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!

As of Wednesday I'd officially completed my year as a USM student. Since then has been the mixture of
-relief that work is done
-frustration of packing, sorting things for third year abroad, making sure I'm organised etc
-stress of everything that comes with a year ending, let alone one abroad.

A friend took Anna and I shooting in the woods on Thursday, which was loud and not easy. I tried one shot and it blasted me backwards haha!

A lot of people have left or are leaving tomorrow, I've said many goodbyes in the past few years and I've fallen into the routine of sucking in all the emotion and just hugging someone as if I'll see them in a couple of months. Maybe it's the British in me not wishing to express any sort of feeling. It'll probably hit me at some point and I'll be a watery mess. But I am excited about my last year at Keele! But I have also started having nightmares about waitressing.

Looking forward: I don't return to England for a month and between then and now I am camping in Florida, going to Vegas, Los Angeles then finishing in New York... so a road of adventure.

Looking back: my year spent at Southern Miss has been beyond all my expectations. I've gained so much and changed in so many ways, I can't even begin to explain. In addition to learning a lot about myself and what I've been taught in classes, I've learnt a enormous amount about British culture and what it means to be Southern. Life in Mississippi has been great, interesting, weird... and I've gotten two different perspectives of college living on and off campus. I would strongly recommend studying abroad to anyone, it's the best opportunity I've ever had and something I will remember and talk about forever...

Some pictures of my favourite memories

Autumn

HEY I've entered a photo contest which ends on the 15th- if you have Facebook, could you click on any of these photos (<hover over) and 'like' them? :) 

Rosie, Sybs and I

It's been a pretty eventful week all over town. Tuesday was voting day. The main thing everyone was really involved with was Prop 26, which would make contraceptive pills and abortion illegal in the state of Mississippi. It lost to a 56% No majority and it was very interesting watching it all as an outsider, from a country where the current government altering just the counseling requirements has caused outcry. We kept getting asked to vote/if we'd voted which eventually got a bit irritating as it should be obvious that non-citizens of the US are not eligible for US rights.

Thursday we went to Lazer Tag for Victoria's birthday, the second time in a month and I think I'm pretty lazer tagged out now... I always get a bit too involved with the game and competitive... I may or may not have yelled rude things at a random stranger that shot me.

Friday Sybs and I put the deposite down for our apartment for next semester, which we did with glee because the morning acted as a great reminder as to why we're leaving dorms. I spilled a bottle of bleach and the windows are screwed shut, so we basically had to spend the day seeking refuge from fumes.
We're also excited about being able to cook our own food. I thought the frustration of washing up and the luxury of not finding moldy items in the fridge would be worth the money but the meal plan is so restrictive and in all honesty is not the slightest value for money... there was a 'salad' this week in the 'salad' bar that consisted of grated carrots, marshmallows and glacier cherries. ! Errk.

In the evening we went Downtown to Eaglepalooza, a music event and pep rally. An act called Karmin were suppose to play but were replaced last minute. We got really cold and bought some hot chocolate which I'm certain had liquidated bananas in it. Bananas don't belong in drinks. It was a fun evening and the music was pretty good. And on the drive home we saw an owl! Just perched there, enjoying life. Sybs spotted it but didn't know the word for it so was like "Oh look guys! There's a big bird that is!... a brown bird?! Look! I know what it's called in French!'

The weekend was spent in New Orleans, but that's another blog post...

The differences

Here's me in front of the University. I took scenic photographs for the first time since I arrived here this week

I don't want to be a party pooper but I keep seeing 'Happy Guy Fawkes Day!' and 'Celebrate Bonfire Day!' randomly over the internet etc. and I want to establish that it's Bonfire NIGHT, Americans. And hands off our holiday! It's ironic that usually I am bored every 5th of November; eventually get annoyed with the fireworks and how rubbish they are and how they go on for days/weeks/months either side of the day, but this year I feel like I'm missing out.

On that note, this week has marked the closest I've come to being homesick. I've been so lucky in having met and befriended such amazing people since I've arrived and having so much to see and do that I literally haven't been bored in three months. But I found out that chocolate Advent Calendars are a European tradition and that really threw me off! For what I understand, a few people are aware of their existence here and some posh shops sell them, but for the most part, most haven't a clue what they are.

There really is a tremendous amount of less obvious differences between the USA and UK. I haven't met a single American that has seen or even heard of Bugsy Malone. Film nor school production. It's a musical, prohibition-era gangster film starring children with guns that shoot cream, starring tweenage Scott Baio and Jodie Foster, what more could you want? I don't know how this has managed to come up in so many conversations, but it has! And I'm not sure why I'm feeling the need to spread this news but IT SURPRISED ME.

