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.

                                                        

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'.

Eating pecan pie and beating Clemson

Finally the festive season is upon us... and for those of us lucky enough to be living in the Land of the Brave, get to celebrate Thanksgiving before the consumer orgy of Christmas descends. Obviously, this is all of us Internationals' first ever Thanksgiving, which is held in celebration of the food that the Native Americans shared with the Pilgrims when they first arrived in America, enabling them to survive... to then go massacre the Natives. But we don't talk about that. Anyway, basically it's when everyone goes home and eats. Which kinda sounds odd, but it's now officially one of my favourite holidays...mainly because I like holidays, and I love food. So, Anna invited Rachael, Lucy and I to her family Thanksgiving which is held in Atlanta, at her uncle's house. So we borrowed her mum's 7 seater car and set off on the three and a half hour journey...which was largely uneventful, apart from when I started freaking out because I had seen a "genuine red neck!!!" He had a grey beard, camo peaked cap and jacket and was driving a filthy pick up truck, complete with mandatory Confederate flag on the licence plate. I felt like I was on the set of My Name is Earl. But aside from that, we passed the time quite nicely by listening to the radio, which seemed only to want to play about four songs on repeat, mainly Party in the USA, and Fifteen... both of which I now know pretty much every word to. We arrived in Atlanta in the afternoon, after a food stop at the most ghetto McDonalds I have ever come across - in one short Filet o' Fish based meal, I saw massively obese people, black guys in ghetto outfits, the American equivalent to chavs, a lot of tracksuits, and a couple of soldiers in full military gear. Gotta love the South! Atlanta is all very modern, as the Union forces burnt the entire city when they moved through it in the Civil War - and me and Rachael honoured Scarlett O'Hara by running through the streets shouting "Ashley! Ashley! The Yankees are comin'!", but the lack of columned white houses didn't help me get into character much. We wandered about downtown Atlanta, going to the Olympic Park, which had various statues and lots of flags (though no Australian one, much to Lucy's disgust), and a very bizarre set up of water fountains that shot out water at varying heights and arrangements in time to songs such as "Dancing in the Street". I didn't understand this at the time, and I am not going to attempt to explain it. It was dancing water fountains, and that is all. We looked at the Coca Cola factory and the aquarium from the outside (lack of funds), popped into the CNN centre, and then attempted to go to the mall just outside the city. Unfortunately, the directions given to us by a woman who worked in a pizza place sent us not to the mall, but to a row of strip clubs. Bummer. So we gave up and headed to Anna's 'Grandma Ginger's' house, where we met some cousins and an aunt, and ate green beans, chips, coleslaw, pork and chocolate chip cake. Then we headed off to Anna's aunt and uncle's house, where we would be staying. The neighbourhood was beautiful, full of massive detached houses, and covered in trees with their leaves turning orange, and a golf course and p

layground and a pool for the whole estate, which everyone drives around in their golf buggies instead of cars. (We even saw them parked in the car park in Walmart....). The next day was Thanksgiving day, so after waking up and being wished "happy thanksgiving" for the first time in my life, we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV. This is run every year by Macy's department store, and consists of hundreds of floats with massive, eight storey high inflatable figures on various themes - pilgrims, pirates, santa claus, dogs, Pokemon, disney characters, princesses, M and Ms, etc etc, with people singing and dancing on the floats, and children riding on them waving, and marching bands with majorettes, dancers and cheerleaders. It goes through New York City, and it's very exciting and festive, and very American. And then finally it was thanksgiving dinner time... we went to Anna's cousin's grandparent's house (the whole extended family, about 20 of us, were there), which is beautiful, and all decorated inside with turkey figurines, autumnal themed tablecloths and leaves... and a ridiculous amount of food greeted us! After saying grace, us (being the honoured visitors) were allowed to dig in first. There was a whole table stuffed with green beans, mac and cheese, brocolli salad, two types of stuffing, sweet potato souffle, the biggest turkey I've ever seen, plus two other types of meat, two gravies, hard boiled eggs, redcurrent sauce, bread rolls, cheese cake, angel food cake, brownies, pecan pie, and my new favourite thing in the world, strawberry pretzel cheese cake. Which consists of a layer of crushed pretzels mixed with butter, a layer of strawberry jelly with strawberries in, then a layer of whipped cream. I could eat it forever. And so we spent the next three hours just eating and eating and eating.... and then we napped on the sofa, when everyone else watched the NFL american football on TV, and then woke up and ate more, and then went back to Anna's aunt's, and ate cold leftovers whilst watching The Santa Clause. It was incredible. I could eat that food everyday and never get sick of it. I am bringing Thanksgiving back to England, I swear! The rest of our evening was spent in the outdoor hot tub, under the very starry and bright sky, seeing our breath in the cold air and drinking white wine and talking about anything that came into our heads. The next day we had to return to Columbia, as the big football game was the next day. The journey was uneventful except I had my first ever Taco Bell... and listened to the same songs over and over again!

