Half - A - Semester Later....

SORRY FOR THE WAIT LOVELY READERS!!!

This is brought to you from MIAMI. But it has NOTHING to do with Spring Break.

It's been a crazy half a semester complete with all the highs and lows of this study-abroad programme. In many ways, this semester has been a lot easier - I'm relaxing more because I've finally taken to heart that it's the experience and not the grades that matter here (I mean... it's pass/fail right?) and there's also the small fact that I don't need to strive with all my punitive might to make friends. No, the hard part, the settling in and finding you feet, the geography and the schematics... that's all done. The Safety Net and the Ways That Be, that's all figured out. 

Of course, some things have been very different from first semester. I'm attending entirely different classes, I've fallen in love with the cutest dog ever and my local haunt seems to have been overrun by new exchange types. I do love those new exchanges though - they're all real characters, especially the Aussies and the new Weegies.... and I've finally met the renown Aiden, befriending the plethora of Irish as we go. Furthermore, things are constantly metamorphosing. Fiona and John have both moved rooms, I'm down a room mate (yup, Andrea has gone home to bonnie auld England) and Alex is shacking up with a pretty Southern Belle.

I'm only just beginning to wrap my head around some of the stuff that's happened. It feels like the only reason I'm able to step back and think is because, right now, I'm sitting in Miami, sipping a hard lemonade, the 'Allner-glow' about my pinkish skin and loving the fact that whilst some people are being strange and evasive, this holiday is looking like a wonderful time to make new friends and reacquainting myself with others.  Not only are some of the Godstowe Girls here (namely Nnesochi and Jackie Mocatta) and tonnes of girls from ADPi Miami/Florida bound - but I met the author of Eve of the Gods yesterday! It was rather wonderful, though since then I've had an interesting time with 'the voices in my head' aka nom de plume M.

Thinking about it, I almost don't want to note down the banal, day-to-day activities of Chapel Hill. I've said it once and I've said it a hundred times: UNC is a tiny, blinking light on a billboard, or maybe just a photon floating along the light pathways given off by said billboard or... I don't know - the giant bowl of Mojito is going to my head. But yes - UNC is infinitesimally puny. I miss the city. I miss big, busy, pollution-filled streets, complete with high street shops and bizarre fashionistas and the muddling crowds. I like being one in a big ocean of people, where everyone makes an effort with how they look and yet people won't comment if you're having a frizz-off with a jew-fro; where everyone acknowledges each other with glances rather than with drawn out small-talk conversations; where dinner is had with a glass of wine and no one looks askance when you buy Ben&Jerry's alongside Pinot Grigio. Chapel Hill is sweet, friendly, you could sleep in the park without fear of lunatics there - in fact, some passerby is more likely to check you into a hotel than to steal your purse - but my god, it's wonderful to be out of the rhythms that harken back to the GCSEs and IBs. What a sweet, strange, nostalgia accompanies the international student at Chapel Hill. 

So instead I'll update you on.... something else. People maybe. Spring break, certainly. But for now, I can promise I'll be back writing in the next few days.

LOVE TO YOU ALL.

Je serai poète et toi poésie,
SCRIBBLER

Frenzied

A Very Short Ramble 

Today is one of those idyllic days that England would only ever see once or twice a year. It's cool, hitting highs of only 17degrees celsius but with a sky so blue and a wind so fresh that it'd hard to remember that this is North Carolina and not a blinding day on the Dorset coast. I went to collect a package (proper British Earl Grey - thank you family!!!) and buy something for lunch (sushi which turned out to be day-old and rancid), it was a nice break from the absolute paralysis of today.


Last night you see, well and Thursday's little adventure, was brilliant. We'd planned for a while to all have dinner at the Wonderful-304 and that finally came into fruition and then, although I was meant to be going to the Mallard Ball,  we ended up in a place called Pulse.


There were sooo many of us and we all tried Long Island Ice Teas: vodka, rum, tequila, triple sex, gin and then a dash of sweet/sour something and coke, although Andrea dashed mine to the floor and then John tipped his down Emma. But all in all rather amusing.

There were only four of the 'well-known-faces' out though and we all cheers to Fiona and to her family because we missed her moves on the sticky old dancefloor. And the fact that between John and Wevine, the rest of us stood no chance in the sing-off!!


Maybe I should feel a little disappointed that I missed the first sorority cocktail but it was so much fun last night that I really can't bring myself to!!


Anyway, I shouldn't be updating this (blame it on boredom and the slight guilt I feel for not updating in sooooooo long before) right now - I should be knuckling down on the essay I have due on Monday. A far-too-short essay comparing the wonderful La Rabouilleuse (The Black Sheep) by Honore Balzac and Dicken's less intriguing Hard Times. Definitely should have done more by now. But it'll be done and I've actually formulated a question now so that's a good start!!!

Je serai poète et toi poésie,
 SCRIBBLER

Misuse of Boys and Booze

Misuse of Boys and Booze

 The First Night of Festival TWENTY-ONE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

Some might think that it seems a bit strange that I'm so excited about being 21 - or they might think it's a bit Over-the-Top but since it conincided with the ending of that infamous rule about no boys or booze it seemed like a great excuse to vamp up the party and go a little bit crazy!!