The biggest difference definitely is how people dress. The only people who wear baseball caps in England are criminals and if any student ever wore one to a lecture, they would be ridiculed by the lecturer and made to take it off. I think people do generally express themselves more through clothing in the UK and I kinda feel conscious sometimes that I'm wearing things a little less conventional here. But when I dressed up for the gym one day in a baggy T shirt and shorts, my room mate Sybs said, with strong conviction, 'You're dressed American! You look 'orrible!'. I'm happy wearing my odd British clothes.

A real thing that is causing difficulties is my strong accent which is often a little too British for everyone to understand. I know my French friends have had trouble understanding me and Sybs, spent the first few days nodding and smiling to everything I said- but a lot of Americans also have to get me to repeat things and I've found myself at times talking in a ridiculous Keira Knightley-esq diction to actually communicate with people. Below makes me laugh and expresses a lot.





The other British people haven't had such problems, although the other person from Kent was talking loudly at a party and someone asked me what language he was speaking, haha. Maybe it's the Kent accent? I don't know? But my 'bonus bucks' (credit on my student card to be spent on campus) has been dwindled at Starbucks and there's something about how I say the name 'Maddie' when they take my order, that doesn't easily register...

I quite like Mattie, maybe I'll keep it.

This isn't even a real name..

Just writing noises now

I'm not actually offended by this all, nor even particularly irritated. I know when I return to England for Christmas break I'm going to be fed up that my accent is no longer special and soon get bored of all the things I'm missing slightly and will be eager to return for Spring Semester.

And American chocolate is so bad that even if Advent Calendars were big here, I'm not sure that I would buy one.

Homecoming

 I just wanna apologise for the spelling, grammar etc. I write these posts in a rush, you see get off my back parents.

This past weekend was Homecoming which I'm still not exactly sure what is about. It was explained to me as the first game of the season post Fall Break, when all the alumni come back. I maybe wrong.

Anyway there was the parade downtown and the game which was all fun, colourful and very American. The British girls and I that watched couldn't find it inside our English selves to wave back at the students on the float without feeling awkward.

We didn't, however, feel awkward about picking up the bead necklaces and sweets they threw out... YAY FREE STUFF!

The parade started with police men (or cops, getting with the lingo, yo) on motorbikes, revving around and swirling about, then there were these posh convertible cars with the Mr and Mrs Southern Miss/Homecoming queens etc people things on them. I'm not sure who they were exactly, nor their different roles (there were a few) but they were all dressed in ball gowns and suits and for the past month you got bombarded all around campus asking if you'd voted and I think they win scholarships and prestige.

I really should research this stuff more before I write about it.

Mid time at the Football game they had a big presentation for them. There was also a dance by the Dixie Darlings past and present, it featured many alumni from the past few decades and even one lady from their establishing year- 1954 (!)- was up there shaking her thing!

Anyway the parade was really impressive and full of school spirit. Living here does make you realise how very reserved Britain is.

Next weekend is Halloween, which I am very excited about. I love it and am so happy to be in a country that will overdo the heck out of it. It appears to be starting Thursday (at least that's when the first party commences) so I'm going to have to sort out my outfits asap.

Trip

Back from the trip this weekend, it was so fun! Had an amazing time.

We stopped off at the B.B King Museum on the way to lunch, which was a pretty emotional place. As a bit of a music nerd, I loved it but I think anyone would appreciate the place, it documents more than just B. B King's rise and influence but the connecting events that have had an impact on life for African Americans and overall was a great reflection of how society has progressed in one persons life.

I ate so much real Southern food. I had fried green tomatoes, alligator, elk, catfish and Mississippi Mud Cake (not all together). Alligator didn't taste of anything much, but then it was deep fried, it had a rubbery consistency and a generic white meat flavour. MS Mud Cake, which I ate at the Ground Zero Blue's Club, was possibly the best dessert I have eaten in my life, and I am not exaggerating. My roommate Sybs got their Fried Brownie slices and said they were equally great. Considering she's French, from a land of fine food, praise from her really is a stamp of approval.

We hung out at Ground Zero Blue's Club, in Clarksdale, also known as Morgan Freeman's club. It was a really awesome place, the band were amazing and as mentioned above, the food was brilliant. The customers over the years have been let loose with marker pens and there's all kinds of graffiti and names tagged across the walls and tables (and unlike scribbles that would be in anywhere in England, they were all clean, fun comments) The co-owner came up and wished us a good time which was really great! He said Trevor McDonald had been filming a documentary there a couple of months ago which I'll have to look out for when I'm back in the UK. He also told me I was a good dancer, which really, I think we can all interpret this as Morgan Freeman supporting my decision to take up a career as a dancer, right?

