Friends, Bloggers, Facebook Stalkers, Lend Me Your Ears… (Adventures in Stratford)

This past weekend, Brian, Andrew, Courtney, John, Chris, and I left for Stratford-Upon-Avon (Billy-land) to go see two of Shakespeare’s works, King John, and Julius Caesar. King John was being performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), while Julius Caesar was put on by an all black troupe from different parts of England.

On Friday, I had my last official day with the Giants. All of the students got to meet with David Pickering, the coordinator (or technically the CEO) of the Giants. He gave us a history of why he started the company, a debriefing of how the Jubilee went overall, along with giving us certificates signed by the mayor of Chester, thanking us for our work with the festival. After saying my goodbyes with the staff, I hurried back home so I could pack my stuff and catch the afternoon train to Stratford with Andrew. The trip overall took 2 hours.

Now, back in high school, I was never really a big fan of Shakespeare. Every year, we ended up reading some of his plays in class, and I always, without fail, found myself getting easily bored, and would ultimately go find the sparknotes for the play. (A win/win if you ask me. I could finally I understand what I was reading, and I did well on the quizzes.) So, when we first booked our tickets for the trip, I wasn’t exactly thrilled, but I figured I would be missing out on the “British Experience” if I didn’t see at least one of old Billiam’s plays. I definitely feel as if I made the right choice.

When we finally got there, Andrew and I met up with Brian, John, and Cortney, and then made our way to the RSC Theatre for King John. The RSC is divided into two large stages, the main stage, and the Swan Theatre. Seeing that King John wasn’t a large performance, it was held in the Swan Theatre. The theatre was really nice over all. It had 3 stories of wooden seating, along with a stage that extended itself into the audience (a lot like the one at Hendrix). Not too long after we found our seats, the show started.

I never read anything about King John before, but that didn’t make too much of a difference. The show was absolutely brilliant. For this production, they decided to place King John in a modern day setting, which, surprisingly, worked. It had all of the stereotypical Shakespeare plotlines going for it (royalty, death, misunderstanding, people losing their sanity, etc) but seeing the Royal Shakespeare Company do it, was simply incredible.

You can tell that the actors who work in the RSC are truly passionate about Shakespeare, and acting in general. They usually put on 3 plays per season, and each season usually has a theme. A few weeks ago, they ended their “Lost At Sea” theme, which was when they performed Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and A Comedy of Errors. The RSC is also so popular, that they have had many famous actors perform with them (Patrick Stewart as Macbeth, and, for all of the Dr. Who fans out there, David Tennet as Hamlet, along with many more stars).

The next day, we met up with Chris, and then went to see Shakespeare’s gravesite inside Holy Trinity Cathedral. While inside, we got a brief history lesson from one of the workers about Shakespeare’s, and his wife Anne’s lives. Since we had time to kill, we walked around the city, and through a park that had statues of Shakespeare, and some of his famous characters. From there, we headed back to the RSC for the viewing of Julius Caesar.

This performance of Caesar was put on by an all black troupe from England. They decided to put the play in a modern day African setting, which, like King John, gave a really interesting new spin to the play. Seeing that this was one of the bigger productions for the RSC, it was held in the main theatre. When we walked in, the actors were dancing around the stage, while the live African/Caribbean band appropriately called “The Vibes Of March” played in the background. About 3 songs in, everyone scattered from the stage, and the show started.

After the amazing performance, we did some souvenir shopping, while getting to listen to the Vibes of March play in the café just outside the theatre. While listening to the band, I started to read the program for the show, and found out that several of the actors are, or have been actors in various films. I later found out that 2 of them are going to be in the upcoming movie World War Z (based off of the zombie book that I’ve been reading all semester). Also, while listening to the band, one of the actors from the show came out to talk to the public. I got him to sign my program along with getting to talk to him for a bit. Apparently, he was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, but has been living in England for the past 30 years.

Shortly after, we left the RSC to catch our train back home. Along the way, we stopped by Shakespeare’s house, which was, as Brian and Chris put it, very Disney-fied. Even though it looked like a very fake version of the original, it was still worth seeing. After spending some time around the house, we then left for our train back home.

And Now for the Main Event…Queen’s Jubilee!

After 5 crazy weeks with at internship, it was finally time for the main event, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Festival. The whole staff met at the headquarters to have a quick meeting about finalizing plans for the day, including the different docking stations, the various performing sites, and the scheduled route times.

After the meeting, we made our way to the city center to start piecing together the 70 giants for the parade. One thing that caught me off guard was not only the idea that there were 60 gigantic statues of the Queen parading through the city, but the fact that there were so many different community groups that were represented in the festival. They had everything from Rugby Club groups, Boy Scout and Girl Guide groups, various schools, and many, many more. Since there were so many groups, that also meant that there were many Giants that I’d never seen before. One of the great things about working for this company has been seeing the amount of creativity that these different groups have. They had everything from a pop-art bust of the Queen, to a green alien version of the queen (I think she was supposed to represent spring, but the alien nickname was more appealing).

Another great thing about the day was that I got to see my parents after 6 months. They decided that they would come and visit Chester for the weekend, along with visiting some of our family that is spread throughout England. This is the first time they’ve been to England in 20 years, so it’s been interesting, and pretty funny to see their reactions to how much England has changed since then.

To open off the festival, there was a local percussion group called Karamba Samba that would lead the Giants through the streets. There was an audience of nearly 60,000 people that would clear a path as the Giants walked by. I would have never imagined seeing that many people in Chester in my life. I wasn’t told this until after the festival, but apparently the crowd was so huge, that the Chester police sent a helicopter to fly over the event because they thought that a riot was breaking out in the city (you would think that they would have gotten the heads up about the event ahead of time, but oh well). I was also told that aside from the Queen’s Jubilee Festival in London, Chester held the second largest festival for the Queen in all of England (yeah, it was kind of a big deal).

After we made our first lap around the City Center, all 70 of the giants and the crowd met at the Town Hall to hear a speech that was being given by the Lord Mayor. While that was going on, Zoë and I were given the chance to be interviewed by the local radio station Chester Dee 106.3. We got to talk about our experience with the Giants, and give a brief history about the company. Along with that, we also had some small talk about how great the weather was for the event. Looking back on it, we really did luck out weather wise. The day before the event was a complete washout, but thankfully the day of was completely “normal British weather” free, but sure enough, the next day was another downpour. After the Mayor’s speech, we did another lap around the city center, and then docked them in the town hall.

During our break, me and a few of the others decided to see all of the things that were going on around the city. Many local bands were performing, along with many street performers that are usually in the city. Many of the local businesses and pubs were cashing in on the festival by having discounts on clothes, pints, and food as well.

Near the end of the afternoon, we took the Giants on 2 more laps around the city center, and then called it a day. It was without a doubt one of the longest days I’ve had at work in a while, but it was definitely worth it.  Afterwards, we got to join our supervisors at the Marbourgh Pub for a pint, while getting to watch the live stream of the Jubilee in London.

2012 has definitely been a solid time to study abroad in England. It’s needless to say that having the Olympics, the Diamond Jubilee, and (despite it probably not the happiest thing to celebrate) the 100^th anniversary of the Titanic all in one year, has absolutely made this a very memorable year for England.

