A long weekend, with a quick b-day squeezed in before it all. I would have written to ya'll about friday, and my turning 21, but after that night the whole gang was rushed out the door at 8:30 the next morning for a decently, long 3 hour coach ride up into the lake district. Needless to say this left balloons all over the flat, wine glasses scattered about and dishes left undone as we were away through til monday evening.
Anyway, getting back to friday, it was a pretty good day overall. I don't like to make a big deal out of my own birthdays when I can help it, but it is pretty tough not to feel the pressure of making your 21 a good one. One of the main highlights of the day was playing squash with a couple of the guys on the rowing team. After talking to him a few weeks earlier about my obsession with raquetball, he had offered to teach me the game.
For those of you who didn't know, I love to play raquetball. I picked it up my freshman year pretty early on initially playing a lot with my good bud Greg, learning the game together as we were pretty evenly matched. We eventually dragged a few more people in, like my old roomie and my to be sophmore roomate and brother Nick. Some of us were a little more obsessive than others, but there were days I played every day of the week. So, coming here and finding the game to be non-existant was crushing. I heard squash was similar in that it is within a rectangular room and involved a raquet and a ball, but I was skeptical as to it meeting my raquetball standards. I was looking forward to kicking some British arse on the court with what I know I can do well. Squash turned out to be a pretty decent game, but still didn't meet standards. One uses a smaller ball, about 1.5 inch in diameter, which has much less "bounciness" than a raquetball. It makes the game seem much more....I guess I would say dead... due to how the ball basically hits a wall and plops to the ground. Difficult to get to, but at the same time less intense than raquetball where you have a ball flying at high speeds from any direction bouncing off multiple walls, and always open for some really impressive geometric shots using the angles hitting off the walls. Squash has potential though, and I plan on playing much more, if not for the game, for getting to know some new friends.
After that, I took a bike ride around the park on campus wasting time before class. There is a beautiful and large lake with beautiful landscape all around it. I got a call from home on my cell which was really a nice call and was great talking to mom and the rest of the family. It was very unexpected and helped fill in the time before I headed off to Islam at 3. After class, nothing much was going on, and everyone was doing different errands and getting other things done. I spent the next couple hours biking around the city. It is such a good way to get to know the area. I discovered lots of new areas, ancient churches and hidden cemetaries in the middle of the bustling city. Lots of surprises. I made a pit stop back home at one point and headed north away from the city from our flat, and only after a mile, the traffic of the city drops away, and the road becomes narrow and lined with stone walls and hedges with cattle grazing on the hills, and some of the most adorable cottage-like houses spot the road and become increasingly sparse. Came into an ancient little village with some buildings dating back to the 11th century, with footpaths and such. It was refreshing to see the countryside, that is really so near the city, and finding this place caught me off guard, and encouraged and revitalized my spirit from missing home and all things connected to nature. I road back home for supper with high spirits.
Emily and Hilary tried to find me boxed mac and cheese...especially the blue box...but came up empty handed and instead made a delicious homemade Mac and cHeese meal. To top it all off, Carol: director, profesor, guardian, "mom", made an impressive all chocolate cake. I haven't had cake that good in a long time. Her and mark also gave me Candy bars, fruit bars and toffee as treats that we rarely have. it was very "sweet" (oh how I love puns) of them.
I will spare the world the details of the rest of the night, but it was very comfortable and enjoyable til very late, and lets just say if someone can help me remember how I eventually got home in the morning I would be most grateful. I must say that it was a great coincidence that we ran into my best buddies from rowing at the place we were out at called BZR. I wanted to call them so bad, but didn't yet they ended up there anyway. Seeing them really made my night complete. Fate or a good blessing was residing on my special day.
On to next blog.... a weekend in the beautiful lake district.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
An Action Filled Weekend
Overall, it has been an extremely event filled, and entertaining weekend. We definetely don't run short on things to do in the city, though I think many of us at times fall too easily into the trap of hanging around the flat. The flat is like a safe zone, that you can always hang out and relax in, and with it not being a drabby sort of place, but actually very clean and beautiful with plenty of space, we like to spend our free time here. It's a cozy family that we have all become, fullfilling different roles that every family should have. I couldn't ask for a better gang of "brothers and sisters" than these. Overall, a group of good-natured and kind and light-hearted folks.
Friday night, the majority of the group made its way out into the city to do a bit of clubbing. We haven't actually gone out as a group in a while, and it was high time to do so. The only problem with going places with big groups is getting it to move. The girls would take forever to get ready, and then one of the girls might point out how my shoes don't match my shirt and then I'm scrambling for something else, and then seeing that my hair was getting too long, they (the ladies) figured I should do something more interesting with it. Little things like that make a nine o'clock departure slowly fade to 10:30.
We finally arrived at Tantra our first destination. The goal I felt for the night was to see some new clubs for some of us, that lie in a more exciting and higher class social scene, dare I say "classy". Many of these clubs require a person to be wearing "smart shoes" (dress brown or black shoes) and some sort of collared shirt at the minimum just to get in. Tantra had a very deep, dark environment, with colored lighting adding flavor to the atmosphere of this small but very packed place. All the upholstery was more or less a deep red for effect and we managed to snag a booth that is completely cushioned and you sit on the ground amidst these cushions. Something new and different.
The highlight of the evening was "The Pitcher and the Piano" an old gothic church with high steeples in the lace district of town converted into a very classy club. It looked incredible inside complete with stained glass and all. There were two levels with the bottom and middle entirely open, with a walkway across the middle of the church and balconies on the side. The place was huge, but always popular with plenty of people around. The ladies found some gentlemen friends, and enjoyed becoming acquainted with them well Kevin and I had a cigar (Not a common thing, trust me, just special occasions) and enjoyed the atmosphere. Finishing off the night we went to Dogma for a bit of dancing as we were all itching to do a bit more moving.
