Long overdue update

I have got very behind with updating this over the last few weeks but it has been a pretty manic time. 

Since I last posted I haven't done much travelling but feel like I've done more in columbia and have to admit it's slowly growing on me. We visited Kensington mansion, a plantation just outside the city which was interesting but made me appreciate how good the national trust is and the sheet amount of old houses we have in England. We were only able to look round the downstairs rooms and it seemed like barely anyone visited it even though it was such a beautiful building.

I've also finally visited the columbia nickelodeon movie theatre which is an arty independent cinema in town with the nicest (and cheapest) popcorn I've come across. We saw Twelve Years a Slave which I can honestly say is one of the best films I've ever seen. I came out the cinema a bit of a wreck; it was so sad but also shockingly violent and watching it in the south just made it all feel a lot more relevant. 

November also meant tigerburn time! Basically USC absolutely hates the other big university in South Carolina (Clemson) and so every year they build a big tiger and promptly burn it down to the cheers of the trusty gamecock fans. The whole thing is in anticipation of the Clemson vs usc game which takes place on 'football Saturday' - so catchy- during thanksgiving.

Also during November all my classes really upped their workload and I found myself with even more of a ridiculous amount of reading than usual, as well as a few early exams and some crazily long papers. So when thanksgiving arrived I was very much ready for a break!

We spent the holiday at Paige's in Greenville and it could not have been a more relaxing and enjoyable few days away...meals out, movies and manicures all round. 

I also think over thanksgiving I finally turned southern. I ate turkey and marshmallow-covered-yams, discovered my love for the country singer Luke Bryan and at long last began to understand the rules of American football and actually enjoyed watching the match, mainly because we thrashed Clemson.

Returning back to campus after a week of being taken care of and fed delicious food was a harsh reality check made worse by the looming prospect of finals. 

I had originally thought that having exams before Christmas would be pretty good, nice to get some out of the way rather than having everything stacked up on summer tests however I completely take this back - I hate finals!

Having multiple exams and papers while trying to pack my whole room up and pack to go home was not enjoyable but thankfully, with copious amounts of tea and red bull, the seemingly impossible was achieved and everything got handed in on time.

I'm now sat at columbia airport about to board my first flight to Washington which I have heard dreadful things about but fingers crossed everything will go smoothly and this time tomorrow I'll be living it up norfolk style.

I can't really believe that my first semester is finished. It has gone by SO quickly - when people tell you your year abroad flies by they aren't lying. There's definitely been high and low points and although I am (so so so) excited for England I know in January I'll be looking forward to coming back for spring term.

Although I definitely will not miss usc fashion choices...

3 months

So today officially marks my three month anniversary of landing in the states. A whole quarter of a year, blimey. Buying cutlery and towels at Target during our first week here feels like years ago, yet on the other hand it doesn't feel that long since I popped into sainsburys, or caught a train, or bought a legal drink. oh england.

Last week I went to help at a 'pre-departure' talk for USC students who will be studying abroad in January. Lots were going to London and had questions about england, although worryingly out of a whole room of US students about to go and spend 4 months or so in france/england/ireland/italy/germany, only two (!!) people knew the name of their host-country's leader. And those two thought Cameron was our president and had no idea what his first name was. Anyway the disregard of these students for anywhere else in the world other than the good old usa is not what I wanted to talk about. During the talk, a graph was shown which illustrated the stages of culture shock that one supposedly feels when they move to a new country.

I am not at all convinced by this graph. Apparently, (although I'm not entirely sure what timescale goes with each stage) at first you are meant to go through a 'honeymoon' period where everything about the new country seems amazing. For me when it came to my feelings toward America, the first few weeks were anything but loved-up. They consisted of sorting out life in a whole new country; setting up bank accounts, unpacking and sorting out my room, buying bedding and furniture, and ultimately getting my head round the southern way of life. As well as the cultural differences, this period of time also meant starting afresh at a new school with a completely different academic structure and teaching style to what I had got used to at Warwick. It's true that aspects of america did seem a bit new and shiny (people saying y'all in every sentence, people wearing at least one item of clothing referring to cocks, stars and stripes hung up on nearly every house, huge cars) but these things were, for me, outweighed by the stress of being somewhere so different to home.

After the honeymoon phase comes an extreme dip in happiness. wonderful! Again, this wasn't something I experienced. Yes, there were certain days where everything went wrong and OMG I HATE AMERICA was my mantra but I had days like these in england. We all have these days, where just about everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and we all get through them. To be honest, there have been days here when I've felt at just about every point on that graph. Just about completely mundane things. For instance...I wake up in the morning freezing cold because of air-conditioning (culture shock). When I walk to class I'm no longer surprised by the sheer confidence of the squirrels here although I still can't get over how many of them there are (adjustment). It's not a term or a module or a queue or chips, it's a semester or class or a line or fries (mastery). And I can still sometimes find it hard to take in how pretty the campus is, especially now with all the leaves which are all sorts of oranges and golds (honeymoon).

I'm not sure if I've experienced culture shock or not. Obviously it's very different here but it would have been strange for it not to be. More than anything, spending so long away from home has made me realise things about our own culture that I was just completely oblivious of before. For instance, I don't think I'll ever criticise public transport again, mainly due to the fact it actually exists in england!

