Fancy Duke Ceremonies and Not as Fancy Foods

Let me just start off by saying that Duke is not an Ivy League school; however, I believe it is just as

gorgeous as one. Our second and third day in Durham was largely about Sara. She showed us around her school and we attended her White Coat ceremony (but more on that later).

First thing first. We started our morning off with a hole in the wall called Monuts. The only way I can describe this place is: A specialty doughnut shop with kick ass breakfast sandwiches. For those of you who know Denver, you probably have heard of Voodoo Doughnuts. They throw everything on. From breakfast cereal to Kool-Aide powder. Walking into breakfast that morning, I thought that's what I was in for. How wrong I was. Voodoo seems like the garish younger sibling in comparison to the indy-hipster vibe and locally sourced, hand made food that Monuts churns out. Listen folks, I'm not one to often take pictures of my food, but look at this sandwich and tell me it doesn't look good. I dare you. 

After my belly was full and my heart was happy, we found a nice parking spot and had a mini Duke tour. I call it a mini tour because we saw most of the campus by car and only one main building on foot. 

Because Duke was founded in 1838, a lot of the original architecture is old and gorgeous. Honestly, I felt like I was accidentally back in Europe (except for the fact the church, as impressive as it was, had been obviously made from concrete and had glorious air conditioning). Just because it was obviously slightly more modern with a Methodist throw back, didn't make it any less gorgeous. Don't believe me? Well, here's a little proof. 

During this walk I was informed of a figure carved into the side of the chapel that would never stand next to any European saints. This figure is non other than Robert E. Lee. For those of you not from the south or not from the good ol' Unites States of America, many people during the civil war put Robert E. Lee on the same level as our first president, General George Washington himself. When Robert was first carved into the chapel (proudly at the front door, might I add) he has the initials US proudly displayed on his belt buckle which was concurrent with the US Army at the time. After the Civil War had started, someone took offence to that and scratched that out and carved in CSA for the Confederate States of America. Now, if you look at the buckle, you can still see the bottom of the U and the top of the S, but it has been carved out to look like a simple ripple design. Well, there's the south for ya. 

After that I got cranky from heat exhaustion and not enough water so I had to go home and take a nap until I could be a human again. Remember kids, DRINK WATER.

Then I went and had myself a good ol' back home delight. Chicken and waffles. You heard me. Fried chicken on waffles. There were all sorts of variations of this. They had many schmears and

Why yes, I did take this with my selfie stick. 

chicken cuts and even kinds of waffles you could put together. But it still always boiled down to the same two things that sound like they should never go together.
Many people will tell you it is delicious and you just need to try it or (my personal favorite) it'll grow on you! For those of you who like the sweet and salty mix, the feelings of squishy and crunchy, the intersection of breakfast and dinner, you will love chicken and waffles. It's that weird shit y'all are into. I did try it. I tried a whole plate of it. Let's just say I was never meant to live in the south. Everyone else at the table swore it was weird and quite delightful, but even by the end of the plate, there was no way I was going to have another. 

Now onto the meat of the trip, the entire reason all of us hauled our asses out to North Carolina to begin with. Sara. My future sister-in-law is accomplishing something amazing that has taken hours of dedication, months of hard work, years of classes, and more than a few tears. We proudly followed her around the next day as she presented her capstone project, showed us her wonderful professors, and then received her white coat, a symbol that she has finished classroom

schooling and is now allowed to start clinicals. I know she isn't yet my sister, but I couldn't help but burst with pride as I saw her march up to stage and don her newly pressed white coat. In that moment, I knew that as much as I loved my fiancé, I could not ask for a better sister.

Dear Sara, if you are reading this:
I know I have only been in your life for a fraction of what it took to achieve what you have so far, but I am already so excited for you and so amazingly proud. 

Love,
Your future sister