31/7/2011 - Crossroads Pub

Ended up going to Karaoke last night at Crossroads which is just down the road. But, British people, it is not a real pub, although it's the closest I've seen so far. Was able to drink there, "You're 21 right?" - "Uh huh!" , and had a good night despite the creeper from the party the other night was there. Jerry Parker volunteered himself as my would-be boyfriend to ward him off but it was Emma I was more worried about. He spent the first part of the night telling Emma's brother how much he liked her, repeatedly. Things start to get a little cloudy after that as I had had quite a few Soco and Coke's by then. No lemonade, I wish they served lemonade at bars here, I miss my drink. Before we went out, I spent some time playing the keyboard that's downstairs and it was lovely. I sat with the door open to hear the storm, but because I forgot to put the screen across, bugs got in and bit me! A really cool bug got in too, it glowed! Firefly perhaps? Not sure.

Getting back to the Karaoke, Jordan put my name down to sing Chumbawamba - Tubthumping. Now Lucy, I know you would fully encourage this as I do remember us making up some kind of dance to this song many years ago to perform to our parents. I avoided it for as long as possible. I hid, I drank more, I bargained, but it happened. It was most likely horrific. Emma and Adam sang Grease and I'm sure other people done other things but it got hazy. I think I crawled into bed about 2 ish.

My conclusion of the night; I am a much more interesting, social person when I have a drink.
Psychology people... is this short term gratification outweighing long term consequences? Maybe!

30/7/2011 - Reminiscent of Pizza Hut

It's really funny how some things don't change no matter what continent you're on. Last night we went to Town Tavern and I got a wristband (yay!) and ended up hanging out with the people Emma knew who work at Ingles, the grocery store. They were all out together and it reminded me of going out with people from Pizza Hut - aw!

Anyhow, last night was karaoke. Nope, still not singing. But Emma sung Ice Ice Baby and nailed it! Some annoying guy called Travis was very drunk and although it was nice of him to buy my drinks, I didn't appreciate the constant falling into me or the persistent "Geri. Geri. Geri. Geri." that he had going on.

Emma's Mum and brother are in town, so we've been hanging out with them. We went to Glidewells in Blowing Rock yesterday for lunch with the gift voucher we won at trivia that time. Food was nice, atmosphere was pretentious... that kinda deal. Then we went to the outlet mall so the kids could ride on the little 25c rides and I bought a dress from Aeropostle that was supposed to be $32 and paid $5.99 for it.

The last few days have been funny. I've been doing a lot of thinking about myself as a person and who I want to be and why, zoning out a lot which I think makes me seem like something is bothering me when it's not. I have had quite a few awe inspiring moments as well, such as seeing shooting stars the other night, or sitting this evening on the back of the car, watching the storm roll in all around us. It's magical in these mountains. I've also played a lot of piano this last week. That makes me happy, very happy.

I haven't got any pictures for you all today. Plus, the pictures I post rarely convey the beauty that's around. I almost wish you guys could see through my eyes sometimes.

The way I react to things can make me happy.

I'm happy that I don't let other people define me. I'm happy that I think that if something is going to happen, there's not much I can do about it. I'm happy that I've become better at not worrying about things that haven't happened yet or that aren't my issue.

I'm happy to be me, doing what I'm doing. I'm happy.

28/7/2011 - The Parkway

I was up kinda early this morning. Well, early-ish for me. Okay, 9am, not early at all and actually when most people get to work. Emma took Jess to an appointment so I stayed home and watched the kids. It went relatively well, with only one tantrum from Adam when it was Enoch's turn to watch Yo Gabba Gabba but that was soon solved with cookies. I also Skyped with Mum, it's nice to talk to her when there's daylight in England.

When they were done, we all went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays where I had the most delicious chicken with mushrooms, some kind of sauce, zucchini (courgette) and green beans - yay vegetables. I've been missing vegetables. Today we were going to go to Blowing Rock, but instead took a drive along the Parkway, something Emma's been wanting to show me for a while. It was worth the wait.

