Chickasha Festival of Light

"It began as a flicker. A dream"

At the beginning of my year abroad the Indian county of Chickasha Oklahoma brought me my first rodeo, this December it brought me my first Christmas lights festival, needless to say they are very cultured. I've come to realise that its the 'ordinary' events that I take so much pleasure in here because they're just so different from my own 'ordinary' events at home.. But the Chickasha light festival isn't just Christmas lights...

From November 23rd to December 31st Shannon Springs Park (43acres) is transformed by over 1000 volunteers into a garden of beautiful light for the public's enjoyment - for FREE. The display is made up of 3.5million lights and displays handmade in Chickasha and designed by residents, highschool children and local businesses.

Despite the icy roads and freezing, bitter cold, my flatmates and I made our way to the festival and were in awe at how beautiful simple (and not so simple) light displays can make something as boring as a wooden bridge look! Unfortunately photos in the dark don't do the festival justice however I have done by best with flash photography.. 

For the posh citizens there is a horse and carriage that will happily take you on a tour of the park, for the not so posh the roads are open for you to drive around the displays in the comfort of your heated cars and for the european tourists you can walk around and take photos until you're blue in the face (literally).

And for the patriotic they have the outline of Oklahoma with a dainty little heart in the middle, which we naturally took a photo off from the wrong side so it is backwards, my apologies. Typical tourists.  

Austin, Texas

On a last minute decision last weekend five of us decided to visit the big capital of Texas - Austin. We spent two nights in the refreshingly warm city with the reputation of being weird, its slogan being 'keep Austin weird'. This was my first experience of a real American-Style motel and luckily for us is a quite a nice one 'Super 8'.

We arrived there around 8pm after a 6 hour drive from norman, OK to Austin, TX and hurried to get ready so we could hit the clubs! Now for all five of us this was the first time we'd been in real night clubs since our trip to Dallas in September, so it was a big deal to experience real civilization! 6th Street is Austins equivalent of Wind Street with a few added extras such as the Spanish-Style open all night souvenir shops and club reps who shout drinks deals at you as you walk past.

On our first full day there naturally, being 21 year olds, we missed breakfast and eventually rose in time to visit one of Austins flea markets in the backyard of a German style pub we were told was opened in the late 1800's. We then headed to a 'Cowboy Market' at which we were the only non-spanish speakers, quite the culture shock. I did contemplate buying a pair of cowboy (or cowgirl?) boots in a desperate attempt to fit in, however the price of fitting in was about $140 out of my price range. When I realised I could get a nice radley handbag for that price I swiftly changed my mind. Instead I decided to buy a cob of roasted corn, frozen margarita and people watch.

After we'd taken in as many cowboy hats and boots as we could handle we went back to the city to visit the capitol building, which was breathtakingly beautiful.
In true Texan fashioned we ate dinner at a Tex-Mex (Texas Mexican food) which was one of the best meals I have had since I've been here and I don't usually like Mexican food! After dinner we traipsed up and down 6th street looking at (and buying) pointless by funny souvenirs for ourselves and our families, but mostly ourselves. At the end of this Christmas vacation I would have visited six different US states and I have decided that I will dedicate the first blog post of my return to all the pointless gifts I buy for myself, because for some reason when you're a tourist anything, and I mean anything, with the name of the place you're visiting written on it in bright colours you MUST have because you can't possibly remember your time there without it.

H&M Gun Range

Today myself and some of my roommates had a true Southern American experience when we paid a little visit to our local gun range. Now this was the first time any of us had been in a room full of guns, let alone get to shoot one! 

The whole experience was kind of surreal for me because it was simply so easy. Only one of us had to show a form of ID before they handed over the 22 caliber gun and box of ammunition. We had to read a sheet of rules and sign our life away before heading into our designated room. At the time there was only one other man in there and a police woman practising with her own gun... Then a bunch of foreigners taking photos and flinching at every shot. I was told this is one of the smaller ranges however to my eyes it was huge.. It had a gun range, archery range, shop and a little cafe where the wives were sitting reading the paper presumably waiting for the husbands and/or sons. As well as guns which you can by for as little as $300 there were stuffed animal heads all over the walls which I am told are hunting trophies of the employees.