So this is/was the Event!! 

On the 10th of September 1990 a yellow baby popped out of her wailing mother a whole month too soon. Twenty-one years later it''s TIME TO PARTY in Chapel Hill as the yellow baby is now all growed up and not-so yellow. Festivities begin on Franklin Street on FRIDAY for a BAR CRAWL all the way from one end to the other, continuing for as long as we can stand. The SATURDAY is the more important day- because it's my actual birthday you see - venue to be confirmed by the lovely and wonderful Lillie Cochran - for a houseparty where I'm wondering how many vats we can fill with concoctions to get all y'all legal-in-the-UK-but-not-in-NC as merry as any British drunkard. Everyone is welcome - all of the wonderful people I've met through Rush, all the people I've met in ADPi and the other various houses, all the people from the various house parties, Lexis and Mark please invite the rest of the people I met because I loved so many of them etc etc. Let's just all get together and have the best weekend of silliness we can.

We looked pretty nice and normal early on in the night... But we didn't really succeed on doing a real bar crawl (but then those usually do end in failure at some point) and I've definitely lightened up on how much I can drink - darn the laws that have pretty much kept me sober since I arrived!!! 

 It's probably pretty fair to say I lost my inhibitions quite fast.

But then so did John May!!!

 We had a great night - starting at Kildares and not really leaving and then heading to Top-of-the-Hills Back Bar. Both of them are awesome and since Kildares genuinely harks back to it's Irish roots (it was a little bit like an inauthentic Brass Monkey) we Brits felt very much at home!! The Back Bar is kind of interesting though - it's covered in chalk writing and has table games taking up most of the space. I remember rather vaguely perching on the arm of a chair...

 Anyway, I'm sure second impressions will give us a bit more clarity.

On a different note it was amazing to wake up this morning, Swagger Jagger still on the brain and banging out its beat on the inside of my skull,  to see the video (on the right) on my facebook wall. Thanks to John Martin you all can see my life spanning out in front of you. From the yellow baby to only a week ago, I'm horrified, amused, nostalgic and amazingly happy when I go through that video. I can't believe I'm so old! And that so many almost forgotten memories are still around in photographic form (slightly concerning maybe?).  

Massive love to the family and the Nicholls, the Martins, the Wallaces, granny and grandpa, granny Max, all the other Allners and Nolans, the kids in Zealand watching the Rugby, the Stewerts, my Shmoo and my Person, Mia (wonderful shortbread om nom nom), everyone who features in this video alongside me and all the wonderful friends that are plaguing my facebook wall with Happy Birthday comments. Thank you so so so much for everything and even though I wish that everyone could be here for tonight as the festivities continue, I just wanted to let you all know that I love you lots and will see you soon!!


Right now I need to go shower and take of yesterdays make-up. Urgh how grimy.


But OH!!! Before I forget!!!

I'm in a SORORITY!!! I got AD-Pi!! Arrrrrggghhh I'm aaan ADPirrraaaattteeee!!! HOW EXCITING!!!! You can expect a post on that soon!!!

Je serai poète et toi poésie, 
SCRIBBLER

No Boys. No Booze.

No Boys. No Booze.

A Micro-blog Story about an American Tradition 

RUSH. 

For most of the English, the word 'rush' reminds you of the mad dash to the bus or to the train/tube, or to lectures when you're running late, to that Ceilidh you forgot you were meant to be going to, that party, that coffee shop, that house. It may, if you say it too fast sound like slightly onomatopoeic, or just a little bit like thrush. It probably doesn't mean to spend ten days in increasingly nice outfits, visiting various houses, talking to more girls than you can recognise and spending a lot of it completely baffled. If you have any idea about what 'rush' is here, you probably don't think to consider the much loathed rules of 'no boys, no booze' in conjunction with this strange phenomena. Because this is Sorority Rush: the ultimate Southern American tradition in which girls desperately try to make other girls fall in love with them and invite them to join their Chapter (which is not a segment of a book either) and make the university experience a little less intimidating.

It's the Greek System - famous for it's parties, red cups, hazing, inter-house bitching and tall-leggy-blonds. But I can now give you a slightly different first glance. This is a slightly longer than normal entry that has been written in micro-blog form about Rush. I didn't want to publish anything as I went along (also hence the lack of updates recently) because I didn't want to offend anyone or influence anyone with something I said on here.  I hope that it's now ok that I do so. 

Firstly I think I probably need to give you some background on the UNC system (see here for some definitions). Rush consists of FOUR ROUNDS. These Rounds each have an individual role - as Round One is 'song round' and you spend 25minutes at every house. Round Two is 'skit round', you go to a maximum of seven houses and you spend about half-an-hour at those houses. Round Three is 'philanthropy and food', you go to a maximum of five houses, spending about 30 minutes there again, being offered a lot of delicious food and being shown what each Chapter does for the philanthropic element of sorority life. Round Four you go to a maximum of three houses and spend about 45minutes at each house, being given an insight into one of the rituals of the house and ending with Preference Night where you rank your options in order of preference (pretty obvious huh?). Bid Day, the day after Preference Night is where you stop being a PNM and 'pledge' to the house that offers you a Bid. 

