Postponed

Hi, this post is going to be quite lame so I apologize. I'm not going to be able to finish Dublin before I leave. There was more scrambling this morning when I thought I'd be able to finish it and now we're taking an earlier bus to Cardiff so I'm definitely not going to have time. So I guess I'm leaving you all on a cliffhanger. I am really sorry. I wanted to get this done so I wouldn't forget things but I guess plans change. As a preview of what's to come, I'm happy to let you all know that future entries will be covering my time in Paris, Greece, and Italy. Woo! Something to look forward to anyway. I hope you all have an amazing Easter, and I'll talk to you all in a few weeks! <3

Dublin

Alright, almost caught up now. On to Dublin!!

This is the only trip that I've taken so far where I've had to miss a class. And we left Tuesday night. Go figure. The bus ride there was...interesting. We met a couple of Canadians that pretty much reversed any stereotype someone might have of Canadians being sweet and mild-mannered. I think it was one of our boys that was being polite and asked "Oh, so what part of Canada are you from?" and the more obnoxious one said "the asshole part." Excellent. It was that kind of witty banter that defined the bus ride since they were sitting right behind Lisa and I. There was one particularly riveting conversation at around 6 a.m. when everyone else was trying to sleep where they were discussing whether the plural of beer is "beer" like "deer" or "beers" like normal human beings say it. We arrived in Dublin on Wednesday morning, dropped off our luggage and decided to get some coffee to regroup. While there, we looked at the map and decided that it was a good day to go to the Guinness Factory. The Factory itself was pretty cool. There was a huge pit of barley seeds and an indoor waterfall to display 2 of the 4 ingredients needed to make a Guinness. We also got to pour our own pint and get a certificate for our trouble. The trick to pouring the perfect pint is to tilt the glass at a 45 degree angle up until a mark on the glass when you slowly tilt it upright until the beer is a few inches from the top. From there, you need to let it sit for 2 minutes to let the beer settle before topping it off by pushing the handle up. Unfortunately, the beer was absolutely nasty. I wish I was one of those down-to-earth guy's girl that can chug a cheap beer, but I'm not. I need my fruity drink. We got to go up on the top deck, however, and see a 360 view of the city itself. It was a wonderful view, made even better by the clear skies. Unfortunately, it was so busy that we could barely stand in there let alone wander around enjoying the scenery. We ended up heading over to St. Patrick's Cathedral afterwards and chilled out in the park. It really was a lovely day--perfect for some people watching. There was this cute little boy that really wanted to ride his sibling's scooter and was running through the flowers to make his point heard. After relaxing in the park, we decided to go inside the cathedral itself. It really was a lovely place with particularly notable stained glass windows. After walking around the entire perimeter, I was surprised to discover that this is where Jonathan Swift is buried. I was first introduced to Swift back in Mr. May's English class junior year when we read "A Modest Proposal" an essay that he wrote about how the Irish were in such destitution that they may as well eat their own babies. It then went on to graphically describe the eating and cooking processes. It's not an essay that one is liable to soon forget. More recently, I got to read portions of Gulliver's Travels in my early British literature class. It's just a really neat moment when you get to be in the place that someone with such literary significance is buried. We grabbed some dinner in a pub soon afterwards and turned in early, exhausted from our lack of sleep the night before.

Sorry guys, I can't figure out how to rotate it. At least you'll look funny turning your heads. Pouring the perfect pint.

