A Dedication to Star, Magic and Shadow (why does he always bring up the rear?)

Okay, so lately things have been slowing down a little. By that I do not mean that I have been doing any less; I mean that work has been so crazy that doing the same amount of things takes more time, and I don't think you need to hear too much about my classes yet. If you're interested, though: In my detective fiction class we're reading The Body in the Library, and discussing the art of writing the antiseptic murder mystery; in Shakespeare we've moved onto Henry IV part 1, and we've been talking about how damn funny the fat guy is; in Creative Non-fiction we've been workshopping each others' pieces and reading an essay about how the "strawberry" flavour in food is artificially created; and, in American Lit 1900-2000, we looked at both The Love of the Last Tycoon (Fitzgerald, YAY BECKY!! - read it. It's good, though unfinished...) and East of Eden (Steinbeck), in which one of the main characters is a prostitute. Okay, good? Good.

Moving on.

So, what I wanted to focus on today is something that might bore a few of you to death. Many of you will be thinking, "For god's sake Fran, what is it with you and animals? ... If you love dogs so much, why don't you just go and KISS them??" (I have kissed dogs, it's sometimes disgusting - sometimes...) Anyway. Basically, this week I wanted to talk about something that I've been doing since I started here at UNC.

In one on my previous entries (I know there haven't been many of them) I talked about the campus group called Helping Paws. They are the only animal-related volunteer group on campus. Generally students help out at the shelter, walking dogs and socialising cats, trying to get them adopted to good homes, and we raise money for certain other animal charities (this semester we're raising for a group that do cheap spaying/neutering for pets to promote more sensible pet ownership - here it can cost $500 to neuter a dog!). The last time I mentioned Helping Paws I had only been to one meeting. Since then I have been to two more, been trained, oriented, been on my first "Outreach" session and helped out with an event called "Puppies in the Pit".

Training was really basic. We signed up on a google document, had to report to a room on campus at a certain time, and one of the women who runs the Orange County Animal Shelter ran through the shelter's history, some rules, and explained what, as volunteers, our jobs would entail. She also talked about euthanasia, which was heartbreaking, and rambled on about some other less relevant stuff. That was last Monday. On Friday, Allison (the person in charge of Outreach) took a group of us on a field trip to the shelter, so we could see how easy it was to catch the bus and so she could clarify on a bunch of things that the shelter woman had made unclear or just missed out entirely. We had a quick look at the cat room, but spent more time with the dogs. There are perhaps 25 glass/plastic cages in the "front" of the shelter (the part volunteers are allowed in). There is one dog per cage unless the dogs are small/puppies or they were brought into the shelter together. So there are often about 30 dogs getting regular interaction with the volunteers. In the back of the shelter there are apparently perhaps another 50 cages, or dogs (I'm not sure which) - but these dogs are usually either on a wait-period after illness, or undergoing behavioural analysis. Sadly, these are the dogs most at risk of being put down, and we are not allowed to go near them.

Not to dwell on the sadness, though, we picked out one of the dogs to practice a "shelter harness", which basically involved using two dog leashes to prevent them from being able to run away easily, and took her for a walk. Her name was Heidi and she was a beautiful mix of German Shepherd and something else. Sadly, I didn't take pictures because I was busy melting into a pile of happy goo.

On Saturday, then, was Outreach. What this basically involves is a group of volunteers getting together, taking "adoptable" dogs from the shelter and taking them to public places, such as cafes, pet stores etc., in an attempt to raise awareness about adoption. This Saturday we went to the Looking Glass Cafe in Carborro.

The Looking Glass Cafe
This picture is not mine, but thanks to Google I can show you what the place looks like.

The weather dipped quite drastically over night, so we were sitting outside for the whole day in about 15C degrees with the threat of rain. Having said that, I felt right at home! And the dogs kept us warm with all their energy.

We took four dogs with us on Saturday. I managed to snap photos of all of them in varying states of perfection (purrrr-fection?) and I thought I'd tell you a bit about each of them. So if you're not interested in the dogs, I suggest you scroll away NOW. :)

Lydia

Firstly, this is Lydia. Everybody that has met her as said that she is the sweetest dog, ever. She's about 2 years old, and a Corgi mix. There's probably some husky in there too, if you look at those eyes! Lydia sat on my lap in the car, so we got some pretty sweet bonding time as she tried to lick my face to death and stand on my head. She's ever so friendly, though, and such a sweetheart. I hope she gets adopted soon.

Fun fact: Lydia is a "mommy". She gave birth something like two months ago. Sadly, people are put off by - Allison's wording, here - "her enormous tits". I do hope she finds a home soon, though, because she's wonderful - and surprisingly strong for such a tiny dog!