Saturday fullfilled one of my primary goals that was bound to happen soon anyway. We attended our first English Football game in the Nottingham Forest Football stadium. It was an absolutely amazing experience and something I hope to repeat again soon.
The Forest played Bristol the team ranked just behind Nottingham in the same Coca Cola league. There were some definite intense moments and overall was a good game to watch. Nottingham won 1-0 off of a direct kick that was perfectly placed in the upper 90 of the goal in the first quarter of the game. Everyone went nuts. It is so hard to explain the emotions of being caught in such a moment with such a huge roar from so many fans. I guess it would be like most of you folks back home at a Packer Game after a really intense touchdown.
The game overall was very different. There was no commentary during play as well as no music. Even so, there was never a lull in chanting and yelling. Whether it be Bristol or Nott, there was always some great big chant rolling out of a part of a stadium with hundreds of voices behind it.
I am bound and determined to learn them. It was tough to pick up what everyone was screaming with such a thick, throaty and extra accented cry of support for the team.
To emphasize the seriousness of these games to the fans that watch them, a "riot" broke out after the game, and I got to see it all. Everyone was flowing out of the stadium and we were going with it, taking our route with many other people through the streets on to this main road to the buses, when a could hear strange noises of metal clanging up ahead. All of a sudden a group of boys and men ran past me and started chanting and yelling and turned the corner, to meet a group of Bristol men doing the same. there was a clearing in the street and all traffic was stopped, and I got near enough to see that these men were chucking chunks of metal and punching and throwing anything else they could get their hands on. It took only a few seconds till I realized that those metal pieces were the torn off legs of patio chairs from the businesses lining these streets, and then I see full chairs being smashed into guys and thrown through the air. Crowds had gathered at a distance, and we were very spooked but so curious and watched as the fight elevated until more men joined and it kept growing and moving down the street. Eventually, the Bristol firm was backed up against a wine pub place, and tons of punches and chairs were flying. The front windows and doors were cracked and smashed up fromt the incident. After about 10 minutes of this fighting the police finally arrived with two women on horseback and then a bunch of men with billy clubs while the audience aplauded. It was such an intense moment, and we walked away with fast beating hearts. All that stuff we heard about football hooligans, and rioting and real violence over games was brought to reality. The incident made the news, as it was more intense than usual.
Got my hair cut by Mary that night. She did both Kevin's earlier and mine. My beautiful locks were just getting too obnoxious and unmanageable so I let her do her worst and she did a fine job.
Sunday was another day trip with Mark and Carole. With the Luther Car and a rented car, we drove an hour to the Peak district, into the hills and countryside, to finally and suddenly come upon this monstrous mansion.
It would be the equivalent of some castle or palace in more of a house form. It is surrounded by 1000 acres of land, all molded by the great landscape architect Capability Brown. He moved and widened the route of the river, removed tons of trees and planted others where he liked them, and at the wishes of the Duke and Duchess moved a small village further away so that it wasn't obstructing the mansion's view of the landscape. Everything was too perfect.
We spent the morning wandering vales and Hills for a couple hours, had lunch in the nearby mini-village, and on our way back to Chatsworth, managed to see the start of a "ride". Basically and assemblance of maybe 40 horsemen and women ride through the countryside following a pack of hunting dogs following a scent laid down by some men who have went ahead. It is just for a nice ride I guess, and seems to be fairly relaxed and more of a social thing for these people. It obviously seems to be an event that is only held by the aristocracy, the wealthiest of England. This one was hosted by the Duchess of Devonshire, who is the resident of nearby Chatsworth house.
Inside the house, was expectedly grand, of unnecessarily large proportions, yet astounding in its grandeur. Most of the ceilings were painted with giant murals of gods and goddesses caught in the clouds left to their own devices. Below is the library, or I should say the largest of 5 in the house. This is the only one we did see, and it alone, not counting the other 4 contains 15,000 books.
The house contains its own sculpture gallery of works collected by all the Dukes and Duchesses throughout its history. Is she real.........?
Interestingly enough, the above sculpture is not, but was created by a certain Duane Hanson, a Luther Alumnus. The work of this great artist in Iowa can be found all the way over in England in some random gallery in a house in the middle of no where, with many other great works surrounding it. just a shout out to Luther, and a real proud moment for us, seeing where people from such a fine school can get to.By the time we finished exploring the house it had started raining pretty heavily, but Aaron and myself broke off and explored the gardens despite all this. We weren't going to let a little water hinder us. The house garden is huge. It is hard to fathom how huge it is, but basically it has multiple sections displaying various different gardens, a hedge maze, a huge area of man-made rock cliffs and waterfalls, and This giant pool with a fountain, and a bit of contemporary art scattered amidst it.
This is a central cascade that is a popular image representing the extremity of how massive and extensive these gardens are.
Aaron and I reached the middle of the maze, to find nothing but a sad looking little tree in it's center. I don't know what we were expecting to find...
Here is just another small area with all the rock sculpture and created landscape. It doesn't look completely natural, but at the same time is an amazing achievement, knowing that somebody planned out how all these rocks were placed and what plants would grow where. They had this envisioned in their head years ago, and had no way of knowing it would turn out this beautiful today. 
Ever since I read about Jens Jensen, the landscape architect who designed the Chicago Park System and also the Luther Campus in early 1900's a few summers ago, I have always been fascinated by the job of a landscape architect. Now getting to see the work of Capability Brown, and the mark he has made all across the landscape of Britain, it has strengthened my curiosity and desire to look into Landscape architecture in those years after I get sick of teaching if that day ever comes. A distant dream I know, but I think it would be amazing. All this talk of dreams and such just tells me that I have been here typing entirely too long. Time to fall into some dreams of my own, before I awake at just after seven tomorrow.
Sweet and Pleasant Dreams to all!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Making New Friends and Remembering the Old
Though we have been here for just over a month, those days of romping around in York and Rowing down the river around Durham our first week seem like such a long time ago. At the same time, the end of this year has drawn that much nearer, and though it may seem like such a long way off, time seems to be speeding up. It's very scary, and I am forging on making the most of it.