The whole Parkway stretches all the way from Georgia to past New York, and this little bit here seems to center around this big mountain called Grandfather Mountain. Reminds me of a book I used to read when I was little called Man Mountain, where the whole mountain was actually a sleeping giant who one day woke up. The mountain got it's name when pioneers noticed that you can pick out the face of a man in the cliffs. The website tells me that one of the early explorers was Daniel Boone, the town's namesake. We drove over the viaduct and saw lots of amazing views, walking around it makes you feel so small, tiny and insignificant. Looking out on the mountains, I knew I'd fell in love with Boone and North Carolina.

We hung out at Birch Tree for a bit and me and Emma blitzed the disaster that was her car, which is now shiny clean! Tonight we're going back to Birch Tree because it's Maggie's birthday and there's a bit of a party I think, so yay! he plan for tomorrow; Blowing Rock!

27/7/2011 - Drinking 101

After Sunday, Monday was rather quiet.
The bikinis I ordered when I was at home finally arrived and they're lovely! I also bought some clothes, because everything here is so cheap - I spent £30 and got 3 whole outfits, bargain.
Most of Monday was spent chilling out and tidying around.

Yesterday, we went over to Birch Tree to see Jess, and also Emma had an appointment. When I had ordered my clothes, the site wouldn't accept a UK billing address so Emma let me use her card. When I went to get money out to pay her back, there was no doing it. There is no way to do a bank transfer and then the cashpoint at the State Employee's Credit Union wouldn't accept my card because it had an 'invalid card number'. So we went to the Bank of America ATM, I used this is New York too, but they usually charge $3 for withdrawals which sucks. So we get there and my PIN is wrong. I'd put in the PIN for my credit card. I figured I'd just pay for things on my card until I could find my PIN, because here you don't need a PIN to use a credit card, sometimes you don't even need to sign. When we got to Burger King and I tried to pay, my card was declined because of an 'invalid PIN maximum error' - what!? I'd only put it in wrong once...
When we got back to Birch Tree I called the company who told me my account was fine and not frozen. I didn't believe them, so I called back and spoke to a different guy who told me it was indeed blocked out and reactivated it for me; why would they give me the wrong information in the first place? Eurgh.

Emma's friend Adeline got here last night. She used to live here and is really nice, and she is so so pretty, just like a Barbie doll. Beka ended up babysitting the kids so that Emma, Adeline and I could go to trivia at the Town Tavern. We got there and although it was busy, we didn't have quite the same chance as we did last time. Plus, halfway through the guys we'd teamed up with left - that's just rude! I'd had half a bottle of wine before I left but was still very sober. Me and Adeline drove back to the house so I could pick up some liquor to keep in my bag and put in my coke. This worked well and by the time we left to go to Murphy's, I was smashed. Adeline had an old copy of Emma's ID which expires in January 2012, so I've got that now for when I'm out not with Emma or for when I move on. So so grateful! We masterminded a 'foolproof' plan to go in at separate times, but I didn't even end up getting carded!

I spent most of the night sitting at the bar, talking to this guy called Chris. I met his friend Jen and also some people who knew Adeline who just wanted me to say things in my English accent, and I learnt a bit about American drinking I guess;
1. Lemonade is not generally kept behind the bar here, meaning my SoCo and Lemonade is often replaced by SoCo, sour mix and soda water, which is actually very nice though.
2. A Black and Blue is half Guinness half Blue Moon.
3. Shots here are bigger.
4. A snakebite here is not lager and cider, it's something else.
5. In fact, what they call cider is apple juice and is not alcoholic - crazy!

Still yet to learn how to play beer pong.

After Murphy's we came back here to carry on the party. I distinctly remember spending a lot of time looking at the stars, because it's so clear up in the mountains, and me and Chris ended up seeing 3 shooting stars, although I missed one that was right above us apparently. Some old-ish guys from Tennessee kept wanting me to come inside and talk in my accent, but it was so pretty outside. I had a good conversation with Jerry last night too, he's a real good guy. Emma had gone to bed, and Adeline kinda disappeared, so not wanting to spend my night with random guys from Tennessee, we went to bed.

I still have two bottles of wine here, I hope I'm allowed them in my hold luggage to take with me, if I don't finish them before!