The next day was St. Patrick's Day. I was so excited to see this parade, partly because I was interested in what bands were going to be marching in it. Woo band pride! Me, Steph, Lisa, and Jayne got extra decked out with our green eyeshadow and eyeliner before heading out a few hours before the parade started to get a good spot. I had gotten a St. Patrick's Day cowboy hat the day before so I think I encapsulated the combination of America and Ireland in my outfit. Once we picked out our spot, Jayne and I left to find her a hat and get some coffees for the group. On the way, we got stopped by some Japanese people who asked us to sign a Japanese flag that they were going to send to Japan for encouragement after the earthquake and tsunami. Then, as we continued down the street, some random guy took a creeper picture of us but was pretending like he hadn't even though the flash clearly went off. Awesome. Finally, just as we were about to go into the coffee shop, we were given a 5-10 minute pitch by some girl who wanted us to buy raffle tickets. We finally made it back to the group and awaited the parade's start. The crowd had definitely grown in the time that we were gone. It was at least five people deep everywhere you looked. There was a historic statue near our spot and people were even scaling it to sit in the laps of angels. The parade itself was bizarre. The inspiration was a fantastical children's book: [posting the rest later, I need to restart my computer and will therefore lose this if I don't post.]

London again (brief)

Hey all,

I figured I ought to catch up on all of this stuff tonight because apparently I'm leaving for spring break on Sunday, not Monday like I had originally thought. And seeing as though I'm going to be gone for almost all of April, I better do this before I forget.

We'll start off with London Part 2. A few weeks back, I got the opportunity to go to London again--this time on U of I's dime. They'd paid for hotel accommodations, breakfast and dinner, some of the transportation cost, and the cost of all of our planned activities. I'm not going to miss an opportunity like this if it's practically free so even though I had been traveling several weekends in a row, I bought my round trip bus ticket to London. This time, I was traveling by myself which I hadn't had to do since I arrived. It wasn't nearly as scary this time around, and the exhilaration of being in London completely on my own was potent. I got to choose whether or not I wanted to stop for coffee on my way to the Tube station, and I got to navigate the streets by myself. I felt really independent and mature, and it made me kind of excited to get to really get a place of my own after I graduate. When I got to the hotel, I went to an orientation with U of I students from all over the U.K. I recognized one girl from a couple of my English classes and someone else from a mutual friend. That was it however so I mostly struck up conversations with random people. I've found that this is something I've gotten much more comfortable with over here. Usually if I don't know someone, I tend to just keep to myself because I don't want to bother anyone. Studying abroad has forced me to interact with people I don't necessarily know, and I actually found a group of people to hang out with while I was there. For someone who doesn't make friends as quickly as most people, this was definitely a skill I've needed to develop.

As far as activities go, a lot of the things we did felt somewhat repetitive, especially since I was just there two weeks earlier. The first night, however, was full of new things. We ate at this ethnic restaurant (and for the life of me, I can't remember exactly what type of food it was) which took a really long time. It actually got to the point where we had to take our dessert on the run because we were going to miss seeing a show: Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. Basically it's a show about 3 Australian drag queens taking a cross-country road trip. Definitely not your average musical. Our seats were quite bad; I could only see about 2/3 of the stage and being so high up, it was incredibly warm. The show itself was pretty good. The first half dragged but I think it was necessary to give the audience the character development needed to give the second half some emotional potency. I met my roommate that night, Catherine. I was surprised at how easily we got along, and I really enjoyed talking to her that night. The next day we took a coach bus tour around London. I ended up sitting near the front and got to overhear the witty banter between the guide and the driver. Our guide was the epitome of the little old English lady. She got overly excited at places she liked and made politely rude witty remarks. It was brilliant. Afterwards, I met up with Lindsay to grab lunch. It was so good to see her. Lindsay is someone who I never really have any drama with, and it feels like distance and college has done nothing to change the ease of our conversations or the way we relate to each other which is always a bit of a worry after graduation. After lunch, I went on a scavenger hunt around London with a few people from U of I. I managed to convince Lindsay to join us, and nobody seemed to notice when the group met back up that she wasn't from our school. She ended up being our photographer for the group shots which was really convenient since we didn't have to bother random passersby to take touristy photos. As lame as a scavenger hunt sounds, it was probably my favorite part of the trip. I like feeling like I'm on a mission and checking things off lists and to get to do that with Lindsay, who I don't see as often as I'd like since she normally goes to school in California, was really cool. Lindsay and I parted ways for dinner. Unfortunately, our group lost which was a let-down after ALL of the places we went to. =( After dinner was a comedy show. The first act wasn't very good. It was clear that he was just starting out and was still trying to get his bearings, so I felt kind of bad for him. Because it wasn't all that great, there was a really awkward moment when a significant chunk of U of I students decided to leave early to go drink instead. It was made even more awkward when the MC commented on it and started defending the first act. After that, the comedians were quite good. I'd never been to a comedy show, and this one was in the basement of a pub. It felt really authentic which was definitely cool. The next day we got to explore around the Tower of London. I had been there before with the band back in 2008, but the Tower of London is always fantastic so I was happy to go again. The first time I was there, the line to see the Crown Jewels was incredibly long; I think it took about an hour. For some reason, there was no line this time, and we got to walk right on through. I had one really cool moment as we were walking around the grounds where I saw one of the beefeaters giving a tour. I looked closer and realized that it was the same man that me, Heather, and Lindsay had taken a picture with three years earlier. It was so exciting. I tried to take a picture of him, but we were too far away to get a good shot. I'll put a picture comparison below. That afternoon, I left for Victoria Coach Station to get a ride back to Swansea. I had a slight moment of panic because I knew I was in the right area but I couldn't quite find the station right away. It wasn't anything to worry about, however, because I did manage to make it back on the right coach all in one piece. I actually met a woman on the bus who had a son about my age, and apparently I was the first American that she had ever met. She seemed quite excited to tell her family about that. Anyway, that was London, part 2.