Chariots of Fire

*Another late post, still working on catching up!

    So, today was the day the Olympic Torch made it's way through Chester while on its journey to London for the big 2012 event. For the past couple weeks, that was all people were talking about, aside from the Jubilee. They had banners strung out through the city center, along with posters giving some of the details about the Torch Day. Along with the many businesses preparing for the wave of tourists, Kristine, one of my bosses at the Giants, was getting ready to send us out with several of the giants to the city center, just to do more promotional work. While getting ready to hit the streets, my friend Zoë mentioned that her and several of her housemates were going to go to the Torch Relay Festival that they were having at the Chester Racecourse, where there would be a live band, and where, ultimately, the torch would be lit. Jokingly, I recommended that if they have any spare tickets, they could through them my way, and surprisingly enough, they did!

     That afternoon, I met up with Zoe and the others, and we made our way down to the festival. Zoe, along the way, mentioned that the live band was going to be the band Kids in Glass Houses, a Welsh band that sound a tad bit like Fall Out Boy. I had never heard of them, but a live band at any festival is usually a good combination. We made our way into the racecourse, and was instantly able to see the large flock of people walking around. The racecourse is at the bottom of a hill, so there were a many  people sitting on the sides of the hill looking down on the festival. There is also a hotel that overlooks the grounds as well, so there were even people waiting by their windows to watch the whole thing start. In the Racecourse, there was a huge stage that was surrounded by mini booths (Coke-a-cola, Nature Valley, Samsung) that were giving away free stuff during the whole event. This is where we were able to get our dinner (several Nature Valley bars)  and bottles of free Coke. Everything at the festival was limited edition, "Olympic approved"stuff, so I, being an obnoxious tourist, made sure to grab ALL of the things (including a Coke Music Beater/Frisbee, fancy Olympic Coke bottle, and olympic bank lanyard). Along with these great souvenirs, I was also able to get my picture taken with one of the official olympic torches that has been used during the Running of the Torch event. While people were stuffing their faces with free granola, there was also an option of watching the number of acrobatic acts, community choirs, and the main band Kids in Glass Houses (and looking back on it, they were actually pretty good). After the concert, the Lord Mayor of Chester gave an inspirational speech about how the Olympics are important to all of England. The last time the Olympics were held in London was back in 1948, which happened to be the first Olympics held after WWII.

    After her speech, horns could be heard thundering through the stadium. While that was going on, I could feel the atmosphere change around me. Everyone became fully alert, trying to find where the torch was coming from. People quickly began to raise their phones, cameras, and small children just so they could get a view of this memorable event. Then, there it was. One of the jockeys from the Chester Races came in on his horse with the torch. He then walked up to the large torch statue that was in front of the stage, and then proceeded to light it. As the flames shot up, the crowd erupted. It was so crazy to see. It was almost hard for me to believe that I saw the event happen.

    After the torch was lit, there had a ceremonial capturing of the flame. To catch the flame, a few of the Olympic officials brought a special jar that was able to capture the flame. If the fire somehow manages to go out during the night, they have the special jar that still contains the Greek flame. After they captured the flame, the event was practically done. There was still a large audience that hung around the course, but for the most part, everything was done. However, later that night, they had a firework show that could be heard through all of Chester.

   Sadly, I'll be leaving before the olympics start up, but I'm glad that I was able to still get a glimpse of it. The stadium is apparently still being built, so hopefully by the time I get down to London in a few weeks, I'll be able to see it fully completed. I still can't get over how busy of a summer England is going to have this year between the Olympics and the Jubilee. This is by far, the best example of being in the right place at the right time.

The Queen & I

*These next couple of blogs are a little late since these past couple of weeks have been crazy, but enjoy!  


  Last week, Queen Elizabeth II came to visit the Chester Zoo to open the the new Jubilee Gates that were built for her Diamond Jubilee. The entire Giants team and I met around 7:30 that hazy morning to put up 4 different variations of the Queen that were built by some of the local schools and community groups. To no surprise, by the time we got there there was already a pretty large crowd gathering together in hopes that they would see her highness open the gates.

        After we put the Giants together, we moved them to the massive roundabout that is in front of the zoo where we awaited Lizzy's arrival. Sadly, we found out that we wouldn't be able to see the Queen open the gates, but we would see her when she drove in, and out of the zoo, which is better than nothing I suppose. For the following 2 hours, there were several packed cars and school buses that were entering in waves into the zoo. Then, around 10 or so, we saw what was the beginning of a massive motorcade turn into the zoo's entrance. Several motorcycles later, we saw her, Queen Elizabeth II, alongside her husband Prince Phillip, drive by us with a smile and a wave. While at the zoo, she opened the gates, gave a speech, and then about an hour later, left to go to Warrington to open the Jubilee Park that they built for her.

       A few days later, one of my bosses, Kristine, was invited to Buckingham palace to meet her face to face, and when Kristine got back she mentioned that when she was talking to the Queen, Elizabeth asked her about the history of the giants, how they moved, and a bunch of in depth questions about the company which is kind of cool to think about.

      It was overall an incredible experience. I would have never guessed that during a normal study abroad trip, I would be able to do something like that. That would be like someone coming over to the states and seeing the president. Anyway, this was one Queen event down...now all I have to do is get done with the Jubilee event in a few weeks. Despite there being such a big divide between those who like and dislike the Queen, it has been crazy to see how many stores and people have been decorating for the event. Even the streets of Chester have been decorated in red, white, and blue flags and posters. I'm sure that the whole jubilee event will be bringing in a huge crowd.

Working the 9 to 5...

I've finally started my internship with Chester: The Giant City last week. We had our first day on the job last Tuesday, and for the most part it was pretty productive. These past couple of months, I've been volunteering with the Giants, and it has been mostly just me doing temp work around the office until now. Now that the internship has officially started, there are more students (25 to be exact) that are all helping around the HQ. On Tuesday, all of the students were broken up into small groups, and me, along with 3 others were placed in the PR/Journalism group. For the rest of the semester, the rest of the team and I will be interviewing people, taking pictures, doing promotional work for the the company, and contacting other community groups around Chester, all in order to prepare for our main event, the Queen's Jubilee on June 4th. For these past couple of weeks, we've had several groups come in the HQ including a group home for the mentally disabled, a group for teens who have been kicked out from their homes, and are essentially homeless, and even different school groups have come in to help build and paint some of the giants for the festival. As Kristine, my boss, put it, "it is a way for these groups of people to have a creative outlet, and have interaction with the rest of the Chester community that they wouldn't have otherwise." Also during these 5 weeks of my internship, I will be putting together a documentary about the company and it's volunteer work that will be uploaded onto either their main website or YouTube. It will definitely be a trail-by-fire experience though, considering that this will be the first documentary I will have ever created. Either way, I'm still pretty excited seeing that this is a perfect way to develop my lacking filmmaking skills.

