"Stop eating seductively at me!" (Fall Break: Washington, DC)

October 2011

This week we were given a very generous two days off class by the wonderful administrative people of UNC. Simply as a reward for reaching halfway in the semester. How nice right? Until you remember that back home I would normally get a measly week after 6 weeks at Manchester. Two days to recuperate from the stresses of the last 8 weeks seriously isn’t enough. No wonder US students are always so overworked and under rested…

Anyways, as we had a few days off I was desperate to get out of Chapel Hill and go and see another part of the US. Much as I love being in Chapel Hill I am definitely a city boy at heart and need to get into a bustling, busy place every so often! So Andrea, Harriet and I booked ourselves into a hostel in DC and planned on spending a few days sightseeing and having a bubble in the nation’s capital. We managed to grab a lift (ride) off Jess (one of the Pritchard girls) and her dad, who were going to DC to get Jess a visa for her study abroad in Spain next semester, which was great as it saved us some money, and meant we could have some good banter on the way up there. We piled into Jess’s car on Wednesday afternoon – bunking off lessons for the day (just sinking back into the English attitude of not going to lectures for a day!) and set off on a mini road trip. Jess’s dad was sound and really chatty asking us loads of questions about our experience of the USA and how it’s so different yet similar to back home (he had spent some time in the UK before), and also cracked out some amazing dad jokes, much to Jess’s embarrassment! Driving up towards DC made me realise two things about America. It really is bloody huge, which I knew anyways, but the size sort of escapes your notice when you haven’t really travelled anywhere in the country, and also how beautiful parts of it are. Driving along the interstate, the trees were amazing colours (OK, its fall so that’s expected), but lots of forest seemed to be left, compared to the UK where you drive along the motorway and it’s all pasture land and neatly hedgerowed fields. The drive itself took around 5 and half hours, with a few stops offs for petrol. And a Taco Bell stop; because none of us had had one since arriving in the States.

Loving the Bell

We arrived in DC in the rain – typical – and after a quick hug goodbye to Jess, handshake and thanks to her dad, we ran into the front of the hostel we were going to stay in for the next few days. I wasn’t sure what to expect of the hostel, as it was the cheapest we could find in DC, with a fair number of both good and bad reviews. However, upon arrival it seemed perfectly adequate for what we needed it for – ie a place to sleep and not much else. It was a converted town house-type place in which about 12 beds were crammed into each room and a small number of showers and toilets for the residents to use – not ideal, especially for the girls. However, it was clean and sociable enough with an eclectic mix of people. I knew that all sorts of people used hostels, from my (limited) experience of staying in some in the UK. However, those hostels were slightly more upmarket to the one we were in, seeing as my parents stayed in the UK ones, and as such I was expecting there to be a slightly younger people vibe. As it was as soon as we walked into the social area of the hostel we were greeted to the sight of two older guys sprawled across the sofa watching ‘24’ and engaging in banter with a much younger girl on the other side of the room. At least, I hope it was banter because otherwise “You’re going to hell” could be deemed to be rather offensive seeing as we were out of the South…

Washington DC as the capital of the USA is quite different to the stereotype of American cities with big towering skyscrapers and tower blocks. Instead, DC has a more modest height to it, which apparently is the consequence of a ban put on the city planners to not build anything above a certain height, in order to preserve the character of the city. The buildings also seem much older and more European in their look - again probably in part due to the restrictions on city planning. An interesting bit of information that, and I think it certainly contributes to the character of DC - as a city I certainly prefer it to Atlanta, GA.

Once we were shown around, with numerous rules explained to us (and I mean a hell of a lot of rules!) we dumped our stuff, sorted out lives out (well, I did at least) and then made off into the rain for some food, stopping briefly to chat to a guy from Richmond, London downstairs. Random how you bump into people how originate not too far from your home! We didn’t really have much of a clue as to where to go, so just began to wander towards the centre of DC, eventually coming across a restaurant/bar which Harriet got very excited about as it shared her name (Harriet that is…). It seemed a pretty chilled sports bar style place, and so I ordered some chicken wings (VERY spicy – have learnt to ask what sauce they get covered in now!), Andrea ordered some ice cream and Harriet couldn’t eat anything on account of her nut allergy. Unfortunately for her.

