Jason's Daily Notes

GREETINGS FROM NORTH CAROLINA!

If you didn't know, I'm doing my exchange semester at Duke University! I'll be going back to London in May. But I'll see most of you in the next few months, either visiting on the east coast, or when I'm back in LA this March. The house we live in is very nice and spacious, so you're all more than welcome over!

I just wanted to let y'all know how my first few days have been back in the USA - busy but great!

I arrived Monday night, and my flight was pretty easy for 9 hours (there were 3 classmates on the same flight with me so we kept each other from getting bored). It took over an hour for them all to pass through immigration, then we took a taxi to Durham. It's a small city, and there are trees everywhere. Everything is so far apart, there are no corner markets or cafés. Everything closes at 9PM! The buses only run once an hour. So when I saw this, I realized that I NEED to get a car.

My other housemates (Christoph from Germany, and Jonny from New Zealand) arrived that night and we walked 1 mile to eat real American BBQ! Delicious!

The next 2 days, we spent all of our time renting a car, buying things for the house, and trying to find a good car. We did so much shopping (partly because Jonny had won a case competition and had lots of money to blow), and we got some good deals (a used TV for $18), and I got my car! A 1999 Ford Explorer, it only cost $1500. The car is named Wendy (for being bright red), or Dora (the Explorer)... haven't decided yet.

So North Carolina, Durham specifically, is nothing like LA or London. It's more rural than anything, I constantly feel like I'm driving around a forest. There are no sidewalks. Some areas are ghetto like Oakland, others have really huge houses. Things are not as cheap as I remember, and Hardees is horrible compared to Carls Jr.

But wow everyone is really friendly, I'm not used to that! Lots of churches too, and plenty of places serving biscuits... I'm definitely in the South. I've had to explain a lot of things about the US to my housemates, like all of the driving rules and when you'd leave a tip, etc.

On Thursday I had my orientation with the other international students. It was nice, and the business school at Duke is extremely new and gorgeous - how exciting! There are about 25-30 exchange students, from all over the world (Thailand, Finland, New Zealand, Chile, France, Germany, South Africa...) and they're all very smart business people. The director of our program is really friendly and she'll actually join us at parties!

Speaking of which, my housemates and I are having our first party tonight! Only 3 days after moving in (you know that's how I roll). Anyway, it's going to be legen... wait for it...