All told, these past couple days of work have definitely been interesting. The usual schedule is that we all get to the HQ around 9:30, and then try to plan out what we want to accomplish for that day or week. So far, we've mostly done promotional work around the City Center, like handing out fliers to local businesses, and parading a giant of Queen Elizabeth around town. From this past week alone, I've come to realize how hard it is to be one of those people who passes out fliers on the street, or to be one of those door-to-door sales people. Not only is it fairly awkward to go into random businesses, and ask them for stuff, but it just gets annoying having to repeat the same shtick to about 20 different businesses a day. However, despite all of the awkwardness, we seemed to have a positive amount of interest. Even on the days when we paraded the giant through the city, there was usually a large group of people who would come take pictures, or ask us about the event.

The end of last week in particular was pretty great. We took one of the Queen giants out on the opening of Racing Day, one of Chester's biggest events. The first three days of the event are themed, and everyone and their mothers come to the races, dressed in their nicest suit or dress attire. The opening racing days are also the only days where you will see mass amounts of elderly folk drunk at 1 in the afternoon (No joke, as I was coming back from lunch, I ran into a group of elderly women who could barely walk on the cobblestone streets as they attempted to walk down to the races, it was pretty hilarious). Overall, the event went very well. We had a lot of people stop by to ask questions, and take plenty of photos.

Tomorrow is going to be one of our biggest promo days yet. The real Queen (yes, you read that correctly, Queen Elizabeth II) is going to be coming to Chester Zoo to open the Jubilee gates to a new section of the Zoo. Our company was invited by the Queen, and her Chief Clerk to bring 5 of our Giants to the zoo, and to be there for the grand opening. I can't even begin to describe how psyched I am for it. The event and the experience are going to be incredible, but I am not excited for having to wake up at 6 AM to be at the zoo for 7:00. It's currently 10:55, and I'm pretty sure this is the earliest I've gone to bed in the past several months.

One thing that I've noticed while over here is the huge divide between the people who adore the Queen, and those who think that she isn't that important. A lot of the British students I've talked to have had  pretty strong feelings  on both sides. A few are completely enthralled by the Royal Family, while the others think that the Queen is just some old lady who is simply there for decoration, and doesn't hold any authority in this day and age. It has also been pretty funny to see these two groups argue over the subject.

Anyway, it's off to bed for me. I'll be sure to keep you all posted about the event! I can't believe that it's only 3 more weeks until the main event. So much to do, and so little time. It will be interesting to see how these next couple of weeks turn out.

The Times Are a Changin...

61 days, 18 hours, 31minutes, and 22 seconds. Or, to put it another way, 9 more Saturdays until I'm on a flight back to the states. The weird thing is, I don't know how I feel about that...

Don't get me wrong. I have definitely had my moments of missing everyone back home, and having some homesickness every now and then, but at the same time, I've really come to love it here. It has been crazy to see how fast time has flown by while over here. It feels like it was just yesterday that my parents and I were looking at the cyber tour for Chester, and trying to get my things packed for my "long" 6 month journey abroad. Between meeting some amazing people, seeing places that I never thought I would see, and making memories that I will remember for the rest of my life, it has been easy for me to get used to life here, both academically and socially. I will really miss this place. I have no doubt in my mind that reverse culture shock is going to hit me hard once I'm back home. Like I said in my last post, next year is going to be strange. I have to go from England, a small, but diverse and greatly historical country, to wee, little Conway. The freedoms of a relaxed school schedule, to the focused ways of Hendrix. This time around, however, it isn't going to be just normal Hendrix, but it will be senior year. I still can't wrap my head around that. Where have the 4 years gone? The 4 years in high school lasted forever, but the college life has seemed to go in the blink of an eye.

Even though it seems as if I don't have a lot of time here left, I've still got a lot of things to do to keep me busy. Starting next week, I'll be working with my internship, Chester: The Giant City, full time. I, along with other Chester students, will be preparing for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on June 4th, which I am really looking forward to. As my boss, Pam put it, "You are really in for a good experience. This is something, that in the future, you will be able to say you helped with. How many people can say that they helped organize and event for the Queen of England?" And she is absolutely right. Since she has said that, I've been trying to make the most of my time here, and have been trying to be more mindful and appreciative of my experience abroad.

When asking people what they thought of their study abroad experience, they will often times tell you that it was one of the greatest decisions that they have ever made, to which I would fully agree. The thing is, I have been wondering if I have been doing enough to make the most of my remaining time here. I have learned so much while here, but I still have more to learn and see. Even Chester, as small as it is, has a lot more to explore. There are so many alleys and paths that would go completely unnoticed if you were just walking around on a normal day. A few weeks ago, some of the others and I found a new passageway to get to the City Centre. We would have been completely oblivious to this new route if it weren't for the music that was being blasted out of the alley due to some party/football screening that was going on. I hope that once the weather becomes a little better, I can do some more exploring. Last week alone was probably the worst weather we've had in a while. Not only did it drop back into the 40's, but it rained everyday. To those people reading this, I highly advise that you don't visit England during the month of April. That whole saying about "April showers" is definitely an accurate one over here.

Also, as my experience has been coming to a close, I have also been putting some serious thought into the graduate schools over here. Not only is it cheaper than back in the states, but it only takes a year to complete since it is such a concentrated program. It has been very tempting, but definitely not something set in stone yet. I've just been trying to put it on the back burner for now, and enjoy the remaining time of my trip.

This isn't really a post about anything I have done in particular these past couple of days, but I thought it would be a good outlet to let out some of the thoughts that have been going through my head lately. All I do know is that, while I am over here, I will be trying to enjoy every second of it.

61 days, 18 hours, 24 minutes, and 54 seconds left. Better make the most of it.

Lost in Translation (Part 3): Paris

We started the next day at 3 in the morning, and said our goodbyes to Raven and Katsu as we made or way to the bus to catch our flight. We got to Paris around 9 that morning, but didn't get to our hostel until 4 that afternoon due to the hostel being about 4-5 miles away, also due to us taking our time getting there. We passed by the famous Arch de Triumph, a massive Virgin Entertainment Megastore, the pyramids by the Louvre, and Notre Damm along the way. Once we got to the hostel, we decided to just nap and relax until about 8 that night. We found an off-the-beaten-path diner next door that had some of the best food/probably the most unhealthy food we had all trip.  After dinner, we stopped by the train station to figure out the easiest way to travel while in Paris. After leaning more about the metro, Andrew decided that he would venture to the Eifell tower, while John and I stayed back at the hostel. Overall, a fairly uneventful first night.

The next day, we work up to the lovely sounds of some random guy in a mask running through the halls banging on the doors, telling everyone to get out of the hostel. Apparently, its a rule that between 11 and 3, everyone has to leave the hostel so they can clean the rooms...not only is that a long time to clean a few rooms, but when we got back that night, all they did was put our sheets on our bed and take out the trash. Not really any cleaner then when we left it that morning. While we were gone, we decided that we would try and find the Tim Burton museum exhibition at the Cinematheque Francaise. When we were at the train station, we were told that the cinema museum was next to the Louvre, so we took the metro to the Louvre station. After asking around the Louvre, we found out that the cinema museum was actually closer to our hostel, which was practically on the other side of town. I guess it was a form of serendipity though, because we found out that all of the main museums are closed on Tuesdays (the next day), so that day was our only day to see the Louvre.