We stayed in old sharecropper houses.  Probably the most creepy, historic place I have ever gone to sleep- when we arrived we kinda decided how we were all going to be taken down if we were in a horror movie (very suitable location) but when we got back to them at night we were all so tired we collapsed before we had the chance to analyze the likelihood of local serial killers and had a rather fantastic night slumber.

 

And lastly we stopped off at the Delta. We sat and watched the river flow.

Overall I had an amazing weekend! Really has been amazing, I would recommend seeing anything of the above if you ever have the chance!

I have added photos from the trip to my MY FLICKR

What to expect when there are a lot of expectations

I don't want to do the easy thing of comparing the USA with England but GOLLY GOSH books are expensive here! If I were to buy all my textbooks for my classes from any nearby bookshop it would cost me at least $400! Loan them from the library, you may ask- well it appears the campus library holds many, many books but not a single one was an edition I needed- it did make me wonder what the books in the library are actually used for- since a not a single subject has provided an outside reading list ....?

My classes have all been very different from anything I'd have in England. It seems that it's normal for students to  barely acknowledge each other in class which meant a few of us made a faux pas of sitting directly next to a random person causing them to sit up and look confused. Teaching is also very different; there's less emphasize on interpretation and comparisons. It's considerably more straight forward, but there's still a big workload. Apparently a tropic storm is on its way, which has already cancelled 'Friday Night at the Fountain', freeing up time to make me sit down and actually read :/


This week has also been the week where I have found certain stereotypes are true or false...

GUESS THE STEREOTYPE: F or T ?

'Southern folk will never discuss Religion or Politics'

A common thing I had been told or had read about was that Southerners will rarely discuss religion or politics. I got chatting to some people at a party and within several minutes both had been the subject of conversation- and not instigated by the British girl!

'PARTY! I'll bring the red plastic cups'

A cliche I expected to only exist within movies was people drinking out of red cups! I'm not sure why red holds the front in the plastic disposable drinking utensil market but the reason behind them is to conceal alcohol with regards to drinking laws regarding open containers.

'Mississippi? You're gonna need a larger Bible belt!'

And lastly, before I arrived in the 'Bible Belt', there had been warnings on how invasive religion might be, but it appears, so far, to be another inaccurate assumption about Mississippi. There are items in a lot of shops that would never be found in commonplace England though. These 'craft crosses' were available in Wallmart; I think if any supermarket in the UK sold them, there would be complaints. I'm not sure what exactly they're for, or why anyone would need 24 of them but they're a good demonstration of the noticeable differences I think

If the Storm Lee doesn't strike too hard I should be able to report on a football match next.. Southern Miss To The Top!

Going,... going...

Tomorrow morning I fly to America. I think I’ve finished packing, a difficult task considering it’s currently 34’C (but apparently ‘feels’ more like 39’C) over there but a cold, partly clouded day with heights of 19’C here. It took a while to convince myself that a place existed in which I wouldn’t need several thick jumpers.

When I’ve told people I’m going to Mississippi I’ve received mixed reactions, the most common being ‘why Mississippi? What are you going to do there?’ amongst ‘what state is that in?’, ‘wow, that’s slap bang in the Bible belt isn’t it?’ and even ‘Oh right! Are you going there to teach English?’

Mississippi is perhaps more famous by word rather than association. A lot of people associate it with the land of Mark Twain adventures or maybe think of the name as a word that assists in counting seconds rather than a state in the Deep South of America.

Maybe one reason it’s remained quite unfamiliar is due to the fact that there aren’t any real landmarks associated with the place; just a difficult history and a gentle way of life. In terms of the arts it’s also remained quite faceless; there are a few books by John Grisham who is an alumni of Ole Miss, there was the Coen Brother’s Oh Brother Where Art Thou? and more recently, Kathryn Stockett’s The Help for which Mississippi provided the backdrop. Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Southern’ Django Unchained, which is currently in production, is also set in the plantations of slave era. 

It turns out finding more about Mississippi is harder than you’d expect. There are no travel guides on the state in publication and within a guide book to the whole of America it is covered within just a few pages, which does make me wonder, what is there in Mississippi?

Although I’ve read up on its history, I do rather feel I’m arriving slightly ignorant to what exists in the state I will be spending the next academic year but I am excited about finding out first hand.