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 :)

casa two.

Monday, June 5th. Fly-time again. Time to say goodbye to Melissa, North Carolina, and home.

I felt no shame in letting the misty-eye syndrome leak a teardrop or two. Luckily I had two seats to myself... Soaring up and above the east coast I was reminded of the very first time I saw that sight, all those months ago. Talking to the guy I met who studies there, chatting college, sport and all things America, I was filled with anticipation and excitement. Now that seemed like a hazy sepia memory, -the Jess before I was exposed to the absolute craziness of American College Life. ha.

When I got to Heathrow my  parents we waiting with a sign on, (eee), that my mum was waving around. Tearful reunions were continued in the airport as we gratefully ordered 6am cups of tea. My first proper English cup in a long while. :D -- no-one stared at me for putting milk in!! 

So there it is, the party in the USA is officially at an end for all the fledgling international Tarheels! 

The song of our travels! Miley accompanied us to most destinations via Faye's laptop, right up until the end of our very own USA party.

~x~

CA - DC - NC - UK.

The Beach-Boys loved it, so did we, but the time came to leave California State behind and make our last long flight together. To DC!

DC

Chilly DC was no longer chilly! We stayed with my friends who I saw back in January, and met up with the ever-insane Imani. Oh how I will miss this little bubble of cheer in my life... We went around DC in the lovely sunshine instead of trudging around in the snow, saw the Jefferson Memorial and went on paddle boats.

As it was close to my birthday, my friend bought me my very first ice-cream cake. Apparently these are common birthday occurrences in the states but I had never heard of them and was pleasantly surprised with its appearance this year!!! --> Looking like a normal cake, with candles on like a regular cake, cut like any old vanilla sponge, it was an odd experience to eat a cold piece, but oh-so good.

It was nice to go back once more. Central DC just has this amazingly clean, official feel to it. As the home of the capitol and the president, I suppose it should. And I suppose it was fitting that we parted our ways as a travelling threesome in Obama's own state of residence.

NC, returning home at last.
So, I made the final trip back to the south alone, contemplating the whirlwind of a month we had just had and the incredible past half of a year....

My good friend from Alabama picked me up from the megabus station and I returned to Chapel Hill once more.

It was weird to see the campus so bare, yet there was still life on it. So many students do summer school over here that the working campus never really sleeps. Its not just tours and official looking people wandering around, its students stuck in May-mesters or first/second session summer semesters... The school system is just so flexible here that if you want to improve your grade, do classes so you can study abroad, retake a failed class or just simply boost your credits so you have less to take next year, its all possible during the summer months.

Last sights of the campus

I had various errands to do, saw a couple of friends, and then went to stay with another friend Melissa for my very LAST night in the states. Staying with her family was lovely, her parents area lot like mine and being in a family-home environment again made me really excited to be seeing my own parents...

Melissa's brother quizzed me on what TV I watched, (apparently he asked Melissa what she was going to do with me... you know, as Brits are so weird and hard to entertain..!! haha), and he was impressed that I love top gear and said I live near Richard Hammond! win there.We took a trip to the beautiful Duke gardens (sorry UNC), in the most humid weather I have EVER experienced in my life. The heat got up in my last month or so in the hill but blimey this was just something else. It wasn't noticeable in the house as it is so well air-conditioned but I was dripping before we'd even got to the car. Wonderful. The week after I left was set to be around 100 degrees... I don't know HOW people live in that, Melissa said she just stays inside. Wise I should think.

So a couple of lovely, chilled few days before coming home. I had my last bski's (AMAZING wrap store on Franklin that I don't think I've ever mentioned, but its awesome), my last visit to Sugarland with my friend Ryan, my last american movie night, and last walk around the campus... for now.

Then it was all homeward bound from there....

California Girls.

This, alongside the equally awful Miley, accompanied us across the States. It's aptness in this post made it too hard to resist putting it in .. :) 

Cali - San Fransisco

So. California brought all it promised. Jodie and I had both been to San Fransisco before so we were especially excited, but I  have to say I had a very different experience to when I travelled California with my parents, particularly in San Fran. Now the hippyish side to the city really shone for me... 

