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 :)

Carolina News.
Sadness in Sport. 

So, we're out. 

We smashed through into the Sweet Sixteen, even made it to the Elite 8, but Sunday saw the Tarheels out of the game...

We did, however, beat Duke. 

I was so so hoping that we'd get to rush Franklin if we won. I hear that it just goes crazy, I've actually seen pictures from the last time we won... people start fires, get very drunk, dance around in the street, sing...people throw mattresses out of windows. I feel it would have been a carolina experience to have remembered. humph. I think if we get into the championships next year there will be a lot of excited englishies flying back over to NC..... we wish .....

The Weather

With true pathetic fallacy, the Carolina Sun has really let us down this week...Its gone from the 80's to full blown English-style windy rainy big puddles sopping wet days. And unfortunately, as an exchange student, I have no rain boots. (wellies to the English folk). So I get wet walking everywhere I walk; it's been the sort of rain that the wind blows all over you even if you have a brolly or a waterproof jacket, where your toes get wet even if you avoid every single puddle or stream of water on the way to class...

Sunshine, please return.

DTH
This week I wrote about a dutch dance company: The Nederlands Dans Theatre. They came to UNC to perform, and the Dutch ambassador came to watch. It was a pretty cool thing to cover, except for my editor sent my shell (the outline of my story and the contacts) to someone else, so I had to do it all in a mad panic. That's fine really, I didn't mind, but at that point no-one would talk to me or return my calls. I prefer to e-mail people and set up interview dates, because then you know people are free and will want to talk. The 2 men I spoke to on Monday told me they were busy and would call me back. One said 20 minutes. This was 3pm. He called me at 6ish literally as I was leaving my room to go over to the office and write. The other one didn't call me back.And didn't answer his phone again. Another lady just had an answer phone. Another replied to my email the next day.. Another did reply in time but said she was the wrong person to talk to. The lady she suggested me to speak to was Julie Walters. SO exciting. Except for it wasn't that Julie Walters. I was still excited when she called me said her name... Anyway, that lady didn't have much to do with the UNC performance, she had seen the dance theatre years ago, used to dance with one of the old choreographers, and now works at Duke.
So, it was a bit hectic. But hey, another one in the paper :)
http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/03/dutch_dance_group_to_perform_at_memorial_hall

All Homo's go to Hell.

Yep, Gary's been back. I stopped by the quad for a little while yesterday, to hear him giving his views on gay sex and doing some demonstrations that to be quite honest made me feel a little uncomfortable, standing in the middle of campus and all. He also gave a spiel about who is going to heaven, (only the pure and Godly people), and had the audacity to point to a black girl watching and tell her she wouldn't get to heaven. "Why?"someone asked.

"Because she's black".

Just like that.

Plain and simple.

Just because.

Where has he been the past 50 years of his life whilst people have dies for the color of thier skin, children bullied, harassed, children like Emmett Till mutated beyond recognition. Since the 1950's we have come a long way regarding racism and civil rights, I know America has made huge leaps -- but why does religion excuse people like this to go around still saying things like this? Why, through everything that causes conflict in the world, does someone believe that their reading of the bible makes them superior to those around them. How can people bring themselves to a student campus and openly discriminate against the students because they are not all white... Why is it acceptable for someone to walk into a campus and tell one girl that she is unable to be holy, the descendant of Cain, or not going to heaven...? Luckily she took it better than I think I would have done. I suppose we grow up in a culture with an extreme sense of the politics of language, ever fearing the mark of speaking out of turn, or "politically incorrect". If someone came to the strand campus at kings and started saying such things, I feel like they'd be removed, for sure.

Here, its a history that people still engage with, a scary amount of people who invest their beliefs in such discriminatory ideologies, a place where I might honestly be wary to travel in certain areas alone if the colour of my skin were different...

~

Planning 

 So, as much as I hate to admit, I've been here a long time. 

The time has passed where I can say i'm 'new' and still acclimatising to southern culture; 

I can truly say I'm a Tarheel;

I know what grits are;

I've eaten a philly cheese steak; 

I know my Washington from my DC, my Houston from my Austin, my Miami from my Malibu...

What is exciting about the end of semester though, is the prospect of what comes next. TRAVELLING. woo. I have got a couple of friends who I'm sticking with, and then we'll meet up with some others on the way if we bump into them... So far we're utilising one of the only decent forms of transport in the whole of the US -- Amtrack. Going south from here, possibly to Alabama, to New Orleans, Texas, up to Denver, Salt Lake City, San Fransisco, down California to L.A. and then flying to DC and back down to Chapel Hill for a dollar in the megabus -- by that time I think i'll need all the $1 rides I can get.... 

I am starting to get so excited. Its a bit like coming out here, that I don't think it will really hit until we leave...

~x~

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