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

First day of "class"

So, my first day of classes over and done with!  
Today started off on a funny note, I went down to breakfast in the Agora --the halls restaurant-- and got some tea and cereal, then thought I'd get an omelette seeing as this meal was going to have to last me the day. So, I go and ask for one with cheese and tomato. 
   'Cheese and wharrrt?' 
cheese and tomato.    Oh, tu-may-to
    'Yeys I know what you said I just wanted to hear it agayne'.  LOL. 
Then the cook guy was like, 'I've been having English lessons and that's haw I knew you were from there when I heard the 'tomarto'.' 
hehehehe. oh deary me. Yesterday some people found out that my friend was Australian and they were just like, ohmygawd, SAY something! What was he supposed to say? It's like being the new species in a zoo.
School...
So. Class was excellent. The way they do things over here is so different! They don't really differentiate between seminars and lectures [[from what I've had]] and its like a school classroom set-up where everyone participates all the time but there's always a teacher too. We had to introduce ourselves and the moment I begin to speak I can sense the US brains registering my weird accent and becoming immediately....'interested'.  There's so much assessment all the time here, but that's amazing  in a way as I always feel I have no indication of where I'm at at home where we only hand in something at the end of the terms work. However, it takes a WHOPPING 90% to get an A here. And 60% is a fail. Literally. - At home a 60 is GOOD. actually its pretty good and you only need 70 to get a 1st class. I e-mailed my study abroad guy though and he said that the conversion makes it weigh out which is reassuring, apparently its pretty easy to get an A over here so I'm not complaining! Its so much like English senior school in that you just have to put in the effort consistently and your basically there. 
My drama class looks awesome. We get credit for going to the theatre and bringing back the ticket stub!! The 2 classes I had today were drama and American authors which is looking at a lot African american texts and civil war stuff. The drama one sweeps from Greek all the way through renaissance to Ibsen and the lady seems heaps nice.[Auzzie influences coming through here :p] 
Partying...
Last night my room mate ginger took Nick and I to the frat and sorority house parties. OH. MY WORD. it was like something straight out of a frickin movie. 
  Its rush at the mo. so all the girls and guys are trying really hard to get in to the houses, and they're really stingy with letting in guys that aren't on their 'lists' to rush. Kind of like how girls are let into mayfair/posh LDN clubs and guys have to pay £20... Ever seen Mean Girls? Well that's how these kids act. Like animals at a watering hole, scrambling to get in, be cool, get their feed of the exclusive life. We went to a sorority house first which was absolutely amazing, what I never realised was the functional normality of these houses too. They look so posh from the outside but I kind of just assumed they were wreckages on the inside, just party places. But the girls ones are LOVELY. They even have their own chefs and huge kitchens. And they have all their pictures up on the walls. And they're huge, like 50 girls to a house. Its seriously like another world. The frat houses weren't too special inside but still the one had a live band which was really good. There's also free alcohol all over the place. In the first house we went to it was basically a pub-crawl but in-between the different rooms, so each one had tables of shots in them. Then the other one just had a hatch where guys were making drinks for you. We had jungle juice, which is basically made up from the most sugary stuff ever in the world which is a kids' drink, mixed with a lot of goodness-knows-what alcohol. Which you can't even taste. So anyone who knows me will understand how dangerous that is! Anyway, it was an interesting experience, and good fun,- it's so cool to finally meet Ginger after having e-mailed for so long. 
Home
I finally have internet in my room! Which is awesome. I haven't been able to skype anyone at home yet which sucks, but hopefully tomorrow I will! It's already half way through the night there. At about 4pm every day here I always get sooo tired and ready for bed. The guy who picked me up from the airport took Nick and I to get him a laptop today and I just fell asleep in the back of the car...nice one. I spoke to my parents though on the phone. My mum sounded so surprised to hear me which made me giggle. And then Dad called a bit later. I used up all my credit on my American phone but hey ho, I don't really mind if it means some home-communication.  I tell you what, I miss being able to get a simple cup of tea. The water tastes a bit funny and my milk is in my friends room right now as he has a fridge (and my room is SO warm that when I had a bowl of cereal yesterday the milk left in the bowl had curdled by the time I got back a few hours later!) Tea bags are also horribly expensive. For a basic necessity. We met a girl from Bristol yesterday though and she seems Lovely! Her name's Issy. She gave me her kettle as she never really uses it, everyone here is like that though. Just incredibly nice and friendly. There are lots of nice people down the other end of the hall, who I'm getting to know, alongside the girls up my end. Whether it's false southern charm or genuine friendliness though, its better than English severity and the must-keep-to-ourselves culture. Seriously I don't know how anyone manages to cope with the rudeness of the English, and Londoners in particular! No wonder my friend from L.A., Ashley, used to complain about customer service in London..

Weather [It has to be done I'm English!]

It snowed today!! It is absolutely freezing here . I can't wait for this infamous sunshine the students keep talking about because it sure ain't warm right now. It's lovely when it snows but I think we have had enough snow in the U.K to tide me over till next winter... Anyway classes were cancelled between 5pm today and 11am tomorrow so that's ok! They were super prepared here, the grit was down on the paths before the snow had even left its clouds [its green here too! hehe]. They are just so much more organised that us. England gets snow; Puts a bit of grit down over the next 3 days; Realises there isn't enough to cover one village so people are sliding about and abandoning their cars everywhere; and then puts it all on the news like its all a massive calamity. 

Anyway, I'd better go do some reading and get some sleep! Trying to pump up with energy to counter the ridiculous amount of new stuff my brain and memory are currently absorbing.

Bonne nuit! 

xxx