Facial hair has never been my forte.

So it may not seem like such a big deal to most people, but growing facial hair has always been a big deal to me. Probably because I've never been able to do it. Being in America means that I am away from my mother. Being away from my mother means she doesn't know when I don't shave. Bonus. This consequently means I can go longer between shave periods therefore resulting in an upper lip of hairy goodness. 

Check this out!!

I even got a cheeky video of the horrible event where I had to remove it. I cried afterwards, but manned up for the purpose of this vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn7X7CiO4pw&feature=player_embedded

Hope you enjoyed, but firstly, I hope you realise the pain this caused me. I nearly felt like a real man. Almost caveman like, it was EPIC!

Love, Peace and Laughter.


C

Ever heard of living the dream?

The unnoficial conclave mark II could not have gone better. No seriously. It was incredible. 40 out of the 60 GRSP students met up in Ellijay, just north of Atlanta for a fun weekend of mischief. And oh boy mischief was caused, I took the drive down with another Welshman, and Scotsman and a Frenchman and a Swede, life could not be better. As i was driving with the organisers of the trip it meant that i arrived first, which gave me plenty of time to run around the house screaming. This place was da bomb, jacuzzi, pool table, T.V's, Huge beds, a bazzilion rooms but most importantly, a crackin' place for a weekend long shindig. After all 5 of us finally settled we regrouped on the rocking chairs on the porch where we awaited the other 35 scholars.

Somehow everyone arrived in the right place and then, the festivities began. Obviously being the civilised people we are, the night consisted of many ravenous tasks, including, chess, milk, pizza and sleep. This is no word of a lie, I'm just not including most of what actually happened...Such as all the chess pieces being broken, and the vodka in the milk....The pizza and sleep was genuine though...well at least the pizza was.

The weekend was an epic success, everyone was left pining for the next one. I don't think I have ever met a group of people who I have connected with so well before.  It was also a little depressing once I got back to my room in little old Reinhardt...Until I realised, 'Wait, I live in America, Wahoo'.

After another fun week of classes Thursday night soon came around. This is the night the lads had been looking forward to a lot, the plans were to get absolutely sloshed,steaming and wankered. They fully achieved this goal...some better than others (Aussie). We then proceeded to head off to a bar for the night called Sidelines. Apparently this is the place to be, where all the cool kids hang, a bit of a party, and a cheeky wee dance. I had high expectations. Then I entered. All expectations out the window, two huge mingers trying to be sexy on the dance floor, four guys standing on the edge, one hand in pocket, one on their diet soda (they were all too young to drink) a guy and his lass smooching over a pool table and that was it. Safe to say this place sucked. But we stuck it out. Stayed for 2 hours or so, where I attempted to learn how to dance like an American. Ever heard of EPIC FAIL...I have after that. I could not do it to safe my life. Was funny though, and then after looking after the extremely drunk Aussie for a while, we trailed back home. All in all, a very successful night.

This weekend just passed, I decided to get out of Reinhardt for a little while so went to stay with the "tall Christian" in Atlanta. Yes that's right, all 6"1" of me is known as the short Christian in GRSP. Must be the easiest distinction. This was a great weekend because a few other GRSP students were in Atlanta for the weekend too so we had a small regrouping. The weekend was spent hanging out with Chalky, Chuck, Q, Andrew, Sara, Freja and Tony. What a group. We had a right good time laughing at each other, getting arrested and playing 'Never have I ever'. Now that is a fun game. 

It is now finally Thanksgiving break where we get a week of school. I'm now just doing a few months worth of laundry at my host dads before we head out for lunch and conquer the world. This week has much in store and I can't wait. 

That's all for now, I'll let you know how thanksgiving turns out. Overly joyous I'm sure.

Love, Peace and Laughter,

Chris.

I live for GRSP.

This weekend was another reunion of the 60 GRSP students. As much as I love America, and love Reinhardt, This year would just not be the same without the GRSP group. They are what make this year so special.