So here we go, here's my journey into the strange and bemusing underbelly of Greek Life.


PRE-RUSH
Meet ONE - We had our first meeting today. In it we were introduced to our 'Ro-Kis' (Recruitment Counsellors) and our groups. There's apparently 750 girls Rushing for spaces in the houses this year and we're all split up into groups of about 20-odd girls. The Clef-Hangers, an all-male acapella group performed a selection of songs, including a HILARIOUS rendition of Party Rock - it had to be the whitest version of that song I've ever heard. Andrea, sitting on my left seemed to agree. There was a lot of 'this will happen', 'that will  happen', 'don't do this', 'do do this', 'wear this', 'don't wear this' etc. Not sure what else to say though, I'm not sure how I feel about it.


Meet TWO - We were given our T-Shirts this time that we have to wear for the first round (part of, I suppose, the $50 sign-up fee - bloody expensive t-shirt!!) and then were all settled on the floor of the Great Hall in the Student Union as we were before for a Q&A sort of thing. I'm still not feeling like I really want to do this. Everyone here seems very young, I don't think I'm massively keen on the RCs (I'm the same age but I feel like they're acting like I'm 10) and I despise these ridiculous constraints. 'No boys, no booze'? Seriously? I've been here two weeks I'm not going to cut my friends out of my life, especially when it would mean I'd only have two friends left. And I seem to be in the much coveted position where the majority of my classmates are guys. And I like them. They're a really nice bunch. This rule is ridiculous. Maybe I'll just go for a loose interpretation of it. Anyway ROUND ONE TOMORROW!! AH!! Do I really want to do this???

ROUND ONE 

Today can be characterised in two words: UTTERLY INSANE.


<<<< This is what I was wearing. The GO GREEK is actually the back but I thought that was probs the most important bit to show... Also made us pretty obvious targets for the non-Greeks and frat-boys to mock as we soon discovered.
Anyway there are ten sorority houses spread out primarily over Franklin and Rosemary Streets. Every house is SO cute; the Kappa Delta house is especially pretty, looking like a gingerbread house but painted a gorgeous grey-blue. But that cuteness, the endearing frontier, quickly vanished as a hoard of screaming, whistle-blowing, pots-and-pans-banging, prancing girls chanted through the windows before pouring out the house. It could very easily be a metaphor: on the outside we're lovely, on the inside - well... you may not want to know. 

Backtracking, I should probably explain how things go. You walk to each house in your distinctive tee, carefully trying to follow the map but being herded by numerous Ro-Kis down shortcuts that bemuse you. You arrive at the house and line up outside, usually in alphabetical order (this is all part of the system of remembering who goes where). You have a name tag on, and a name card that you'll give to the house when you arrive. You then wait. After a few moments of awkward small talk with other PNMs everyone is told to be quiet and the screaming begins. Actually, that's not quite right... usually the house has a chant, kind of like a team-shout in Lacrosse (eg. H.A.I.L.E.Y.Bee.You. Arrr.Why. WOO), which they sing it to you before the screaming begins. Then the sisters come out to lead you into the house. This usually includes them lining up in a formation and smiling at you with their shiny american teeth.


A girl 'collects' you. You go into the house and are usually ushered into a large space (emptied kitchen, hollow dining room, barren basement) that's been decorated with balloons and streamers and it's now that you realise that the house has a theme. One of the houses was 'rave' theme with white shoes and amazing technicolour shoelaces; another was nautical, another wore electric t-shirts and white shorts etc. They perform a song that  has somethign to do with friendship and sisterhood and forever and ever sentiments. After this you're led somewhere else in the House and begin a series of 'small talk' conversations with the girl. Usually these questions are pretty banal. Here is an example:


"Hey, how you doing?"


"Pretty good you?"


"OMG WHERE ARE YOU FROM!? What is that ACCENT?!"


"I'm from London."


"No WAY! I love London - one of our girls was there last semester...."


As you can imagine, I got that a lot. Of course, whether or not you have any 'deeper' conversations is sort of a weird mix between whether or not you speak to more than just one or two people and whether or not you want to. I had a lot of London conversations, but I also had a lot of conversations about how I was liking Rush, how different it was to home, whether or not the girl I was talking to wanted or had done any travelling, where they'd like to go if they could travel, what subjects they took etc.


If I was going to characterise the experience I'd have to say it's a bit like speed-dating for a home. You meet so many people, receive so many first impressions, become overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and sweat like Sea Biscuit as you fall out of one house only to mad-dash to the next.


There are so many details I want to note down - from the Tri Delts literally making my ears ring as they banged a saucepan by my head, to the beautiful bubbles blown from KD from their balcony and the amazing girls I met, but I want to keep this micro so I'd better stop for now.