Now, shooting a gun is a lot louder and more powerful than it looks on the TV. Despite the mandatory protective ear muffs and goggles it was still loud enough to make me want to cover my ears. I am glad I had the experience however would not consider it one I want to repeat, although I am proud I managed to aim well enough to at least hit the target! I don't think hunting is the 'sport' for me though, I'll stick to the cafe.


 

An International - British - Christmas

Saturday the 7th of December 2013 was declared the E203 flat Christmas. We began the preparations for what I will now refer to as Christmas (because thats what it felt like for us) just after Thanksgiving. I provided the food, Flora (from France) provided the decorations, Nadine (from Germany) provided the presents and the weather quite conveniently provided the snow. All week, despite the up and coming exams, we filled the flat with christmas music and got way too excited!

Finally the morning arrived and you could honestly hear Christmas music from all of our rooms. Nadine kicked the day off with a note for each of us with our required preparations such as photos from our traditional home Christmases, Christmas songs in our native language and any traditional poems or stories. Unfortunately I was too busy slaving over a stove for two hours making the best Christmas dinner they could ask for to prepare my poems etc but I did manage to share photos! Now in all of my excitement to have a Christmas Day I completely forgot the fact that not all Christmas dinners are British Christmas dinners... So I bought all the food, prepared what I was going to make and in the midst of all the plans continually referred to food as 'we'll have Christmas dinner' until my French roommate actually asked what we were going to eat... Then it finally hit me that I was preparing a day like the one I have at home without realising that it wouldn't be what the others were used to.. Opps.

Anyway, we all agreed that we liked the sound of a British Christmas dinner so my mistake was quickly forgiven and apart from the lumpy gluten free gravy, I don't think it was bad for a first attempt! So at 6pm (only half an hour off schedule) we ate, drank candy cane flavoured vodka and were merry, very very merry. We shared photos, learnt German Christmas Carols and found that one of us doesn't even give presents at Christmas, never has. Nadine bought us all matching Christmas socks and we took photos around the tree!

To top the night off we took a trip to a salsa dancing club called 'Mangos' in Oklahoma city and danced the night away surrounded by all things Spanish. The level of culture I experienced that day was second to none and we vowed that one December 7th in the future we will get together, wherever we may be, and relive that day and I really hope we do!

So from the four countries of E203, we wish you a very merry Christmas.

All The Little Things...

Christmas is on the fast approach and homesickness is sweeping through the exchange students like the plague everyone knows they’re going to get. Those who are only here for a semester will be leaving in less than two weeks and those all-important bonds of friendship we’ve formed will be under incredible strain as we pain ourselves to say goodbye. As sad as I will be to say goodbye to people leaving, especially my roommate Nadine travelling back to Germany, I can’t help by smile at all the little things around campus. 

Throughout my time here I’ve noticed that school spirit isn’t limited to sports games but spreads like wildfire around the whole campus all year long. People are genuinely just happy to be here and want to make it a happy place and it is so humbling seeing all these little things going on. It really keeps my head up high when I’m feeling overwhelmed by this whole experience and it’s something I would like to share with all of you…

I walked into the bathroom (or restroom?) on campus after one of my classes a month back and found these posit notes to the right dotted all over the mirror. This is where I first got my inspiration for this blog post, and since then I ran into the sight below written in chalk on one of the pathways. Seeing messages scribbled across the floor in chalk is not a strange site at OU as everyone joins in and it’s more often than not how I find out about events at the student union! These little things just make you take a step back and realise you’re in a truly happy place. This certainly is not the atmosphere you would experience at any time at the University of Hertfordshire, unfortunately.

As this week is the last week of class one of the girls baked a load (I mean a huge load) of peanut butter cookies and chocolate brownies for the students in all of her classes that day. This is my second experience of girls on an impulse baking for their class, it’s just a shame I couldn’t eat any of them! But they looked good… 

I think the spirit of OU is what I’ll miss most often.  

An All American Thanksgiving

In 1621 the first harvest celebration in the form of a huge feast took place in the USA between the British colonists and the Wampanoag Indians. In 1863, during the civil war, President Lincoln declared the last Thursday of every November the official Thanksgiving Day… And so on November 28^th 2013 I celebrated my first Thanksgiving in Dallas, Texas with the McAlister family.  

