Ruminations on Marching Bands, Colleges, and Football...

I went to a football game this past Saturday. Unusual for me, I know. But my sister goes to Boston College and they were playing University of Maryland and the band came down for the away game so I went for her.
While I was sitting there slowly being unable to feel my feet, I got to thinking about the difference between public and private colleges and the presence or absence of a football program. I came to the following conclusions:
1. I do miss marching band. I didn't really think I did, mostly because that was the part of the year I disliked the most in band. There's an atmosphere that a marching band can create that is just...infectious. So, I miss band.
2. Public colleges that have a football program, as most of them do, definitely have a leg up on school spirit. It's kind of scary to see four sections of a large football stadium dressed in red and black all doing the same thing (it was the student section). They are bigger schools but with a football program to unite them, they seem to come together as a cohesive force.
3. Private colleges that have a football program also have a leg up on school spirit. At least compared to my school where we don't have a football program. BC and AU are roughly the same size student-wise, though I think BC might be a bit bigger, but BC has football and AU has soccer, basketball, and volleyball. Game days at BC are big deals, at AU hardly anyone goes to games unless coerced in some fashion. It was also interesting to see BC and UMD fans going head to head. The private school fans can chant "safety school" to the public school fans while the UMD fans just overwhelmed everything by shear numbers. Home turf and all.
Do I think we should have a football program? No way. I deliberately avoided schools with a football program as I'm not a fan of the game nor the atmosphere created. However, we do lose a bit of that cohesive spirit.
So, it was an interesting experience. I admired the courage of one very vocal BC fan above me in the solidly UMD stands. I froze, at least from the knees down, and felt bad for my sister as her team suffered it's second straight defeat, though impressively only the second of the season. I now care about BC doing well because she does. Other than that, I'm not really a sports person unless it's the Olympics. Okay, departing the soap box now.

Back To AU...For The Last Time

That's right, Senior Year has arrived. Feels kind of weird. It's great to be back but things have changed. Mary Graydon Center, our student union for all intents and purposes, has a new layout on the first floor, opened it up a lot and it looks pretty good actually. I'm in the new residence hall, Nebraska, which everything is new in. So new, that when you sit on the sofas, you don't sink down. Yeah, very new. I'm involved in some new things, have new classes of course, new people to room with. Lots of new.
Summer was nice. Went on a few trips, had some free time around my internship. It was nice not to have to go to a job every day and the people in Senator Nelson's Orlando office are great, as were my fellow interns. A great summer, all in all.
So, yeah, kind of sad, the beginning of the end. I went to my first and last Convocation this morning, which was pretty nice if a bit warm due to being outside.
But this year is going to be awesome. Personal promise. :)

Notes on Arrival Back in the lovely US of A

Note: this was first complied at JFK airport while waiting for my plane home in March, everything still applies

Language: suddenly everything's in Spanish and English for the trip maps, not French
Customs: completely stinks, not only do you have to do it at point of arrival (as opposed to final destination), but as long as you can check no on all the boxes and you don't make a fuss you skate through fine. Declare what you've got though.
Alcohol: you have to pay for it on the flight and I presume ID's are checked, this isn't Cyprus airlines where they keep giving people wine when they ask, ah, Fall semester, how I miss thee.
Americans: often in school groups, 3 separate EF tours (the educational ones that my mother uses for her German class trips) in 1 day! They've got better backpacks now-the orange really stands out. They're loud too, southern accents among the group on the flight from London. Ugg boots too-and here I thought they were gone by now, one girl was wearing shorts and going to Paris in them. She's going to freeze-it's cold there this time of year. Oh, and taxes aren't included in the price here. Blast.
JFK Airport: the modern day Ellis Island...sorta, could use a better paint job, kinda dreary. A nice blue would look good. Passport control went quickly though, here it helps to be a citizen, nice reversal from the long lines of "Other" at Gatwick. Bags took a while and then they had to be given back to put them on the plane to OIA (MCO in the FAA world which makes no sense to me) then we had to go through metal detectors, again (which I guess is logical becuse we had checked luggage but it's still a pain). Oh! We had to pay for carts! $3! Gatwick has them free. So, Gatwick gets a plus in this column. It's not a contest...mostly.
Airport shops: Expensive as always and I'm used to seeing Euros and pounds and converting! Seriously, way too pricey. And the contents? Kinda boring. I expected better out of JFK. I mean, come on! This is like our Heathrow! Or Charles de Gaulle!
CNN: Endless news...I miss the BBC and I never even watched it.
Papers: I miss my free Tube papers-Metro, London Paper, even Lite (a very little), smattering of news and all the gossip with no efffort on my part. And the fun facts about interesting things happening around the world.
General: Passport guy couldn't even stamp on a new page like the last guy. And I think he went over part of another one. Grr. They should know people like to collect this sort of thing. Flight was okay though-on the aisle and in an exit so plenty of leg room. Saw a jet trail alongside the plane out the window, so that was cool.
Plus side:
-American TV
-regular plugs, not the weird 3 pronged British ones
-no exchange rate
-money all (relatively) one color, which is a bit dull I admit, but all the coins are circular
-ice!!!
-American chocolate and soft drinks, fruit drinks too
-donuts
-DVDs that like my computer-correct world coding
-no mental calcuation to figure out the time back home-I'm there!
-better mattress
-my books
-no paying for food on my own, home cooked meals-yum!
-Borders rewards card works here!

