Sooner Scandals!

Despite the name there is nothing scandalous about this post... Apart from maybe the breaking down of social 'cool' barriers, but thats kinda what I like about it.

Sooner Scandals is an annual show hosted by the Greek community of Sororities and Fraternities on campus and performed throughout the last week of March. Each participating Fraternity must ask a Sorority of their choice to team up with them in creating a 12 minute musical for the show... A sorority may get one, none or several invitations from different Fraternities. Its almost like having to choose a date to prom every year, accept you are rejected by over 200 girls with just one 'no', brutal. This year my Sorority (Gamma Phi Beta) accepted an invitation from the Fraternity Alpha Tau Omega.

Each year a panel of judges is put together to release a theme for the show, this years theme was 'And So It Was Said' challenging the groups to created a mini musical based on any famous quote of their choice, ours was one from Eleanor Roosevelt;

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Once the theme has been released the teams have 3 months to create their musical, auditions are held at the Sorority houses and all members are allowed to audition. In the fall semester they hold a similar show called 'U-Sing' however only freshman are allowed to participate.

What I loved so much about Scandals was the fact that men and women studying an array of subjects outside of performing arts still had a chance to perform and show off their amazing voices/dance skills/acting skills (whatever it may be) without having to dedicate their academic career to it. For those of you who don't know, I studied dance as a subject during college and for me dancing died as a hobby when it died as a subject. If this kind of opportunity had been available I would have jumped at it, and i'm sure i'm not the only one at the University of Hertfordshire who thinks this way. The real problem however is not the lack of opportunity at home but the lack of acceptance, it is not 'cool' for a 20-something year old woman or man to want to perform in a cheesy musical in front of their peers - here it is very cool (cue the 'Oklahoma' musical jokes). I was lucky enough to see the opening show on Thursday, which was sold out, primarily by members of the sororities/fraternities there to support their talented friends.

Once each team has written their musical, chosen their stars and rehearsed it a few times they have to try out for the show.. Only 6 teams make it to the show. This year was an important one for Gamma Phi Beta as they made the show for the first time in several years and one of my close friends Katie was a dancer/singer so I was very excited for the chance to see her perform!

Most of the performances were cheesy with beautiful messages, one was a newer version of Les Miserables (which I kinda think was cheating as they're meant to write original scripts but it was still an amazing performance, probably the best although I shouldn't admit it). Ours 'Camp Arrowhead' was about a boy fulfilling his dreams during a week at summer camp, hence the quote. It was fun and colourful and I honestly really enjoyed it, it made me really miss watching school performances and really appreciate the opportunity to still feel young enough to enjoy these sorts of things.

The Right Side will ALWAYS be the Wrong Side

So as most of you know, the Great British Empire in all of its wisdom decided that we will drive on the left side of the road. Despite the fact the majority of people write with their right hand, especially in those days when children were forced to use their right hand despite their natural instincts. So forever more we are forced to struggle when driving around most of the rest of the world. My first personal encounter with this problem was in early October of last year during my first semester on this adventure in the States. We were all given the Friday off University to travel to Dallas, Texas to watch the OU American Football team play the University of Texas on the Saturday (more on this in the next post). Before you ask, yes you did read that correctly, our classes were cancelled in the name of a football game. Thank you America.

As you can imagine I was more than happy to be a passenger during this simple three hour trip… Especially when it turned into a not so simple five and a half hour trip due to traffic made up entirely of OU college students racing to Dallas. It wasn't until Monday night when we were travelling back from Houston that it was my turn to take the wheel, being chauffeured for six hours was apparently too much to ask for, who would have known? So lil ole me hopped up in the front of this huge Cadalliac four wheel drive and took on the Texas highway, on the wrong side of the road. For the first twenty minutes the radio was banned, my new and improved personal speed limit was 50mph and no one was allowed to speak. I think I made the top of around 752 truck driver’s hit list that night, but we made it home in one piece and my fear was broken. Since then I've acquired more millage on the wrong side of the road than I have the right side. And trust me, you’ll hear all about that later.

Moral of the story: However familiar it is for the rest of the world, the right side will always be the wrong side. 

The Time America Froze Over

So after almost two weeks of enduring endless cold and snow I decided it was time to return to the more temperate climate of Oklahoma... This involved a flight from New York via Chicago during one of the worst snow storms and harshest winters the US has seen in years.

