Missing parts of home...

I was talking to Lauren last night and she said something which I think is very true. She said that one of the things I missed most while abroad was the food, and I think she's right. I miss my friends and family, and I miss Clemson, but I really do miss food back home. Now don't get me wrong, I have eaten some fantastic stuff over here. These people know how to do bacon...but it's more like ham haha. And there's plenty of other things here that are great. But Tuesday night I went out to dinner with some friends...they kept raving about this Ultimate Burger at one of the pubs. So I ordered one, and ever since then I've been craving a nice juicy, greasy chili cheeseburger. The Ultimate Burger was pretty good, but it was very dry. So was every other burger I've tried. It's just not juicy, and it's not that it's necessarily overcooked to the point that it's dry, they just don't know how to cook them to where they're juicy and greasy (which I guess in some ways is good...). But I really miss juicy burgers. I miss sweet tea and lemonade. You ask for lemonade here and they bring you Sprite. That's just weird... But I miss onion rings, and fried okra, and meatloaf, and macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes and gravy, and ribs, and bbq. I wanna go out to Mema's and have homemade ice cream straight from the ice cream churn...chocolate is the best. And I want to go to a bonfire with friends where we have fried fish, fried pickles, fried chicken, and all other fried things you can imagine (you know how those things go...you try to fry anything and everything around, but most stuff just doesn't work out haha). Lauren was right, I miss the people and places back home, but I have friends here and places to see and enjoy here. But nothing can replace the food. I swear when I get back we're stopping at the Beacon on the way home. I want some sweet tea and a chili cheese-a-plenty. Before I left I joked that the only thing I cared about being at the airport was a glass of sweet tea. I said I didn't care who was there, or how many people were there. Heck, if it was just Mom and Dad and Lauren (which is what I'm expecting honestly), I'll be perfectly happy, as long as the bring me some sweet tea. I joked about that before I left, but not I think it's kinda true. I'm not serious about that part, but I really do want to stop at the Beacon on my way home. The best sweet tea around, and one of the greasiest burgers you'll ever eat. I couldn't imagine anything better....

Random Thoughts...

Well, this weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday, Mike and I ran down to the Starbucks downtown to steal wireless internet from the Apple Store across the street. Mike bought ESPN360 so we can watch basketball games (especially March Madness). However, because of the way internet is set up on campus (something about a proxy server), we can't receive live feeds, so we can't watch the games on campus. The only other problem is that Starbucks here has some strange hours. On Saturdays they close at 8:30. So we can't stay up very late to use the wireless internet and watch games, but trust me, we'll figure something out. There's some benches outside the Apple Store, so you might just catch us down there at 2:00am watching basketball haha!
Other than that, I spent Friday night doing some hw. I have 2 big projects, a 2,500 word essay (about 8-10 pages), and a big class test all due on March 20, with one project due the 19th. This was supposed to be a little more spread out, but a sudden change of plans pushed everything together. Talk about little time and no fun haha. So this weekend was spent studying and doing some work.
Saturday I decided to go out and buy a webcam! So now anyone on Skype (Scott_Banish...search for me) can talk to me with video! It's pretty exciting, and even though the technology isn't the greatest it's still fun!
So random thought here...ever wondered why movies in the US go out of theaters but take so long to come out on DVD? I have. And I've found out that it's due to more than just timing and advertising. Yeah, you want to release movies when they will sell the most (e.g. wait 2 extra months for Christmas time to release a movie), but there's also another factor to consider. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was released around Christmas in the US. It just now came out in the UK. "Marley and Me" isn't even out yet. "Seven Pounds" was a huge hit when it was finally released here. I could go on and on. But it also goes the other way around. I saw "Taken" sitting in a Blockbuster in Edinburgh before it ever hit theaters in the US. Weird... So I guess it's more than marketing strategies, but you also have to wait for the rest of the world to catch up before releasing movies on DVD.
Anyways, that's all for now. I'll post on here soon about our church experience on Sunday. Let's just say we won't be going back there again haha... I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all! It's hard to believe that 2 months from now I will be starting my exams and getting ready to come home. I'm excited for what's ahead...