another day in the neighborhood

I'll probably be roaming around Spain for a good 10 days if not 12, depending on the teachers decision to let me skip an extra class. I have Ireland, lake district, and Switzerland all booked, that and also Italy at the end!!! I'm so excited, Tomorrow I'm going to book Amsterdam and Greece, cool huh? Hopefully I can roam Spain and speak spanish for over a week, and even hit Tangier (where Jason Bourne went, yes!!).

We went exploring today and hiking all around the outskirts of the Harlaxton Grounds, it was pretty awesome. In the picture on the left are my brothers. From left to right: Marques, Aaron, me JT and then Travis. On the right: JT is on the left and Aaron is in the middle. We're on top of a building we found. Got ahead with some homework today and now am going to sleeeeeeeeeep.

brad the builder

The Harlaxton Lions: Sports Edition

There's our basketball team for this semester. The picture is missing 4 other girls so its close to being even.

Our first basketball practice was Monday as it was awesome. Getting back in the mix of sports was pretty sweet. We had our first volleyball practice the following day and it was even better. It's going to be interesting playing on a real team. Wednesday, we had our first basketball team. We had 2 students coaching us and it was pretty sweet. We were supposed to play a 16-18 year old team, however we ended up playing giant old guys, wonderful.

We have two big men and one the refs seemed to call a foul on EVERY single time he got in a defensive stance. As a direct effect of foul trouble, small people had to guard big people and their big men scored most of their points. Everyone got in and it was a lot of fun. The crowd was big and loud and cheered every time someone scored a point no matter how it went in. It was awesome. We ended up losing 74-56 but made a good 20-4 run in the 4th quarter. We'll pull it together here in the next couple of games and we'll be good to go.

I cannot wait for volleyball practice tonight, nor our first game, here.we.come.

-brad the baller

You can't imagine.....

That's me (in my Harlaxton hoodie)and the Parliament Building, and on the right Big Ben. I have over 250 pictures my trip to London. It was complexly amazing.

We took a coach to get there and it was a good 5 hours on the bus to London because we had to let our administration off to deal with the hotel rooms and etc. so we took a bus tour for a bit, that most of us slept through. When we were finally free Friday at around 2, we decided to go to Platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter's port to the Hogwarts Express) and take a look at that in Kings Cross. The tube system was 6.30 pounds per day for the whole day and was definitely a great way to travel around one of the largest cities in the world. After platform 9 3/4 a group of us decided to go see Big Ben and the Parliament Building. So we did. We saw Big Ben and the Parliament Building and even got to see the outside of Westminster Abby. As the sun set, the lights were turned on and the city looked pretty awesome. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in China Town, and had a buffet for 4.95 pounds, hah. We got back to our hotel and had a couple drinks with the group and then we walked around London that night, a great night. Saturday morning we left the hotel at 10am and went to Leicester Square to buy half-price tickets for a show later that night. We ended up getting Wicked tickets, which most of us wanted to see, and we got them pretty cheap. After we bought our tickets for the show later that night, we proceeded to the National Gallery which was free so that's good. I could have spent the entire day in this museum however I wanted to see the inside of Westminster Abby. SOMEHOW, no one knows, but I was separated from the group in the National Gallery and spent the rest of the day by myself. I walked from Trafalgar Square to Westminster and soaked in a bit of the culture and finally I was there.

What turned out to be my favorite part of my trip was in front of me. I paid my 12 pounds to get into Westminster Abby and immediately was set back by the absolutely amazing rib vaults in the high ceilings of this enormous chapel. I grabbed a audio tour and started my tour around the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my life. I started my tour in disbelief and awe. As I proceeded throughout the chapel I couldn't believe the history I was standing on. There are hundreds of kings, poets, queens, outcasts, and other random people buried below the Abby, and I was conveniently walking all over them. The Lady Chapel. The Lady Chapel was a grand room built by Henry the VII as a burial tomb for him and his wife. The room was a golden color and the only way I could describe it to you is if you were there with me. The genius architecture was amazing, I kept asking myself as well as the helpers (historians) how on earth did they accomplish this over 1,000 years ago? When you stepped into this room, it, whatever "it" was, hit you. Maybe it could be described as holiness, maybe it could be described as majestic, but whatever you want to say, it was absolutely incredible. I spend over an hour in this room reading and listening to all the stories the audio guide and the helpers offered. After awhile of standing and looking up at the main portion of the high ceiling, it brought me to tears.

