Reflection

Well I sit here in my pretty much empty room ready to leave England to go back home to the United States in about 12 hours or so.. I can't say enough what this experience has done for me as a person and all the wonderful memories that I will always cherish. I got to travel Europe with my two new American friends, Cory and Grant. We saw things, in three months, that some people don't even get to see in a lifetime. Our trips were usually filled with countless hours of laughter, most of it probably not even that funny to anyone else but ourselves. We all live near each other in the United States and we talk about hanging out a lot this summer! I wish Cory the greatest of luck at Oxford, where he will be studying philosophy with the best of the best. I know he will love every minute of it. I wish Grant the best of luck in lacrosse this spring at Messiah. They play at Elizabethtown this year and although I won't be rooting for Messiah as a team, I will be rooting Grant on individually!! Next, I have to truly thank our directors, Denise and Sandy. Without their help, I would of been lost in Cheltenham and not being able to find where any of my classes are!! They were our surrogate Mothers for 3 months and I seriously can't thank them enough!! Last but not least, my English flat mates and friends. I will never, ever forget the times we had together and the kindness you showed me from the first day we had together. You guys (Jack, Ryan, Sonny, Alex, Sam, Hannah, Lizzie, Emily, Jess, Jono, Lloyd, Greg, Stu, Shim, and anyone else I forgot!) made my experience here the best time of my entire life and that is something I will forever be grateful for. It's amazing how people can come together no matter where they come from. I know that I will be back to visit everyone as England as shown me that it truly has a lot to offer as a country. Also, I can't thank my Mom and Dad enough for letting me leave the nest for 3 months and do something that I have always wanted to do. I know I haven't been home that often in the past year but I can't wait to enjoy the holidays with everyone. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who followed me throughout my trip and although this was my first blog, I had a blast writing entires.

So I fibbed....Just a little bit

I know my last post says that the Aston Villa match was my last football game...Well, I totally forgot that I had one more game to go to!!! My English friend Jack is a diehard Exeter City F.C. fan. They are in League 1, which is two leagues below the Premiership (soo it goes Premiership, Championship, League 1, League 2, Blue Square Premiership, etc..) Now, Exeter is a success story in lower league football. Two years ago, they were in the Blue Square Premiership, one of the lowest divisions of English professional football. In two seasons, they got promoted to league 2, then up again to league 1. Exeter were playing playing in Bristol against Bristol Rovers last night and Jack was able to secure me, Sonny, and him three tickets in the away section. Bristol Rovers stadium seats about 12,000 and the atmosphere was awesome!!! (even though it was freezing and raining at some points) There were no seats in the away section, so we stood the whole game. Bristol ended up winning 1-0 but Exeter played a hell of a game, totally dominating the 2nd half and stat sheet. I can't thank Jack enough for getting tickets and Sonny for driving!!

P.S. The video here will hopefully give you a little glimpse of the passion of the fans.

The last football game....

Once again thanks to some awesome friends I have, I was able to go to another Premiership football match!!! My English friend Jack was able to get tickets to an Aston Villa game through his friend that is a season ticket holder. Our seats were in the North End, just above one of the goals. Villa happened to be playing Tottenham on the occasion, with both teams in the top 5 of the table just behind Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal. Villa started the scoring in the 9th minute, with Gabby Agbonlahor slotting in a scramble in front of the net. After that, Villa wasn't able to create many more chances and Tottenham began to press. In the 77th minute, the ball came to skipper Michael Dawson of Tottenham and he chested it down and blasted it into the upper right 90 of the goal just outside the goal box!! The game ended up a 1-1 draw, which keeps Tottenham in 4th place with Villa one point behind in 5th. Unfortuantely, this game meant that it would be my last football game while I am still in England :( I can't even describe to everyone how much fun these games were!! Yesterday's game in Birmingham was probably the coldest sporting event I have ever sat through (I think I have played in colder but you are moving around) and it didn't matter to me at all. The passion the fans have for their teams in England is unlike anything you will ever experience in the United States. Sure, everyone for the most part follows their NFL team with reckless abandon but what NFL team has at least 5 chants that all the fans know by heart?? These games I went to are something I will never forget for the rest of my life and I hope to make it back someday, hopefully with some of my American friends who have never experienced English football. In other news, my time in England is dwindling very fast as I only have 13 more days left before I leave!!! The trip to Aston Villa was my last one out of Cheltenham and I plan to cherish these last two weeks with all the new friends I have made. Keep reading the blog as I plan to update twice before I leave for home with some reflection of my time here in Cheltenham Spa and all the experiences I enjoyed!!!!

