I arrived at my Uncle Alan and Auntie Julie's house with ease thanks to the help of their friend 'f***in' Sphon' (don't ask) who met me at Penn Station and drove me straight to their house. Within minutes i had a cup of actual English tea, [you know the sort with milk in!!] and i knew it was going to be a good few days.
To my utter delight they have two dogs Maisie and Maddock, i soon learnt that Maddock is still a young puppy as his sheer excitement at my arrival made him pee all over the floor (i don't blame him, i am pretty special). As always the Clarke's hospitality was incredible and generous, i got a huge double bed all to myself which was a lovely change from the room share living of hostels, as fun as that may be. For the first time since my arrival in the U.S i ate a hearty meal as aposed to pizza, bagels or burgers. All in all i was spoilt rotten :)

The next day I just relaxed and watched TV, which was much needed after being non stop in New York. Again i was shocked by American culture as advert after advert (and there were ALOT of adverts) described fancy new medicines available on prescription, a choice we do not have in England, as far as i'm aware. These adverts didn't just describe the medicine available but - as part of a regulation, i assume - listed every single grisly side affect that could occur, literally to the point of chronic diarrhoea and loss of limbs. These depressing side affects were narrated over images of beautiful people smiling and laughing in slow motion along side some relaxing, feel good music. The entire concept was absolutely bizarre to me, i caught my personal favourite ad, for a cure to vaginal dryness, on video, which i will try to post on here for your amusement. Bear in mind this was broadcast in the middle of the day, it's amazing.

Being so close to Pennsylvania i figured it would be rude not to visit the land of the Cheese Steak, AKA Philadelphia, so i hopped on a train and met up with Izzy, a girl i'd met in New York and some people she had met at her hostel. Philadelphia was brilliant, we looked around the creepy penitentiary, which shouldn't be all that creepy baring in mind some of the prisoners that were incarcerated there are still alive today -the American understanding of 'old' is certainly not the same as the English. Despite it's relatively young age there were large parts of it's history that 'we just don't know about' which again i found strange. Irregardless it was an interesting place and we went on a behind the scenes tour which took us past the public areas. After some educating we had built up an appetite and found a small restaurant boasting 'award winning Philly cheese steaks' i'll admit it was pretty damn good. (See picture in photo albums)

The rest of my time in New Jersey was spent relaxing and exploring the small town of Princeton which as you will see from the photos is quaint and beautiful. On my last night we went to a talent show held at Elizabeth's high school. It was just like being in a movie; i spotted the geeks, the popular 'plastic' girls, and the normal friendly teens, which i'm proud and relieved to say Elizabeth fell into perfectly. At one point a group, who i can only assume make up the Glee Club, started singing along to one of the acts, priceless. It was a good laugh through most of the show and i discovered that Elizabeth is STUPIDLY talented, i will try and steal the video off Facebook and attach it here but believe me she is insane.

I've had a great time with the Clarke's in the lovely suburbia of New Jersey and next i'm off to see another member of the Clarke clan, Lindsay in Boston!