ROUND TWO

Dressed up a little bit today in my favourite floaty skirt and a simple white tank top and a waist belt, I went back to six out of a possible seven today. I was a little surprised to see KKG as the first on my schedule but I had so much fun on Round One and meeting so many lovely girls that I don't really mind that it's a bit of a trek away. Plus right now it's not too hot and it's a really good excuse to go to the Carolina Inn to book my birthday brunch on Sunday. It's Labour Day today,  by the way, so everyone else I know is either still in bed and very firmly ensconced in their sheets or drinking somewhere, chilling in sun. I'm looking forward to this round a lot more than I was looking forward to Round One because now I know there's nothing to worry about, that everyone is lovely and that this is something that no matter how it works out, I'm going to be happy.


It seems to me that this whole thing is a lot like being at Boarding School, only you actually get to try and persuade a House you like to accept you on the basis of who you get along with rather than being randomly allocated one. Today is Skit Round, it started much the same way with excitable and enthusiastic girls leading you into their house, settling you down in their basement/kitchen/space again to watch a Skit instead of a song and then you go off and have more conversations, usually about more detailed things or interesting things.


I went to KKG, AD-Pi, KD, Phi Mu, Chi-O and Tri Delt. I loved all these houses on the first day, although I admittedly loved some more than others. I was also kind of surprised to be going back to Phi Mu and KKG because I'd not really remembered things so well at those houses. Although I did have a really interesting conversation about Africa. So maybe that's why. I LOVED this round though.


The three Skits that stood out were ADPi, KD and Chi-O although Tri-Delts was pretty cool too.


ADPis was probably my favourite because it had two girls in a forest lost and looking for the way home. They  run into Hansel und Gretel who tell them that they're sad they don't have an ADPi to go back to or to miss instead they have breadcrumbs from 1859... a bit later these girls then run into rappers who did an awesome rap about ADPi being epic and was written by one of the girls in the house... a bit later they then run into 'Frattie, Douchie and The Smell', frat boys - one of which quoted Tolkien, the very quote that I used on this blog (see here). It was brilliant and hilarious and made me love the house. I also had another series of great conversations with the girls (I think?)

Chi-O's was also amazing because it was based off the Breakfast Club and now, having downloaded and watched this amazing 80s film, I can say I'm even MORE in love with their skit. After all, how many houses will dress up like Bikers and crack Eggbert on their head?


And KD? Well suffice to say that Lillie on roller skates was BRILLIANT and the girls all seemed to have so much fun that the whole thing was contagious. Loved it.


I'm pretty hungry now though. I reeeeally wish we'd been given dinner. 

ROUND THREE

This time I had five houses, only losing Phi Mu from my list of houses. I can't say I'm surprised, although I loved everyone I met, I don't think any of the conversations we had were ground breaking or particularly exciting.


So today I wore my little red dress from Zara - chosen first by my sister in the store and today by Andrea who simply laughs at my hopelessness when it comes to dressing myself.


I wasn't quite sure what to make of this round. I had some great chats, looked around the houses (all of which are gorgeous), listened to how their philanthropy work is done and who they support and why, spoke to some of my favourite people in each house including Anna and Emily in ADPi, Wevine and Lillie in KD and Caroline in Chi-O. It was so nice to spend more time with them all and to just chat without all the small talk and stuff. I really think that with these girls I could genuinely join a chapter and love it. This is a very short entry but it's not quite such and extreme and strange concept any more. That, and I'm beginning to realise that next round I'm going to be trying to rank these houses in order of preference. I have no idea how I'm meant to do that.

ROUND FOUR

I still don't know how I managed to write down an order for the houses I went back to today. Chi-O, ADPi and KD. I love the girls in all of them. I wish there was a way to be an Alpha Kappa Chi. Or a Delta Delta Omega or a Kappa Chi Alpha or any hybrid of the three.


Anyway, tonight was Ritual Night. I don't know how much I'm allowed to say or how much I ought to say. Each house, you see, has a selection of rituals and as PNMs on pref-night we were allowed a glance into their traditions. In one house it included the lighting of candles and small individual speeches followed by what it means to be in that house. In the next it included being given a flower and being told what it represented before being asked to place it in a vase thus unifying those traits, again this was elaborated upon with some small personal stories. The last house was set up with candles and lillies in a beautiful centre-piece before letters were read and candles lit and plucked rose petals placed in a bowl of water. As I experienced these very personal traditions, sitting in my long dress, I again realised...


 ... How on earth do I chose?


I love Chi-O because they're so warm and so lovely and their house is covered with Owls which reminds me of Zoe and Edinburgh. I love the fact that they ARE so much like the Breakfast Club - I've met so many girls that I just adore and who I would love to spend more time with and I hope that no matter what things end up as I do manage to see some of them again.


I love KD because everyone I've met in their has been so sweet and accepting and because Lillie has just been such a star and I'd love to be in the same house as her. Their home is like a gingerbread house. I also love that they have that awesome map of the world on their staircase and that there are strings running from Chapel Hill to places that I'd love to go too. Not one person in KD has made me feel any different about how much I like them and I know I'd be happy there.


