Greetings from Italy! Taking it back a few weeks to the beginning of my journey as I attempt to keep up with this.
Bright and early Tuesday morning I left London and headed to the airport to begin my 20 day adventure in Italy/Greece. I decided to leave before the guys I was with in London because by going on Tuesday afternoon instead of Friday my plane ticket to Genoa costed $12 instead of about $100. I figured a few days to relax in Italy couldn't possibly be bad. Having left a slow and steady rain, I couldn't wait to touch down on the Western Italian coastal city of Genoa, a major port city with, as I would later find out, a great deal of history. Unfortunately I was greeted by worse weather than when I left - just my luck!. Not only did I have to find my way to the hostel in the pouring rain but there was a midly serious thunderstorm for the first 3 hours I was there so I found myself stuck inside trying to keep myself busy. Fortunately MTV had some songs in English mixed in with the Italian versions of South Park and Scrubs. The sun eventually came out giving me some time to explore the rolling hills of the beautiful city of Genoa. With a population of 630,000 the city runs along a few miles of coast line and then is terraced along the hillside effectively fitting the city's inhabitants into a relatively small space. I really had no expectactions when I arrived so to see Genoa's beautiful pastel buildings and craggy coastline made me really excited to explore the next day.
While lying in bed reading in my hostel the first night, a slightly older guy came in for the evening who was stopping in Genoa on his way around Italy. We got to talking a bit and decided that we would walk our way down the winding roads towards the city center together in the morning. We winded our ways in an out of Genoa's quintessentially Italian alley ways, shared stories and talked about many rather significant issues. Turns out he was born in a very Catholic, Pleasantville-like, town in central Pennslyvania before moving to Mexico with his parents at a young age. He went to college in Mexico and then moved to Morocco where he has been teaching English for quite some time and converted religions to Islam in order to marry his wife of nine years. We were so busy talking and exploring the historic sites of Genoa that we didn't even exchange names until we hiked around for 6 hours! From religion to politics, international relations, current events and Wisconsin demographics we really talked about every topic under the sun. Turns out Nathan had been to about 70 countries and over 600 cities in his lifetime - absolutely incredible guy to spend a day with. I really learned a lot and expanded my horizons during our hike south along the Italian coast which ended up going for 12 hours and over 15 miles before we decided to take a train home. We really just kept going on the coast and never once failed to be astonished by the views we would come across. All in all, we hiked out of Genoa's city limits and to 3 other villages. Although I don't always like travelling alone, meeting cool people and doing these sort of thigns really makes me enjoy it!
Nathan and I exchanged email addresses and the next morning he was gone before I got up. Fortunately for me I found an equally interesting traveller from South Africa named Sean to venture with the next day. He had just graduated from a college a few hours west of Cape Town with a degree in business and was looking to take a few months off before heading into the working world. He was making a stop in Genoa on his way to a major port city in the south of Spain where he was looking to work on a yacht for the summer. What an incredibly cool way to spend a summer galavanting around on a multi-million dollar private yacht with all of your expenses paid and a free pass to see the world! We spent some of the day looking around the harbor so Sean could try to find a boat his friend was working on that he thought docked in Genoa the previous day. To no avail we eventually ended up looking at some parts of the city that Nathan and I had skipped the previous day to venture down the coast. Just like the day before, we talked about anything and everything under the sun and used each other as direct sources for information about each others' cultures. Having studied South Africa a bit, I always find it enjoyable to get "inside information" so to speak on the current political and socioeconomic situations. After finding a cheap lunch at a local indoor market that involved half a chicken and a roll to make a gigantic chicken sandwhich for 3 Euro, we went back up to the hostel for a nap so we could go see if there was any nightlife on a Thursday in Genoa. There most definitely was not and we ended up wandering around looking for a cheap pizza before catching a bus back up to the hostel. The bus ride home ended up getting invaded by a group of 40 or so secondary school students from Lisbon who were on their way to Florence and Rome for an art history trip. Must be a hell of a way to learn to actually go see the works of Titan, da Vinci, Michelangelo etc. instead of just having to ponder them in a text book.
Finally on my third day in Genoa the sun decided to come out and I headed to the harbor to get a tan before the rest of the gang from London got into town for the day. I used my previous few days knowledge to give them a tour of the notable parts of the city before we all headed to our bed and breakfast early so we could get up and catch an 8 o'clock train to the our next stop, the Cinque Terre National Park for two days of hiking the Italian Riveria! It was good to see familiar faces again but I had an amazing time in Genoa thanks to Nathan and Sean. Yet another series of eye opening experiences thanks to travelling. I may never see either of those guys again but I will definitely hold on to all of the things I learned from the conversations. What a wonderful beginning to my Italian adventure :)
Still trying to catch up with these posts and am a few cities behind but I am trying my best for those who are interested in what I am doing. I am also trying to find time to post pictures on Fbook soon because I really can't properly describe the grandeur of a lot of these places properly with words.
I hope everyone is adjusting back to the grind of school after SB and is getting ready for the home stretch...I can't believe that we will be seniors next year! Anyways, keep in touch and I'll try to reconnect with everyone when the travels slow down in a week or two. Until then I am currently on a train to Rome and will be headed to Athens on Tuesday I believe :)
Stay in touch and more will come in the near future :) Sorry for grammar mistakes!
Cheers,
Patrick
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Canvey Island and London Monopoly Pub Crawl!
Bonjourno!
Admittedly I have a little catching up to do on reporting my adventures to the world (better known as the 20 people who will read this) so I am going to go backwards a few weeks to the beginning of my 5 week spring break now that I have a bit of time on the train from Florence to Naples.
When you dont really have any school work on a weekly basis, you don't get quite as excited or antsy for breaks as you do when the work keeps piling up but, nonetheless, I couldn't wait for Easter holiday to start so I could head to my mate Grant's house on Canvey Island in the south of England. It was absolutely wonderful to be free of dorm style living and go to a place with couches, real beds, real food, 40 inch flatscreen TVs and, crucially, ESPN America! Despite being in England and experiencing new forms of culture and sport I ccould not help but be overjoyed that I could finally catch some of the NCAA tournament on something better than a shitty stream to my laptop. For me, it was also very interesting to be able to make a rough comparison of family structure, house size, neighborhood layout etc.. between what I am used to in the U.S. and someone in England. Studying abroad does a great deal to expand your horizons but for the most part you are either at university or travelling so you don't get a chance to see what day to day home life is like. For example, having Grant take me to the all-boys grammar school he attended and show me through the halls filled with kids in full suits really opened up my eyes to a way of doing things vastly different from the highschool experience that I had and that shaped who I am. Such differences in the underlying structure of society really explain some of the differences between UK and US cultures and people which are much, much different than most people assume just because we speak the same language. To be honest, the language is different in many more ways that most would think. There have been plenty of times where I have not understood a word of what someone was telling me in plain English!
Side Note: The 40 year old man across from me on the train wistles and grabs his glasses every time a girl walks by so that he can get a better view of her when she passes. He also just winked at me when a rather attracitve young woman walked by...awkward. Got to love that Italian 'charm.'
Grant introduced me to all his friends the evening we arrived and the next couple of days were filled with a grand tour of Canvey Island. All of the locals insisted that it really wasn't that cool, which I suppose is natural to think of where you come from. From my pespective, I thought it was pretty remarkable to be on a seaside island and experience all of the things that they have grown accustomed to doing every day. I suppose that is the joy of traveling. It helps you fight the complacency we all develop towards the places where we live, even if those places are spectacular in themselves. Aside from all of the places I am getting to see, people I'm meeting and things that I'm doing, one of the biggest benefits of studying abroad lies in its ability to alter my perspetive on the world and everythign that I have known for the last 20 years. I don't know how long the new found worldview will last once I get back into a routine but I am certain that I will never see all of the things I used to take for granted quite the same. I digress.
After showing me a good night out as well as the seaside towns of Leigh-on-sea and Southend, it felt like my five days at the Johnson residence flew by and I was off to London to spend some time with the Wisconsin crew before heading off to Italy/Greece for 20 days. London never fails to be exciting and, for whatever reason, the city really makes you feel at home and a part of it regardless of where you are from or who you are. It might be the internationalism of the city in general - there have been many times that I remember being on the tube and being surrounded by ten or twenty people, none of which were speaking English to each other. Another reason for the general comfort may be the increasing number of people I know in the city and can hang around. There are Wisconsin kids at multiple London Uni's and now my friends from Warwick who live there or near by and now some of Grant's friends who live and work there. In a really incredible small world experience I actually ran into a kid from Lithuania who I play on the basketball team with on the tube in rush hour. Its hard to fathom the chances of me being on the same line, at the same time and getting in the exact car as he was..crazy!
Upon my arrival the lot of us went to the car park across the street from the apartment and played a spontaneous game of pick-up soccer using dumpsters as goals in between rows of cars. It is safe to say that we are really a disgrace to the game and all of its glory but we had an amazing time - ended up playing for 2 hours and even got a English kid who was walkign by to join us. Anyways, my days in London inolved me doing some more exploring of things I hadn't had time to see in past visits. I also finally gave in and bought myself a fashionable coat. I could no longer stand feeling like an outcast in every city I was in due to my lack of a proper attire. Plus it was half-off thanks to an 'end of season' sale! I had to admit it but I am doing a bit of conforming to European fashion - I now have a button up coat, some adidas sneakers, a array of scarves, a few skinny ties and aviators to top it all off. I'm not sure how I feel about it...
On Saturday, the whole crew banded together for what would be one of the most epic day drinking episodes I have ever partaken in. The event - Monopoly Pub Crawl. To give a little background, the idea revolves around the original Monopoly board game which uses streets of London instead of the American version. The goal is to go to and get a drink at a pub on every of the 26 streets. It may sound simple but given the geography and that pubs are only open from 11 to 11, it actually must be a well planned and thought out undertaking since time only allows for about 10 minutes per pub (you have to visit two per hour including transportation time between them). We left at 10:30am dressed in silly looking hats determined to finish all 26. 12 hours and the equivalent of just over 20 beers later we were the last people to be served at pub number twenty-six before it closed! We were on schedule earlier in the crawl but as the drunkness set in and some McDonalds runs had to be factored in I think it is needless to say that we got a bit off track as the day progressed. One of the more fun days I have had in a while. I insist that we all need to organize a Madison version for welcome week this year now that we are all 21!
Like with my time on Canvey Island, the days in London went by much too fast and before I knew it, Tuesday morning rolled around and I hopped on my $12 Ryan Air flight to Genoa, Italy to hang out for a few days before the whole gang showed up on Friday. Reports on my adventures with an English teacher in Morrocco, a South African graduate looking for summer work on a Yacht, hiking in the Cinque Terre National Park and Florence in the next few days. I'll try to keep this as current as possible and check Fbook for pics if your interested :)
I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break and Easter and, like always, stay in touch!
Cheers,
Patrick
Admittedly I have a little catching up to do on reporting my adventures to the world (better known as the 20 people who will read this) so I am going to go backwards a few weeks to the beginning of my 5 week spring break now that I have a bit of time on the train from Florence to Naples.
