Charleston in pictures.

Charleston was so beautiful so I thought I'd show the weekend through a few photos..

 Its the oldest city in south Carolina, and home to Fort Sumpter, where the first shots of the Civil War were shot. We had a boat trip over to see the fort which was interesting. I did the Cvil War in AS levels so it was all coming back and was really interesting to actually see the places we'd done those silly source analysis questions on...

 Beau-tiful weather, too! We've had it in the 70's this week in Chapel hill as well. SO nice. I didn't bring hardly any summer clothes with me, -- who'd have know it would be this warm in February. So of course that induced a little shopping.....

 We found a hippyish shop with loads of jewellery and nic-nacs, yoyo's, that sort of thing -- and these amazing masks... hours of fun in there :)

 Rainbow row! Aside from Fort Sumpter we went and saw the town market, and this little row of houses called rainbow row. They were such beautiful little towny houses.

 We also had fun on the Charleston tiles, too! Of course. It was Sara's birthday on the Saturday, though that didn't stop anyone enjoying Friday night perhaps a little too much... All 23 of us we went out to a fish restaurant and then to a club on the Saturday, these flaming shots were given to us to drop into a glass of *#insert sweet drink here#* and then drank in jager bomb style. Needless to say the 5 hour ride home on Sunday was interesting...

This is Rainbow row again. And a couple of the other internationals.
It was cool to spend time as such a massive group, and we didn't try to stick together the whole time which made things a lot easier. I think studying abroad attracts a certain type if person, just with their own twist depending on which country they're from... The Spanish girls had everyone speaking Spanish the whole weekend! Everyone is pretty confident and willing to just go out and do everything whilst we're here, most people are pretty nice too; makes the whole experience a good'un.

~x~

Charleston?

It's SUCH a lovely day over in Chapel Hill, the sun is shining, I have just handed in an essay, had a really nice chat with mum on ye old skype,
...and we're off to South Carolina for the weekend!  


We're staying in Charleston, which is reaaally old and it's one of the Spanish girls' birthdays so that should be fun! :) 


Will report on our return, have a lovely weekend everyone! xxxxxxxxxxxx

A Religious Experience.

So, I’m currently sat in Sugarland, my new favourite place on Franklin street. It’s a cupcake shop, quite ‘obviously’ decorated, (pink and pastel blue walls, cakes everywhere, retro coffee makers, frozen martinis, ~ no polka dot chairs but I wouldn’t be surprised…), but the cupcakes here are incredible. And I just got a ‘dry desert lime herbal' [or "errbal" as they say here] tea whilst I wait for the others, which is soooo good.

I wanted to document something that happened yesterday, as I feel that although it did not achieve quite the effect it was supposed to, it certainly gave me a taste of southern American culture…

I knew that SC was part of the bible belt, so almost expected some extreme opinions around campus when I arrived and to be honest was a little intimidated by the thought of it; But I haven’t encountered any imposingly religious students at all. Yes, they hold Bible-reading sessions of 20 big, terrifying looking skin-heads who my suitemate thought were doing drugs in the next door room, but actually were all sat there with Bibles…yes, it’s the norm for people to have bible quotes saved as the back grounds to their phones, and to go to church, but never has one of them lectured me on how to live my life, or generally bashed me with hellish warnings… until yesterday.

I have seen this guy around campus a few times, the first time I sheepishly walked past not quite knowing how to react to him. He's about 70 years old. But yesterday I thought I’d stop and listen to what he had to say.

Drawn by his claim that transvestites were the cause of the current problems in schools, and consequently the recession, it was more like the dark-curiosity of stopping and watching a car crash than really wanting to learn from what he was saying, -- just the unbelievable extremity of his words.

