I hope this turns out okay as a post because I am currently in Doha and everything on blogspot is in Arabic... and centered to the right... this is ultra confusing. But anyway, I just wanted to thank the readers who were interested in my pommie diaries, and sorry it has not really worked out with it being an international one, but studying for my masters and working and filming for youtube and everything else has just left me with no time to write about my adventures. I shall leave my diairies up online as evidence of how great my "gap year" was between the end of my undergraduate degree and the beginning of my masters, and I hope it encourages anyone who stumbles upon it to pursue a work/travel visa in Australia to see what I'm talking about.

TTFE
(Ta Ta Forever)

Of Ole Miss and the Post-Election "Riot"

Ok, post-election blog post, and this is how I feel about America: 

 

Half cringe, half frustration. You were doing so well guys! Oh, I'm definitely glad Obama won. The majority of Americans made the right choice and are clearly sensible people. For the rest of them.....

Now that it's been a full week since the election, I feel it is an appropriate time where I can comment on the situation. I knew Mississippi was going to be angry if Obama was elected, and wow was there a reaction. In fact there is a general feeling of discontent, to put it mildly, in many States in America and there is even talk of secession - really? Do you not recall the American Civil War in the 1860s? My stance on this, which is shared by most of my friends, is that the whole thing is ridiculous. Who knows what kind of government they would come up with if they managed to secede. God help those citizens. And, if they don't secede, apparently they want to move to Australia.... sure, move to Australia with a tax-paid social welfare system, universal healthcare, a ban on guns, a Prime Minister who is an athiest single woman, and whose citizens support Obama nearly 20 to 1...

There are students on campus who are talking about this, who are in support of secession, but they are pretty much the uninformed individual who thinks it's an easy funny option. And I'm sure everyone has heard about the "riot" at the University of Mississippi when the election was called.

So let's clear that up first.

This is the video of the "riot": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD0vJrRODtw

Yes, there was a reaction to the Presidential Election announcment, that much is clear. If you watch the video, you can see how about 400 students descended onto campus grounds... well, they're looking for the "riot." And it was kind of hard to find, as it was as un-riotesque as could possibly be. Really, I'd label it a "gathering." In actual fact, at most 20 students were particularly rowdy and making and encouraging racial slurs. The video really only shows people walking around. The only part of that video that upsets me is when the students yell our Hotty Toddy chant. If you're not familiar with it, this is the Ole Miss chant which we use during sporting events and social gatherings to rally students against an opposing team. It should never have been used in the context of the "riot" - sorry, "gathering" - but these were uninformed, idiotic students who were almost certainly fueled by alcohol. I don't forgive them for using it, this use of our symbol was entirely inappropriate.

In terms of what happened at the "gathering," nothing was broken, wrecked or destroyed. No one was physically attacked. The two arrests were due to public intoxication and not complying with police officers who tried to break up the crowd. An Obama Biden sign being burned was the most that physically happened, and it hasn't been confirmed that it even happened on campus. There were, unfortunately, racial slurs thrown about, which is so backward and wrong it made me angry.

But not only me. Our entire campus.

If you saw the "riot" reaction, I hope you also saw the response from the student body and faculty the day after. Everyone is disgusted with these few idiots. Dan Jones, the Chancellor for the University of Mississippi, made a statement the day after to this point:

"we are very disappointed in those students who took a very immature and uncivil approach to expressing their views about the election... all of us are ashamed of the few students who have negatively affected the reputations of each of us and of our university."

Chancellor Dan Jones' Statement: http://news.olemiss.edu/message-chancellor-dan-jones/#.UKLOA4b_7zw

The University of Mississippi is a safe campus with forward thinking individuals who do not, in any way, support racism. There has always been a dialogue about race, but this has obviously increased since November 6. I am in Graduate School and several of my classmates teach freshman classes who have taken time out of their class schedule to talk about this issue. In my History class, we spent an entire session talking about it. There are 21,000 students here, and those who know right and wrong greatly outnumber the idiots. And the entire university is responding to the acts of a few to show the country, and the world, that this really isn't the reality of Ole Miss.

