Whirlwind and Wetness

Wow! I guess that is really all that I can say. I arrived yesterday in London and already I've had some amazing experiences. Oh, where to begin?

Well, first of all, I'm in London... Enough said.

Second, it is in the 40's here, rather than the brutal 10's at home. That being said, I've walked in the rain both yesterday and today. Interestingly enough, it rained, snowed, and had sun and clear blue skies today. Weird, huh?

The place we are staying at it the Generator Youth Hostel. This hostel is geared for teens and young adults from all different parts of the world. It has a very urban/techno metal feel to it, and is really interesting. I am rooming with Kyle Keprios and Rashad Momoh, two people who I did not know at all before yesterday. These two guys are really great, and we've taken a nice effort of getting to know each other. The hostel is truly a melting pot of people; there are Americans, Canadians, French, Brazilians, Spaniards, Argentinians, as well as the British staff that runs it (there are probably more ethnicities, I'm just not aware of them as of yet).

Last night, several of us took part in activities in the Generator Bar, which is even more urban/techno than the rest of the place. I've discovered a really good Vodka Orange drink at the bar, similar to a Mike's Hard Lemonade back in the states. Every night, the bar offers activities for the guests, last nights being a "Blind Date" kind of game with people who volunteered, as well a karaoke. I decided that I wanted to sing, because that's what I do, and I thought that it would be a good way to kind of introduce myself to some of the people in my group that I don't know as well. I first sang "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, and it went pretty good. I won a free drink voucher, and decided that after my first success that I wanted to sing again. I put in another song, and waited. It was fun to watch and listen to people from other nations sing and dance to mostly American songs, and a lot of them were pretty good at it, and some, well, you probably get the idea. I finally was called up to sing my next song, "Wonderwall" by Oasis and i was amazed. I've never had more fun singing to a crowd of people in my life. The bar audience was so enthusiastic, dancing right up to the stage, cheering me on, and singing along. Either I chose a really popular song that they all knew, of they really liked me. I walked off of the stage with the biggest smile on my face, and it felt really good to be up in front of a bunch of people that I didn't know, sing my heart out, and entertain them for five minutes of their day.

After sort of a restless night of sleep, I woke up this morning, and after having lunch walked with Rachel Meyer and Libby Knutson down to the theatre district to scope things out. It was about a twenty minute walk, and on the way back was when the rain began, not a hard rain, but nor a drizzle. After hoofing it back to our hostel for our film class, I had a brief adventure with roomie Kyle to find an ATM (not really an adventure because we knew where it was) and then walked back to the hostel to meet with the group to go on our city walk today. I got to experience the London Underground, which I have to say it the cleanest, best smelling subway system that I have been in, which says a lot.

Our city walk today, which was led by a gentleman by the name of Andrew (who was a very delightful fellow) who led us around one of the oldest parts of London in the steps of William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. It was really interesting learning the history behind gardens and squares that any normal person would walk by and just say "Oh there's just another London Garden or square" rather than finding out that we were standing on a spot that inspired Shakespeare or Dickens, or viewing buildings which are hundreds of years old. We also viewed part of the original London wall, which had I not known what it was, would have passed it by and taken it as some stupid falling down brick wall or something. The only downfall of this tour was that it was two hours long of walking (which was probably about two miles) and it was really cold and windy. But other than that, well worth it. Thanks to Andrew for taking us and sharing with us the knowledge of his city.

Than this evening, after a dinner of chicken, fries, and a salad, Rachel and I ventured back down to the theatre district and saw "Chicago" which was amazing. This theatre district is the equivalent of New Yorks Broadway, and Rachel and I paid 19 1/2 pounds (which converted to dollars is $31.16, so we're talking a heck of a deal. Next week we are going to venture back down on one of our free evenings and take in "Hairspray" with Belinda Carlisle, the lead singer of the 80's group "The Go-Gos." Should be fun.

Anyway, I suppose that I have written enough for one entry.

Later,

Greg

Boots

It still hard to believe, but exactly a week from writing this, I will be on my way to the airport to begin my 3 month journey studying in Europe. I know that I am excited to begin this wonderful adventure, but it still feels surreal to me. Now not wanting to get ahead of myself, I should maybe explain a little bit.

For those of you who don't know, I am currently a student at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where I major in Theatre Arts. Through UWRF, students have the opportunity to participate in the International Traveling Classroom. The students in this program spend a semester study with their own faculty in locations all across Europe. This one of a kind program is how I chose to spend my final semester as an Undergraduate Student.

Since we are constantly traveling, we are only allowed to bring with us what we can carry. Now I'm the kind of packer who packs everything that I could possibly need (well, most of the time). However, I have a secret weapon for this trip: Rachel Meyer. Rachel is one of my best friends and was part of the ITC program two years ago. She is returning this year as the student leader and her advice the last few weeks has been so beneficial.

Yesterday, Rachel and I went shopping to get things for our adventure. Now most of the things that we bought were just bare essentials (toothpaste, deodorant, other toiletries, five gallon Ziploc bags, which are really hard to find by the way, etc.), but I wanted to get better footwear for the trip. I chose a brown pair of Wolverine Boots that I got at Sears for $70. I thought that it would be interesting to use this first blog for my trip to show the before side of my boots.

I took several different views of my new boots, showing the different sides of them. These babies are waterproof, which will serve me good in the rainy season and keep my feet dry and warm. They also are really lightweight, so I shouldn't get tired while walking around the numerous cities that we will be touring. Finally, they offer my feet and ankles lots of support, which I will need when we are traveling/hiking through the Pyrenees Mountains for our Geology course. I hope they serve me well over this trip, and I can't wait to see how they stand up to everything that I will be putting them through.

Later,

Greg

P.S. Coming soon... My bag (and all that is going in it)