For me, what has stuck out the most in terms of cultural awareness has been my experience as an international student. Growing up in norfolk didn't exactly lend itself to meeting people from other cultures and whilst this did change when I went to warwick, the amount of people from all over the world that I've met at USC really has taught me loads about countries that in some cases I had never even heard of before (shameful I know - my geography skills are truly dire at the best of times).

The melting-pot nature of America, whilst possibly not so prevalent in the south, means that throughout the year Columbia has held greek, mexican, latin american, and italian festivals for the respective ethnic communities and whoever else wants to experience food, music and games from somewhere different. Through the university I've been to an Iranian dinner and an Indian showcase (including indian food which may have been my best meal since I got here), and most Fridays there's a free lunch for international students. I've had a henna tattoo and learnt to tie a turban, tried persian tea and learnt how to write my name in arabic. I've also got to talk with people from all over the world about their home countries and their impressions of america.

I think my favourite conversation with a fellow international was with someone completely unrelated to the university. I had to get a taxi to the supermarket late one evening last week and had requested a female driver but unfortunately there weren't any working that night so the lady at the office said 'sweetie pie dont you worry imma send you a guy I would trust my own kids with' and hung up. Very thankful for her thoughtfulness as this led to me getting to talk to such an interesting man, called Joseph, from Kenya. His daughter was studying in London at the moment and his brother also lived in england but he couldn't remember the place until our journey home when he suddenly mentioned a big statue of a bull and I realised he meant Birmingham, which again made me think it's a small world when you fly all these miles over the atlantic and meet someone whose brother lives 20 minutes from your university. I asked him what he thought of America and he said he liked it but found some things here pretty strange, like the fact that it was only the beginning of November but people have their Christmas decorations up already.

Since I've been here I have got to know some amazing american people, as I'd hoped to do when I left home all those weeks ago. But what I didn't expect was that I would also get to meet so many people from other places and I think that has been one of the most interesting aspects of my time here so far. It has made me want to travel even more than I wanted to before, so I can see some of the places that I've been told about.

To sum this up, these last three months have definitely had both ups and downs but even on the  days where I've been at bottom of the dip on the graph, the people I've met here have made it worth it!

xxxx

Backpacking in Shining Rock Wilderness

 Last weekend, armed with a rucksack of borrowed outdoorsy clothes and some trusty supplies of the dairy milk variety, I set off for Shining Rock Wilderness (how much does sound like something out of Lord of the Rings?) in North Carolina.

 In America, areas of Wilderness are, officially, 'areas where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain' and Shining Rock is the biggest one in NC. It really was beautiful; very bleak but in a good way.

We left early Saturday morning, and after a very early lunch consisting of my first ever subway - now wondering why I've never having had this in england as it was pretty good - we reached the car park for the trail. The last hour or so of driving had been through a noticeably different area, small houses tucked up in the woods, tiny shops in cabins and lots of people wearing camo and dungarees. Compared to the wide open roads of Columbia lined with chick-a-fila, walmart and endless other huge stores, it made a pleasant change.

We got out the van and used the truly hideous toilet - sneaky as it looked like your conventional loo but was actually just a hole above a large pit of rankness. After this, it was time for my pack to first meet my back and for me to realise that it wasn't just going to be a stroll around a pretty forest. Back in the day, I was a weirdly enthusiastic scout for quite a while and had not thought the hike would pose any problems but I totally underestimated the weight of half a tent and a sleeping bag. Once we were all strapped in I felt how I imagine a horse feels when they are made to pull a ridiculously large cart. Up a hill. Things got a bit better when I discovered how helpful the hip strap could be and after a while I did get used to it but i still don't know how people walk for weeks with these things on!
 

unfortunately we didn't get to climb Old Butt Knob

The first days hike was pretty short and we arrived at our camping spot quite early. Seeing icicles on our walk up had left me feeling even more confused about current American weather. In Columbia it will be pretty chilly when I leave for class in the morning but hitting 20 degrees by the afternoon, so I wasn't really expecting ice. After we put up our tents we climbed up to Shining Rock, the rock that the whole area is named after. The views from up here were pretty amazing and we got to watch the sunset from up there too. It felt like that bit in twilight when they are chilling up the massive pine tree just without any glittery vampires.

As soon as the sun went down, it got dark obviously and with this the temperature dropped biiiiiiig time. After collecting a giant pile of firewood we crowded round the bonfire and enjoyed some mac n cheese (or in my case endured - seems I need to learn to love this abominable dish as its pretty popular round here). However, fortunately the best was yet to come as it was at this point that I experienced my very first authentic smore. I've faked it with a digestive/marshmallow sandwich in the past but this was the real deal: graham cracker, hersheys and giant melted-on-a-twig marshmallow. Lushcious.

After a bit of fireside chilling we were told about toilet arrangements which I have to say made the smelly pit job i mentioned earlier sound positively delightful. As much of a lover of the outdoors I profess to be, the idea of digging a foot-deep hole with a trowel and pooping into it is something I don't think I'm ever going to be doing by choice. Especially not in a pitched-black wood that looked waaay too reminiscent of the blair witch project forest for my liking.

