Dance Marathon

This semester seems to be absolutely flying by at the speed of light, there’s only 6 weeks left of term! How did this happen? Hopefully I will still have some money left in my bank account so that I can do some travelling before I leave the States and wave farewell to my Year Abroad. But, I’ve been avoiding checking my bank balance for a while now, so I could be in for a shock!

I cannot recommend studying abroad enough to anyone who has the opportunity or is currently thinking about it. It really is a chance to immerse yourself in a completely different culture, meet people from all over the world and personally challenge yourself to do more and accomplish lifelong skills. I feel like I’ve been on an emotional journey of euphoria, hostility, acceptance and finally mastery (I’m just dreading the reverse culture shock!)

When friends and family told me I’d find myself doing things I thought unimaginable, I didn’t quite believe them. Before I left home in August some wise guy told me that on my Year Abroad I should say ‘Yes’ to every opportunity thrown my way. This resulted in the crazy decision to take part in a DANCE MARATHON and stay up for 24 hours straight. Dance Marathon is a very American fundraising event and was started by Pennsylvania State University in the 1970s in order to raise money to combat children’s cancer, and has since become the largest student-run philanthropy in the world! Now, Universities across the States, like South Carolina, hold their own Dance Marathon fundraiser every year. All the money raised by South Carolina goes towards a local children’s hospital, Palmetto Health Children's Hospital, and during the 24 hours we got to meet some of the miracle children who had survived their own battle against cancer and other life threatening diseases.

Fit with my pink nike ‘tennis shoes’ and DM baggy t-shirt, I felt oddly nervous the morning before the event. Noon till noon, no sitting down allowed, that weekend became the most physically and mentally demanding challenges I’ve ever undergone. Literally blood, sweat and tears were poured into this event, I cried out of exhaustion, out of pain, out of sadness and I honestly could not have done it without my gorgeous friends boogying alongside me!

I entered the event with some of my beautiful musical theatre friends, I’m still not sure how I persuaded them to put up with me for an entire 24 hours and swap their character shoes for trainers. But I did, and I’m so grateful. The weekend consisted of learning an entire 15 minute line dance mash-up of songs and genres, which we then performed on the hour, every hour. There was also a 3 hour white out rave between 11pm-2am, numerous bands and dj sets, speakers and dance troupe performers. Plus, wacky costume hours, such as; Animal theme, Mardi Gras, and of course ‘America’.  I managed to raise $300 and together South Carolina raised a whopping $318,649, I couldn’t be prouder of my friends and I, and I’m so glad I was able to take part in such a unique fundraising event.