He told people they were destined for hell, he told them they were “wicked”, and he told them that they were into witchcraft if they didn’t believe in God.
He said that he beat his wife (but its ok, because she asked for it) and that women should be respectful and not speak up to their husbands.
On being asked about the current events in Egypt he said he didn’t care much, as most of them were those Muslims. They didn’t have God.
He pointed at various people in specific when they spoke, and claimed they were going to hell, including one girl who had told him previously that she had strong religious beliefs.
He also accused one girl of being "one of those biker girls" when she came over and sat down.
When one persistent –black- audience member asked him questions he brought up rap time and time again. – When someone dared to question this clear relationship in his mind between black people and rappers, and remind him that actually, all rappers weren’t black, he then went had his say about Eminem.
As if casual racism wasn’t enough, he got physically angry at the thought of gay people, and said that cross-dressers and gays shouldn’t be allowed on campus...

What universe do some people live in?

I know that people with extreme beliefs and prejudices exist; they’re on the news, we read about them in school, in the papers. But to come to a campus in the 21st century and expect educated people to accept what your saying was just beyond me. It’s something I could never see happening in England and probably many northern universities here. And I feel like it’s such a shame, because it really is the few like him who could turn students away from God all together.

The thing that most struck me was that most of these pupils were clearly people of faith, yet he shot down their questions and still told them they would go to hell, told them they were sinners and elevated himself above us all. He used to sin, he said, even admitted to smoking marijuana, but then he found God and has been freed from his sins, so he doesn’t do wrong anymore. This is because he follows his spiritual self and not his self in the flesh – which begged the obvious question, ‘so aren’t you real, sir?’

Everyone is entitled to their freedom of thought, and speech. He had his piece to say, and he got his crowd to listen.

I’m pleased to say he was very much fighting a losing the battle on the UNC campus.

~

A week of sport.

The Tarheels have seen tumultuous times over the past week so I thought I'd post and wish them luck before the Wake Forest game tomorrow!!


Last Sunday was probably the most sport filled day of my life so far. Nick and I went to see UNC play Florida, -- a really good game, and the stadium still gives me chills. We beat them (naturally) 89-69. Though to be honest I can see why any team would loose steam when playing in a stadium crammed full of tar heels and only a few of their own supporters dotted around... There were even fewer there than the first game I saw I think. Everyone gets insanely into it, the standing crowd all reach up to the goal to try and help the players aim and then for the opposition they wave around madly to try and put them off their aim...


Sunday also saw my first Superbowl experience. I feel it was sufficiently Americanized! We went over to my friend Melissa's house, and she made guacamole, nachos, brownies... so good. My friend Anna is a massive Packers fan so we all dressed accordingly in green and yellow and joined her screaming at the telly. I even managed to understand the game most of the time!


The adverts were not what I was expecting, having heard so many amazing things about them. I was anticipating high tech, expensive looking chic clips, when what hit the screens was comical, bawdy and absolutely ridiculous. They are made by fans though, I hear, so that explains the smaller budget. All of their money goes on paying for airing them during the superbowl -- a damage of $2.5 million. Plus.


:o


They're certainly meant to be remembered.


Wednesday saw the occurrence of The Big Game.
UNC v/ Duke.
The infamy of this rivalry was made clear to us from when we first got here, especially at that first basketball game. "Go to hell duke!!" are the screams that end the UNC chant at every game, irrespective of who we were playing... I'm quickly coming to learn the actual hatred of this school when it comes to sport..!


The game was showing at the local cinema, Varsity. They had it on 2 screens so there were loads of students there watching, quite surreal being sat in the "movies" watching a game! And it was a brilliant match. UNC lead most of the way. Then Duke's sneaky 3 point shooting skills got the better of us after half time, and they pulled up and ahead in the final moments..


Its strange after only being here a month but we all feel such commitment towards the teams already. The atmosphere on Franklin street, the main street running through the town and alongside campus, was awful after the game. There were police stationed ready to deal with street fires and general, out of hand excitement had we have won, but there was no need. Franklin was just crowded with dejected fans making their way back to their dorms / houses / cars. It felt like a funeral procession! If I were sitting at home now I would probably think it was ridiculously overblown and dramatic, but the people here are serious supporters. Many of them have been brought up on the Tar heels so they really are life long supporters.