Once we were suitably fed and watered (or alcohol-ed in Harriet and mines case!) we wandered in another direction, coming across China Town. Which was very brightly lit and bustling for a Wednesday. We trawled a few places (that would let us in with Andrea being under 21), some nice, some horrendously expensive (don’t ever go to Green Turtle - $8 a beer!). Calling it a night, the girls had major issues working out which way to get back to the hostel, and so with me laughing at their uselessness – I mean it’s not hard to navigate a block system is it?! – I led the poor souls the right way.  

It's raining men! (or just water...)

Stumbling across China Town

The next morning, after a fairly slow start, we mosied out of the hostel and down 11^th street towards the centre of DC. It was a beautiful day after the rain of the previous one, and a crisp morning. Now having spent 2 months in the South, and being used to brisk mornings turning into pleasant days, even in October, we were totally un-prepared for the cold that DC had to offer. Especially the girls who had come out in skirts. Oops! This meant that the days plan had to be revised to ensure stops were made within buildings to warm us up at regular intervals! To begin with, we had a wonder around, with Harriet and Andrea taking so many photos that they could have been mistaken for Japanese tourists, and I put my camera away with the intention of just stealing their photos off Facebook. The first stop was the International Spy Museum, for which Andrea being a savvy person (or skint student) managed to get in a little cheaper due to Harriet and I completely forgetting to use the money off coupons we had found.

Honestly tried, but didn't manage to get arrested on a terrorism charge

To get into the tour guide part of this blog entry, the museum was good. It had lots of information relating to the spy industry and both governmental and industrial espionage. There was also a vast array of equipment on display that real spies used (apparently), and some elements of interactivity, although this usually involved putting on some headphones to hear the display in front of you being read out. However, the sheer size of the museum meant we were in there for a good few hours, and after the obligatory trawl through the gift shop (it always amazes me how much crap is on offer in these places!) and the discovery of the most humorous book displaying some phenomenal chat up lines (which were then subsequently repeated on loop to each other the rest of the weekend). Once we had left the black hole, innocently labelled as a ‘gift shop’ (pah!) the rest of the morning was spent walking down The National Mall taking lots of pictures. As you do. The National Mall stretches from the US Capitol down to The Washington Monument and beyond to the WWII memorial and Jefferson Memorial, with the White House off to one side. This bit of DC is usually the most identifiable, and it has most of the big museums lined up adjacent to it. It was actually quite a pretty place, if it hadn’t been for the huge maintenance works going on in the middle of the grass…

The National Mall

The early afternoon was spent in the Holocaust museum, which I would seriously recommend going to if you ever find yourself in DC. Despite the very sobering nature of the museum, I felt it was excellently put together and dealt with the issues sensitivity and a good mix of objectivity and intimacy at the same time. Needless to say, we spent a good few hours in there being taken round the museum which looked at the holocaust in the most minute detail at moments. Once we had emerged with a few tears in the eyes, I managed to break the moment in the most inappropriate way-that only I can-by stating I was starving. The evil looks I got from the people around didn’t make me feel very welcome at that point, so we took our leave sharp-ish into the café. Which you had to go through security scanners for. Yeah, explain that to me – in case someone holds up the place for some doughnuts?!

There go the girls

Looking towards the Capitol

We then went up towards the White House, got lost trying to negotiate the bomb bollards in front of the gate, which was in front of the 200m garden strewn with cameras, laser pointers and probably Mutant Ninja Turtles hiding in the bushes or something… Anyways, the whole posing touristy thing of taking pictures through the fence complete, we began to wander back towards China Town for a Hooters dinner that Andrea craved (well she said she craved a Hooters dinner. I’m not so sure she was referring to the food…). We also passed the only Nandos restaurant in the USA. Yup. The only one. Can you imagine the carnage that would entail if it was the case in the UK?!

The White House itself

That evening was spent trawling a few bars again, mainly in the China Town area. We also hooked up with Elston, another international from UCL who have got to know fairly well, and the guys he was with in DC. On the way back into the Hostel we came across a Duke fan lounging on the sofa in front of the TV. Well, we didn’t know he was a Duke fan at first, until we got chatting to him. I think he was a little overwhelmed and alarmed by the number of UNC students within the building when he found out as he left the room pretty sharp-ish afterwards!

