Another exciting day in the Notts, this one spent waking up painfully late and spending long hours in lines at H&M, Topmale, SportsWorld, and TopMale again.... Today was a day of consumerism, commercializm, and overpopulization, and my bank account reflects it...
The selection of football jerseys was amazing at SportsWorld, and the sheer Euro-ness of Topmale and H&M made me feel like the trashy American that I am.
For a better understanding, here are some pics that reflect the crowded nature of the day, and some leftovers from last night's brawl in front of The Lion.
The friendly neighborhood speakeasy, The Lion, looking somewhat hazy thanks to careless phototaking....
Brandon's careless actions leave my coat in shambles.... God i look trashy....
I teach Brandon a valuable lesson: rip my coat, and i'll break your folder. The folder thus broken, he waved it around in defeat, only to have his papers fly into oncoming traffic.....
A very busy city centre, this view of a building i am not familiar with, on a street i cannot name at this moment....
The joys of a double decker bus, this just a block from our flat.... it's like I'm driving.....
Wall o Jerseys.... about 20 pounds each, roughly 40 US dollars. name a team, it was up here... i'll take requests... maybe you wanna paypal me the cash? we'll talk later.
As much as i'd like to pretend that i bought this jersey, something about a child's size 'age 7' didn't quite fit the bill... so the wait continues....
The question: Will it ever turn to fall here? colors maybe? Anything?
Answer: no, probobly not.
This picture is amazingly paparazzi'esque, but for the sake of pointing out morons in Nottingham, it had to be included... i'm not sure if it was the newfound interest in Robin Hood thanks to a new BBC series, or if these people were just exceptionally lame, but the hats speak for themselves.
The positives: I have enough sweaters to clothe a small nation. I have Christmas presents for the little guy. I am currently riding a shopper's high. The negatives: I am hungry, and the pizza is taking forever. I am poor, and need a job.
_______ Tomorrow: possible cross practice, reading for Geology, reading for Luther classes, watching my Food Network DVD from the 'rents, hopefully finishing Arrested Development, possibly downloading LOST Season Three Episodes One and Two (yes, it deserved all of those caps...)
It's now 11:30 in the morning on Saturday, and I'm DYING. Despite our amazing track record in the flat of staying in, going to bed early-ish, and waking up super late, last night we did the unthinkable. Not only did we decide to go to the pub, The Lion, but we eventually stayed up talking until 4:30 in the morning. And now i'm paying for it....
It's been awhile since i've posted, so i'll fly through some lame happenings before recapping last night in picutre form... Thursday night a group of us (Hil, Brando, Aaron, Ryan, myself) went to The Lion for Open mic night... the talent was questionable, but the atmosphere was, as always, coffeeshop meets English pub meets Ivy League collegiate bar (there's just something un-publike about the exposed brick walls, red painted rafters, towering display of alcohol, chalk-board display of the weekly ales, and dried garland plants draped with christmas lights that looks very Better homes and Gardeny...)
Friday brought another late start to the day, with the girls not emerging from the abyss that is thier room until 11am.... After a quick stop in Broadmarsh (Nottingham's second mall, the one containing super EuroStore H&M), we attended the most boring lecture of all time, The Islamic Tradition, or as it should be known, The "Which one of the flatmates will show up late and/or fall asleep during class" Tradition...
The gang arrived home, I went for a run -to the Uni and back from the flat, 16 minutes thank you- and we chilled after dinner while Brandon went to his 'job'(aka, St Mary's Choir, which turns out is an amazing group of sight-singers who perform their first concert tonight...)
The Lion was again our destination, where we met up with David Juggins (and laughed at his Trojan Condom Tshirt...the guy is 50+), and talked about ales and traditional cask ale pubs, and were deafened by The Tightropes, an altogether too-loud band that is one of many slated to play every friday night at The Lion.
On the way back, there was a bit of a skirmish between us roommates, which left my coat torn and Brandon's papers lying in the street... both coincidentally Brandon's doings, but still consequences nontheless... (I'll let Brandon explain that, Mrs Becker...)
At about midnight, we arrived home, Mary made cookies, B and Ryan played chess, and we pretty much figured out the meaning of life as Kate arrived home from a wild night on the town with Anna.... _______________________________ In a side note, I love my dad and stepmom for the amazing gift of several hours of FoodNetwork which i recieved on DVD this morning.....
A tip of the hat to the Urbandale Football team for earning their first victory last night over Homecoming Opponent Indianola.... the record now moves to 1-6.. .making them the best 1 win team in the state.. .nice job Zach...
Tonight is a possible 'going out night' following Brandon's concert, so the plan is H&M and Victoria Centre for some shoes (impossible to get inside some places without dress shoes, of which i have none...)
Believe the Hype, get on Skype. It rhymes, and that's lame, but I'll clue you in to something that is not lame: talking to Zach (Tanzania), John (Switzerland), Hilary (Upstairs TV Room), and Brandon (Bedroom) all at the same time. Oh, and Justin too, but not as part of the conference call....
In other news, we've begun our Winter Break Planning, or, more acurately, Hilary and Mary have begun the planning, and I have no objections so far.... The plan is to, at some point, see Paris, Greece, Crete, Cairo, Norway, Germany, Italy, Milan, Switzerland, ......list goes on..... during December and eventually during our Spring break in March...
Today was lame, we made lasagna, wrote our essays, and well.... blogged. In other news, it's beautiful here. While yesterday was a bit rainy, today was sunny and about 60-65 degrees (Fahrenheit)....
I'll leave you with a pic of the sunset, taken while hanging out of our window in the dining room... Sorry Americans, suffering through snow and 16 degree temps.... serves everyone right for trash talking English weather before I left....Thank god for Global Warming....
The weekend looks pretty open- no trips or anything. which means we'll probobly be lame again.....
i'm all for fighting against the lame. we'll see how that crusade goes.....
In celebration of my one month anniversary of studying abroad in Nottingham, I've decided to present a special LIST Edition of the blog today.
Aside from attending class on a 'typical' (yet atypical with the weather we've been having) day in England, today was again pretty boring. Learned about Puritans, learned about Muslims, did laundry, and started to read Plot Against America by Phillip Roth....awesome book about what would happen if a Nazi Charles Lindberg were to defeat FDR in the 1940 presidential election....
Well, here goes- one month into Nottingham-
Top things I miss about the US (no order): -Family, duh -Friends, ok, obvious and boring answer -Tsing Tsao crab rangoon. the four greatest words in the English? Language -College Football. American sports for that matter. I love football (soccer), but I can only take so much rugby, cricket, horse racing, darts, motorsports, etc.... -open space- i still remember Nick from Manchester being amazed at the size of the roads in the US...."I've heard that the roads are just enormous... " -feeling more 'put together' than the general public (they dress well here- nary a man can be seen without hair gel or some kind of purposefully 'messed up' hair get up) -TV. food network, LOST, ESPN at all hours, Colbert Report, Daily Show -Cheap things. Cheap food, cheap clothes, cheap books, cheap everything.... it's crazy expensive over here -happy people. the general British contenance is pretty negative. cold hearted? maybe. hermitesque? kinda. overall, we've been well recieved because we're different, but the fast-paced self absorbed attitude gets old -decent places to run, to walk, to feel unattatched and unrestrained by busy roads and Noise -The Noise is rediculous. walking and attempting to talk along the side of the road is like having tea at the Starting Line of the Daytona 500. Traffic is out of control, and the busdrivers are crazy... -Bad Public Transportation. enough said. See also: Margret Thatcher is a bitch.
Things I do not miss (no order, again) -Fast food, fat people, white trash, cutoff tshirts, the general laziness and dirtiness that for some reason the Brits and rest of Europeans avoid.... -FOX News, George Bush, Bible thumping conservatives and the South in General. Hearing my American Lit prof talk about America is like Kevin Arnold looking into the mirror on Wonder Years and seeing that huge whitehead... scary, ugly, and altogether disconserting sometimes... -Lame advertising. maybe i'm a dork because i like creative ads and commercials, but the ads here are amazing. See also: girl drinking oil, funny cigarette containers -Laziness of language. Here, there is a certain exitement and verbal gymnastics that overtakes the average Brit and turns any conversation into an obstacle course. Hilarious pronunciations, great slang, unusual use of adjectives (beautiful, outstanding, brilliant) to replace the word 'cool' -Super liberal and overly honest media. Telling it like it is, the Guardian, The Times, The Sun (ok, not so much the Sun), really let the politicians have it. and it's awesome. -The drinking age. just kidding, i'll be 21 when i get back.
Basic Differences that Stick Out, Things I'll probobly remember, Things that i've become accustomed to: - Today, our bus driver was drinking tea. while driving. -every cigarette ad i've ever seen -ordering a nice pint without feeling like a drunk, without being carded -tight spaces, small cars (which park on sidewalks, hilariously) -rapidly changing weather (is this England or Colorado...) -BBC reporters telling it like it is "If Clinton were still President...." -pub culture- chilling out, drinking a pint, seeing well kept older people doing the same. mingling with people in a way that is entirely inconcievable in the US. won't happen, ever. -everything is old, everything has history -America is awesome- most Brit students would kill to visit, many have been, and with the pound so strong against the dollar, they feel like Paris Hilton at WalMart...
Overall Feelings: -To summarize one month in a few(what am i kidding) sentences should be easy, or at least it would have been last year. So much has happened, I've experienced so much, I've traveled a ton, Learned a lot, and still realize that I have almost 8 months left. I was nervous at first, and am still aprehensive about the social aspect of our time here, but overall, with engaging yet easy classes and good societies, i'm convinced that things can only get better.
Here's to 8 more months like September 11- Oct 11, 2006. Hell, how about 759 more.....
That's right, i'm officially on Skype, the free-to-use internet phone service that connects people from across the globe for the low low price of zilch.
Go to www.skype.com and download it.
Search "kevin.kooienga" or "kooike01" under the contacts search.
Today's post brought to you by the number 3. I ran 3.3 miles today. I am 1/3 of the way through mustachetober, I have to read 3 excerpts for American Lit tomorrow. This is my 30ish post.
Today was lazy as crap, as most Tuesdays and Thursdays will be.... I woke up late, enjoyed Musli, read the paper, typed my article response, and read for hours and hours about the BPS, or British Political System, before running and listening to a lecture...
Basically, to rant before my two awesome pics, the British political system is confusing as shit. Their Parliament is dominated by the House of Commons, an elected body that meets for up to 5 years, but can be dissolved at any time before the 5 year period is up. The Prime Minister is the head of the Executive Branch, and also head of the Legislative Branch. Tony Blair, the current PM was elected because his party, the somewhat right leaning yet still liberal Labour Party holds a majority of 355 of the total of 644 Ministers of Parliamant (MP). The queen is merely a figurehead and a relic who some say should be abolished and replaced with a President, to act as the Head of State. It's confusing enough, and then when you realize that they don't have a written constitution and that any law Parliament makes automatically becomes part of the Constitution, your head wants to explode.
------------------ In other news, i have figured out why my phone wasn't working for those in the states who were eager to text. basically, enter my phone number as the following, and text away: 011447960042435
Finally, here are two righteous pics- the first being our BradyBunch-esque dry erase creation in the hall (reminiscient of Family Reunion tshirts gone by.... i still remember Mom's hair that for some reason looked like a beard).... (starting from the top, left to right are: Ryan, Aaron, Anna, 2nd row: Mary, Hil and Emily, 3rd row:Brandon, Kate and I, then finally Mark and Carol...)
These next few are yet more BW shots of my ferocious and altogether nasty Mustachetober attempt..... only 20 more days.... Actually, I'll add this last one, Matthew playing football like Thierry Henry. He's kinda tall, so make that Liverpool's Peter Crouch... the red jersey matches well...and he's pretty white.
MISS YOU, BUDDY!
__________________ Tomorrow: American Lit (where are we supposed to find this assignment online? This guy is nuts...), followed by Islamic Tradition (again, what was the reading... this 3 classes a week thing is leaving me lazy), followed by crosscountry and delicous stew and possible Zucchinni bread creations.....
Dramatic title, for sure, but after having experienced the crap that is the Nottingham Mass Transit System, I feel like I am well suited to make such a remark. For a little background, before Margret Thatcher's tyrannical Torry (uber conservative) reign over the UK, cars were almost nonexistant. People were able to traverse from city centre to their homestead with relative ease, and make it back from work in time to watch their favourite BBC dramas.... now, thanks to Thatcher's infatuation with the free market economy and daily asskissings from the car companies, the car is slowly taking over the English landscape. Craving that sort of 'American Freedom' that comes with being able to gas up (for 98 pence a litre) and drive to Wales for the weekend is almost too good to be true.
So, here we are, about 45 min. walk from the University and without any decent modes of transportation after 6pm. Please note that crosscountry practice runs until 6.30. So, for yet another day, Hil and I explored the hilly expanse that is the UNott campus, and came up screwed again....arriving home at the flat at 8pm- almost two hours after practice was over....
In other news, Brandon and I were able to make it to our overly crowded Physical Landscapes of Great Britain class, or as I will think of it, Glorified Earth Science (9th Grade UHS class)... What's interesting to note is how indepth and focused these students are on their geography and geology. Because we're taking it as a Luther-transfer elective class, we could honestly care less about this stuff, but these kids are in love with Geology. They heart it. At several times in the lecture (our professor is awesome), they would shout out answers to obscure geological questions or complicated and random answers about American geography that we hardly knew in a way that was almost cultlike and creepy.... "San Andreas Fault!" they would yell, and later criticize the stupid Americans for building hospitals, resovoirs, and homes on the epicentre....
Cross practice was great- we started late, but the run was amazing. We again did a loop around Wollaton Park (as is the practice every single monday), but this run was far and above better than last week... The actual running was great, and the conversation with a kid from Hong Kong who was raised in a private International High School yet was still very British was entertaining. We talked about language differences, pronunciations and otherwise, that bugged him and myself (Tuhmayto, Toemahtoe, Contrehversy, Contruhversy, Jello vs Jelly vs Jam vs Preserves, etc), and later I talked with Tom about US Div III XC- Dickinson as it turns out is the Luther of the East Coast (can't quite get over the whole Wartburg thing....or in their case, Haverford...)
All in all, a decent day. I have a ton of reading for our Luther classes here at the flat, and much American Lit to digest, but all in all a very easy schedule considering I only have one class a day for three days of the week, and no subsequent classes to speak of....
Tommorow I'll more than likely run on my own, read, do my weekly cleaning, and read some more. Maybe make zucchini bread? Maybe this list is personal, because if I were reading it, i'd be bored as hell.
To maintain a strong readership, I'll include more pics:
These first few are just funny signs, interesting tidbits, and a few inside jokes from our latest trip to Wales.... Apparently this is a problem?? This one's for Aunt Deb.... you roodee.... These next ones are a compliation of the best Cigarette Warnings from my stay here so far...
Say what?Well, yeah.... An oldie, but a good one....again, who are they trying to target with this one?Telling it like it is.....just in case you didn't get the message....Let's get specific.... how is that slow and painful death achieved?And yet more specifically.... for the science majors out there..... Randoms: Ryan showing off some pics to Anna as Kate looks on....jealous? Myspace meets 60mph winds.... Architecturally stunning Jubilee Library (Jubilee is our sister-campus about 15 min from the flat that houses all of the Business classes.... the buildings are all wood-integrated and 'green')I'm still waiting for the day when Wes Santee, Jim Ruyan, Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, etc. make their way on to a coin in the States.... this one's for Roger Bannister, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the sub-4 minute mile.... and yes, i'm too lazy to repost it rotated clockwise....After a long hike and an awesome group pic, Ryan needs some help getting down from the rock.... this picture may or may not be staged... Back to Club Oceana, where Brandon' s face expresses exactly what we're all thinking.... This was taken back on Thursday of Oreintation...Actually from the first day in Nottingham, this documents our collective first drinks in the 'oldest pub in England', Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem... one of three Nottingham businesses to make the same claim (See also: The Salutation, The Bell)For the old UHS bretheren, this pic of a yogurt container brought back old memories as to the confusing entemelogical roots of a certain jv showchoir's name....
Today after a "Shaken Baby Syndrome-inducing" bus ride, we arrived back at the flat from a three-day whirlwind tour of Wales- namely, the cities of Chester (ok, it's actually still in England), Conwy (pronounced ConWAY), and Llundno (or something like that, the double-L in Welsh is pronounced as a Cl-ish glottal attack)...
The trip was beautiful. That's about the only way to describe it. Something about the constant rain in the UK makes everything stay green so much later... The trees are all still leaved (that's not a word), and the grass-which is trimmed nicely by nomad sheep- is picturesque.
The relatively low-key atmosphere of our Wales vacation lead to more bonding and inter-group hang-outage. Nothing to complain about. We've yet to move away from our 'wandering group of 9' mentality, but in due time, we will learn to, as it's been said many times 'CUT THE UMBILICAL CORD' so to speak.
DAY ONE: Chester Chester is the last stop between England and Wales- they are two very different 'countries' within the UK- Wales even having its own language, spoken by 30% of the people, and included on most public signs as a part of the Welsh Language Act that followed the 2nd World War....
Cute SMARTcar (made by Swatch and Mercedes, stands for Swatch+Mercedes=ART...) Chester is located pretty close to Liverpool and right on the Welsh border. It has a castle, extensive roman/midieval city walls, and a hell of a downtown. This town is literally the cleanest, most well kept towns i have ever seen. The downtown is immaculate- the buildings and shops are stacked two-high, and each is about four stories in height total. The paint is new, the shops are new, and everything costs about 3 times what it should... We ate lunch in the Refectory of the Cathedral, which seems to be a running theme of the trip, and wandered around the city walls taking pictures like the foreigners we are. Carol seemed a little peeved (as opposed to miffed or slightly perturbed) that we keep 'living our life through a lens'... but good pics are good pics, and when are we going to come back to Wales?
Chester soon gave way to another trip on the coach, where I not only discovered the BW setting on my camera (which would haunt the rest of the group for the rest of the trip), but we also saw an awe-inspiring double rainbow..... "Buddies" Double Bow.... Conwy is a village situated on the estuary that in some geographical way creates a huge high/low tide differential, and amazing views. The castle sits across the bay from Lludadno, within view of a huge body of water (I suck, and cannot for the life of me remember what body of water.... I'll guess the Irish Sea). The views were Postcard-worthy, and luckily, I also found the Postcard Setting on my camera....
We were on our own in the city for dinner, and managed to find our way to an Itialian restuarant were a kid was celebrating his 16th b-day....(we thought it could have been a 61st bday judging by the balloons, but who celebrates turning 61?)... Anyway, the kids were decked out... pinstripes, ties, suits, girls in black dresses.... what is up with Europe? The US sucks....
We explored the town a bit, and came across this priceless shop: The rest of the night was on our own, and we loaded our gear into the hostel (an old 1950's hotel), and wandered the city walls until late. It was windy as all hell, but picture-worthy..... The Girls, the first of my BW endeavors..... Can't leave the guys out.....sorry Aaron..... Now the black and white has gone too far.... although the picture (taken from the dock) is amazing.....Lucas, you'll think this is the same picture, being colorblind and all, but for the rest ..... a color version.....Back at the hostel, the gang played 500 while i told the story about how i don't know the game but my 7 and 8 year old cousins do, and play with my aunts and uncles at family functions while I sit around like an idiot..... only this time, i took 'wannabe artistic' black and white shots....Day TWO: Castle, Lludandndoondoo....
The castle in Conwy lies in the most prominent part of the city, right on the bay, in view of everything... so it figured to be a great place to visit.... We were lectured in the morning by a local Welshman who- as the video shows- has an awesome accent and a great old-person sense of humor. He described the relationship between Wales and England, and the awkward developments in recent times of the newly formed Welsh Assembly, the movement of younger Welsh to the English cities, the popularity of tourism in Wales, and the resurgance of national pride....
The castle was -as many are- filled with local history- in this case dealing again with the relationship of the English and Welsh peoples....
ABSOLUT CASTLE The gang, just outside the castle walls.... View of the estuary from one of the 8 towers.... No idea if this was taken from the castle, but the view of Conwy and the walls is pretty solid...We then made our way to the city of Lludadno, a more tourist-catered and metropolitan area just across the water. We rode a tram to top of the Great Orme (spelled how?) and walked down. It's one of the tallest places in Britian, the tallest being a mountain just south of Conwy, called Snowdn. Interestingly enough, it's less than 5,000ft in elevation.
The ride to the top was Freezing. This is another foray into the BW picture business... Clearly i'm not impressed. However, the light off of my developing MUSTACHETOBER FACIAL HAIR ADVENTURE is pretty manly.... Winds gusted at around 60 mph, according to Ryan, and I enjoyed being able to spit 100 ft.... This is the most car-commercial view that you'll ever get. Pacific Coast Highway meets Welsh Highlands.... Yes, before you ask, those are living breathing mountain goats. I had a staring contest and lost. Can't get enough....This is a strange couple that I don't know, but damnit if they weren't greeting-card quality.... "thinking of you...." Hilary has no control of her bodily functions. She has no respect. Spits where she wants, whatever the consequences. Ironically, there were no consequences. Unless you count the worst restuarant in the UK as a cruel trick of fate. (NEVER EAT AT CAMBRIDGE RESTUARANT IN LLUDANNONONO, WALES..... unless you enjoy paying 15 US dollars for packaged turkey covered in cold gravy and uncooked vegetables...) The view of the harbor, tide-less, in Lludadno... they had a creepy carnival and a Grand Hotel, which when lit looked like the Tower of Terror....
After eating, we found Carol and Mark at the bus stop in time to hear Carol remark "The way these girls dress these days, I can't tell the difference between people heading to clubs and prostitutes" The girl who was walking across the street in stilettos and tight white hotpants was not impressed....
We bought Cuban Cigars and headed to the Albion Pub back in Conwy and played pool before meeting up on the same dock as Friday night, and took yet more BnW pics.... Aaron doing his best 'Belt Guy' impression.... still missing the bowler's cap though.... and the greasy hair, unfortunately.... DAY Three: Hike and Home Day three was low key- we visited a home built in the 1570s by a Welshman who wanted to prove his worth by building the most elaborate home in Conwy (It was right after the English abandoned the town and finally let the Welsh into the city walls after unifying with the Welsh...) Later we hiked to the top of yet another big hill, and "Lived through a Lens" before hitting up some more shops and heading home.... Brandon and Ryan trailblazing.... It looked almost like a tiny Mediterranean city-- red roofs, nice golf course (do they play golf on the Mediterranean?), plenty of water.... This castle was born to be photographed.... A photo from the lookout tower of the Robert Wynn house, (can't remember the name now...Pawn Mawr? Pyn Mawr?...), a good view.... Another view from the hike...... Finally a pic of the schoolyard/cemetary/small town that I ran through before breakfast this morning.... Wales was a great trip- very low key, low stress, and not 6 days long.... Classes offically begin for me this week- starting with a 2-hr lecture on the Geology of Britian tomorrow that should rule me. The lecture is followed by a possible trip to the city centre (unrelated to the class), and running with the Team at 5.00. - the last time we ran on a monday, it was a grueling 5 miles at about 630 pace. Are they serious? I guess we'll find out....
This is what HAPPENED when 9 students from the middle of nowhere WERE picked to live in a flat in the middle of Nottingham, England.
This is what HAPPENED when people stopped being polite, and start being REAL.
This WAS Luther- Nottingham Campus, 2006-2007
...And now I'm back.
