The Club Room: Filming Project.

I was recently asked to take part in an interview style video documentary about the differences between the US and UK.

Here is the outcome, enjoy!

Spring Break: Panama City Beach, Florida.

Named as the so-called ‘Spring Break Capital of the World’, I knew I was in for a treat as I embarked on my first, and last, spring break to Panama City Beach, Florida. It did not disappoint! In fact, despite it being voted as one of the trashiest places to go on college vacation we had one hell of a week partying in true American style – red cups included, of course.

To help all you Brits at home imagine the utter madness and explicit chaos that surfaces during spring break, think of a Greek party island…. Now times that by ten. Previously described as making ‘European destinations like Malia look as tranquil as Old Town Venice’, Panama City Beach was the picture of Zante on steroids. Thousands upon thousands of college students from all over the States gathered on the Gulf Coast to ‘let loose’ in what can only be described in the style of a social mob-scene.

Empty beer cans, keg stands and twerk contests filled the white strip of sand as girls pranced around in their Victoria Secret bikinis, luminous visors and bum bags, violently clutching onto scared alcohol induced bottles of intoxication. Guys unable to walk in straight lines donned heinous looking t-shirts with slogans such as ‘Spring Break Bitches’ and ‘What happens on Spring Break stays in Spring Break’ with Hawaiian Flower Lei necklaces and Ray Bans, shouted obscene remarks to every girl they laid their eyes on, slapping bums and staring at the bare flesh on show. Perhaps they were laughing at all those dodgy spray tans! But, then again, they probably weren’t.

As if the 9 hour drive on the other side of the road wasn’t difficult enough for us Brits, squashing multiple people into our hotel apartment every night seemed a doddle compared to the war zone we were greeted with on the beach. With my jaw dragging far behind me in the sand, words failed me as I witnessed the unthinkable and saw things I don’t think I’ll ever be able to erase from my visual memory. Twerking competitions. Yes, actual competitions on a risen stage where girls (all shapes and sizes) got down to the beat, shaking their behind to a roaring crowd. You could not pay me large amounts of love and money to do anything as degrading as that. It was basically a live, free, outdoors strip club with girls flashing, shaking, and grinding. If only their parents knew… There was certainly very little left to the imagination.

Instead of the usual sandcastles and odd looking mermaid with seaweed for hair carved into the sand that you’d expect to see on a beach holiday, sandcastle competitions were swapped with beer pong battles and huge alcohol-filled pits lined the shoreline. Alongside the sandy beer pong tables and colourful beer coolers, Fraternity flags plastered the beach – each one forced into the ground to show they survived the antics from the night before.

The night clubs were another ball game altogether, my favourite was obviously Club La Vela - billed as the largest nightclub in the United States, it had countless rooms to cater to everyone’s taste, from hip hop to country, pop to house, trance to rock – there was even a pool! Not to mention a live performance from Lil Jon himself. It’s safe to safe my liver is still feeling wounded, but we got the stereotypical Spring Break we were after. Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat = ‘Pardy in da USAY’. 

USCDM Video

No picture or video can do this weekend justice, but with that said, here are a few clips at various different stages of the 24 hours. Energy to delirious exhaustion.... 

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.

Dance Marathon Sign Up

Yesterday I found myself a little mind boggled when I had to sign in for the challenge that is ahead of me this weekend, aka the 24 hour dance marathon (which it isn’t too late to still sponsor me for guys!) What threw me at the sign in desk was that fact that I had to give an emergency contact name and number. Naturally, I thought of my mum. But on second thought, I was a little baffled as to why exactly they need my street address from back home in ‘Old Blighty’. I mean, I guess I can understand giving a phone number, although it would be expensive to call, if some sort of disaster happened, I’d want someone to call home. And I can even comprehend an email address considering today’s obsession over the internet and social media. But address? Really? Honestly, what exactly do they need my address for? If I pass out from exhaustion over the weekend from dancing are they actually going to write a letter to my mum and send it in the post to let her know? I think not.

On a side note, if you wish to sponsor me as I stay up for 24 hours bootie shaking like Beyonce, pirouetting like Darcey Bussell and finger snapping like Fosse. All the money raised goes towards a local children’s hospital, and the exchange rate is pretty good at the moment ($10 = £5.99). The link to my page is below, wish me luck! 

http://www.helpmakemiracles.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=263183

Asheville

This weekend I managed to tick off another State by taking a girls trip up to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. Home to the annual electronic-music festival ‘Moogfest’, Asheville is set in the heart of the Smoky Mountains and prides itself on a thriving arts and music scene all year round. Some of the other international students managed to visit this quirky town in the Fall and whilst some went for the fresh mountain air, others visited for the ‘vibe’. Apparently the town is most commonly portrayed as having a ‘funky’ ambience and even after strolling around for just one day you can definitely see why. Maybe it has something to do with the small fact that pretty much nobody in Asheville is actually from Asheville, so this Southern town feels a little misplaced. Or perhaps it’s the mixture of breweries, secret cafes, dozens of art galleries and variety of street performers. After recently having a bit of a cold spell in South Carolina, the sunshine made a welcomed appearance and nearly every street corner was lined with musicians playing their hearts out whilst basking in the sun. We even sat outside for lunch!