Saturday dawned with bright blue skies and sun, and Anna and I caught the bus at 9 45am (possibly the first time I've seen that time on a weekend in about a year) , dressed in our Gamecock colours, to go tailgating before the game. We wer

e playing Clemson, who are the other South Carolinian university, and our biggest rivals, who have beaten us for the past seven years, so the game was bound to be intense. We met up with Anna's friend from

high school, who took us to her family's tailgate, which was in a private, gated area, with proper toilets and speakers playing The Beatles (made me feel at home). We had mini muffins and fruit salad for breakfast, and drank mimosas ridiculously early in the morning, watching the pre -game on the two wide screen TVs they'd set up from the boot of their 4x4. And then it was game time... the atmosphere in the student section of the stadium was insane. There was 89,500 people in attendance and every single one was vocal, especially the

students. Everyone was chanting, singing, dancing to Sandstorm, making the gamecock hand sign, waving towels around and jumping up and down on the bleachers screaming. It was intense for the entire three hours the game lasted, and as it became more obvious that USC was going to win, we got even more over excited, to the extent that there were shoulder to shoulder police along the edges of the pitch to stop us rushing the field. Fans starting waving their keys at the Clemson fans (code for go home), and when we won there was fireworks, music, screaming and dancing on the bleachers, complete strangers jumping on each over, hi

gh fiving and hugging... it was amazing. It was so intense, so exciting and so much fun, I finally fell in love with american football! And the celebrations afterwards were equally good... some people from Clemson were over, crashing on our bedroom floor, and drinki

ng games, Pop's Pizza, and going downtown dancing ensued... I woke up on Sunday, walked into our living room, and saw four fully clothed (including shoes) students passed out on our floor, with Smirnoff Ice bottles, beer cans, half full cups of vodka coke, and empty wine bottles lined up along our counters and filling our sink. What a weekend.

45 important life lessons I have learnt this semester.

1. Flying loses its appeal very quickly.

2. Americans really do have great teeth.

3. When you need to look sad, think of a bear...dying...eating another bear.

4. You miss the smallest things about home the most.

5. Vodka pineapple, Jagerbombs, Tiffany, a pack of cards and your crowd of rowdy International girls is all you need for a really good night.

6. I am actually very patriotic and proud of my country... who knew?

7. "Having the shits" means being annoyed in Australian... snigger.

8. Hill Billies really do exist - witnessed on the Interstate to Atlanta.

9. People really do think that if you live in England, you live in London. And think it's funny when you quote Forgetting Sarah Marshall , "it sounds l

ike you're from LUN-DUN!". No, I am not. And I am quite obviously not a cockney, either.

10. You can make some of your closest friends in the space of a few short months.

11. English skin can tan.

12. Skype has prevented me having a nervous breakdown.

13. The old adage "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone", is so, so true.

14. Sweet tea, raw cookie dough, Marble Slab ice cream, black bean burritos from Moe's, unlimited pancakes at IHOP, and Insom

nia Cookies make everything better.

15. I really, really, really love my family and my friends from home.

16. I actually enjoy watching American Football....

17.... but can't play it to save my life.

18. Thanksgiving is pretty much a holiday celebrating food. And therefore one of the best holidays ever.

19. I am pretty much married to my room mate Rachael. We argue over toilet roll.

20. Teenage girls are pretty much the same, regardless of which country they come from... and I love them all.

21. South Carolina has the most beautiful sunsets.

22. Porching is a great pastime.

23. I couldn't live without Ed. And our four hour long Skype chats.

24. It is perfectly acceptable to shout "COCKS!!!" at the top of your voice, as long as you're in the vicinity of William Brice Stadium.... or any Gamecock fans.