The University of Mississippi is called "Ole Miss," our football team is called the "Rebels," and we have confederate symbols on campus such as commemorative statues to the fallen soldiers of the Civil War. This much is true. But this isn't because this is a racist university. It's an acknowledgement of our difficult history. We can't white wash what has happened, but we can change the meaning of what is left behind. And yes, there is a confederate statue, but we also have a James Meredith statue celebrating our first African-American student.

400 students "rioted" but 700 Ole Miss students, faculty, staff and community members responded by walking through campus the very next day in a Candlelight Walk, culminating in reading the university creed at the Lyceum - the exact spot where in 1962 there was an actual riot at the acceptance of James Meredith. Those who couldn't make it to the walk left messages supporting the walk and their continued belief in the university.

"I believe in respect for the dignity of each person, I believe in fairness and civility, I believe in personal and professional integrity, I believe in academic honesty, I believe in academic freedom, I believe in good stewardship of our resources, I pledge to uphold these values and encourage others to follow my example" - Ole Miss Creed

Candlelight Walk video: http://news.olemiss.edu/i-fairness-civility/#.UKLEZob_7zx

Now this is a true representation of our university. We are multi-cultural college; diverse in race, ethnicity, origin, beliefs, religion, and we are not only tolerant, but we encourage and promote diversity. This year we had an entire week celebrating the fact it is 50 years since the university integrated. We crowned our first African-American homecoming queen and elected our first female African-American student body president. Three years ago we elimated the song "From Dixie With Love" which was traditionally played during football games because it contained the line "the South will rise again" which no longer held a 'slave-holding' meaning to the students, but we got rid of it anyway. We also changed our college mascot, Colonel Reb, who many associated with a white plantation owner. We've made great leaps forward in changing any negative perception of our university and it's such a shame that these few students have again brought Ole Miss into a negative light when it really no longer deserves it. We weren't the only ones to see a small negative reaction on our campus. Hampden-Sydney College in Virgina saw students set off fireworks and break bottles near the Minority Student Union house, and yell racial insults and threats at its residents. However, of course, it's only Ole Miss that really makes the news. We still have a way to go, clearly, but so does the rest of America, and the world at large. I may not see it in my lifetime, but I hope one day people are judged only on their abilities, words, and actions, and not because of their skin colour, religion, or sexuality.

I believe in Ole Miss. I really do. There is no way I would ever align myself with a racist organization of any kind, and I am proud to say "our" and "we" when I refer to this university. We will continue to fight racism, and we will continue to promote learning and diversity.

We are Ole Miss.

Hotty Toddy!

Of Obama and Romney, Come On America!

If you don't know what's going on right now, then hello there, I hope it's comfortable and not too cold under that rock. It's election day, and Americans are voting for their next President.

My situation is very strange, being a Brit living in America (so of course unable to vote) and watching the election campaign unfold, especially as I live in Mississippi... and I do not agree with how Mississippi will vote. I'm not into politics, I make no claims to know what the candidate platforms really are, I sort of buried my head in the sand about that because I could and politics rarely interests me. I didn't watch the debates, because I don't really have much of an idea what's going on in this country, I only sort of have an idea of what's going on in Britain.

However, if I could vote it would be for Obama. And that's nothing to do with politics (well, actually it is a bit, I'm not completely out of the loop). It's really just because Romney is shaping up to be another George W. Bush, in that soon people will have posters on their walls with stupid Romney quotes. If you have little common sense outside of politics, I don't trust you to have common sense with politics. Sorry. And if you think aeroplane windows should open while 1000s of feet up in the air then I can already tell that you're not my man. This is not an uncommon opinion from a Brit, by the way. I'm sure there are Romney supporters, but I have not yet personally heard about one. I think he just generally offended us about the Olympics and we have never warmed to him since. Also, I can't support a man who doesn't support same-sex marriage. That's just so unbelievably backwards.

Living in Mississippi, Romney signage is everywhere. It's on people's front lawns, on their cars, and on the fraternities. I have tweets coming in from both sides, but mostly Mississippians are tweeting for Romney, and other northerners are mocking him endlessly (not hard to do). Our student newspaper, the Daily Mississipian, has been running stories for a long time about the election, and guess which side they tend to fall on. Remember that this is the only student newspaper (out of 64) who endorsed John McCain when he ran for President.