Once we were in our tents I realised just how much the fire had been responsible for keeping my body at a slightly warm temperature and it dawned on me that i was BLOODY FREEZING. Apparently it got down to about minus 1 overnight and as someone who requires an electric blanket even in the summer months, I did struggle to sleep. Fears of freezing to death were added to by my newfound anxiety regarding bears as I had absolutely no idea that bears existed in North Carolina until earlier that day. We had to put anything smelly, even toothpaste, into a bear sack so they wouldn't be tempted into our tents but I still couldn't help wondering what exactly I would do if I heard something in the night. Basically, by the time sunlight began to filter into the tent I was already wide awake and wanting to get up just to get moving and warm up. First time in maybe my life that I've been relieved to hear a 7am alarm go off.

After packing the tents up, we enjoyed a breakfast of oatmeal tinged with the previous nights mac n cheese, and then began our second days hiking. Before we got going properly we filled up our water bottles from a nearby stream using this pump thing to make it drinkable. Bear Grylls eat your heart out.

The second day was a lot hillier and quite hard at some points. This led to major layering issues as you would start off pretty chilly but by the time you reached a peak, the hat gloves, fleece and 3 tops were a little too much and so there were lots of clothes-changing breaks.

The trail we followed on Sunday was the Art Loeb trail, and again had some pretty amazing views, especially at the end. Most of the trees there had lost their leaves already, which was very different to Columbia where a lot are still out in their full greenery.

After some rather strenuous climbs we successfully made it back to the bus and headed back to USC. On the way back we stopped at probably the most southern place I've been to since I got here. It had a stuffed dead turkey on the wall and everything. I got the absolute bargain of  jacket potato with cheese (loaded cheddar tator y'all) with a side of green beans all for $4 which is about £2.50....If there's one thing I'm going to miss about the South it's the food prices!

Anyway we arrived back at the Strom, unpacked the bus and our kit and traipsed back to campus. It was such a lovely weekend in a beautiful part of America but I can honestly say my bed has never felt so comfy!

xxxxx

Let's hear it for New Yoooooork

Yes I did walk around the streets of Manhattan singing this song. Yes the streets made me feel brand new and if you ever get the chance to go, go! Miss Keys does not lie - the big lights will very much inspire you. After a few months in the deep south, NYC was a definite concrete jungle and really was a welcome change from the comparatively rural Columbia.

I don’t want this post to turn into a day by day description of what we got up to so here are just a few highlights….

Arriving in Central Manhattan to find it utterly deserted. Our bus got in to the Greyhound bus station at 5.45am and the walk up Broadway and through Times Square to our hostel was extremely surreal. You might think that Times Square is always busy and full of people admiring it’s mad stacks of glowing animated advertisements but it seems that no-one is quite bothered about it enough to be there at the crack of dawn. It was just us, the big lights…and the tramps. Lovely.
  
Wandering around SoHo pretending we were loaded. The Chanel store had a snazzy white Rolls Royce Phantom casually parked up in front of it – the people shopping in there meant business. In we wandered, kitted out in trusty primark and h&m, shamelessly playing guess the price for every item of meticulously arranged clothing. The prize for most hideous item – in terms of both aesthetic appeal and pricetag was this vicar/posh spice-esque dress, weighing in at a mere $14,000. I think if the shop assistants hadn’t clocked us as non-potential customers the second we walked in, my cries of ‘this dress costs the same as my degree’ probably did it. 

We also attempted to look cool just before dinner on the first night when we wandered into the opening for an art gallery. Although we did stick out a little bit in that we weren’t wearing suits/high fashion, a lot of the paintings were to do with the assassination of JFK so we could at least have a semi-conversation about them as people walked past us. It was all going well and the door out was in sight when I accidently kicked something (which I should make clear was lying in the MIDDLE of the floor). The people near me gasped and I looked down to see that I had kicked a giant gold thorny crown (think Jesus on the cross style) halfway across the room. I would say this was a low point of our forage into high culture as it was a scuplture and the artist had watched me kick it so after a seriously embarrassing attempt to apologise we quickly exited, gave up on being arty, and went back to talking about Ryan Gosling and how catchy Miley Cyrus' songs are.

The East River Ferry. Having walked over the Brooklyn Bridge we wandered around DUMBO (yeah i thought it was a pretty weird name too until I googled it - Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) but there wasn’t a huge amount to do there (although we did come across the nicest cupcake I’ve had in my life so it was definitely worth the visit) and we wanted to go up to the Kingdom of Hipsterville, Williamsburg. The subway between DUMBO and Williamsburg is dismal but with the help of wifi, which thankfully seems to be available for free just about everywhere here, we discovered that there was a ferry that runs up and down the river. For $4 we were able to experience beautiful views of both Brooklyn and Manhattan. Once it got dark we took the ferry again, back over to Manhattan. The view of the skyline at night was incredible, and was heightened by the reflections of skyscrapers in the river. Probably my best spent $4 ever.

