But I will see you again...

NCSU Central Campus, Easter weekend.

Listening to: Hello, I'm in Delaware by City and Colour.

Listen here.

Civil War skeletons in their graves

Why yes, thanks for noticing, that IS a humorous reference to the stereotypical southern act of chewin' tobacco, underneath a label for Newcastle Brown Ale, collected by chance into one photo- what could sum up my experience in North Carolina more?!

A fun time had by all with Emily's housemate/friend/lover Lily coming to stay for the week. She got to see and taste all the Raleigh highlights and even go some places I haven't been yet, including Duke botanical gardens. A far cry from the grassy area outside Alexander Hall on NCSU campus, i'm told.

But anyway, down to what I really meant to write about. I was just looking through course options for next semester at Manchester, since module selection is coming up. Happy to see there is a bit more creative writing-based stuff in there than in the past two years, and I'm growing confident that I may even manage to get to the end of my degree having never studied Chaucer at university level- fingers crossed!

It has been making me think a bit more about impending graduation into the real world and, yep, what the hell i'm going to do with my life. One thing I've noticed here in America is that everyone in English seems to have this whimsical idea of one day graduating college and becoming 'a writer'. What is that?? How is it that I have gone through higher education and nearly completed a degree in English Literature and yet this intriguing choice of career has never been offered to me? Is it something that only Americans do? I have heard of journalists, novelists, poets, PR and advertising teams... but never have I considered packing up my pens and pencils and jazzy WH Smiths notebooks and running away to become 'a writer'. I was under the impression all these years that you had to kind of have a real job and do a bit of writing on the side to ever be published. You know, like those incredibly wealthy successful authors who used to secretly scribble away in a book during their toilet break working at Starbucks' scummy downtown competitor or whatever. 

If i'd known you could just whack a label on your forehead and use it when you did your taxes or met professionals at parties to avoid the pang of guilt at being effectively unemployed, I might have thought twice about bothering with university.

But oh well. Better get my CV in to Starbucks when I get back to Newcastle.

Listening to: Decatur, or round of applause for your Step-Motther! by Sufjan Stevens.

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"This isn't government we're watching; this is junior high"

So despite NCSU student newspaper "The Technician" having absolutely nothing of worth to say at all other than the typical report on Alpha Kappa Psi's "Pig Pickin' Fundraiser" (wish I could say I made this up but in fact the top half of page 2 in today's issue is dedicated to this so-called "good networking opportunity"- networking with who exactly?), there is is actually quite a lot going on in the good ol' USofA this week. 

Some of the Alexander girls finally got to make the trip up to DC this weekend. It was looking like pretty unfortunate timing in many ways, considering all the talks last week of a governmental shutdown, which would have meant all the museums, galleries, memorials and, let's be honest, most tragically the amazing Smithsonian Zoo being closed: basically a trip to Washington would have been kind of crap and a little bit pointless.

But thankfully a short-term agreement budget of $3.5 trillion was finally agreed upon late on Friday night. So now the Republicans are being blasted for messing about with empty threats and getting their priorities so drastically wrong and Obama is being tarred with the "controlling Stalinist" brush by crazy Libertarianists like this loveably old guy, who we went to see speak on campus the other week: 

You might recognise him from here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7RnlPQCKBQ

God bless Amurricuh.

In other news, it's been a lovely few weeks of normality before starting the exam/paper due period, which needless to say I am not looking forward to at all. It was especially nice to have Mama and Papa Lewis come to visit last weekend on their trip to Florida to see the fam. Their gifts of chocolate, tea, money, and real non-dining hall meals were appreciated beyond belief.

Another memorable event was the Carolina Cup horse races down in South Carolina. Despite the fact I didn't actually see a real horse the whole day, it was a fantastic excuse to get dressed up, drunk, and laugh at horrendous frat boys. The Alexander guys and girls were all looking absolutely awesome, despite a cruel 5:30am wakeup call before driving down- not bad!

The weeks are flying by way too fast, so starting to make a list of things I need to do/see in Raleigh before we head off on our East-coast travels and home to England. Thankfully it's not the craziest or most vibrant city in the world so I think it'll definitely be more the people I'll miss rather than the place...

Listening to: "White Collar Boy" by Belle and Sebastian.

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Title from "Our Cowardly Congress", by Nicholas D. Kristof, for The New York Times.

Read it here.