After waiting in line for what must have been close to an hour, we made it into the Louvre. I have been there before back in sophomore year, but this time around I felt as if I was able to appreciate more of the art work, and all of the other exhibitions they had. We spent easily about 4 hours in the museum. One cool, but crazy fact I heard was that if someone was to spend 1 minute at each painting in the Louvre, it would take them 5 years to get through it all. After aimlessly walking around the museum for a while, I finally stumbled across the Mona Lisa, which, to me, isn't as great as it is cracked up to be.  It is definitely a great thing to see, so you can say that you've seen it, but I feel as if there were paintings in the Louvre that were more entertaining and appealing to the eye. For example, the Mona Lisa is in the middle of this gigantic room (which I later found out is called the Mona Lisa room). It has it's own wall dedicated to it, but there are more paintings on the walls around it, along with an incredible, enormous painting behind the Mona Lisa called The Wedding at Cana, which is the largest painting in the museum (262in x 390 in). Despite this great painting being right behind the Mona Lisa, it seemed as if no one really cared about it. Also, apparently, there is one curator for the Mona Lisa, whose entire job and responsibility is to make sure nothing happens to the painting.

When the Louvre closed, we decided to go to the Notre Damm for one of its afternoon services. Even though I didn't understand anything they were saying, it was still nice to be there, and be a part of a service in such a historical place. It is hard to think that people go there every week for a normal church service though. During the service, there were tourists walking around the church taking pictures and talking the entire time. You would think that it would be distracting, but everyone seemed to ignore it. I guess that the congregation (especially those who have gone to the services for a while), just get used to it.

After the service, we thought we would venture to the Eiffel Tower so we could see it at night.  Every hour, there are shimmering lights that cover the tower for about 15 minutes. Once there, we sat under the tower, waiting for it to light up. After the light show, I decided to walk up the tower so I could see the incredible view of Paris at night. Even though, I have been up the tower before, it was a completely different experience at night. At the top, you could see the streets and the lights below go on for miles and miles. After being up there for about an hour, or so, I met up with Andrew and John so we could get back to the hostel and prepare for another early morning.

We started the next morning bright and early, so we could get to the French Pantheon. While we were waiting in line, we met a French teacher who was on a school trip with her class from Minnesota. After talking to her for a while, she let us join her class so we could get into the Pantheon for free. I've got to say, it was pretty cool to be back in high school for an hour. While we were with her group, she told us about Foucault's pendulum, a pendulum in the middle of the Pantheon that is supposed to show the rotation of the Earth. It was really interesting to learn more about it, since we have a pendulum back at Hendrix that is supposed to do the same thing. Shortly after, the teacher showed us the crypt that was under the Pantheon. In the crypt, we found the graves of philosopher Voltare, and scientist Marie Curie.

Our next stop was the Musee d'Orsay, which was an old train station that was renovated into a museum. We spent about 2 hours there looking at the Van Gogh and Monet paintings, along with the crazy amount of sculptures and other paintings they had on the different floors. One thing that I really like about Paris is that they are very proud of the different kinds of art work and the museums they have. Majority of the museums in Paris are free to students, which is something you don't really find back home. They want people to appreciate art, and learn more about it, hence why you can go and see Van Gogh and Da Vinchi paintings all for free. After closing, we decided to have a "healthy" McDonalds dinner, where we celebrated John's birthday with a McMuffin and cappuccino. After dinner, we made our way back to the hostel and got packed up for our next day flight back to Chester.

Overall, it was definitely a memorable spring break. By seeing all of these difference places while abroad, I would definitely say that I have a bad case of the travel bug. I can already predict that it is going to be weird to be back in Conway next year. I just hope that sometime in the future, I'll have another opportunity to see more of these amazing places.

Lost in Translation (Part 2): Rome

As John put it while we attempted to sleep on the cold floor of the Barcelona airport, "Waiting for a red eye flight is like being in purgatory. You aren't happy, nothing is open, and you want to get to the next place, but you can't." I felt as if this was the best way to explain our experience in the Barcelona airport from midnight to 5 in the morning.

When our bus dropped us off, we found out that everything was shut down, including our terminal. We then decided to set up camp in front of our terminal, and walk around the partially abandoned airport for a while. It honestly looked like something straight out of a zombie movie. After taking a quick lap, we all decided that we would try and sleep. This was more complicated than I thought it was going to be, mostly due to the cold tile, bright florescent lights beaming down on us, and the janitor on a zamboni. After getting barely 3 hours of sleep, people started to line up for the terminal. For future reference, if you are ever in the Barcelona airport late at night, just know that nothing opens until bloody 4 in the morning.

We got to Rome around 8 that morning and walked to our hostel that was conveniently only a block away from the train station. We met the hostel owner who, not too long after meeting us, referenced the Godfather by telling us about an offer we couldn't refuse. We couldn't check into the hostel until 3 that afternoon, so he, being a retired tour guide of 8 years, gave us a map, and circled some areas that he highly recommended, including many touristy spots.

We decided to get started on the map, and headed for the Piazza de Popolo, a huge monument/ square in the middle of town. After walking around there, we walked up a nearby hill that gave us a panoramic view of the city. Afterwards, we walked to the Roma Termini, a gigantic train station in the middle of town that could be the equivalent of Grand Central Station. It had, what seemed like, an endless amount of stores and cafés. By 3 o'clock, we made our way back to the hostel and slept until 8 that night. We then went next door for a late night dinner of pasta and wine. Definitely a good way to end our first night in Rome.

The next day we visited the Via Nova, Domus Tiberiana, and the multi story arcades that were in town. These places were old relics that have been standing there since early Roman times. We also got to see the Roman Forum and Palatine Gardens. After reading some of the history, I found out that most of the buildings and relics were dedicated to the emperors Augustus and Maximus. We then walked over to the Colosseum, which was incredible. Originally the building had 4 different tiers, but eventually the top 2 tiers were lost. We walked around parts of it, and got to see the different hidden areas that the animals would be lowered into during a battle. A crazy fact I learned was that in the earlier times of the Colosseum, ancient Romans would fill the arena up with water, and have aquatic battles. I still always wonder how people back then could have developed something as great as the Colosseum.

After the Colosseum, we went to the Circa de Maxima, which is supposed to be a meeting spot that could fit over 30,000 ancient Romans. It was actually pretty underwhelming. It wasn't until we were standing in a moderately big field that I realized we were there. We kept walking, and stumbled across the State Building. The State Building is another massive building that can practically be seen anywhere in Rome.

We then decided to just walk around the city and see where we end up. After walking for what was probably an hour, we popped out across the river from the Vatican. By the time we made it there, the building was closed, so we decided to make our way back to the hostel and try and find some food. Along the way we found a small gelato store that had some of the best gelato I've had in my life. No joke, after our 4 days in Rome, John and I probably had enough gelato to be the equivalent of a baby calf. It seemed as if there were gelato stands on every road in Rome. We passed a few that had some flavors of ice cream that I would have never guessed existed, including Nutella flavor. It was awesome.