I have to say, I'm very surprised as to how open people are about who they're voting for. In Britain I don't feel that people are particularly outspoken about it, and certainly weren't when I was an undergraduate. I didn't see nearly as much around voting time on campus then as I have seen here. I have been in the presence of one debate between my friends about who they want to run the country, which didn't get heated, but it was certainly argumentative. Otherwise people seem to freely express who they are voting for, and luckily everyone seems to respect that. Despite not agreeing with how the majority of Mississippi will vote in this election (we are certainly not a swing state), I am very impressed with how they are treating each other.

Tonight I am watching the election live, and I'll be watching with some other Brits - no Americans. This wasn't a conscious choice, it just ended up that way, but I will be taking a keen interest in the floods of texts, tweets and facebook statuses as to how Americans are reacting. For this reason, I love social media. What I will be even more interested in, is the reaction once the President is announced, particularly in a State such as Mississippi. However, being on a college campus will certainly not be a clear representation of this, as a college campus is so diverse, with an increasing number of out of state students, and you find different thinkers on a college campus compared to your average American town.

But really, the important thing is for Americans to vote. I hope the number of voters have increased this year. This is such a major contest, even closer I think than the previous one, so it's more important than ever for everyone to have their say, and this can only happen through votes.

This has been a strange, out of character blog post, but this is potentially a monumental history making day, which will affect the arguably most powerful nation in the world for the next 4 years. Here are my two cents worth.

Good luck Obama, TTFN.

Of Driving Tests, iHop, and Adverts

Hello my lovelies, reminiscent of my blogging days in Australia, I am updating from my workplace. I don't have anything to do for the moment so why not? Although perhaps it would be more productive to work on one of my essays rather than updating the Pommie Diaries... but anyway.

I am a totally legit driver in the US now! I would post a photo of my driving license but I'm not going to make it easy for someone to steal my identity. Not sure if that's how it works. Also it has my weight printed on there... I'm sure it as because I already know how to drive, but that test was ridiculous. I read through the manual twice, maybe three times, and passed to the theory part with flying colours. That may also have had something to do with the fact that I got the same question three times. If the test is set on 'Shuffle,' I think it's broken, but now I am really certain of what to do when an emergency vehicle pulls up behind me. The driving practical was just silly, but again I'm sure that's to do with the fact I already passed the test so they figured I could drive. We left the rest centre, drove to a residential area, drove around in a loop, and then came back again. America is now sure I can accelerate and brake acceptably. They are unaware of my parking skills (bay parking - pro. parallel parking - scary).

But now I have that I can drive golf carts around campus and I'm about to take a test drive in a 12-passanger van. Seriously, in about half an hour. I've driven a seven-seater Kia, is a van much different?

Check out that seating cover!

In other news, I am now acquainted with iHop. What a weird place. It looks like something from the 60s, but not in a cool retro way, but a "what were they thinking when they chose this carpet" way. They seem to really like pancakes, and have come up with many many ways in which to serve them with other foods. I'm sure on the menu is a Steak-and-Pancake option. Last night I had chicken strips and waffles. On the same plate. Crazy stuff! But very useful because I ate the chicken last night and the waffles this morning. I had to protect them from my ravenous colleagues at work.

Say What???

I have also been taking advantage of the fast food options here. I recently got my pension fund back from when I was working in Australia, at least I think that's what the Super Annuation was for, and so I've taken out as much of that as possible, but I had to leave a little bit in the account because American banks are stupid and charge you in weird and wonderful ways to take out your own money. Anyway, I kind of see that money left in the account as "free money." Don't ask me why. But that means I'm okay with spending it and so I've been able to enjoy Taco Bell (meal number 8, yum!) and Zaxby's (they serve chicken fingers with chips, and a slice of toast. Random). I was on a healthy eating spree but I cave easily. America has the best food.

There are so many things right about this cereal

And now for something completely different (Monty Python reference there) One thing I've noticed about American adverts on TV is that they're strange. For example, "If you are experiencing dizziness and a lack of appetite, you are probably suffering from this condition. Take this medicine to make you feel better and all warm and fuzzy inside. Side effects include fatigue, sore muscles, losing your hearing, hair loss, and eventual death." Nice. Let's just diagnose and medicate myself, yeah? And then this is followed up by "Have you or anyone you know been taking omnidoziflopsyoxin and have suffered side effects? We can sue the bastards! Call this number now!" American adverts are very keen for you to sue people. It's like a side hobby.