When you dont really have any school work on a weekly basis, you don't get quite as excited or antsy for breaks as you do when the work keeps piling up but, nonetheless, I couldn't wait for Easter holiday to start so I could head to my mate Grant's house on Canvey Island in the south of England. It was absolutely wonderful to be free of dorm style living and go to a place with couches, real beds, real food, 40 inch flatscreen TVs and, crucially, ESPN America! Despite being in England and experiencing new forms of culture and sport I ccould not help but be overjoyed that I could finally catch some of the NCAA tournament on something better than a shitty stream to my laptop. For me, it was also very interesting to be able to make a rough comparison of family structure, house size, neighborhood layout etc.. between what I am used to in the U.S. and someone in England. Studying abroad does a great deal to expand your horizons but for the most part you are either at university or travelling so you don't get a chance to see what day to day home life is like. For example, having Grant take me to the all-boys grammar school he attended and show me through the halls filled with kids in full suits really opened up my eyes to a way of doing things vastly different from the highschool experience that I had and that shaped who I am. Such differences in the underlying structure of society really explain some of the differences between UK and US cultures and people which are much, much different than most people assume just because we speak the same language. To be honest, the language is different in many more ways that most would think. There have been plenty of times where I have not understood a word of what someone was telling me in plain English!
Side Note: The 40 year old man across from me on the train wistles and grabs his glasses every time a girl walks by so that he can get a better view of her when she passes. He also just winked at me when a rather attracitve young woman walked by...awkward. Got to love that Italian 'charm.'
Grant introduced me to all his friends the evening we arrived and the next couple of days were filled with a grand tour of Canvey Island. All of the locals insisted that it really wasn't that cool, which I suppose is natural to think of where you come from. From my pespective, I thought it was pretty remarkable to be on a seaside island and experience all of the things that they have grown accustomed to doing every day. I suppose that is the joy of traveling. It helps you fight the complacency we all develop towards the places where we live, even if those places are spectacular in themselves. Aside from all of the places I am getting to see, people I'm meeting and things that I'm doing, one of the biggest benefits of studying abroad lies in its ability to alter my perspetive on the world and everythign that I have known for the last 20 years. I don't know how long the new found worldview will last once I get back into a routine but I am certain that I will never see all of the things I used to take for granted quite the same. I digress.
After showing me a good night out as well as the seaside towns of Leigh-on-sea and Southend, it felt like my five days at the Johnson residence flew by and I was off to London to spend some time with the Wisconsin crew before heading off to Italy/Greece for 20 days. London never fails to be exciting and, for whatever reason, the city really makes you feel at home and a part of it regardless of where you are from or who you are. It might be the internationalism of the city in general - there have been many times that I remember being on the tube and being surrounded by ten or twenty people, none of which were speaking English to each other. Another reason for the general comfort may be the increasing number of people I know in the city and can hang around. There are Wisconsin kids at multiple London Uni's and now my friends from Warwick who live there or near by and now some of Grant's friends who live and work there. In a really incredible small world experience I actually ran into a kid from Lithuania who I play on the basketball team with on the tube in rush hour. Its hard to fathom the chances of me being on the same line, at the same time and getting in the exact car as he was..crazy!
Upon my arrival the lot of us went to the car park across the street from the apartment and played a spontaneous game of pick-up soccer using dumpsters as goals in between rows of cars. It is safe to say that we are really a disgrace to the game and all of its glory but we had an amazing time - ended up playing for 2 hours and even got a English kid who was walkign by to join us. Anyways, my days in London inolved me doing some more exploring of things I hadn't had time to see in past visits. I also finally gave in and bought myself a fashionable coat. I could no longer stand feeling like an outcast in every city I was in due to my lack of a proper attire. Plus it was half-off thanks to an 'end of season' sale! I had to admit it but I am doing a bit of conforming to European fashion - I now have a button up coat, some adidas sneakers, a array of scarves, a few skinny ties and aviators to top it all off. I'm not sure how I feel about it...
On Saturday, the whole crew banded together for what would be one of the most epic day drinking episodes I have ever partaken in. The event - Monopoly Pub Crawl. To give a little background, the idea revolves around the original Monopoly board game which uses streets of London instead of the American version. The goal is to go to and get a drink at a pub on every of the 26 streets. It may sound simple but given the geography and that pubs are only open from 11 to 11, it actually must be a well planned and thought out undertaking since time only allows for about 10 minutes per pub (you have to visit two per hour including transportation time between them). We left at 10:30am dressed in silly looking hats determined to finish all 26. 12 hours and the equivalent of just over 20 beers later we were the last people to be served at pub number twenty-six before it closed! We were on schedule earlier in the crawl but as the drunkness set in and some McDonalds runs had to be factored in I think it is needless to say that we got a bit off track as the day progressed. One of the more fun days I have had in a while. I insist that we all need to organize a Madison version for welcome week this year now that we are all 21!
Like with my time on Canvey Island, the days in London went by much too fast and before I knew it, Tuesday morning rolled around and I hopped on my $12 Ryan Air flight to Genoa, Italy to hang out for a few days before the whole gang showed up on Friday. Reports on my adventures with an English teacher in Morrocco, a South African graduate looking for summer work on a Yacht, hiking in the Cinque Terre National Park and Florence in the next few days. I'll try to keep this as current as possible and check Fbook for pics if your interested :)
I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break and Easter and, like always, stay in touch!
Cheers,
Patrick
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
My College Basketball Career!
Well it has been quite some time since I have posted anything but it hasn't been for lack of excitement, more just the lack of desire to write a blog entry on top of the other papers I have been writing. Although I have been off from Uni for just over a week now for my 5 week Easter holiday, things did pick up school wise a bit while I was back at Warwick. The work load is still significantly less than any usual week at Madison but when you get really used to doing next to nothing it gets even harder to do anything at all when assignments become due. LIke normal I procrastinated the two things I had to do much longer than I should have.
Aside from school, the weather finally started to get nicer so I took an adventure into the campus town of Royal Lemington Spa for an afternoon with my mate Will just to do some exploring and see what it was all about. It is a really wonderful small town and lacks any of the visual attrocities that coincide with the stereotypical industrialized British town like Coventry. The main road is lined with beautiful white stone buildings filled with a wide variety of shops and cafes and adorned with exquisite parks and green spaces. Unlike Coventry or the University of Warwick campus, Lemington has a great deal of character and delightful little places to go and hang out for an afternoon; I imagine I will spend quite a bit of time there when it becomes time to study for exams in May and am rather dissapointed in myself I didn't make it over there sooner.
Another notable event that I have been meaning to write about for quite some time was the Warwick Ale Festival. In summary, it consisted of a large room with over 100 different kinds of ales, ciders and wines to be had and 4 hours to get as drunk as possible. To top it all off, there was an absolutely absurd musical act that consisted of a group of older people dressed as pirates playing random instruments like the accordian, banjo etc.., and singing ridiculous songs about masturbating a kangaroo among other topics. It reminded me a lot of the freecreditreport.com commercials except that it was a great deal more absurd. It was really cool to be able to try different ales brewed from across the UK and expand my horizons even further when it comes to beer drinking. However, after drinking everything from cider and lighter ales to expresso stouts (darker than Guinness) -not to mention the rather large amount of beer that was consumed in general - my stomach had definitely felt better . The next morning proved to be a struggle as well since I forgot to drink any water or eat anything the night before. If I would've had any classes that day I wouldve skipped them for sure!
One of my most rewarding experiences thus far at Warwick has been my chance to play with the university basketball team! One day while shooting around and playing a worthless game of 3 on 3 against some very untalented Asains, I was approached while taking off my shoes by another student who introduced himself as Tom. He said he saw me playing from the balcony and that, if I could, I should come practice with the basketball team the following day. I smiled and agreed, overjoyed in the fact that it was the first time I had been recruited for anything in my life. Practice the next day was a great deal of fun; it was good to play with some kids who were competent again. There were some obvious differences in playing styles between what I consider good basketball and what the others did but I thought it was really cool to see the contrast between different cultures. Probably my favorite part about the opportunity to play is that, since there are very few English guys on the team due to the general disdain for the sport in this country, I have gotten the chance to befriend people from all over the world: Canada, China, Belgium, Lithuania, Romania, Norway and Greece. Just talking to people from different places really opens your horizons and facilitates more learning than you can learn in a classroom. Not to mention, it was wonderful to finally be able to talk basketball again, especially during March even though most admitted they had never really watched much college basketball since it is never played in Europe. Basketball provided a common subject for all of us to bond and I have made really good friends with the kids from the team.
It should probably be noted how different university athletics are in Europe as opposed to the States, otherwise a lot of this might sound pretty obscene. First, they really aren't much of a big deal at all; maybe 20 or 30 people will go to watch a Uni sporting event on any given day. Second, they are entirely less formal; practices are somewhat optional and there is a general lack of an actual coach. They are much more similar to intramurals than anything. In this context, it makes a little more sense that I would be able to join a team 3/4 of the way through their season. Unfortunately, by the time I had gone to practice, the team only had a few games left but, with a little handiwork, I was able to suit up for the last game of the year against Warwick's rival team from Coventry University. Who knew that after giving up on my dream of playing college basketball 5 years ago due to general lack of athletic ability and the decreasing dedication to become good enough at anything to stand a chance that I, Patrick Lueck, would suit up as an official college basketball player for 1 game! Don't get me wrong, the game was probably less intense than the average SERF pick-up game but, nonetheless, it was cool to put on a uniform, lace up the Nikes, and go play an official game. The first half was somewhat embarassing. I think I was about 0-4 with 2 points from freethrows. Fortunately, I asserted my role as the proverbial 'defensive stopper' so I was at least contributing somewhat to our halftime lead by guarding their best player. I redeemed myself as an American in the second half scoring 15 or so points and grabbing about 5 steals on route to a Warwick victory! Now when I'm old and reminiscing about my younger years I can tell everyone that I played college ball and, on my career, averaged about 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals a game - clearly statistics that warrant the retirement of my jersey in the rafters of the Warwick University gymnasium. Then I can just skillfully change the subject, no one ever has to know I only played 1 game.
A few days after the game, I had to pack up all of my things and get ready to live for 5 weeks out of an oversized backpack. My first adventure was to my mate Grant's house on Canvey Island in the south of England and then to London for a few rowdy days with the Wisconsin crew. I will post something about these in the next few days because they are definitely noteworthy. Currently, I am sitting in London Stansted Airport waiting for my flight to Genoa for my 22 day adventure around Italy and Greece with some friends from London who are meeting me in Genoa on Friday. Since the plane ticket on a Tuesday was only $12 and it was well over $100 on Friday, I figured I'd just go early and enjoy the sunshine in the Italian Riviera for a few days and see if I can get a bit of color!
I hope everyone is enjoying spring break in Florida and wherever else people's adventures have taken them. Weather in the states seem to be perfect lately so I don't doubt that everyone is partying up a storm and showing the world how the midwest does things :) Stay tuned for more soon.
Cheers,
Patrick :)
P.S. I didn't have spell check for this one so please excuse any poor grammar :p
Aside from school, the weather finally started to get nicer so I took an adventure into the campus town of Royal Lemington Spa for an afternoon with my mate Will just to do some exploring and see what it was all about. It is a really wonderful small town and lacks any of the visual attrocities that coincide with the stereotypical industrialized British town like Coventry. The main road is lined with beautiful white stone buildings filled with a wide variety of shops and cafes and adorned with exquisite parks and green spaces. Unlike Coventry or the University of Warwick campus, Lemington has a great deal of character and delightful little places to go and hang out for an afternoon; I imagine I will spend quite a bit of time there when it becomes time to study for exams in May and am rather dissapointed in myself I didn't make it over there sooner.
