPs floating around the Bahamas.) So, the solution to our annoyance is, of course... to get really drunk. Made sense at the time. Kirsty and I had smuggled vodka onboard in mouthwash bottles, so after multiple trips to the breakfast buffet, we had enough glasses of orange juice to have a drink (or four). Anna decided to join in, and after a couple of hours, Kirsty and her bailed (wimps) and had a three hour nap together... during which Rach woke up, and decided she wanted to get in on the drinking too. Being the good friend I am, I had to keep swigging vodka oranges and cocktails with her... what else could I have done!? Unfortunately, the storm outside didn't make walking any easier... and it was seriously disconcerting watching huge lightening bolts when you were helpless in a ship! We ended up drinking strawberry daiquiris in a hot tub, with a marine and a Swede, in the pouring rain, followed by our final dinner, in the formal Summer Palace restaurant.
The cruise was incredible - the food, the entertainment, the boat. But the destinations were incredible - so different from anywhere I've been before. I really felt like I was on a commercial for a holiday/postcard. It was such a perfect break, relaxing, tanning, warm and full of cocktails and some incredible friends! It only made me get closer to the lovely bunch of ladies I went with, making our friendships even tighter... even if we all live thousands of miles apart! I love you girls! <3 It made me rediscover myself, fuel my appetite for travel and realise how incredibly lucky I am.
THE BRITS ARRIVE.
Only a week went by before my lovely British friends arrived - Bryony and Holly. It was SO lovely to have them here, show them all my favourite things and just have a really good chilled out week. We spent hours at the pool, sunbathing, visiting Walmart, watching Anna's little sister play soccer, eating Southern food, drinking Jello shots, teaching the girls how to play beer pong and flip cup, drinking Everclear slushies, making fake IDs and shopping. Unfortunately, a couple of nights out may have got a little out of hand... cue Bryony asleep in a bar, and a lot of Jello spew from Holly. Also, an addiction to Moe's (the BEST mexican food you will ever try) by the girls may prove hard to sustain after their return to Britain! But it was so awesome to see them - not only because we had so much fun but also because I had missed them SO much. Old friends are so good for the soul :) Thank you, you lovely ladies, for coming over! It was a blast... and it made me so excited to go back home to spend time with the girls who know me best! I <3 you both.
I also spent the weekend at Charleston with the USC ladies, sunbathing on Folly Beach and doing a bit of shopping in Urban Outfitters, and on Easter Sunday, the Global Community had a pot luck roast dinner - SO much food! I could hardly breathe! But soo good... and then a trivia, full of questions about the year - who'd hooked up with who, who'd been arrested etc etc. Good fun :)
ED HITS SC: TAKE THREE.
After two whole months of being apart, Ed returned to SC for the third and final time. It was so, so, so nice to see him. Being in a long distance relationship is SO freaking hard, but we only have three more weeks now, before we're back to being regular boyfriend/girlfriend! Yay! I actually can't wait. We had a very busy week...hanging at the pool, playing squash (and getting BADLY beaten by Ed, as usual!), and doing lots of eating and drinking! We went to see The Most Dangerous Man in America on Thursday, about the release of the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam war - it was so interesting, very well made, and inspired me to go do a bit of reading about the war when I got back! We followed it up with mexican food and sweet tea at Tio's. We hit up a house party on Friday, after FAR too much Crystal Light vodka, $5 entry for a cup (which I repeatedly filled with grape flavoured Everclear), where the rugby team and most of the international boys were auctioned off for charity - cue lots of bare chests and grinding! It was hilarious, but packed, so Ed and I went for a bit of dancing at Sharky's, and plenty of $1 jello shots. Then (made sense to our drunken heads), we had a sit down Chinese dinner at 3am... calamari to start and shrimp stir fry! Seemed to prevent a hangover though, so no complaints! Saturday night was spent at the drive-in movies with the girl, which was so much fun! I actually felt like I was in Grease. They even had the same cartoon ads for hot dogs they do in the background of "Stranded at the Drive in...." song! I got FAR too over-excited about that. We watched Clash of the Titans (shit), and Shutter Island (A-MAAAAAZING!!), stuffing our faces with Pringles, toffee popcorn, cherry coke and Rolos, under a blanket, looking up at the stars when we got bored. It was pretty cold but totally lovely, American and romantic! Sunday, we hit up Charleston - Ed's first time. We wandered around the city, took a bike taxi ride down to the battery to see Fort Sumter, and sat on the pier for a while, saw the stunning houses in Rainbow Ride, visited the open air markets, and went for a lovely seafood lunch at the Crazy Oyster, before meeting the girls for pizza at Mellow Mushroom. On Tuesday, Ed had a "fake birthday" (his actually being when he's in Cal, without me), so we visited the State museum, and acted like kids, digging archaeological finds from sand pits, playing on balance boards and looking at visual illusions. It was really fun and wet our tastes for the Smithsonians we'll be spending days in, in Washington in June! I cooked us both a three course meal in the evening and had a candlelit picnic - tapas, paella and cheesecake, with lots of red wine, listening to music and talking rubbish.