I should probably get back to work before my boss looks over her shoulder. Fingers crossed I don't hit anything on my bus test drive.

Of Beignets, Huge Ass Beers, and Harry Belafonte

Yeah, I know, I've been a bad blog writer lately. Bad bad bad. But in my defence it's not quite as easy to update anymore. My prime writing time in Australia was at work.... (shhhhh...) and while I work in America as well, my boss sits behind me. Literally, right behind me. So I can't get away with anything.

Anyways, that, a trip to New Orleans, and a bout of food poisoning have kept me from updating, but I am finally back in business. Yes, I am still overusing my car, just a little, but I've restrained myself a lot more than I was. I am still plucking up the nerve to do the American driving test. Not that I don't think I can pass it, but even the possibility of failing any kind of test has always made me anxious. But I will do it. I kind of have to, my boss wants me to learn to drive a mini van.... I don't know why.

I will get to New Orleans, but I just want to say that my coursemates have been lovely yet again. They invited me out with them to the Square (where the clubs at!) and we went for a few drinks in the bars, as well as a couple dances. Turns out I really can't dance very well. I think I was in denial about it. Collin and Levi can attest to my poor partner co-ordination. Thanks for trying to spin me guys, but it only made me fall over my feet and wack you in the face. I will try practising though. As you can see from the photo below, they really are a good bunch :-)

So, New Orleans! I went as a chaperon for a group of international students I am sort of in charge of (did I ever explain my job? Well, I work in the International office at my university, and we deal with students coming to study here from all around the world), and by "chaperon" I mean responsible for head counting them on and off the bus and having my phone nearby at all times in case one of them gets arrested.

That didn't happen.

The rest of the time I revisited some favourite spots in the French Quarter avec my friend Jodie (see what I did there? French! Clearly fluent). The weather wasn't that great so I didn't take too many photos as I have quite a lot of nice ones from the previous times I've been. This time I did manage to get into Cafe du Monde though. If you haven't heard of it, it's a very famous French cafe in the New Orleans French Quarter which sells delicious beignets, which is pastry with powdered sugar. It's a nightmare to get into the cafe, the queue is always miles long. So when I say we succeeded in getting into Cafe du Monde, I actually mean we successfully found it's sister cafe in a mall with relatively no queue. But it was still called Cafe du Monde, and it sold the exact same beignets. So hah. By the way, I shared those beignets with Jodie, they weren't all mine.... although they should have been....

And I still have the cup.

A cute eating place that Jodie introduced me to from when she last went to New Orleans (separately from me, we didn't even know each other then) was a place called Camellia, which is a pink American Diner. And it's pink. It serves really yummy breakfast foods, all your classics, and it's pink.

The photo doesn't show it very well, but it is pink. Also it was the waiter's idea to put the menu in the picture for "free advertising" so if anyone is actually reading this blog, and also happens to be going to New Orleans, and goes to Camellia because of this, then I have fulfilled your wishes Chris-waiter-man!

The rest of our French Quarter wanderings was largely centred around shopping. What can I say? We're girls. And I always check out the flea market whenever I'm there. And I think I've bought a mask every single time. I did this time too, it's part of my Halloween costume. I wish I had more to share, but we only had one full day there and as I was there before in better weather I didn't bother with a few things I otherwise would have. One thing I have to say though, is that Bourbon street is very interesting, if not... "uncivilised" is how I think our Dutch student put it, and so Frenchman Street really is the place to be with all the piano bars and stuff. Couldn't resist walking up and down Bourbon though to catch a few beads, which we did, and to hold up this rather heavy sign, which we had to pay 2 dollars to do (nothing is free in this town).

What else has been happening... apart from the food poisoning, which I won't go into. It's better that way. Well, I've been neglecting facebook for 4 days now. Except this was on purpose. I'm a refresh-er, guilty as charged, and I realised I was doing hitting that silly little button on facebook too often instead of doing actual work and having a life. So I decided to detox. I've been on it once in those 4 days, but that was work related believe it or not. I do miss it. I feel like I'm missing out on what everyone is doing. How do people who have no facebook at all have a social life? Surely they never get invited to anything, as that's all done on facebook now... well, time is up Sunday at midnight and I can't wait.