I saw this guy. I can't find the other picture off hand. 

Alright, I'm posting this and taking a quick break before starting on Dublin. I'd hate for my computer to randomly shut off like it sometimes does when I've written so much. Back soon.

Actually posting in a timely matter. Go figure.

Hey all,

Miracle of miracles: I'm actually posting when I said I was going to. I know, I wasn't expecting it either. However, I just got back from Steph's where we watched American Beauty, and it got me in such a creative mood that it almost makes me want to skip my April travels and sit here and pen the next great American novel. As eager as I am, however, I'm never going to be able to write anything decent unless I live a bit so that probably wouldn't be my best option. Updating my blog, however, is a whole other story. I think I might throw in a picture or two as well. Next thing you know, it'll almost seem professional. Anyway, on to Amsterdam.

Swansea University has a Student Union which organizes various trips throughout the year that students can sign up for where the transportation and accommodation are all taken care of with a pretty decent discount. As part of my goal to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way here, I signed up for the trip to Amsterdam. I'm going to be honest; I didn't really know anything about Amsterdam before I went except for a few brief things I looked up on Wikipedia before I left. Lisa, unfortunately, had other plans so she didn't come with the rest of the group but having a group of four did mean that we were able to get the best seats on the coach bus which had a full-size table in the center, allowing us to pile on treats and play cards throughout the ride. It was fantastic. The coach took us to Dover (where I saw the cliffs of Dover which have been made famous through a song called "The Cliffs of Dover," known for its elaborate guitar riffs. I'm not familiar with the song so I didn't really care much but if any of you do, there you go.) where we got on a ferry to cross over to the mainland of Europe (my first time being there!). We landed in France and drove through Belgium on our way to the Netherlands. We traveled overnight so the bus ride consisted of sporadic attempts at sleep so that when we made a mandatory stop at a rest station, no one even knew what country we were in. How crazy is that.

Our sweet table on the coach. 

We arrived in Amsterdam at 8 in the morning. For some reason, the bus driver didn't drop us off in front of the hostel but decided to drop us off about a half a mile away. I think the first thing I noticed about the city was how many people rode their bikes. I think it's safe to say that bikes are far more popular than cars. When you combine that with the fact that they have cable cars, basically a train on wires that runs through the center of the city, this place seemed nothing like the cities I'm used to. One girl got hit by a bike on our way to the hostel, and there were bells coming from every direction as we walked along, clearly unaccustomed to their road rules.