Visiting my Sister in Athens, Greece

A couple days ago I returned from another one of my amazing weekend trips!!! This time, I was in Athens, Greece to visit my sister who is studying with at the City University of Athens for the semester. My trip didn't start out very well at all!!! Cory, Grant, and I left Cheltenham Spa at 2:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and arrived at London Gatwick airport at 6 a.m. One problem. About an hour into my bus ride, I realized I had left my passport in my dorm room in Cheltenham. Don't ever do this because you can't fly anywhere without it haha. Sooo, I got a bus from Gatwick at 6:20 a.m. that stopped at London Heathrow first and eventually back to Cheltenham. I arrived in Cheltenham around 11:15 a.m. and quickly found another flight from London Heathrow that was leaving at 4:40 p.m. I boarded a bus at 12:30 p.m. in Cheltenham and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. None the less, I landed in Athens about 10:10 p.m. Athens time (it's 2 hours ahead of England). My sister was waiting for me at the airport and it was very relieving (and awesome to see her of course!!). I went straight to bed at the guys apartment (where I was staying). On Friday, my travelmates and I were lucky enough to be invited to go on a day trip with the rest of the BCA Athens group. Our first stop was the Epidarus theatre, which is the middle picture. It has amazing acoustics, as you can hear any sound all the way from the top. What's even more impressive is the fact that it was built in the 4th century B.C. and is in very good shape. To get to this theatre, you pass by the Corinth canal (the third picture of Rich and I is at the canal). The Corinth canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. My sister plans on bungee jumping it sometime in the near future!!!(with my mother freaking out from this news haha). After the theatre, we made our way to the citadel of Mycenae. Mycenae was a military stronghold that dominated southern Greece in the 2nd millenium B.C. The whole site has been excavated and it had an awesome view of the rest of the countryside. The next day, my sister was nice enough to take us to the Acropolis, even though she was already been before. We climbed Mars Hill (right next to the Acropolis), where the apostle Paul delivered his famous speech (and also where we posed for many Boy Band pictures). After that, we headed up to the Acropolis, where we saw the Parthenon. It's amazing to think how far in history the Parthenon goes back and that you are actually staring at in person. We then preceded to go downtown to the shopping area, where Sarah and I accidently bumped into two Elizabethtown professors!!! It's such a small world, as they recognized Sarah's Etown shirt. They were in Athens for a conference. I also ate a Gyro, which was absolutly delicious and got to see Laura Lesnick(Our friend from high school who came to visit), who I haven't seen in forever!!! I have to thank my sister especially for taking care of Grant, Cory, and I and also all the other BCA Athens students for being so nice and showing us around without any complaining. Grant, Cory, and I can't stop talking about how much fun we had and all the new friends that we made. The Athens trip was my last out of country trip for the semester and it couldn't of ended on a better note. I will always cherish the chances I had to travel in Europe and it has opened my eyes to the world. Continue to follow my blog, as I am going to another football game this Saturday and I will be providing some reflection posts in the last couple of weeks. Wherever you are, stay classy and live life to the fullest!!!

