I'm Alive, I Promise!

Luise and I representing our favorite Washington universities.  Go Cougs!

I owe everyone a big apology, I most definitely fell off the map after St. Patricks day.  So please allow me to offer my sincerest apology and a brief explanation on what I've been up to for the past seven weeks.

As soon as I got back from Dublin I had three major class projects come due.  Now, typically, this wouldn't be a big deal, but I lucked out and got three professors this semester that calculate my final semester grade off of only two things:  my mid-term project and my final exam.  Yeah, no pressure or anything.

So, the minute I got home I hit the books.  In the course of two weeks I put together a 22 page group project for my Marketing class, a 12 page essay on 'Criminal Transportation to Australia' for my Victorian Cities class, and 13 page in depth political comparison project on Switzerland for my Political Science class.  Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me.  Apparently, this isn't the norm for professors at Swansea--I just got really lucky.  Good news is, thanks to all of these projects, now I have plenty of material to choose from for my Junior Writing Portfolio (WSU's mid-education writing assessment).  I got them all turned in on time, and was able to leave for Spring Break with no remaining work hanging over my head, except to study for exams when I returned home.

I'll go into more detail later, but I spent my first week of break in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Talk about an amazing country (within a country--although, if they have their way, they may be independent of Britain come September) with a wild, natural beauty.  Now I understand why it's been the background of so many movies.  It was breathtaking.  I took a day trip into the highlands and Loch Lomond.  Only the pictures really do it justice, so check back soon, there will be lots!

I ventured onward from Edinburgh, back to London, to catch my flight to Frankfurt.  I was greeted by my favorite German person on the planet, one of my best friends, Luise, and her dad, Marc.  I spent two and a half weeks with Luise, her mom and dad, and her siblings Paul and Mathilde.  We spent the first week sightseeing, then the second week I attended German high school with Luise.  Quite the adventure!  I finished my trip off by spraining my ankle-I may or may not have tripped coming down a particularly vicarious set of stairs while visiting some friends-but luckily, Luise's mom is a doctor, so she patched me up quite nicely.  It wasn't too bad, and I was good to return to Swansea a couple days later, no brace necessary.

So now I'm back in Swansea studying for my final exams.  Lectures ended the week before Spring Break, so now we have a month to take exams (I will never understand why they feel three weeks is an appropriate length of time to drag out exams), then I'm off for some more traveling.  I'll finish exams on May 29.  One weekend in June, my flat and I are taking a weekend trip to London to do some sightseeing.  The following week I'll move out of my dorm in Swansea, and take off to Athens, Greece to spend a week with my next door neighbor whose family lives there.  I'll visit her for a week, then it's back to Germany to go celebrate my 19th birthday and Luise's high school graduation. On July 2, I will officially be safely back on American soil, and back to my family who are all beginning to voice their wishes for me to return home very loudly--Dad, that's 49 more days!

Just under two months left.  I fully intend to make the most of them.  I'll do my best to keep the posts a little bit more regular, promise.  Lots more to come!  Check back soon.

American Football & Superbowl XLVIII

The day I flew to London was the same day the Seattle Seahawks were in the play-off game that would decide if they made it to the Superbowl.  The captain of my flight from Seattle to Amsterdam came on the intercom every few minutes and gave us updates on the score of the game.  The plane was full of Seahawks fans who went nuts when we got the call for the final score.

Fast forward to last night, a night almost any Washington resident will never forget, when the Seahawks shut out Peyton Manning's offense until the last few minutes of the third quarter, then brought home the game winning 43 - 8.  I experienced all of this crazy excitement watching the game live from a bar on campus at three in the morning with my flatmates.  

We arrived about two hours before the game started.  The place was already packed.  By kickoff time is was standing room only.  I had no idea that American football was popular among the Brits, nor did I realize that we had that many Americans on campus.  When the national began, like any good citizen, I solemnly put my hand over my heart and respectfully listened to the song.  Then suddenly, like a roar from behind me, I hear the Brits in the room start singing "God Save the Queen".  In response, there was a large, rowdy group of American boys who decided that the best counter attack was to sing our national anthem even louder.  Within two minutes the room had become a sing off between two countries.  I sat there a little stunned and incredibly amused.  I had no idea that our national anthem would illicit such a reaction from the locals.  I was told later, by a friend who is from Wales, that she found our national anthem rather annoying and hypocritical.  It's the little things, I guess.

I watched a rugby match over the weekend, and it made me increasingly aware of how long it actually takes to get through any college or NFL game.  In rugby, the clock doesn't stop, nor does the game.  Player gets hurt, his team mates and opponents just run around him.  No one challenges the referees, and there aren't as many timeouts.  A typical rugby game runs for 80 minutes, where as it took us about four hours to finish the Superbowl, not including pre and post game coverage.  Nonetheless, I wouldn't change anything about the way we play our games!  

It was a long night, but thoroughly worth the lost sleep!  I'll never forget the year I watched the Superbowl from a pub in Wales.  Go Seahawks!

Spanish Fiestas and Cardiff Part Two

Friday night I went out with my friend Molly and our Spanish friend, Patricia.  We were introduced to a huge group of Patricia's friends from Spain.  It was a blast!  It was really cool hanging out with this group that was all speaking a mix of Spanish, English, and Italian.  My spanish listening skills are definitely improving.

Ivan, Julia, and myself.

Yesterday Molly and I were up bright and early to meet our American and Australian friends to take a day trip to Cardiff.  There was a Six Nations rugby game going on in Cardiff so the streets were lined with Wales Rugby gear.  The city was packed with fans and vendors.  It was really a sight to behold!  It reminded me of WSU on game day when we have the Cougar Athletics people holding the signs coming into town welcoming people to Pullman, everyone's wandering around in Coug gear, and the energy is overwhelming.

Flag lined High Street the morning of the Six Nations game.

We spent most of the day wandering through Cardiff.  Eventually our large group split into two and ended up being led around by myself and another Taylor from Texas A & M--we are very similar in a lot of ways.  It was kind of like meeting my twin, but then my twin has the opposite personality as me.  Weird!--my group went to Bute Park which is right next to Cardiff Castle, then we found a pub and watched the last half of the rugby game.

Molly, the other Taylor, myself, and our friend Marina from France.

Cardiff is quickly becoming one my favorite cities.  There is lots to do, but it's not terribly spread out, so it's easy to get around.  The castle and the art museum were surprisingly fun the second time around.  It was also nice to spend some quality time with my fellow Americans.  We love all of our Australians too though!  We came back in the evening, all tuckered out from a busy day.  It was a blast!  More trips are already being planned for the future.

As usual, be sure to check out the photos page for more pictures--there are lots of them--and keep an eye on my page because there is much more to come!