It's definitely Fall in Mississippi now. It's not nearly so hot as it used to be, and I get dew on my car in the mornings. This makes me sad. The heat of summer here is extraordinary and rather unbearable but it helps me feel like I'm definitely somewhere completely different from home. Now it feels like England on an unusually sunny day. Then winter will come... dang it. I suppose it's better temperatures for standing in the grove all day this Saturday for another football game. We're not badly this year, which is always nice.

And I can't possibly forget to mention that this week has been a celebration of 50 years of integration at the University of Mississippi. On October 1st 1961 James Meredith took his first class on campus. Since then a lot has changed, and we have been celebrating that change with many events. James Meredith couldn't come unfortunately but he has been here for a book signing and to watch the Texas game recently, and he'll apparently be back after too (is he avoiding it?). The event I went to was a talk given by Mr. Harry Belafonte. What an extraordinary and humble man. He was incredibly funny, and talked about knowing Bob Dylan and Martin Luther King Jr. as if it were completely normal to know people like them. I suppose to him it is. Add of course he talked some about the Civil Rights Movement, which quite rightly, in his own words, is "not just a thing of the past, not just a moment, Civil Rights is a way of life." It was a great honour to hear him.

UM Photo by Kevin Bain

TTFN!

Of Air Fresheners, Cows and Fabulous Friends

FREEEEEEEEDDDDOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!

Do you know what happened an hour ago? Oh, actually 2. Wow, time flies when I'm procrastinating. Anyway, at 8pm tonight, I, Eleana, was in Walmart. I was in Walmart. I Was In Walmart After The Buses Stopped! See, most people here have a car, and have had one since they were like 12 or something, because America has weird laws where a person can't drink until they're 21, but they're allowed to drive when they're still not big enough to see over the steering wheel. They've had a car forever, so I'm not sure they can truly understand how over the moon I am with owning a car. Well, except when they ask me about it and the first thing I do is squeal and do my little hopping dance of delight before telling them how much having a car rocks. Which I actually do, this is not a fabrication.

I'm sure the novelty will wear off at some point and I can be as cooly nonchalant as everyone else. But for the moment, I am a child with a new toy. An expensive toy, which I am also completely freaked out about. Every time I come out of my building, I am absolutely certain someone has already bashed their door into it or it's been stolen. Every time! It is very stressful leaving my apartment at the moment. Along with the novelty, I assume this will wear off also. I hope.

The day I got it, I drove to Walmart and entered a section I'd never before had a reason to step into..... the Auto section. And boy oh boy do I know nothing about cars. For about 92% of the section I am unable to either identify the products, or tell you how you use them. The air-freshener section? I am all over that. My favourite is anything that smells like berries or sweets, which people who have smelt my perfume collection will totally understand. I also bought a steering wheel cover. Not one of those fluffy zebra pattern ones (uck) but a nice leather one with silver/white detailing. Y'know, cause I'm a girl. It's so pretty! Getting it on the steering wheel was a bitch. I accidentally honked a random person in the car park. I'm never taking it off.

The part of the auto section I am looking forward to perusing next is the gadget and gizmo section.... but I've made myself wait until I get paid. Apparently social security numbers take bloody ages to come through. Who knew? And I decided my priority was to eat rather than pimp out my ride with LED lights. Which I'm not saying I'll do.....

I am coming to the end of a rather painful couple of weeks where I had to be writing assignments basically every day. I can see the light. Just one more to go, which I should be doing instead of blogging, but so far I've successfully put it off for... oooh.... 95 hours so why stop now. After this, I have at least 2 weeks where all I need to do is the reading for classes. Happy days. Oh, and there's a trip to New Orleans coming up so muchos fun is soon to be had! The only thing that could make it better is if I could actually drive down to New Orleans in my lovely car. But that would be silly as I have free transport provided. And it would add many many miles to the metre. Which is something I now have to worry about.

You'll all be ecstatic to know that I have been socialising, which I know you've all been worried about (which is sarcasm, just in case Sheldon Cooper is reading this). Making friends somewhere new has always been the thing I have been most worried about every time I've gone somewhere new, and it's always worked out. Well, seeing as I have the weird housemate situation where only one of my housemates is good at being friendly and, well, present, I've been hoping to make some really good friends outside of my living space. And I found them! My course mates are the best group of course mates I have probably ever had.

