Day 9

The worse has happened...
Dumb hotel has not free internet access in their rooms!
*#$&@(*&

Oh well. The business centre do provide computers for the guests' use but then this ancient IBM doesn't support java so i can't even use my icq2go. Drats. I am so... so... SO not pleased. The rooms here are also smaller... and instead of twin beds, my boss is going to move me and E to a room with one king sized bed tomorrow to save cost. I guess if 3 of them is sharing the same sized room as us now, we shouldn't really be 'enjoying' ourselves by having more space. Especially since the other 3 girls arriving tomorrow will be in the same predicament. Yes. I truly see the point of everyone suffering together. It's all about be FAIR right? I'll bet my boss won't be moving rooms if we switched places. *close eyes* *groan*

Okie okie. I am just being grumpy. Shucks. Must be the afternoon sun.

Anyway, now i am in chapel hill, sheraton hotel after a hard day drive up from Wilmington. There was a couple of really heavy thunderstorms along the way which sort of reminded me of how it was when we drove in the snowstorm in scotland. The visibility was terrible and roads were slippery. Thank goodness i did not get anyone killed. Stopped halfway at smithfield so that others could go shopping at the carolina factory outlets. It was a whole stretch of outlets from GAP to levi. Okie. First up, I did not get anyone anything. So don't anyone bug me about not getting 'cheap' branded goods and what nots. It was hot and humid and i was already feeling damn pissed about it. I had to occupy myself 3 whole hours while others laden their hands with more and more purchases. Not my kind of day. In fact i was so bored, i slept in the car, in the HOT SUN (where else could i go? there wasn't any airconditioned sitting/waiting area!) for almost an hour. What a rotten experience.

Dragged myself out of the car to show a semblence of interest to keep people from gossiping about my already "anti-social" behaviour. Did go into Levis to try and get into the mood of things by trying on some jeans. Tough luck. Adult cut stopped short at size 6 which was still 1 size (at least) too big for me. And the juniors? They only had hipster/low cut jeans which i didn't like. Met Y and went off to fossils with her and got a couple of t-shirts for wilk and my brothers only because i felt like i ought to be a little more 'participative' (& the fact that they 'only' cost $9.99ea). I did eventually got a fossil leather wallet there for myself because i don't have one. So there you go. One wallet and 4 t-shirts. I am soooo... pathetic.

Weather (other when it was raining) was clear, with cornflower blue skies and brilliant sunshine. Along the way, i finally encountered my first roadkill (a raccoon, and i didn't do it) and for the first time, saw a herd of cows which was pretty unusual because unlike UK or aussie, there is hardly any livestock to be seen while driving along the roads. Maybe i am in the wrong state (ha! ha! ha!).

Arrived at chapel hill around 7pm (still bright!) only because we took about 4 hours to shop and 3 hours for driving. It is such a crazy day. And now i don't even get the internet in my room!! Shit. So no more uploading of photos for the time being. Not that it matters since it is really New York which i will take most personal photos. This place really don't have much to offer in terms of photo opportunities (especially since we will be stuck in training).

Had dinner at a chinese place called Charlies. Not fantastic but then you know how chinese food are in the small towns of america. I will be surprise if it was anywhere near decent. Ah well. E has a friend who flew in from oklahoma to see here and i have no idea where she is now or if she will even come back. HmMMmm.... Oh well, that means i will get the tv to myself then.

Returning the car tomorrow because it will be unnecessary for the coming week. The dumb thing is that i have to drive the car back to the Raleigh-Durham airport a couple of miles away because Thrifty doesn't operate a outlet here. After returning the car, will have to make our way back here from the airport. Sigh.

Can't wait to fly to new york next weekend!