Today I am not nursing a hangover thankfully, so I might go out and get a coffee in a bit and chill out. It's a nice day again today, not too hot. Might Skype some people at home. I spoke to my Granddad and Chris the other day which was super nice, and of course I love speaking to Mum. One week left in Boone, gonna try and make it a good'un.

24/7/2011 - Goodwill and Other Adventures

I fell asleep listening to Harry Potter again last night, so spent the first 10 minutes of being awake untangling myself from my iPod headphones this morning. I wonder if anyone has ever died from being strangled by headphones in their sleep... I'm gonna Google that shit.

The first three pages had nothing rleated, so I'm going to go ahead and say it's safe to carry on. I'm in a very distractable mood so I apoligise in advance for tangents.

I laid in bed for a while because it was comfy, but couldn't head back off to sleep because Adam and Enoch had found their way downstairs, as they often do, and were making noise. It's not as if it was 6am though, so it's actually quite an effective way of waking up. Showered, dressed and ate half of the sub I had left over for breakfast whilst watching MTV. This morning, Enoch had been playing the keyboard that's been on the floor in the corner of the room. I questioned myself as to why I hadn't played this yet?! I played a piano at Emma's Mum's in Raleigh, but only for 5 or so minutes. I spent about the next hour messing around playing little bits. It makes me sad that of all the songs I've ever learnt, I can only remember 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz and that's only because it's 4 of the same chords all the way through. It's a good song though, and because I had my computer I could look up other stuff.

They give away free Xbox's here?! There was just a commercial (sorry, advert) on for if you buy a laptop you get a free Xbox.... bastards.

Adam took the kids out today, so Emma and I decided to head out just to get coffee, just to get out. We ended up driving downtown in the bumpy truck, but it had started to rain and there were no parking spots close by so we gave up on that idea and went to Goodwill. I'm sure you all already know, but for those who don't, Goodwill is a nationwide charity shop pretty much, and I found some pretty sweet things, dirt cheap.

This book cost just 50¢ and it really reminds me of one that my Mum used to have called  Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book, except there are no squished fairies in this one. 

It has fold out letters and beautiful script...

... a fold out old-style map of Sussex (with all kinds of old English references)....

... little envelopes of cute notes....

and little booklets. 

 The whole thing is just so cute and I love it and for 50¢ it's amazing!

This super cute shirt was only $3.75 - like new!

To be really cheesy, for 10¢ I got these, in the colours of ASU.

We bought this for Enoch, I know it's a Boohbah but it's as big as him! Also, how creepy is it behind that headrest?!

Oh, and a cute little picture!

Also spent some time laughing at a hilariously sweet little woman in there who had one of those little old woman voices. Other funny things included finding a photo frame with a photo of a couple still in it, and no it wasn't the picture that comes with the frame, trust me.

When we finished here, we went over to Birch Tree to see Jess for the first time since we left for Raleigh. Then we found that Maggie, Julian and their friends were going down to the river. We kind of invited ourselves along but they were cool with that. We drove out to some place that is apparently called 'Snake Pit', although Emma had first thought we were going to 'Trashcan Falls'... neither of these names filled me with confidence for the time ahead. Once we got there it was a short walk along a trail, past a hobo who bought a beer from Julian's brother for a dollar, to get to where we could get into the river. The water was lush, even though I felt quite a few fish, Mum you would have hated it. Drank a beer, chilled out and it was lovely.

On our way home we got Subway and both the guy behind the counter and Emma laughed when I said tom-ar-to. I proceeded to point out also that it's [par-mes-an] not [parm-a-sharn] and [or-eg-ar-no] not [o-rag-eno]. I actually love the little differences like that though, like courgette being called zucchini here or no one understanding the phrase 'nicked'.

We were considering going out tonight, but I guess we're both pretty tired so we'll save that for another night. Instead I've eaten, watched Family Guy, American Dad, The Simpsons and the Cleveland Show and written this.

Here's some photos I forgot I'd taken on my phone.

Cinnamon sugar pastry rolls Emma made one night - yum!

Individually packed cakes - just for you Dad, I know you always complain about how things are not individually packaged.

The stream at the greenway.

Adam at the greenway.

The greenway itself.

Adam on our trip to Raleigh.

Enoch on our trip to Raleigh.