25. Frat boys really are exactly the same as in the movies.

26. Jumper = Babygro, pecan is pronounced pe KANN and aluminium is spelt differently.

27. When you're an underage drinker, whenever you see any police, at any time of the day, you immediately feel very guilty, and as if you should possibly jump behind the nearest wall.

28. I could live in San Franciso.

29. "Holla!" is a perfectly acceptable greeting.

30. I want to be a Hooters girl.

31. I have a lot of Tiffany's sisters.

32. They really use Solo red cups here... and play beer pong like it's their job.

33. American dollars are not Monopoly money.

34. I have made friends that I hope I keep forever.

35. Monsoon standards of rain is pretty average in South Carolina.

36. I love seafood...especially clam chowder and fried calamari and apricot sauce!

37.Americans really do say "y'all", "awesome" and "holla"... and now I do too.

38. I love sky diving.

39. American rap music is funny... strangely enjoyable.

40.I love all my new international friends

41. And my friends from high school

42. And from Warwick

43. And my family

44. And Ed.

45. I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Things I miss about England...

Bright blue, freezing cold sunny mornings.

My parent's roast dinner.

£1 Archers and Lemonade in Kasbah on a Monday.

My smelly dogs keeping my feet warm.

Eating M&S rocky road biscuits with Polly.

Pitchers of Frilly Tutu from Spoons.

The countryside.

Radiators....instead of air con.

Hot water bottles.

Watching crappy t.v. with my family in the front room.

Sitting in bed with Hetty on a Tuesday morning, swapping gossip from the night before.

Cold weather.

Proper vegetarian food.

The In betweeners.

Going shopping in Harrogate with my mummy.

Drinking legally.

Good dance music.

Not having people stare at me because of my accent.

Watching Top Gear with Rory. ..... and Sarah and Keiran.

Having insanely lazy days with Ed, watching t.v. and eating fatty food all day.

English accents on the t.v.

Hour long hot baths reading novels I've read three million times over already.

Indian takeaways.

F2.

Going running by Rootes lake... and being chased by canada geese.

Healthy food.

Having alcove days in Rootes with rose wine, Kettle Chips, chocolate and chick flicks.

Custard creams.

Lying in Jess's bed, distracting her from doing work, along with the rest of F2.

Having sleepovers in Grassington.. and Keighley... and Carleton... and Cononley.

And the people who know where these places actually are.

BAD KITTY.

Dr Who. The X Factor.

Seeing someone you know every time you leave the house.... whether in Skipton or Warwick.

Cuddles from my parents.

Having a bitch with my big sister.

Topshop. Primark.

Well dressed people.

Posh British accents.... and Northern accents too.

Public transport.

Being able to see the people I love by just getting on a train, not by an 8 hour flight.

Saying "babes" and "lol" and people knowing you're being sarcastic.

Words being spelt right.

Words being SAID right.

Heat magazine. And More.

Grumpy people.

My Yorkshire girls.

My F2 family.

My actual family.

Ed.

<3

Homesickness and Hicks.....