Walking into my first history class a month ago and listening to all the second years catching up with each other and knowing everyone, I was wondering if I could become that comfortable with them, seeing as that had been something I wasn't very good at back in the Birmingham days. Tell you what though, these kids are awesome. Everyone knows each other and gets on well. They are constantly inviting everyone to dinner and to their place for a party (wish I could do that but my housing situation..... yeah). We hang out at football games, which means that for the first time I actually have tents where I'm invited to take part rather than attempting to gate crash one because I'm hungry. And the closeness means that it's much easier to speak out in class, because even if what you say is stupid, the laughter is definitely not mean (very primary school outlook, I know, but we all have our insecurities and there's mine). I know some of them read this so I just want to say thank you, because you're making a Brit very happy 4800 miles away from home (I originally wrote 3000 miles, but my Dad corrected me. Good to know he's still at home, being awesome).

And soppyness over. Phew. So I'm not going to go into Ole Miss' epic defeat against Texas last night because... well.... it pains me. I am a very optimistic person (usually) and I really thought we had a chance. But I do know why they won..... they brought a cow with them. A REAL LIFE COW. Or a bull, actually, Becca said it was a bull. But still, that's crazy, you can't bring livestock to a football game. Next time, Ole Miss should bring a live bear. And if any opponent tries to break away for a touch down, we set the bear loose. It's food for thought, that's all I'm saying.

So Packed!

Oh fine, I'll get back to that damn essay. Seriously, cannot get used to having homework again. Although my motivation levels have never been high.....

Maybe I'll watch a movie.....

TTFN!

Of Getting Wheels, Libraries, and Scary Trucks

I am mobile. Or I will be, from this weekend. I bought a car. A car!!! That's, like, grown up stuff. And it's the most expensive thing I've ever bought for myself. Before that it was my plane ticket to Australia (ouchers). I mean, travelling around Australia cost a lot, and I certainly splurged a little more than I maybe should have (could so have used the money for my car), but they were lots of little things that made up one big expensive thing. This is just one big expensive thing. And I haven't even bought tags yet (I think this means the number plate...? Silly Americanisms) or my insurance. Gulp. But it was be worth it when my sexy little blue thang arrives and I can cruise around campus like, "yeah man, I got me some wheels!"

Yeah, no I'm not going to do that. It's just so that I can get home from class and stay in the library till midnight.

What? No, I'm not lame! Or a nerd, I heard that.

This be my wheels, yo

Side note: there is a section in the library that is especially for Graduates, which I love. That's my working space. As an undergrad on my exchange year abroad I would peer into the area longingly, and just once I sneaked in to read a book and kept looking up every 20 seconds to check that a librarian wasn't about to arrive and demand to see my student ID. They didn't. Now I wish they did. I don't want no undergrad in my precious space! How dare they. It's super exclusive! My friend Joey laughed when I told him this. I think that was undeserved.

Anyway, when I picked up my rental car to go to Memphis and find my new car, I did not expect to be given this ----->
It was mahousive! I felt really bad for only being able to take up one of the six seats. I was so hyper aware of any other vehicle that passed me, in case they weren't giving my massive bulk enough room. And when I picked up my friend Jodie from her house, I was too terrified to go up her drive, which is basically a hill, in case I couldn't turn around and come down again. It was brand new as well with no scratches or anything so whenever I heard a tiny pebble get flicked up into the wheel arch, I was paranoid it had in fact shattered a window. And if I locked it and went into a garage or a shop, I was certain when I came out it had been stolen. The stereo was awesome though. I started listening to chart music and then felt bad and swtiched over to country music. That's the best bit about road trips in the south.

Also, the cabs of trucks in this country are made to scare you. I saw a bright blue cab in my rearview mirror with massive silver chrome exhuast pipes that when it beeped it's horn at me for being 2 mph under the speed limit, it shook the ground (no it didn't) and I moved quickly into the next lane. But, when it shot past me, it had this little piddling back which in no way matched it's front and made it look ridiculous. The ones that are long enough that they take a full 2 minutes to get passed you, now they are proper scary.

Short entry today because I have quite a few assignments to complete. Quite a few. A lot. More than I want. So I'm going to get on with that.

TTFN!