23/7/2011 - Month One; a Summary.

I'll start by telling you all the happenings of the days since the 21st. We left Raleigh on the 21st and drove back to Boone, getting home about 11pm. I guess it wouldn't have been such a long journey but we stopped for food quite a lot, then McDonalds messed up our order, then we had to find a Walgreens. But it's okay, we got home. It was nice to be back in the mountains, not least because it is at least 30 degrees cooler up here, despite the multiple ear pops on the way back. I realised when we got back that although I had acquired two business cards (one of someone working for the Government somehow - ooerr!), I had left my GHDs in Raleigh. I was not amused, I love those straighteners. I know it's sad to love hair straighteners, but it's the difference between the humidity finally making my hair look like Monica in Friends' and actually having a chance at looking acceptable. Anyhow, I figure it's my birthday in 6 weeks ish, so I might just ask Dad for a new pair. (I know you read this Daddy - I love you and pleeeeassssssse!) But it's good to be back.

Yesterday, Emma was feeling really shitty. She's coming down with a cold or maybe even a repeat of strep, so she spent a lot of the day just chilling out. I decided to take the boys to a place called Mystery Hill in the next town over called Blowing Rock. The website says that it's built on a spot where a meteorite hit or something, so that there's a weird gravitational pull, it's also apparently Indian land. It started off as just a little museum bit of old farming tools, which little Adam was pretty interested in. There was also a platform which if you stood on one end you were taller than on the other, even though the platform was flat. There were lots of different optical illusions. The weird part though was Mystery House, where it was described as you go into a vortex, and the thing is freaky. The room is built on a slope, but you can easily stand up straight on a slope and in this room you couldn't easily. No joke, it felt as if you were being pulled to the bottom end of the room. The boys freaked out t first and didn't like it, but once we sat down for a minute they enjoyed seeing water run uphill, balls roll in the opposite direction and trying to climb stairs at a different angle. I'm pretty sure it must be some kind of trickery, but I can't think of any way to explain it. After that there was a bubble room which of course, the kids loved.

Enoch and Adam on the Mystery Platform

Enoch in the Mystery Room

Playing with (eating) the Bubbles

Last night I was brave. I went out alone. Okay, so not totally alone but without Emma. Ledale was running karaoke at the Town Tavern so I went with him, chatted to some random people and overall had a good night, despite not being able to drink. But because I was with Ledale, I didn't get the X's on my hands! The guy who Emma and Adam bought back from the bar was there, and at first I got him confused with someone else I had met, and kind of wish I hadn't spoken to him now.... bit of a creeper. Oh well, live and learn. Some of the karaoke was good, some was hilarious and some was downright awful. For the second time in 2 days, McDonalds messed up the order (3 McDoubles, how hard is that!? Not a McChicken) and I slept from 3am until 12.30pm, lovely. 

Today I hung out at the house. Spoke to Nikki which was lovely and also helped Maggie clean up the house.

I've also been looking at applying to the college here, Appalachian State University, because apparently they have a good political science department. Also, I like the idea of not having to declare a major until the second year. With tuition fees rising in the UK, financial aid being available for me here and having a place to live with Emma, studying here is a real option. My concerns would be whether a US degree is worth as much as a UK degree, but also if I could handle being away from home for so long. It's something to think about though.

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A Month On

Today I have been out of the UK for a month. How do I feel about it? 

I feel that the month has both flown by but also seemed to go slowly. On the one hand, I can hardly believe that it was just a month ago that I left my Mum at Heathrow when we were both so upset. The pull from home makes time go slowly, not necessarily in a bad way though. It's not as if I'm counting down the time until I'm home, but it's hard to be away from those you love. Alternatively, I've done so much in just a month that I can't believe that it's been just four weeks, just 28 days (ish). From escaping crazy people's houses in New York,  and also meeting lovely hospitable people, to experiencing my first Greyhound trip. I've met a lifelong friend in Emma, gained a new option for University and been asked on multiple occasions if I've met the Queen. I've driven on the wrong side of the road and eaten more fast food than I ever have in my life, and realised that Americans generally say exactly what they mean, which took me a while to grasp. General observations about America continue to be that all the money looks the same and that the people are friendly, if not very inquisitive. I am down my phone charger and my GHDs, but up about 10 business cards/phone numbers and am consistently annoyed at being underage again... although I'm working on that one. I do wish American auto-correct would stop trying to correct realise to realize and other such differences in spelling; I am British!