From my last post, I wrote on my excitement in baking, and how exciting it was to bake my first cake...well now here's the picture, so you can see my joy! 2 layered Frosted Carrot cake with Pecans. So Proud!
Yesterday, was a long day, with my two classes in the morning, in which one (Islam) has become my nap time. Then Rowing practice. I row on the stroke side, and have been moved to the bow four men (back four in boat of 8) and do more rowing than the stroke four. Our bow four seemed to just click and we managed to actually glide down the river pretty wicked fast. We were all in sync with each other, and managed to impress our coach! The stern four were shit, and a bit messy with one new guy. I hope they stick half of us in the same boat again.
After that I went and sat outside the church and did homework for an hour in the beautiful mildly sunny but cool whether, until choir practice in the church and our wednesday night evensong service. We ended up singing for a whole whopping two people! Still sang as beautiful as ever!
That evening, as seems to be the scenario every wednesday night, is a big night for socials (parties with different societies) both my volleyball and rowing had a social, and I chose to hang out with the rowers this night because they are so crazy. Their theme was to dress up in a Toga. I know it sounds lame, and it was, but I didn't dress up because I only wanted to socialize at the pub for a while and head home at 11 when everyone goes to the club. I need to start saving more than I spend. So like a few dorks, a couple of the other novices and I chatted with each other feeling excluded for not dressing up in sheets. It ended up being an awesome night, because Luke, Al and myself really got to know each other better. One is from Wales, the other an Englishman, but they are really cool guys. We hit it off pretty well, and hopefully they will become good buddies of mine as the year goes on. Luke's birthday is the day after mine, and we may just throw a joint house party, the first of the year. It needs to happen soon, and so I am working on getting everyone else in the flat motivated and enthused enough to do this. I was glad I went to "The Old Peacock" and really established some good social friends.
Everyone in the flat is getting along together pretty well more or less. Particularily in the last week or so, we have been really getting to know each other better. Had a few late night talks about life, and some deeper issues and such, and it really is bringing everyone a little closer together. I am thrilled with this group. Everyone is so different, but I love them all dearly for different reasons or goofy quirks. It's really going to be a good year with them I should hope.
Well, seeing that I have very few new pictures to share, here are a couple pictures around the city of Nottingham.
This one is a picture taken from in front of the castle.
What many of the city streets look like downtown in the city center. It really is a nice looking city, in it's good spots.
Today, I went to explore a park as it was our assignment. Everyone in the group picked some obscure place on the map and headed out to report back on what it was like, and to gain some appreciation for what "green spaces" Nottingham does have thrown around. I went to Colwick park east of the city, which ended up being a bit of a dissappointment, much like a wildlife reserve, and not much to see. It is situated around the huge horse racing tracks and the Greyhound course as well. I didn't spend much time here, but snapped a few pictures before I left around the lake that was there.
Since I haven't been doing a blog from the start, there are lots of things that haven't made it into the blog, but I felt it was necessary to slip this picture in, on one of our first nights out in Nottingham. The small group of us wanted to find Ye Olde Jerusalem, and spent a long time trying to find the "oldest pub in Nottingham". We eventually did after wandering around the borders of the castle. It is situated within the cliff that the castle is on top of, and when you walk inside, you need to duck your head around the rock ceilings and such as the rooms are carved right out of the walls. It was a good time, but we were all pretty knew to the whole pub scene. I like this picture.
From left: Aaron, Anna, Kevin, Myself, Hilary, and Ryan
"A real sound bunch a kids"
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I have now just recently reentered the world of Facebook once again. I was trying to avoid it, you know move on and stay focused on such a grand and new place, but I miss so many of my friends, and looking at all the happening of you folks at Luther made me miss you all the more, which is really the reason I wasn't going on anymore in the first place. It's a good hurt, and I have not forgotten all you good people who I care about deeply. Drop me a line on my wall, and I should respond. I love hearing and seeing all that is going on in your lives.
From my last post, I wrote on my excitement in baking, and how exciting it was to bake my first cake...well now here's the picture, so you can see my joy! 2 layered Frosted Carrot cake with Pecans. So Proud!
Yesterday, was a long day, with my two classes in the morning, in which one (Islam) has become my nap time. Then Rowing practice. I row on the stroke side, and have been moved to the bow four men (back four in boat of 8) and do more rowing than the stroke four. Our bow four seemed to just click and we managed to actually glide down the river pretty wicked fast. We were all in sync with each other, and managed to impress our coach! The stern four were shit, and a bit messy with one new guy. I hope they stick half of us in the same boat again.
After that I went and sat outside the church and did homework for an hour in the beautiful mildly sunny but cool whether, until choir practice in the church and our wednesday night evensong service. We ended up singing for a whole whopping two people! Still sang as beautiful as ever!
That evening, as seems to be the scenario every wednesday night, is a big night for socials (parties with different societies) both my volleyball and rowing had a social, and I chose to hang out with the rowers this night because they are so crazy. Their theme was to dress up in a Toga. I know it sounds lame, and it was, but I didn't dress up because I only wanted to socialize at the pub for a while and head home at 11 when everyone goes to the club. I need to start saving more than I spend. So like a few dorks, a couple of the other novices and I chatted with each other feeling excluded for not dressing up in sheets. It ended up being an awesome night, because Luke, Al and myself really got to know each other better. One is from Wales, the other an Englishman, but they are really cool guys. We hit it off pretty well, and hopefully they will become good buddies of mine as the year goes on. Luke's birthday is the day after mine, and we may just throw a joint house party, the first of the year. It needs to happen soon, and so I am working on getting everyone else in the flat motivated and enthused enough to do this. I was glad I went to "The Old Peacock" and really established some good social friends.
Everyone in the flat is getting along together pretty well more or less. Particularily in the last week or so, we have been really getting to know each other better. Had a few late night talks about life, and some deeper issues and such, and it really is bringing everyone a little closer together. I am thrilled with this group. Everyone is so different, but I love them all dearly for different reasons or goofy quirks. It's really going to be a good year with them I should hope.