And the sky was so much bluer

"Agricultural Awareness Week" at NCSU

...I don't think we're in Manchester anymore.

Listening to: "First Love" by Emmy the Great

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The Spring Break Experience

Nicola, Nat, Jin-nee, Megan, Emily, Amy P, me, Kate and Amy L with Jonny on Ben's boat in Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Well, Spring Break has come and gone... and with it we 9 girls made up of 5 Aussies and 4 English have successfully acquired a hefty collection of crazy stories. Along with, of course, some interesting tan lines and a LOT more body issues than before (it seems the girls in the Bahamas had hit the gym a lot harder than us in preparation for the beach). 

But an unforgettably amazing time all in all!

Fort Lauderdale: Emily, me, Nat, Nicola, Amy L and Amy P

Highlights included: 


Spending a day on a boat in Fort Lauderdale, VIP in a club in Miami, seeing my friend Jonny from home for the first time properly in far too long, a 5 hour booze cruise to the Bahamas wasted cowering in the cinema room with Emily, a packet of crisps and a throbbing hangover, a beach party and bonfire, and just generally being able to relax in the sun all day every day with the most fantastic group of ladies.

Low points would unfortunately have to be summed up by being woken up hourly by Megan throwing up into a bucket in Fort Lauderdale, not remember anything from an entire night and enduring a 21 hour train journey from Florida back up to North Carolina whilst sat in front of a middle aged woman who was clearly high as a kite- and not afraid to show it.

Amy L on the cruise to Gran Bahama

Gran Bahama Island

Amy, Nicola and Megan

Back to reality in Raleigh once again, but thankfully the weather is beautiful so it's good to be back home. 

Already planning the next trip away for easter weekend...

Listening to: Caledonia by Ruth Notman

Beautiful song- have a listen here

I don't mind wasting my time with you

Another beautiful hot Sunday on Hillsborough Street, the main road that runs through campus. Student budget heaven for bagels, pizza, greek food and my beloved Global Village- the best coffee served with the biggest smiles.

Countdown to Spring Break: 3 days. Sanity wearing thin.

x

Listening to: 'Waste Of Time' by Seerauber Jenny.

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Blue Ridge Mountains

Okay so firstly to apologise for the crappy half-arsed last post... 


I will explain that the beautiful photos which graced your eyes (if you did take the approximate 4.5 seconds out of your day to have a look) were taken in West Jefferson, NC, about 3 and a half hours west of where we're living now in Raleigh. Went up there to the mountains for a weekend with a lovely group of about 13 to stay in a friend's holiday house. 

Molly, Kate, Sara, Sam, Maddi, Natalie, myself, Nat and Henry

Making Tyler a thankyou cake seemed preferable to venturing outdoors

The living room- red cup heaven

Being from Newcastle and all I am not in any way used to such nice places. But having mentally prepared myself beforehand thanks to the accuracy of  Google images (who came up with this after a search for "Blue Ridge Mountains". A misleading representation- I could not find this woman anywhere), I was able to appreciate the view and the house itself, both which absolutely blew me away.

After the success of this mountains trip, the girls and I decided to get really crazy and book the following weekend away too- so we ended up spending three incredibly hot and giggly days in Charleston down in South Carolina. Honestly the best weekend I've had here so far, definitely one to remember. 

Emily, Amy P, Amy L and Megan, immediately before coincidentally running into and being ignored by the boys from Alexander in Macdonalds.
Surely the lowest possible level of social rejection.

We had it all. Car singalongs, complaints from fellow hostel-stayers, the best Urban Outfitters sale of all time, a party on a worryingly unsupportive balcony, bagels, more bagels, dinner at a famous seafood restaurant - I sat where Samuel Jackson did when he visited, a story which will definitely have a place in my 'well on my gap yah' speech, to be given in the pub at home on a bi-weekly basis when I get back - even more bagels, very sore feet, a bit of standard Civ War history and a dip in the freezing sea. 

US Customs House in the background- we however are more concerned with who sits on the highest steps a la Gossip Girl

Emily, Amy P, Megan, Amy L and myself doing diner breakfast by the sea before heading home on Sunday, dressed head to toe in Urban Outfitters sale

Mid-terms next week, so no weekend away this week, but Miami and Bahamas the week after...

Hey, it's a tough life, but we deal with it.

x

Listening to: "Blue Ridge Mountains" by Fleet Foxes.

Listen here.