I love ADPi because I feel at home there - everyone I've met has made me smile and their home is fantastic - it feels like a home. I know that to some extent this familiarity is because of Rebecca and Abby but I feel like they've all been so welcoming. From the moment I sat in the rocking chair on the porch and freaked out because it was one of the things I so desperately wanted to do in America to the moment I walked out of it tonight, I've always thought it was great. 

I've now handed in Preference Sheet and tomorrow I find out who/if I have a Bid. I want to finish this though by saying that I have had the most amazing experience and although I don't know what'll happen tomorrow, I'm so glad that I did this. It was such a ridiculous, stereotypical American thing to do whilst also being so much more than that. I've met some brilliant girls and I hope I'll be able to keep in contact with many many many of them. In fact, I really hope that some of them will be coming to my 21st in two days time.


By then, these silly rules will be DONE and I'll never have to look back on that little blip in the whole thing. Not that I really abided by them (don't tell anyone but philosophy is best done with a glass of wine in hand), but nonetheless - PARTY TIME!!

Do you want to go Shag?

Do you want to go Shag?

Culture Shock and Other Stories

The other night... well, about a week ago or so, we were at a party at the Lexis'. The five of us Brits were looking very much like the stereotypical English/Scottish we are as we bobbed from side to side to the music playing, sipping at our drinks and making small talk with strangers who gushed about our wonderful accents. It was during one of these conversations when this rather charming young man from Wilmington turned to me, asking me whether I'd like to go shag. 

My mind flew to the gutter and I rather embarressingly stuttered out, "Er... umm... no."

He looked rather crest-fallen but my face must have been horror-stricken. I'd only known him about ten minutes at this point.

"You don't like to dance then?"

HUH? My mind is rapidly rushing out of the gutter now, "What?" I asked a little more eloquently but still utterly confusedly.

"Or... wait... do you shag in Britain?"

Yes we do shag in Britain, I want to say, but I'm completely lost by this point, how else would I be here?! And then the penny drops as I remember a flippant comment long ago as my mother explained how Martha was a very good shag-dancer. 

The Carolina Shag is a dance. A little bit like our old school rock-n-roll that parents like to bring out at parties but mixed up with what looks like flamenco footwork to me. 

Oh and there goes the tornado siren again. I can imagine some of the expressions right now. My mum will look aghast but my sister will probably have her hand over her mouth in a strange expression of amusement and concern. Shadenfruede. Jay is probably doing that weird half-grin thing whilst Zoe reads on with distress - it's the South after all and maybe Chapel Hill is going up 'Wizard of Oz' style. Holt... well he'll look at this with the eye of a literature student and wonder if this is good reading. 

So on a day like today I feel almost completely at home. It's grey outside, it's under 30C and it's been raining for most of the day. But then, like with almost every day, something happens that reminds me that this isn't home at all. Today it was a tornado siren going off as I turned the kettle on thus thwarting my attempts to make tea. But yesterday it was Rush Round Three and seeing how different their systems are; before that it was being asked if I wanted to go shag. This is 'culture shock' - infamous and a little bit intimidating.

They say it consists of various stages including the honey-moon period, disillusionment period, homesickness, assimilation and autonomy. It sounds almost scientific. 

This is my rendering: 

It was done in Paint whilst waiting for the All-Clear from Alert!Carolina so Mock away. 

I think it'll probably happen - especially now that I'm getting messages from people about being back in Edinburgh, walking past the old 2/2, realising that unlike everyone else I'm not coming back this year(thanks for that one Holt I very nearly teared up =P). But despite the moments where I feel critical or lonely or very very far away from home, or terrified about a natural disaster, or thinking 'oh so-and-so would love this' before realising so-and-so will likely never see 'this' and feeling rather morose - despite all those things and many many more, I already feel like this is a place I could fall in love with and never want to leave. 

There are, as John May already pointed out, many things that are ODD (those capitals are necessary) about being in America. The toilets are really low and 'full to the brim with water', he says, and the traffic lights are barmy (you have to add at least an extra five-ten minutes of walk time to lectures because of the lights). The traffic runs backwards, pedestrians are 'peds', lectures are compulsory, tutorials can be almost 50 people big, you can't drink until you're 21, night life closes at 2am, you get random days off for things no one understands, mere month-year-old babies are brought to university football games in full UNC uniform, there is more carolina blue than stars, a kettle is a water boiler, tea has to be bought from a health-food store, the university supplies starbucks, the Old Well is a water fountain, the buses are free, the food is all fried and twice the size of anything you'd eat at home, the people are all friendly and the little silver coin that looks like a five pence is worth more than the medium silver coin that looks like a fake ten piece. 

Confused yet?

There's more - but I'll make another list for those at some point. Despite all the confusion, despite all those weird little things that I'm hoping will suddenly arrange themselves into a moment of Fridge Brilliance, I'm loving it here and don't worry, I just received a text from Alert!Carolina giving us the ALL CLEAR for the time being on the tornado front. 

So back to real life (if you can call this real life) and on y vas!

Je serai poète et toi poésie,
SCRIBBLER

HURRICANE!!!