Well, seeing that I have very few new pictures to share, here are a couple pictures around the city of Nottingham.
This one is a picture taken from in front of the castle.
What many of the city streets look like downtown in the city center. It really is a nice looking city, in it's good spots.
Today, I went to explore a park as it was our assignment. Everyone in the group picked some obscure place on the map and headed out to report back on what it was like, and to gain some appreciation for what "green spaces" Nottingham does have thrown around. I went to Colwick park east of the city, which ended up being a bit of a dissappointment, much like a wildlife reserve, and not much to see. It is situated around the huge horse racing tracks and the Greyhound course as well. I didn't spend much time here, but snapped a few pictures before I left around the lake that was there.
Since I haven't been doing a blog from the start, there are lots of things that haven't made it into the blog, but I felt it was necessary to slip this picture in, on one of our first nights out in Nottingham. The small group of us wanted to find Ye Olde Jerusalem, and spent a long time trying to find the "oldest pub in Nottingham". We eventually did after wandering around the borders of the castle. It is situated within the cliff that the castle is on top of, and when you walk inside, you need to duck your head around the rock ceilings and such as the rooms are carved right out of the walls. It was a good time, but we were all pretty knew to the whole pub scene. I like this picture.From left: Aaron, Anna, Kevin, Myself, Hilary, and Ryan
"A real sound bunch a kids"
lI have now just recently reentered the world of Facebook once again. I was trying to avoid it, you know move on and stay focused on such a grand and new place, but I miss so many of my friends, and looking at all the happening of you folks at Luther made me miss you all the more, which is really the reason I wasn't going on anymore in the first place. It's a good hurt, and I have not forgotten all you good people who I care about deeply. Drop me a line on my wall, and I should respond. I love hearing and seeing all that is going on in your lives.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
What a Week Can Bring
My new home Nottingham in the background.
This week has been a full trial week to see how the rest of the term will go. This is our first week where we have no trips to go on this weekend and no other minor interuptions, just a full week of school and societies and whatever else is thrown into my path.
Monday, got up at 8:30 to catch our bus and start class at 10. This is the Physical Landscapes of Britain course. We basically learn about the beginnings of earth, how all the different landforms were created, and how different current day earthly movements work and how all of this create the rocks, rivers and valleys of Great Britain. Should be interesting, but a straight 2 hour lecture from 10-12 will prove to be a bit much. The professor is fun and rather lively, but no lecture is that endurable. It will be a struggle.
Mondays are also my group's cooking day. This week we made an amazing meal, of a stuffed roast of mushrooms,peppers, and onions alongside mashed potatoes smothered in a red wine beef broth gravy with carrots, and to top it off, an amazing Carrot Cake. I was all over making the carrot cake and spent my afternoon doing so. It was a double layered frosted cake. Definitely a pinnacle moment in my cooking/baking career. I finish off mondays with a good amount of physical activity playing volleyball from 8-10:30. It is not too far from the flat on the jubilee campus, about a five minutes bike ride.
Tuesday is a pretty laid back day. I have no classes, except for our flat course with our directors from Luther. We have to prepare a paper based on an ethical issue found in the papers throughout the week and write about it. Mark and Carole make supper for us, as well as a guest lecturer every week. Each week we are reading out of two different books about different aspects of British life. THis week was the British Political System and we had an ex. history prof. from Billburgh university come dine and talk to us about it. Every week is a different person who is an expert in that area, and we get to learn more about British Culture from those who know best, and can supplement our reading.
Wednesdays are busy! Kevin and I get up early to get to class by 9. American literature, which is basically a very watered down version of what we are supposed to be in. Most of these people in the class are american studies majors which means that they are focused possibly in American history, and are taking this course as a supplement. We read three more or less short novels and that is basically it with lots of little readings in between. Not to big a deal. At 12 is class #2, Islamic Tradition, which has proven to be one of the most boring classes I have ever taken. It's something about the speech of the prof. with this strange choppiness, and a constant rise and fall in his language that knocks me out.
I have been rushing out of practice to make it to rowing, still an hour late. THe bus system is nice as far as environmentalists are concerned but when it takes me an hour to get anywhere, that is just a bit too much! If I had a bike it would take me maybe 15 minutes, especially since it's all downhill, but no. I find the first bus that takes me to city center, then walk 2 blocks to get on a second bus that takes me across the river to The Forest Stadium, (the top football( soccer) team for the city) and then have to walk about 3 blocks around and down into the stadium to get to the rowing shacks that are just off the river. Luckily, I made some good friends this week that are willing to pick me up on campus and get me there on time.
I have applied to the St. Mary's Church choir last week, and had set up an audition for choir on wednesday night. After missing my bus, I then ran 5 blocks to the tram and got there just a tad late. There were five people in a little room all waiting for me. VArious members of the choir, a clerk of the church and the director. THey greeted me very warmly, and gave me some time to catch my breath before I sang my piece. It was an italian one of which I'll spare you the name, which I would say went fairly well. Following that he had me do a little sight singing which is basically the toughest part of any audition. I didn't do that hot, but wasn't too shabby either...Especially because....the next morning I got an emai and........ I MADE IT IN! I was now going to be part of the best church choir in the city, and what's more, I failed to mention that I get PAID! Yes, they pretty much slip me 800 pounds into my pocket for singing through a music scholarship. So now I have found my "job", and get to earn it by doing what I love most. I am so honored and excited. Tonight, (friday) is our first practice at 8. Little nervous but no big deal really.
Thursdays are catch-up days for the most part,
Fridays, we have our second islamic Tradition Class, and I have Choir Rehearsal that evening.
THings are settling in, and I am slowly managing to fill the gaps of having a comfortable and laid back life. Anyone who knows me well knows I can't relax very easily, and always got to be moving. Well, things seem to be molding themselves into that.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Wales, How I missed Thee!