I booked my flight for the 2nd of January in an attempt to escape before a snowstorm was due to sweep through New York City on the 3rd. As per usual the weather tends to be oblivious to its own time schedule and this time decided to arrive early, bringing with it the blizzard of the century, at precisely the time my plane was due to take-off. Needless to say my flight was delayed by an hour before American Airlines deemed it safe to fly (although by this time the storm was well underway). A panicked voice came over the tannoy ushering us "as fast as you can" to board the plane so we can take off before the conditions worsen and they grounded all planes for the night. That was enough for me, I basically ran through people to get to my seat. In the meantime the voice proceeded to hurry us explaining it was unnecessary for us to waste time placing our carry-ons in the overhead lockers before take-off, instead it was recommended we hold them to save time and organise ourselves and our baggage after take-off. I can imagine that is what it would be like if we were preparing an escape from a zombie apocalypse. I'm still not entirely sure how qualified the voice was to suggest such chaos but follow the instructions we did... At least for half an hour until it was clear the plane was still not taking off and we were given the go-head to place our carry-ons where they belong, which I can assure you is not piled on top of me. After sprinting to get on the plane we were grounded for around an hour whilst it was sprayed with some kind of snow-repellent and finally took off after a two and a half hour delay. I was just thankful we were in the air.

Arriving at Chicago O'hare in the nick of time I had half an hour to run from gate H-something to gate F-something before my connecting flight to Oklahoma left its most important passenger behind! I arrived at the gate, my laptop and camera in arms, backpack almost toppling me over, with just ten minutes left to board only to be told there was a gate change and I was obliged to run all the way back to where I came from in order to make my flight. Knowing that not even Usain Bolt would make that flight I decided to take a leisurely stroll and regain feeling in my back... However, luckily for me my flight was delayed by an hour anyway (I'd run a small marathon for no reason).

I was sat waiting for my flight watching the only TV channel available to us - Fox News - report on how Chicago was drowning in snow... I looked outside to find clear runways and cloudy skies... I'm not sure what Chicago they were looking at but it certainly wasn't the one outside my window. The consensus I came to was that JFK wanted us all out before we were forced to line the hallways in our sleeping bags whereas O'hare was trying to keep us there until the snow started failing and they could legitimately keep us hostage.
(In case you didn't sense the sarcasm, I appreciate there was a real reason for my delay however after hours of being convinced The Day After Tomorrow was finally coming true I was a little on the bitter side)

So after a total of 7 hours delay I finally arrived in Oklahoma around 3am... A week later we were also covered in snow.

Central Park at Midnight

2013 was one of the milestone years in my life. I successfully completed my second year of university meaning I was officially half way towards graduation, I got a chance to work at the marketing office at University, I turned 21, oh and I moved to Oklahoma. It was a real journey, not one without great lows, but also one with amazing highs. I met some incredible people and built friendships that I know will last a lifetime. Not only do I have these beautiful new people in my life but I also realised how strong and resistant the friendships I built at home are, I have never felt closer to my friends than I have being thousands of miles away. I also never thought I would be writing my life like it was some corny book but alas here am I doing exactly that and I couldn't be more grateful.

I would love to say that these are the things I reflected on while standing in Central Park singing Auld Lang Syne and watching the fireworks but being a 21 year old tourist in New York City with a bunch of her friends needless to say the vodka cranberry had dwindled my sentiment and all I could think about was how happy I was at the exact moment, not why or how but simply how happy I was, and how loud the fireworks still were from so far away. I also distinctly remember asking myself why one of my friends was carrying an ironing board around with him and I'm still not quite sure I know the answer.

My New Years Eve didn't begin as exciting as it ended, but more excitingly than any previous New Years Eve has begun. I started my day by going to the top of the Empire State building followed by a visit to the Library, a good few hours of shopping on 5th Avenue, a visit to Grand Central Station and eventually meeting my friends to party on 9th Street. Naturally we all bought something stupid from the street vendors to make ourselves more festive and believe it or not I still have those glasses in one piece! It wasn't until around 11.30pm that we thought it would be a good idea to walk several blocks to Central Park in the freezing cold - but it was so worth it - and I'm pretty sure thats where the ironing board comes in...

After being stuck in Oklahoma for four months where the bars shut around 1.45am we certainly made the most of a 4am closing time that night. I'm not quite sure what time we strolled in all I know is it was a difficult task to get up and into Manhattan before noon for our trip to the top of the Rockefeller Center.

Bringing in 2014 in Central Park is certainly going to be one of my greatest memories for years to come and probably the most retold! Within the days that followed I said goodbye to a lot of dear friends that I couldn't imagine my time here continuing without and it was very hard but like most difficult things you go through you still live to tell the tale. I'm still here and I'm still having the best time of my life never forgetting the friends that have touched my heart who I will see sooner than I know.

The amazing journey I started in 2013 was not over when we were celebrating the end, little did I know then that it had only truly begun.