IRENE
The Storm of a Generation

Irene. Irene. Irene. I-Reeeee-eeeen.

Wait... sorry that's Joleen. But we're all rather glad that the Hurricane didn't quite live up to expectation here in Chapel Hill.

Yes, that's right, despite that huge swirling mass that you can see in the picture above as the storm graced the East Coast with its presence, we're all ok. It was strange actually - I admittedly slept through a lot of the rain, waking up quite late after a crazy night on Pritchard Avenue - but it was pretty much like that infamous day in Edinburgh all those months ago.

If you remember The Windy Day, it was a Thursday and it seemed like the sun never rose it was so dark. Trees were uprooted, branches snapped in the wind, slates came off rooves, people buttoned up their Barbour jackets as tight as possible and donned their heaviest boots to reassure themselves that they wouldn't fly away. It poured and poured. We pushed against the horizontal winds as they lashed out around us and laughed and joked as thunderous gusts bellowed above us. We thought it was insane. We were insane. We just giggled as we dashed through the Meadows and as the Boreads tried to push us back down the steps from DHT.

Well people here weren't joking or laughing. They were sending out warnings about moving electricals away from windows, hiding valuables like passports in places far away from the door, memorising routes to safe places in-case-of-evacuation.

But it was no worse than Edinburgh here.

Of course, that's not to make little of the effects Irene has had on the rest of the American East Coast.

For some people it's been terrible and there are people here whose friends and/or family were moved out of the danger zone or who chose to flee the coast before the storm hit.

I just wanted to make sure you all knew that things in Chapel Hill have continued as usual (despite some very heavy rain and some gusting winds) and no one needs to worry (if any of you were). In fact it's now a beautiful beginning to another Carolina Blue day right now and probably a Carolina Blue Week. As they all say here: God must be Southern.

My thoughts are with those who have been effected by this event.


Je serai poète et toi poésie,
SCRIBBLER

EARTHQUAKE!!

The First Day of Class

On the first day it's traditionally been considered good luck to drink from the Old Well. Traditionally, the frat boys have always pissed in it the night before.  

Luckily for us it's no longer a well but a water fountain. Oh and they give out bottles of it the night before classes begin.

The first day of 'real' UNC life began on Tuesday and what a day!! It started off pretty mundane, eight o'clock crawl from bedroom to bathroom, glaring at the carolina-blue sky outside as it  blinded my sleepy eyes. Then the nine o'clock trek from South Campus Horton to top-of-the-North-Campus Caldwell Hall. At this particular moment everything was going a long just as a first day should be.

My first lecturer, Professor Lescher, introduced the class to German Idealism and Continental philosophy. I sat scribbling furious notes and trying to focus on understanding the quotes from Kant. I think it's going to be quite a useful class although I'm not looking forward to buying all the books he's recommended. First stop today is going to be the library's philosophy section.

Anyway, after class,  by-passing the Old Well, I ran into Abby Hart then ambled down to the Library to meet up with some of the others. This eventually ended up with Alex and I going for Lunch, only, we decided to go for Chick-Fil-A. ERROR.

It ought to come with a warning. Chick-fil-A, for all those nut-allergy sufferers out there, is cooked in peanut oil and they don't come with a disclaimer sign like most would. Not going to lie, tasted pretty good, if a little odd. KEEP AWAY smart nutters. Anyway, this small mishap meant I went to the health centre, made friends with the nurses and was given a shot of the epinephrine/adrenaline that I've never used before. Then they dosed me up on these heavy pills. The whole thing was hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing.

And then there was the EARTHQUAKE!!

This is one of the News reports of the earthquake.

It was really strange because at first we all thought it was construction or something because it was just a rumble but then we properly started going up and down!! I thought that I was hallucinating or imagining it at first too because of the crazy drugs but apparently that wasn't the case and they made me sit and 'try to ignore it'. That's good advice right? How to protect yourself in an earthquake - pretend it's not happening.



Anyway, so after that things were kind of calm. I went to my first lecture with Simon Blackburn (which was AWESOME). He's pretty cool, seems quite chilled and dislikes the 2.5 hour lecture as much as we do. Who seriously thinks a young-adults brain is going to stay alert and brilliant for 2.5hours from 4pm to 6:30pm???

So we left early, had dinner in Lenoir - I was still high as a kite from whatever the nurses gave me - and had fun with the nalgene machine.

That evening we went to a 21st of a girl called Emma Edwards from the first frat party we went to!  She's lovely, crazy curly haired (on the night) with a huge smile and a really good laugh - we all turned up and she was wearing a huge medallion with the twenty-one things she had to do on her twenty-first. I so want one of those for mine! We scuttled between that party and the frat party down the road (another Phi-Delt party) and just managed to escape the house before the cops came to break it up!! Luckily Emma's bash was still in full-swing so we just went back and had a rave over there. Most of the invitees were part of a hip-hop dance group too so they were AMAZING dancers which made me and Fiona a wee bit nervous at times I think.

The way home was just as eventful - as Andrea and I made the trip back on the P-2-P, a fight broke out on the bus, a drunk girl made me promise to go to Las Vegas when I turn 21 and a sophomore asked me out on a coffee date!