After enjoying our gelato, we decided that it would probably be a good idea to grab some actual food. We  walked through several different alleys, and eventually came across a square that had street performers, artists, and many restaurants. It wasn't until later on in the trip that we found out that that square is the supposed heart of Rome. As we walked by, there were several waiters and waitresses trying to promote their restaurant. In a way, they almost were like street performers. After talking to a few of them, I could tell that they had a routine of things to say in order to promote their food. We finally decided to stop in this small restaurant that had free bread and cheap water. Oh yeah, forgot to mention this, in England and Europe, there are no free refills. In some cases, you have to pay for the water, even if it is from the tap. After we were done eating, we found out that our waitress was from California, and apparently was studying abroad in Rome. According to her, she loved it so much, that she decided to transfer and start a life there. After another good day of adventuring, we made our way back to the hostel.

The next day, Raven, John, and I left for the State Building while Andrew decided to "get lost in the city." We walked through the state building, along with the down stairs museum. We then made our way to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is a huge, round cathedral that has an open circle in the roof. Throughout the day, the light being emitted throuh the hole moves like a sundial.  When we got there it was completely packed. I assume it was because we were there during Holy Week. While there, Raven and I signed our names into the guest book, and just roamed around the building.

After the Pantheon, we left for the Vatican/ St. Peter's Square. Oddly enough, we were able to get into the Vatican museum for free, and with no line. One surprising thing about the Vatican is that it has an amazing cumulation of art work from different periods in it. They have everything from Greek statues, paintings, massive tapestries, and much, much more. There was so much stuff, that it was hard to take it all in. The whole time we were there, there was a huge build up for the main event: The Sistine Chapel. There were arrows pointing to where it was, but in order to get there, you had to go through 40 different rooms and 5 flights of stairs. It was worth it though. The museum itself was a timeline, and through it's paintings, it was able to show the transition  from the early days of Greek thought, to the early days of Christianity. Each room had a massive painting that was supposed to signify the transition. The Sistine Chapel however, blew all of the other rooms out of the water. Till this day, I can't believe I finally got to see it. Once we were in the room, we sat there for almost an hour just taking it all in. After listening to the audio guide, I was able to find out that it took Michelangelo 4 years to complete the entire thing, and apparently there was just a starry sky before Michelangelo painted his masterpiece over it. Each part of the ceiling told a different story from the Book of Genesis as well: The Creation of Sky, Creation of Light, Creation of Man, and Creation of Original Sin. It also had several paintings dedicated to Noah and the Ark. After the chapel, we made our way to St. Peter's Basilica. The basilica was another massive, beautiful cathedral. It is dedicated to St. Peter, and has not only St. Peter's tomb, but the tombs of past popes.

When we got back to the hostel, we met our 4th roommate, Katsu, who was a college student from Japan on break. According to him, he had been backpacking through Europe by himself for the past month and a half. We talked to him for a good portion of the night and talked about the similarities between Japan and the States.

The next day, John, Raven, and I walked down to an island on the other side of the city. A funny thing about the island is that there were people that were laying out on the concrete trying to tan on what they considered their little urban beach. The 3 of us decided to join the crowd for some sun and relaxation. That night, we decided to have another authentic meal of pasta and wine, along with our last scoop of Roman gelato. Later, the 5 of us reconvened, and got ready for our next day flight to Paris.

Lost In Translation (Part 1): Barcelona

This entry could also be called: "How to be lost in a city and spend 5 hours looking for your hostel"

Note to self, or anyone reading this; If you are ever going on a trip, ALWAYS write down the address for a place you are staying at on vacation. You will see why this is a very important tip later on...

For our 3 week Easter break, Andrew, John, and I decided that we would go to mainland Europe for about 10 days. While there, we would visit Barcelona, Rome, and Paris. We caught a train to Liverpool early Sunday morning to catch our Ryanair flight to Barcelona.

The flight was very interesting. The thing about Ryanair is that it is incredibly cheap to catch a flight anywhere (when we looked at the flights online, it was 22 pounds for a flight to Barcelona). The thing is, they make a profit from all of the fees that are put in place. You are only allowed a certain sized bag, and if you exceed the weight or break any of the other regulations, you have to pay an additional 40-60 pounds (anywhere from 80-120 dollars). Rumor is that at one point, the company was trying to make people pay to use the bathroom on the flight. Along with all of the rules they have to make money, they also try to sell additional stuff on the plane, including anything from cologne, food, and suitcases. It was kind of crazy.

Anyway, we finally arrived to Barcelona at 4:30 that afternoon. I would say that the culture shock didn't fully hit me until I realized that I couldn't read any of the advertisements in the airport. Overall though,  this trip made me realize how much Spanish I was surprisingly able to remember after all these years, thankfully.We then jumped on a train that would take us to the area where our hostel was. As soon as we got off the train, we stumbled upon the Casa Batllo, a famous building that was created in 1888 by the architect, Antonio Gaudi. After that, we proceeded to look for our hostel, a trip that would eventually last 5 1/2 hours. We knew the relative ballpark of where it was, and basically worked off of that. We asked several different people who either never heard of the place, or would contradict the directions of someone else. Just as were about to give up, we finally came across it at 10:30 that night.

After wearyingly dropping off our stuff, me and the others decided to walk the beach and explore Soho, which is one of the big nightlife places of Barcelona. While there, we had one of the most authentic Spanish meals we could think of, Burger King. Afterwards, we made our way back to the hostel and called it a night.

The next morning, we decided to go on a walk through the entire city. We visited the statue/ roundabout of Christopher Columbus, along with seeing the Basilica de Santa Maria, another massive cathedral in the middle of town. After grabbing some food and listening to street performers playing guitar, we met up with Raven, who was going to join us for the rest of the trip.

The four of us then headed to my favorite part of Barcelona, the beautiful Sagrada de Familia Basilica (the Unfinished Cathedral). The cathedral was also built by Gaudi. The cathedral began construction in 1883, and is estimated to be completely done by 2028, or so. The reason for its slow construction is due to all of the intricate detail that Gaudi put into it. Each spire of the cathedral seemed to have its own theme, along with different gargoyles and figures on each one. It was hands down one of my favorite things I've seen while abroad. Unfortunately due to the massive line that would have taken an hour to go through, we didn't go in.

We then made our way back to the main city center to visit La Boqueria, one of the main markets in the city that had what looked like an endless amount of different kinds of food. You name it, they probably had it. They had everything from fresh vegetables, fresh fish, lollipops that were as big as my head, and every kind of fruit I could think of. After seeing everything in the market, we met with James, a student from Machester, who joined us for another night on the beach, and showed us some more of the Barcelona nightlife, including on taking us on a wild goose chase for tapas ( a spanish snack dish that can be anything from pigs in a blanket, chicken wings, fresh olives, etc).

On our last day, Raven, John, and I literally spent the whole day on the beach. Andrew went to climb the huge mountain in town where you can get a good view of a local castle, the Olympic stadium, along with the other half of Barcelona. Back at the beach, we napped, swam, and built sandcastles. Needless to say, it was a pretty great day. After Andrew got back, we went back to the City Center where we finally found paellas and tapas. Paellas are basically giant pans of yellow rice that come with everything from seafood to chicken on it. After eating ourselves into a food coma, we walked around the city some more, and made our way back to the beach one last time. We said goodbye to James, then caught our bus to the airport so we could catch our red eye flight to Rome.