Wales was my favorite place that I visited when I came to the UK about 10 years ago with the Green Bay Boy Choir. Back then, we had toured for two weeks through England, Wales and Scotland, and I vividly remember how much I loved the landscape then. The northern landscape didn't let me down. You are awed by the immensity of such large landforms.
Another weekend of traveling, and I think everyone is getting used to living on a small bus. We basically get around through the use of a giant 16 person van, with a driver who is intent upon getting up to our destination as quick as possible. It isn't about our comfort and safety, but all about the road ahead for Roger, our driver. Lots of jerky stops and starts and being woken up by a sudden slamming on the brakes every so often keeps us on our toes. Surprisingly everyone manages to sleep through most of this, but I struggle a little more than most.
Day one: We drove straight across England to Chester. Chester is right on the border. It is impressive little town with tons of shopping. It maintains a lot of its old architecture and past while keeping up with the changing times. It has many of the leading brands stores, and highest fashion, and everything was very expensive. Amusingly, the stores were on two separate levels set in these old 18th century buildings.
We wandered the walls of the city, learning about it's history and close ties all the way back to the Romans, who constructed the wall.
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A little on the Go advertisement.
We then proceeded on to Conwy, which was absolutely stunning. On the drive there, we were met with three or four different rainbows, the last one touching down in Conwy valley. What a great sign for the arrival into such a beautiful town. This was the view outside my window when I woke up the next morning. That's how to start your day right!
We first learned a few things about Wales and it's people through our elderly tour guide, who was all the more effective in his unwavering affection for Wales. He told many anecdotes alluding to the pride and assumed superiority over the rest of Great Britain. He was a funny old man. He then led us to the Castle. Thus far it is the grandest castle that we have visited and was very impressive both in size and it's condition.
Both our first and second nights here were spent on the cities walls. They are in awesome shape towering anywhere between 15-30ft. high. In all the time we were there, the weather was clear with some clouds for the perfect visual effects. At night, the moon was full and looked beautiful over the town and castle, and reflected perfectly in the water. We spent many hours sitting at this vantage point talking, laughing and on our second night, many of us had a good Cuban Cigar. A rare occurrence but a nice treat. Notice the moon reflecting in the water. Absolutely gorgeous nights.
On the wall the first night, the Knights of Nottinham invading Conwy!
This is a view on the wall with the castle in the distance. It is the most complete set of town walls in all the UK, while Chester where we came from has the most extensive set of Roman town walls in all the UK. To big sites in one trip!
Again, some beautiful clouds in the sky. Cemetary at Llandudno.
THat same first day in Conwy, we took a short bus ride over to Llandudno, the place you see here in the distance. That huge mound on the left had some seriously massive winds that could easily shove you back. It was a fight to walk against it.
Mary and Emily, always excited for travel. They would probably kill me for putting up this picture. So Be it!
Our final day in Conwy consisted of hiking up onto Conwy mountain and having a picnic part way up with various Welsh Cheeses and ham sandwiches. Besides that, it was mostly a day to wander on the mountain and soak in the sites all around. Before we left, I slipped back into town and bought some books in a second-hand book store. There were some good classics I couldn't resist.
THat is the mountain we are hiking up to. Very overwhelming and much bigger than it looks here.
Aaron and I sitting on one of the higher peaks of these hills. What an amazing day! I couldn't hope for any more breathtaking sites than these.
Another weekend of traveling, and I think everyone is getting used to living on a small bus. We basically get around through the use of a giant 16 person van, with a driver who is intent upon getting up to our destination as quick as possible. It isn't about our comfort and safety, but all about the road ahead for Roger, our driver. Lots of jerky stops and starts and being woken up by a sudden slamming on the brakes every so often keeps us on our toes. Surprisingly everyone manages to sleep through most of this, but I struggle a little more than most.
Day one: We drove straight across England to Chester. Chester is right on the border. It is impressive little town with tons of shopping. It maintains a lot of its old architecture and past while keeping up with the changing times. It has many of the leading brands stores, and highest fashion, and everything was very expensive. Amusingly, the stores were on two separate levels set in these old 18th century buildings.
We wandered the walls of the city, learning about it's history and close ties all the way back to the Romans, who constructed the wall.
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A little on the Go advertisement.
We then proceeded on to Conwy, which was absolutely stunning. On the drive there, we were met with three or four different rainbows, the last one touching down in Conwy valley. What a great sign for the arrival into such a beautiful town. This was the view outside my window when I woke up the next morning. That's how to start your day right!
We first learned a few things about Wales and it's people through our elderly tour guide, who was all the more effective in his unwavering affection for Wales. He told many anecdotes alluding to the pride and assumed superiority over the rest of Great Britain. He was a funny old man. He then led us to the Castle. Thus far it is the grandest castle that we have visited and was very impressive both in size and it's condition.
Both our first and second nights here were spent on the cities walls. They are in awesome shape towering anywhere between 15-30ft. high. In all the time we were there, the weather was clear with some clouds for the perfect visual effects. At night, the moon was full and looked beautiful over the town and castle, and reflected perfectly in the water. We spent many hours sitting at this vantage point talking, laughing and on our second night, many of us had a good Cuban Cigar. A rare occurrence but a nice treat. Notice the moon reflecting in the water. Absolutely gorgeous nights.
On the wall the first night, the Knights of Nottinham invading Conwy!
This is a view on the wall with the castle in the distance. It is the most complete set of town walls in all the UK, while Chester where we came from has the most extensive set of Roman town walls in all the UK. To big sites in one trip!
Again, some beautiful clouds in the sky. Cemetary at Llandudno.
THat same first day in Conwy, we took a short bus ride over to Llandudno, the place you see here in the distance. That huge mound on the left had some seriously massive winds that could easily shove you back. It was a fight to walk against it.
Mary and Emily, always excited for travel. They would probably kill me for putting up this picture. So Be it!