Needless to say I closed down the Westminster Abby that Saturday, spending a total time of almost 3 hours in the chapel. I bought my first souvenir here which was a post card flip book thing that has pictures of the inside since I couldn't take pictures.

I left the Abby, and went back to the hotel for a short nap and then we all headed to dinner and the show. We had a sandwich in a little hole in the wall place where I had my first Dr. Pepper over here which was a nectar from the Heavens. We got into Wicked, and I had volunteered to sit alone while the others sat together because we were cheap, but I was a good 6 rows in front so hah. I sat by an 11 year old that thought I talked funny. So she made fun of me until the show started so that's always a good time. Wicked, which is the real story of the wicked witch of the west, was pretty awesome. The wicked witch was green and she stole the show.

After the show, we all went back to the hotel and hung out with people from Harlaxton and talked and had a grand 'ol time. Sunday we woke up and got on the bus and traveled to Hampton's Court, where the infamous Henry the VIII lived. The gardens were amazing as well as the insides, however, compared to the Abby it was nowhere near as extravagent. We left and got back to Harlaxton in time for dinner and homework, it was good to be back "home".

-brad the basher

1st day of classes at Hogwarts

The first day of classes consisted of quite a few interesting things. First of all, my class was at 8:30 in the morning -__- not cool. At BU we try not to schedule those unless you're a fish who can't get into any better times. So 8:30 came pretty early, but I was still really excited. Gosh I love school. The whole campus (app. 140 students plus 20 or so teachers) were all in the long gallery. I know I have still yet to post pictures that are more enticing than the ones that are up, but it'll come.
Professor Bujack was to give the lecture today. He started off with the history of the states in the UK and talked about England quite a bit. When he spoke however, I couldn't help but notice his British accent which to me, sounded like a friend I had in my younger days (Austin Zwick). Words such as current and great were being pronounced curwent and gweat. hahaha. To say the least I had a great time during the lecture not only listening to the history of the states in the United Kingdom, which only became the UNITED kingdom a mere 70 years before the USA was born, but writing down every word I heard that reminded me of my friend so long ago. As professor Bujack showed us "one of the most important images in the history of the UK," he stated that "this picture is extra special since these 5 guys were in the same woom. I couldn't hold myself together very well, but had to considering I think I was the only person being extra critical of his words that day. Wow, that was funny. Some supplementary words were wapid, weigned, welic, Euwopean, gwoups, and Bwitain to say a few. Now don't get me wrong, I am not making fun of this brilliant professor, it just took me back to the days of my childhood friends and the many adventures we had, hahhaha (Go Wangers!!!)
Immediately following our lecture (British time-meaning 20 minutes), we have a British studies seminar where we discuss the lecture and further pursue the topics. I like my teacher professor Helen Snow, and we had a good time. OH, I ALMOST FORGOT! I drew some Sarah Siddons for my 10 page term paper, but luckily noone picked WILLIAM WALLACE and I'll be writing my 10 page paper of him, AWESOME!
After the seminar, I had to blow 35 minutes which isn't enough time to accomplish anything, especially on the first day with zero reading assigned, before my physics class. Professor is Bunton my physics teacher and he is definitely a physics teacher. This guy knows his stuff. He explained the process of a nuclear power plant and somehow connected it to a teapot. We discussed Artistotly and Galileo (whose last name is Galilei) and ended class with a 2nd story dropping of two balls of different weights hitting a box at almost the same time. Physics-cool.
After a good lunch, integrated marketing communication was next. Chuck is a professor from Eau Claire, and is someone who you would want teaching you marketing. He is enthusiastic and of course has his credentials, but my favorite part is he gets everyone to talk during class. The man is always smiling. Marketing is good!
I went to town to look around and got some shampoo and cola and a notebook. I came back, took a nap, went to dinner, worked out, did homework and then finally just chilled in my room. Good first day.

-brad the bozo

Goose

The High Table Dinner, which I didn't mention was supposed to be exactly like the entrance dinners in the Harry Potter movies. The professors as well as the students are supposed to be dressed in robes and the professors seated on a higher platform ex. Harry Potter. Anyways, after the dinner, we, as a student body decided to go to the Goose for our first taste of British nightlife. I called a taxi from the red old school telephone booth that is free local calls. The taxi's took awhile, but we finally made it. 9 pounds later we were at the Goose. From all the talk about foreign pubs, I didn't think it would be all that big, however this way of good size (about the size of an endzone plus some). We saw all the others and it took off from there. A pitcher of Fosters was a first for me, and the night was grand. We pub hopped with a few locals, Gary and Keel, and got back pretty late. Granite, we all slept till 11 the following morning and then had more orientation stuff all today. I signed up for the volleyball and basketball teams and am going to sign up for a student committe as well. First day of classes tommorow so that should be interesting. Adios.