Weekend Update!

So these past couple days have been pretty crazy. Since our Development Week break, all of the assessments for the international students are starting to be due. I've had to turn in a 2,000 word page paper for my Power and Persuasion in the Media class, along with a 12 picture photo presentation for my Feature Writing class. I have another 2,000 word paper coming up along with one due in April. I never thought I would say this, but I actually have enjoyed doing homework here. The classes have been really interesting, and seeing that I don't have classes like these back at home, I get to learn about things that I am actually interested in. The classes have been so interesting that I've actually started looking at how the graduate school program functions over here. So far I've learned that it is cheaper for someone to study their masters degree here and that I could get my Masters in a year, as opposed to the 2 years or more back home. Also, if someone wants to study something like TV and Radio production, but didn't graduate with that degree, the university has a crash course that lasts about 2 to 3 weeks where they get the person caught up on all the material that the undergrads learn. I'm not really set in the idea of doing my masters over here, but I just thought that it would be something good to know for future reference. Besides that, this week has been pretty great.

I started my internship/work-based learning last week as well at this place called Chester: The Giant City. The Giants is a non-profit group that creates these huge floats, giants, and statues for different festivals around England. As of now,  I come in and help every Tuesday, and help with anything that needs to be done around the headquarters. After our 3 week easter break though, I will be helping with their public relations and communications department (mostly helping with the advertising and promotional work). Along with that, I'll be going on the local radio station to let the people of Chester know what all we are doing in preparation for the festival. We're currently preparing for Chester's Midsummer Festival, which is an old tradition where they parade the "giants" through the city to ward off evil spirits for the Spring. We are also getting ready for the Queen's Jubilee Festival. We're currently are in the process of creating 60 different statues of the Queen that will be paraded throughout Chester. Later on in the summer, they will also be having a huge parade for the 2012 Olympics. It's crazy thinking that I get to help with a huge event like that. It is definitely a once in a lifetime event. One thing that makes the job easier is that the people who work at the Giants are pretty great and relaxed. One thing that the organization like to stress is that they welcome anyone and everyone to come volunteer at the HQ. Along with creating these giants, they have different side projects in order to get different people from the community to come help. They do everything from gardening to graffiti art that will be presented during the festivals. The whole place is great, and I can't wait for all of the other events that I will be helping with in the future.


Last weekend was also pretty great because I got to go to London to visit my sister Katrina and my older brothers Michael and Wayne. I got into London Friday night, and left for Oxford Saturday morning to meet up with Michael, Wayne, Wayne's wife Lisa, my niece Macy, and newborn nephew, Marley . We spent the whole day in Oxford catching up and relaxing. Trina and I went on an impromptu tour of Oxford later that afternoon. One thing I never realized was that Oxford University takes up a big majority of the city. After touring though some of the buildings and other parts of the city, we decided to head back to London. The next day, Trina showed me the different parts of Tottenham and  London. A few places we went to were an ice rink that used to be a palace, a neighborhood of streets called "Millionaire's Row"that has huge mansions for a about a mile or two, King's Cross Train Station (Home of Platform 9 3/4!), and the London Eye. The Eye is this huge ferris wheel that is in the heart of central London. Once you are at the top, you can see all of London, and on a clear day see places like Tottenham along with other nearby cities. After the Eye, we walked around the House of Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Pickadilly Circus, which is the British equivalent of Times Square. After an amazing tour of the city, Trina and I walked back to the train station and left to head back to Chester.

England has been a great experience so far. It's weird thinking that by the time I get back from Easter break, I will only have a month left before I'm on my way back home to the states. There is still a lot to do while overhere, but at the same time, time has seemed to fly by. Hopefully this coming week will be a little less stressful. I have one last essay due Friday, and after that, me and some of the others in the group will be on our way to Barcelona, Rome, and Paris for the next week and a half for Easter Break!

In the Land of Haggis and Bagpipes... (Part 2)

Home, sweet home. Well, I guess, Chester, sweet Chester.

We got back to Chester Saturday night after one amazing week in Scotland. Surprising as it sounds, Scotland reminded me a lot of Arkansas. It had so many different kinds of hiking trails and mountains, along with amazing beaches and snowcapped mountains. As I have told some of the others, I would gladly move to Scotland in a heartbeat. The overall tour was great. After all the antics we had on Monday, we visited the legendary Loch Ness. Sadly, we couldn't find the creature, but I did however find the home of the MacLennan chief. Apparently, back when Scotland was still heavily family/clan ruled, each family had a chief (or clan) leader that would be in charge of the family. The current was leader of the MacLennans since he was 10 years old back in the 1970's, due to his father's death. After we left Loch Ness, we traveled to the forrest of Fairgaig, which was probably my favorite part of the trip. The trees were huge and the overall forest just seemed magical. So much so, that me and a few of the others actually got separated from the group and got temporarily lost. Once we found our bus, and the rest of the group met up with us, we toured around the rest of the loch, and made our way to the Isle of Sky, our second spot of the tour. After cooking a Valentine's Day pasta dinner and playing a couple of games, the group decided to call it a night.

The next morning we traveled to the main part of the Isle. We saw some local sites and different little towns, along with visiting more supernatural areas of Scotland. For example, we visited Tir Nan Iolaire which is supposedly where faires would gather a long time ago and grant the visitor good luck and knowledge if they dunked their head in the stream coming from one of the local valleys. We then moved on to the site called the Old Man of Storr, which is a mountain that is supposedly the remnants of a giant. The trail was one of the longer ones we went on during the tour, but once we made it to the top, it was definitely worth it. Neil, our guide, told us that Peter Jackson wanted to film a part of The Hobbit at Storr, but the New Zealand government refused, and supposedly paid Jackson to keep the filming in New Zealand. Jackson had the right idea though. Storr was definitely a place taken out of Tolken's books. It was another snowcapped mountain with an amazing view of Skye, as well as the rest of Scotland. Next up we visited Kilt Rock, which is named basically because it looks like a giant kilt. Nothing too intriguing there honestly, haha. Next up on our supernatural tour was Fairie Glen. Fairie Glen was once supposedly the headquarters of the faires in Scotland. According to Neil, there have been actual reports of people who have gone missing (supposedly due to fairies), along with documented sightings of said faires. Neil even told us of his own supernatural experiences while walking around the woods. As weird as it sounds, the overall land of Fairie Glen did feel different compared to the other places we visited. After Fairie Glen, we called it a day and went back to the hostel.

The next morning, we visited the Ben Nevis Whisky distillery, which was pretty interesting. Apparently the company gets the water for the whisky from a stream that is about a mile or two away. The distillery was surprisingly not huge, but definitely a cool thing to see. Next stop on the tour was the land of Glennfinnan, or what me and the others called "place with the Harry Potter bridge".  Along with having a statue dedicated to soliders from one of the Scottish wars, Glennfinnan is home to the Hogwarts 9 3/4 bridge. Me and some of the others made sure to get our fill of touristy/ Harry Potter fan pictures along the bridge. After that, we stopped at our last location on the tour, Oban.

