Midterm Season and Wales
Midterm Season and Wales
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October 7th
I had a lot of laundry because Wales was very muddy, so I got up at 6 to do laundry only to find out when I walked into the laundry room that someone had beaten me there by a matter of minutes. It has been almost two months here and there is still only one washing machine that’s worth a shit because the other two working ones take two hours to do a load bigger than eight pounds. I sulked back to my room and got ready for my day. We had a group presentation in Comparative Gov. and Politics today and my group's topic was comparing gun control between the two nations (*spoiler alert* it’s a night and day difference), so I did some final touch-ups to the presentation to ensure our chances of getting a better grade. The time we were supposed to aim for was 15-20 minutes in the outline and we went for almost a half hour, so it’s a good thing I made the presentation look a little prettier to make up for the wasting of time.
Math today was the same as it was every week, boring. If it were broken down into less than three hours maybe I would be more engaged, but since it isn’t I find those three hours take an eternity to pass. It’s midterm season, which means I have a lot of work to do, and it also explains why I am behind on my blog schedule so… sorry. When math finished I thought I was done for the day, but I remembered I had my online Econ class to do so I did that for two and a half hours after class before my brain fried and I wanted to go to sleep.
October 8th
As I do every Tuesday morning, I get up early and rehearse today’s speech which is usually only written two days prior. Today’s speech was different today because, for the first time in public speaking class, we would be speaking to the public. Earlier last week I had to go to the National Gallery and find a painting, research it, and prepare to give a speech in front of it to the class the following Tuesday. I chose a painting called ‘La Tela Real’ you can look it up on the National Gallery’s website to get a gist of what I spoke about, but it was my best speech yet and I’m proud of my improving performance. After my speech, I felt a huge relief as we followed around the rest of the class who still had to talk and I was just able to relax and enjoy the National Gallery. Public speaking really builds up the appetite and Chipotle does a BOGO on Tuesdays for students, so it was obvious where I was heading. The British Chipotle’s don’t have the plastic forks like in America, but instead have wooden spork things that kinda suck. The Chipotle’s here aren’t as good as the American ones either; half of the time they’re out of white rice and skimp big time on the servings. Two bowls for around $13 is worth it though, even if the quality isn’t that good. I Hung out and ate one of the bowls at the frat, before going on a short walk with some of the guys before heading to bed.
October 9th
In class this morning for 19th Century Europe we were talking about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Rape of Africa. The class got dismissed early today, so I made good use of my time by beating all my flatmates back to the kitchen so I could be the first one to use the stove for lunch. I made two huge tacos with lettuce and cheese which were very good. I Found a great study spot that I will be gatekeeping the location of in case any of the people in the study center try and take it. In my secret study spot, I did this week's homework for 19th Century Europe, and while I was doing so I got a GroupME message from one of the PAs (Program Assistants) that my ballot arrived in the mail and I eagerly leapt out of my chair to run to reception to get it. I filled out my ballot immediately and found the nearest post office to send it back to America in time for the election. The postage cost was three pounds. Came back to my flat to do even more homework, this time in a different setting. I got an A on my macroeconomics midterm, so I was pretty pumped about that. After the midterm, I watched the first two episodes of the Menendez series on Netflix before getting to bed.
October 10th
I woke up at seven today, which was the latest I had gotten up all week, so that was a nice treat. In the morning I did the last bit of 19th Century Europe work due before midterms in my study spot before coming back to my flat for lunch. I had another two huge tacos for lunch before going for a walk. I started west down Oxford Street with no destination in mind. I said, "bear down", to a Bears fan on the street who I presume was in town for that week’s London game against the Jags. I turned left at Oxford Circus down Regents Street. I began noticing familiar buildings and before I knew it I was back in Leicester Square. I grabbed two sausage rolls from Greggs for dinner around 5, and started walking home. I rotted in bed the rest of the day slowly doing work and drifting to sleep.
October 11th
Today was a travel day for the study center because we were going on our second of three overnight program excursions, this one was Wales! I went to Sainsbury’s around 6 to get a meal deal for breakfast. At 7:15 we met outside the study center and walked towards the charter buses. Last trip I shared a row with Brandon, and this time I got a whole row to myself for the six hours we were traveling. These road trips we take are so long because the speed limit on their highways is only 50mph. We stopped halfway at an Oasis and I got Burger King to hold me off until dinner. We got to the lodge in Wales called Sealyham around 1:30. While we were waiting for dinner we broke off into smaller groups doing team-building exercises. The first one was some busy work activity where Cole and I had to move tires from one pole to another, but there were stipulations on how we could do it. In the next activity, our group of eleven had to all stand on three progressively smaller rings all without touching the ground. Everyone looked at me weirdly when I said we did this before at a homecoming pep rally, but regardless we didn’t make it past the second rings before moving on. The next activity we had to move everyone through suspended rings which is harder than it sounds. The next activity took a while to finish. We had to move everyone from tree stump to tree stump all with two 8-foot planks with rope attached to them, all while not touching the ground. Finally, we were on the last activity which is what we were promised to do in the first place. We all did a low ropes course that took me about 6-7 minutes to complete, and afterward, my hands were raw. Finally, it was dinner time and burgers and fries were on the menu. After dinner, we went to a bonfire, where 30 of us decided to go on a mile-and-a-half pilgrimage to the nearest pub around 10. We left around midnight and when I got back I played a card game before going to sleep around two.