Cable cars that function the same way as buses do in most cities.

A bike parking garage. I promise I'm not exaggerating on the sheer amount of bicyclists.

When we finally made it to the hostel, we dumped off our luggage and headed out for the day, rather tired and weary from traveling all night. We started out by just walking through the city, soaking in the atmosphere. The layout and architecture of the city was especially striking. Amsterdam is well-known for its canals and bridges; you can't walk down more than a few streets before you run into one. Because of this, the canals are teeming with houseboats, mostly run-down with the shades closed for privacy but fairly colorful, canal boats giving tours, and, my personal favorites, dozens and dozens of swans. I'm always surprised when I see animals in a big city--it just seems too dangerous for it to be a good idea. I suppose people must feed them scraps of food all the time though because at times, it looked like a scene out of The Notebook. Besides the canals and bridges, I was also quite struck by the architecture. Most of the buildings are built in the same manner: a flat, sheer, vertical surface with a grid-like window pattern with no shutters or adornments. Most of the buildings are roughly the same height and are lined up against each other in a way so that one building doesn't stick out further than the one next to it. Some of the older buildings definitely seemed influenced by other architectural styles, perhaps acting as a nostalgic nod to past nations that have conquered Amsterdam at one time or another.

Typical street in Amsterdam with the similarly-styled buildings lining up along the canal.

We went into a lot of gift shops the first morning there, and I got to recognize the typical tourist staples the Dutch are keen to advertise: windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, and their lax laws concerning prostitution and marijuana. Amsterdam is the only major city in the world (I'm 90% sure.) that legalizes prostitution and marijuana. From what I've heard, this is so that the police can focus on "real issues." According to the guidebook, if you're looking for coffee in Amsterdam, you go to a cafe but if you're looking to get pot, you go to any place that's called a "coffeshop" which is their way of trying to make it classy or something. The coffeeshops are pretty easy to spot as their neon signs are usually green with a big green sticker of authentication on the outside to verify that it is a legal pot-selling establishment. As far as the prostitution is concerned, that happens in the Red Light District, deriving its name from the red neon signs displayed from outside the risque shops in the area. There were lots of humorous souvenirs in the shops which played off of these trademarks which I was tempted to buy as a joke.

Amsterdam is definitely a city that a tourist can get through in a weekend and feel satisfied. I think my favorite part of the trip was when we went to the Anne Frank Museum, designed out of the building that Anne and her family lived in while hiding from the Nazis for seven years before getting caught and sent to the concentration camps where, sadly, Anne died, leaving her father as her family's sole survivor. Her diary (really diaries) was saved by friends of Otto Frank. Otto published them upon his release from the concentration camp, fulfilling Anne's dream of being a published author, albeit posthumously. He then preserved the house they had hid in after the book reached widespread popularity to promote a message of acceptance--something which he and his family didn't experience. There's a quiet sense of reverence and awe about the building. The ticket line snaked around the surrounding buildings, allowing us to stand outside in her neighborhood for a while. I had read snippets of Anne's diary in middle school and read her diary in its entirety in high school. She was a talented writer, especially for a girl so young, with so much love and optimism that as a reader, I couldn't help but be in awe of her relentless spirit. Even though her writing made me empathize her and allowed me to "hear" her talk, it was when we were standing outside that it really hit me that she was a flesh-and-bone young girl who existed outside of the pages of a library book. The buildings I looked at were likely the same ones she had looked at whenever she'd visit her father at his office before they went into hiding. It was one of the few views that she would see of the outside when they had ever dared to open the blinds. I've mentioned before how intrigued I was at the architecture. It makes you feel like you're hiding out in the open. Looking at the face of the street, each building--each window--is essentially the same as the one next to it. There's nothing to make yours stand out just as there's nothing to make yours go unnoticed. For the Jewish people hiding from the Nazis, it must have felt like they were part of the devil's lottery ticket: pick the right window, and you're caught.