Petey

This, then, is Petey. He is a 1 year and 7 month old pitbull mix, and the most loving thing I think I've ever seen. He's so well-behaved there's no way somebody could not want him! We tied neckerchiefs around the dogs' necks, and Petey looked so handsome in his blue one that I wish I could have taken a picture of him then and there! Petey likes to chew things, but not as much as Magic did when she was let loose in the kitchen. He loves being the centre of attention, sitting on people's laps and just generally being stroked.

Fun fact: Petey was what they call an "owner surrender", meaning that his owner gave him up. But he is the most well-trained shelter dog that I've ever met, and will sit and lie down on command. Also, he loves sleeping on tables/walls/anything he can jump on. Basically, Petey loves to be King Petey.

Farrah

Next is Farrah. I don't know how old she is, but maybe 2 years? She's a pitbull mix, like Petey, but I think there's some Staffy in there because of her stance and her face. She also lives to chew things, and is incredibly energetic. At first I was put off by the size of her, but the more time I spent with her during the day, the more I fell in love with her. She's just so quirky! At once point she was trying to secretly gnaw on the leg of the wooden chairs we were sitting on, until I caught her when she stopped trying to keep it a secret and just started to blatantly do it in front of me! Several times during the day she made me laugh.

Fun fact: One of the main reasons I found Farrah so funny/quirky was because she sounds like a pig! Actually! When she breathes, it sounds like she's snorting and snuffling, and she does it a lot when she gets excited. It's hilarious.

 Savannah

And, last but not least, Savannah. Savannah is also probably 2 or 3 years old, and has at some point been a mother. She is a golden retriever mix, and I think she is one of the most beautiful and placid dogs I have ever met. Especially for a retriever, who are normally pretty energetic/overly-friendly. Savannah is what they call a "night-drop", which means that her owner surrendered her, but was too ashamed to do it during the day. Savannah is really timid, but warms up to you pretty quickly if you give her plenty of attention. And, she's such a poser!!

Fun fact: During Outreach on Saturday a woman came by who was thoroughly taken with Savannah. She wanted to adopt, but was unsure how her other (rescue) dog would deal with it. She went home, got her other dog, and brought her back for a test. They seemed to get on okay. And, this makes me very happy, we found out on Monday that SAVANNAH GOT ADOPTED! I just hope that everything works out and that she never has to come back to the shelter. :) So, thank you Helping Paws!

Anyway, I've rambled enough about that. On Monday we did an event called "Puppies in the Pit" which involves bringing the dogs to campus on an outreach session rather than going elsewhere with them. Volunteers take turns to look after the dogs in between classes, and the aim is to attempt to promote dog adoption and the shelter on campus. We had both Lydia and Petey out there with us, and I think they were both eager to see me! I got lots of love from both of them. Petey had a few people interested in him, but whether any of them will follow through and adopt the charmer is another thing entirely.

ANNND THAT'S ENOUGH about dogs.

For those of you not so interested in the dogs, these are a few other things I did this week:
- wrote a paper (errrm, well, I'm writing one as we speak, anyway)
- read lots of very interesting things for my classes.
- got a feather put in my hair (pictures are on Facebook, and more will come to the blog eventually, when my hair is washed and presentable).
- went to a Japanese restaurant for Saskia's birthday. The Miso Ramen was amazing. <3
- went to a Mediterranean Deli for Saskia's birthday (yes she was greedy and had 2 parties! -- Nah, the second one was the only party, followed by alcohol and five hours sleep before Outreach... hmm, no wonder I was tired).
- had heatsroke/migraines/felt very ill and missed a couple of classes...
- made up for said classes by attending extra seminars.
- bought a Carolina hoodie (I have so much merch, it's not even funny - I'm going to make a post on that soon, too)
- got a letter from Tom.
- eaten more pancakes.

So, you see, it's not bee UNeventful, it's just been very dog-centred and just basic classes.

Having said that, I hope you guys have enjoyed reading. :)

(I think that the cafe being titled The Looking Glass is more than enough fantasy for you guys, isn't it?? I mean, come on, Wonderland has EVERYTHING. And sometimes, I don't need to mention dragons - no, wait, I just did. On that note, Becky, how is Jasper doing?)

More pictures:

 The Moriarty picture I promised

 The letter from Tom, being guarded by Old Bear

The hoodie, with a beautiful face pulled by Yours Truly 

Okay folks - That's a wrap!

It's homework, y'all!

Okay. You know there is beginning to be a problem when the thoughts in your head often come out in a totally different accent to the way you actually speak. I'm starting to hear things in "Southern" - and I've only been here for three weeks.

Three weeks to the day, actually. Isn't that exciting?

