Quite a few of us went to the camping trip at the lake.
It was a long journey...So luckily for us the frat guy took his RV! It was the coolest thing ever - it had a bedroom, toilet, table and chairs all on four wheels...pretty astonishing (well, for me it was)!
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| The RV |
As there were a lot of us going, two of the other guys from the frat house went and took their cars and a couple of tents...we had a lot of stuff to bring with us! The journey was long and I spent a lot of it reflecting on how lucky I was. Here I was in the States - I had only been there a couple of weeks and already I was travelling with a great group of people. Time to get drunk!
When we eventually got there it was pitch black...I was still pretty excited but a little bit worried. We were in what seemed like the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night - it was dark, quiet and a little eerie, it felt a bit like something out of a horror movie ('Jeepers Creepers' comes to mind)...But the guy from the RV Park came out and got us - so we found the others who had got there before us.
Lucky for us they had already started a fire. They already had drinks, so they offered us one too. It was really cool but I hate creepy crawlies and there were flies everywhere so I couldn't get comfortable. I was petrified that there would be spiders - my worst fear. So we sat by the fire and relaxed for the first night.
The next day was a great one. A lot the guys wanted to go fishing in the morning so we went to this place with a ton of boats. We didn't actually take the boat out the dock, but we sat in it for a little bit. Some of the group were up for swimming while the others weren't. I was split in the middle...I wanted to go for a swim but was scared to do it in the lake...eventually I plucked up the courage and jamp straight into the water! It was freezing - but quite refreshing in the hot sun.
Some people left but a couple of us stayed nearby - so I soaked up the sun while we were waiting. A family on another boat came over and spoke to us. They were from the area and they were curious where we were from...they got a bit excited when they found out I was from Scotland and the guy I was with from England. Then our ride arrived...
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| The 'beach' |
We went to a different part of the lake - which looked more like a holiday resort rather than a campsite. It was beautiful - there was a manmade beach with sand and a restaurant/bar nearby. So finally I could sit out in the sun properly and attempt to tan, plus go for a swim! Which is what I did...even when some of the others went fishing later in the afternoon.
That night we decided to cook a barbeque...with some alcohol for the night. One of the English guys ended making most of it with the French girl...it was like they were our parents. We played a couple of drinking games...(well, we were in the ‘game room’) like ‘Kings Cup’ and ‘I never’ – but not beer pong. Which is weird now I look back...why didn’t we play that?? Oh well.
It was a fun night. The next day we went home, but not before me and the Swedish girl had done a bit of sunbathing at the pool on the campsite...and off we went.
The ride home seemed much longer than the ride in. It didn’t help that most the others were sleeping...I can’t sleep when travelling – I very rarely do it. So I tried to keep our driver company with some chat (frat boy).
I felt sorry for him because he was clearly exhausted and seemed to be suffering from a very bad cough...
What was to come from that cough, we would find out when we got home.
Read about it on Monday by becoming a follower of the blog! Feel free to ask questions...
We had only been at KU for about a week and we managed to go to our first frat party!
Basically some of the Australian/English guys we already met had went out to explore the campus (at night) and met a couple of frat guys! So they invited them to one of their parties and we then got invited too...so we decided to go.
Some of the other exchange students that we met from the 'Wild West' party on Wednesday came round to our flat while we got ready and we all went down together.
I was so excited I wouldn't shut up about it. What would it be like?
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| Beer Pong! |
My only experience of a frat party was watching it in a teen comedy film like, "American Pie: Beta House" and "Old School". I wondered if they were really as crazy as the movies made them out to be. I wondered whether they would have red cups...
They did! They were everywhere..in the hands of frat boys, littered on the floor, stacked on tables, placed triangularly on each side of a long table while guys tried to throw a little white ball into them. Later found out this was actually a drinking game called Beer Pong! I think most of us exchange students were pretty excited to see those red cups in action...
The fraternity house we went to was the Jewish fraternity! We nervously approached them in case they decided they didn't want us there - but it turned out they were a really friendly bunch of guys! One of them shook all of our hands as we went into the house and they let us drink their beer for free! They also had the legendary jungle juice which had a combination of liquor, fruit and Everclear - which I thought was screen-wash...so I only had one. Then there was rumours that it ended up being laced with pills so definitely avoided it after that.
The frat party was cool but a little awkward seeing as we didn't know anyone. I remember standing when this guy told me I looked bored. I was like I'm not its just a bit awkward and then he was like, "Where are you from?"...So then I told them and pointed and said that we're all exchange students. So then he was like, "Are you all Scottish?" and I was like, "No but we are, and those girls are English and she's from Sweden and she's German and this guy is from Australia". He got so excited about the Australian,
"I wana go hug him that's so cool!' he exclaimed. I was like "Me too!"
So talking to him some more I found out that he was originally from Los Angeles but grew up in Kansas. Some of the other guys I spoke to were from Chicago, Seattle and Kansas - it was pretty cool!
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| End of the Frat Party... |
After the frat party we went to a house party down the road. It was pretty random now that I look back, I duno how we even ended up down there but they invited us in and gave us more free beer. One of the other Australian guys did the whole drink beer from the tap upside down over the keg...was pretty funny.
My roommate got the frat guy's number. Only two of them had a mobile at this point, me and my other roommate had to get a cell phone. I'm glad she got his number because he helped us out a lot the first couple of weeks...
I think the alcohol helped break the ice to be honest. The group meetings and orientation week were good but after that night I felt a lot more comfortable with the other international students.
I forgot to mention on my last post that the next day I saw a sorority house do their initiation (at least that's what I think it was)...It was really weird. They were all dressed up in dresses and boots and they all walked out into formation. Then they sang a song and did little dance moves, the song was pretty funny. They went into harmony and sang like an octave higher and then lower and one minute it was slow and then really fast. Then they all walked back inside with their hands behind their backs...it was pretty creepy. I saw them doing this several times when I was at KU as their house was accross from Jayhawk Towers!
Check out the blog next Monday and find out about Hawk Week - when the KU students officially started. Comments/questions are always welcome! Thanks for reading...