We spent our first day wandering around Union Square, going to see the UC-Berkeley campus, checking out the hippy Mission street and the Golden Gate Bridge, and finishing the day at the Cheesecake factory. 

Now, if you have never been to the cheesecake factory, know two things. 

1. They are the ULTIMATE exemplar of sheer American gluttony. 

2. The best one you will ever go to (and we have tried a few between us) is this one. San Fransisco. Union Square. At the top of the multi story Macy's building. It is magical. 

3. (I know I said 2 but I just thought if another); their strawberry Martini's are awesome.

We prepared ourselves all day for the meal, its not entirely a student budget one, but filling up on half a main and leaving room for only a few mouthfuls of desert (a must... its a factory FOR dessert...even 'weird' people like myself who don't like cheesecake can find yummy things to eat), this meal is definitely worth asking for a doggy bag and taking home for later (or next days dinner, in our case).

 When Britain clocks onto the whole idea of the doggy bag, as miss Natasha mentioned in her foody-blog, (check it out: http://thetable-top.blogspot.com/), then it'll be a wiser place. 

Day 2 we met Aoiefe, an Irish exchange student who was friends with Faye at Carolina, and headed off to Haight-Ashbury. We went to Amoeba, an old music shop which is set up in an old bowling alley... We wandered around the Golden Gate Park (WARNING: passive drug abusive is unavoidable here). I'd read about a garden dedicated to the flowers of Shakespeare's plays, so we spent quite a while trying to locate it... -bearing in mind the park is about twice the size of Hyde Park, at over 1000 acres.

We actually saw a high school graduation whilst we were wandering, which was interesting! They were all stood in this impressive marble dome, with their gowns and hats and going up to collect scrolls.... they are SO INTENSE. But it was cool to go and crash the ceremony for a little while, see how the high schools roll over here.... We did find the Shakespeare Garden, too.

You can follow the park on twitter, if you so wish:

http://twitter.com/#!/GoldenGatePark

Exploring China Town was another high point of San Fran. Of the ones I have seen in the US, this one is definitely my favourite! [[DC wins on the gate front though. Hands Down, it is beautiful!]] 

We cautiously stepped over the thin line drawn between the familiar road of street lamps and the street of lanterns, dangling between us and the cloudless California sky. A little box of Asia within thick American walls, the Chinese bustle around in their markets and bargain stores, hanging up dead meat and shouting about how unique their umbrellas and sparkly purses are... The only thing it lacks from the real thing, so I hear, is the smell -- so I'm not complaining! We found a tiny fortune cookie factory, which looked like how I imagine Roald Dahl's chocolate factory to be like had he have been born Chinese. There were mini metal conveyor belts and little flat cookies whizzing about, with a pot full of empty fortunes ready to be thought up and folded inside. You could watch it all being made and take a photo for a dollar, and the "bad" cookies were not thrown down the garbage shoot but instead handed out in a wicker basket as tasters. Yum.  

The concept of China towns, or indeed  Japan towns or any other "town" intrigues me. We were talking about what an English town would include, and its interesting that people would chose to walk down a street with rain machines no matter how much they wanted a cream tea... 

LA, Hollywood.

So, 12 hours later we reached celeb-land. Hollywood was touristy, cheap and not so cheerful, -just as I remembered. Ironically, our hostel was the best we'd stayed in and we were only there for one night... We had a wander around when we got there and saw the walk of fame and Chinese theatre, etc...Had some sushi...then escaped.

Once you have seen 50 stars on the floor you begin to give up looking for the one you really wanted to see and then there's nothing left for it but to take some photos with the footprints in the cement, and perhaps a movie character or two (for a fee, of course.)

The best part was getting to see my good friend, Ashley, who did her masters at Kings during our first year. "Why are you staying there? No one in LA goes to Hollywood!" she said as she pulled up to Madame Tussaud's in her typically American gIAnt car. She showed us the celebrity hang-outs and some houses, casually namedropping people she's partied with and dated (oh the life of an intelligent yet hills-lifestyle young woman!), then took us to Santa Monica. We walked along Venice beach ("get-your-marijuana-prescriptions-here"-land) and to Sprinkles, - the incredible cupcake shop! Better than Sugarland's and maybe even wholefood's.... Such a lovely day. 

LA - Laguna Niguel. 

Laguna Beach? Yep, you got it. 

Jodie's internet pen-pals she made years ago writing online journals live in south of Hollywood and let us stay there for 3 nights, which was awesome. They literally took us everywhere we said we'd like to go and were the best hosts we could have asked for. And they are twins. Awesomeawesome. For some reason I have always had an unusual love for twins and all things double... they just fascinate me!! 

We went to Knotts berry Farm, the first ever themepark! Pretty awesome even for a roller-coaster-wimp like myself. I went on some flipping ginormous big spinny flippy fast things. 'nuff said. Also got churros and went on a stupidly steep get-soaked-in-30-seconds ride just before closing time. At least the car was warm.... 

They took us to a drive in movie theatre, too! OHMYGOSH. It was just like Grease, but better. We saw the Hangover II and then Bridesmaids, all for 7 bucks.So good! 

It was also memorial day whilst we were there, and one of the twins is married to a soldier who is recently back from Afghanistan. It was interesting to drive down the highway, passing one man with a huge banner saying "Good loves you" and another saying "hoot for veterans" or something along those lines. 

Oh, America.  

Sport Mad in Mormon Town.

Leaving the rainstorms of Denver behind, we headed to Salt Lake city, Utah.

The Amtrack ride was fantastic, with mountainous views and a funny commentator guy who informed us which canyons we were passing through and pointed out things such a little hermit's house... I could happily live up there one day!

Salt Lake City, the land where Mormons rule 70% of the population.

We arrived late into Salt Lake City, where we got a taxi to Park City. We stayed with my friend Lindsay's brother, who lives up there skiing and rock climbing! So... when I said we wanted to maybe do some hiking and exercise as we'd been cooped up in Denver, we did not expect what we got... a weekend of rock climbing in the mountains next to the snow peaks, hiking through valleys and up to natural hot springs, and making the most of his hot tub.

The Sunday we walked up to these pools of steaming water which have been carved out of the rock and the water directed from the mountain by a pipe, right next to a huge (freezing) waterfall. It was spectacular, and felt like a world completely detached from any stresses of travelling, studying, home, even each other. Walking down we were just in a bit of a daze.

We got an overnight bus out of Utah to California.... cheap, but 15 hours later we were ready to leave some of those people behind. The only guy who didn't leer at us for being 3 English girls, who Faye ended up sitting by, said " I'm not weird, I'm just cheap!" Says it all really. He was nice. Everyone else. . . well, we tried not to speak to one another too loudly and left all our stuff securely in bags, and the more important stuff sat on whilst we slept... it was worth it for San Fran though, one of mine and Jodie's favorite places.

CA

Denver. 

So, apparently it never really rains here, we happened to chose the 3 days where it pretty much feels like the U.K. only with American-sized storms. fab. nothing better than a touch of home... The Forever 21 is awesome though. 

Bring on Cali!

~

NC--PA--LA--TX.

Studying done. Semester over. Summer is finally here. 

The last few days in Granville were so sad. My friends made me a huge card, bought a Carolina bear and a cupcake from sugarland, and got all the people on our hall to sign it... So sweet of them, and it's nice to have some evidence of the life I have had out here, something to make me believe that the experience and he friends I have made are actually real!!

Ginger, Me with the giant card and cupcakee, Melissa, Anna and Ryan.

Finals were a bit of a blur of libraries, stress and far too much caffeine, and proved a completely different experience to that at King's (i.e. streakers and 10 minute raves). So glad they are done! Though I was sad to leave each exam knowing I'd probably not see any of the other kids again, or the professors. Feels very odd.

