Carolina in My Mind

So before I say anything about anything, I would just like to urge anyone who might be reading this (all two of you probably - thanks Mom and Dad!) to go and watch this video if you haven't already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
Kony 2012

I have watched it twice already this evening and cried both times, which really is saying a lot considering that I am that heartless witch who didn't even cry in Titanic.  Or The Notebook.  Not kidding.  So just watch the video.

So now that I have said that, I can refocus once again selfishly on my own little life! Whew!
I brilliantly titled this blog post "Carolina In My Mind"to allude to one of my favorite songs from home and because Carolina really has been on my mind lately - both North and South.  I guess I was too busy and excited about studying abroad during my first month to register any kind of homesickness.  But now that I have been here almost two months, I have finally started to realize all of the things that I miss.  Here is an abbreviated list of the things I miss from home:

1. The weather.  I know that I have already wrote about this before on here but, sorry, I'm not done.  I feel like I have talked about missing South Carolina's weather so much that everyone here probably hates me.  I can't help it.  To be fair, the weather has actually been much better here lately than it was at first, and there were some incredibly beautiful and sunny days last week.  And when it is sunny here, it is gorgeous because the grass really is so much greener than the grass at home.  And there are yellow flowers all over campus that have started to bloom and those are really pretty too.  But I still just miss the relentless South Carolina sun.  I went for a run this afternoon while it was sunny outside and ended up getting hailed on.  What is that?????

2. Chickfila.  I MISS CHICKFILA.  I've always loved Chickfila but I had no idea that I loved it this much.  It's embarrassing, really.  My friend here, Meg, and I have spent probably a combined total of twenty hours talking about how much we miss Chickfila.  We decided the other day that we have to stop because no one else knows what we are talking about.  They probably think we belong to a creepy American chicken cult.  I would absolutely join a creepy American chicken cult if it meant I could have a chicken biscuit right now.  And if people would actually know what I meant by a biscuit!

3. My car and just being able to get anywhere without having to take the bus.  I never thought I would feel so much love for my balding 1999 Honda Accord than I do right now.

4. My friends and family.  My Nana's house.  And my dog.  Awwwwww gosh I miss my dog.

Alright so now that my whining is done, I will say a little bit about what I've been up to lately.  Last week was rag week here, which pretty much consumed everybody's lives.  Rag week is one week of the year when the school plans a bunch of events to raise money for charity and everyone skips class and it is pretty much a marathon party all week long.  There were concerts, a nearly naked mile for charity, a bungee trampoline in the middle of the student union, beer drinking marathons, and the list just goes on and on.  There were security guards standing at the front of my village all week long, I guess to try to keep things under control.  It still amazes me how much more lenient this school is than USC would ever ever be.  There is a beer drinking club here that had advertisements for rag week events (such as drinking a yard of beer) posted all over the inside of the main classroom building.  The lecturers pretty much expected that no one would show up for class.  Some of them just went ahead and cancelled class.  Obviously none of this would ever fly at home.  People would pitch a fit and it would be all over the news.  But rag week was fun, for sure.  I was sort of glad when it was over, though.  I don't think I could have lasted through any more of it.

I took a day tour on Sunday to the Blarney castle and to Cork.  I kissed the Blarney stone, which is supposed to give people the "gift of the gab."  So hopefully you can detect its eloquent side effects in this blog post???  It was an incredibly lovely, sunny day, which made the tour so much better.  Walking all around the castle was just too beautiful.  Here is a picture of one of the places where we walked.

I will be staying here at school this weekend and writing all three of the essays that I have due really soon...and hopefully I'll find I can still remember how to do school work.  I will probably spend most of next week in a constant state of unhealthy excitement about seeing my friends who will be visiting Ireland for St. Paddy's weekend!!!  I'm not going to bore you by describing my excitement so I will just stop now.

So one last word to everybody in either of the Carolinas: go eat some Chickfila!!!!  But then please do not tell me about.  My jealousy will actually make me hate you.