The next day was the marathon day. We managed to get out of the hostel at a decent time, and made our way straight down to the National Mall to hit the museums before they got busy. After a little detour into the Smithsonian Art Gallery, we headed into the Air & Space Museum. I should mention here in another tourist guide way that the Smithsonian museums within DC are free to the public, which is great. However, they don’t tell you that once you’re inside you have to pay for the interesting stuff. Anyways, the Air & Space museum was pretty impressive with various planes and things hanging from the ceiling and lots of different exhibitions about various bits and bobs. All rather interesting stuff! As we were walking out about 2 hours later we saw the queue to get in. And were promptly thankful for leaving early! Other museums visited were the Natural History Museum by Harriet and Andrea, and the American History Museum by myself. I didn’t stay long as I thought the constitution was in there. It wasn’t, so I left. And went to the national archives where it actually was located. Oops! When I did get into the National Archives, it was quite cool to see the constitution, displayed alongside the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence (or “the receipt” as I jokingly referred to it as to an American standing next to me. He didn’t take it well…). A little piece of (rather recent) history to be seen there!

Luckily we got in before the little terrors!

Suddenly being camera shy...

Afterwards we all started on our huge walk around Tidal Basin and up towards the Lincoln Memorial, zig-zaging a bit to see the MLK memorial and a few others. This was a quite nice walk, with the sun out and not too cold at this point. Just the bloody distance! The memorials were amazing though – the American’s sure know how to construct a memorial that’s for sure! From there we walked (more bloody walking) into Foggy Bottom (yup, that’s the name – quality!) and sat in Starbucks letting the blood get back into our feet, and decide where to eat. We were directed towards a part of foggy bottom which had a number of restaurants around a central square, and decided on the Italian place. It was pretty average, except the olive oil was very splashy and I got it all over me, but I'll move on. 

Congress Building

Looking down the National Mall

Statues of various celebrities...

Yeah, iconic image with no water. How inconsiderate of the builders...

Not wanting to head back to the hostel only to head out again, we moved into the bar just next door to the Italian place, and thank god we did. It was the nearest to a proper British pub I have been in since I arrived in the USA, and coupled with an incredibly friendly and chatty landlord meant we had a very pleasant evening sat at the bar drinking away. Well, Harriet and I did. Andrea not being 21 meant she had to stick to soft drinks unfortunately. Anyway, slightly inebriated (I did my usual thing here of trying any beer I’ve not heard of!) we headed back to the hostel and into bed. 

The next day Harriet was heading back to Chapel Hill as her sister was coming to stay for the week, so me and Andrea had the day together. Aww, bless! The day was kicked off at the Smithsonian Zoo, which Andrea was VERY excited about and promptly went for the Japanese look again, taking pictures of everything! The zoo itself was awesome – spread over a mile or so and home to many different animals, including elephants, tigers, komodo dragons and pandas. And it was free – how amazing is that?! I would definitely recommend going if you ever fancy seeing something else in DC apart from memorials and museums. The afternoon was taken up in Georgetown, which is quite a tendy, not-your-typical-American type of area of DC, and has a large student population (or at least I assume it did from all the student types floating around in Georgetown hoodies). After a poke around the place, we decided to strike out across the river to the south of the main street, and pleasantly surprised, found ourselves back in Virginia. Simple minds I know but it did amuse us for a bit having simply walked to Virginia! From there we decided to walk down to Roosevelt Island, which was a good call because it was beautiful. And the memorial in the middle was pretty impressive too, but then I had come to expect that from DC by now! The evening was spent in a rather swish Cuban bar/restaurant, with good food and music – perfect round up to an awesome weekend!