Lush food at every opportunity. When we booked our 17 hour bus journey and the cheapest possible hostel we could find, we promised ourselves that the money saved on a comfy bed could be used for extravagant purchasing of food. We stopped for cakes and coffee at way too many opportunities but je ne regrette absolutely rien. My favourite food thing of all was a shared pumpkin and cinnamon whoopee pie cake from the Magnolia Bakery inside Bloomingdales. Thinking about this now, I’ve realised that although we were only there for three and a half days we visited 3 different Magnolia Bakery’s – proof of just how good their cakes are! Also I dropped both our cakes just as we paid for them in the first one we went in and they replaced them for free so they’re nice people too. For a free treat do as we did and visit the lindt stores (there are two basically opposite each other on 5^th avenue) and then visit them again….and again. Every time you go in you get a free lindt and for a true insiders tip, the first time we went in, we trampily asked how much a single chocolate was and they said just have it for free. I felt like a living lindt by the end of that day as we took full advantage of their generosity. Over the few days we had in New York we ate Italian, Greek and French food as well as a true New York burger at the dodgy looking but highly recommended Jackson Hole. Thankyou tripadvisor!

Talking to strangers. After our stroll-turned-hike around Central Park (much bigger than I thought and surprisingly easy to get a bit lost in) we finally made it out onto Central Park West and began to head southward to fifth avenue and the aforementioned free Lindts. A slightly straggly looking man suddenly appeared out of the bushes, and yes I did assume certain things about him, number one that he was homeless. He began to ask us if we needed help (at this point the map was flapping around in front of us, most probably upside down, and both Frankie and I were spouting out various combinations of avenues and street numbers: do we want 5^th and 34^th? Or park and 45^th? West on 3^rd or east on 3^rd? why is there no 4^thavenue? etc.) and we initially tried to play it cool and get on our way. However, he persisted and it was at this point that we noticed his hat identified him not as a hobo, but a park warden, hence his emergence from the hedge. Turns out his day job was actually a fashion designer, and that he had spent the previous summer in London working on Savile Row. He then told us about where to go and what to see and it was on his recommendation that we visited the Highline in the evening, which turned out to be one of the nicest things we did. Perfect example of why not to judge a book by its cover.

Big Apple, little budget. We spent only 3 and a half days in New York but really crammed a lot in. Having said this, at no point did it feel like we were running around seeing everything. Manhattan is pretty compact and you can do a lot in one day. This was made a lot easier by where we were staying. Our hostel was amazing – seriously cheap, we had our own room, we were practically in Times Square (it really was about a 4 minute walk down the street) and it was extremely clean and friendly. I would highly recommend the Big Apple Hostel to anyone wanting somewhere cheap and central to stay.

SQUASH. At long last I have managed to become the proud owner of a bottle of squash. I simply don't understand how they don't have it here. After months of looking for it each time we visit a new supermarket (what a thrilling life I lead), finally, I have been saved. Not only is it apple and blackcurrant but the man in the wonderful Tea and Sympathy British corner shop in Greenwich Village gave it us for half price as it's nearly at it's sell by date. best purchase in America so far. If you are for any reason in New York and missing Britain, make sure you visit this place - it has a fish and chip shop on one side and a teashop serving full English roasts on the other, genius.

So those were some fave parts of our trip up north. I can't believe we've been home more than a week already, and definitely cannot wait to go back someday.

xxxxxxxx

Charleston

Our weekend to Charleston began with an uneventful greyhound journey followed by a ride in taxi driven by an extreme Anglophile. He’d learnt what ‘shag’ meant from his english ‘online lady friend’, he let us know that if any of our mothers were single then he’d be on the next plane over, and he finished his confession of love to blighty by saying that he would be willing to do just about anything if it meant he got to listen to an english accent. As you can imagine, we all remained quite silent for the rest of the journey.

Having arrived late to the hostel the next task was getting into bed. Not as easy as it sounds when bed means an unmade top bunk in a dark room with two already sleeping strangers in it, one of which is sleeping below you. Needless to say I lost the fight with the fitted sheet but was so tired by this point that I think I would have been able to get to sleep anywhere!

We awoke to a breakfast of bagels, nutella, jam, cream cheese, tea and coffee. What more do you really want in life? After taking full advantage of this, we headed into town where we then spent the following two days wandering around the colourful streets and alleyways of Charleston.

If you go to Charleston and you’re there at the weekend, don’t miss out on the famers market at Marion Square. Endless stalls of food, drink and gifts line the edges of the large park, bordered on one side by the old citadel and home to a massive statue of everyone’s favourite defender of slavery, John C. Calhoun.

We wandered down King Street until we reached the City Market. This was quite touristy but had the odd stall selling nice things, and the building itself is definitely worth seeing. Also they really go all out on free tasters here, something we all took full advantage of in the fudge shop. I also discovered pecan pralines which I think might be my downfall this year, or maybe even in life as they truly are my favourite thing ever. There’s a nut in there, I can count that as healthy.

Ever since we got off the bus we had all been sounding extremely OAP-esque and exclaiming about how we could smell the ‘sea air’, but it really was so nice to see the sea. I think being here is probably the longest I’ve gone in my life without going to the beach so walking down to the front and out along the pier was pretty good. Oh and the fact we saw a dolphin! I think if people hadn’t realised we were British by that point then the hysterical shouts of BLOODY HELL IT’S A DOLPHIN may have given us away.