These people are CRAZY.

Next time, I'll tell you all about Irene.

Je serai poète et toi poésie,
SCRIBBLER

What Percentage Virginity Are You?

To quickly explain the odd title of this post, I need to explain that, in an utterly baffling conversation a couple evenings ago, Fiona was asked what percentage of a virgin she was by her fierce room-mate Tiffany from Fayetteville. Natural instinct to the British would probably be to say you either are (100%) or you're not (0%) but apparently not in North Carolina. You can be a 77.3% virgin, a 21% virgin, a 5% virgin. Not sure exactly how they calculate this, but I thought you might find it vaguely amusing to learn back home.


We certainly found it hilarious.


This conversation came after we had our first American House Party and our first Frat-Party!!!


As you can see we have the read cups down! And the goofy posing.
What you don't realise is that these red cups are from the House Party - they had a system where you turned up, paid a fiver and were given a cup which then meant you could have unlimited alcohol paid for by the hosts all night. The drink was a mixture of this stuff called EverClear. It's a grain alcohol that's essentially just-about-legal moonshine. The first party had mixed it up with lemonade and about my weight in sugar in their bathtub which you then scooped out with your cup. Classy right?


The Frat guys were even better, you didn't have to contribute but they had mixed their stuff in bins. I seriously hope they were cleaned first.... But as you can see we had fun taking over the dance floor. Oh yes! The Frat house (Phi Delta) has a full on dance floor with DJ and techie.


The house itself is just amazing in general. It's that same southern antebellum that I keep talking about but it's hard to believe that students our ages live in these houses like their own. Think of the houses that old aristocracy owned in the UK once-upon-a-time and then imagine living in it at university. It's akin to that sort of situation although the houses aren't quite as huge. Us three girls have decided to Rush though which is kind of exciting. Imagine if we became 'sisters' in a sorority house and moved out of dorms? I don't know if I'd go that far to be honest since I think most of the girls in the houses are younger and the older years live out in their own houses, albeit still usually with their sisters.


Since then things have been pretty crazy.


The university had organised a party at Target (imagine having a DJ in asda or tesco). It was bizarre!! Several hundred students descended on the store, dashing through the aisles as music pumped through the air and snatching up budget items for their rooms.

 People were really dancing!!

And Alex couldn't resist doning the MAN OF STEEL boxers. 

You may have seen these photos on one of my new pages too - I've started an 'American to English Translator' page and a 'Tar Heel Characters' page just for ease.


Finally FALL FEST - a 10pm-2am freshers fair in the street with huge stages, performances and lots and lots of Christian groups. I've signed up for my acapella groups and sports societies and the odd dramatic arts thing. Not quite the same without my Edinburgh friends but amazing all the same.


Je serai poète et toi poésie,
SCRIBBLER

First in Flight

Welcome to North Carolina

First in Flight

So I've been here a few days now and things have been pretty hectic hence the lack of an update to let you all know how things are going. 

I spent the first few days at the beautiful Carolina Inn. It's an amazing hotel that adheres to the full traditional southern style, which is kind of like a relaxed and happy version of Luton Hoo or the Manoir. They call it a cross between southern antebellum and colonial revival, but it reminds me a little bit of Haileybury. Actually... quite a lot of the buildings have that Georgian style to them that I associate with the front of Terrace and the entrance to Big School. They had the most comfortable beds that I've ever slept on, you could just sink into it, but without drowning as some super soft beds are wont to do. Anyway this was our room:

It might look a little dark but it was amazing - and so cool compared to the incredible heat outside. 

Anyway, the Carolina Inn is actually part of the university itself, having been donated by John Sprunt-Hill, an ancestor of one of my friends here, in 1935. It was design to cater to the 'special wants' of both university students and relatives when in Chapel Hill, but it has a great history from WWII. They were the official kitchen for troops during the war and had a huge cafeteria, now a grand hall, and photos line the walls of soldiers and veterans. I think it's kind of nice how much support they show for the Armed Forces here. Just down the road is the ROTC building too, which is also gorgeous and has this amazing front with three doors for the army, naval marines and air force. In the UK, I swear it would just be a grey, granite building with function rather than anything like this.

So moving on, I've moved in!! Ah!! It's really exciting!! I'm currently actually sitting on my bed, propped up on the colourful excess of pillows, sipping from my nalgene and relishing the air-conditioning. It's a 'cool 88F' here today, with a humidity of  51% right now so it feels even hotter. They're calling the weather 'autumnal' and all of us exchange kids are sitting here going 'my bloody god it's boiling' and their faces slipping off in the sun. 

As you can see it's blue blue sky!! 

And here is the historic Bell Tower, which is pretty much the land mark I use figure out where I am all the time.The Bell Tower rings like every fifteen minutes or something - so you can never get completely lost as long as you follow the sound.