All in all, I like it. This month has been more scary, exciting, emotional and elated than any other in my whole life. I know I've handled it well, as egotistical as that sounds. It's a big country, let alone a big world, and when I was planning this trip I hadn't imagined that there would be lows as well as highs. Luckily, it's the highs that dramatically outweigh the lows, and I am very, very, unbelievably happy I am doing this. 

21/7/2011 - Raleigh

So I guess it's been a few days again, I'm sorry it's a bit lax it's just that I'm having too much fun I guess.

On Sunday, after we'd been tubing, we went out on Emma's Dad's boat on the lake. The lake was massive, so much bigger than I thought and the water was blue and warm and just lovely. And the boat was so incredible. We pulled into a gas station and filled the boat up, then took a trip back. On the way back Emma jumped into the water, but I already got burnt from laying on the deck beforehand so I didn't and stayed in the shade. Bob gave us hat's that said 'Tequila Sunrise', the boat's name, on them which is awesome. When we got back we showered and had a grill-out which was super tasty. I put the boys to bed shortly after, and I nearly fell asleep with them I was exhausted!

That next morning we got up and left pretty early for Raleigh. The journey was around 3 hours and wasn't too painful apart from Enoch was not so happy. We did encounter a creeper though. We sped up, he sped up. We slowed down, he slowed down. Emma called Highway Patrol but by the time she got through to someone, he went. We think he must have seen her on the phone. We got to Raleigh and I met Emma's Mum. I guess she had hip surgery so can't get around too well, but she used to be a clown - like a children's entertainer - and is obviously so creative. I looked at some of the furniture she's made and it's beautiful. There's also a piano in her house that I played a little. We hung out there for a bit, then went over to Lynwood Grill for drinks and a little bit to eat. Marcie joined us with her girls and managed to get away with not having ID - yay! After that we went to Marcie's where we were staying that night. Marcie's house is lovely, with really high ceilings. That night we had a bit of a party, which was super fun. I met Emma's brother Jordan and his friend Chris as well as various neighbours of Marcie's throughout the night. Slept on the couch and kept getting stuck in the gap between the two bits of couch in the night, slept well though.

Tuesday, in the morning me and Emma took the kids out to play. After we went to McDonalds we ended up going over to Emma's Mum's, where the plan was to take the kids to this center where outside there were water squirters in the ground, like the one's at Lowestoft seafront. The kids had fun playing in the water and then Adam and Sophie went and hid in a A-frame sign. They were quiet, too quiet. Emma went to sneak up on them, because they always laugh at that, and when she got there found that Adam or Sophie (or both of them) had pooed on the ground. Excellent. Oh but that's not all. Enoch had got all in it. It was disgusting. So some woman inside saw what was going on and bought out paper towels and some security guards turned up, but they just laughed at it. Needless to say we made a swift exit.

We stayed at Emma's Mum's house Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we hung out with Emma's friend Shannon and her gorgeous little girl Juniper. They have a pool at their apartment complex, so we went swimming with the kids and it was so much fun. It's been so hot here that the water was so amazing to get in and cool off. Yesterday, I saw it hit 98F, so around 37C for you guys at home. But I don't think I burnt today because I remembered to reapply sunscreen! The kids fell asleep after swimming so I managed to get a chat in with Lucy which was luuush, and she's super good at following long and complicated stories. I'm excited because she's gonna send me PG Tips and Galaxy. Last night, Shannon offered to watch the kids which was so nice of her so me and Emma went to Havanas in Raleigh where I was able to drink - yay! But here, they don't tend to have lemonade at the bars, so I ended up drinking soco and sour mix, so so tasty. Got back here at 2am and slept soooo heavily.

Today I skyped Mum, which I haven't done in a few days so it was really good to talk to her, still miss her lots!

I found Yarmouth!