My week started with a 7am trip to Dallas in a car my French friends had rented and so aptly named the ‘gay mobile’. The gay mobile was a small, bright green car which made a little ‘toot toot’ sound every time the lock button was pressed and to be driven all around Texas by three French boys. Needless to say they were less than impressed when this was the car they were given at the rental shop as the larger one they booked had gone.

Nevertheless I arrived in Dallas around 10.30am to be greeted warmly by the McAlister family who I hadn’t seen since my 18^th birthday! My week was filled with family fun at a beautiful outdoor park, an Ice sculpture show, the Dallas reunion tower and finally Thanksgiving dinner accompanied by a traditional game of American Football.  

On Thanksgiving morning we all sat down and watched Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on the TV… This parade lines the streets of New York every year and is aired nationally for all to experience the elaborate floats, Broadway street performances and music stars singing their current hits. The whole parade was started by Macy’s (the department store) and grows every year with new floats. After that we made little turkey place cards, I got to make my own which didn’t turn out as horrible as expected considering my crafting abilities. We then said grace led by Sue, the wonderful host of the week, during which she spoke of what she was thankful for…

Having the whole week to internally reflect on what I may be truly thankful for (even the Facebook status bar read ‘what are you thankful for?’) I came up with many people, experiences and things I have to be thankful for and in a nutshell I decided that aside from my health and the health of my loved ones this year I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be studying abroad, experiencing places and culture I may not have had I not been here, and my family and friends at home and here who have supported me the whole way and made it possible. I am thankful for all the people from different countries who are now such a huge part of my life and I am so so thankful for the opportunity to spend a traditional Thanksgiving day with such a lovely, warm American Family!

Next was the food, oh the food! I’ve decided that Americans are very lucky in the respect that they get Christmas dinner twice a year! I feel like this is something us British should look into… We helped ourselves to turkey, ham, stuffing, vegetables, American gravy (which is a different colour to ours), bread, pickles, olives and I even had seconds. Desert was equally as plentiful as I tried my first rocky road ice cream, raspberry jello desert and pumpkin pie.

When we were all far too full to move we sat down to watch an NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders. Although I got the gist of the game I realised watching it with true fans I still had a lot to learn!

All in all I learnt a lot about the tradition of Thanksgiving and learnt that Christmas celebrations such as the tree, songs, lights etc don’t really kick off until Thanksgiving is over, one holiday at a time people! I had a fantastic time with fantastic people and I will never forget it, thank you McAlister family 

Weather Report: Norman Oklahoma

So far I've briefly touched on the weather here... In my last post I mentioned how overnight it can go from a terrifying thunderstorm to clear blue skies and temperature in the 20's and all my photos so far have been me enjoying the beautiful sunshine however this week the weather took a turn for the worse. 

Now naturally in the winter you would expect the weather to get cold, right? Wrong. It has become apparent to me that the whole of Oklahoma is in denial about the fact the weather is not always humid and sunny... Unfortunate I know, but ignoring the problem does not make the cold go away however hard you may try. 

Amount of snow which caused school to be shut

I say they are in denial as the second they see ice, they shut down the bridges, restaurants and even University.  A friend of mine said she was too scared to drive in the cold, what concerned me most was that she is Austrian and should be used to it. When I questioned her she gave me the best piece of advice I could of asked for at this time of the year "The roads are dangerous not because of the ice but because Americans don't know how to drive in it". Now 'Americans' is a large generalisation but certainly is correct for the people of Norman as they can't learn to drive in conditions they hide from. 

Growing up in Wales I am used to cold winters, more recently I've even become accustomed to snow but I have never in my life felt cold like I have here. When it is cold, it is freezing! Its a chilling cold which gets you right through to your bones... Needless to say last week I purchased two coats, two scarves, a wooly hat and a pair of gloves in good old British fashion. The Oklahomans are still walking around in rain boots, macs and leggings but at least i'm warm!

If the weather here was a person it would have bipolar. Saturday I was kitted out for the ski slopes and still cold, today I'm walking around in the sun in jeans and t-shirt and i'm still warm. Go figure. Today we're having highs of 20 and by Thursday it is going to drop to below 0 and we can expect more 'snow' and ice. 

                                                            Wish me luck. 

The happiest 5K in the world

For those of you who know me you'll know I ran my first 5K 'The Colour Run' in early October in Oklahoma City... Now for this post I'm going to play catch-up and tell you all about it although it happened weeks before I began this blog.