Further south is the Battery, a park bordered by massive cannons and more statues of confederate soldiers. There was also a particularly good wedding going on; not only was their vehicle of choice a real life Cinderella carriage (which didn’t look tacky at all surrounded by the prettiness of Charleston) but they also appeared to have a dog as the best man.

We saw a lot of beautiful views over the weekend, peered into some of the nicest houses I’ve ever seen, and ate some amazing food (although I think I may soon turn into a shrimp) BUT the highlight of my weekend happened in an unassuming starbucks as I waited for my drink.

Apparently Flo, Frankie and Joey are not common names round these parts and the server asked us if we were from ‘out of town’. I said we were English and he asked whereabouts in England we were from. Usually this is the point in the conversation where I lie and say London. Back at Warwick half the people I know seem to think Norwich is up north somewhere so as you can imagine, I haven’t had much luck over here. However fate must have been watching over me as I decided to say Norwich. Turns out the starbucks man’s dad was from Wroxham. I left starbucks in a state of shock about just what a small world it is. He knew what Roys was! What a guy.

Nearly everyone you talk to here seems to have some connection to England; a daughter studying at university, an old boyfriend, grandchildren and cousins. In Charleston we found ourselves wandering through the overgrown graveyard of the Unitarian Church. The doorkeeper was locking up but showed us inside the church and told us about its history. As a Unitarian church, they accept people of all religions, races and sexualities, which he said wasn’t exactly popular in a place like Charleston. He told us how he’d spent a few years at an RAF base near Chelmsford, and even joked that Helly’s mum might have been one of the girls who visited the night club there. They really go in for the mum jokes over here.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that Americans seem to think that the British are still hung up about the revolution. As far as I’m aware, most people don’t even really know what it was all about. I’m an American History student and I don’t really know what it was all about. People are definitely not still associating it with how we view America, but I think it’s assumed that we all have a rather large chip on our shoulders about losing to the US back in the day. When we went to the Old Exchange, the last government building to be built by the english in the states, the other people on the tour genuinely wanted to let us know that they hoped we had no hard feelings. So strange.

Sunday consisted of the best lunch ever, Huevos Rancheros followed by french toast made with a cinnamon roll, followed by a stroll through the College of Charleston campus which really was something else; it’s English department definitely put the warwick humanities building to shame. It was also the setting for some of Dear John, so combined with seeing the theatre out of the Notebook we had a very Nicholas Sparky weekend.

We headed back to the hostel via the biggest and most dramatic (old railway station, massive chandeliers and a balcony) Urban Outfitters I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting, and stopped off for a quick dinner at an Asian street-food place with free fro-yo tasters for dessert. I really do think I could successfully live off free tasters here.

One weekend in Charleston wasn't really long enough so hopefully we can visit again soon. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place to eat well, shop to your hearts delight, look round some beautiful houses or just hit the beach.

TEA

Never did I think so much confusion could arise about a drink like tea but since arriving in the South, i have learnt that a good old fashioned mug-teabag-hotwater-milk combo is not the only way you can have your brew.

If you watch this video, listen carefully at about 30 seconds in. That's me everyday.

http://youtu.be/aJCUUbwNzAA

Here in South Carolina, if you ask for a tea and expect a steaming mug of tetleys finest you're going to be thoroughly dissapointed. What you'd get given would be a cold drink, usually with ice. It looks like the iced tea that I find myself buying only when I'm somewhere boiling on holiday. However, looks can be deceiving and try as I might I've been unable to find it anything other than absolutely revolting. To me it tastes like someone's half made your tea, forgotten about it, let it go cold, remembered it again but discovered they are out of milk and said sod it and given you it anyway. Not good at all.

However people here love it! As in really love it. If there's a ever a function on with free food the drinks offered will nearly always be water, lemonade and tea. You can even get it in macdonalds.

To make traditional sweet tea you boil a load of water, add tea bags, and leave for 15ish minutes. Whilst its brewing away, mix an absolutely ridiculous amount of sugar with some water (the recipe I'm getting this from suggests dissolving two or more cups of sugar into three cups of water - goodbye any healthy aspects of this drink) and then mix it with your tea. This for me is where things start to go really downhill because now you're meant to leave it to cool to room temperature and then put ice in it! And more sugar! Madness.I see this as downright wrong, but they go crazy for it in the south so there ya go. 

I've also had the (dis)pleasure of trying bubble tea. I know you can get it at home but I think it's more popular here - again I just do not know why. Apparently we chose bad flavours (I thought mango and green tea would go together quite nicely) but I'm not sure it's disgustingness can be entirely blamed on the flavour. I've never had a protein shake but it's tasted how I imagine they taste, kinda off-milky but then with the added weirdness of black chewy balls in the bottom of it, which every now and then suddenly sneak up the straw at a surprising speed and half choke you. All in all it was not a good drink.

I have had one good tea-related thing and this was a LatTEA which was basically a pumpkin latte with no coffee involvement! I wish Starbucks did more stuff like this as their special Christmas drinks always sound amazing but always have coffee creepin around somewhere in them. Alas, I've only seen this in one cafe so I'm not counting it as a viable replacement for my beloved tea!