17/7/2011 - Lake Norman

The last dew days have been a little crazy here, and the plan was to come to Emma's Dad's today, for the day. After a slow day yesterday, we decided to leave last night and stay. Emma's Dad lives in Lake Norman which is about 2 to 2 and a half hours away. We dropped the kids at Conover and got here about 10ish.

It is beautiful.

Last night it was obviously dark when we got here, so I couldn't see the lake but today, it is wow. Here's the view from the back deck.

When we got here last night, I met the two dogs Max and Chance, they are such a funny pair. Max is massive, and is more like a horse than a dog and Chance is small and a little bit podgy.

Chance

Max

After I had met the dogs and been provided with some White Zinfandel (with Strawberry!) we went over to the neighbours who had a bonfire and were sitting around talking. There must have been about twelve of us all together, and after I'd answered the obligatory 'Britain' questions, Emma went and got the guitar from her Dad's house. So her and her Dad are both incredible. I was absolutely mezmerized and it makes me wish that when I had half-heartedley attempted to learn the guitar that I'd tried harder. People kept telling me it would be easier because I play the piano, but I found it difficult.Trying to learn around exam time last year probably wasn't the best choice either though. Anyhow, it was pretty magical sitting around the fire by the lake, listening to awesome music into the night. These are the kind of experiences I'm doing this for.

Fell asleep listening to my Harry Potter audiobook last night - nearly finished book one again.

Today we're going out on the lake on Emma's Dad's boat and supposedly getting dragged behind a boat on a tube too, so yay! It's a bit cloudy right now, but it's still really warm so I'm going to go put on my bathing suit soon!

Oh and yesterday I drove in America on my own - prooooud!

15/7/2011 - Big Black X

For lunch yesterday, Jess took me, Emma and the boys to a place called Golden Corral, and wow. So I guess it's a buffet type deal there, where you can go up as many times as you like, and there's all different types of foods. Salads, pastas, Mexican, Chinese, burgers, vegetables - everything. And the dessert section was just amazing. Never one to turn down food, and lots of it, I loaded my first plate (of three) with spaghetti bolognese, some lemon cooked fish, a piece of pizza, some mushrooms and some cheese bread. I also had some yeast bread with honey mustard which tasted kinda like croissants. By my second plate I was feeling fuller, so ventured some salad. My final plate was dessert, consisting of raspberry cake, banana pudding and a strawberry cake. Needless to say I was so so so full.

When we finished lunch, we took a wander around the mall. I'm short on money so I wasn't going to buy anything but it was nice to look. But then Jess bought me these lovely sandals!  I love them! I then saw this cute little bracelet which turns out to be my Boone bracelet because it has an owl, and earthy tones, to add to my wrist of bracelets I already have.

When we finished and took Jess back to Birch Tree, we decided we were going to go out that night, so we asked Maggie what she was doing. She wasn't busy so we decided to go out. The final decision was to go to this place in Blowing Rock where Jerry was doing Trivia. We won round 2, and round 4 - and then won overall! Yay! It was weird at the bar not being able to just go up and order a drink, and having to do the bathroom tricks that I done pre-18th Birthday at home (sorry Mum...). Here are the prizes our team - The British Downys - won. Our team were me, Emma, Seth and Beverley, and to explain the name, I couldn't get over the funniness of washing powder here being called Downy.

 There are two of these, and a bottle opener, but I think the kids have hidden it.

 A drink sleeve.

 20 free chicken wings! (To be eaten at 3am...)

Annnnd the grand prize - a $50 gift certificate!

Not a bad lot of prizes at all I'd say!

Around 11 we went to Town Tavern, where I got these cute X's drawn on my hands because I'm underage.
Apparently it is not enough to just not have a wristband, you're branded too.

So Emma got out her tarot cards and basically told this guy his life was going to suck, but it was a conversation starter. After I spoke, they all realised I was English and ended up questioning me about English things for the rest of the night. They asked me about 'soccer', then admitted that they only knew team names because of Fifa. I ended up just talking to them all night really. I wasn't drunk, so I drove me and Emma home about 2am - such a fun night!

And here's a little video I just took of Enoch as he was typing on here when I wasn't looking. I dressed him today and he's wearing one of Adam's shirts tucked in and looks like a little old man - enjoy!