The above picture was taken when myself and my international friends finished the run and amazing 'paint party' that followed. Now i've never been greatly athletic but I was very proud of myself when I managed to jog/run the whole 5K and not look like the usual beetroot I've been known to turn into after exercise. This however was not the most exciting part of the run for me.. The most exciting part was that it wasn't cancelled! See, the night before the run I witnessed first hand my first of Oklahoma's thunderstorms and I must say, it was not fun.

The whole day we'd been having severe weather warnings however the sky was blue, sun was out and it was around 22 degrees if I remember right. It wasn't until midnight when I was cycling back from a friends birthday party that it started to pour down with rain, despite that I managed to fall asleep only to be awoken at 3am by the brightest flashes of light I have ever seen and thunder so loud I thought my ceiling was caving in. When I realized I wasn't getting back to sleep any time soon I received two text messages from two friends living in other apartments who were equally as terrified as I was..After an hour it finally calmed down to the point I was able to fall back to sleep. When I woke at 6.30am ready to leave for the city in time for the 5K it was still dark and windy outside but the rain had subsided. No one knew whether we'd be able to run or not but by 9am the sun was shinning and all was back to how it should be - summer time in October!

I guess that's what Oklahoma weather is all about. Crazy.

Back to the point of this whole blog, I would totally recommend anyone who gets the chance to do the colour run do it! The whole run they provide you with paint packets to throw at each other and at the end all participants surround a stage playing music and throwing paint everywhere. I mean, what more could you want?

GW Rescue Zoo

Yesterday I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life...

My flatmates and I decided to take a day trip to an animal rescue park in Wynnewood Oklahoma where they allow you to take a tour of their endangered animals and interact with some of the babies. I was lucky enough to hold a baby alligator, several snakes, baby pigs, skunks and a baby tiger.
Upon arrival we drove into a small carpark only big enough for around 12 cars and found our way to a small shop which served as the entrance. There we were greeted by two women, one cradling a baby human and the other placing a baby snake in her hair where it remained quite content for the rest of the day!



Its safe to say the park was very humbly run by volunteers, most of which are from the same local families. It has no grand entrance, fancy signs or expensive food stands.. It is simply a park filled with animals which you can experience up close and personal guided by people who have dedicated their time to learn about and get to know the animals you're handling. It was a very grounding experience to appreciate the animals for what they are - beautiful - and see what people are doing out there to try and conserve their natural environment as well as breed those they have in captivity so that my children, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren can also experience what I did today.

As well as hold many of the baby animals I also got to see the white tigers feeding time, which was slightly terrifying, and meet a very angry goat who took great pleasure in throwing himself full force at the feet of a camel which i'm told is his best friend, who would have thought? I also saw my very first Liger - offspring of a Lion and a Tiger - which was breed and born in the park. Ligers have no growth gene so they continually grow throughout their lives. The one I saw was 7 years old and already larger than both its parents and will only continue to grow!

So playful you forget it could be dangerous..

Frat Parties

A week or so ago two friends from home emailed me and asked what an ‘American Frat Party’ was as my home university’s student union was trying to re-create one. For those of you who don’t know, this is what it is…

A frat party is held at a Fraternity house on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. A fraternity house is the male equivalent of a sorority house; a house occupied by 60 or so American University boys and one poor house mum who takes care of them all. Fraternities share the same recruitment process, secret pledges and Greek names as their sorority counterparts however the rules for a house full of boys differs ever so slightly from the rules for a house full of girls as you can well imagine.

By the time the weekend roles around the sorority girls, most of which are below legal drinking age and who are not - under any circumstances - allowed boys passed the living room of their sorority house, are more than ready for a party with the boys. The huge frat house is turned upside down with music, traditional red party cups and holy water. Holy water is the name given to a traditional concoction of pure spirits the frat boys unleash on the unsuspecting girls; something I can live without trying.

Now here’s where it gets tricky. Technically, as the University of Oklahoma is a dry campus (no alcohol permitted on campus AT ALL) and the fraternity houses are part of the Uni, alcohol is not permitted in the frat houses.  This however doesn’t stop them, it just means you have to be prepared to dive under any table, bed or bush to hide from security if they come to break up the fun.  In a sense it’s like having a giant party at your parents’ mansion only they come home from holiday a day early… And you’re in huge trouble.

