a{meri}can State Fair & 21st

'I'm a brontosaurus'

Ok so the State Fair...
Northerners: Imagine Knutsford Fair - on a grand scale with LOADS of fried food. I mean we are talking fried Oreo's, Reece's, Milky Ways.... you name it. Anything healthy as well, just deep fried. Vegetables, the lot. There are lots of turkey legs as well which is just a bit random? Anyway, the usual ride stuff. I don't go on rides. Long story - got a weird eye, which is a great excuse because I am pathetic anyway. Bag lady and taking photos is my domain.
Photos to come (they are on my disposable).

deep fried oreo

Had a slight Mean Girls moment on Tuesday. It was a Monster Bash themed mixer. So I went as a dinosaur and Blancs was a vampire. I rock up in a one piece lyrca suit covered in dinosaurs and NO ONE is dressed up. Beaut.
Looked slightly out of place at Country Night.

This will teach me for pulling horrible faces!

Mezza and Clayton are 21!!!!

Philly Stew came back for another visit, though this time we had a Staycation (gettit - like vacation but you don't go away...) at the Carolina Inn which is just round the corner from my halls. The bed felt like sleeping in a cloud. Mother gets night terrors sometimes, so to say she scared the living daylights out of me screaming one night, is a pretty accurate description. Madre was on top form, amusing everyone with stories of her photo-bombing a couple on the Stanten Ferry with her Statue of Liberty headband on...!
So it's the 24th October, the eve of my 21st, and I am bedding down in my favourite pajamas (floral matching shirt and trousers), when a little knock at my door wakes me. I have a feeling it's Blancita. And I am right, but she has Olive and Nicole in tow with masks of my face and balloons and feather boas. What a way to start begin being 21. Popped open the champers and had girl-party in my room.
On my birthday we had a cocktail event in the evening. We went for supper at a Greek restaurant where the chef seemed to take a liking to us so much that he just kept coming back out from the kitchen with more and more food...calamari, dips, filo pies, baklava, wine... great stuff. The birthday excuse is always a classic. Myself and Clayton (whose birthday was the next day) held the pregame at Johanna's house and the night went from there! Let the photos do the talking...

George the chef gave me a rose

Those are the PJs...

That's me and Tom

Anyway now I can stop pretending to be Sophie Stewart, and be Meriel instead. Back to my old ID. Now Blanca can take on a new persona, though when we rock up to a bar and pretend to be sisters, I don't know how that will work out. Long, curly brown hair Vs short, straight blonde hair is never a good starting point! 

Thanks to everyone who made Friday such a great day! And for all the birthday messages! Means a lot, miss you all.
xxxxxxxx

Enn Why See

So it was Fall Break. 

View from the flat at night

I was sat in my lecture at 12.30, thought to myself, 'Dang, I'm going to New York in half an hour...I should probably go?!' So disorganised, myself and Olivia after a lot of manic phone calls about having the right visa forms for the airport were off on an adventure only having really planned the plane tickets.

May have been here 3 times..

I was staying with a friend, Steph, who goes to NYU and lives just of 5th Avenue and 14th (still not sure what that means - it's central Manhattan basically), amazing location and rooftop view of the Empire State Building. Olivia was just round the corner with her friend Janelle at the fashion school. The first day we hit the shops - fifth avenue and broadway. 

Questionable attire

That evening we went for a few 'casual drinks' with some of Steph's friends (of course the small world it is, one of the girls went to Uppingham and then Edinburgh - mutual friend galore!) Of course, there is no such thing as casual drinks. Upon leaving we decided it would be a great idea to head to the Meat Packing District to Le Bain. Let's just say there is a hot tub in the middle of the club....and we may or may not know just how hot the tub really is....

That's a story for another time. 'Ratchet' would be the appropriate description.