Anyway, I know I've been pretty inactive with this blog, but there's just been an awful lot going on. I'm going to try and keep this short (but that probably won't happen), talking about what I've been up to - and then I'll post a few interesting factoid blogs later in the week.

So firstly, let's pick up where I left off in my last entry. The first few days of classes were pretty introductory, with professors just trying to get to know their students and giving a brief overview of the class. And then things got really intense, really quickly. By the second of each of my classes we were being assigned huge chunks of reading and even papers in the case of my creative writing class! Yet somehow, I managed to keep up with all of that enough to feel within my depth.

The work itself is not particularly difficult, it's just that for a lazy English student like me the workload is totally different! At home I'll spend 6 hours a week in class and then spend the rest of my time reading, marking up texts and doing otherwise ungraded work that serves only to spark discussion in class. Here, the homework is handed in almost daily, like being back at school, and pretty much everything is graded. And then there's the reading on top of that. It's all a bit of a shock! Though, at least I feel like I'm keeping busy. (And I'll tell you, walking into class and sitting in those crazy tables-and-chairs-joined-together contraptions is like walking onto some kind of American High School movie set! Wacky, man.)

Speaking of assignments, I turned my first "proper" paper in on Thursday (1st September) and got it back this week. I don't think a B+ is so bad at all! I've decided I'm going to aim to pass, and not try to over-achieve this year. I'm usually guilty of this, and often it just makes me stressed. I'm going to enjoy this at all costs!

Anyway, aside from school work there has been little else going on. This weekend was a day longer than normal due to Labo(u)r Day. A group of us went to an American Football game on Saturday, which was good fun but rather long and hot (don't worry, I'll dedicate a post to this on it's own at some point). We dressed up in UNC colours (a certain shade of Carolina Blue) and even got facepaint and free transfer tattoos for our faces! It was great.

 

Melissa (Rachel's mentor), me, and Rachel (with whom I have had many a tea party since arriving. Rachel studies at Nottingham Uni, although originally comes from Luxembourg!)

I also had my first real American pancakes - and they were delicious.

Bluberry, yum!

 Myself and the wonderful Nnedi (Rachel's roommate)

Oh-so-tasty, but very incredibly impossibly sweet!

On Tuesday (last week) I also went to my first Aikido session. Saskia and I decided to give one of the martial arts a shot, and aikido won out (partially because it was cheaper than the rest, and partially because it sounded awesome). Aikido is a Japanese martial art with a main focus on defense. A lot of the moves we have learnt so far have involved basic footwork and how to fall without doing damage to yourself when attacked. We have also learnt a couple of "release motions" - so if I ever get attacked, provided that my attack is the same height as me and gives me time to get into position, I'll be able to get away... Ha. Okay, so we're just starting out. It's a pretty good workout though! After the first session I was in so much pain -- many of you probably saw me moaning on Facebook. Last night's session was more mellow, so I'm not feeling it too badly today, which is pleasant! I really enjoy being part of some kind of club, because it gives more structure to my week. The only problem so far is how different it is to Tae Kwon Do, which I practiced for a few years. Many of the things I was taught to do in TKD is, well, basically it's wrong in aikido. The footwork is taking some time to correct. But it's all good fun, anyhow!

I'm also getting ready to do some volunteering for a group on campus called Helping Paws. It's basically an animal volunteer group, and the volunteers go to shelters to spend time with all sorts of animals. It's mainly dog based, but that doesn't mean anything. Apparently they've worked with chickens, sheep, pigs and even goats before! I have my training for that next Monday, so I'll give y'all more of an update on that when I come to it.

But here is an adorable picture of one of the volunteers' dogs. Nala is 2 months old, and a black labrador mix. She'll be at every meeting, loving people to death.

I'm incredibly conscious about how long this post is getting -- but you guys totally asked for it!

Anyway. For now I'm going to leave you to digest all of this rubbish. I'll be back in the next couple of days to talk about things like UNC sporting events; living with a roommate; the wonderful time I had at Hayley's birthday celebration (Sunday 28th August) despite only having known her for a week; Schooling here at UNC; Food -- and many other lovely American things.

I hope you aren't bored yet! I know Becky and Sarah (and Danni?) will be expecting some kind of mythical beast mention, or for me to ramble about dragons, but I'm going to veer off track a little bit and talk about Sherlock Holmes instead (it totally counts):


Interesting Fact: There is a teacher here at UNC whose name is (I kid you not) Professor Moriarty! My life is now complete. <3 (Or at least as complete as it can be without my bestest English friends and the actual ability to own/become a dragon/unicorn/mermaid/witch...)

Okay. Now it's time for my nap. :)