Another notable event that I have been meaning to write about for quite some time was the Warwick Ale Festival. In summary, it consisted of a large room with over 100 different kinds of ales, ciders and wines to be had and 4 hours to get as drunk as possible. To top it all off, there was an absolutely absurd musical act that consisted of a group of older people dressed as pirates playing random instruments like the accordian, banjo etc.., and singing ridiculous songs about masturbating a kangaroo among other topics. It reminded me a lot of the freecreditreport.com commercials except that it was a great deal more absurd. It was really cool to be able to try different ales brewed from across the UK and expand my horizons even further when it comes to beer drinking. However, after drinking everything from cider and lighter ales to expresso stouts (darker than Guinness) -not to mention the rather large amount of beer that was consumed in general - my stomach had definitely felt better . The next morning proved to be a struggle as well since I forgot to drink any water or eat anything the night before. If I would've had any classes that day I wouldve skipped them for sure!
One of my most rewarding experiences thus far at Warwick has been my chance to play with the university basketball team! One day while shooting around and playing a worthless game of 3 on 3 against some very untalented Asains, I was approached while taking off my shoes by another student who introduced himself as Tom. He said he saw me playing from the balcony and that, if I could, I should come practice with the basketball team the following day. I smiled and agreed, overjoyed in the fact that it was the first time I had been recruited for anything in my life. Practice the next day was a great deal of fun; it was good to play with some kids who were competent again. There were some obvious differences in playing styles between what I consider good basketball and what the others did but I thought it was really cool to see the contrast between different cultures. Probably my favorite part about the opportunity to play is that, since there are very few English guys on the team due to the general disdain for the sport in this country, I have gotten the chance to befriend people from all over the world: Canada, China, Belgium, Lithuania, Romania, Norway and Greece. Just talking to people from different places really opens your horizons and facilitates more learning than you can learn in a classroom. Not to mention, it was wonderful to finally be able to talk basketball again, especially during March even though most admitted they had never really watched much college basketball since it is never played in Europe. Basketball provided a common subject for all of us to bond and I have made really good friends with the kids from the team.
It should probably be noted how different university athletics are in Europe as opposed to the States, otherwise a lot of this might sound pretty obscene. First, they really aren't much of a big deal at all; maybe 20 or 30 people will go to watch a Uni sporting event on any given day. Second, they are entirely less formal; practices are somewhat optional and there is a general lack of an actual coach. They are much more similar to intramurals than anything. In this context, it makes a little more sense that I would be able to join a team 3/4 of the way through their season. Unfortunately, by the time I had gone to practice, the team only had a few games left but, with a little handiwork, I was able to suit up for the last game of the year against Warwick's rival team from Coventry University. Who knew that after giving up on my dream of playing college basketball 5 years ago due to general lack of athletic ability and the decreasing dedication to become good enough at anything to stand a chance that I, Patrick Lueck, would suit up as an official college basketball player for 1 game! Don't get me wrong, the game was probably less intense than the average SERF pick-up game but, nonetheless, it was cool to put on a uniform, lace up the Nikes, and go play an official game. The first half was somewhat embarassing. I think I was about 0-4 with 2 points from freethrows. Fortunately, I asserted my role as the proverbial 'defensive stopper' so I was at least contributing somewhat to our halftime lead by guarding their best player. I redeemed myself as an American in the second half scoring 15 or so points and grabbing about 5 steals on route to a Warwick victory! Now when I'm old and reminiscing about my younger years I can tell everyone that I played college ball and, on my career, averaged about 16 points, 8 rebounds and 5 steals a game - clearly statistics that warrant the retirement of my jersey in the rafters of the Warwick University gymnasium. Then I can just skillfully change the subject, no one ever has to know I only played 1 game.
A few days after the game, I had to pack up all of my things and get ready to live for 5 weeks out of an oversized backpack. My first adventure was to my mate Grant's house on Canvey Island in the south of England and then to London for a few rowdy days with the Wisconsin crew. I will post something about these in the next few days because they are definitely noteworthy. Currently, I am sitting in London Stansted Airport waiting for my flight to Genoa for my 22 day adventure around Italy and Greece with some friends from London who are meeting me in Genoa on Friday. Since the plane ticket on a Tuesday was only $12 and it was well over $100 on Friday, I figured I'd just go early and enjoy the sunshine in the Italian Riviera for a few days and see if I can get a bit of color!
I hope everyone is enjoying spring break in Florida and wherever else people's adventures have taken them. Weather in the states seem to be perfect lately so I don't doubt that everyone is partying up a storm and showing the world how the midwest does things :) Stay tuned for more soon.
Cheers,
Patrick :)
P.S. I didn't have spell check for this one so please excuse any poor grammar :p
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Prost (cheers) to Amsterdam and the Netherlands!
Normally I start these off in a quintessentially cliché fashion by saying 'hello' in the local language of wherever it is that I am venturing to but since I don’t understand a word of Dutch, I'll save everyone the trouble. It should probably also be noted that some of the details people are interested will be left out of these post for personal liability reasons haha.
Like usual, my international journey started in London the night before. I was completely delighted to be asked directions, not once, but twice from people trying to get around in London while I was doing some evening exploring of my own. I don't think I look any less American than I did 2 months ago but maybe I give off a more European vibe now? And if that is the case, I'm not entirely sure it is a good thing? In typical fashion I overestimated the amount of time it would take me to take the tube to the airport and get checked in so I had a few hours to kill at Heathrow. I did get the chance to share a nice conversation with an 86 year old guy headed to his home on the outskirts of London after his ballroom dancing class haha...old people are always real fun to chat up. I spent the short flight to Amsterdam sitting next to a guy reading Twilight so I just decided to take a nap since I didn't think we would have a whole lot in common. I think that any male that can legitimately participate in a Jacob/Edward conversation should probably take a look at what he is doing with his life. Coincidently, I found myself sitting next to a few girls from the states on the train from the airport to Central station and there was even one from Madison! I was about to introduce myself until I listened to them talk and came to realize that it was the most stereotypical coastie and psuedo-coastie (the bad half of the north-side Chicagoans) crowd and didn't really want to associate myself with such people. The most coastie of them all from Philly even had a lisp (not to be mean but I just couldn’t help but laugh). One of the funniest conversations I have ever overheard in my life; I just kept my mouth shut and pretended to not understand what they were saying in order to avoid interaction.
After figuring out that sketchy little back alleys are actually main roads, I managed to find my hostel where, as planned, Brandon Cibulka was awaiting my arrival. The concept of meeting up with a friendly face in cities I never thought I'd set foot in makes me smile every time. I must admit that the hostel was not at all like I expected. They had a very cool bar area, an incredible playlist, and a very eccentric lot which made hanging out with a beer and bobbing your head to some tunes incredibly enjoyable. Happy hour and 1 Euro Yager shots also did their part in enhancing the atmosphere. Naturally, Brandon and I immediately did what any pair of Americans visiting Amsterdam would do. Think real hard, I bet you can guess! After dark, we did the next thing anybody visiting Amsterdam would do: go exploring in the infamous 'Red Light District!' The district is actually marked by red lights and has a faint red glow in the evening, it isn't just a name. I really don't know how to properly describe walking around amidst a hub of legal prostitution and having random girls motion for you to come towards their window. The only reactions Brandon and I ever mustered were fits of laughter. The weirdness of walking around is trumped 100x when you actually see someone negotiating with one of the nice young ladies, stepping inside her glass door and closing the curtain. Ridiculous! We learned later in a guided walking tour of Amsterdam that all of the girls are 'entrepreneurs' for lack of a better turn and rent out their windows for 60 Euros a night and then have to 'work' to pay the bills and make a living. Arguably the most famous church in Amsterdam is located in the Red Light District along with a kindergarten - an interesting combination of industries I'd say! It’s even stranger to contemplate the idea that real estate in the area is very valuable and that people actually live there.
The next day we had to change hostels for Friday and Saturday night and meet up with a few kids from Brandon's program in Barcelona. Our hostel for Friday and Saturday was a 20/30 minute walk outside of the city center so it gave us a chance to see what kind of a city Amsterdam really is. It is a very beautiful place with semi-circular canals that run parallel to each other from Central Station. Streets then dissect the canals like rays of sunshine extending outward from the Station. It was immensely confusing at first, but after a few days the organization began to make sense and the system as a whole made it pretty easy to get around. I, like most people, did not really think of Amsterdam as a proper city before I arrived. Instead, one only ponders the experience and ridiculousness. For that reason, I think it is necessary to at least attempt to do the beautiful, quaint and surprisingly peaceful place some justice. Lining every canal and major street, three to four story town house style buildings jut out from the cobble stone streets. Each row of buildings is somewhat symmetric yet every individual building has a distinctive charm reminiscent of the 18th or 19th century when the majority of them were built. On main roads -which themselves are hardly roads the way we consider them- the bottom floors of all of the structures contain a very trendy assortment of designer shops. I was perhaps most amazed by the utter amazingness of the sneakers offered; I venture to say that Amsterdam is the world capital of awesome variations of popular shoes. No doubt that the brick-laden streets of Amsterdam the place where all of the famous American rappers get their 'fresh new kicks.' There are essentially no automobiles on any of the roads, and, as a result, pedestrians, an above ground tram system and a barrage of cyclists dominate. On a side note, the bikers are reckless and incredibly dangerous for travelers! The emphasis on public spaces and parks, a common theme with European cities, persists in Amsterdam making a walk around town all that much more enjoyable. A little farther out from the city center more residential districts shed light on how Dutch people live in a city known around the world for its psychedelics. Just a short walk in a residential district near Amsterdam's equivalent to New York's City Park gave me an altogether different interpretation of the city. The contrast from the Red Light District is no less extreme than black and white.
Brandon and arrived at the Flying Pig Uptown hostel in late morning only to find out that, in a feat of brilliance, Mr. Cibulka booked the hostel rooms for him and his two mates for April 26th and 27th instead of February! They ended up finding a hotel closer to downtown while another group of Madisonians from Barcelona and I checked in at the hostel. The cloud covered sky made the day slip effortlessly into night and to happy hour at the hostel providing another great opportunity to try some new and exciting beers (I highly recommend Hoegarrden and Leffe). Our group then matriculated our way down to Rembrandt Square thanks to a suggestion from a few select locals. We ended up at one of a slew of bars sporting a large, red 'Heineken.' At first we enjoyed our round and the selection of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and Y.M.C.A. as the first few songs but quickly began to feel out of place. First we saw two girls making on the dance floor - a first for any of us males. It was only after a bit more extensive observation that we realized girls were not the only gender feeling promiscuous. Almost simultaneously, the lot of us realized we had mistakenly wandered into an openly gay-bar and were not much for welcome! We promptly cancelled our next round and left.