It was so lovely... I could spend every day with Ed and never get bored, and somehow we manage to spend hours together doing nothing! It was horrible seeing him leave this morning, but I will be in Cali in 3 weeks tomorrow, so I can't really complain. This year apart has made us so much stronger, more independent and let us have some awesome experiences together, so it's all good.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Home from home
Somehow, the first seven weeks of semester has slipped through my fingers and fallen behind me without my even noticing. It's odd for me, now, to look back at my first blogs, with all the excitement and awe in which I beheld my new home for the next year - now, against all my expectations, America seems as normal, everyday and un-intimidating as Skipton. It's crazy, but I feel totally at home here now, settled, happy and sorted with what I'm doing. But in some odd paradox, I am also a whole lot more home sick this semester. Maybe it's because I'm not being distracted by all these crazy, new experiences, or because going home over Christmas reminded me of all the things I'm missing out on back home. But at the same time, I feel like I'm handling the sadness and homesickness in a whole lot more mature manner than I did last semester, or I could've last year. It's not crippling and acute, but more an acknowledgement that yes, I miss a lot of people and places back home, but then I get out of bed, have a bowl of Bran Flakes and get on with my day. South Carolina is the same crazy place as last semester; lots of trips to Five Points, jello shots, epic (victorious) beer pong battles, countless Insomnia Cookies orders and highly temperamental weather - wearing flipflops in January one minute, and five inches of snow (the most SC's seen in 2o years) next. Ed came to visit two weeks ago - it doesn't feel like a month ago that he came East to SC in November! We had a lovely ten days of studying in coffee shops, take aways, drinking in the afternoons and sleeping until midday. On Valentine's, we had a field trip to the local zoo, which turned into quite the adventure. We had a lovely time watching the penguins, koala bears, elephants, and feeding the goats (Ed's favourite), and being effectively attacked by tropical birds after buying cups of nectar to feed them, with their response being total bombardment, sitting on our shoulders, hands and heads. Unfortunately, our attempts at returning to campus was slightly more of an issue. Somehow, between the two of us, we had no cash, no mobile phone and no taxi number. Unfortunately, the zoo did not aid this situation by having not only a broken ATM, but also a broken payphone. Bummer. After scamming a mobile phone off a staff member, begging taxi drivers arriving for others to return to collect us, and waiting for an hour, we were rescued by some friendly soldiers who were training to be ministers in the military, who let us have their taxi. So what if they shouted "Jesus loves you!" as we pulled away, I can take a bit of fundamentalism if they saved me from spending Valentine's night in a lion's den! We followed that up with an epic seafood dinner at a posh restaurant in the Vista, with calamari, scallops, fried flounder, crabcakes, tortilla slaw and seasoned french fries, with beautiful Key Lime Pie to finish. And, as usual, the portions were so massive that the meal fed me for the next two days! Bargain. Last weekend, I went to Tennessee with FMLA (Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance) for a USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops) conference. After driving for six hours across the Appalachian mountains, through the most hill billy towns I've ever seen, stopping at gas stations manned by hick women with strong mountain accents, and passing towns called 'Lonesome' littered with shacks and broken down pick up trucks, we arrived in Knoxville. We'd been told we were sleeping in a church. Now, I had two conclusions in my head; either we would be kipping in the pews, crucifix and stained glass windows bearing down upon us, or (ideally) it would be a misunderstanding and we would be escorted into a comfortable, but shabby room in university halls. Nuh uh. We arrived at the biggest church I have ever seen - four stories tall, with multiple massive rooms on each floor. And we were sleeping on the floor. Of the church hall. At least there wasn't any crucifixes. But there was upwards of one hundred smelly activists camped out on the floor, strongly giving off the appearance of a refugee camp. For the next three days, we ate countless sandwiches, lentil dishes and pizza, attended workshops on fund-raising, creative activism techniques, facilitating meetings, and talked about "collective liberation" and "preferred personal pronouns" (every time you introduced yourself to anyone) - apparently, one can "reject the gender binary" or label oneself a "sis-male". Which means a man who is comfortable with his gender. So, just a guy right?! We attended a rally against budget cuts at the university, and met some South American factory workers who produce university apparel. We sang trade union songs, fists aloft, trying very hard to keep a straight face. Sometimes, when the activism, worthiness, and general self-hatred of a bunch of white, middle class students got too much, we snuck off to buy Starbucks coffee and gorge on big greasy breakfasts of egg omelette and spinach sandwiches. We also had a couple of nights out on 'The Strip' of student bars filled with frat boys and barmaids in knee socks and pleated skirts. I threw a tantrum at the master of ceremonies at a karaoke bar who wouldn't let us sing Wannabe by Spice Girls immediately. We encountered a friendly (?) cab driver named Ron, whose window Sydney broke on entry to the cab, and seemed a little too over-enthusiastic on us calling him to take us back to the church when our night was over. We accosted people as to the whereabouts of Pita Pit (having secured Free Pita vouchers) and loudly abused the televising of women's curling in the bar, which we tried, and failed, to understand - either the rules, or the point of. I managed to evade the moonshine shots, but fell for the dollar beers...waking up three hours after this event for a day full of workshops and driving was not the best morning of my life, to say the least. The party the conference held for us got very out of hand (to our complete obliviousness) - urinating on drum kits, kicking at walls, drug and alcohol use inside the church, fireworks, and sexual assault. Let's just say we made a quick exit the next morning, stopping at Sydney's parents' house for spinach lasagne and strawberry pudding and some cuddles with her adorable cat and dog. Unfortunately, socializing with such un-washed hippies and camping out on the dusty floor of a haunted church, and only sleeping for ten hours over the entire long weekend gave me some kind of feminist-flu, and I've spent the whole week languishing in my flat, moaning, drinking tea and swigging cold medicine. Now I must sanitize my hands and watch Bridget Jones'.
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