-brad the brilliant

getting situated

So I'm here, sweet. Apparently, I must of been tired because the guys said I snored. Great, growing up into a logger like my father. Hopefully it was just because I hadn't had a good nights rest in a day or so. So the first Saturday that we got here, we ate breakfast which consisted of cereal, and "semi skimmed" milk (my choice over skimmed), wonderful -__- But the combination of sugar packets and un-frosted flakes soon filled my stomach.
We then had and into meeting to all the staff and welcoming us to Harlaxton and stuff like that. Dr. Kingsley is a funny guy and smiles a lot, in turn, I like him. He told us a story. While he was at William Jewell, they were not doing too hot in reaching their goals about 5 years ago (he also mentioned that Baker U wouldn't have known cuz who wants to tell their rival that they are doing horrible). He was very frustrated and he talked about finding himself, talking to God, and something else I can't remember; however, those didn't seem to work out so somehow found himself in an Irish Pub in Ireland, go figure. He stated that he was just doing what baptists do, "they drink, just not in front of one another." I laughed at this quite heavily since I was imagining my friends that go along those lines. hahaha. We sang the Garden Song that he learned in that pub that somehow connected to his life, and he LOVES that song. We sang it at least 4 times, and I started to like it. We looked it up on youtube, and John Denver sings it on the muppets, or Sesame Street, lol check it out. We were sort-of introduced to the staff and faculty and then we were off to Grantham.

Morrisons is the walmart of England, or at least Grantham, and it was pretty cool. I got a towel and some laundry stuff and some Morrisons brand Cola. I asked the boy/guy working there what their cheapest wine was and lo and behold, 2.97 pound wine from spain, hah. I did't get any quite yet. The British seemed to have it figured out, the check out people were sitting in office chairs as they worked and seemed to be doing a lot of D.O.-ing, but who am I to tell them to get to work. By the way, it was packed. Since I was a dummy and didn't bring my backpack, we opted to NOT walk around Grantham carrying our grocery bags like a bunch of "wankers" and headed back to Harlaxton to take a nap. The 2 hours nap that we all took was MARVELOUS. We then got ready for the High Table Dinner with the rest of the school. I liked to think that the tweed jacket looked pretty dang good compared to some of the other stuff I saw, and I reluctantly realized that I had forgot my bow tie at home, haha. We had a bit of a reception in the Great Hall, which I'll post pictures of later, in which I had 3 glasses of "wine punch". I don't think the alcohol content was very high because I could have drank at least 6 glasses, gooood stuff.
We were assigned tables, table 7, and I took the aisle seat across from the only other guy at my table. He was cool, but the girls next to me were not. Annnnnoyyying. O well, there was food, and also wine! I am not a connoisseur of wine just yet, however, I do believe the wine we were given might have been the wine I asked about in Morrisons. The salad, chicken, garlic potatoes, cooked yet raw tasting green beans!! and the chocolate delight were alllllll excellent. I even had a cup of hot tea! (with 3 spoons of sugar (: ) During the end of our dinner and dessert time, we heard about all the professors and all their credentials, which was quite a lot. There are some very smart people teaching here this semester. So we finished, and we were off to the Goose...

-brad the brilliant

Day 1 @ the Castle

When we got here we were given keys and little electronic things that let us into the castle. It turned out that me Kyla and Aaron were in the Carriage House. It's away from the castle about 200 yards, and prettty sweet. As Aaron and I got to our room, we realized that we were in a room of 4, cool. So thanks to George we both got top bunks to Travis (O' Claire)and JT (William Jewell). No big deal, and both these guys turned out to be cool.
After unpacking just a bit, we all ate dinner and I met one of the professors, Chuck. He just plopped himself down at our table and introduced himself. Turns out he teaches both of my marketing classes, which is pretty sweet. So he knows me and Alexis already, which could prove to be handy. For dinner we had fish and chips (french fries) and PEAS!!!! It was excellent after the long trips with no real food. When dinner was finished, we met in our groups and I happen to be apart of the Levellers group. We said our names and stuff and got a mini tour of the bottom level of the castle. After that I walked around with Alexis and looked for secret passage ways and lemme tell ya, they must be called secret for a reason, I didn't find a single one. Before I went to bed, I had a glass of wine at the Bistro, which is the bar that is located in the bottom of the castle, and the only place you can have alcohol on this dry campus, hah. I came back and skyped (video chatted and talk) a bit with some people up in the castle and then went to bed. Day 1 in the books.