Saturday involved more wandering, a guided tour, a trip to the Anne Frank House and another trip to Rembrandt Square in the evening. This time we went to an Irish pub called St. James' Gate to watch the end of the Barcelona football match. Although nothing very exciting happened after the match, my newly found friend from Madison Alex and I struck up a conversation with an Irishman named Charlie currently working in the City (London's Wall St.). I don't know if it is that I just simply don't find the need to talk to random people while in the States because I am always with a group of friends or if Americans just aren't as friendly but I never ceased to be amazed at how friendly European folks are. Alex and I talked to him for well over an hour while he bought us drinks, and, like every conversation I am lucky enough to partake in with other more worldly folk, I learned a great deal of things about life. Thinking the excitement of my night would come to an end when I left the pub, I found myself shocked to discover a random cat lying in my bed when I returned to the hostel. Moreover, said cat had absolutely no desire to sleep anywhere else for the evening. Only in Amsterdam would I ever just say 'what the hell' and sleep with the hostel cat!
On Sunday the Barcelona crowd left and the Londoners arrived in the morning to accompany me on the Heineken experience. After the tour, I still don't really enjoy Heineken but I had a fun time learning about it and getting 4 free beers in the process. After our truly Dutch experience with beer, we headed back to the hostel for a nap, some Euchre, Rummy and beer. We ended up playing 'shithead' (a slightly altered version of Shapoo) with a British guy named Neil who was just completing a 3 year tour of the world. It really seemed as if every bloke I talked to was in the midst of some epic world tour to 'find themselves.' So much so that I subliminally questioned whether or not people were telling the truth. Either way, it really made me realize how cool of an experience studying abroad is and how young I am in the general scheme of things - a reassuring feeling no doubt. While shooting the shit with Neil, he confessed to us that he felt we were much different than most of the people he had met from America. He then went on to describe the majority of his companions as coasties, yes he used that term specifically, and said that we seemed much more down to earth. Although I didn't express much gratitude at the time, in retrospect that may be one of the best comments I have ever received as a Midwest kid. I suppose it is what our region prides itself on and I'm glad that our 'efforts' are understood the world over!
Overall, I had an incredible time in the 'sex and drug capital of the world' but not so much because of the sex and drugs. The people and the city really differentiated Amsterdam for me and it is a place I would absolutely recommend going for whatever reasons. It seems to me like Amsterdam is just one of those places you generally have to go to sometime in your life for a multitude of reasons both legal and illegal back home :) Check that off the proverbial bucket list!
Hope everyone is doing well. Not sure when I'll write next but I think I have to actually write a few essays in the next few weeks so it may be a bit. Regardless, stay in touch and check the pictures on Fbook!
Cheers :)
Patrick
Like usual, my international journey started in London the night before. I was completely delighted to be asked directions, not once, but twice from people trying to get around in London while I was doing some evening exploring of my own. I don't think I look any less American than I did 2 months ago but maybe I give off a more European vibe now? And if that is the case, I'm not entirely sure it is a good thing? In typical fashion I overestimated the amount of time it would take me to take the tube to the airport and get checked in so I had a few hours to kill at Heathrow. I did get the chance to share a nice conversation with an 86 year old guy headed to his home on the outskirts of London after his ballroom dancing class haha...old people are always real fun to chat up. I spent the short flight to Amsterdam sitting next to a guy reading Twilight so I just decided to take a nap since I didn't think we would have a whole lot in common. I think that any male that can legitimately participate in a Jacob/Edward conversation should probably take a look at what he is doing with his life. Coincidently, I found myself sitting next to a few girls from the states on the train from the airport to Central station and there was even one from Madison! I was about to introduce myself until I listened to them talk and came to realize that it was the most stereotypical coastie and psuedo-coastie (the bad half of the north-side Chicagoans) crowd and didn't really want to associate myself with such people. The most coastie of them all from Philly even had a lisp (not to be mean but I just couldn’t help but laugh). One of the funniest conversations I have ever overheard in my life; I just kept my mouth shut and pretended to not understand what they were saying in order to avoid interaction.
After figuring out that sketchy little back alleys are actually main roads, I managed to find my hostel where, as planned, Brandon Cibulka was awaiting my arrival. The concept of meeting up with a friendly face in cities I never thought I'd set foot in makes me smile every time. I must admit that the hostel was not at all like I expected. They had a very cool bar area, an incredible playlist, and a very eccentric lot which made hanging out with a beer and bobbing your head to some tunes incredibly enjoyable. Happy hour and 1 Euro Yager shots also did their part in enhancing the atmosphere. Naturally, Brandon and I immediately did what any pair of Americans visiting Amsterdam would do. Think real hard, I bet you can guess! After dark, we did the next thing anybody visiting Amsterdam would do: go exploring in the infamous 'Red Light District!' The district is actually marked by red lights and has a faint red glow in the evening, it isn't just a name. I really don't know how to properly describe walking around amidst a hub of legal prostitution and having random girls motion for you to come towards their window. The only reactions Brandon and I ever mustered were fits of laughter. The weirdness of walking around is trumped 100x when you actually see someone negotiating with one of the nice young ladies, stepping inside her glass door and closing the curtain. Ridiculous! We learned later in a guided walking tour of Amsterdam that all of the girls are 'entrepreneurs' for lack of a better turn and rent out their windows for 60 Euros a night and then have to 'work' to pay the bills and make a living. Arguably the most famous church in Amsterdam is located in the Red Light District along with a kindergarten - an interesting combination of industries I'd say! It’s even stranger to contemplate the idea that real estate in the area is very valuable and that people actually live there.
The next day we had to change hostels for Friday and Saturday night and meet up with a few kids from Brandon's program in Barcelona. Our hostel for Friday and Saturday was a 20/30 minute walk outside of the city center so it gave us a chance to see what kind of a city Amsterdam really is. It is a very beautiful place with semi-circular canals that run parallel to each other from Central Station. Streets then dissect the canals like rays of sunshine extending outward from the Station. It was immensely confusing at first, but after a few days the organization began to make sense and the system as a whole made it pretty easy to get around. I, like most people, did not really think of Amsterdam as a proper city before I arrived. Instead, one only ponders the experience and ridiculousness. For that reason, I think it is necessary to at least attempt to do the beautiful, quaint and surprisingly peaceful place some justice. Lining every canal and major street, three to four story town house style buildings jut out from the cobble stone streets. Each row of buildings is somewhat symmetric yet every individual building has a distinctive charm reminiscent of the 18th or 19th century when the majority of them were built. On main roads -which themselves are hardly roads the way we consider them- the bottom floors of all of the structures contain a very trendy assortment of designer shops. I was perhaps most amazed by the utter amazingness of the sneakers offered; I venture to say that Amsterdam is the world capital of awesome variations of popular shoes. No doubt that the brick-laden streets of Amsterdam the place where all of the famous American rappers get their 'fresh new kicks.' There are essentially no automobiles on any of the roads, and, as a result, pedestrians, an above ground tram system and a barrage of cyclists dominate. On a side note, the bikers are reckless and incredibly dangerous for travelers! The emphasis on public spaces and parks, a common theme with European cities, persists in Amsterdam making a walk around town all that much more enjoyable. A little farther out from the city center more residential districts shed light on how Dutch people live in a city known around the world for its psychedelics. Just a short walk in a residential district near Amsterdam's equivalent to New York's City Park gave me an altogether different interpretation of the city. The contrast from the Red Light District is no less extreme than black and white.
Brandon and arrived at the Flying Pig Uptown hostel in late morning only to find out that, in a feat of brilliance, Mr. Cibulka booked the hostel rooms for him and his two mates for April 26th and 27th instead of February! They ended up finding a hotel closer to downtown while another group of Madisonians from Barcelona and I checked in at the hostel. The cloud covered sky made the day slip effortlessly into night and to happy hour at the hostel providing another great opportunity to try some new and exciting beers (I highly recommend Hoegarrden and Leffe). Our group then matriculated our way down to Rembrandt Square thanks to a suggestion from a few select locals. We ended up at one of a slew of bars sporting a large, red 'Heineken.' At first we enjoyed our round and the selection of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and Y.M.C.A. as the first few songs but quickly began to feel out of place. First we saw two girls making on the dance floor - a first for any of us males. It was only after a bit more extensive observation that we realized girls were not the only gender feeling promiscuous. Almost simultaneously, the lot of us realized we had mistakenly wandered into an openly gay-bar and were not much for welcome! We promptly cancelled our next round and left.
Saturday involved more wandering, a guided tour, a trip to the Anne Frank House and another trip to Rembrandt Square in the evening. This time we went to an Irish pub called St. James' Gate to watch the end of the Barcelona football match. Although nothing very exciting happened after the match, my newly found friend from Madison Alex and I struck up a conversation with an Irishman named Charlie currently working in the City (London's Wall St.). I don't know if it is that I just simply don't find the need to talk to random people while in the States because I am always with a group of friends or if Americans just aren't as friendly but I never ceased to be amazed at how friendly European folks are. Alex and I talked to him for well over an hour while he bought us drinks, and, like every conversation I am lucky enough to partake in with other more worldly folk, I learned a great deal of things about life. Thinking the excitement of my night would come to an end when I left the pub, I found myself shocked to discover a random cat lying in my bed when I returned to the hostel. Moreover, said cat had absolutely no desire to sleep anywhere else for the evening. Only in Amsterdam would I ever just say 'what the hell' and sleep with the hostel cat!
On Sunday the Barcelona crowd left and the Londoners arrived in the morning to accompany me on the Heineken experience. After the tour, I still don't really enjoy Heineken but I had a fun time learning about it and getting 4 free beers in the process. After our truly Dutch experience with beer, we headed back to the hostel for a nap, some Euchre, Rummy and beer. We ended up playing 'shithead' (a slightly altered version of Shapoo) with a British guy named Neil who was just completing a 3 year tour of the world. It really seemed as if every bloke I talked to was in the midst of some epic world tour to 'find themselves.' So much so that I subliminally questioned whether or not people were telling the truth. Either way, it really made me realize how cool of an experience studying abroad is and how young I am in the general scheme of things - a reassuring feeling no doubt. While shooting the shit with Neil, he confessed to us that he felt we were much different than most of the people he had met from America. He then went on to describe the majority of his companions as coasties, yes he used that term specifically, and said that we seemed much more down to earth. Although I didn't express much gratitude at the time, in retrospect that may be one of the best comments I have ever received as a Midwest kid. I suppose it is what our region prides itself on and I'm glad that our 'efforts' are understood the world over!
Overall, I had an incredible time in the 'sex and drug capital of the world' but not so much because of the sex and drugs. The people and the city really differentiated Amsterdam for me and it is a place I would absolutely recommend going for whatever reasons. It seems to me like Amsterdam is just one of those places you generally have to go to sometime in your life for a multitude of reasons both legal and illegal back home :) Check that off the proverbial bucket list!
Hope everyone is doing well. Not sure when I'll write next but I think I have to actually write a few essays in the next few weeks so it may be a bit. Regardless, stay in touch and check the pictures on Fbook!
Cheers :)
Patrick
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Baguettes, Cheap Wine and Valentine's Day in Paris!
Bonjour!
4:00am Friday February 12th. On par with my previous experiences with early morning travel departures, I was completely unable to fall asleep at any decent time the night before so I was forced awake after only an hour and a half of sleep in order to walk to the train station for our 5:43am departure to Paris! Despite being a little tired, realizing the fact that I was actually traveling to the famed ‘City of Lights’ held the energy equivalent of about 6 Red Bulls. After a quick high-speed rail ride underneath the English Channel, we (Mike, Cole, Jack and I) stepped out of our rail car in Harry Potter-esque fashion completely unable to believe where we now were. We also quickly realized that, between the 4 of us, we spoke a grand total of 8 French words and really had no idea what to do.