I do love London though. Seasons! No oppressive heat or sun! Fun money! Accents! All that culture and history!

So, that's all for now. Basically, customs is a drag, but what's new? Oh, and JFK should get painted a different color. Like blue.

Various Interjections That Show Excitement! And Emotion!

I'm in Nebraska Hall for next year!! A lovely four-bedroom apartment with my wonderful companions, Sarah, Stephanie, and Veronica. Something new and yet still on campus for Senior Year which lessens the worries I shall have to face. Hooray!! We got in!!!!! We're all excited. So far, preparations for Senior Year are going quite well. Honors 101 Mentor so I shall have something to do and be involved? Check. Housing so I shall stay on campus and not have to worry about rent? Check. Classes? Err...schedule's not posted! Ha! So not a worry yet. Though I do have to finish up two majors, my Honors requirements and squeeze in that last GenEd. Meh. I have credits coming out my ears so I get to register way early and with the 10 extra Honors credits, totally on the first day.
It may be a rainy/sunny/windy/cloudy day here in London, but I'm dry, warm, in a library, and happy. Today is a good day. Rejoice! For it is Lent...and Friday equals no meat. Thank goodness St. Patrick's Day is a Saturday. :)

Feeling...Meh?

I mean, I had a good weekend. I went down...up and over, to Trafalgar Square and Chinatown for the Chinese New Year celebration (pretty crazy with people by the way) and that was cool... But I did some research this morning because I was curious...I recently discovered the Panic! At The Disco music videos, having discovered the music a few months back, via YouTube and so I wanted to know who was in the band, I mean, I know who's in OK Go and all... So, I googled and found that 3/4ths of the band is younger than me! That's never happened before, except for sugary pop female singers who don't count. Not people with talent! I'm not sure how I feel about this. Only one of the guys is older than me, and he was only born in 1985. The guitarist, and lyricist, is exactly 3 months younger than me. This is really weird. I'm not sure I'm okay with this. Comparitively they've done more with their lives than I have at this point. Though that was going to be a given as I'm on the education route (which I'm totally okay with) and then into public service but still...I wasn't really presented with glaring evidence before. And it's weird to be the same age as internationally known groups. Another thing that I'm not used to. People are supposed to be older than me, generally anyway. I suppose I must face the fact that at the end of May I will be 21, not that the perks matter to me, but still...I'm graduating next year (eek by the way)...and I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with all of this. It just needed to be said. So, I'll just sit here in the New Hunt's House library, slightly freaking out. *shrug*