I appreciate that it’s probably my British upbringing that makes me sceptical about fraternity boys but there is something about a man in his twenties choosing to sleep in bunk beds in a room with one or more men that is not quite right in my mind. I understand the bond of brotherhood they achieve and that it is a fantastic way to make friends in your first year of Uni but it just doesn't sit right with me. The only thing that gives me hope is that Brad Pitt was a fraternity boy when he was at Uni in Kansas; this I found out from my sorority sister whose Dad was in the same house as him at the same time… I guess Brad turned out alright.

Life Under 21

…has finally ended. I know they tell you not to wish your life away but 3 months in the US unable to go to bars with your friends, waving them off at the door saying ‘stay safe’, and you too would be wishing your 21^st birthday was sooner rather than later. Up until a week ago I could drive a car, buy cigarettes, and own a gun… But I couldn’t drink alcohol. Which, may I add is the only one of those three pass times I wanted to engage in!

I can now legally enter bars and clubs with my own, real ID and without using 16 year old ‘sneak in the back door’ techniques, like I can back home and it feels great! People ask the usual ‘so do you feel 21?’ and the truth is yes, although in the same respect I feel 18 all over again, which is equally as great.

When deciding whether or not to study abroad the fact I would be spending my 21^st birthday in a foreign country weighed heavily on my decision. Whether you want to admit it or not your 21^st is a big deal, it’s one of the few milestone birthdays we have in our lives and it’s nice to celebrate that with the people you love. I am thousands of miles away from the people I have loved and shared my previous birthdays with for years… But the friends I’ve come to cherish here certainly pulled through for me. In fact ‘pulled through’ would be an offensive understatement to the immense amount of effort they put into my day, I couldn't have asked for more

.

Between the constant surprises, presents and force feeding of terrible shots I hardly had a chance to feel homesick. I woke up to a scavenger hunt to find my birthday card and this little guy to the right from my house mates… Who later turned into the poor little guy below! After two classes, during which I was bought a hot chocolate from a nice boy in class, I was whisked away for lunch at the top of the Devon tower, the tallest building in OKC.  I ate a beautiful chicken salad accompanied by a rich red wine while looking out at a view of the vast expanse that is Oklahoma, it was wonderful.  I returned to reality for my last class after which I returned home to a perfectly decorated apartment fully equipped with balloons, banners and crazy picture sticks which made for fantastic photos! At 6pm I was whisked away again for dinner with three of my best friends, or so I thought. When we arrived at the restaurant 18 of my friends, most of which said they couldn’t make it, were waiting at a table where I was presented with a large bottle of Dior J’adore and the dreaded shot book…  

To the left is the first entry to the shot book. The book had only 4 rules: get someone to buy you a shot, take a photo with the person and the shot, get them to write down where and when they bought it, and repeat the process 21 times. Really there was only need for 1 rule – get drunk.  Needless to say I spent the following day recovering with plenty of food and water, but it was so worth it!

The Truth About Sorority Girls: Part 1

Outside Gamma Phi Beta for the first time

For those of you who have seen any kind of American teen ‘chick flick’, or the overrated British reality show ‘Sorority Girls’, a sorority is an exclusive club for pretty, blonde, snobby American girls. This club has brutal initiations where the poor freshman college girls are put through their paces to prove they are worthy of such a privilege. Once their worth is proven they are taught to be real ladies who wear pretty dresses, never curse and use their silver wear in the utmost lady like fashion. Sorority girls are the perfect girls.

Well for those of you who have been fed this ideal, here is the truth…

During my second week at OU I was lucky enough to be introduced to the president of Gamma Phi Beta (G-Phi) Sorority at a Pilates class. This one encounter earned me an invitation to the sorority house in which she lives with around 60 other girls. My roommates and I had a guided tour of the beautiful white house with its many bedrooms, communal bathrooms, leopard print carpeted study room, huge dining room and equally huge living room. Once we’d finished being awed we were treated to a free dinner and our first introduction to what it means to be in a sorority. 