The city of Oban is probably one of my favorite cities in Scotland besides Edinburgh. The city itself sits along the Atlantic Ocean, and has a good combination of new and old buildings. When we got there, some of the others and I walked around the city and explored the haunted castle remains of Dunollie (McDougall castle) and Oban Colosseum. Walking around all of the ruins within the city made me wonder what it would have been like growing up in a town that had all of these ancient places in it. Do the citizens care about them, or are they just simply tourist attractions? Either way, the relics were amazing. Later that night, we left to go to what the Scot's call a kaylie. A kaylie is a traditional Scottish event where people go to practice traditional Scottish dances and party. Every time someone goes up to dance, they usually get a new partner, so essentially it's a historical form of Scottish speed dating. After some good bagpiping tunes, we headed back to the hostel.

The next morning we left Oban and basically drove for the whole day. We made a few stops along the way, one of which was the William Wallance museum and tower. From the top of the tower, you could see the battlefield where they filmed the movie Braveheart, along with having an amazing panoramic view of the valley and city below. After the tower, we drove back to Edinburgh and our little hostel home, Castle Rock. That night, along with the following morning was dedicated to relaxing and getting some last minute exploring done of the town.

Overall, Scotland was an amazing experience. I hope to go there again at some point and do some more exploring. Honestly, because of all the hikes we were on, it kind of inspired me to do more of that when I get home. Something thing that I've noticed while here is that some of the British people I've talked to haven't really gone exploring around England. There was one girl that I talked to that said she has never been to Manchester or London, even though those cities are fairly close to Chester. It made me realize that even back in the states, there are some people who have never left their state, even though there is so much to do and see. This study abroad experience has made me want to explore more of the U.S. and even more of Arkansas. Another thing that is funny to me is that in the U.S., there are people who love everything about England and Europe, but think that America can be boring. However, some of the British students that I've talked to think the exact opposite. There have been a few times where I have been asked "Why of all places did you study in England?".  Some of them completely despise England, and want to go to the U.S because they think America is like how it is depicted on television. There have also been a few students who have said they've been to the states before, but have only been to the big states (New York, California, Florida primarily), but know nothing about any of the other 47. Long story short, it has been really interesting to see how people invision America over here.

Anyway, I guess that is enough for one day. Hope you all are enjoying the blog!

In the Land of Haggis and Bagpipes...

Greetings from Scotland everybody!

I know it has been a while, but I promise that I will post the earlier blogs in the next couple of days, but I thought I would just put up a quick update of what I'm up to. Yesterday, me and the group hopped on the train to Scotland to go on our MacBackpackers tour. We left Chester around 9 and got to Edinburgh around 2. As soon as we got off the train, we were already in the heart of the city. We eventually figured out our way around the town and stayed at the Castle Rock Hostel which is ranked the #1 hostel in all of Scotland and for a good reason too. It was this huge building that was about 3 floors. It had a this huge lounge with free tea and hot chocolate, along with a music room which had several guitars and a piano in it. We all piled our stuff into the room which was stacked with bunk beds. The hostel itself was run by what seemed like college grads and they were able to give us the low down of the whole city. After talking with them, we went back to the city center to take a look at the museums. Even though we didn't actually go in any of them, we still had a good time looking at the architecture. We even passed this huge tower that was dedicated to the author Sit Walter Scott. While we were passing by the National Museum, we ran into this band called the Big Peat, which was a bagpipe and Scottish drum band. They were parading through the city, and the coolest thing was that the sound was able to echo off the walls of the buildings, and was able to be heard throughout the city. After looking at the mini concert, we walked around some more and stumbled upon a café called The Elephant House. Didn't really know this until I walked in, but apparently it was the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book! We grabbed a bite to eat and then left to head back to the hostel. Along the way, we joked around that it would be a great idea to try and climb one of the mountains in middle of Edinburgh when it was pitch black. Even though it sounds like a crazy idea on paper, we did it anyway, and honestly, I regret nothing. Me, Nasti, Andrew, Brian, and Dillon made it to the top and were able to see the entire town Edinburgh at night. After some adventuring around we made our way back down and called it a night.

The next day, we woke up at around 8 to meet with our tour guide. This next bit is the ultimate story of how it is a small world. Our tour guide was going through the list of passagers and pointed out that me and him share the same last name (even though he spells his McLennan instead of McLennon) and that we were basically family and a part of the same clan. While we toured around, he gave me little bits of information about our family. Apparently, we were a family of bagpipers and worked for a saint that lived in the Highlands. We also played a fairly large part in the Battle of Cullden in 1776 which was a war that took place between the at-the-time government and this rebel group called the Jacobites. We got to tour around the battlefield of Cullden. We also made stops at Loch Morlich beach, which was a lake surrounded by mountains, but had sand like that of a beach. We ate lunch there, and then walked along some of the nature trails that surrounded the lake.

We finally made it to Inverness and had a chance to walk around the city. Along with having a huge city center, I found St. Andrew's Cathedral, which was probably one of the biggest Episcopalian churches I've ever seen. After we took a lap around the riverwalk, we went to go have dinner at the Black Friar (a local pub in town). Even though it took a lot of time to get our food, I would say it was a night well spent. They had a live band, which was amazing. They taught us some traditional Scottish dances, and even though it took a few tries, we eventually nailed them. I also had a chance to try haggis, and surprisingly it was really good. Basically to put a long story short, I have been loving Scotland so far. It's crazy to think that it is only the first day! Anyway, I think I'm going to call it a night, hopefully I'll be able to keep you all updated during the week!

Weekend Update: Castles, Football, and Birthdays (Oh, My...)