So, the hot American weather finally decided to break and turn into something vaguely resembling regular Autumn weather. Unfortunately, for South Carolina this means a convincing attempt to mimic India during monsoon weather. Equally unfortunately, neither me or any of the other Brits thought it could get even slightly cold Stateside (at least in comparison to Northern England) so therefore left out essentials such as boots, coats, jumpers and umbrellas whilst packing. But we do have a lot of flipflops. And summer dresses. At least we have an almost valid excuse to not go to class on a Monday morning now...serious risk of drowning. But the temperature is still sub-tropical compared to good old England; at the moment it's still around 20 degrees during the day. I can't believe how fast I've adapted to this weather - at home that would be mid summer, and I would be in shorts... and now I'm whining that it's chilly, and wearing my Ugg boots! Pneumonia may well be actually a serious concern when I return to Yorkshire over Christmas...As well as the depressing weather, I have depressing amounts of studying. I have an exam every ten minutes on average (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration), and about three million papers (not an exaggeration....). Although the content is significantly easier than in England, it's the sheer volume they demand that's scaring me.... and also the fact that you are expected to learn pages of facts and regurgitate them, rather than learn a few then apply them in an essay exam. So whilst in theory it should be easier, it's just very different and hard to get used to! A nice diversion from the awful weather and the awful work though, was a trip to the state fair last week. I know I keep saying this, but it's actually true; everything in America is bigger! For those who have experienced the Skipton Gala (you poor things), you probably know what I class as a fairground. SC State Fair is not quite the same. It has probably about thirty full size fairground rides, and going on a hundred food and games stalls, all lit up with millions of neon lights. It is pretty much the epitome of Southern cliches; pure bred Hicks, with moustaches and chewing tobacco and checked shirts with hundreds of grubby children, big black women with cornrows, metal detectors you have to pass through to get in, and the encouraging sign assuring that anyone wearing "gang related clothing" or carrying concealed weapons will not be allowed. Thanks for the reassurance, guys. I don't even know where to start with the food; let's just say, I'm beginning to realise quite why obesity is such a problem here. Corn dogs are hot dog sausages, dipped in a batter made of corn bread crumbs, then deep fried. Elephant ears are flat dishes of deep fried pastry covered with cream, sugar and chocolate. Think deep fried Mars bars are gross? Here, you can get deep fried cookie dough, Oreos and even deep fried Pepsi - the latter being balls of deep fried batter with Pepsi injected into the middle and soaking through. My conclusion is that everything I tried from the above list tasted like variations of Yorkshire pudding. Elephant ears tasted like Yorkshire pudding with sugar on. Deep fried Pepsi tasted of Yorkshire pudding soaked in Pepsi. Unfortunately none of the international students had any idea what Yorkshire pudding was. But trust me on this one,they did taste like it. As well as State Fair shenanigans, we have been celebrating multiple birthdays in the past few weeks, mainly centering around going for a drink and a dance downtown, and also a trip to another, odd American oddity; the disco bowling alley. I.e., we went ten pin bowling, and at about 10 30pm, they switched on loud club music and disco lights and started to serve alcohol. Strange indeed. Another thing America does bigger than England is Halloween; this weekend we went on a search for our outfits, to the biggest, exclusively Halloween store I have ever seen. It was the size of the average Topshop but entirely Halloween orientated; wigs, outfits, tattoos, tutus, stockings, fake gravestones, eyeball bubblegum, transvestite shoes, dog dress up, baby outfits, pumpkin carving sets.... anything you could ever desire to celebrate October 31st, and for any sane person, far more than you would ever desire! But we secured some amusing outfits for Saturday; She wolves, convicts, go go girls, flappers, sailors and nurses. I feel sorry for the people of South Carolina when a large group of rowdy International girls hits them... and this time, in fancy dress! Now I've been in the States for ten weeks, this is officially the longest time I've spent away from home in my life...I'm definitely beginning to really look forward to going home in six weeks. I'm missing the home comforts of my parent's cooking, my dogs cuddling up next to me on the sofa and my own bed, as well as all my family and friends who are continuing on with their lives that I am no longer a part of! It's very weird... on one hand, I feel like I've been here for years, I fit in so well and have made so many great friends, but at the same time I can't believe I'm coming up to the home straight of my first semester already. As I get older, I begin to realise how fast life goes by...I'll be retired and a grandmother before I know it!

We got more bounce in California than all y'all combined...

One of the very few advantages to being in a long distance relationship is that you can pretty easily justify extended holidays to your other half's location. Which is what I've been doing for the past week in California with my lovely boyfriend, Ed, who is studying abroad at UC Berkeley. So on Tuesday afternoon, two hours after my last midterm exam, I hopped on a plane for eight hours as if it was the most normal thing in the world. My steadily worsening flu didn't add to the flight's enjoyment, but I had a lovely suite in the Hilton waiting for me in central San Francisco, so I couldn't complain (upgraded, thanks to pulling the accents card, again.) Our first day in San Fran was spent waltzing around high-end stores, pretending to have enough money to shop there. We ate amazing noodles downstairs in Macy's, admired diamonds in Tiffany's, and had canapes and champagne in Armani - where I oogled the actual dresses worn by celebrities on display (Madonna, Victoria Beckham, Charlize Theron etc.) to various awards ceremonies, and Ed decided what kind of suit he'd buy, if he had a few thousand dollars going spare. The evening was spent on a boat trip to Alcatraz - the "inescapable" prison on a rock, off San Fran. The view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city from the water was stunning, especially as we were there in time for the sunset. The prison itself was also really interesting - I felt like I was on the set of Chicago. The cells were tiny and miserable, as were the shower rooms and dining hall. An audio tour described the various escape attempts, only one of which was successful - although the three men who escaped were never heard of again, thought by many to have escaped to South America, as they were allegedly learning Spanish before they escaped! What is more likely, unfortunately, is that they drowned or were attacked by sharks off the rock. Al Capone was an inmate there, too, for a few years. After landing, we wandered along Pier 39 and had incredible seafood for dinner.