So unfortunately, whilst you can quite easily get sweet tea, unsweet tea, bubble tea, LatTEA, Arnold Palmer tea (lemonade and tea), green tea, cinnamon tea and a seemingly infinite amount of weird and wonderful types of tea, unless you're willing to compromise and settle for earl grey (I'm not), in most cases you won't be getting your cuppa. 

(Good job I came prepared.)

xxxxx

Fresh vs Frosh

'Freshers 2k11' will forever hold a place close to my heart. When I first got to Warwick I was terrified about knowing nobody but after the first two weeks of spending night after night on the sticky-floors of the copper rooms, and hours chatting rubbish in the kitchen I realised that I needn't worry, and that G and H block 1st floor kitchens were the place to be.

Here, freshers is...different. I'm not sure how I would have found it had I been an American freshman but observing it from the point of view of a third year exchange student was pretty interesting to say the least...

(I originally wrote this post for the boar so will put a link in at the bottom)

Fresher’s Fortnight

Warwick: Paint parties, X-rated hypnotists (watch out for that one) and three-legged bar crawls. Taking the U1 to the mysterious depths of ‘Leam’ for a night out. Experiencing the horrors/wonders of Smack’s downstairs room for the first time.

USC: Free food. Room decoration workshops. Free food. Pyjama Parties. Free food. BYOB ice cream social, with the B standing for banana. Multiple church organised barbeques. Free food. I understand the repetitiveness of the food element here, but we managed to spend nothing on food for the first week and a half so it deserves multiple mentions.

Dancing (so different it needs its own section)

Warwick: Standard club dancing. Sharking. Only Evolve OR Smack being open therefore the dance floor being so rammedthat you don’t control your dancing, everyone else’s dancing controls you.

USC: Sex with clothes on. Boys politely ask for a dance then proceed to hard-core grind on the girl. Not unusual for the girl to be bent over with her hands on the floor (no exaggeration, this has been the most shocking thing about America so far).

Classes

Warwick: First two weeks are pretty light. You can usually get by in first year with minimal reading and maximum cramming.

USC: Ten classes a week. Reading for every class. Hundreds of dollars you thought you would be spending on Krispy Kremes and plane tickets being spent on books. Pop quizzes, multiple choice tests and midterms so no possibility of end-of-year overnight cramming sessions. On the plus side, attending university events (free food!) gets you extra credit.

Sports

Warwick: Apart from when it’s Varsity, sport matches areonly really relevant to you if you are the one playing in the match.

USC: Gamedays are the most important days of the year. American football is a way of life here in the South and everything at the university revolves around its football team, the Gamecocks. The stadium holds over 80,000 and is sold out for every home match. Games are an all-day event with families and students going to ‘tailgate’ (drink and have barbeques out the back of their giant SUVs) before the match .Giant inflatables of Cocky (the mascot – a big red chicken) are everywhere. Go Cocks!

Rooms

Warwick: Fairy lights. Band posters and photo prints. Shelves decorated with empty vodka bottles. Tidy for first two days and then never tidy again. Small.

USC: Roommate. Gamecocks memorabilia. A bed so high off the ground you have to run and jump to get onto it. Smaller.

Clothing

Warwick: Good days and bad days. Not unusual to see someone turn up to a lecture in a pretty dress, but jogging bottoms/hoodie combinations are equally common.

USC: Norts (Nike shorts). Fluorescent trainers. T-shirt professing your love for USC, my personal favourite of which simply says COCKS in big letters. Rucksack. This combination is the official uniform of USC. If you’re in a fraternity or a sorority then have your Greek letters on you somewhere at all times.

Food

Warwick: Begin with good intentions of cooking from the student cookbook your Gran bought you. Realise how far it is to hike to Tesco and how impossible it is to beat the magnetised trolley system. Give in to a life of cereal, frozen food and takeaways.

USC: Realise that the walk to Tesco was nothing. Walk for 40 minutes to the nearest supermarket in 30 degree heat. Buy way too much and almost perish on the walk back. Give in to a life of cereal, frozen food and eating out because it’s affordable to do that here. Probably return home next year obese.

Students

Warwick: From all over the world. A full spectrum of beliefs and opinions. Ambitious. Outgoing. Kind. Quite probably the people you are going to be friends with for the rest of your life.

USC: See above

Nothing like a good cheesy ending! This is the link to the boar version.

 

 

 

xxxxxxx

color me rad and why stereotyping is too easy

It pains me to type the title of this post using the word color not colour but when in Rome...

Yesterday we got up hideously early to go do a 5k fun run around columbia with the added element of paint powder chucked in (literally). I had been a little apprehensive as running is not my thing at the best of times and although I got into a bit of a gym routine when I first got here, for the last week (or maybe 2) this had failed dismally. However the stress was definitely on the fun rather than the run and people of all shapes, sizes and ages were running, including one lady pulling two fairly old children behind her in a cart, mental.

Along the route were areas filled with people lobbing paint at you and at the end of the run everyone just went crazy and used up all the left overs...

Eveie even managed to get a cheeky pic of us next to the state house with the confederacy flag flying loud and proud (still trying to get my head around the flag being up in such a prominent place and this supposedly being ok).