One of my favourite things about the city were the individual and unique cafes and shops.  We stopped for a coffee break in a double decker red bus (supposedly all the way from Trafalgar Square!) that had been converted into a one off café – I thought it was pretty cool anyway. Some of the breweries had bizarre names; including ‘Wicked Weed’ and we somehow stumbled into a book shop/bar which was definitely not a place to find shabby paperbacks. The English Lit student in me was thrilled that such a place existed where two of my favourite pastimes (reading and drinking wine) could co-exist in perfect matrimony. Never-read leather-bound volumes of Dickens ($435 for a set!), an edition of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ with the carousel horse cover ($200), and a glass of fizzy Heidsieck & Co. Monopole ($15) would go down a treat! The bookshelves were piled high and you could easily get yourself lost in a maze of book-lined nooks and crannies whilst kicking back in mission-style sofas and leather armchairs hidden amongst your favourite authors. A literature student’s heaven!

Apart from wandering the streets of downtown Asheville, we also took a trip to the Looking Glass Falls in the Pisgah National Forest, which was absolutely beautiful. I felt like I could have been Katniss Everdeen from ‘The Hunger Games’, which was shot in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville.

All in all, a perfect weekend, with lovely company and ever so slightly too much food! When will I learn that the portions out here are almost double in size and I don’t have to eat everything on my plate?!

St. Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day: similar to Marmite in that you probably love it, or loath it. A day to overspend on loved ones, or indeed, ‘the one’, Valentines can end up turning into a living nightmare for chocoholics, singles or indeed those in long standing relationships. But instead of face planting into a bowl of calories and girlie chick flicks, isn’t it time to just appreciate those we care about?

With so much hype centred around this idea that you have to be in ‘love’ to enjoy Valentine’s Day and if you’re single you must fit the stereotype of being downright depressed, drinking wine by the gallon and tucking into your second tub of Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough by 7pm, it can be easy to miss the point of St. Valentine entirely.

For the past two Valentine’s Day’s my boyfriend at the time completely forgot to even send me a card! Two years in a row! Instead, I had to answer the front door to beautiful bouquets being delivered to not one, but both of my single housemates. That was enough to send anyone out their right mind! So I’ve come to the conclusion that if no one loves you on Valentine’s day, they probably don’t like you any other day of the year either, cynical I know!

I’m overly excited to see how America handles this consumer driven, cliché day. Obnoxious looking cards are plastered in every store, hideous oversized teddy bears and chocolates wrapped in love heart shaped boxes almost make me happy that I’m single. Arguably, being single on Valentine’s Day is actually a blessing in disguise, I’ve been invited to so many themed events that I’m struggling to plan how to fit them all in! From a typical American ‘Singles Awareness’ evening, fit with a piñata (of course!), to a ‘Galentine’s’ evening (girls only) with copious amounts of home baked goodies and films. Other options include, raiding the single population of Columbia’s downtown, watching an annual performance of Eve Ensler's award winning play ‘The Vagina Monologues’ or simply going to IHOP with my best friend for heart shaped pancakes. I’m totally spoilt for choice!

One of the things I love about Valentine’s Day is that if you look carefully enough, there’s a particular facial expression that you will only ever see on February 14^th. It’s the smug look of guys exchanging shrugging grins with other males clutching flowers and boxes of chocolates. Whilst everyone recognises the innate ludicrousness of a single day where guys are expected to buy their secret admirer or better half flowers and/or chocolates (conspiracy spearheaded by Hallmark?). If you look past all the consumerism, you’ll see blokes jumping at the chance to tell that said person how much they mean to them, and who said romance was dead? A bit of guts and glory chivalry can go a long way!

So whilst we can’t all be treated like a princess for 24 hours and expect Ryan Gosling to come sweep us off our feet, maybe it’s time to step out the comfort zone, if only for a moment, to tell that person in your Chemistry class you actually would like to grab a coffee together.    Instead of staying camouflaged behind the safety net of your iphone, impassively swiping through apps like Tinder, or spending hours on Facebook day dreaming about the girl who lives next door. I’m sure Shakespeare is rolling in his grave at the lack of grand gestures and manly courage, maybe we should take a note out of his book this V-day and simply remember that ‘The course of true love did never run smooth’…