Our final day in Conwy consisted of hiking up onto Conwy mountain and having a picnic part way up with various Welsh Cheeses and ham sandwiches. Besides that, it was mostly a day to wander on the mountain and soak in the sites all around. Before we left, I slipped back into town and bought some books in a second-hand book store. There were some good classics I couldn't resist.
THat is the mountain we are hiking up to. Very overwhelming and much bigger than it looks here.
Aaron and I sitting on one of the higher peaks of these hills. What an amazing day! I couldn't hope for any more breathtaking sites than these.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Back to school. Back to school. Livin' it Up!
My first day of school finally came and went, and I would have to say rather boringly as far as classes go. Kevin and I got up at 7:30 to catch the bus at 8:05, which wasn't the best idea. We took our time showering and then realized it was almost 8 already, and threw a crumpet (they are alright, kind of like an english muffin but doughier and chewier) in the toaster ran out the door, but not without taking the time to take our "first day of school" picture.
Running for about three blocks we got there on top, but as usual the bus was late anyway. Better safe than sorry. We started our day with American Lit. I at 9, and realized that this course was going to be a breeze. We both need it for our English major at Luther, but this course was so stripped down because it was for people outside of the English Dept. We will read Frederick Douglass Slave memoirs, Some short stories by Herman Melville, and Huck Finn. Not much new there, but hey its still important stuff. Not only is it easier than we thought, it meets only for one hour every week. The thurs. seminar we thought we had to go to wasn't for this class, so life just got a ton easier in that hour.
After bumming around in the book shop for a couple hours drooling over some new realeases, (yeah we are literature dorks) and eating our packed lunches (everyday) we had The Islamic Tradition. The prof. just stands at a podium and lectures to maybe 100 students, and we sit and make scratches on paper trying to absorb the information he is spewing at us. It should be interesting to get to study the Quran. Next to christianity, the Muslim religion is the second largest in the world, and it would be really important to understand what it is so many people believe so strongly in.
Compared to the U.S., students here pay very little to go to a University in England. It used to be free up until a few years ago, but now Nottingham pay around 3,000 pounds. Not too bad, but everyone here seems to feel that this is absolutely outrageous and complain all the time over it. It is kind of a big deal. For example:
Yes, they have a whole bulletin board devoted to this cause. Ungrateful!
Earlier this week, on monday night volleyball practice was held from 8-10:30 at night. It was amazing. This is everything I've been looking for in volleyball. Everyone there is serious about playing and there are some seriously hard core guys on the court. Particularily this German, he isn't huge or extremely tall, but he dominates wherever he is and is better than all the senior players on the team. I thought I would give the advanced team a shot though I was a bit nervous not having any formal training ever, but I fit right in. Luckily there was some two or three other guys that were new and sucked more than I did. I actually played very well and made a few friends along the way.
Rowing has been going swimmingly. All of the novice men have gotten put into crews of 8. I have been placed as the stroke man. That would be the one in front as we face, but back as far as motion goes. I kind of help to stabalize and when rowing am the front man that sets the pace for our strokes. Everyone works off me. We all obey the cox which is one of the tiniest girls they could find who guides us, steers and orders which people to row so we can navigate more smoothly. It's up to her to keep us from crashing, but she new very little on Wednesday so everyone was kind of a mess and we rowed in zigzags up and downt the Trent River. All the guys I have met so far are awesome and I keep learning new names everyday.
Wednesday night was the rowing teams social for both men and women. We got shirts and went on a bar crawl to different pubs, bars and clubs. About 5 in all. I met just about all the guys on the team, and a number of ladies too. There is possibilities there but not likely. Meeting the ladies is ever important. Part of the festivities of the night is by the time we left the second bar, the men had to socialize and find the girl with the name we were given and tie ourselves to her for the night. By the third pairs should be linked and so on. It was a great time and I met so many people, it has just doubled how excited I am to be here. And have a good twenty buddies to rely on. They are all really good men. I talked to the set of four German guys. I met two third years who were Welsch, and another was from Holland. Everyone is great. I couldn't have had a better first part of the week!
We are basically starving over here. Each supper a different group of us is assigned to make the meal. With meals of an entire array of chinese foods, to shephards pie with apple dessert, to tacos and fajitas with fried ice cream and a few other things, it has been a struggle to stay alive. We even decorate and put time into our food just because it's all we have. J/k
This is Anna with her salad creation.
The baker is at it, but I must sadly admit it is not me. Kevin has been working hard making all kinds of breads and things with his grandma's recipe. He has added raisons, as well as an apple jelly and chunks for filling. ONe of these is a cinnamon swirl bread. I only was there to lend my meager knowledge to the situation. I guess we eat alright!
And here he is on another occasion holding his gorgeous apple dessert that we devoured around 11:30 that night.
Running for about three blocks we got there on top, but as usual the bus was late anyway. Better safe than sorry. We started our day with American Lit. I at 9, and realized that this course was going to be a breeze. We both need it for our English major at Luther, but this course was so stripped down because it was for people outside of the English Dept. We will read Frederick Douglass Slave memoirs, Some short stories by Herman Melville, and Huck Finn. Not much new there, but hey its still important stuff. Not only is it easier than we thought, it meets only for one hour every week. The thurs. seminar we thought we had to go to wasn't for this class, so life just got a ton easier in that hour.
After bumming around in the book shop for a couple hours drooling over some new realeases, (yeah we are literature dorks) and eating our packed lunches (everyday) we had The Islamic Tradition. The prof. just stands at a podium and lectures to maybe 100 students, and we sit and make scratches on paper trying to absorb the information he is spewing at us. It should be interesting to get to study the Quran. Next to christianity, the Muslim religion is the second largest in the world, and it would be really important to understand what it is so many people believe so strongly in.
Compared to the U.S., students here pay very little to go to a University in England. It used to be free up until a few years ago, but now Nottingham pay around 3,000 pounds. Not too bad, but everyone here seems to feel that this is absolutely outrageous and complain all the time over it. It is kind of a big deal. For example:
Yes, they have a whole bulletin board devoted to this cause. Ungrateful!