One of the buildings down Anne's street. Below: Video taken on the canal tour of her street.

Walking through the house itself was really neat as well. There were quotes from the diary enlarged on the wall and displays of various documents scattered around the main levels. Once we got to the part of the house where you had to pass behind the hidden bookcase to reach their hiding space, it felt eerie, as though you could easily turn back time and see them silently going about their business. The kitchen sink was rusted; the nails, still in the wall, were bent from use. Anne's pictures were hanging on the wall of her shared bedroom, just as it was during her seven years of imprisonment. You could see the tree out the attic window that Anne would stare at for hours at a time everyday, longing for freedom. It was, without question, incredibly moving and powerful. In one of the final exhibits, Anne's actual diaries were on display. You could see her neat handwriting and the places where she had crossed out a phrase and rewritten it, striving for perfection and precision. At the end, there were a few exhibits which talked about how the museum came to be. It was touching to see video of Otto Frank speaking about his daughter. You could really feel how deeply he cared for her and how devastated he was that she would never get to grow up. The preservation of the building came to have another layer of meaning as it was a personal memorial for Anne, an expression of her father's love and sorrow. He spent the rest of his life promoting Anne's message, tirelessly campaigning for the restoration of the house while answering every piece of fan mail he got (including one sent by Bill Gates which was on display at the museum). If any of you ever go to Amsterdam, do not miss out on this experience. It's the most emotional and moving place I've been to yet.

One of my other favorite activities in Amsterdam was when we went to the Van Gogh museum. It contains the largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world. What I hadn't expected was the vast number of paintings by Picasso, Monet, and Manet, making the museum a hidden treasure trove in the heart of the city. I got to see some of these artists' most famous paintings in person, something which I am so incredibly fortunate to be able to do. Most notable were Van Gogh's self-portrait and his sunflower painting. It's a surreal experience to see these world famous paintings, heretofore only seen in the pages of a history book, right in front of me. They are the A-listers of the art world. While that was certainly impressive, I think I was more impressed by some of his lesser known paintings. There were three in particular that struck me: two Picassos and one Van Gogh. Picasso had a dark period in his life following the suicide of a close friend. He painted a portrait of said friend upon his death which had a haunting beauty about it. Apparently the layers of paint on the bullet hole were significantly thicker than the rest of the portrait as though Picasso was having a difficult time coping with the death. Following this tragedy, he had a phase where he did monochromatic paintings, mostly in shades of blue. There was one where there was a woman standing naked in a messy room which stood out to me because she just seemed so vulnerable. In the Van Gogh exhibit, I was mesmerized by a painting of some sailboats out at sea because of the unique perspective he took on it. There was no shoreline; the waves were simply crashing into the bottom of the frame, projecting a feeling of vastness and eternity. There was also a really neat display of some other seaside paintings, one of which was considered to be the first well-known painting to be done outside completely from life (i.e. painted entirely outside instead of in a studio). There was a bit of a conspiracy theory behind it but unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the artist off-hand. If I remember later, I'll try to look that up and make a note of it in a later entry because it was gorgeous work and definitely my style of artistry.

Alright, getting near the end here. Not that this has anything to do with the Dutch culture, but Rachael, Stephanie, and I watched some TV in our room one night after a long day of sight-seeing, and Kenan and Kel was on. How amazing is that? Of course, we couldn't miss out on such nostalgia, and it was SO much fun getting to hang out and laugh at such a great show from our childhood. I almost found it funnier now than I did back when I was watching them as an 8-year-old. Wonderful. And, I read an article the other day that 90s programming is coming back to Nick at Nite where they will have a block of time from midnight to 2 a.m. called "The 90s are all that" showing re-runs of classic 90s shows. Apparently this transpired from all of the Facebook groups of college kids reminiscing about programs of the past. Can you tell how pumped I am? By the way, if you're interested in reliving some classic 90s, here's a clip from the episode we saw in Amsterdam (although ours had Dutch subtitles):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQhW230D79o

That pretty much sums up my experiences in Amsterdam. Obviously I can't (and won't) fit it all in so I have a bit more to tell you all when I talk to you next. Phew, that was a lot longer than I intended it to be. I hope it makes up for the lack of posting over the last few weeks. Keep your fingers crossed that I can actually catch up before I leave for Dublin on Tuesday. Talk to you all later.