This is what I learned…

Decorations in the girls rooms

During a girls first year of university (freshman year) she decides whether or not to ‘rush’ the week before her classes start. ‘Rush’ is the official name given to the process of applying to be part of a sorority. During rush week all the girls who chose to apply visit every sorority house on the first day, each of which has a Greek name e.g. Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Kappa Gamma. Now what I learnt form TV (which let’s face it should never be taken seriously anyway) was that the sorority chose which girls they wanted based on how they spoke, dressed and acted at a one-on-one interview with the president of the sorority. This initially made me think who in their right mind would want to join something that would judge you so harshly? I found out they want to join them because there is no such thing as these ridiculous interviews!

Photos of sorority alumni around the house

Instead, on each day of rush week the girls narrow down their choices of which sorority they like best e.g. on the second day the girls visit their six favourites, on the third their five favourite’s etc. etc. each day spending more and more time at the houses so they are able to get to know the girls in their favourite sororities a little better before they chose the one for them.

Unfortunately for some girls there is a horrible catch: the sororities themselves can ‘cut’ girls they don’t get along with even if those girls have chosen that sorority as their favourite. On the upside they will be placed with a different sorority. Overall the application process is a mutual decision dependant on whether the girls joining and the girls already joined like each other. After all they do have to spend the rest of their lives calling each other sisters.

There are no brutal initiation periods; the initiation dinner is about as crazy as it gets for these lovely ladies. They take a pledge that they will be part of the sorority and will keep all traditions such as sorority songs and mottos secret. Each sorority has their own signs; G-Phi’s is the crescent moon which you can see me and my honorary sorority sisters making with our arms to the left. The girls say things to each other like ‘I love you to the moon and back’ showing the strength of their bond.

Once you are in a sorority the girls are your sisters and you can never join another one. If you choose to quit or are thrown out for inappropriate behaviour, you are never allowed back in. So it is an exclusive club, but a nice one.

A friend in the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta retold her ‘rush’ experience as overwhelmingly loud, happy and friendly. She explained how each sorority has all their girls line up inside the front doors and sing to you before they open their doors, which is kind of intimidating as there are literally hundreds of girls wearing the same t-shirts, looking identical, ready to greet you. One thing I will always remember was her response to my comment “that’ll be you next year singing and scaring incoming girls” which was “yes, I’ll be scaring the little freshman with my immense amount of love for them all” and this was one of the most genuine statements I have ever heard.

The sororities trophies

The truth is, a sorority is all about friendship, love and sisterhood. It is nothing to be afraid of. It’s not for everyone because it takes a lot of time and effort. Yes the inside dynamics can be horrible, but only as horrible as 60 girls sharing a house trying to get along all the time can be, if you have ever been to an all-girls school you can appreciate that yes it is hard and sometimes it sucks, but at the same time it forces you to bond with girls a lot more closely than you would otherwise.

At a football game with the President and OU mascot!

I am so thankful to have met the girls at Gamma Phi Beta and have them accept me as their honorary international sister, teaching me about their bond, sharing their t-shirts and annual gatherings with me. It has brought me to meet so many girls, some of which taught me the rules of American football, others participated in making my 21^st more memorable than I can ever imagine and others are just plain good friends.

My experience has been fun and I’ve met girls who don’t care what you look like or how you dress, they just want to be your friend. Hey, maybe I just got lucky with this sorority and all the rumours are true, but I guess we’ll never know… 

The Pumpkin Patch Kids

Today my sorority sisters (more on this later) took me on a spontaneous trip to a 'pumpkin patch' not far from my apartment. These patches are dotted around the country for the amusement of children, families and 21 year olds alike.

The one I was lucky enough to visit today, with my first pumpkin-spiced latte in hand, was one of the sweetest places I have ever been! There were scarecrows, mazes, hay bails, tracto
rs, professional photographers, a petting zoo and most importantly pumpkins of every kind, even the kind dressed in hats and sunglasses!

My friends bought a few small striped ones, white ones and orange ones to decorate their house on the all American halloween soon approaching. I wish Halloween was celebrated with such finesse in the UK so children could experience things like pumpkin patches, pumpkin carving and pumpkin flavoured everything like they can here.

I mean I'm no halloween expert, but, having experienced several in the UK, New Zealand and granted only one in America, I feel I have at least half the knowledge required to say America puts the fun that the UK and New Zealand have sucked out of Halloween back in! Although I am situated right smack bang in the middle of the bible belt of the US I have yet to see a door step covered in salt telling children (only seeking light hearted fun) to back away from their house and not even dare to ask for sweets. Its safe to say everyone gets into the Halloween spirit here, and I love it.

