Is It Better to Bite Your Tongue, Or Bite The Other Person?

I watched a new ITV show last night about American beauty pageants for woman of a more "mature" age. Think Honey Boo Boo but with the drama of The Real Housewives. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! But, I admit to being a bit of a reality tv addict. Go ahead and judge me. I still love to read a good novel, and maintain a highly academic life, but I just love the drama of reality shows. Anyway, at the end of the show there was of course a big blow out scene between two pageant ladies because they had worn the same outfit to the airport on their way to the Mrs. America contest. The more seasoned pageant competitor was furious that her underling had dared to copy her. My partners house mate made disparaging noises and kept giving me disgusted looks as I continued to watch. At the end he made a lame remark about how unnecessary the drama was.

As we continued to talk about this, I remarked that while yes, the dramatic cat fights often witnessed on American TV are extremely over the top, we do tend to air our grievances and move on more quickly than those I have observed in the UK. In Britain, people tend to hold their anger towards others in. Obviously there exists exceptions to this (The Only Way is Essex for example), but for the most part among my friends and acquaintances I have witnessed a general lack of confrontation, even when extremely necessary.

For example, a group of my friends knows there is a lot of tension between two girls that are apart of our posse. A semi-fight over a guy. Everyone talks about it, we know that both girls talk about the others behind their backs, and most of us have taken sides. Now, among my American friends, I highly doubt we would have let things carry on like this for so long. In fact, I think a few weeks (if not days) in, the girls would have had a screaming match outside of a social or pub, we all would have stared, discussed it for a few days, and then had some manner of a resolution. More dramatic, emotional and scene causing, yes. But at least the issue would be over with. As it stands, our group still has to feel the awkwardness of the two girls, and them avoiding social interactions.

I'm left with the question of, which method is better? The ostentatious American way of battling it out quickly in public, or the British way of keeping things hush hush. Both have advantages. If I  had to pick, if I knew someone had an issue with me, I would rather the screaming death match instead of them skulking and hating my existence in silence. Perhaps this is the American in me. I'm not sure. Any thoughts?

Lindsey Graham for President?

This will be my first post about politics, on this blog at least. In my daily skimmings of BBC and other news sources, I stumbled upon the announcement of Lindsey Graham running for president in 2016. His reasoning? He will be the "best commander in chief". Lindsey has been a state senator for South Carolina since 2003, following a military career in the Air Force. Clearly, Lindsey has the proven time in politics to justify his bid for presidency. But my concern lies in what he plans to do if elected. Lindsey is avidly against Obama's foreign policy methods. And if he should take office, I believe he will probably lead America back into being heavily militarily involved in the Middle East. The same mistake our last Republican president made. Obama has strived to remove the U.S presence from that region, with good reason. America will never be able to bring about a full resolution to the numerous disputes that rage in the Middle East, because a large majority of the population in that area reject Westerners and Western ideas. In addition, America sustained heavy losses in the fights within Afghanistan. Getting involved in that territory again will not solve any of the underlying problems and it will simply lead to more deaths of Americans. I don't mean to suggest America should remove all aid from the area, I honestly don't know how to handle the situation in the Middle East. But I know that the path Lindsey Graham will take is not the correct one. Therefore, he most assuredly doesn't have my vote. If you would like to read more about this, follow the link below.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-32786233

Cadbury World

image taken from wikipedia Cadbury World page

I had the fortune to visit Cadbury World this weekend. I went as a chaperone to a Girl Guide group, a lucky chance for me as I have been angling to go since I discovered its existence in December. I easily could have made the track to chocolate heaven on my own, but what good is candy when you have no one to share it with? And because my partner and friends have archery competitions nearly every weekend, I had to wait until May to finally get my visit in. In the end, the wait proved to be in my favor as I didn't have to pay. I counted down the days until Saturday all week, I was so excited that I didn't even mind waking earlier on a Saturday. 

However, while I adored Cadbury World and plan to go again during Halloween season, I am unsure if it lived up to my expectations. Perhaps if I hadn't been chasing after hyper seven year olds, and had time to linger at displays I would have found the experience more enjoyable. But, overall I believe the flaw with Cadbury World was that I didn't get to see much of the factories workings. I know from the informational cinema that the chocolate was made in the building, but I only had a brief glimpse in the viewing gallery. For my 21st Birthday, I went in a tour of the Budweiser brewing factory, and found it extremely educational and enjoyable because it had booze. I imagined that Cadbury World would be like my beer tour, but with chocolate(something I infinitely prefer to beer). But I had no tour guide, didn't get to see the cocoa beans turned into chocolate, and I honestly think I needed more free samples. It was down right cruel to be surrounded by the smell of melted chocolate but only being able to taste 1 small melted cup.

 One attraction stands out as the highlight of my chocolate adventure. On the upper floor of Cadbury World is a small train ride that takes riders through forest, town, and iceberg themed rooms filled with dancing "chuckle beans". Being from America, I had no clue what a chuckle bean was, this caused the Girl Guides to dissolve into a fit of giggles over my ignorance. Chuckle beans are small egg shaped chocolate people. They are the Cadbury version of Oompa Loompas. I fell in love with their adorable ness. The train ride through the chuckle bean world was absolutely enchanting. 

Another attraction worth mentioning is the 4D theater bits. It is something I have noticed growing increasingly popular in all tourist type places. The moving chairs, blowing air and bubbles really do enhance the experience. I really hope it becomes a trend that transfers into the regular movie cinema, I will no longer be satisfied with just 3D glasses, I want my chair to shake if a movie depicts an earthquake! It would be worth the money.

Overall, I would give Cadbury World a 6 out of 10 on a scale of awesomeness. I recommend going when you have plenty of time to explore and enjoy all the extra bits like the green screen photo studio and face painting. Don't be fooled into thinking this chocolate wonderland is a place for parents and their children, I saw plenty of adult couples going in on their own. 

A Problem with constant Travelling

        One thing I have noticed as a person who moves around a lot, is that I never seem to have all of the clothing I recall buying with me. I secretly believe that there is a black hole that appears every time I begin the arduous process of moving, and all of my favorite funky pieces of clothing disappear. I unfortunately only realise their absence from my suitcases when I arrive at my destination and can't go back. When moving to the UK I noticed that a large majority of my shoes and jackets had been left in America, in a mad packing dash I forgot them all. So, I asked my mother to search my boxes at home to see if they were there. Oddly enough, they weren't. The black hole strikes again!
         Is this a common problem? It shouldn't be. When moving out of a dorm or rented house you are required to pack everything. So, where does the stuff go? I know when I left America, my closet was empty. My favorite things hadn't been given away. I blame the black hole.

Items lost to the black hole of moving:

• 1 pair of pink glow in the dark Converses
• 1 pair of blue heeled boots
• 1 pair of studded shredded jeans
• 1 copy of The Princess Bride
• 1 denim jacket
• 1 black and nude tuelle cocktail dress
• Sooooo many tank tops/vests
• More purses than I can count