Earlier this week, on monday night volleyball practice was held from 8-10:30 at night. It was amazing. This is everything I've been looking for in volleyball. Everyone there is serious about playing and there are some seriously hard core guys on the court. Particularily this German, he isn't huge or extremely tall, but he dominates wherever he is and is better than all the senior players on the team. I thought I would give the advanced team a shot though I was a bit nervous not having any formal training ever, but I fit right in. Luckily there was some two or three other guys that were new and sucked more than I did. I actually played very well and made a few friends along the way.
Rowing has been going swimmingly. All of the novice men have gotten put into crews of 8. I have been placed as the stroke man. That would be the one in front as we face, but back as far as motion goes. I kind of help to stabalize and when rowing am the front man that sets the pace for our strokes. Everyone works off me. We all obey the cox which is one of the tiniest girls they could find who guides us, steers and orders which people to row so we can navigate more smoothly. It's up to her to keep us from crashing, but she new very little on Wednesday so everyone was kind of a mess and we rowed in zigzags up and downt the Trent River. All the guys I have met so far are awesome and I keep learning new names everyday.
Wednesday night was the rowing teams social for both men and women. We got shirts and went on a bar crawl to different pubs, bars and clubs. About 5 in all. I met just about all the guys on the team, and a number of ladies too. There is possibilities there but not likely. Meeting the ladies is ever important. Part of the festivities of the night is by the time we left the second bar, the men had to socialize and find the girl with the name we were given and tie ourselves to her for the night. By the third pairs should be linked and so on. It was a great time and I met so many people, it has just doubled how excited I am to be here. And have a good twenty buddies to rely on. They are all really good men. I talked to the set of four German guys. I met two third years who were Welsch, and another was from Holland. Everyone is great. I couldn't have had a better first part of the week!
We are basically starving over here. Each supper a different group of us is assigned to make the meal. With meals of an entire array of chinese foods, to shephards pie with apple dessert, to tacos and fajitas with fried ice cream and a few other things, it has been a struggle to stay alive. We even decorate and put time into our food just because it's all we have. J/k
This is Anna with her salad creation.
The baker is at it, but I must sadly admit it is not me. Kevin has been working hard making all kinds of breads and things with his grandma's recipe. He has added raisons, as well as an apple jelly and chunks for filling. ONe of these is a cinnamon swirl bread. I only was there to lend my meager knowledge to the situation. I guess we eat alright!
And here he is on another occasion holding his gorgeous apple dessert that we devoured around 11:30 that night.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Walking in Lonely Villages, and Rowing my Arms off
Let me just send a little shout out to mom. I love you tons even though talking on skype is tough and doesn't happen much, and not to mention that I never email home, I am learning. I started this blog with some major nudges from mom because I am a bad son. There I said it, and I am aware of it and confess it. This way she and the whole world can share in my experiences more fully, and I'm glad I started this.
Just a few things I wanted to mention about last week. I have not started school yet and will not until this wednesday. Crazy I know seeing that many high schoolers are quickly approaching mid-term. We spent this last week, All five days going back to campus every morning to register. We spent hours in various lines of various sizes oftentimes finding out we should never have been there in the first place. Registration in Britain is in the old fashioned form of pen to paper, and you have to go to each individual school to get a signature to be allowed into every class by a professor in that department. Some departments were more organized (American Studies) than others (Religion and History). All of us in the flat have had some pretty frustrating and exhausting days reworking schedules and learning things we hadn't known beforehand. It is really a terrible system that is used. One would think that they would at least have it down to a very decent system over the years, but sadly no.
Despite all this, I love campus in general. For a huge school of 30,000 students, it is very clean and scenic with lots of landscaping all around. I sometimes feel as though I am getting all the benefits of a big school in a big city with plenty to see and do and lots of people to meet, while getting the beauty of Luther all wrapped up.
We also attended fresher's fayre which was insane! Thousands and Thousands of students pack into giant tents to get in the know, and sign up for hundreds of different clubs and societies over a three day period. Think state fair business expo buildings packed with people such that you can hardly move at times. I signed up ( and paid for) The New theater, which is the student run theater program on campus. THey have about 7 shows a semester! Next week tryouts begin. I jumped on the chance to be part of a men's volleyball team which meets every monday night for the "advanced" players of which I humbly believe I am. Real Ale sounded kinda interesting to Kevin and myself, which involves touring breweries, getting into the pub scene a bit more and meeting some new folks. It could be good, or it could be lame.
Lastly, but first on my list is the Rowing Team. For months before I left, I swore that I would do all I could to give this a shot. It has always sounded interesting and was something I may never get to try again. On Thursday night they had a swim test for all students involved in water sports. A made some of my first foreign friends while waiting for it to begin. The swim test consisted of them throwing us all in the water at various times, we swim three laps, tread water for a few minutes and swim back. Not too bad, that sounds doable and it was, but most of us felt like dying after just that little bit. Hats off to all you hardcore swimmers out there. That is one of the toughest sports ever. Anyway, I passed just to be clear.
Today, to follow up on the rowing, we had our first training sessions for the Novice rowers. I decided to be adventuresome and bike clear across the city instead of taking the bus, which took just over half an hour. I am pretty proud of myself for doing it and not getting lost, though I got rained on on the way back. I should have expected that with there always being some rainfall, mild or severe almost daily. It was a great time. We didn't get on the water, but they split us into two groups. I kept the time for the first and we went running for half an hour along the river Trent. Then after we got back we switched and went in and learned some rowing techniques on the ERGOS, which are rowing machines. It is definetely tough work and there are some very technical aspects to being a good rower. This was all very exciting and I got to know a few more guys and feel really comfortable and a part of the team already. I got a few of their mobile numbers...I got connections now other than just the people around the flat.