The next day was an earlier start, with a lengthy walk to the Megabus stop roughly 2 miles from the hostel. Thankfully we managed to get there with no real hiccups (I may have taken the wrong fork in one road…) and with plenty of time left to get on the bus. The journey was long and uneventful, and we arrived back in the South at Durham bus station in the sweltering heat. Typical. The next few hours were to get even more typical, as with it being a Sunday no busses were running to Chapel Hill (at times I do think the USA can be quite backwards), and so Sods Law came crashing down upon us both, with the realisation of the only way of getting back to Chapel Hill without paying an extortionate amount of money on a taxi was to hike up to Duke and hope the shuttle was running. Hike to Duke. Gulp. Having heard a lot about this place from people I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into Dukes campus and openly ask someone how to get back to UNC. They might throw the keys to their Mercedes or something at me… Anyways, I will definitely go on record as to say that the Duke campus is beautiful, with a gothic look to it, and with Andrea doing her womanly thing some Dookie helped us onto the right bus to get to the other side of the campus and onto the UNC shuttle. And no key were thrown. Thank god! Needless to say, by the time we got back onto UNC campus we were more than ready to be back and crash in our rooms!

Yup, in a bar as usual!

"It tastes like s***!" (The North Carolina State Fair)

October 2011

When Pat told me about the NC State fair all of like a month ago, I knew I had to go. It seemed a fantastic opportunity to experience another aspect of American life, and man did I experience it! We went on the Monday, when the crowds were going to be quieter and it would be easier to get about the place (that’s according to Pat by the way, seeing as I wouldn’t have a clue…). 5 of us bundled into Madison’s car to drive over to Raleigh where the fair was being held, with Andy seated in the front getting very excited about the fair and Betsy sandwiched between Pat and I showing us the wonders of the next iPhone whatever, and Pat subsequently having great fun asking it lots of different questions to amusing results! Madison was driving, in case you didn’t realise that…

We originally rocked up to Madison’s house, with the plan to get the bus to the fair from his. However, on realisation that the bus would cost 4 bucks each, and the car park was only $8, we got back in the car and drove towards the fair. Being lucky as **** we managed to find a parking spot incredibly near the entrance to the fair. Result! Entering the fair beheld a majestic view. Well, not really, but I was certainly full of bright lights and loud music and smell of fried food. Faaaaantastic! I realised how sheltered of the wider American public Chapel Hill is, with various people of (mainly) larger sizes wandering around, with thick southern accents that I seriously had no way of even hoping to understand. And that was just the kids!

Having not eaten since lunchtime (a whole 5 hours before hand), I was starving, as were the others. Andy disappeared off and returned with the leg of a turkey (no, really), and I spied something which had been spoken about with a hint of reverence for the few weeks leading up to going to the fair. The phenomena known as the “Krispy Kreme Burger” is one found at the NC State Fair, and was spoken about with a hint of awe, fascination and disgust by both internationals and American’s alike. Naturally, on seeing a sign advertising them being sold I knew I had to try one!

There was a little (ok huge) issue with me ordering one, as my accent wasn’t understood at all by the two girls on the stand. “Are you foreign?” asked one, to my look of surprise at their appearance of pure stupidity/ignorance/hick-ness, followed by “I can’t understand your accent, speak English”. EXCUSE ME?! I am English you dumb hick! This was where I fully realised I had stumbled upon some of the American stereotypes so well known back home. Anyways, once this slight mishap was overcome (with me then being asked if Krispy Kreme burgers were a popular thing back home. You can guess the response I gave…) I received a box with this fabled item of nourishment (Ha!) within.

As you may have guessed, a Krispy Kreme burger is a slab of meat with the trimmings (lettuce, tomato, fried onions) sandwiched between two glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts. You read right. Add bacon and plastic cheese and you’ve got yourself a heart attack in a box. Literally.  But the all important taste test revealed that it was absolutely disgusting. Imagine a McDonald’s cheeseburger, then throw a load of sugar on it, then a bit more, then glaze it in more sugar and you’re nowhere near how sweet this horrendous creation is. Coupled with the weird taste of meat and cheese accompanying it, it was just disgusting. Needless to say, I didn’t finish it, gave a bite to Pat who fancied a try (he didn’t like it either!) and threw it away. Seven bucks well spent! I then seriously needed some decent (or at least as decent as you can get at the Fair), and so followed Pat on the hunt for a ham biscuit (not a biscuit as in Mcvities I hasten to add!). Which turned out to be rather nice tasting, except I got laughed at for asking for ketchup (apparently you don’t eat a biscuit with ketchup…).