Homesickness speaks every language

Its not since my emotional breakdown during my first Wallmart trip due to their lack of gluten free bread that I have felt homesick... But now on the fast approach of my 21st birthday I am beginning to feel the pinch.

Homesickness is the strangest emotion I have felt yet. Its missing something so much that it hurts but not enough that you want it back. I miss my friends, my family and good British food! Those are the things I want in close proximity for the rest of my life, especially the food, oh and cider. We can't forget cider. But do I want to jump on a plane tonight just to see Swansea bay or Hatfield Galleria in the morning? No chance! But at the same time, sometimes I do.

It's the little things I now know I took for granted that I miss most and for those of you lucky enough to still take advantage of them here is a list:

1. PG TIPS - Good tea is scarce, drink it every day and enjoy it for me.
2. ASDA - Supermarkets that are big enough to hold all the food you need and yet small enough to navigate without bumping into a scene from facebooks famous Wallmart photos are a blessing. 
3. TAP WATER - Tap water here may be safe to drink but it tastes like pool water.
4. PUBLIC TRANSPORT - From this day forward I solemnly swear never to complain about the underground, Arriva trains Wales or Stagecoach busses ever again. They have always been there for me, unlike the non-existent Oklahoma transportation system. I bought a bike, need I say more?
5. DRINKING AGE OF 18 - Thank you parliment. 
6. POUND COINS - These 1 dollar bills are a pain, especially when they go through the washing machine, or rather don't go through quite so well.

This list could contain a few more menial things that i've thought about more in the last eight weeks than I ever have in my life but that would give you the impression that I want to go home and i'm saving that for next year!

Although I do wish I could be celebrating my 21st with my family and friends back home I am so grateful for the international family I have here who have already made more than an effort to help me plan and make my big day even bigger, so despite having to attend a full day of lectures I have a feeling it'll be a good one! I've learnt that it's not about what language you speak, religion you practice or culture you're used to, some things in life are universal. One of those things is comfort; everybody needs it and here I am lucky to be surrounded by everybody who gives it. 

P.S I have a funny feeling that the first post I write upon my arrival in heathrow will be a similar list containing everything I miss about the home I've made here...

Tailgate like a Champion

As promised in the last post, the story of the tailgate...

The best way to explain this tradition is for me to ask you to imagine a beautiful summer's day; clear blue sky, humid heat with a faint warm breeze. You're standing in the middle of the road, cordoned off by police, to your left is a huge football stadium creating a comfortable shade and to your right you're surrounded by masses of OU fans all merging into one great imagine in their red t-shirts. You are part of that image. The road is filled with with people throwing footballs, playing bags, drinking and being merry.

Now, I am a huge advocate of closing down the streets to have an organised party with the whole university, but tailgating takes this to a whole new level. I'm not sure whether its the fact that everyone involved gets behind the football team or that both the home and away fans can celebrate together without either one throwing a punch that makes it so great. Or maybe its just the excessive amounts of beer and BBQ food...

Mandatory beer-bong

As tailgating begins around 3/4 hours before a 6 o'clock game several things are necessary; playing games, eating food and drinking beer. Each group of students with a tent sets up their own beer pong tables, brings their own beer bong (as seen to the left) and football. Some Americans take this very seriously and even bring their sofa and flat screen TV to their tents to watch the game, I mean why buy a ticket when you can bring your whole living room to the stadium? Air conditioning companies bring their air con tents so you can cool down between beers and those all important portaloos are set up in a nice neat line for your convenience. Game day doesn't get much better than this!

'How do you hold a football?'

"BOOMER SOONER"

As one enthused American boy shouts “BOOMER”, the surrounding students bellow back “SOONER”, this tradition repeated three times in succession is a University of Oklahoma American football ritual I have become more than familiar with. This chant is compulsory at, but not limited to, every OU football game.

For the first few weeks of the semester as I found myself diving head first into school spirit, going to football games, purchasing ‘Oklahoma’ t-shirts and proudly wearing them around campus, I took for granted OU’s overwhelming sense of school pride. I always assumed that every state was the same however I’ve been taught by several Americans that is not the case. Take the University of Texas for example, they are in the same big 12 (American college football league) as us however one of the only games they get overly defensive about is the one against us. Kansas State University I have been told is another example of an ‘it’s just football’ attitude where their home games are filled with more crimson and cream OU fans than their own fans.