Hi. It's been way too long. I'm so sorry.

Hey everyone,

So sorry it's taken a while to write. It's been pretty crazy busy the past few weeks, so I've had to cut down to the essentials of school and traveling. Alright, I believe I last left you guys in London with some brief highlights of my time there. Just to wrap that up really quickly, a few things I missed:

This was my first time staying in a hostel, and it certainly was a different experience than staying in a hotel. There were about 8 or so bunkbeds crammed into a room when we finally got in at 12:30. There were about 5 grown men already asleep so we had to save our discussions about where to go and what to do for the morning. There were 5 of us and since I hadn't yet been "by myself" (from the coach buses), I volunteered to be in the bunk above some random guy who we named Boama (I guarantee you I botched that spelling.) after a professor someone in the group knew. We figured that all the guys in the room were probably bus drivers of some sort because we heard them all leave at 6 in the morning.

We started off at the London Eye which is a staple (and rightly so) of London tourism. I had taken only taken a few pictures on the walk over when my camera suddenly broke. (I don't know camera lingo so Marissa, forgive me.) The zoom lens in the front was jammed and refused to pop out, rendering my camera useless. Luckily, after about 45 minutes of sporadic tries to fix it, Nicole managed to get it working again. Phew. There's nothing worse than traveling without a camera.

We really lucked out with the weather. I believe this was the weekend immediately following the huge snowstorm that happened back home so I almost felt guilty enjoying the 50 degree weather and sunshine. A lot of the trip kind of felt like deja vu so I don't know that I enjoyed it as much as I did when I went over New Year's. However, the feeling of familiarity made the trip oddly comforting because of the hint of nostalgia.

Alright, I'm going to try to do an Amsterdam post as well as my second trip to London post this weekend and catch up a little bit. Also, be on the lookout for an update on spring break plans. I'm not bringing my laptop with me with I travel during my April break so don't expect any posts until afterwards when I will do my best to catch up as quickly as possible. I hope all of you are doing well and that the weather is clearing up a bit.

Briefing on London weekend

Hey all,

I'm having a bit of trouble finding the right balance between hanging out with my flat, hanging out with my American friends, keeping up with people at home, doing schoolwork, and simply going out and doing things--let alone keeping up with this blog and posting pictures like I know I need to do as well. My American friends and I had dinner earlier in the week and someone suggested that we all take a trip to London over the weekend since no one had a whole lot going on. It was a complete whirlwind; I probably saw as much in about a day and a half there as I did in a week in London with the LZ band. Absolutely insane. I plan on posting pictures in the next few days and hopefully a more detailed blog post as well but it's been a little while since I've posted so I'll do a couple of highlights.

After travelling for somewhere around 5 hours, we arrived late on Friday night. Word to the wise: this is probably not the ideal time to be using public transportation. Case in point: we started out by navigating the Tube. There was nothing to note here as being unusual since the Tube is absolutely wonderful--clean, easy to navigate, fast, and extensive. I think every major city should model their mass transit around the London Underground. Anyway, once we got off, we needed to take the bus from a couple of blocks away from the Tube station to get to our hostel. By this point, it was a little past midnight. We were pretty excited when we found out we were going to get to take a red double-decker bus. After getting mildly harassed for being American by a drunken British man at the bus stop, the bus arrived, and we were on our way. There's a bit of a hum of drunken conversation coming from the back of the bus when the noise level starts escalating. The conversation is turning into a heated argument of insults. The drunken man from earlier makes a racist comment toward some other man's wife, and the first punch is thrown. These are clearly two strangers so I figured that the one punch would be enough to get it out of their systems. It wasn't. The two men started going at it. At one point, one of them grabbed onto the poles on either side of the aisle to lift himself up to kick the other man. The bus stopped as another man tried breaking up the fight. The bus driver called the police, and no one was allowed to leave the bus until they arrived. Trapped, we decided it would be safer to be on the second level in case the men decided to branch out. We could still hear the insults and sporadic ruckus from upstairs as the police car arrived. We ended up stalled along the side of the road for around 30 minutes as the police interrogated the men and other witnesses. Another bus on the same route passed us on the way as did some random lady along the side of the road who was in hysterics watching an arrest on a double-decker bus. I was on the street-side of the bus so I didn't get to watch the actual interrogation process although I think Stephanie got video of it.