At this point we learned out first lesson about getting around in Paris – paying for the Metro is a complete waste of money. Cole originally informed us most people use one ticket for 2 people because the turnstiles and entry gates to get into the underground were easy to fit multiple people through. Given my terrible luck, I was reluctant to practice what we deemed the “Buddy System” originally but saving money took precedence. I also become much more comfortable with circumventing the system when I saw a man by 1 ticket for his family of 6, go through the entrance and then proceed to open the exit door so the rest of his family could walk through. Later in the trip, my fears were entirely removed when I watched a homeless man crawl through a 2x2 hole in a barrier to get into the Metro while 4 policemen were watching. He then proceeded to offer a cheerful ‘Bonjour’ to the squad and continue onward with his journey. After 4 days of traveling, I think it is safe to say that we all saved at least 20 Euro with the “Buddy System.”
We arrived at Melanie and Katie’s (study abroad students from UW in Paris) still relatively early in the morning excited to see some friendly faces, have some guidance on what to do to and that we didn’t have to pay for somewhere to stay. They almost instantly introduced us to the wonderful world of $2 bottles of wine and .90 Eurocent Baguettes dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette that would be the staples of our diet for the remaining 4 days. Although the weather was less than ideal and quite a bit colder than the London we left we couldn’t wait to get out and see the sights. Our first stop was the infinitely creepy Catacombs. In case you’re not familiar, the Catacombs are a series of abandoned mining tunnels that run under the streets of Paris where near 6 million people’s bones are arranged in ‘artistic’ patterns using the skulls to make crosses and hearts. I would highly advise a Wikipedia search or that anyone reading this take a look at my Facebook pictures to truly understand just how unspeakable and frightening that 2 mile walk was.
I was incredibly relieved to be above ground again as we set off on a lengthy walk towards Notre Dame and the Louvre. We quickly found out that walking around Paris is somewhat similar to using Stumble Upon on the internet; every time you turn a corner or look down a street you see something either incredible or famous. This first happened when we wandered into a large park and got our first sight of the Eiffel Tower silhouetted against the foggy horizon. Seeing the historic landmark for the first time made us all giddy with excitement. Personally, I really couldn’t believe it at the time and the entire experience would continue to be surreal for a few days. Our next ‘Stumble’ took us on a detour towards the Pantheon which we somehow neglected to see originally despite its towering stature and grandiose classical-inspired architecture. While walked from the Pantheon towards Notre Dame, I learned two very important lessons about Paris. Number 1 – the amount of PDA is overwhelming. Number 2 – gypsies are ruthless in their attempts to get tourists to give them spare change. At one point after Jack told her he didn’t have any extra change while he was conveniently eating a cheeseburger, she followed us across the street while yelling what I can only image were French obscenities or an ancient gypsy curse.
I won’t bore potential readers with constant descriptions of historical landmarks but I do think it is notable to elaborate on just how ridiculous it is to cross a street and all of a sudden be on the Seine River looking across its waters to the spires and stained glass windows of Notre Dame Cathedral. Places like that seemingly only exist in Disney movies or adventure epics starring Nicholas Cage and Tom Hanks so to actually be there was incredible. Often times, the 4 of us were speechless while we took endless photos of the landmarks we were viewing seemingly as a way to ensure that they were actually real. After Notre Dame, we all pointed westward and in our best attempt at copying Eurotrip we exclaimed “To the Louvre!” Unfortunately there was no robo-performer waiting to entertain us outside the large glass pyramid yet that may have been a good thing because we only had to que for 5 minutes to get in. Our first destination was, of course, the Mona Lisa. I have heard it really isn’t all that impressive before but after seeing it, I’d say that is sort of an understatement. Nonetheless, we all took pictures and continued to explore the museum which is really too big to properly describe in words. The glass pyramid which you often see is about 1/100th of the rest of the structure which stretches for many city blocks and is impossible to efficiently navigate. On our way out due to sheer exhaustion and other unknown reasons the four of us broke out into a spirited rendition of “All-Star” by Smashmouth singing it from start to finish and confusing the hell out of the various ethnic groups that overheard us.
I have never been much of a wine drinker but, much like my obsession with Keystone, at $2 a bottle we all gladly picked up a pair and proceeded to get properly hammered in true French style – something that became a nightly theme. Unable to completely remove ourselves from Midwest drinking culture, we played a bit of Gladiator to get things going followed by a few entertaining minutes on Chat Roulette before stumbling out onto the town. (I advise noone to go on Chat Roulette unless properly hammered; otherwise it is down-right creepy and awkward lol.) Ordering drunk food is so much harder in different languages. The series of pointing, laughter and chaos that went along with that were completely worth it once I got my first Nutella and banana crepe. OMG, probably the best thing ever! Anyways, the great thing about French wine is that it doesn’t have preservatives like its American counterparts and thus isn’t accompanied by the massive hangovers – much appreciated the next morning.
Unfortunately Paris got the Wisconsin bug on Saturday with about 30 degree temperatures and a mild mannered snowfall. According to Melanie and Katie it was the coldest day they have seen since they got there in January. I insisted it was my awful fortunes that accounted for this phenomenon. There was no chance that the 4 of us were going to let a little measly snow get in the way of our adventures, it just made them somewhat uncomfortable at times. It becomes rather hard to take pictures when your hands go numb after about a minute and beg to be back in your pockets. Fortunately for me I had brought my scarf and I felt right at home with the rest of the European crowds as we wandered to the Arc de Triomphe. Almost more amazing than the structure itself and the view of Paris from the top was the 8 lane round-about that circled it. There were no lane lines, no arrows, no instructions; cars just darted around facing every possible direction almost running into each other every fifteen sections. Clusterfuck seems to be the only word to accurately describe the madness. Going to the Eiffel Tower after that may have been the first time when I came to realize that I was in fact in Paris. Standing at the feet of that structure is an awe inspiring experience. I won’t go into much detail yet since we returned the following evening for one of the most incredible evenings of my life! Our drunken wanderings during the evening helped me to quantify why European people hold the stereotypes that they do of Americans. It is comical to see groups of people walking around bar districts all having a good time and enjoying themselves somewhat quietly and then to compare them to our group of 8 Americans who are yelling, dancing and singing ‘Pants on the Ground.’ We got a lot of dirty looks who just couldn’t appreciate the significance of ‘lookin’ like a fool with your hat turned sideways’ but we didn’t give a shit because we were having a great time. Honestly, overly drunk and loud is an American staple because it is fun as hell and you could care less what the surrounding world thinks.
Another hang-over free morning after two bottles of wine greeted us with the sun shining. We walked on down to the local Boulongerie (Bakery) and picked up some fresh, warm baguettes for breakfast and hopped the Metro entrance on our way to Sacre Couer or “The Church on the Hill.” Situated on the outskirts of the city on a hill (which required a hell of a climb to get to) the view of the city from the Cathedral is breathtaking. On top of the view, it was finally nice out and it was Valentine’s Day so all of the Parisian couples were happily making out on the steps of the plaza in front of Sacre Couer. Love was in the air! I was also delighted to find two robot performers doin’ their robo-things. Regrettably I could not work up the courage to battle with one. Following that experience, we took our time walking down the Seine on our way to meet up with the girls at the Eiffel that evening. In glorious fashion, they greeted us with 2 fresh baguettes and a few bottles of champagne to celebrate the holliday! Since we had some time to kill before dark, we went on an adventure to find the second Statue of Liberty made famous in National Treasurer 2 and per a request by Matthew Faster before I left. In the movie, Cage seems to look at the statue right next to the Eiffel Tower. In reality, the statue is like two miles away on a secluded little island where homeless people tent out and everything is in really shitty condition – goes to show you how much the French like Americans. Cole and Jack made sure to make an improvisational version of the ‘America, Fuck Yeah’ scene from Team America before we left haha!
As the sun set and darkness blanketed the city, we made our way to an island with a better view of the Tower to wait for it to light up and enjoy our champagne. Popping bottles into the Seine and eating baguettes with the glorious golden Eiffel Tower in the background was an experience unlike any other I’ve had before. Being able to drink in public places is really wonderful. On the same island there was an American couple who were visiting from London for a romantic V-Day evening. Our loudness and fervent picture taking probably ruined their evening and may or may not have pushed back the guy’s proposal to his beautiful girlfriend but oh well haha. I was not aware that the tower is equipped with a plethora of bright flashing white lights that go into a frenzy every hour on the hour to make the entire structure appear as if it is shimmering or sparkling in the night sky. It is really impossible to really quantify into words and I suggest everyone to YouTube it or at least look at some pictures. A few bottles of bubbly later we made the trek towards the tower to queue for the journey to the top of the tower. It was a bit freezing after standing there for an hour but when we made it to the second deck and, finally, the top it was the most picturesque view of anything I have ever seen. The shoreline of the Seine and all of the landmarks shone brightly against the night sky on the clear and brisk evening. Again, words really fail to properly describe the view and everyone should really check out my pictures. The entire experience was nothing short of jaw-dropping. Epic.
On Monday I met up with Darcy and her friend Abby as well as Noah in the evening because the three of them were just getting into Paris to spend their week off. It is really a ridiculous concept to get a phone call from a friend in a foreign city and go about meeting up with them especially considering how hard it is to get together in Madison some times. We enjoyed dinner and returned to Melanie and Katie’s place a little behind on the pre-game festivities. At about 11:45 we decided to hope on the Metro and go to Moulin Rouge to take some pictures even though the Metro closes at 12:30 and if we got stuck, it would take well over an hour to walk back home…sometimes you just have to ‘live dangerously’ haha! We knew it was going to be a fun experience when a French guy listening to ‘Run this Town’ accidentally unplugged his headphones and our entire metro car broke out into song to the vast confusion of many of the other commuters. At Moulin Rouge we had one of the most ridiculous picture taking extravaganzas ever and somehow managed to sprint back down to the Metro and catch it home before closing time! The tipsy walk home encapsulated all of our memories of the weekend and again was a perfect example of a group of rowdy Americans yelling, singing and having a great time at 1am. Probably didn’t make too many locals very happy but let me tell you, I won’t forget my Valentine’s Day in Paris anytime soon!
I actually have to write a few essays in the next 4 or 5 days so this weekend is going to be pretty chilled out but I meet up with Brandon Cibulka in Amsterdam next Thursday for another 4 day weekend filled with festivities…I can’t wait! In the meantime I am going to enjoy the proper blizzard we are currently getting and I hope everyone is doing really well! Stay in touch :)
Cheers,
Patrick
4:00am Friday February 12th. On par with my previous experiences with early morning travel departures, I was completely unable to fall asleep at any decent time the night before so I was forced awake after only an hour and a half of sleep in order to walk to the train station for our 5:43am departure to Paris! Despite being a little tired, realizing the fact that I was actually traveling to the famed ‘City of Lights’ held the energy equivalent of about 6 Red Bulls. After a quick high-speed rail ride underneath the English Channel, we (Mike, Cole, Jack and I) stepped out of our rail car in Harry Potter-esque fashion completely unable to believe where we now were. We also quickly realized that, between the 4 of us, we spoke a grand total of 8 French words and really had no idea what to do.
