31st July- 3rd August, Raleigh, North Carolina

---

31st July- 3rd August, Raleigh, North Carolina

We left Miami and headed to North Carolina on a 10 hour bus journey, where we were meeting up with a friend we had met in Buenos Aires in Argentina on the TEFL course. We got a Greyhound bus which is the only bus company that runs throughout the east coast. They are definitely NOT famous for their comfort or service! But as most Americans drive gas guzzlers or can afford to fly, there is no real demand for a high quality bus company.

I was surprised getting on the bus at the lack of everything.. leg-room, tv's, air-conditioning or sinks in the toilet! The chairs dont even recline! What a contrast to the amazing, 4/5 star quality buses you find in Argentina, where you are offered chocolate dipped biscuits on silver trays and offered drinks which come with straws covered in tinstle! No such luck with Greyhound! It amused me how the accents started to change as we went further north! The bus made never ending stops throughout the night, letting on more and more 'inbreds' as we got nearer to our destination! At one stop, there was a crazy black lady talking to herself at the bus station, she was shouting 'Im-ma beat his aaaasss!'

I had the misfortune of sitting next to a black lady who was making the trip with her grandson. She sat there whilst he cried, and had a tantrum if he wasnt given a donut every 10 minutes! And the worst part was, she did nothing to correct his behaviour, or shut him up! She kept saying 'Why are you so baaaad... stop being so baaaad..' But what did she except when she was feeding him sugary snacks at 11.30pm when he should have been sleeping!!

We arrived looking rough and feeling groggy. Jake had found some rib bones down the side of his window. Nice! We made our way to the address our friend had given us, nervous at the thought of having to meet any parents, as we were dressed like tramps and my sandles were a terrible sight! But once we got there it was fine, as we would be staying in Charltons (friend from TEFL) college house with his fellow 'dugans'. This word amuses me! The boys invented it to describe a lazy, good-for-nothing, stupid person!' To me its like the definition of a hillbilly or something! I expected the boys to greet us wearing dungarese chewing on straw! Instead these boys chewed on pumpkin seeds! There seems to be a skill to putting a huge handfull in one side of your mouth, pushing one to the front to break, then extracting and eating the tiny seed on the other side of your mouth! Unfortunately I couldnt manage it!

We told the boys we were planning on eating as much junk food as possible as we were ao excited for the big portions and also we hadnt really eaten anthing like that in Colombia! They didnt let us down! We lived like dugans for the weekend! Eating McDonalds, Bojangles(popular southern fast food place), pizza (70 dollars worth!), KrispyKreme donuts (Jake bought 36!) and much more!

The best part of the weekend was when the boys took us clay pigeon shooting! The boys all owned shot guns as its popular to go shooting in the south, and they took us out 'to shoot some shiiiiiiiiit!!' The experience was crazy! We were driven to some land, one of the boys parents owned and practiced shooting! I didnt want to have a go, but after watching Jake try, I had to! It was fantastic! Its just not a normal way to spend your saturday afternoon! Jake managed to shoot 3 in a row! At one point, I could have killled him though. The boys dressed me up in camouflage gear and wanted to take a picture. I picked up 2 shotguns which I thought were not loaded and that the safety was on anyway and pointed them at Jake, but by accident! I was like 'look at meeeee'! The boys ducked out of the way and afterwards we realised that both guns were loaded!!!

For the rest of our time in Raleigh, we spent time at Charltons beach house, which was fantastic. It was great to see this side of the states, as unless you know somebody you most likely wouldnt visit somewhere like Raleigh. The boys were alot of fun, and I enjoyed living like a 'dugan' for the weekend! Even watching endless programs on sharks for an entire afternoon (apparently shark week is huge in america, for 1 week, 24 hours a day they show nothing but shark related programs!) was fun! The lifestyle is so relaxed, and the people are so laid back! I knew it would soon change as we'd get to Washington and New York!

---