One of my other personal favorites from the trip was when we first took the Tube Saturday morning. Our first exit point was at Waterloo station, and Lisa's ticket wasn't working so she was trapped on the opposite side of the turnstile. I'm not sure who suggested it, but someone said that we should start calling her Napoleon because she got defeated at Waterloo which I think is brilliant. (Granted, my ticket stopped working later on that day, and Steph has video of that too. Thank goodness mine didn't happen at Waterloo though. Poor Lisa.)

Another highlight for me was walking around London at night. I think everyone was getting a little tired and testy a few hours before dinner. It had been a long couple of days with a lot of travelling with the added pressure of trying to use our time to the fullest. Just speaking for myself, I was wanting to just end the day at around 4. We grabbed some dinner and by the time we left and started walking around London at night, my mood completely shifted. I don't know what it is about seeing a city at night but it creates an entirely different atmosphere. I felt like I was in a new city altogether which reinvigorated me and gave me the extra energy to get excited to walk around for the next couple of hours. We stumbled upon Trafalgar Square which was really cool to just chill out at for a bit with its fountains and giant lion statues. I wasn't able to get great pictures from there because my camera, while absolutely amazing when I'm taking a picture while speed-walking through a city, is not the best when it comes to low-light situations. Unfortunately, that means that you all are going to have to look at pictures I'm tagged in to see those instead of looking at just my albums. In particular, the pictures we took with the giant lions are a lot more complicated than they appear. The statues were elevated about 6-7 feet off the ground--not a convenient picture location for someone who's only 5'3". Although it's technically frowned upon, a few of us climbed up there anyway. Nicole gave me a boost as I scrambled up there in a most unladylike fashion. I took a picture of me standing next to the lion and another with me giving him a kiss on the cheek because clearly lion=Simba and The Lion King is one of the best movies of all time. Afterwards, Nicole literally lifted me down. A perk to being small?

That's all I'm going to write for now. There's plenty more to come when I end up breaking down the trip and adding pictures and such. I'm semi-trying to work on a bit of homework, but I'm having a bit of trouble because my light bulb burned out. =( On the bright side, however, I got some really great postcards and a few stamps as well so I'm hoping to start sending those out in the next few weeks as I slowly begin to gather addresses. I don't think I'll necessarily send them all out at once and as I'm going to Amsterdam with the Student Union next weekend and London with other U of I students the weekend after, please please be patient. I will get around to it at some point. I just don't know how timely I will be. Anyway, I hope you're all doing lovely. If not, keep in mind that pitchers and catchers report to spring training this week. So there's definitely some good news happening this week. Haha, I'll talk to you later. =)

First Rugby Match

Hey all,

I'll do a catch-up post sometime after my big essay is completed. There was a lot that went on in the first couple of weeks and since I have a ton of pictures as well, it's going to take up several lengthy posts which I can't really justify before I turn in my paper on Monday. Next week, however, is when I hope to catch up with all of that.