After several hours of participating in my first American 'tailgate' (another story for another time) in the sweltering humidity, standing in a crowded football stadium watching a game I didn't understand for four hours was not exactly my idea of fun. By the time the second game rolled around my moral was less than high but I decided to give it another shot... And I think it’s safe to say that after one painful September afternoon of standing in the 35 degree heat learning American Football rules from the president of my sorority, I am now a true sooner fan with the colours to prove it. GO SOONERS!

Crazy College Trivia – the OU college football stadium holds 82,112 screaming fans dressed in crimson and cream every game. The first ever game was on 20^th October 1923, 89 years later on 27^th October 2012 they saw their largest crowd of 86, 031 people. 

After all... There's only one OKLAHOMA!

Are you alright Cowboy? Let's Rodeo!

Growing up in the UK a rodeo was as far from my reality as Christmas in the sun, yet six weeks in Oklahoma and I’ve already experienced two. It is of particular importance to this post that I mention nothing in this blog has been twisted, or exaggerated, but merely retold as it happened. And on that note I will tell you of my experience…

I’m not sure what was more surreal to me, the invitation to a rodeo in a small Indian village, or the invitation coming from an excited European who has clearly spent too much time in the US. Nevertheless one Norwegian, two Britons, one New Zealander, one Swede, one Spaniard and of course, one American, piled into the car for the half hour journey to the annual Chickasha Rodeo!

It wasn’t until we arrived at the dirt-track ‘parking lot’, took a wrong turn into a Mexican wedding anniversary and were swiftly ushered out and into the correct building for which we were more aptly dressed, that I realised I had no clue what a Rodeo was. Of course I’d heard of the phenomena as something you see in old cowboy westerns but I honestly could not have told you what they entailed... 

So for all of you out there who were as confused as I was here are a few definitions:

Rodeo; cattle herding turned into a very competitive sport where different ranches compete with each other in a series of different events involving lassos 

Cowboy Surfing; an event at a Rodeo where a cowboy lays on a mat tied to a horse and holds on for dear life while he/she is dragged around an obstacle course in the arena 

In true British fashion the first thing that crossed my mind when these men were racing around on what seemed like wild horses chasing cows with nothing but cowboy hats to protect their heads, was ‘Where is the health and safety?!’ There were men flying off their horses left right and centre and no standby paramedics rushing to their sides with oxygen, or even a Band-Aid, hair dressers can’t wear heels at home in case they fall the 4 inches to their deaths. Their only consolation was the comforting "You alright Cowboy?" booming across the microphone...

If that wasn't enough to make me nervous at half time a hoard of children filled the arena to try their luck with the calves. I couldn't watch as they raced around in excitement trying to be the first to grab the sticker off the calf’ ear and win a prize. No calf was too big for these fearless children; there were tails, feet, and ears being pulled from every which way, but it’s all in good fun. 

As well as the main show homemade burgers were provided and homemade jam was for sale from the local retired cowboys who also organised a wholesome raffle with a prize of two engraved handguns. 

I can't say this was my favorite experience to date but it was the most American! All in all it wasn't as exciting all the bull riding competition I attended, fortunately not as a participant, but that story is for another day.

A man on a plane

Embarking on the second stage of my trip half way across the globe I found myself on a tiny internal flight from Dallas, TX to Oklahoma City. After a short relapse of ‘What on earth am I doing moving to America’ at the departure gate, I eventually calmed down sitting next to a very friendly Oklahoman.

This gracious man from Norman Oklahoma took it upon himself to take a scared little girl from Swansea under his wing as a granddaughter figure. On that short flight I learnt all about his humble beginnings and great pride in his small town, I told him all about my ambitious plans for the year ahead, to travel, meet new people and embrace all that America had to offer me. This man became my friend.

Since that day he has kept in contact with me, offering help along my journey, introducing me to his church and those around him of my own age. I have made friends I never would have crossed paths with otherwise, all thanks to the man on the plane.

It is the many little experiences just like these that I have had with the people of Oklahoma that make me proud to say I am part of OU. This is not the America you see on TV where everyone is hustling around a busy city fuelled by crime. This is not the America you hear about on the radio where the biggest headline is Obama’s new dog.

No, this is the real America.