It's quite amusing because we're down in South Campus by the huge Basketball Stadium and beyond the even bigger Kenan Stadium. It's a little ways from the main buildings and lectures but the walk will be good for us considering how HUGE the portions are!!! Every meal is like twice the size of tasteful - not that I'm really complaining because it's really good food and you can take away leftovers in boxes that are offered no matter where you are. 

I've been trying the local 'cuisine' - I feel like I should be calling it something special though like... grub... or something specific to the south. So far I've had Shrimp and Grits, Catfish and Biscuits. Grits is like a corn mix that some describe as 'hot cereal' but I think it's more like savoury semolina. And Biscuits aren't biscuits - they're scones, but also savoury. All the food is either really salty or really sweet it seems though and almost everything comes with either butter or cheese. We went to walmart for the first time (rather exciting) and all we could find was this weird butter that was 'sweetened and creamed butter: salted'. Weird? I've also been getting rather well acquainted with the Franklin St foodies. We've been to the Carolina Coffee Shop, BSkis, Spanky's, the Mediterranean Deli, Four-Eleven-West and Top-of-the-Hill. Eating out though is going to soon become expensive. I might have to invest in a meal plan so that I'm never in the position where I just don't have enough to really eat, especially since their bank accounts are a little bit confusing still at the moment. 

Ramble on food done. Once mum figures out her computer I'll also have a whole load more photos to put up of the room before the big move in but right now I've only got 'after' photos. 

My roomie is called Andrea. 

She's a lovely girl who has such a complicated background in terms of where she's from that I find it hard to follow. Suffice to say that she was born in Germany, lived in California, then Costa Rica, then Guatamala, the the UK and now here! But she's half Argentinian and half German (but her father was actually born in Russia). So you see what I mean??? We're in 407 and our room is AWESOME. It's very chilled out and we have music playing constantly and neither of us seem to be antagonised by any of the other's tunes. I think we're both pretty relaxed people when it comes to sharing the space and just getting on with things (although I'm sure it'll be a different story come assignment time). 

Then there's Fiona and John, both from Glasgow, who are in the building across the road from us. It's called Craige and is pretty much identical to ours which is cool. Fiona's living with an awesome girl from Fayetteville. She seemed a little excited to be rooming with someone British. John is with the mysterious 'TJ' whose real name has nothing to do with the letter J. Apparently, according to John's prolific facebook stalking, this TJ is a chilled seeming black bassist. I'm excited to meet him.

We've also met Alex, who rather bravely approached us on his own to say hello after noticing our accents at breakfast at the Carolina Coffee Shop.

Somehow between the five of us we've already formed a nice wee group that I think will mean that if we do go through the 'week six - wtf am I doing here' phase, as Amanda predicts, we'll be ok and have some good friends to drink tea with. 

On a final note that I thought was really interesting - the North Carolina number plate is the reason for the title of this entry. Here it is:

Did you know the Wright Brothers, the first people to ever put a plane into the sky and properly fly it, were from North Carolina? No?? Well that might be because both North Carolina and Ohio claim the credit for the Wright Brothers and human aviation. It's a rivalry epitomised by their competing plates. What a way to try and stake a historic claim. 


Je serai poète et toi poésie,
SCRIBBLER

Good Morning UNC!

I'm here. I've arrived. The wait is over. The Scribbler is officially ON TOUR.


The flight over was interesting; we bought our tickets through BA and of course had assumed that it would be a BA flight as you do, but it wasn't - come check in we'd discovered it was an American Airlines flight (which really isn't the same product at all). The plane was a dark gun-bolt silver, the colour George used to paint his Space Marines before the lick of blue. Inside it was old, the seats still became floatation devices and everyone who wanted to watch a film had to do so on the hanging box-screens that, back in the nineties, was already old. It was bumpy at times, we lurched and we trembled and every time the seat belt signs went  on a tin voice told us to sit down and strap up. But we landed and that's what counts. Even if I doubted we would at times.


The sun was just coming out as we touched down after a brief electric storm (part of the reason the flight was so bumpy). Pathetic fallacy? I think so. I think the last few days have been a turbulent rollercoaster of emotions to use a cliché, but I feel quite settled here right now.


Mrs Hart, she's ever so lovely was there to collect us after the hour or so that we spent coming through customs - if you have a visa you need to fill out the I-94 as well as the arrival form - and she gave us a brilliant, scenic drive-by tour of the town showing me every place that I'll need to know. We started at Horton, my new halls of residence and we giggled at that, then saw all the stadiums (the most important of which is basketball - just across the road from me!!) and the main shopping street. It's a brilliant little town, although I think they call it a city, all that style that I imagined Blanche to come from in Street Car. There's a very strange sense of having stepped back in time. Everything is Southern style architecture but it's reminiscent of European designs - all pillars and equilateral porches.


I think I could love this place, albeit in a very different way than I love Edinburgh. Edinburgh is wonderful because it's a city, it's full of history and literature and culture (and pubs). I feel with Chapel Hill that I've stepped into the countryside, it's so unbelievably green, and as a place it's clearly very sports orientated.


Right now, as I sprawl out at 9am on the comfiest bed I've ever slept on in this  amazing place, I'm quite happy, very content and incredibly excited to explore.