The epitome of healthy living...

Maybe not one of my greatest ideas!

The rest of the evening was spent wandering around the fair, taking in the sights and sounds. As it was a sate fair, there were exhibitions on show such as cake designs (some were phenomenal), competition winners for biggest vegetables (some were bloody huge!) and animal auctions. The amount of money thrown around was an eye opener – $10,000 for a cow seemed about standard (yes, I know being a city boy I have no idea about these things but it does seem a lot!). We also went on a couple of rides, which had to be chosen with care as it seemed that health and safety didn’t really exist at the fair and many of the rides looked like they were about to topple over. Needless to say, the high swings and ferris wheel were chosen, and duely enjoyed by all. I was also cool to get up high and see the whole area of the fair (absolutely huge!). Also on offer at the fair was the opportunity to stare in fascination at the various weird and wonderful animals on show. Now these animals weren’t just normal animals, but what were labelled as “freaks”. For example a 5 legged sheep or giant horse. The only catch was the cost of going in a looking at the animals – needless to say we didn’t bother. It also concerned me a little when I saw some adverts for a “fish girl” and “spider women”. Not sure whether that can be considered culture or just plain bizarre…

Yo veg is so fat....

Other edible items consumed was an ice cream as big as my face (no joke), a deep fried milky way (pretty dam good ill have you know, although god knows what it does too your body!) and deep fried macaroni cheese. Wasn’t so keen on the macaroni cheese I’ll be honest. It was amazing at what was on offer – deep fried Kool Aid (similar to Robinsons but not really), deep fried Oreos and deep fried candy floss were to name just a few. We hung around to watch the fireworks, which were pretty impressive to watch and then wandered back to the car and drove back to Chapel Hill, chilling out at Pat and Madison’s apartment for the remainder of the evening.

Deep fried everythiiiiiing....

The NC state fair was certainly an interesting experience which I am glad to have gone too. Having said that, I would probably prefer to go to a tradition English Country Fair with its quaintness and almost innocence compared to the American version. Plus it would mean I wouldn’t get stared at for my accent…

"WOW! You just said 'y'all'! (2 months in)

October 2011

So now I’ve spent 2 months in the USA, and whilst my list of things I’ve learnt is a lot smaller that after 1 month, there are still things that I am getting used to and experiencing. For one, I still don’t get crossing a road. Sometimes cars stop, other times they don’t. Different crossings have different right of way laws, and sometimes people stand in the middle of the road and blow whistles at you. So confusing! I’m sticking to the (so far, but not sure for how much longer) fair safe of simply just sprinting across the road…

I’ve also started watching the BBC TV series “Stephen Fry in America” which is fascinating to watch, as much of what he says about America and its culture I can relate to from my own experiences. If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend watching the series as it very entertaining. I'll apologise now, as I reckon I will be quoting and referring to a lot of his series as examples of what I’ve done and seen. It’s also great to watch a programme with a good, proper English voice in it!

So the list of things I’ve learnt this month:

• Fosters does exist here in the USA. I found it in a supermarket type place. But it comes in two sizes – huge and fucking huge.
• You get charged to make and receive texts and calls here. I hate the fact that some calling me cost me money. It doesn’t make any sense.
• Adverts (commercials) for medicines (drugs) are pure hilarity. Every time I hear one it makes me chuckle. They spend 30 seconds telling you the wonders of the drug in a dreamy like way, and then 5 minutes telling you the side effects and how its bad for you in a very hard voice you would associate with a stern teacher. Absolutely fantastic to listen to!
• Cheese is shocking here. All plastic and peeled out of a packet. It’s really not that nice at all. And it even looks crap, all plastically and horrible!
• Picking up local dialects and words is a lot easier than I thought. Although this doesn't mean I understand people anymore often at all!
• The size of food portions here mean boxes are sometimes offered as standard at restaurants. I mean to my logic, why put so much food on the plate and then offer a box? Why not put a little less food on the plate in the first place?! Fancy restaurants with huge plates and no food on them would really suffer here that’s for sure.
• Pepsi and KrispyKreme Doughnuts originate from NC. I have been asked repeatedly if a) I’ve ever had a KrispyKreme (the answer being yes many times) and b) if we have them in the UK (the answer being yes, hence the yes answer to the first question). I do think they taste a bit different here though…
• Oral sex is illegal in NC (I mean, really?!)
• When asked if you want “a shag”, don’t think you’ve got lucky (or not depending on who it is I guess…). A shag is a dance, and not what British people associate it to be (that’s sex for you Americans). Anyways, apparently there’s a place called the “Shag Barn” in Chapel Hill somewhere. I definitely did a double take, thinking other things that would go on there…
• Americans like to change what they call food to reflect their constitutional freedoms and world image. For example I heard a cracking story of the changing of the name ‘French fries’ (as in chips) to ‘Freedom fries’ back in the time of the attempt to go to war in Iraq, because the Bush Administration didn’t like the French’s lack of support. And so not wanting o be associated with the French they changed the name of fries. Only in America.
• There are only three letters in the American alphabet: U, S and A.
• Spunk as in “being spunky” does not mean what it does back home at all. I got laughed at a lot for that one…
• It is illegal to sing off key in NC. Seriously, don’t try it.
• I genuinely have become a convert to American Football (now I understand the rules!) - I love going and watching it. Though it will still continue to never have anything over Rugby…
• Memorable quote (can’t remember who said it though unfortunately): “it seems weird that people in other countries have Facebook”. Oh dear! 

It seems amazing that I’ve been here two months now – it’s gone so quick, yet also so slowly. It certainly feels like I’ve been here a lot longer, and the next two months till I get to go home seems to stretch out in front of me. I guess I’ll just have to keep craicing on and keep busy and not do any work as per usual!

"Ugh. Just Ugh" (American Midterms)

October 2011

The past few weeks have also been fairly hectic in terms of relative workload. I had two midterms (admittedly not as bad as some of the others), which were quite stressful as it’s a concept I have never experienced in Manchester. These exams can count to 15% of the overall grade, so it’s quite important to do well! Luckily in my Spanish I got 84% (VERY happy or ‘muy feliz’ as I should say!) and I haven’t had my GIS one back yet.

The process of taking exams here has been an interesting one. As said in previous posts, being in college at UNC is very similar in nature to being in secondary school, in the sense that attendance is marked and grades rewarded reflect your attendance record. This is particularly hard for me when I have come from a system where the emphasis is very much on one own learning, and attendance is encourage but not required at all, and now I am sitting in a classroom listening attently for my name to be called to ensure I’m marked in and my grade doesn’t suffer. I would say I’ve turned into a proper neek from this, but in reality for some classes I’ve been marked as absent, and so not turning up now isn’t going make much difference to my grade, and so I may as well stay in bed to be honest! Another thing that has really shocked me here is the lack of anonymous marking of work and exams. My name has to be written on everything. And I hate it. I really feel it’s unprofessional and not conducive to helping promote individual thought at all, because I feel nervous putting things down in case the professor calls me up on it. On a more worrying level, it sort prevents people from complaining about professors and staff, simply for the worry that their grade will suffer as a consequence. Which I feel is terrible.  I would say I wouldn’t put my name on the paper and just my student number, but sometimes you get awarded a mark for writing your name on the paper, so I may as well maximise my chances of scoring ok-ish! 

Going hand in hand with this concept of being back in secondary school is the way of talking to professors. At Manchester, I am now very used to talking to my lecturers and tutors on first name terms and fairly informally. However, here at UNC the professor expects to be talked to formally, similar to a school teacher by a pupil. Now, here I understand this may be simply a Manchester Geography department phenomena, with the staff being a lot more laid back (for example only names are on the doors in the geography department, no titles of letters), where as in other departments at Manchester the title etc of the professor is on the door with no first name. Here at UNC this seems to be more the case, with lecturers being referred to as “Professsor Smith”, and always held in some sort of reverence (again, I emphasise this is simply from what I’ve seen), which has been quite hard for me to adjust to. I guess personally I prefer the Manchester system as in my opinion is fosters more familiarity between lecturers and students, which is better for a working/learning environment. However, this could be indicative of the fact that (in general) the geography department is quite a young one. Or simply the fact that geographers are a lot more chilled out about these things!