October 12th
This morning I got up around 7, and for breakfast, we had a classic British breakfast of weird pasty sausages and beans. My first excursion was going to St. David's and looking around the town and cathedral. We saw where St. David was allegedly born and a well that was divinely created at the time of his birth. We went into town to see the Cathedral named for him, which reminded me of Christchurch in Dublin. There wasn’t much to do here so Hudson and I tried the coffee from different cafes around town before it was time for the bus to take us back. For lunch today we had vegetable soup and rolls, they were okay. The second activity of the day was saltwater kayaking which was good fun. We launched in a little harbor before paddling out along the coast and saw a few seals on our way out. I got beached on a sudden rock and took a good few minutes of paddling in every which way before getting unstuck and meeting up with the rest of the group. We drifted back much of the way which was nice because my arms were tired. The guides had us do a couple of challenges to see if we were seaworthy kayakers. I failed on the one where you had to touch your head, shoulders, knees, and toes all while standing up. I fell off trying to stand. We wore wetsuits while kayaking so we had to strip them when we got out of the water in the parking lot. The wind made it cold, but we got used to it quickly. After a dinner of spaghetti and gruel, we all laid in bed for two hours before anyone had the energy to get up and do something. We went to the bonfire again and hung out for a little before Hayden, Hudson, and I went back to watch the horror movie Sinister before going to bed. I fell asleep about halfway through.
October 13th
We got the best food on this trip yet for breakfast which consisted of pancakes, bagels, and croissants. After breakfast, we all went back to the ocean to go coasteering. Coasteering is where you climb the rocks near the water and then jump into the water from various heights. It was a lot of fun fighting the waves and then jumping off rocks. The coasteering trip peaked at the blue lagoon which had high jumps into a body of water that was an old quarry. The highest jump available was about a 25-foot drop and I’m surprised I brought myself to do it. After getting back to the van we drove back to the study center to get cleaned up, packed, eat lunch, and leave. On the bus ride home, I finished Sinister before listening to music for the rest of the ride home.
October 14th
I got up early today again which is just becoming my norm for days that I have school. My routine before class usually goes wake up, shower, eat, get my flat’s breakfast bag, and then do homework before class, and today was no different. In Comparative Gov. and Politics, I spaced out a lot because I already had my midterm essentially done and I was looking at things to do in Munich for fall break. I ate chicken tenders for lunch with a sweet chili sauce that it super good. After lunch was math and today we had a quiz. Once the quiz and note-taking were over, I went grocery shopping to get a little food for the three days I was going to be in London. After grocery shopping, I went to the Y to play some basketball around 6:15. Cole, Hayden, and I demolished Brandon, Nate, and Tommy, and don’t let them tell you any different. I began my 19th Century Europe midterm back at my flat and wrote about 20% of it (600 words) before falling asleep around 11.
October 15th
As are all my Tuesdays, I got up early to rehearse the hell out of my speech. Today we were giving our speeches in Brixton, and if your immediate thought was, “Ooh that sounds dangerous”, because…same. I was pleasantly surprised; however, when I stepped off the tube at Brixton station to smelt burnt sage and hear a steel drum being played. We walked around Brixton with everyone giving their speeches in front of something important in the area, and I couldn’t help but notice how familiar Brixton felt. The neighborhood reminded me of New York City, you see the part of London where I live is pretty stereotypically British, but in Brixton, it felt Caribbean and occidental. Finally, it was my turn to give a speech and it was about Pop Brixton. Pop Brixton is basically a food court made out of repurposed shipping containers with a dance floor in the middle. I had another good speech and was relieved that that was my last class before break.Everything in Brixton was going swimmingly until our very last speaker of the day. She was giving a speech outside of a movie theater and plastered on the door of it was the advertisement for the new Donald Trump movie. As she was giving her speech a local looney walked by and heard her American accent, and began giving us his best Trump impersonation. I am not sure if it was the booze, drugs, or just terrible improv, but he sounded and acted nothing like Trump. After our speeches concluded we all rode the train back to the study center. I ate dinner and began packing for tomorrow. I called it a real early night and went to bed around 8:45.
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