White Water Whale Of A Time

My Eyes Might Be Closed, But I Know Exactly What I'm
Doing Here

CCSU In A Rare Attack

So my trainers are wet and my sunburn has been topped up, but what a fantastic day White Water Rafting. I've never done it before, and to be honest, I wasn't expecting to have half as much fun as I did. It's too bad that England is so cold because I would really like to do it some more. The bus drive to Massachusetts was about an hour and a half, but unfortunately for Erik and I, the seats were built for children. Now, I suffer back home on public transport, but this was just silly. We're both sat there with our knees touching our chins and the couple in front of us would have been better situated in a private motel room than on a crowded bus. There and back. Once there, we were split up into rafts of 6 and allocated a guide who would sit on the back, steer and order us to paddle forward, backward or rest. Due to our size Erik and I were made to sit at the front of the raft as this is where the paddling is most effective. We sat on the edge of the raft and wedged our feet into the side to help support us and stop us falling out. I can happily say that I survived the entire trip inside the raft. The trip was really good, starting out with some level 2 and 3 rapids before moving up to high level 3 and level 4. Sitting at the front resulted in an absolute soaking and a bumpy ride, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

The School Band Play Before The Game & At Half Time

After a huge BBQ thrown in once we had showered and changed, we made our way back to Connecticut. Absolutely shattered I somehow fell asleep in my confined space on the bus, my head leaning on the seat in front of me, hopefully disturbing the annoying lovey dovey couple in front.

Half Time Dancers

The day before the rafting trip, I went to see my first live American Football game. It was the University's team and to be honest, they aren't very good getting well and truly beat. What I found strange about this experience though was firstly, how big University sport is over here, and second,  ow different the support are in comparison to football back home. A large number of people left at half time when the score was 0-21. I've seen Blackburn Rovers 3-0 down against Arsenal in the first 10 minutes but stayed to watch the full game. Also, they don't exactly sing. The only chant I heard was the University's chant of 'C...C....S....U' over and over and over again. They don't seem to have any creativity or humour in their songs like football fans back home do. The opposition players were yards away from the student support, yet there wasn't the slightest bit of heckling from the crowd; No teasing, nothing. I think I was the only one to shout during the game when two players began to fight after partaking in handbags for the past couple of plays. What I also found funny was that game day happened to be random weather day, where it decided to hurl it down with rain for five minutes every so often. The crowd was more animated during these minutes of rain than at any point during the game, with umbrellas being put up and shirts being placed over heads. They really need to go and sit on the front row at Ewood and see how it feels.

After the game, the winds picked up and the rain came down a bit more consistently with tornadoes being reported 2 hours away in New York. I later learnt that Erik told his mum about the tornadoes scaring the life out of her. He failed to mention that they were in New York.

A funny thing that I've noticed here is the irony in America's attitude towards butter. They don't seem to butter their bread when making a sandwich. When I asked why they don't, they responded in all seriousness, 'Butter is unhealthy for you.' At first I thought they were joking. I think they're ignoring the fact that they are on their third cake in a matter of minutes, butter is hardly going to make it worse.