At this point we learned out first lesson about getting around in Paris – paying for the Metro is a complete waste of money. Cole originally informed us most people use one ticket for 2 people because the turnstiles and entry gates to get into the underground were easy to fit multiple people through. Given my terrible luck, I was reluctant to practice what we deemed the “Buddy System” originally but saving money took precedence. I also become much more comfortable with circumventing the system when I saw a man by 1 ticket for his family of 6, go through the entrance and then proceed to open the exit door so the rest of his family could walk through. Later in the trip, my fears were entirely removed when I watched a homeless man crawl through a 2x2 hole in a barrier to get into the Metro while 4 policemen were watching. He then proceeded to offer a cheerful ‘Bonjour’ to the squad and continue onward with his journey. After 4 days of traveling, I think it is safe to say that we all saved at least 20 Euro with the “Buddy System.”
We arrived at Melanie and Katie’s (study abroad students from UW in Paris) still relatively early in the morning excited to see some friendly faces, have some guidance on what to do to and that we didn’t have to pay for somewhere to stay. They almost instantly introduced us to the wonderful world of $2 bottles of wine and .90 Eurocent Baguettes dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette that would be the staples of our diet for the remaining 4 days. Although the weather was less than ideal and quite a bit colder than the London we left we couldn’t wait to get out and see the sights. Our first stop was the infinitely creepy Catacombs. In case you’re not familiar, the Catacombs are a series of abandoned mining tunnels that run under the streets of Paris where near 6 million people’s bones are arranged in ‘artistic’ patterns using the skulls to make crosses and hearts. I would highly advise a Wikipedia search or that anyone reading this take a look at my Facebook pictures to truly understand just how unspeakable and frightening that 2 mile walk was.
I was incredibly relieved to be above ground again as we set off on a lengthy walk towards Notre Dame and the Louvre. We quickly found out that walking around Paris is somewhat similar to using Stumble Upon on the internet; every time you turn a corner or look down a street you see something either incredible or famous. This first happened when we wandered into a large park and got our first sight of the Eiffel Tower silhouetted against the foggy horizon. Seeing the historic landmark for the first time made us all giddy with excitement. Personally, I really couldn’t believe it at the time and the entire experience would continue to be surreal for a few days. Our next ‘Stumble’ took us on a detour towards the Pantheon which we somehow neglected to see originally despite its towering stature and grandiose classical-inspired architecture. While walked from the Pantheon towards Notre Dame, I learned two very important lessons about Paris. Number 1 – the amount of PDA is overwhelming. Number 2 – gypsies are ruthless in their attempts to get tourists to give them spare change. At one point after Jack told her he didn’t have any extra change while he was conveniently eating a cheeseburger, she followed us across the street while yelling what I can only image were French obscenities or an ancient gypsy curse.
I won’t bore potential readers with constant descriptions of historical landmarks but I do think it is notable to elaborate on just how ridiculous it is to cross a street and all of a sudden be on the Seine River looking across its waters to the spires and stained glass windows of Notre Dame Cathedral. Places like that seemingly only exist in Disney movies or adventure epics starring Nicholas Cage and Tom Hanks so to actually be there was incredible. Often times, the 4 of us were speechless while we took endless photos of the landmarks we were viewing seemingly as a way to ensure that they were actually real. After Notre Dame, we all pointed westward and in our best attempt at copying Eurotrip we exclaimed “To the Louvre!” Unfortunately there was no robo-performer waiting to entertain us outside the large glass pyramid yet that may have been a good thing because we only had to que for 5 minutes to get in. Our first destination was, of course, the Mona Lisa. I have heard it really isn’t all that impressive before but after seeing it, I’d say that is sort of an understatement. Nonetheless, we all took pictures and continued to explore the museum which is really too big to properly describe in words. The glass pyramid which you often see is about 1/100th of the rest of the structure which stretches for many city blocks and is impossible to efficiently navigate. On our way out due to sheer exhaustion and other unknown reasons the four of us broke out into a spirited rendition of “All-Star” by Smashmouth singing it from start to finish and confusing the hell out of the various ethnic groups that overheard us.
I have never been much of a wine drinker but, much like my obsession with Keystone, at $2 a bottle we all gladly picked up a pair and proceeded to get properly hammered in true French style – something that became a nightly theme. Unable to completely remove ourselves from Midwest drinking culture, we played a bit of Gladiator to get things going followed by a few entertaining minutes on Chat Roulette before stumbling out onto the town. (I advise noone to go on Chat Roulette unless properly hammered; otherwise it is down-right creepy and awkward lol.) Ordering drunk food is so much harder in different languages. The series of pointing, laughter and chaos that went along with that were completely worth it once I got my first Nutella and banana crepe. OMG, probably the best thing ever! Anyways, the great thing about French wine is that it doesn’t have preservatives like its American counterparts and thus isn’t accompanied by the massive hangovers – much appreciated the next morning.
Unfortunately Paris got the Wisconsin bug on Saturday with about 30 degree temperatures and a mild mannered snowfall. According to Melanie and Katie it was the coldest day they have seen since they got there in January. I insisted it was my awful fortunes that accounted for this phenomenon. There was no chance that the 4 of us were going to let a little measly snow get in the way of our adventures, it just made them somewhat uncomfortable at times. It becomes rather hard to take pictures when your hands go numb after about a minute and beg to be back in your pockets. Fortunately for me I had brought my scarf and I felt right at home with the rest of the European crowds as we wandered to the Arc de Triomphe. Almost more amazing than the structure itself and the view of Paris from the top was the 8 lane round-about that circled it. There were no lane lines, no arrows, no instructions; cars just darted around facing every possible direction almost running into each other every fifteen sections. Clusterfuck seems to be the only word to accurately describe the madness. Going to the Eiffel Tower after that may have been the first time when I came to realize that I was in fact in Paris. Standing at the feet of that structure is an awe inspiring experience. I won’t go into much detail yet since we returned the following evening for one of the most incredible evenings of my life! Our drunken wanderings during the evening helped me to quantify why European people hold the stereotypes that they do of Americans. It is comical to see groups of people walking around bar districts all having a good time and enjoying themselves somewhat quietly and then to compare them to our group of 8 Americans who are yelling, dancing and singing ‘Pants on the Ground.’ We got a lot of dirty looks who just couldn’t appreciate the significance of ‘lookin’ like a fool with your hat turned sideways’ but we didn’t give a shit because we were having a great time. Honestly, overly drunk and loud is an American staple because it is fun as hell and you could care less what the surrounding world thinks.
Another hang-over free morning after two bottles of wine greeted us with the sun shining. We walked on down to the local Boulongerie (Bakery) and picked up some fresh, warm baguettes for breakfast and hopped the Metro entrance on our way to Sacre Couer or “The Church on the Hill.” Situated on the outskirts of the city on a hill (which required a hell of a climb to get to) the view of the city from the Cathedral is breathtaking. On top of the view, it was finally nice out and it was Valentine’s Day so all of the Parisian couples were happily making out on the steps of the plaza in front of Sacre Couer. Love was in the air! I was also delighted to find two robot performers doin’ their robo-things. Regrettably I could not work up the courage to battle with one. Following that experience, we took our time walking down the Seine on our way to meet up with the girls at the Eiffel that evening. In glorious fashion, they greeted us with 2 fresh baguettes and a few bottles of champagne to celebrate the holliday! Since we had some time to kill before dark, we went on an adventure to find the second Statue of Liberty made famous in National Treasurer 2 and per a request by Matthew Faster before I left. In the movie, Cage seems to look at the statue right next to the Eiffel Tower. In reality, the statue is like two miles away on a secluded little island where homeless people tent out and everything is in really shitty condition – goes to show you how much the French like Americans. Cole and Jack made sure to make an improvisational version of the ‘America, Fuck Yeah’ scene from Team America before we left haha!
As the sun set and darkness blanketed the city, we made our way to an island with a better view of the Tower to wait for it to light up and enjoy our champagne. Popping bottles into the Seine and eating baguettes with the glorious golden Eiffel Tower in the background was an experience unlike any other I’ve had before. Being able to drink in public places is really wonderful. On the same island there was an American couple who were visiting from London for a romantic V-Day evening. Our loudness and fervent picture taking probably ruined their evening and may or may not have pushed back the guy’s proposal to his beautiful girlfriend but oh well haha. I was not aware that the tower is equipped with a plethora of bright flashing white lights that go into a frenzy every hour on the hour to make the entire structure appear as if it is shimmering or sparkling in the night sky. It is really impossible to really quantify into words and I suggest everyone to YouTube it or at least look at some pictures. A few bottles of bubbly later we made the trek towards the tower to queue for the journey to the top of the tower. It was a bit freezing after standing there for an hour but when we made it to the second deck and, finally, the top it was the most picturesque view of anything I have ever seen. The shoreline of the Seine and all of the landmarks shone brightly against the night sky on the clear and brisk evening. Again, words really fail to properly describe the view and everyone should really check out my pictures. The entire experience was nothing short of jaw-dropping. Epic.
On Monday I met up with Darcy and her friend Abby as well as Noah in the evening because the three of them were just getting into Paris to spend their week off. It is really a ridiculous concept to get a phone call from a friend in a foreign city and go about meeting up with them especially considering how hard it is to get together in Madison some times. We enjoyed dinner and returned to Melanie and Katie’s place a little behind on the pre-game festivities. At about 11:45 we decided to hope on the Metro and go to Moulin Rouge to take some pictures even though the Metro closes at 12:30 and if we got stuck, it would take well over an hour to walk back home…sometimes you just have to ‘live dangerously’ haha! We knew it was going to be a fun experience when a French guy listening to ‘Run this Town’ accidentally unplugged his headphones and our entire metro car broke out into song to the vast confusion of many of the other commuters. At Moulin Rouge we had one of the most ridiculous picture taking extravaganzas ever and somehow managed to sprint back down to the Metro and catch it home before closing time! The tipsy walk home encapsulated all of our memories of the weekend and again was a perfect example of a group of rowdy Americans yelling, singing and having a great time at 1am. Probably didn’t make too many locals very happy but let me tell you, I won’t forget my Valentine’s Day in Paris anytime soon!
I actually have to write a few essays in the next 4 or 5 days so this weekend is going to be pretty chilled out but I meet up with Brandon Cibulka in Amsterdam next Thursday for another 4 day weekend filled with festivities…I can’t wait! In the meantime I am going to enjoy the proper blizzard we are currently getting and I hope everyone is doing really well! Stay in touch :)
Cheers,
Patrick
Friday, February 5, 2010
A Bit About School, Sports and Culture!
With three weeks under my belt, and a quick three weeks at that, I feel like less of a wandering fool on campus; it did take me a while to comprehend that the ground floor is commonly called Floor 0 instead of Floor 1. I know where all my of my classes are and am starting to get a feel for the one's I'm going to be skipping. On a semi-related note, the habits of crowds of people are absolutely infuriating. There are normally only 1 set of doors to get out of big lecture halls and every time you try to leave the people in the next class stand directly in front of them and do not let anybody get out. You have to push and shove your way through a crowd to leave and nobody moves. Moreover, people like to sit three-wide on stair cases and don’t move when you are walking up or down so you have to essentially jump over them. People walk 5 wide on the sidewalk and don’t move over when you have to pass going the opposite direction. I often feel like an asshole because I just run into people but hell, if they aren’t going to move then why should I?
It is still a bit strange for me to be on a campus that isn't directly connected to a city which limits the places I can go on a daily basis without having to spend one or two quid on a bus fare. There are a great deal of similarities to U.S. college culture. The relative distribution of individuals among their majors is still the same. Math and accounting are dominated by the Asian demographic and all of my teachers speak poor English. The other parts of the business school are a mix of down to earth people, people who like to wear suits and ties, and those ultra-conservative folks who are kind of hard to get along with. Professors drone through white PowerPoint slides with black bulleted text. Overall, much is similar between the education systems except the relative difficulty of the course work (much less demanding in Britain). History, like usual, brings interesting and very poorly dressed folks. Maybe I shouldn't be talking about dress codes though since I have moved to the bottom of the ladder in that department since coming here. Damn pea coats, scarves and brown/black leather shoes.
With the expansion of my free time, I decided to go check out the basketball courts and workout facility. Let’s just say that it’s not exactly the SERF. They only have 2 basketball courts and they aren’t open – you have to reserve them ahead of time if you want to play basketball because other people are always playing strange European sports. If you don’t reserve it, then you have to go at the specific times during the week that are allocated for basketball, it’s weird. The overall talent level is pretty horrendous although people tend to think they are good. It really is difficult to be good because offense and defense are just chaos with no rhyme or reason to anything; nobody moves where they are supposed to, rotates, helps, cuts or sets any screens to speak of. After realizing how out of shape I was, I headed up to the workout room and, for the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged in a weight room. Not exactly the meathead-palooza that you get in the States.
Every since I’ve been here, I have been running into Madison references all over the place which seems incredibly strange to me. I think the first one happened while we were watching the NFL Playoffs in London. During the halftime report the awful announcers for SkySports (a pathetic attempt to copy ESPN) made a phone call to their NFL correspondent in Madison, Wisconsin. First of all, I had no idea who the guy was and he knew nothing about football. Second, why the hell would Madison be the place to go to get an opinion on the NFL? Maybe Indianapolis or New York would have been better options as they were the ones who were playing. The next one happened after I came home from a club in Coventry at 3am on a Saturday night. Pretty spectacular club, the first three songs that played after we got drinks and got to the dance floor were Jump Around, Get Low and Soulja Boy haha! Anyways, I got home, went to the kitchen to make some food and turned on BBC Radio to hear them debate the ‘most European city’ in America and decide on Madison, Wisconsin!! I don’t really know if that’s a good or bad thing but I laughed out loud none the less. Again, what are the chances? It seemed ironic to me especially since absolutely nobody knows where Wisconsin is, much less Madison. When I’m out I’ve resorted to telling people I’m from Chicago a lot of the time so I don’t have to try to explain U.S. geography.
There are a lot of other things I have a lot of trouble explaining to the British population. The first is just how cold it is in Wisconsin. People always think I’m crazy when I go outside in just a long sleeve shirt when everyone else is bundled up. I always try to explain how this weather (40-45 degrees) is practically like spring to me to no avail. I have resorted to telling everyone that the average temperature in January is 10 degrees colder than what our freezer in the kitchen is set at! It is also very difficult to try to convey just how epic drinking culture in Madison is. If you haven’t experienced a football game day, Mifflin or Halloween and don’t understand the concept of a house party it really isn’t easy to try to talk up the way we party. Thank god for YouTube. Needless to say, my flat mates really enjoyed Jump Around! Then there was informing everyone about beer pong, flip cup, quarters, beer bongs and keg stands. I felt like I was reading a story to little kids with wide-eyes and open mouths.
Other than an unpleasant early morning evacuation reminiscent of the 3am wake-up calls in Sellery when drunk people pulled the fire alarm and made us all get up and walk outside in the freezing cold I don’t have any real adventures to report other than a few delightful drunken evenings (I’ve instated Thirsty Thursday!). However, I am heading to Paris next week from Feb. 12th to the 16th and am really excited about that! I will make sure to write and post pictures shortly after that to keep everyone up to date on my travels. I hope everyone is doing well on the home front and, like always, stay in touch!
Cheers,
Patrick :)
It is still a bit strange for me to be on a campus that isn't directly connected to a city which limits the places I can go on a daily basis without having to spend one or two quid on a bus fare. There are a great deal of similarities to U.S. college culture. The relative distribution of individuals among their majors is still the same. Math and accounting are dominated by the Asian demographic and all of my teachers speak poor English. The other parts of the business school are a mix of down to earth people, people who like to wear suits and ties, and those ultra-conservative folks who are kind of hard to get along with. Professors drone through white PowerPoint slides with black bulleted text. Overall, much is similar between the education systems except the relative difficulty of the course work (much less demanding in Britain). History, like usual, brings interesting and very poorly dressed folks. Maybe I shouldn't be talking about dress codes though since I have moved to the bottom of the ladder in that department since coming here. Damn pea coats, scarves and brown/black leather shoes.
With the expansion of my free time, I decided to go check out the basketball courts and workout facility. Let’s just say that it’s not exactly the SERF. They only have 2 basketball courts and they aren’t open – you have to reserve them ahead of time if you want to play basketball because other people are always playing strange European sports. If you don’t reserve it, then you have to go at the specific times during the week that are allocated for basketball, it’s weird. The overall talent level is pretty horrendous although people tend to think they are good. It really is difficult to be good because offense and defense are just chaos with no rhyme or reason to anything; nobody moves where they are supposed to, rotates, helps, cuts or sets any screens to speak of. After realizing how out of shape I was, I headed up to the workout room and, for the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged in a weight room. Not exactly the meathead-palooza that you get in the States.
Every since I’ve been here, I have been running into Madison references all over the place which seems incredibly strange to me. I think the first one happened while we were watching the NFL Playoffs in London. During the halftime report the awful announcers for SkySports (a pathetic attempt to copy ESPN) made a phone call to their NFL correspondent in Madison, Wisconsin. First of all, I had no idea who the guy was and he knew nothing about football. Second, why the hell would Madison be the place to go to get an opinion on the NFL? Maybe Indianapolis or New York would have been better options as they were the ones who were playing. The next one happened after I came home from a club in Coventry at 3am on a Saturday night. Pretty spectacular club, the first three songs that played after we got drinks and got to the dance floor were Jump Around, Get Low and Soulja Boy haha! Anyways, I got home, went to the kitchen to make some food and turned on BBC Radio to hear them debate the ‘most European city’ in America and decide on Madison, Wisconsin!! I don’t really know if that’s a good or bad thing but I laughed out loud none the less. Again, what are the chances? It seemed ironic to me especially since absolutely nobody knows where Wisconsin is, much less Madison. When I’m out I’ve resorted to telling people I’m from Chicago a lot of the time so I don’t have to try to explain U.S. geography.
There are a lot of other things I have a lot of trouble explaining to the British population. The first is just how cold it is in Wisconsin. People always think I’m crazy when I go outside in just a long sleeve shirt when everyone else is bundled up. I always try to explain how this weather (40-45 degrees) is practically like spring to me to no avail. I have resorted to telling everyone that the average temperature in January is 10 degrees colder than what our freezer in the kitchen is set at! It is also very difficult to try to convey just how epic drinking culture in Madison is. If you haven’t experienced a football game day, Mifflin or Halloween and don’t understand the concept of a house party it really isn’t easy to try to talk up the way we party. Thank god for YouTube. Needless to say, my flat mates really enjoyed Jump Around! Then there was informing everyone about beer pong, flip cup, quarters, beer bongs and keg stands. I felt like I was reading a story to little kids with wide-eyes and open mouths.
Other than an unpleasant early morning evacuation reminiscent of the 3am wake-up calls in Sellery when drunk people pulled the fire alarm and made us all get up and walk outside in the freezing cold I don’t have any real adventures to report other than a few delightful drunken evenings (I’ve instated Thirsty Thursday!). However, I am heading to Paris next week from Feb. 12th to the 16th and am really excited about that! I will make sure to write and post pictures shortly after that to keep everyone up to date on my travels. I hope everyone is doing well on the home front and, like always, stay in touch!
Cheers,
Patrick :)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Butter Beer, Crazy Clubs and Some Shennanigans in London
Good day everyone :)
I thought many of you might like to know that due to it being 'United Kingdom Day' at my Uni's 'One World Week,' the campus pub is serving Harry Potter's famous choice of refreshment - Butter Beer. I couldn't help but spend the noon hour typing and enjoying something that I built up to be very tasty. FAIL. I'm not entirely sure how butter beer is made, but when you receive it there are noticeable globs of oil floating at the top which are immediate turn offs. The next step is actually tasting it and, to my dismay, it doesn't get a whole lot better. Despite the flavor being rather enjoyable, the sweetness is overwhelming. Not to mention it coats your lips with a chap stick like film after every sip. With the amount of this stuff Harry, Ron and Hermione drank at Hogsmeade, I think J.K. Rowling probably should have devoted at least a small segment of the 5th or 6th book to Harry's horrible tooth ache caused by excessive amounts of sugar. I'm sure she could have spun it into some dark sign about a coming clash with Voldemort. I digress.
Anyways, the majority of this entry about another weekend in glorious London comes a few days late because of the realization that I actually have to go to school well I am here but none the less it’s about 6am back home as I type this so I don't presume anybody would have been up to read it if I wrote it any earlier.
Upon my arrival in London after catching another 6:50am bus on 3 hours of sleep, my plans were to meet Noah in the borough known as Camden Town at 10. When he showed, fashionably late at about 10:30 of course, we took off to explore the eclectic Camden Road and the many markets and shops that line its sidewalks. For 3 or 4 blocks the street is lined on both sides with individual shops selling everything under the sun. I could have easily bought a completely new wardrobe, got groceries and decorated a house. A bit further down the street lied the 'Stable Market' which is a 4 story stable from the 1800s converted into a market and filled with giant metal statues of horses. The whole idea is incredibly cool - each stable that formerly held a horse is now a small shop. The alleys wind back and forth and, much like the rest of Camden, sell things that make you want to constantly get out your wallet. Our exploration of Camden continued with a stroll down the Camden River looking for specific works of graffiti from the internationally known and incredibly talented social commentator Bansky (look him up if you’re not familiar!).
Post Camden, we took off on an epic adventure to find the historic Abbey Road and attempt to take the famous picture. We were essentially lost the entire way there but eventually stumbled across Abbey Road Studios after initially walking right past them. On the walk we spent almost an hour talking about how we were going to take the coolest picture possible on the cross walk only to discover and become a bit disheartened when we found out that it was a particularly busy 3-way intersection and we had to pretty much risk our lives to get any sort of photo hence my failed attempt in my Fbook album. Truth be told, I expected the spot to be a bit more tourist focused but it was still a great experience and we had fun playing frogger to get a picture taken while being flicked off by locals in their cars. To finish off my day with Noah, we took the tube to the National Portrait Gallery and looked at historically relevant and aesthetically comical portraits of Kings, Queens, academics and statesmen from throughout British and European history. Upon our departure from the Portrait Gallery, Noah and I parted ways and I took off to meet up with Mike, Cole and the gang for the evening out.
