I came to Darla Moore to work but here I am writing blog posts. Can I also just say how swanky Darla Moore is? No wonder it's the top International business school, it's sweet as.

Spring break was only a few weeks ago but it feels like it was ages ago, being back in Columbia makes me miss times when all I had to think about was where to go out that night.

04/03/16

I'm not going to lie, trying to remember what happened is quite difficult right now..... So, we start the journey venturing to Charlie's school in order for him to pick up his momma's people carrier. We get there and ngl his mum is a cutie, packing chairs and towels for us all, a real lovely woman. We get heckled by some high school teens because they thought we were taking part in some sort of sports day. I'm sorry kids, my running championship days are over. All four of us in the car took the exact same snapchat picture and then we were off once and for all. After what seems like a lifetime we eventually get there at around midnight. It was so surreal pulling into Miami, I just felt so overwhelmed with happiness and I didn't know what to take in first. I felt like Will Smith cruising down ocean drive but without the convertible and significantly less energy. We get to our hostel and the first thing we notice is that there is someone else in the room already sleeping. Obviously that isn't a problem as it is indeed a hostel.

4am in the morning, some of us were awoken to the sounds of clattering glass, fumbling, and a hasty exit. I guess that was our second roommate.



 05/03/16

Eager to get up and do things we all disregarded our all lie in and got up early-ish. Went to Walgreens and bought some water and then went for breakfast at a place where Clarice was in her element being able to speak Portuguese to the waiter. So despite the clouds, us typical Brits ignored it and went to the beach anyway. We got approached by a promoter pretty quickly and got invited to boat party. As we thought it was so easy for promoters to come up to us, we thought we'd wait it out and see what else Miami had to offer. Low and behold Steve. Like a Lebron James from afar, he comes venturing towards us and asks us of our plans. He offers us a deal where girls pay $30 and guys pay $50 for an open bar for 2 hour at a hotel, a limo ride to Story and queue jump. We get his number and then discuss. It was a little bit sketchy and suspicions were high as it seemed too good to be true. Despite the nerves, we decided to go. There was but one problem. Sam's 'smart' shorts were just not going to make the cut. We all take a little visit to H&M to find him a little outfit for probably his first smart night out. We find great trousers, some great shirts before we settled on one, and all that was missing was a belt. Somehow that message didn' t translate and a belt was traded for a tie, and vice versa later in the night.

All of us start to get glammed up to prepare for the night ahead. There's a lady in the corner of our room who had been there since we first got in. She seems like she's in a lot of pain and Jess asks her multiple times if she's okay. She says she's fine but she's laid on the counter in great discomfort. We ask the front desk to see if they could help but they did fuck all. Didn't even know there was someone else in our room. K, great. So we leave the situation and started the night. We get an uber to the hotel and there's a street graffiti kind of aesthetic but no one really knew if it was done ironically. Being only the second group to arrive at this place we thought 'this is where Steve is playing us', and he was nowhere to be seen. The frosty barmen were not really helpful either. When Steve finally arrives we realise he was telling the truth but we were still a bit hesitant to give him money but we had nothing to lose. Everyone made use of the free bar and free pool for the remaining time until someone had too many Sex on the Beaches and the mention of a 3week relationship bought a poor boy to tears. Who knew a tie could have so many uses such as wiping away those tears. Suddenly we hear a voice, Steve is beckoning us for the limo. Our ride pulls up and we are literally on Cloud 9. It was the most surreal experience especially as it felt like it just lasted the turn of a corner. If there were no pictures I would seriously question whether that happened or not.


We get to the club and Steve is telling us to act sober whilst we are all telling Sam to dry his tears. Steve goes straight to the front of the queue and get's us all in. We all get inside and someone says 'Where's Tony?' 'he got taken away by the bouncer' came the reply. No one really gave a fuck. So the night was ours. Turns out he had a small bottle of fireball in his hand when trying to get in. The night itself was something. I had such a good night, I felt like I was at a top class #trend.   Steve really came thru that night.

We get back and the woman had put her mattress on the floor and is fast asleep. Guess she couldn't get up onto her bunk bed.

When I thought this would be an Instagramable shot

07/03/16
Everyone is ready to party again and it feels so good, but first we want to explore downtown Miami. So we venture to Wynwoods Walls which is the American version of Shoreditch. I love all the graffiti there and I'm sure I annoyed a few people with so many snapchats of them but the one that stood out the most for me was Fafi because I have loved her work for so long and I never knew I would actually come into contact with one. I am still in awe. We then went to a diner that had a dj playing such great old skool tunes. Sam learnt the difference between a gherkin and pickle that day, and had his first carbonara experience.














































We then had some time to go to Little Havana.







 Time for the night, we choose to go to Icon, but I'm not sure how we came to that conclusion. I think it had something to do with getting a free shot. Anyway we go there and we try and get a drink. Well Sam tried to get drinks but every time the bar lady looked at him he was looking away complaining that it was taking ages. So anyway after much hassle he hands her his ticket asking for his free shot and then orders drinks for us all. Then low and behold his card gets declined and I had to bloody pay for them all. $9 service charge. Sam gets his free shot and goes 'it's fucking fruit juice' whilst throwing his shot glass at the bar lady. What a great start. As Jess had already been down to the main dancefloor, and returned saying it was weird as someone grabbed her vagina... not really a good idea considering a cyst situation.... so we try and hang out at the vip area and we actually got accepted and it was great. It just got to a point where my feet hurt too much and it was time to go home. Clarice bless her went home early as her phone had been stolen. Although my feet hurt, I was not ready for the night to end and the boys weren't ready to go home either. So we went back to the hostel for a shoe change (flip flops might I add), and went to a bar to play pool. Sam was not feeling the vibes and wanted to dance some more so he left early. I encountered a birthday boy sat alone at a bar because all his friends had left him. All I can say is he needs some new friends.















09/03/16

So this day was Charlie's fake birthday and we really didn't know what to do for it. We went to the beach and was just still stuck for ideas. We eventually settled on going to Señor Frogs and what an experience that was. I think we all expected to have a nice civilised dinner celebrating Charlie's birthday but no.... every 5 minutes we were competing for shots despite wanting to eat. It was the most expensive meal I'd ever personally paid for and the food wasn't even amazing. A guy from USC was really drunk and took part in a 'do your most white boy dance moves' competition and won. We see him in five points now and call him Señor Frog. Everyone's moods were slightly dampened and we were all worn out, so we all went for ice cream for the birthday boy.









 This was not the end of our Spring Break journey but I think this post is definitely getting too long. I think I'll make another post on Edisto in the future. Overall Miami was amazing but had some really questionable moments. It's weird because it was everything and nothing I expected. Was amazing nonetheless.

x