Anyways, as I have said in previous posts, the amount of work is much greater here than in Manchester in terms of quantity, but to an extent of a lesser level in quality. By that I mean I feel that here the work is a lot easier in content that back home, for example is a geography class I used to take (Natural Resources – since been dropped) we were looking at concepts I learnt at a AS level standard (high school for you Americans) and I was sat in a degree class with people who didn’t have any clue about these various concepts being discussed. I guess in argument, the system at UNC with pre-requisites across different academic departments and across different years means that in-depth concepts and theories cannot be taught, simply as the class has to be at a level that someone who may be majoring in Sociology can understand, and is only doing the class to fulfil their geography requisite to graduate. Furthermore, the style of teaching is a lot different with much smaller classes (which is definitely good!), but this means there is no hiding from the lecturer, and so you have to do the work before hand or else you look like a right muppet! And yes I have been in that position a fair few times now… Blagging habits die hard though! Talking of blagging, it’s also SO easy to cheat in tests (not that I’ve don’t it I hasten to add). The tests are given out in class time, and so everyone sits next to each other and so you can potentially read the persons script next to yours easily. And at times the lecturer will leave the room. Madness I tell you!

Fall break is this week however, and so a whole two (yes two!) days are awarded to us poor souls to rest our weary heads and collect our thoughts. For two days. Bloody bollocks if you ask me… Ah well, to Washington, DC!

Ariel view of (part of) the UNC campus

"So, just who the **** are you?" (Joining ROTC)

October 2011

I’ve forgotten to mention in the last post that I’ve started up ROTC here at UNC, transferring from Manchester and Salford OTC for the year. Now I’ve got to be careful with what I say about comparing the two, certainly in terms of not pissing off the higher echelons of both Units, but also for security reasons (can’t be posting on the internet all the tactics each Army uses now can I!) Nevertheless, the past few weeks of involvement with the ROTC has been interesting for me. My first interaction with the UNC Tar Heel Battalion (as it is known) was a rather intense one-on-one interview with the Commanding Officer. It took roughly 3 hours for me to explain who I was, what I was doing there and what the English OTC system was like in terms of where to place me in the American ROTC system.  Typical with all things public sector, the papers I had sent off in May beforehand still hadn’t got through to the unit, and as such they had no real idea (apart from a few emails) who I was. Typical! Anyways, being the British guy in a unit of Americans is cool – with a lot of fascination flowing both ways. It was a bit of a baptism of fire, as the first parade involved getting up for a 6am 4mile run on a Monday morning. Very grim. And being a lazy **** all summer made me even more nervous about not wanting to stand out for being the unfit douche rocking up and looking dumb. Luckily I managed to pull it out the bag and finish just over the 30min mark (very proud of myself!) and was glad to realise that like back home, there are some VERY unfit people within the unit.

I am wearing my British Army uniform whilst training here (making me stand out even more!) but walking around campus is great with all the double looks I get! That’s another thing, on a Wednesday you have to go to class in uniform – very different from the Manchester security conscious attitude of not wearing uniform anywhere except at the Unit. I guess this links into the different attitudes towards the military here in the States compared to back home. The military is truly supported here and people genuinely think the world of the soldiers. This is very different to back home where we are not allowed to wear uniform in public die to security risks, and on Remembrance Day last year we were followed by riot police in case of a violent reaction to us marching in the streets. Despite having my own uniform, I don’t have any of my own kit, and as such am having to use the kit issued by the ROTC unit. Let me say now, I am never bitching about the kit we get in Manchester ever again. I really don’t like the kit we use here – the webbing doesn’t have any utility pouches, doesn’t tighten properly and has things hanging off it everywhere. So when crawling on the ground everything falls off and it looks like a bag of shite. I also really don’t like the compasses we use – they look like they were designed in the 1960’s and are rather bulky and cumbersome. Furthermore, taking a bearing is a right bitch, as it can’t be done just using the compass itself – instead lines have to be drawn all over the map with the use of a protractor. Bloody hard in the woods in the dark whilst also trying to find a torch! However, I have been issued a cool American digi-cam camelback, and a t-shirt with ARMY written across it (simple pleasures!). The uniform I bought with me from home really isn’t suited to the climate here (being designed for cold raining England), and as such I am always hang out of my arse sweating within 30 seconds of standing outside. But I have to say training in sunshine and the dry for a change is VERY nice. Especially in comparison to the “Bleak Leek” days of always raining and snowing, even if the rest of the country is enjoying 30 degree Celsius temperatures!

