Ship Island, MS

So I returned and spent my last two weeks in Mississippi but they've been pretty fun filled, adventures have included
-Hitting golf balls across a large stretch of land (not playing golf, just whacking the balls. It's fun and as stress relieving as you'd expect)
-A quick trip to New Orleans
-Making beignets (I ate too many and think I'm beignet-ed out for a long time)
-Being all sophisticated and having a wine and cheese evening, complete with the Jazz music channel supplying smooth sounds. I actually drank white Zinfandel and sprite, as I have yet to develop a great taste for the ol' Merlot
-Watching Miss USA with scones+strawberry jam. The Americans enjoyed the scones a whole lot more than they did Pimms and Marmite
-Today (my last day) we're going to Landrum's Country, a small recreation of the Old South

A couple of weekends ago a group of us went to Ship Island, off the coast of Mississippi. I'd actually learnt about the place in my first semester when I took Mississippi History, as the island was used as a fortress back in the day when land was fought neck and limb for.

We took one of the two ferries that went out each day, it was a short journey and we saw dolphins and a lotta water. 

The beaches were sandy (and VERY hot, I felt like a cartoon character yelping as I tip-toed across the burning sand) ... we bought some kites with us and flew them in the slight breeze. Someone actually attached theirs to fishing rope and let it fly until no one could see it anymore... it took about an hour to reel in.

The when we arrived back in Gulfport, we went to the USM coastal part of campus and visited the FRIENDSHIP TREE!

all a bit beach-swept

So that's the end of my American adventure... I really have had the best time possible, met so many great people and am so glad I had such an amazing opportunity!

Vegas

I've been to Vegas once before and it is an extremely odd, intriguing and artificial place. A city that was founded by Mormons, constructed by mobsters, imports everything (even the tap water!), is devoted solely to unwholesome pleasures, has few laws and few locals, it is incredibly unnatural and it feels that way. I find the place fascinating and perhaps may use it as a cultural observation subject for my dissertation, but it is definitely not for everyone and I always feel uncomfortable seeing children there.

On this trip I had intended on seeing the other side of Las Vegas; visiting the Atomic Museum (as part of Vegas's small history; nuclear bomb testing took place nearby), the arts district, the Neon Graveyard (a lot where the massive broken neon signs are left) as well as a trip to the Grand Canyon... this isn't how it worked out.

It was a really early flight, 7am from Biloxi, where I had stayed a couple of days with my dear friend Jill and her lovely family. It was a very smooth flight, full of nap time. When I arrived and got the $2 bus to the hostel, some weirdo grabbed and ran off with my notepad... a notepad that had cost 50 cents at Walmart! While I appreciate that it wasn't anything valuable, I was annoyed mainly because I had written all my itinerary for the following weeks in it, including addresses, meaning I had to rely on the kindness of strangers in finding my hostel (it was only across a road but I got lost without knowing street names) I really am confused as to why anyone would steal a random notepad; maybe the street value of drugs has become incredibly low.. or someone mistook my identity?

Hostel Cat

My hostel was pretty cool. It was full of friendly people from all ages and walks of life but was also incredibly secure, which is all important when you're traveling alone. The neighbourhood was quite edgy; $10 tattoo parlors, Wedding chapels, adult stores, motels... it was in the art district so there were galleries and a Thai BBQ joint, creating an obscure balance.
I struck up a friendship with two girls in my room, Anna from Ukraine and Elaine from Australia, we all decided to explore the Strip together. Pretty much everything exists within the hotels that line the same stretch of road (they're so big they fit shopping malls, casinos and nightclubs inside) but they're all crazy, imitating Egypt, Paris, New York City, Venice, fairytale-ish castles... they're sugary, fake versions of each but fun.

Main sites we went to:
Circus Circus a 'circus' themed hotel, mainly aimed at families with a show taking place every fifteen minutes and arcade games for kids to enjoy/start 'em gambling young. We saw a group of acrobats from American Idol perform which was fun
Welcome to Vegas Sign a fifteen minute walk from where the bus will take you; you also have to jaywalk across the road to reach it which is dangerous and highly illegal- I'm not sure why they haven't created a crossing? It's pretty fun to see
The Luxor fake Egypt. Here we saw Cirque du Soleil Criss Angel show 'Believe' which was based around illusion and magic, there were some eyebrow raising tricks but I thought it seemed over-performed, poorly scripted and bit lackluster, I saw 'Love' the Beatles Cirque du Soleil show last time and was blown away. We also went to the Titanic Artifact exhibition which had items claimed from the wreckage in a recreation of the different cabins (One man cracked us up when he asked if the wooden stairs were actual set from the ship itself) I was surprised to discover how expensive the very cheapest ticket was in today's money- more than half an annual wage of a low income earner- I was taught something in Vegas!
Bellagio this is a rather fancy hotel which houses a botanical garden that looks like it has been dreamt up by a child, incredibly strange!

So... I had planned to continue spending time in Vegas, then in LA and NYC but I was sitting in the youth hostel watching Braveheart and thought, boy I miss the people & Hattiesburg- maybe it'd be best to do the travels with friends another time.. and so I returned back to Mississippi! But my adventures haven't ended just yet

I've uploaded further photographs on my Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/maddiesayshey

like bernie

I've been very busy lately. My mum was concerned there wouldn't be much in the way of nightlife/socializing here  (...party animal mother). She had nothing to worry about.

1. There was Friday Night at the Fountain, tailgating and the game a fortnight ago. We got fed the biggest leg of meat I've ever seen at Friday Night, Fred Flintstone BIG! (too big to actually eat, I tried cutting a piece up but it was so intense the plastic cutlery wouldn't work). Tailgating was amazing, it is something that needs to be bought to England. The best way to explain it is: a load of tents before the game that are set up with food/picnics for you to eat from (or at least how I interpreted it, I hope I'm not wrong and am not wanted for food theft). The game was cool but the only thing I really understand is when someone scores a touchdown. I think I've mastered pretending I know what's happening.

2. Last weekend was bid day for the Fraternities.. Greek life is something so other-worldly to anyone from outside America and it really is a strange thing to spectate but I'm starting to understand why it exists. There were inflatable slides and other fun stuff going on, which was cool.


3. I can't believe how differently people dance here. In England people generally wave their hands around merrily, move self-deprecatingly or sing along to the song drunkenly. Here, it's grinding or choreographed moves- the strangest one has to be 'The Bernie' where people shimmy like they're a dead man (inspired by the 80s movie Weekend at Bernie's). There's also the Cupid Shuffle, The Wobble and The Dougie...in the randomness of it all no one has ever danced the 'Saturday Night' routine that I remember pulling shapes too at school discos.


4. I'm starting to have tests and essays due in my classes, fun times. I had a history test the other day and the only thing I could really remember from all that we had been taught was about the woman that were sent to marry the vagrants that had been sent to colonize Louisiana. One of the French men captaining the ship was a womanizer... you can guess what happened. It wasn't on the test, would you believe it! We started watching Gone With the Wind in one of my classes. Rhett Butler is possibly my new favourite fictional character of all time.

5.We also went and saw The Lion King in 3D which was awesome.. REALLY three dimensional! I guess that has little to do with life in the South....Last night I dreamt I went camping with Abe Lincoln..but got woken up by a massive roll of thunder before we set up tents or anything. There's been biblical thunder today, that has literally shook the building.

I got some more pics up on my FLICKR