      Hey everybody! So let the record show that this is the first post for me to send as a 21 year old. It's crazy to think that I've got 21 years under my belt. And better yet, who would have guessed that I would spend it in England of all places, haha. Well, before I get to the story of my birthday, I feel as if I should give a recap of what has been going on with me this week (or 2...)
      Well, two Saturday's ago, me and more of the international kids went to this local restaurant simply called Café (Simplest title I think I've heard in my life). I would consider it the British equivalent of Waffle House back home. At Café, we were able to get the full English breakfast experience which usually consists of 2 pieces of toast, sausage, eggs, bacon, beans, and black pudding (tasted good, but still not fully sure what that is...kind of afraid to find out...). After that, we walked around the town center all day and explored some of the stores, along with going through the cathedral in the middle of town.
     The Cathedral, which was built in 1092 A.D., is probably one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. The architecture was amazing, and made me wonder how people back then could have constructed something like that. The ceilings within the chapel had different European crests on them along with what looked like smaller, golden crests next to them. Along with the crests, there were mini towers within the chapel that were insanely intricate. The towers looked similar, however, there was a small difference in each of them. Each tower had an angel on it, but each angel would be holding a different object. While I was walking through the chapel, it made me realize that there is nothing in America that has been standing as long as the chapel has. There were even graves that were dated back to 1687 within the walls. I could talk about the inside of the chapel all day, but honestly, I think it would probably be easier to look at the pictures on Facebook.
     After a long day in town, me and the rest of the group came back for a relaxed night and played some card games along with some chess. I have learned since that day that the game Spoons, as fun as it may be, is perhaps one of the most terrifying card games in existence.
    The next day, a group of us went to the church service at the Cathedral. The service was actually fairly similar to the ones we had at home, so it wasn't that hard to adjust. The acoustics in the chapel made it an even cooler experience. The one down side was the whole lack of central heating thing. After the service, the group decided to go and do a little exploring around town again. One of the great things about Chester is that there is always something new that can be found. Everyday has been a small adventure. Later that afternoon, we went back to the Cathedral for the Evensong service (which was mostly the choir singing), went back home, then called it a night.
     As for the rest of the week, everything worked out fine. It was my first full week of classes, and by the looks of things, it looks like it will be a good semester. My three classes are Feature Writing, Power, Persuasion and the Media, and Law and Ethics for Journalists. This will be my first time to take legitimate communications courses, seeing that Hendrix doesn't have a full time communications major. Although I'm excited to be taking these classes, it's taken a pretty long time to get used to the layout of the schedule. Each class is divided into a lecture and seminar class. For example, I have my Feature Writing lecture on Monday, but I don't have a seminar until Friday morning. It is definitely a different layout compared to things back home, but at the same time I think I prefer the British method.
      Later on that Tuesday, a few of us went to the pub called George and Dragon to watch the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona football (soccer) game. Saying that Europeans are fans of football is an understatement. The amount of energy and hype that was in the pub was ridiculous. It rivaled that of a superbowl party back in the states. The place was packed. The people supporting their teams were huddled together screaming and shouting at the tv (I'm pretty sure there was one guy who yelled every curse word in the Spanish dictionary at one point.). The whole experience was brilliant, and I can't even imagine what a live soccer game would be like.
    Then that Thursday, I woke up to a text from my sister wishing me happy 21st birthday. It was all in all a fairly relaxed 21st to be honest. I had class earlier that morning as usual, but then that night me and some of the others went to this event that the university has every week called the Language Café, which is a place for international students to come and practice different languages along with learning about different cultures. Dale, the guy who was in charge of the event,  ended up announcing that it was my birthday to the group and made everyone sing happy birthday. Nothing beats hearing happy birthday sung in different languages at the same time. After that, we all just talked and got to know more about each others homes. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain where Arkansas is. I've found out that the easiest way to explain it is either a) It's in the South b) It's north of Louisiana and northeast of Texas, or c) telling them Bill Clinton was born there. Usually if I stick to those three, I'm guaranteed a winner. Later that night, I found out that some of the international girls had baked a surprise brownie cake for me, which was great and kind of made me feel at home. Like I said before, it was a fairly relaxed 21st, but looking back on it, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Sorry again for the long post, I'll have to do a better job about keeping up with this stuff. This weekend is the Chester Chinese New Year festival along with the Manchester New Year Festival. I'll be sure to keep you all updated!
 

Pip Pip, Cheerio, and all that other stuff

            Greetings from across the pond everybody! Well, it's been quite a crazy week so far. I ended up leaving from Little Rock last Saturday and flew through Dallas (DFW) and Chicago (O'Hare) and finally landed in Machester early Sunday morning (or around midnight Little Rock time). The whole situation is still kind of weird to me, and I don't think that it has fully hit me yet that I am in England. This will be the first time that I have been away from home for this long, but I know that it will be a good experience overall. Seeing that I am new to this blogging thing, it took me a while to get the whole thing together so sorry for the long post. I'll try to keep it short. I've also noticed that, even though it's only been a few days, I've started to pick up some of the British mannerisms, so I apologize in advance, haha
           So where to begin...well, like I said before, my flight landed early Sunday morning. Once we got through immigration, we were picked up by Dale, one of the student mentors from the university, and loaded up our luggage to see our new home. Manchester is about 45 minutes away from the city of Chester, which would make you think that the drive in between the two cities would be tedious, but for a sleep deprived American, it was amazing. The country side of England is gorgeous, filled with green mountains, cottages, old farms, and sheep...lots and lots of sheep. Once we got to the uni (British talk for university) we got to meet Sam who is the international mom for our stay. Her and Sophia helped get us to our accommodations and took us to 1 of 5 local Tesco's (British Target). We were able to get food, bedding, and anything we needed for a fairly cheap price.
          After Tesco's, me and a few of the other international kids walked around the City Center which was brilliant. Chester and the city center is the perfect combination of new and old ways of life. The 2 mile wall that surrounds the city has been standing for a little over 2000 years, and has been under the control of the British and the Roman's since 70 A.D, which is incredible to think about. Some of the buildings  It's funny to think that an ancient wall that once protected kings and soldiers from many historical battles and enemies, now protects grocery stores, pubs, and a Disney store (along with other modern stores).
           Seeing that I am studying Communications, I was originally placed at Chester's sister campus Warrington which is another 35 minutes from Chester. Once there, I got to meet my neighbors who helped me get to know more about life in England. They were very welcoming, and I learned a lot more about British culture. On the second night at Warrington, me and the neighbors went to a local pub about 5 minutes outside of Warrington. It was one of the higher end areas and had amazingly good food. I ended up getting something called Gammon Steak which is pretty much fancy fried ham with pineapple. Pretty great stuff.
        The next day, all of us had to get our classes worked out. I talked to the head of the media department and we realized that I would be better suited at the Chester campus and that it would be possible to commute between Warrington and Chester. Talking to the teachers and staff has been pretty hilarious because every time I have stopped by to talk to them, I've been offered a cup of tea. No joke. So after enjoying a good cup of tea, I packed my bags and moved over to Chester with the other international kids. I had my first class yesterday which was Power, Persuasion, and the Media. It was actually a really interesting experience. For a few moments in class, I felt like a sociologist because I was able to just observe and analyze their form of education.
       The class was similar to that of a Hendrix class. It was a small class of about 5 people. I wasn't sure if that was due to people skipping, or if it is just that small to begin with. Our professor was actually really funny, and used a lot of British terms and phrases that flew completely over my head. One thing that I did catch was that at Chester, the teachers are more focused on the feedback and what you've learned rather than your final grade. Instead of knocking points off of an assignment starting from 100, they start from 0 and keep adding points based on the work you've done. From what I understand, a 70 = A, 60 = B, 50= C, etc. Supposedly, it is impossible to get an 80 or 90 for some reason for both international and British students, so it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year's grading goes. Oh yea! Classes don't go by semester's at Chester either.
            At Chester, you have 3 years in college and your classes last for a year. You have 3 major assignments scattered throughout the year as well. There aren't any tests or quizes either. So it was pretty surprising to me to hear that my next assignment isn't due until the middle of March. Since class ended, the international kids have gone bowling, had an international food fest, and next week are supposed to be going to North Wales. I'm pretty excited about the year and for this whole experience.
        Anyway, I think I'll end here. Another thing I've learned while here is that I will never complain about Hendrix internet again. The wifi lasts maybe 5 minutes if you are lucky, but at least it's better than none so can't be too picky. Anyway, I  hope you all enjoyed the first post!

Cheers,
Marvin