Roma, Italia

My trip to Rome this past weekend was unbelievable. I mean to see on TV programs where the Pope stands for mass, the Colosseum, and the Vatican are one thing but too see it in person, it leaves you speechless. Cory, Grant, and I arrived in Rome at about 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. We waited at the airport for a long time for a Terravision bus, as it's the only way to get from Rome Ciampiano to the city center. The bus finally arrived after about an hour and a half and we were on our way. Intially, our first impressions of Rome were skewed. On our way in, building after building was covered with grafitti. I mean I have been to some of the East Coast's roughest cities but Rome's grafitti was like none other. However, as we got closer to the historical areas, the city was beautiful. Our first views of old Rome were the old aqueduct systems that still stand throughout the city, although not connected anymore. After about 40 minutes, we arrived at Termini station, the main transportation hub of Rome. Our hostel was only about a 2 minute walk down the road and it was easy to find. For once, we stayed in a hostel that was clean for the most part!!!! Our first thought was to get some food, as we were starving and you have to pay for food on RyanAir flights!! A wonderful Italian restaurant was 2 stores down and we sat down for a wonderful meal. We all got a Margherita pizza, which is basically just cheese with tomato sauce. We learned that in Rome they actually don't work all the dough of the pizza with their hands (a misconception that all of Italy makes pizza the same way!). In Rome, they use a roller like they would in the United States and other cities such as Naples they work the dough with just their hands. After eating, all of us had to take a nap because we had not slept the night before at all. After napping, we wandered down to the Colosseum to see what it was like at night and it was absolutly amazing. We couldn't wait to come back in the morning. The next day, we went to the Colosseum and walked around for a long time. It was nice because we got a Roma pass, which allowed us to get into two monuments for free and unlimited travel on Rome's transportation system for three days. The Roma Pass allowed us to skip the 45 minute wait to get into the Colosseum. During the day, we were also able to see the Trevi Fountain, and the Spainish Steps. We also visited the Pantheon, not to be confused with the Parthenon of Greece. Outside the Pantheon, we wandered into Miscellanea Pub to grab some coffee. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the owner Michelangelo. He shook all of our hands and put his arm around me like he had known me his whole life!! Anyway, we sat down and talked with us for like 30-40 minutes about him time in American and about Greece in general. He ended up giving us a free piece of cake each. Also, we got pictures from behind the bar with him and he gave us some free shots of Southern Comfort too!! He even ended up knocking off like 2 euros of our bill as well. The hospitatility of Michelangelo is something I will never forget and since it's an international students' pub, we plan on sending him some Messiah and Elizabethtown gear. On Sunday, we spent all day in Vatican City. We were able to go to the top of St. Peters Basilica (which was 550+ stairs) and see all of Rome. It was neat to see where the Pope stands for Sunday mass and we were also fortuante enough to go to the Vatican Museum as well. In the museum, we were able to see the Sistine chapel (Michelangelo's famous paintings) as well as many other famous stuff. The three of us agree that this has been our favorite city by far and we cherished our time!!! Well I'm going to go, as we are leaving again in about 12 hours for Athens!!

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them"

If you don't know where the quote from the title of this blog entry comes from, think of a famous playwright. If you guessed William Shakespeare, then you are right!! Last night, I was fortunate enough to see "Twelfth Night", one of Shakespeare's most famous plays. The best part about the play was that it was actually located in Stratford-Upon-Avon, which is where William Shakespeare was born. Some famous English actors played important roles in the play, the most famous being Richard Wilson. I apologize for not having any pictures of any of the actors/actresses in the Royal Shakespeare Company because they wern't allowed. This weekend I will be doing a four day trip in Rome so look out next week for some exciting blogging and new pictures!!

Etown Reunion

The first week of November saw Mikey Galanek and Allan "Bruce" Craven to Cheltenham, England to spend a quality little weekend. They both are studying in Barcelona for the semester and it was nice to see some of my friends from Etown for a couple of days. On Friday, we ventured to Burton-on-the-Water, a town about 30 minutes from Cheltenham. It is in the beautiful Cotswolds and a lovely area to walk around in. The stream that runs through the town is only about 6 inches deep. Due to heavy rain, we wern't able to spend much time in the town itself. On Saturday, I made my 2nd trip to London so Mike and Allan could see how awesome of a city it is!! We took a free walking tour, where we were able to see all of the Royal Attractions. (technically not free because you tip the tour guide but still much cheaper than the double decker bus tours!) This time, I was able to see the Tower of London, an attraction that I didn't have time for last trip! We also attempted to see Abbey Road, home of Abbey Records and the famous crosswalk on the Beatles albumn cover but were unsuccesful. (due to many tube lines being closed, I got us lost haha). I can't believe it is getting close to Christmas already, as the Christmas lights are already turned on all the way down Oxford Street!! With a great weekend behind me, I must rest a little bit before my 5 v 5 football match tonight. Let's get the win TAN DOGS!!!!