UNC-Wake Forest game tomorrow, we have phase 1 tickets!
So yeah: go to hell, Duke.
xxxx

Chilly Washington

A very late update! The snow of DC seems far away now but we had such a wonderful weekend.

And comical from the off.

 We left on the Friday evening, a hair-raising journey by one of the girls’ mentors as we got a bit lost and nearly missed the coach! I was let out late from class so also got back later than expected, & I have never laughed and been so scared in a car. At one point crossing into a gas station she shouted to the incoming vehicle: ‘please don’t hit me’ whilst veering across the lane and stopping to run and ask directions from a lady who couldn’t speak English and didn’t know her right from left. Then the car wouldn’t start as she’d stopped it funnily so we ended up pushing it. [note: everyone here has HUGE cars, even students!] We made it somehow, though.

We got to DC and went out to China town, and the whole place was covered in snow and very chilly! Such a contrast to Chapel Hill. The taxi man who drove us to the hotel managed to fit all of us in his taxi. Somehow. I jokingly suggested I sit in the boot and so he just went, 'ok', and started patting down the bags for me! So all 7 of us piled into the one car... My mentor, Imani, came with us too which was amazing as she lives in Maryland and spends her holidays wandering round the museums on the Mall, so she’s an expert! We could have paid for her guidance. . .

Saturday we were at the Smithsonian castle for 8.30 (suprising, I know). There’s a model of the whole mall in there so we chose the things we were going to do, and mapped our day out a bit. Then Imani took us round lots of the sights: WW2 memorial, Korean & Vietnam War memorials, the Jefferson, Lincoln Memorial – v. grand, and the reflecting pool was frozen! And then of course, the Whitehouse. – Pictures with Obama came later on, too ;) We did the American history museum, the natural history, (not as good as London, wasn’t as cool or realistic. I felt like there were just plastic things all over the place), but the history museum was awesome. Got to see the original star spangled banner, Dorothy’s shoes from the Wizard of Oz film, and the original Muppets! So many interesting things in there.. and went through a couple of the art museums. We packed in a lot, before heading out for dinner.

Sunday we split up a bit, people had different interests but a couple of us went and walked along embassy row, which was really intriguing. Some of the embassy’s are SO grand looking and some are tiny. Tested our flag knowledge too… I found the Greek one and took a photo for my Granny :) We walked to Georgetown after which is a really pretty old place, with nice shops. They have a famous cupcake shop too. It has its own TV show! [only in the US…] I also met up with the friends for lunch! They took me out to a restaurant on the harbor, and we had a seafood buffet. Perfection in a bucket.  And I tried my first Oyster! Ooh er. Was so good to catch up with them, and I may go back and stay with them on my travels after uni… we’ll see. They gave us all a lift after too which was really kind.  We went to a place called Mongolian grill, in Bethesda. An experience in its self. You choose yourself a bowl of stir fry vegetables and meat  sauces toppings etc, then give your bowl to the cooks and they cook it for you in front of you! Was pretty good fun. And the guy gave us a free chocolate brownie/ice cream thing to share after – ohh the perks of being international!

An interesting journey home too… We got back to Durham at 3am to find that the uni taxi company wouldn’t pick us up. Great. It was FREEzing and at that point all you want to do is go to bed… The one taxi cab there couldn’t fit us all in his car [they’re not like the DC drivers here… ;) ] And he was just having an argument with his boss on the phone, when I saw blue and red flashing lights.. So Jane and I ran over and asked the lovely police men if they could give us the number of a taxi firm, and the guy just went “ haap in…”. So we all got a lift home from the 'cops'! The guy got on his speaker phone saying “We’re just assisting some stranded citizens back to their homes…” What an adventure.

So a vunderbar weekend.

It felt so good to be back in the city too. And to the Londoner's out there, DC even has its own Cockfosters:  Foggy Bottom.

Oh metro designers…  

 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx