The Brit Returns.

So it's been a little while now since I came home. A month and a half, to be precise.

I am enjoying tea, seeing everyone I have missed, earning back some dough, -- and have finally remembered how to dress appropriately for cold, wet, english-warm and incredibly changeable weather.

I worried that things would be different when I got back, or more that they wouldn't and I would. It's not just that we went away and traveled and had a break from things, I left and lived and carried on my life in another place. Took my slice of life, put it down on an American plate and continued eating. In some ways, it was difficult. It's hard to just slot back in and not be able to talk Tarheels and cupcakes and gun crime any more. Its tricky not to keep comparing everything, and using America as an immediate prototype.

I also worried I wouldn't have any reason to blog anymore (because you know, my life 'aint thAt exciting :P), but I'm giving it a go: http://anenglishgirlthinking.blogspot.com/

It was surprising to me that many people don't really care so much to hear all you have to say, a bit of a tricky one. Lots of people who have traveled seem to have experienced the same. I think foreignness is a difficult thing to understand, and so people tend to do the "how was America? Good? Oh goody, would you like to go to town then and do english things?" I guess it's detached from here, and it isn't the same on any level to the experience of a semester at an English University, so perhaps people just give up and don't quite see the interest in knowing every detail or being intrigued by the fine print. I know a lot of people keep blogs so perhaps it is deemed that anything that was needed to be said will have been said there... Indeed, most of my thoughts and experiences have been logged here, and translated for anyone who has been interested enough to follow along (Thankyou!!). But especially on returning to London I met a good few people who didn't mind me rambling on for quite some time about everything that's happened. Which was nice. I mean everyone's seen American Pie and so its not too difficult to gather some sort of recognition of the crazy things I saw and did...

Being back in London has been the easiest part of coming home, the city has flawlessly reminded me just why I love it so much, bringing me sunshine, many things to do, and a whole host of friends that I can get to as easily as circle-district-picadilly.

It's kept me busy enough to prevent extensive reflection on how much I miss the States, and as a cheery person, the excitement of summer is making me just as happy and every day as unexpected as it was over there. 

Tourists.com.

Most excitingly, one of my friends from UNC came to visit!!!!! So that gave me the chance to be a complete tourist again and see the city from the outsiders view, seeing the history and the glamour it has to offer to the passer by. Anna became one of the closest friends I have ever made, we just clicked in the same fast way that happened with certain people at Kings, too, and we shared a lot of good times just chilling and partying well enough to make Miley proud. It was interesting to have the mirror turned on me and to be showing her around, having her not know anything and being interested by the quirky things the English say and do. It was refreshing. She was here for July 4th, which was a strange mélange of an American and UK night. Making our way out onto the cobbles of Leicester square and Piccadilly, we met more Americans than I have ever seen out, and Independence shots were on the menu instead of the regular British beers. They laughed at the things I said and it felt weirdly like Chapel Hill all over again... except for noone asked me whether my accent was "real" or wanted me to repeat anything. After all, I'm not a novelty over here.

It was sad to see her go.

So I guess now Carolina is in our minds if not in our sights, as good ole James said. Here are some highlights.... 

Life: Stick British in with young Americans and you are bound to get a certain amount of cooing and general excitement. Do we feel the same about them? Always an awkward question.

Life was fun though. The sun was brighter, the students crazier, the classes more frequent and earlier (7am classes NOT a good invention), revision periods funner, books easier to get a hold of, more patriotism, better sport, cheaper everything, free gyms.. So we stuck out like sore thumbs in class, healthy food sucked, the drinking age is stupidly high and they have some pretty out-there opinions down south, but life was generally good. Life was very good.