A visit to Golden Gate Park was equally memorable - contrary to the name, it is nowhere near the Golden Gate, but beautiful nonetheless. We knew it was big, we didn't know it was big enough to be lost in for about four hours...slightly different from the parks we know and love in England! This one had playgrounds, museums, aquariums, galleries, botanical gardens - and a host of vicious, overly tame squirrels and Canadian geese, both of which everyone else appeared to find cute and cuddly, whereas me and Ed quite literally ran away from a flock of geese at one point. And were continually attacked by squirrels. But we ended up having a lovely afternoon in the sun, eating cinnamon sticks (warm sticks of doughnut-like batter, dipped in cinnamon sugar), and massive portions of battered mussels and coconut shrimps, with sweet chilli sauce and sweet potato chips. Our stay in San Fran ended on a rather more crazy and intense note - by attending lovEvolution. This is a massive, world renowned rave music festival, of which there are two components, the parade and stands during the day, and an after party at night. After checking in at our hotel, located conveniently close to the nightclub (but also conveniently close to a lot of tramps, strippers and drug dealers, it appeared) we wandered down to the area which had been cordoned off for the festival. It was packed out with girls in neon corsets and tutus, girls in bikinis, with thigh high platform boots and pink hair, and fairy wings.... and boys with brightly coloured bracelets all up their arms and pierced faces. They were like walking works of art, and nearly everyone single one was drugged up to their eyeballs, at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon, in front of City Hall. This could never have happened in South Carolina... or England for that matter! There were no police around, just some relaxed-looking security, so the atmosphere was laid back and fun. Live acts were playing and we jumped along to them before grabbing massive slices of pizza and heading back to the hotel to get ready for the afterparty. It was the biggest club I've ever encountered - not that it was even a club, but an auditorium. The acts, including Groove Armada, who were amazing, were up on the main stage, and all the floor and balconies were open for the ravers to dance in. There was probably around 8.000 people there, all dressed up and throwing themselves about. It was so, so much fun - it wasn't intimidating at all, because everyone was having such a good time. It was far friendlier than your average beery British nightclub, the music was incredible to dance to, and the outfits were beautiful. After raving non stop for about four hours, and probably being the only ones in there not high as kites, Ed and I hit the local fast food joint for some grease at about 4am. Where we were instructed by a black girl with attitude to stop being so nice to the servers "You ain't in England no more! You gotta put your foot down here, ya know what I mean?" It was actually probably very sound advice, seeing as our order took forever to come...So, San Fran treated me well. I could definitely live there; it was so much more chilled than somewhere like London, there's a lot less rushing about and a lot more kicking back going on (probably due to all the weed that gets smoked). It's a beautiful place, with incredible amounts of quirky, hippyish shops down backstreets , smelling of incense and dreadlocks, contrasted with the decadence of the expensive shops and tourist traps. There are so many homeless people there - the city is apparently very relaxed about them. The vast majority seem completely harmless, and bizarrely, a lot of them are really clever - they sit around reading library books and holding witty signs, pushing all their belongings around in overloaded shopping trollies, black bin bags swinging from the sides and a couple of cans of beer rattling around in the bottom. They are also very complimentary - if I ever find myself desperate for male attention, I'll head back down to the parks of San Francisco. Ed was advised to marry me, told he was a lucky man and was asked if I had any sisters (Gillian and Polly - you were, by default, hit on by a tramp approximately 7000 miles away from you. Good work!). A woman in dungarees also commented "Daymn dude, your woman's hot!" Haha. Oh the joys of being attractive to the homeless and the gay. So, leaving behind San Fran and onto the campus of Berkeley, about forty minutes on the subway. Obviously, it is known for its academia, but also for its radical anti-Vietnam war and pro freedom of speech movement in the 1960s, and this still leaves an inherent mark on the campus. It is not free standing, but rather situated in the city of Berkeley, with a few main streets as the centre of campus. There is lots of green space to lounge around on, which students do, with their laptops and books. Ed and I lazed around in the heat (how odd for October!), reading The Economist and eating the best frozen yogurt ever encountered - with flavours like peanut butter, gingerbread, milk tart and strawberries and bananas, all topped with