The training is also very different to home, with only one weekend per semester (compared to Manchester’s every other week) and shorter training sessions during the week of 2 hours or so. However, there are a greater number of sessions – 3 PT sessions at 6am, one classroom ‘lab’ and one outside ‘lab’ a week. It’s been a bit of a challenge trying to integrate into the unit, especially with all the different acronyms for things (the US army likes acronyms just as much as the British one!) and the fact there is no socialisation outside of the unit activities for me to get to know people – a far cry from the massive drinking culture prevalent within the UK OTC units (I mean, we don’t drink to excess, just a responsible amount obviously…)

It is interesting to see who the US ROTC is treated as a Unit in comparison to the UK OTC, in terms of pay etc. In the UK we are paid per training session we do, with a minimum requirement for out year bounty, but the ability to choose a little or as much training as possible, with the amount of take home pay collected reflecting that. In the US as far, as I’m aware, you receive a set amount of money monthly depending on your time served, regardless of the amount of training you do. Further to this within the US ROTC when you join you have to contract into the US army after you graduate, in return for paid tuition fees and money towards books etc. This is a far cry from the (current) OTC system where there is no obligation to commission into the Army after you graduate. However, I feel this has positives and negatives, in that it helps aid a professionalism within the unit here as people know that they will be leading others once they graduate, but at the same time I feel it prevents others from potentially joining to see what the ROTC is like, and as such in the future they may have National Guard Reserves under them and not allow them time off for training – something the (current) OTC system aims to happen for those who don’t wish to commission into the British Army. It also seems a lot more common for ex-soldiers who wish to go to Uni to join an ROTC unit whilst at college, and so within the Tar Heel Battalion there a few US marines knocking around and apparently an SF guy (although I don’t think I’ve met him yet). Obviously being British I manage quite successfully to bridge the gaps between years and can quite happily chat away to anyone which is pretty good – some fantastic stories come out that’s for sure!

Now I would write about tactics, but in the interest of national security I won’t (OTC-ers, fairly similar but some key differences – some good some bad in my opinion!), instead I’ll write about my ROTC mentor, DJ. I’m not sure if this is US wide, but certainly within the Tar Heel Battalion a mentor system exists with 4^th years having 1 or 2 mentees with whom they are supposed to look out for and help integrate into the ROTC and college way of life. Personally, I think this is a fantastic idea, and would seriously push for this to happen at Manchester. The Mentors take the mentees out a few times a semester and simply act as a person to talk to about anything, and help out with issues that may occur within the ROTC programme or the wider college life. DJ is a really nice guy and seemed pleased to have me as a mentee (British charm coming out there too!). I just hope he still is please to have me… And h studies in Nottingham for a year doing his Masters, so it means he understands the nature of living somewhere else away from home, and also parts of British culture which is refreshing to be able to talk about and hear about UK Uni life from an American perspective! So far we’ve met up twice – once for a nice Tai meal in Durham (I think) and then again for a drink in the Station bar in Carborro. What with now having a solid group of friends, alongside Pat and Connor, I don’t really think I need another mentor as such, but it’s still good to have someone else to turn to if needed and also to meet up with and chat about military things – something I can’t really do with non-ROTC people!

So all in all transferring to the ROTC whilst at UNC seems to have been a decent idea, and means I can continue to do something I enjoy doing, meeting other people who have the same sort of attitudes and interests as myself. I would like to say thanks to all the guys who have helped me out with the various bits of paper work and admin malarky that had to be done, and the different years who have helped me not look like a bag of shite not knowing what is going on when various things are shouted about! It would just be nice if there was a little more socialising outside of training!

I don't have any ROTC photos yet so here's one of a racoon I saw one night