We arrived into Raleigh bus station just as Barbara was pulling up to collect us. We didn't stop long at her fantastic house before heading out for dinner with her colleagues at an even more impressive house, decorated with an array of interesting African art. Not only were we treated to fabulous food, but everyone was fascinated to hear about our trip and were even more eager to be included in the blog.

The following morning was spent catching up on some sleep before taking a trip into the university town of Chapel Hill, where I was fascinated by the sorority and fraternity houses dotted around the campus. The weather had been horribly humid so it wasn't long before the heavens opened and we were sent dashing for the nearest shop. Luckily, we found ourselves inside the college sports shop so were able to spend a long while familiarising ourselves with all the sports teams and their main players who are treated like celebrities within the town.

That evening gave us another chance to show off about our travels when the 'young ones' Barbara works with came for dinner. It was great to chat with them about all things American, including their views on Obama and McCain, and I got the real truth on these sororities and fraternities. As soon as Josh exposed his interest in English football he couldn't get away from Kev, and us women found ourselves forced to continue our conversations in the kitchen. A delightful evening, made all the better for Kev as he found out that the University of North Carolina's most famous sport star is none other than Michael Jordan!

Barbara had kindly taken the following day off work and took us out towards Wilmington, a cute little town on the coast. After a lovely lunch overlooking the river, we wandered around the pretty streets with an array of beautiful old buildings, none more spectacular than the Bellamy Mansion. Fortunately, the mansion was still open so we spent a good while marvelling at the numerous large rooms, deciding what we'd do with each one.

A lack of dinner plans that evening meant we were forced to amuse ourselves with a film. As we'd already seen the best films on offer we settled for Wall-E, the newest offering from Disney Pixar. Although there was a very strong message in there, the film was a little slow to get going, definitely not one of their finest but enjoyable all the same.

We spent our final morning making use of the home comforts that we'd again be deprived of for our last week. By the afternoon, we had all our bags packed again and were treated to another enjoyable meal before being deposited at the Greyhound station in Raleigh. We had a few hours to kill before our bus so set off to explore what Raleigh had to offer, before inevitably ending up in a pub watching ESPN.

It had been a lovely relaxing few days with great company and great food and drink, which geared us up nicely for the prospect of Philadelphia and New York.

Rosa