So this weekend we went down to stay in Sandy Springs, located just outside Atlanta. After a rather dashing evening chilling with Krzysztof the group re-connected at 8am for a fun day experiencing down town Atlanta. We all went to the Georgia Aquarium where we got to stare at fishes for four hours. I think this could have potentially been boring if not for the fact GRSP's can make the most of everything. We then ate a magnificent cuisine of sandwiches, chips and water. After that we spent another four hours in the World of Coke which involved more than just fish, this involved polar bears, 4d picture showings and Beverly. The worst tasting drink ever!We then ventured back to the wonderful YMCA. The Village people were right, It is fun to stay at the YMCA. After a cheeky dance off on the dancemat we did bit of rock climbing, had a jolly old swim and a pleasant dip in the jacuzzi. This jacuzzi was a billion degrees and (after being pushed in) I was caused to jump out screaming due to the excruciating pain the heat of the water caused me. It seemed that I was the only person affected by this though, which made me seem like a massive pansy.


After all the official activities had ended we decided to create some fun for ourselves. As the YMCA had a gymnasium we managed to get a hugely fun game of football going, followed by some basketball, volleyball and gymnastics. Where I typically had to show off, being the person that I am with a few cheeky backflips. 


Then people started to drift off to sleep, but being the huge hyperactive insomniac that I am I remained awake wheeling wheel chairs past sleeping peoples faces with the beautifully French Quentin.. I was very close to ripping Freja's face off. I was millimetres away I swear. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure where we got that wheel chair from....


Finally, after dragging some crash-mats into the sleeping room, everyone finally went to sleep at about 5am. Being the fool who broke his sleeping bag, I unfortunately had to snuggle up to the Scandinavian girls for warmth. What a shame that was.... :D


I didn't really get much sleep, so once I returned to the beloved Reinhardt I crashed, slept for five hours, woke up, ate dinner, slept for 5 more hours. It was great. And to top it all off I found out my soccer team made it to the Semi-Final of our cup. Elated! Go Eagles.


And to top it all off, we're doing it again next weekend. Get In!


Love, Peace and Laughter
x

So, it turns out that I have disappeared.

Okay, so I know that I have been living in America for three months as of tomorrow but I have been very busy honest. Hence the extremely late American blog.

I've had complaints from people telling me that I have disappeared off the face of the planet as barely anyone has heard from me and even fewer people actually know what I've been doing. As this is the case I have decided to embrace the fact I'm not sleeping tonight and give you all an insight of my new life.

Anyway now that I have explained myself I can divulge. America is bloody awesome. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into but boy was I wrong. It was one of those few times in my life where I am glad I was wrong. Although I have been here a few times before, this experience is not even remotely similar to what I have experienced before. I live in the middle of nowhere..., civilisation is hard to find around here and sane people are even harder to find. Don't get me wrong, I love the people I'm with, but sanity is definitely an issue.

As I'm on the topic, I may as well tell you about American's. From my point of view anyway. They are different. Almost everything about them is different. This is a word which I have used a lot since moving here. People often ask me the question "Is America better than Wales?". As I am repping Wales I don't just say "Hell yes, this place is the bees knees". I always answer the same way: "It's Different". You'd think us similar from a distance but dear lord, they talk differently, they dress differently, they act differently, they even smell differently....okay, I know that sounds creepy, but seriously they do.
Alas, asking me whether America is better than Wales is not the only question I've been asked since being here though. Talk about stereotypical American's stupidity. I've heard them all, but here are a few of my personal favourites.

- "Do you have electricty in Wales?"
- "Do you have cars in Wales?"
- "Do you have cell phones in Wales?"
- "Do you have Christmas in Wales?"


Oh, and the best one yet,


-"Can you speak English?"  - I'd been speaking to the girl for a good twenty minutes before she asked me... I couldn't help but just turn around and walk away after being asked this. Bloody ridiculous.
I'm not saying all of them are like this of course. I met some of the best people I have ever met here. I don't have a single regret about leaving home. I see people's status updates about what an amazing time they are having at University.... not once have I thought, I wish I was back home with everyone, partying in University. I mean, for cripes sake, I live in AMERICA! You may be having a good time, but what can I say. This place really is the bees knees. I'm living the dream.

From now on this is where I can keep people updated. At some point I may try and recount the first three months, but I'm not going to try right now or I may be up all night.

Love, Peace and Laughter,

Chris/Dickie/KitXuanKit