Speaking of southern pride, after the run we were headed to the farmers market in search of the infamous cronut (the mission was completed and I can confirm cronuts are well and truly worth the hype) and we ended up walking through the LGBT pride event that was on that day. Post-food we walked back the same way and I commented that I was a bit surprised about quite how liberal Columbia seemed that day and maybe it is more progressive here than I'd previously assumed. There was rainbow-printed stuff everywhere and flags up on all the street lamps as well as lots of people browsing the stalls and waiting for the parade that was happening later on.

However when we got to the end of Main Street, standing in front of the State House and therefore directly underneath the confederate flag was a fairly sizeable group of middle-aged, mostly bearded and overweight men, all wearing t shirts emblazoned with sayings about Jesus and holding placards protesting the pride event. Bearing in mind the fact that at this point we were three girls still covered in brightly coloured paint, leaving the street that the Pride Festival was taking place on; they didn't exactly give us friendly looks. Not everyone here is so backward though (obviously) and unfortunately it's only people like these, who represent the extremes of society, that get noticed, (or that people like me end up writing about in their blog....) and the stereotype is reinforced, even though it's not representative of the majority.

When we crossed the road toward the statehouse and the scary men we just kept our heads down. There was a group of four girls walking beside us, who all looked about fifteen. When they saw the protesters ahead of them they proudly coupled up, linked arms and walked right through the middle of them which I think disproves the assumption that everyone in the South is overbearingly right-wing and anti-progressive.

Before I came to South Carolina I believed in the popular stereotypes that often dominate views of the region and whilst a few people here have confirmed aspects of them, for the most part they haven't at all been true indications of Southerners. I've also learnt a lot about what is expected of a British person, apparently being boring, serious and sarcastic are all key, but also honesty and loyalty with regards to friendships. So it's not all bad (although they do think it rains every day in England and apparently all our food is brown stodge - people refuse to believe me when I argue that Fish and Chips are amazing or that English summers do exist).

I realise I've gone off on a bit of a tangent with this but yesterday was the first time I'd really seen anything that strongly reinforced my pre-assumed stereotype of South Carolina, and it was instantly reprimanded by the defiance of the four girls. I think I'm just trying to say that stereotypes are never representative of typicality and for the most part they are just oversimplified and outdated, which I think is something that really everyone knows, but we carry on believing them anyway! There's no where in the world where everyone can be shoved in one box when it comes to beliefs and values, and South Carolina is no exception to this.

Unfortunately It's now hideously late, I'm yet to begin my reading for the morning (I think I hate mondays even more here than I did at Warwick), and I cannot think of anything much else to say because this all got a bit deep for this time on a sunday evening.

Actually, I've also been told that a stereotype of the British is that the only time they are comfortable talking about 'deep' stuff is when they're drunk and as I'm STILL not 21 that's obviously not the case right now. So that explains the abrupt ending to this post.

xxxxxx

First day of fall and a weekend away

This weekend has been full of firsts...

Sunday was officially the first day of fall. The weather here is beginning to cool off a little and the days are slowly getting shorter. On Saturday it was grey and rainy and for the first time in weeks if you squinted a bit at the very american-looking houses and ignored the accent of everyone around you it felt quite a lot like England. Usually I can't stand rain and overcast days but this time it just felt comfortingly familiar. 

We spent the weekend with our friend Paige at her home in Greenville, about an hour or so away from usc, so it was also our first time there. Greenville is a really pretty town with a downtown area full of restaurants, shops and a beautiful waterfall. It was very different to Columbia because the town centre was really compact and bustling, whereas here everything is much more spread out.

Another first was seeing Hallowe'en decorations out on someone's house even though its not even October yet! Hallowe'en things have been in shops here for a while now and I think in general the lead up to it and the night itself are much bigger here than at home. Still, I think the people we saw were just super keen, although we have been told that as soon as hallowe'en is over, as in the very next day, Christmas stuff goes up so maybe that's just how it is here!

I think the weirdest first of the weekend was the food we tried for sunday lunch - alligator! We went for food at an amazing Cajun restaurant and shared some 'gator bites' at the start...so good! They were kind of like calamari. Food ended up being a major theme of the weekend involving chickfila, multiple cookies, a delicious home cooked shepherds pie, bagels and toaster strudels which was effectively apple pie with icing for breakfast, why not.

I also felt that for the first time we really got to see what the surrounding area was like as we didnt spend the whole time on the motorways which was so interesting. We drove through alot of countryside and I realised how beautiful South Carolina is! Lots of rolling hills and open grass fields with little woods and pretty wooden cottages dotted around, all of them with porches and swinging chairs. It looked like something out of a film and was such a nice change to the built up area around Columbia. 

We also visited a World food shop which was pretty fun as it had shelves of European food, including marmite, chocolate fingers, bisto gravy granules and a packet mix for scones! However it unfortunately lacked real dairy milk which was a bit of a disappointment. And my quest to find a bottle of squash in this country continues, I have no idea how that isn't a thing here? Seems like everyone just drinks juice or Gatorade but right now I would kill for some robinsons apple and blackcurrant!

All in all it was such a lovely weekend, mainly because we were lucky enough to stay with Paige's family, including an array of legendary pets which made it feel really homely and a proper break from campus and uni work. The only downside being that I now have a mountain of reading to crack on with so I will leave it there with this post!

xxxxx

month one: done

Warning: this post is really long, and while it is informative, it's not that interesting. Soz in advance.

I have now been in South Carolina for just over a month. If this was Warwick today I would be going home for reading week. What I would give to have a reading week right now! I think I was a bit spoilt by Warwick where we had 5 weeks of lectures, a week off, 4 weeks of lectures and then 5 weeks off for Christmas/Easter. By comparison the term here is beginning to look rather long! USC is not big on breaks; having been here since mid-August I will only get two or three long weekends to see me through until thanksgiving which is at the end of November, and the whole term is 17 weeks rather than the 10 I've got used to.

However it really doesn't feel very long ago that we arrived and I think it's mainly because I have classes everyday so I've definitely slipped into a routine and the weeks are becoming a bit of a blur. The reading here is quite ridiculous. We have each class two or three times a week and there is reading for every lesson so as soon as you're finished for one day you have to start on the next lot. Again, a big difference from Warwick's weekly seminars! 

The actual class structure is also different , much more like A-levels or even high school in that we all have individual desks with the teacher at the front very much teaching rather than initiating discussion. Tests are different too. I had my first exam last week and it was 20 multiple choice questions and two small open questions at the end which was a nice change to just having massive essay questions.

The content of my classes is actually really good (for the most part) which helps with the quantity of the reading, although old habits die hard so I'm definitely still way too reliant on good old wiki. A lot of what I'm studying is about South Carolina or places nearby and in one of my modules we are finishing up the semester by studying Kendrick Lamar's album so it's all pretty interesting!

When I left my second year house in the summer I was pretty sure I had packed absolutely everything however I still managed to leave ALL my kitchen utensils and plates etc and didn't even realise until weeks later when my friend went to pick her stuff up and found it all still in the cupboards. I think this shows that cooking is not really my area of expertise; I was fairly reliant on frozen food last year but also, as a veggie, bought fresh fruit and veg two or three times a week. This is absolutely impossible here as the nearest supermarket is about 40 minutes walk away so I can only really justify going once a week, and even then carrying back a huge amount of shopping is hard because of the heat. We've rented a car once so far to go and get food which is a lot better but it's still very different to just hopping off the U1 and nipping into Tesco on my way home.

Eating out here is pretty good though. The service has been so nice at every place we've been so far; the staff at restaurants are in no hurry to take your order and will get you everything you need. Also most places do free refills for drinks and provide free starters. The food price on the menu always looks cheap but I keep forgetting about tax (why don't they just include this on the menu?!) and also tipping, which is much higher than in England (usually about 20%). But the food so far has been good! I even liked grits which are a traditional southern food but one which I had heard mixed opinions about before trying!

We haven't really been out of Columbia much yet except to Asheville but this weekend we are going to Greenville which should be good. The campus here is very much like Warwick in terms of it being a bit like a bubble because it has everything you need (except fresh food but most of the students here are on a meal plan so it's not a big deal) so after a while it can feel like you haven't been in contact with anyone who isn't part of USC. In first year at Warwick I didn't spend much time in leamington during the day so going home for Christmas and Easter was always a bit of a change in that you remembered old people and children actually exist and everything does not revolve around Uni, and it's a bit like that here as well.

A big difference to Warwick cropped up this week when we attended a reception for international students at the Presidents house. Here at USC the President lives slap bang in the middle of campus which is contrast número uno. I haven't got the slightest idea where Nigel Thrift lives. In fact I don't think I know anything about Nigel, other than his annual pay packet and that's only because of all the attention it got for its increase last year, which is the second major difference. At the reception the President gave a speech, and then stayed the whole evening to talk to the students individually. He shook our hands, got all our names and chatted at length about our time here so far and seemed genuinely interested. Another international student mentioned to the presidents wife that a bike would be really helpful and the next day she had an email from the First Lady offering her the use of her own bike. I cannot imagine something like this happening at home!

Even though I've only been here a month, living somewhere like Columbia which is not really very touristy, especially not for international visitors to America, has enabled me to see aspects of the culture and to see America from a view that I think would be very hard to achieve if you were just here on holiday, or even if you were spending longer in a larger, more metropolitan area. Although England and America have a lot of similarities, the longer I'm here, the more subtle differences keep popping up; in opinions, speech, beliefs, and just generally how things are done here.

Overall the first month here has been a good one. I really didn't know what to expect so I can't say it's exceeded my expectations which sounds negative but it's not meant to be. In the scheme of things I haven't been here long at all but I already feel like we've squeezed a lot in. People here have been, for the most part, overwhelmingly friendly and helpful and for me that has been the best part about it so far. The stereotype of Southern Charm really does exist and while it has taken me a bit of time to get used to it, I am so glad that its a true stereotype.

If you actually read down to here you are craaaaaazy as I realise this post is not all that interesting! But I wanted to have a record of how things are going after a month and I'm currently waiting for my washing to finish so this seemed the best way to spend the time!

xxxxx