Spotted: O & M newcomers in Manhattan

The next day we felt we had to do a bit of tourist stuff. A picnic basking in the heat of Central Park was the way to deal with the hangover from hell. My mum was actually in NYC at the same time, so myself and Steph headed to Times Square to go and see her and her friends (shout out to Caroline, Lisa, Gilly and Amanda). We went to Bubba Gumps for supper- the Forrest Gump restaurant which only sells prawns (I didn't really register the prawn-Gump relationship!) The meal came complete with a Forrest Gump Triva round in true American style. All in all a hilarious experience. Times Square itself was cool, but full of tourists. I was probably only there for enough time to take a photo and go. I am sure my mum's crew were much better tourists than I was! That evening we went to some cool rooftop drinks at a friend's flat and headed out in the Lower East Side.

So what are New Yorkers like Vs Southerners? I would say slightly less friendly, but by no means like Londoners who would recoiling like an adder if they touch someone by accident on the tube. All in all I didn't manage to see as many of the sights as I would have liked but time literally flew by. I mean I saw someone dressed as the Statue of Liberty if that counts? 3 nights was not enough! Next time I need to head to Brooklyn and do some of the galleries. Had an amazing time regardless though. 

On Saturday we caught the bus to University of Pennsylvania to visit Haz from Edinburgh doing her year abroad there. It is pretty close, only 2 hours. Penn campus is like in the movies too - very green and with arches of trees overhead. 

with Perps and Haz in Penn

Being away from Chapel Hill just for a few nights made me really miss it...the concrete jungle of New York is certainly a change from the greenery of Carolina. Deprived of shops and clubs, we went overboard for a few days... although now it is back to reality and the papers that await! Shattered with less than an hour sleep for Olivia, (you should have seen her trying to get her shoes on at 6am) we crossed 3 states in one day, taking buses, cabs, trains, planes, and motorbikes (I wish), to get home. 100 percent worth the effort. 
Next post on State Fair and 21st! 
Lots of love to all at home, missing you all!! (Especially Murphy) xxx

Sorry for the lack of posts recently! It is the run up to Fall Break so there are a lot of deadlines and midterms to be done!

This month is going to be busy...

Next up: 
1. New York on Wednesday and Pennsylvania to see Haz 
2. State Fair on Monday - bring on deep fried Oreos
3. Philly Stew coming for Round 2
4. My 21st on the Friday - semi-formal cocktail event
5. Initiation into the chapter of Delta Delta Delta on the Sunday
6. Halloween!

..All in the space of 3 weeks. Can't believe it has already been 2 months! Crazy, time is flying by.

Been very bad with Skype recently, so email me instead! Lotsa love xxxx

A few more things to adapt to...

1. If you tread on someone's foot, the appropriate response to 'Oh I'm sorry,' is, 'You're fine'. (I know I am fine? I have just stepped on your foot...)

2. You must hold the door open for a disproportionate length of time, both entering and exiting a building. 

3. A shirt is a 'button down', and beetroot is 'beets'.

4. The first floor is the second floor. The ground floor is the first floor...Baffling, I know.

5. Boys names are no longer Tom, Dick and Harry. This has been replaced by Trent, Chase and Hunter.

The best of Skype dates -
Mr Murphy on Soph's knee

6. Where usually I would tremble with rage at a discarded tea bag in the sink, sweet tea replaces Earl Grey. Not so warming, but still delicious. 

7. No such luck as going for a cheeky drink, there is no casual drinking. Go hard or go home! (Or go to Qdoba...2am Mexican restaurant rendezvous)

8. I am secretly excited about wearing jumpers again. It has just been so hot. And I did pack 5 coats, none of which I have worn yet. 

9. Where usually I would wait for permission to leave after paying for something with the exact change, here all the money is the same colour so end up paying for a Coke with a $20 bill, when a $1 is right beside it.

10. 'Y'all', the best Southern phrase - meaning 'you guys'


'Y'all should come out!', 'have you got y'alls shirts yet?'
Doesn't really work without an American accent. Nevertheless, useful word.

So we did what they do in the movies...run steps. There are a lot of steps in the Kenan football stadium!!

Slowly getting used to life in the South! xxxxx