Due to a 15 pound cover, our original plans fell through yet we saw that as no reason why we shouldn't get drunk at least for ceremonial purposes. I don't know if it is available in America but cider is an incredibly efficient way to intoxicate yourself - it contains 5.5% alcohol instead of light beer's 3.8%. It shares some similarities with white wine in flavor and takes some getting used to. Overall it isn't much more filling than light beer so it works well to get real drunk relatively quickly and for cheap . We ended up deciding to go to a pub for some karaoke. Even though it would seem that Americans would not fit into the British karaoke scene (if such a scene exists?) we were rather surprised with the affinity for 80s and 90s American pop hits which made us feel right at home. Nothing like Journey duets to bridge cultural gaps.
While I am in no way complaining about the weather in comparison to what everyone is currently experiencing in Wisconsin, it should be noted that, in general, the sun doesn't come out in the morning over here. As a result, there is no real light to wake you up naturally when you go to sleep at 4:30 and thus you sleep until forever. The first time I opened my eyes on Saturday morning was 1pm. Ridiculous. To avoid being a complete piece of shit until we decided to start drinking again, I mustered up the energy to walk over to the British Museum and National Library. Both were pretty overwhelming in terms of the historical content they contained. At the library it was particularly to see original Shakespeare manuscripts, the Magna Carta and the first copies of Beatles songs written on the back of anything that happened to be handy to them at the time. The library in general was a bit easier to take in because it wasn't nearly as vast as the British Museum. In 2 and a half hours I barely managed to see all the exhibits in the place which ranged from Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt to the Renaissance and Medieval Europe to just name a few. It honestly made me tired only trying to take in a tiny fraction of the information available. Mummies and the Rosetta Stone were some notable sights but my slightly hung over brain was just not in any shape to do any profound learning.
Finally it was time to piece together our failed plans from Friday night and go to 'Fabric' - the club heralded by many an internet source to be the #2 to #4 club in the world! Making sure I got drunk enough to cope with 5 hours of techno/house music, we entered the doors at about midnight to a rush of laser lights, smoke and enough bass to make you uncomfortable. Their dance floors even have subwoofers to ensure that the vibrations make it through your entire body! Also the laser light shows coordinated to the beats and highlighted with large amounts of smoke were equally incredible. The experience of a real major European club is one that everyone should try to experience once. It was so unlike anything I've ever been to before: three stories of complete and udder chaos and euphoria among club goers. Pretty sure I got separated from my group for at least 45 minutes because I simply just couldn't find them after I went to the bathroom - an error only partially due to my drunkenness and mostly due to the darkness and giant expanse of space. I think it is safe to say I got offered illicit drugs at least 5 times which gave me a little insight that I was not on the level of most of those in attendance. At about 4, drenched in sweat and completely overwhelmed we all decided to head home. It is the first time in my life I have left somewhere at 4am and felt like I was leaving early (the club is actually open until 8am and there was a line to get in when we left)! I have made a very important realization about music as a result of my 'Fabric Experience' - lyrics in music are absolutely essential after a certain point. One can only 'fight the beat' Jersey Shore style for so long before you need something to sing or bob your head to.
In brief, Sunday involved a trip to the famous Brick Lane Market and a sort of Graffiti tour of East London. Everyone should definitely check out my Fbook pictures because some of the artists are absolutely incredible! We also had to pay a 5 pound cover to watch the football games in the only bar in London that was playing them. Entry fees are absolutely stupid and I hate them. Admittedly we got most of our entertainment during the Jets game by watching the crowd of Algerian natives who were watching Algeria take on the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations for soccer. Never have I seen people go so incredibly nuts over a sporting event. Every goal consisted of thundering uproar, everyone taking their shirts off and jumping up on the bars/pool tables and dancing and finally a series of coordinated cheers. I truly wish I was that passionate about anything! I ended up having to stay up until 4am to watch Favre throw his final pic, depressing. I really don’t think that the end of that game could have gone any slower. There were at least 5 booth reviews and then OT to top it off.
I hope that everyone is doing well on the home front and people are starting to get into the swing of things with classes. I know I've gotten a bit of a reality check this week that I actually have to put some mild effort into school while I'm here which is a semi-depressing thought. Who knew that when you take the first two weeks off that you will have some work to do on week 3? Leave comments and stay in touch like always!
Cheers ‘til next time,
Patrick
I thought many of you might like to know that due to it being 'United Kingdom Day' at my Uni's 'One World Week,' the campus pub is serving Harry Potter's famous choice of refreshment - Butter Beer. I couldn't help but spend the noon hour typing and enjoying something that I built up to be very tasty. FAIL. I'm not entirely sure how butter beer is made, but when you receive it there are noticeable globs of oil floating at the top which are immediate turn offs. The next step is actually tasting it and, to my dismay, it doesn't get a whole lot better. Despite the flavor being rather enjoyable, the sweetness is overwhelming. Not to mention it coats your lips with a chap stick like film after every sip. With the amount of this stuff Harry, Ron and Hermione drank at Hogsmeade, I think J.K. Rowling probably should have devoted at least a small segment of the 5th or 6th book to Harry's horrible tooth ache caused by excessive amounts of sugar. I'm sure she could have spun it into some dark sign about a coming clash with Voldemort. I digress.
Anyways, the majority of this entry about another weekend in glorious London comes a few days late because of the realization that I actually have to go to school well I am here but none the less it’s about 6am back home as I type this so I don't presume anybody would have been up to read it if I wrote it any earlier.
Upon my arrival in London after catching another 6:50am bus on 3 hours of sleep, my plans were to meet Noah in the borough known as Camden Town at 10. When he showed, fashionably late at about 10:30 of course, we took off to explore the eclectic Camden Road and the many markets and shops that line its sidewalks. For 3 or 4 blocks the street is lined on both sides with individual shops selling everything under the sun. I could have easily bought a completely new wardrobe, got groceries and decorated a house. A bit further down the street lied the 'Stable Market' which is a 4 story stable from the 1800s converted into a market and filled with giant metal statues of horses. The whole idea is incredibly cool - each stable that formerly held a horse is now a small shop. The alleys wind back and forth and, much like the rest of Camden, sell things that make you want to constantly get out your wallet. Our exploration of Camden continued with a stroll down the Camden River looking for specific works of graffiti from the internationally known and incredibly talented social commentator Bansky (look him up if you’re not familiar!).
Post Camden, we took off on an epic adventure to find the historic Abbey Road and attempt to take the famous picture. We were essentially lost the entire way there but eventually stumbled across Abbey Road Studios after initially walking right past them. On the walk we spent almost an hour talking about how we were going to take the coolest picture possible on the cross walk only to discover and become a bit disheartened when we found out that it was a particularly busy 3-way intersection and we had to pretty much risk our lives to get any sort of photo hence my failed attempt in my Fbook album. Truth be told, I expected the spot to be a bit more tourist focused but it was still a great experience and we had fun playing frogger to get a picture taken while being flicked off by locals in their cars. To finish off my day with Noah, we took the tube to the National Portrait Gallery and looked at historically relevant and aesthetically comical portraits of Kings, Queens, academics and statesmen from throughout British and European history. Upon our departure from the Portrait Gallery, Noah and I parted ways and I took off to meet up with Mike, Cole and the gang for the evening out.
Due to a 15 pound cover, our original plans fell through yet we saw that as no reason why we shouldn't get drunk at least for ceremonial purposes. I don't know if it is available in America but cider is an incredibly efficient way to intoxicate yourself - it contains 5.5% alcohol instead of light beer's 3.8%. It shares some similarities with white wine in flavor and takes some getting used to. Overall it isn't much more filling than light beer so it works well to get real drunk relatively quickly and for cheap . We ended up deciding to go to a pub for some karaoke. Even though it would seem that Americans would not fit into the British karaoke scene (if such a scene exists?) we were rather surprised with the affinity for 80s and 90s American pop hits which made us feel right at home. Nothing like Journey duets to bridge cultural gaps.
While I am in no way complaining about the weather in comparison to what everyone is currently experiencing in Wisconsin, it should be noted that, in general, the sun doesn't come out in the morning over here. As a result, there is no real light to wake you up naturally when you go to sleep at 4:30 and thus you sleep until forever. The first time I opened my eyes on Saturday morning was 1pm. Ridiculous. To avoid being a complete piece of shit until we decided to start drinking again, I mustered up the energy to walk over to the British Museum and National Library. Both were pretty overwhelming in terms of the historical content they contained. At the library it was particularly to see original Shakespeare manuscripts, the Magna Carta and the first copies of Beatles songs written on the back of anything that happened to be handy to them at the time. The library in general was a bit easier to take in because it wasn't nearly as vast as the British Museum. In 2 and a half hours I barely managed to see all the exhibits in the place which ranged from Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt to the Renaissance and Medieval Europe to just name a few. It honestly made me tired only trying to take in a tiny fraction of the information available. Mummies and the Rosetta Stone were some notable sights but my slightly hung over brain was just not in any shape to do any profound learning.
Finally it was time to piece together our failed plans from Friday night and go to 'Fabric' - the club heralded by many an internet source to be the #2 to #4 club in the world! Making sure I got drunk enough to cope with 5 hours of techno/house music, we entered the doors at about midnight to a rush of laser lights, smoke and enough bass to make you uncomfortable. Their dance floors even have subwoofers to ensure that the vibrations make it through your entire body! Also the laser light shows coordinated to the beats and highlighted with large amounts of smoke were equally incredible. The experience of a real major European club is one that everyone should try to experience once. It was so unlike anything I've ever been to before: three stories of complete and udder chaos and euphoria among club goers. Pretty sure I got separated from my group for at least 45 minutes because I simply just couldn't find them after I went to the bathroom - an error only partially due to my drunkenness and mostly due to the darkness and giant expanse of space. I think it is safe to say I got offered illicit drugs at least 5 times which gave me a little insight that I was not on the level of most of those in attendance. At about 4, drenched in sweat and completely overwhelmed we all decided to head home. It is the first time in my life I have left somewhere at 4am and felt like I was leaving early (the club is actually open until 8am and there was a line to get in when we left)! I have made a very important realization about music as a result of my 'Fabric Experience' - lyrics in music are absolutely essential after a certain point. One can only 'fight the beat' Jersey Shore style for so long before you need something to sing or bob your head to.
In brief, Sunday involved a trip to the famous Brick Lane Market and a sort of Graffiti tour of East London. Everyone should definitely check out my Fbook pictures because some of the artists are absolutely incredible! We also had to pay a 5 pound cover to watch the football games in the only bar in London that was playing them. Entry fees are absolutely stupid and I hate them. Admittedly we got most of our entertainment during the Jets game by watching the crowd of Algerian natives who were watching Algeria take on the Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations for soccer. Never have I seen people go so incredibly nuts over a sporting event. Every goal consisted of thundering uproar, everyone taking their shirts off and jumping up on the bars/pool tables and dancing and finally a series of coordinated cheers. I truly wish I was that passionate about anything! I ended up having to stay up until 4am to watch Favre throw his final pic, depressing. I really don’t think that the end of that game could have gone any slower. There were at least 5 booth reviews and then OT to top it off.
I hope that everyone is doing well on the home front and people are starting to get into the swing of things with classes. I know I've gotten a bit of a reality check this week that I actually have to put some mild effort into school while I'm here which is a semi-depressing thought. Who knew that when you take the first two weeks off that you will have some work to do on week 3? Leave comments and stay in touch like always!
Cheers ‘til next time,
Patrick
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