24 Hours in Bath

So, in the middle of Reading Week, as I didn't have anything else to do, I decided to go to Bath. I'd read about it in Persuasion and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and it was on my list of places to go to, so I went.
I got in around 4, having taken the bus (which they call a coach) from Victoria, and walked the couple blocks to the hostel, checked in, dumped stuff and decided to try to get into a museum. Managed to just make the last entrance to the Roman Baths at 4:30 and went around that until it closed an hour later. Pretty cool actually. In Trier we went to Roman baths as well but that was outside, this was better preserved, probably because it was still in use as a medical thing in the 1800s. Apparently the waters could cure anything. Wasn't medicine funny back then? These days we have antibiotics as a cure-all, they had mineral springs. And blood-letting. Ick. After the museum (and shop) I walked up the main shopping street and had dinner (sausages and mash) at a pub on George St. as it was too dark for anymore picture taking.
The next morning (Valentine's Day, actually though it didn't really feel like it beyond the chocolate selling and roses being carried around) I went up to the Circus and Royal Crescent to take pictures. They're Georgian rowhouses designed by John Wood Sr. and Jr. The Circus is a circle, the same circumference as Stonehenge, and the Royal Crescent is a half-circle. Nice houses, really. Museum of Costume was next then the Jane Austen Center. Then the post office to mail a couple postcards then down the main shopping drag again, killing time before the 4 PM bus back to London.
General thoughts on Bath: it's very redundant. I mean, all the residential streets look the same, as if the entire place was built at the same time. 3 story-tall rowhouses, flat fronts, wide sidewalk, line of parked cars, street, repeat. The houses follow the angle of the road and it's very symmetrical. Giving directions without street names is next to impossible I'd think though. I mean, it's nice that it all looks ordered and neat but it gets boring. Cities are better with a variety of architectural styles, like London or DC. Makes things more interesting. Also, the everything closing at 6 disease reared it's head again. Not much to do after 7 PM if you don't drink or like clubs. But I had a nice little vacation and got some good souvenirs. It's good to be back though.
Happy early Chinese New Year on the 18th! I'm going to Trafalgar Square for the big parade and festival.

Huzzah! An Update!

Yes, it's been a while. But life has been getting into a routine and routines are sorta...boring.
It's the end of the first mini-term this week, as in I've been here 5 weeks now. Hard to imagine at times.
Ep and Met lectures are still fuzzy, comprehension-wise, hopefully the tutorials which start in two weeks won't be. Greek Philosophy lectures are still amusing and interesting and I'm learning a lot about James Brown. Oh, and Aristotle. Him too. My weeks have been going like normal. New Hunt's House for wireless on Mondays until 2 when I go over to Strand campus for Greek Philosophy tutorials, the last of which was this past Monday. Tuesday over to the Strand for Ep and Met lecture for an hour then to New Hunt's again until the late afternoon. Wednesdays over to Strand again for Greek lectures then back over to New Hunt's for wireless until the late afternoon again. Thursdays writing the essay until about 1 with every other week laundry to follow or just loafing around the room. Fridays, wireless at New Hunt's. Saturdays, going into the city to check things off the Almighty To Do List. Sundays usually another lazy day. Evenings are spent in the room or in the kitchen socializing. Or going to the sticky bar with people from the floor. Apparently the pub counter is really sticky at St. Christopher's, thus sticky bar. No drinking on my end but the conversation's interesting and the people are great.
Oh, yes, how could I forget? Sleep or activities disturbed at least twice a week due to fire alarms. It's like freshman year at AU on South Side all over again...only colder and five more floors to go down and up. At least the elevators work after an alarm here, not so in Letts.
I've been to Trafalgar Square, Marble Arch, Oxford Street, the National Gallery, Whitehall, Leicester Square, and Notting Hill in the form of the Portobello Road market, which was amazing.
Other than that, there's not much to tell. London is exciting and busy and the free papers have become a fast favorite thing. Even if they have way too much about celebrities and I learned way too much about the Big Brother racism thing. And I don't even know where the nearest tv on the floor is. I'm sure someone must have one but as you have to get a license to watch the few channels there are, I doubt many have one. I miss free cable. AMC. TNT as a network and not a truck company. But, the accents are a plus and I'm enjoying it here. And it's a lovely day, though cold. Life's peachy. :)

I'm dreaming...er...living a white January the 24th...

That's right! Snow in London people, snow in London. Hooray! Mostly melted now, not that cold unfortunately, though to be frank, it's very, very cold. The windy-breeze thing doesn't help matters much.
And happy belated National Pie Day. And I missed it...I had chicken pot pie a day too early. Drat.