piles of heath bar, kitkat, cookies, choc chips, condensed milk, gummy snakes, fresh fruit and M & Ms. There is far more of a political feeling there than I've encountered at either Warwick or South Carolina - the communists were out in force, shouting "All you've heard about communism is a lie! Capitalism is a failure! Revolution is the solution!", as well as the pro-Palestine brigade, and the beardy students in jeans handing out flyers encouraging walk outs in protest at the recent cuts in funding at the university. Just off campus, there are rows of lovely little quirky shops and market stalls, selling piles of tie dye t shirts and leather bangles and big silver rings. Ed took me to the most adorable Brazil cafe for lunch, which was basically a shack on the street, painted with bright murals of Brazil, where they cook the most amazing, spicy food, huge sandwiches filled with jalapenos and avocado, and lashings of hot sauce, and cups of delicious mango smoothie to soothe your burning lips. They give you brightly coloured "wish ribbons" printed with the words "aihar do senhor do bonfim bahia", which you get someone to love to tie around your wrist in three knots, and to make three wishes - when the knots fall out, your wishes come true. Ed's house itself is as quirky as its surroundings. It is an ex fraternity house, (now jokingly renamed "Alpha Commenwealtha" by them, as the residents include English, Scottish and Australians. It is filled with a mish mash of people, and covered everywhere with dark wood panelling. It was his room mate's (actual room mate, they have to sleep two a room in Cali, the housing's so expensive) 20th birthday, and in true male style they decided how to celebrate it on the day itself. What ensued was a masterpiece of luck, blagging and serious motivation. Greg had no idea what he was doing for his birthday - he was simply told to don black tie and get in a car with a few other boys and me. After a confused two hour car journey, where we managed to go over the same toll bridge twice in about ten minutes, we saw, in the distance, tiny figures jumping out of planes, their bright parachutes trailing behind them. Yes, we were going sky diving. In suits. I had only been told this about an hour before I left, so I wasn't exactly prepared for such antics - but still, I had been wanting to do it for a while, and with some gentle encouragement (i.e. booking me a place without asking me first) I was up for it. Due to my lack of black tie, I got a fetching red jumpsuit to dive in. We were all strapped to instructors, with a camera man for each of us to take photos as we jumped. Two miles up in the sky, in a tiny plane, the ground looks pretty far away, trust me. Especially when they open the sliding door on the side, and the wind is rushing past so loud. But by then, you don't have any choice. Luckily, only one boy jumped before me - had I been the last one I would have been screaming like a baby watching everyone fall out face first of a plane, then having to do it myself. When you're free falling, you think of nothing. The air is so cold on your face, your lips might freeze, and you feel the freest you ever will in your life. It's the most amazing, invigorating, endorphin boosting experience. It's onyl when the parachute opens that you begin to register you just jumped out of a plane. Parachuting is the most beautiful thing - you really do feel like you're flying, watching all the tiny houses and people below, and the fields and bay and horizon stretching out in front of you - I never ever wanted to land. I got to fly my parachute too, pulling one arm out to turn around to see the rest of the boys jump from the plane, to spin right around in circles, and moving my arms up and down to drop faster or slower. I really was ridiculously happy up there, as if I could fly forever. Also, I was less likely to die now that the parachute had fully opened, which is always a cheering feeling. All these crazy experiences took up a lot of time, and all too soon, I had to leave Cali and Ed. On our last night, we climbed the hill overlooking the campus up to the "big C", a 20 foot painting of a C (for California) on the side of the hill, to watch the sun set over the city, bay and San Francisco in the distance. It was so beautiful, all the mist hanging over the clock tower turning pink, and the marching band practicing below us, the sounds of the brass floating upwards. As I flew back to South Carolina, I looked out of the plane window. We were flying above the clouds, and the moon was shining down on top of them, making them look like rolling, fluffy hills. It was such a breath taking sight, knowing all these people were living their lives miles below, whilst I watched the clouds float above them, illuminated like greying candyfloss. Although I missed Ed like a physical pain in my chest, wanting to spend every second of my day with him, and faced a long weekend alone catching up on my study, at that moment I realised how far I'd come, and how ridiculously lucky I was. There's nothing like counting your blessings miles up in the sky, with unknown city lights peeking though moonlit clouds.