I don't want to get too terribly behind, however, so I figured I could do a quick post about tonight's authentic British experience. So there's a big European sporting event going on right now called Six Nations. I believe the six countries involved are England, Wales, Scotland, France, Italy, and Ireland. Basically, these countries send their best competitors out and play each other. Tonight was a rugby match between England and Wales--a rivalry which is close to home for many of the people here given that there's a significant number of both Welsh and English students at Swansea. Since this is an important cultural event, I went with some of my flatmates to the bar here in the student village to watch the game and meet up with a couple of my American friends. I've never really gone to a bar before to watch any big sporting event--partly because I normally have my own TV and partly because my favorite sport is baseball which mostly takes place in the summer when I'm at home. Given that bit of background, I won't try to compare the American and British bar atmospheres because for all I know, it's exactly the same back home. Here, however, they really get into the game. We arrived at a little past seven because the game itself started at around eight. I probably should have gotten a beer to complete the picture but I've never actually had a beer before because it always smells so nasty so I ended up getting a tropical breeze which looked embarrassingly out of place but was quite tasty. All the seats were filled already so we ended up just finding a post to stand next to. Nicole and Rachael arrived about twenty minutes after my flatmates and I had gotten there. As we were waiting, a flood of students was pouring into the bar, dressed from head to toe in their team's colors. If anyone from U of I knows the Green Guy who shows up to the football games in a head-covering green bodysuit, then they can probably picture what I mean when I say there was a similar guy dressed in a full bodysuit with the English flag on it. There were spontaneous chants of "Wa-les, Wa-les" interspersed with what I believe was snippets of "God Save the Queen."

Rugby itself is a lot like American football. They have a similarly-shaped ball and a similar general gameplay. From what I understand (which, granted, is sketchy at best), there are fifteen players on each team. Each team's goal, like in football, is to get the ball into the end-zone for a "try" which is worth five points. They run down the field and pass the ball to someone running behind him. If he gets tackled, the ball-carrier must pass the ball to another teammate behind him who will continue to run down the field. Getting tackled does nothing to change possession of the ball or pause the clock. The other team can steal the ball during any of this. If you score a "try," you then kick a field goal for an extra two points. If you can't make it all the way down the field, you can also kick a field goal for three points. At some point, they form a scrum to determine which team possesses the ball. It's almost as physical as football and yet they wear a t-shirt and shorts with no helmet or padding. It seems pretty brutal. There was a close-up of one player on England's team, and his nose was practically pointing to the edge of his lips because it was so crooked from getting broken so often.

The bar was packed; I had to stand in almost the exact same position the entire time so as not to elbow anyone else or block someone's view. No one could hear the announcers on the broadcast because of the general bar din accompanied by spontaneous national chants supporting both teams. The game was being played at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff which was neat to see because that's where I'll be going at the end of March for Varsity which is a series of sporting events between Swansea and Cardiff--a rivalry which is apparently only beaten by that between Oxford and Cambridge in the U.K. Throughout the game, I was struggling to pick a team to root for. My flatmates were rooting for England because they're British so it felt like I should join their side. On the other hand though, I'm not living in England but in Wales so I felt like I should show loyalty to my current home. Wales's status as the underdog mostly won me over, and I felt myself instinctively rooting on the boys in red. Apparently that didn't do any good however because they lost to England but it was certainly a competitive game. The bar went in an uproar near the end when Jonny Wilkinson came in for England's team. I guess this guy had basically won them the championship last year and was a national sporting hero. The cheers and boos from both fanbases were fighting to drown each other out. Overall, it was an exciting experience. It was intriguing to see the passion the English and Welsh fans have for their respective countries and to witness arguments between strangers over a game. It felt like something I would probably find in a bar back home if a big football game was on with the pitchers of beer, the slew of jerseys, and people standing up to cheer whenever something big happened. While I still don't understand the appeal of soccer, I can understand the excitement of rugby, and I can definitely see myself going to a game in the future.

That's the basic gist of my British experience of the day. I figured it'd be better to get it out now while it's fresh on my mind. The next time I go to one of these, I'll definitely bring my camera to paint a better picture of the scene. I hope you all have a great weekend! =)