School:

It's difficult to explain much of how they run it without going into lots of detail, but I did my best along the way particularly back in January. It's like English secondary school, is how I always begin my stories... Writing for the DTH was the main highlight of my involvement in student life, picking up the paper from one of the boxes around campus and seeing my name in print never lost its exciting edge.
NightSchool: Chapel hill, like most university towns, was taken over by pingpong balls and red cups at dusk. I still now am saddened by the dominance over college night-life of a culture of rich-kid-houses which just seep male chauvinism. Frat Houses.
Lured by the free alcohol and perhaps a sense of exclusiveness, these are essentially brothels and rufy-ing hot spots, home to grinding, jello shots, and beer pong. Now, there's nothing wrong with fun, and yes, the free kegs of JungleJuice and pure novelty were tempting to us internationals, but really. When you go out with a mixed group of friends and have to worry about who will have to go home without so much as a head bang or a sip of corona because they are A. a male who doesn't have inside frat-friends and wont get in, B. not dressed the right way to get in, C. gay and wont get let in; you realise just how screwed up all this Greek stuff is. And there is so much more to it than Frat Partying. Its a culture focused on money, exclusivity, trashy values, forced sibling-hood and facade.
Thank goodness Franklin st had some good bars.
Sport: Everyone knows Harrison Barnes, and everyone knows when the UNC tarheels are playing the blue Devils, Duke. The sounds of Brittany screaming insults at the players on TV when we were doing badly will always stick in my mind, alongside the very first experience of college basketball that I had... it was electrifying.
Food. America has a problem, that is well generalized, well assumed, and well stereotyped. As the connoisseur of the fast food chain, the first question on many people's lips (again mainly those who aren't too interested), is "aren't they all huge over there". Well, nope. No. Not really? I think even when I say this it tends to be changed as the sounds are channeled through the air, morphing into the words "yes, oh yes they are".
But I met more fit, athletic, and generally active people there than I ever have in the UK. Going to the gym is a daily routine for most students. It is free, and the gyms supersized and classes abundant, after all. Yes, there are big people too, but the problem  think, is education, and the difficulty of finding food. Many of the girls who were thin, were thin because they worked out and then ate nothing. It was heartbreaking to watch them go and get the burger and fries they wanted, yet only eating about 3 fries. Not eating a decent sized salad and grilled chicken, or getting veggies, but just downsizing on their portions by 80%. Healthy eating, from my experiences is widely misconcepted (word?) in the young people. That, and then you go to the supermarket only to find no fruit or vegetables are available. In fact, the closest thing to "fresh" you'll find is something picked and squeezed and de-liquified and jellified and vinegar'd and sugra-i-fied and canned. Tinned fruit and the likes. So why not just go to Gumby's...

In the news: The news was exciting on both a local and international scale whilst I was out there. Bin Laden's death probably tips the scale for the most significant event, with the Royal Wedding coming close second as the most talked-of! I had numerous debates and conversations with students English and American alike about the issues of guns whilst over there, as the concept of allowing guns on our campus was raised and thrown into the discussion pit.. To our international horror.. Kara got heavily involved, being blasted by students on the DTH online comments for her "narrow minded" criticism of the ideas.... Guns, I came to realise, are just a way of life that a lot of us would never understand, and a lot of Americans who have grown up with many in their houses will never understand the problem with. Its normal. They're necessary for protection. Simple. Fighting fire with fire? what a silly idea. 

The journey has been interesting, educational, and generally incredible. I have met people I never want to leave my life, been totally swept up in American living and seen a different way of life that I will forever cherish and respect. I've had the chance to have fun in the middle of a stressful degree at kings, study the subject I love in a beautiful college campus and realise that there is far more to be done in life than wishing to stay at Kings forever.

It's sad that the semester is over, but I cannot be thankful enough that I turned up to the meeting to study abroad over a year ago, when I was in my first year, didn't want to leave London for too long, had various commitments and wasn't sure if I really wanted to do this at all. I am glad I persevered "just in case" I decided to do it, got allocated UNC instead of the stress of Berkely, I am grateful my parents supported me, and that Heathrow fly direct to RDU every day.... #lifesaver. :)

I am sure I will go back to the strange little town, sure I will go back to the mountains and the beaches and see the wonderful people I met out there. I miss the little southern houses, I miss the basketball, I miss college life, the people, the patriotism, the landscape, the Hill, and being treated like something amazing just because I say tomato, haha.

The States looked after me well, and I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say I am proud to be a tarheel.

Thankyou for reading along :)