Now I am going to backtrack to yesterday. Yesterday, we were assigned different villages outside the city to explore either in pairs or alone. I went at it alone, and left at nine in the morning to catch a bus to Calverton, about a half hour ride. I spent the first two hours walking around and admiring the countrysides surrounding the village, and then checking out the inner part as well, which had little to nothing in it. The whole purpose of all this was for us to expolore the culture, ideals and thoughts of these villages and the people that live in them. We were supposed to be receptive to everything we see, talk to people and learn all we could to become mini experts in each and then come back that evening and share with the group. I had a really good day, and talked with an elderly man about a new development being put in and how upset he was over it. He showed me where some of the original buildings stood. Interestingly, they had to leave one standing because they discovered a rare breed of bats inhabiting the rafters, and they haven't been able to relocate it yet. It was sad to see this development in a place that was content with what it was and had no reason to grow since everyone was either retired or commuted to the city. Farmland is always being lost no matter where you are. I thought I could escape that being away from the U.S., but now I know it is inevitable.
Finally, I see a little hard-core patriotism. One does get used to seeing Green and Gold slathered all over Green Bay.
This is where I had lunch. I couldn't resist the cumberland sausage in mash and peas and carrots with a side of breaded garlic mushrooms and a pot 'o tea all for 4.90 here at "The Gleaners". The name reminded me of that Hunk of junk combine we had at home for a few years.
These are the type of people you see everywhere in town, and they even have signs warning of their presence. I know if I ever met one of these fearful people at night in a darkened alley I would probably give them a big hug.
Just a few things I wanted to mention about last week. I have not started school yet and will not until this wednesday. Crazy I know seeing that many high schoolers are quickly approaching mid-term. We spent this last week, All five days going back to campus every morning to register. We spent hours in various lines of various sizes oftentimes finding out we should never have been there in the first place. Registration in Britain is in the old fashioned form of pen to paper, and you have to go to each individual school to get a signature to be allowed into every class by a professor in that department. Some departments were more organized (American Studies) than others (Religion and History). All of us in the flat have had some pretty frustrating and exhausting days reworking schedules and learning things we hadn't known beforehand. It is really a terrible system that is used. One would think that they would at least have it down to a very decent system over the years, but sadly no.
Despite all this, I love campus in general. For a huge school of 30,000 students, it is very clean and scenic with lots of landscaping all around. I sometimes feel as though I am getting all the benefits of a big school in a big city with plenty to see and do and lots of people to meet, while getting the beauty of Luther all wrapped up.
We also attended fresher's fayre which was insane! Thousands and Thousands of students pack into giant tents to get in the know, and sign up for hundreds of different clubs and societies over a three day period. Think state fair business expo buildings packed with people such that you can hardly move at times. I signed up ( and paid for) The New theater, which is the student run theater program on campus. THey have about 7 shows a semester! Next week tryouts begin. I jumped on the chance to be part of a men's volleyball team which meets every monday night for the "advanced" players of which I humbly believe I am. Real Ale sounded kinda interesting to Kevin and myself, which involves touring breweries, getting into the pub scene a bit more and meeting some new folks. It could be good, or it could be lame.
Lastly, but first on my list is the Rowing Team. For months before I left, I swore that I would do all I could to give this a shot. It has always sounded interesting and was something I may never get to try again. On Thursday night they had a swim test for all students involved in water sports. A made some of my first foreign friends while waiting for it to begin. The swim test consisted of them throwing us all in the water at various times, we swim three laps, tread water for a few minutes and swim back. Not too bad, that sounds doable and it was, but most of us felt like dying after just that little bit. Hats off to all you hardcore swimmers out there. That is one of the toughest sports ever. Anyway, I passed just to be clear.
Today, to follow up on the rowing, we had our first training sessions for the Novice rowers. I decided to be adventuresome and bike clear across the city instead of taking the bus, which took just over half an hour. I am pretty proud of myself for doing it and not getting lost, though I got rained on on the way back. I should have expected that with there always being some rainfall, mild or severe almost daily. It was a great time. We didn't get on the water, but they split us into two groups. I kept the time for the first and we went running for half an hour along the river Trent. Then after we got back we switched and went in and learned some rowing techniques on the ERGOS, which are rowing machines. It is definetely tough work and there are some very technical aspects to being a good rower. This was all very exciting and I got to know a few more guys and feel really comfortable and a part of the team already. I got a few of their mobile numbers...I got connections now other than just the people around the flat.
Now I am going to backtrack to yesterday. Yesterday, we were assigned different villages outside the city to explore either in pairs or alone. I went at it alone, and left at nine in the morning to catch a bus to Calverton, about a half hour ride. I spent the first two hours walking around and admiring the countrysides surrounding the village, and then checking out the inner part as well, which had little to nothing in it. The whole purpose of all this was for us to expolore the culture, ideals and thoughts of these villages and the people that live in them. We were supposed to be receptive to everything we see, talk to people and learn all we could to become mini experts in each and then come back that evening and share with the group. I had a really good day, and talked with an elderly man about a new development being put in and how upset he was over it. He showed me where some of the original buildings stood. Interestingly, they had to leave one standing because they discovered a rare breed of bats inhabiting the rafters, and they haven't been able to relocate it yet. It was sad to see this development in a place that was content with what it was and had no reason to grow since everyone was either retired or commuted to the city. Farmland is always being lost no matter where you are. I thought I could escape that being away from the U.S., but now I know it is inevitable.
Finally, I see a little hard-core patriotism. One does get used to seeing Green and Gold slathered all over Green Bay.
This is where I had lunch. I couldn't resist the cumberland sausage in mash and peas and carrots with a side of breaded garlic mushrooms and a pot 'o tea all for 4.90 here at "The Gleaners". The name reminded me of that Hunk of junk combine we had at home for a few years.
These are the type of people you see everywhere in town, and they even have signs warning of their presence. I know if I ever met one of these fearful people at night in a darkened alley I would probably give them a big hug.
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