Its also been Royal-Wedding hype ahoy around the States recently...In the last couple of classes a few people approached me to ask if I was excited, and if I was going to watch it, and how wonderful it all was....blady bla. It was quite exciting, except for the reason I saw it all live was due to the fact I had 3x 10-page papers due, and so was still in the Library at 5am when they began airing it... Got an A- on that one though! :)

I tried to catch up with most people before leaving, class friends, my mentor Imani (though Im seeing her again in DC) hall friends, etc. So it was a gradual process of bereavement at least, haha. Imani and I went to Yo-Po, the best fro-yo place in Chapel Hill, and had a bit of a teary-moment in there. We must have looked like such idiots sat blubbing into our little cups, haha. But I really will miss her and her absolute craziness, along  with most things here in the hill... 

Anyway, amidst the blurr of finals, packing, goodbye's and final parties, we actually left Chapel Hill. I can't quite believe it, and it's only because every day since then has been so jam packed that I think we haven't taken it in completely. Plus I know I'm going back for a day so it's not quite goodbye.

Fresh Prince'ing it up...

After a disastrous start of missing our mega bus, we ended up driving up to Philadelphia the Saturday after the end of term (!) with two other exchange guys, Sam and Lawrence.

We couch surfed with a guy there, Joe, which was amazing. He was great and showed us around town and best of all, freee accommodation. :) Philly was interesting. It's an odd city, with a lot of poverty which really struck us. There are cool markets, and we went and did the constitution stuff, seeing where it was signed etc. and went to the site of Rocky, running up the steps in true tourist fashion, and we even made it across the border to New Jersey, though it was slightly scary over there so we quickly returned, taking only Italian-made pizza back across with us. We also met up with two other Kings people who studied at UPENN this semester, Alex and Christine. The campus is beautiful, v. Oxbridge'y and although I think UNC has an incredible campus, you can tell that that school is private and has money...seriously. 

Joining the already splintered international group, (it's crazy seeing how far everyone is across the states, there are people everywhere!), we left the boys behind there, as they drove up to Canada as Faye and I flew down to New Orleans to meet Jodie.

N'Orleans

New Orelans New Orleans New Orleans... basically what it says on the tin. Town of partying, tourism, and an all year round mardi gras feel. The tourisity feel to the place was quite overwhelming at first, as we felt as though we were being conned left right and center... We took a boat trip up the Mississippi which was cool, though overpriced and with little to see, really. But after a day or so we got a bit more used to it, unfortunately close to leaving. 

It's interesting though, as a place evidently scarred yet living alongside the natural disasters it frequently faces. It was strange to speak to people who actually experienced Katrina, and see how they coped and what the atmosphere was like. Flooding to them is normal, one barman told me. Most of the buildings are waterproofed up to about 4 feet above ground level as that sort of flooding isn't a big deal at all to them. In fact the banks of the river were high whilst we were there and there was supposed to be an influx of water into the river coming soon after we left...

The French Quarter is also beautiful, in parts really feels like being in Paris or something. And there are buskers everywhere, which is awesome. When we got off of the plane there was a marching band in the airport, (!) and they gave us a tip off to get free entry to see a jazz band! So that was  our first night there, pretty nice. It felt like we were just getting to know the place and know our way around a bit more when it was time to leave for Texas already...

Hanging out on that there Guadalupe, Austin. 

Texas is not how I expected at all. Austin is such a lovely city, just not....texan how I imagined!! No cowboys, you know? Its clean and buzzing, and like London in that its very walkable, too. Felt much more at home here, and less bombarded with leering men (being three girls is so annoying sometimes), and people begging and shouting at you. We went up to the springs today and swam in part of the river which has been made into a huge natural swimming pool. One you get over the sensation of swimming around with algae it was great! We also hired canoes and paddled down the river for a while, which was so beautiful. The river was full of turtles and fish, we got up so close to some of them whilst gliding along in the boats! That again was surreal as we came to sections of the river where you could just see the city skyline, whilst being sat in a canoe on a river.... so strange. 

Anyway, with a flight up to Denver tomorrow I am going to join the other two and sleep. Hope everyone's doing ok, and a very HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY to my lovely friend Gem, so sad I wasn't there to share it with you my dear and I can't wait to see you.

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