First Full Week in London and Then Some

Let's see...what have I been up to since the 5th? As that was my last real post...ah, yes.
Last week:
Monday: Philosophy department meeting, basically finding out what I'll have to do as a JYA (junior year abroad, KCL terminology) student and getting set up with classes. Then I went to my first tutorial for Greek Philosophy, rescheduled for the afternoon from that morning. At King's there are lectures and tutorials. The former are just like classes, only usually conducted as a lecture with little interaction between the lecturer and student, but depending on the professor. Attendance isn't required but as KCL students have exams at the end of the year, lectures help with those. The latter have required attendance and are meant to correspond with the lectures. This semester (until March 23) I have two classes, so two tutorials but the semester is split into mini-terms of 5 weeks each with a reading week in between. The first mini-term I have my Greek Philosophy tutorial and the second my Epistemology and Metaphysics tutorial. Tutorials are more like classes only with about 5 or 6 people total as opposed to 40 or so. It's a discussion-based thing and we have to write an essay a week for it, 1000 words each. I miss writing pages, words are just annoying to keep counting and such.
Tuesday: First Ep & Met (Epistemology and Metaphysics) lecture, and my professor's American. Go figure. Interesting though. Found my way to the Humanities library, Maughan Library, up by the Royal Courts of Justice. And does it look like a library or what! Very nice building on the whole and very useful. Spotty wireless though.
Wednesday: First Greek Philosophy lecture with yet another American. Dr. Adamson's more entertaining though, comparing James Brown to Aristotle (both were hugely influential and did soul stuff). I've a feeling this'll be a good class.
Thursday: Worked on the essay, finished it.
Weekend: Went to New Hunt's House library (NHH) (medical campus, Guy's campus which Wolfson House [my hall] is on) for wireless, stayed all day...sorta. Went to Leicester Square Saturday to try to get a ticket to the matinee of Spamalot, had to settle for the Tuesday matinee instead but got to wander around. Sunday, nothing useful or exciting.
This week:
Monday: Greek tutorial, wireless at NHH library.
Tuesday: Ep and Met, shopping along Oxford Street (my alarm clock died on me but I got a new one that's working fine so far), Spamalot!! It was great! Very funny even though the balcony area is precarious for the vertically challenged (aka, very steep) but I got to move down a few rows due to lack of people in the seats, thus helping my view. Very nice afternoon had by me.
Wednesday (today): Greek lecture in which syllogies were discussed and the Posterior Analytics were discussed utilizing Kermit. Seriously. And a blue chair. Humorous again. Then to NHH library for supposed essay work and internet. And avoiding the rain and wind. :) Twas a good day.

Welcome to the Warmest Day of My Week...

That's right...high of 65 today with the rest of the week not above 45 degrees for a high and 26 on Saturday! Woohoo! This is why I came to London after all...

A real post will follow soon to update on my activities since the last real post. But, a sneak peak: I'm going to the matinee of Spamalot tomorrow!!!

New Year, New Semester, New School, New City, New Country, New Time Zone, New Currency...New Language?

Yep, lots of things are new these days. But to wrap up some things from last year:
I finished the super long paper, not only on time but a day early and I got an A- on it! The end of the semester went fine, I got decent grades and I got home okay. My two weeks at said home were short but satisfying, the holidays were great, it was nice having the dollar back and knowing exactly what things cost.
Now, however...it's 2007 and things have changed, yet again. Good changes, of course, but changes nonetheless.
I'm in a new study abroad program, this one for my other major, Philosophy. I'm at King's College in London. Yep, England. So far, so good. I had to break down and buy a blanket though...my room's just too cold. I've got a single though, with a good amount of storage space for everything so I'm currently pretty organized. And I've got a view too...as I'm on the eighth floor. It's just of other buildings but it's London, so who cares? No wireless, but a campus (yes 'a', as there are several) is nearby and I can (and am) get it there.
Orientation was yesterday and enrolment (their spelling, not mine) was today. There are people from all over the States here. I met people from Vanderbilt (I think), Brown, Georgetown, Washington University St. Louis, GW, University of Pennslyvania, UNC Chapel Hill, and more. There has to be over a 100 of us at least. And people from DC! They miss it as well, though for most, this is their first study abroad, but not all. I hope I see most of them again. I have my ID card and a vague idea of where to go for class, we'll see if it translates into actual knowing next week.
Let's see...what else? Ah, yes. The daily calculation of prices doubled so as to get them close to the dollar, always fun. But again, London so why complain. And there are student discounts available everywhere, apparently. I've settled in okay so far and it'll only get better. A bit windy and grey out all the time and it might be raining right now (correction: it is raining), but it'll be like Brussels only better, so I'm okay. :)
Oh, and by the way, having a big suitcase that fits all your clothes is fine except when said suitcase has a broken handle that you don't discover until you have to use said handle in the airport. Then it becomes annoying and really kills your hands having to drag the thing to the train then out of the train station to the cab then to the residence hall. Luckily we have elevators but my hands are still a bit sore. At least I flew into Gatwick and not Heathrow: no luggage on the Tube for me!
As always, more later.