-brad the brute

1 down n only 27 more hours till Harlaxton

Seeing I couldn't blog while in Raleigh North Carolina because of a WIFI shortage, I'll play a little catch up. I arrived at the Raleigh Airport at approximately 10:30 in the morning on Jan 8th. My departing flight to London Heathrow was at 6:20 that night, and it took all of 5 episodes of my new favorite show Chuck, and 3 complete tours of the airport in Raleigh to fill my 8 hour layover.
I sat in front of an older couple on the plane who happened to be going to India to sit under the tree that The Buddha sat under while he contemplated what he was on Earth for, and how he should live his life. Anyways, a 30 year old lady sat next to me and she was going to teach in Barthelona. I slept a little bit, but the best part about my flight was when we were flying above London waiting for a runway to clear and we got to see the moon. It was the yellowest FULL moon I have ever seen. It was absolutely amazing, flying into London, and seeing an almost gold medal in the sky, pretty sweet. Getting to London Heathrow was juuuussst the beginning!
While waiting in line at customs, I stood in front of a stinky person, and was also behind one as well. Stink sandwich, awesome. The black lady who checked my passport didn't seem to like the fact that I was studying abroad in some podunk college named Harlaxton, BUT I got through and proceeded to find my luggage. The baggage claim was a bit of a melting pot. There were more cultures in this baggage claim than I have ever seen. I saw ladies who literally had ONLY their eyes covered, as well as guys rocking mullets that would be considered hazing to sophomores Baker U, or Grapevine High. Anyways, my baggage came, but couldn't help but notice an Indian woman repeatedly stating that her bag was long and black to her husband (haha) naturally, 90% of the bags were long and black and I think her husband was very confused.
We all got our luggage and met the Harlaxton rep where we were given tags according to which section of the Manor we would be living in. I got a blue ribbon while the rest of the group seemed to get red, except for Kyla, and my new made friend Aaron (William Jewell). Our plane arrived at 6:50, and we didn't get on our "coach" (bus) until around 10:30. A lot of new names were being processed.
Luckily, since we were the first flights to arrive, we got to got SOUTH (the opposite direction of Harlaxton) and go to Gatwick airport to get the maybe 5 arrivals they had there. We were all tired of traveling and just wanted to get there when George, our bus driver who liked to repeat that London was always sunny as a sarcastic joke to whomever would listen, decided to take a 45 minute rest stop. WE DIDN'T NEED A REST STOP! We were tired and ready to get to school, but didn't want to sleep or rest so we could beat the infamous jet lag that everyone always talks about (beat it in one day by the way, I'm good to go).
So thanks to George, we arrived to Harlaxton around 3:30, yep 5 hours on a bus after more than 9 hours on a plane and quite a bit of waiting time. But we were here so thats all that matters.

-brad the brave

And the adventure begins @ 4:30....oops, 4:55

So thanks to an absolutely wonderful alarm on my cell phone(set at the forgiving time of 4:30), I didn't wake up until 4:55am when dad called. With some last minute packing, parents 5am breath, and sleep in my eyes, dad and I took off for the airport. With a "haveeee fuuuuuuuun" advice from my mom in my mind, I started to get a bittttt more excited. When we got to the airport, at 5:34am mind you, my passport wouldn't scan. After manually entering in my passport information and 2 checked bags of 42 and 43 lbs, I was off!!!! (off to sit for an hour and a half waiting to board the plane)
You probably want to know what I packed in order to live for 4 months in another country. Around 15 t-shirts, some "go out"shirts, 2 dress shirts, a pair of cargo shorts, a bathing suit!, 4 pairs of shoes and 1 pair of flip flops, a deflated soccer ball, a football, and some other warm clothes. The laptop I just got recently and has turned out to be pretty awesome. With Complete seasons of Chuck and Heroes, I hope to keep occupied for the next 24 on my trip to London Heathrow.
So I'm here in the airport with MAYBE 20 people in my line of site sitting at this computer station that I couldn't find since the WIFI in DFW is centrally located in a 5X5 foot area, haha. I haven't spotted this Stacey Braken that is supposidly on my flight with me who is also going to Harlaxton, but hopefully my openly placed BRIGHT ORANGE tag will help me.