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.
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