Carroll Cobras

On returning from Cape Cod back to Carroll Hall, I was unpacking and settling back into Uni life when it sounded like my door was being broken down. When I opened it, there stood two girls representing the Carroll Council. Apparently they are organising a birthday board for the entrance way with all the residents' birthdays on it. I was then told about the Council Meeting that everyone must attend. I have just now returned from said meeting, and all I can say is that my attendance was pretty pointless. I turned up, ate the food on offer, listened and left. My dad has always told me to keep quiet at meetings like this so that you don't accidentally volunteer to do anything. Apparently they have a budget of $X for the year and want to know how we want it spending. Ideally it would be nice to have some form of air conditioning in our rooms like the other halls, but I'm guessing that's out of the question. In each tiny room are two adults and two computers as a minimum. Others have televisions, printers, games consoles, fridges etc resulting in sweaty rooms in an already sweaty climate. Air conditioning would be helpful. Instead we get to have Carroll Cobra clothing if we turn up to each and every meeting! In fairness to them, they have organised trips to Washington, Philadelphia and other cities in the past. Hopefully this year they'll do something similar.

A Small American Breakfast

Back in Cape Cod we went to Province Town on our last night for tea. As I said in my previous post, Province is the San Fransisco of the east. By this I meant that it is the gay district. The area is actually very twee with bars, shops, and restaurants surrounding small narrow streets that lead to the harbour. In a way it reminded me of Amsterdam with people on bicycles swerving through the crowds of people on these overpopulated streets. When I mentioned that it reminded me of Amsterdam, minus the sex shops to Connor's cousin, he told me to follow him. Confused I followed him into a tourist shop and he led me upstairs, here I found Amsterdam. Unfortunately out of the seven of us, only three of us were over 21, so we couldn't stay to soak up the atmosphere in the pubs after we ate.

One thing that Erik and I have noticed in our short time here, is that Americans do love their breakfast and their ice cream. On our way home we stopped for breakfast and found the queue out of the front door and down the street. When we tried elsewhere, it was only slightly better. The same is with ice cream shops. At 9pm on a Saturday night, you don't see people stumbling from pub to pub. Instead you find them queueing up for ice cream so big you wouldn't know where to start eating. I giggled when we went into a Starbucks and saw a sign next to a rack of muffins that said 'A Healthy Alternative' If muffins are the healthy alternative, who knows what the unhealthy food is! We do however plan to go all American one day soon and have cake for breakfast, dinner, and tea.

I have just signed up to play in the IMLeague here, which from what I gather is for people to play competitive sport against others within the university. I set up an account on the Internet and signed up as a free agent. I know that I'm not the best in the world, but surely I'm worth at least $10? I'm not sure when my first game is, but I'll keep you posted.

I have planned to go White Water Rafting this coming Sunday (9th Sept) in Massachusetts which should be fun. I'll have to let you all know how it goes. Until then, I'm off to get some ice cream.

Labour Day (With a 'U')

I'm currently writing this from Cape Cod at a friends families house right on the beach. The lad who lives in the room next door to me (Connor) kindly invited me and another exchange student from Sweden (Erik) to visit his family in this wonderful part of the world.

Flying The Blue & White Flag

Today we set off for the beach, and because Connor's dad has a pass, we were able to drive to a more secluded area and drive on the sand to set up base. Although quiet, the sand here is very pebbly but it seems that people in this area don't wear shoes. Due to this, the pebbles don't seem to bother them. Meanwhile Erik and I are hobbling across the beach cursing under our breath. There is an awful lot of wildlife in the sea here as well, with seals and whales visible from the beach itself. Unfortunately though, there have been reports of sharks in the area recently due to the high population of seals. Upon arriving we noticed a seal washed up on the shore, this one killed by a boat propellor though rather than Jaws.

Despite it being very sunny and warm, the vegetation in and around the area is very green. Now I've only really travelled in Europe where the warm countries are very brown and dusty. It makes a very nice change to drive through a sandy track with greenery either side. It is funny however, just how many houses have signs and banners in their front gardens suporting particular politicians. There was even an airplane that flew over the beach with a banner telling us to vote for someone or other. At first I thought it might be another 'Kean Out' sign, but I don't think that has reached this side of the Atlantic yet.

Cape Cod Beach

Tomorrow we are going to Province Town, traditionally a small Portuguese fishing town but apparently now is the East's version of San Francisco.

Back at University, I started lessons on Wednesday and have had to spent $170 on books that will only last me until Christmas. It's not like home where you can just take them out of the uni library when you need them, you have to take them to class each week. Luckily all my lessons are in the same building on the same floor, and is the closest building to my dorm. I can wake up with 10 minutes to spare and still get there on time. The meal plan is very good so fears of returning to England heavier may become a reality. There is a gym very close that I can use so I may have to start going.

Erik, Connor, & I

Erik and I went to the bar on Thursday night, student night, and were offered numerous drinks from randomers and invites to parties just because we were foreign. This worked out very well until we had to drive 3 hours to Cape Cod the morning afterwards. We even met an Australian who has lived here for a few years who is going to try and get us tickets to an American Football and Baseball game. Fingers crossed. It's noticeable how friendly people are here. I've been here a week and have had invites to various peoples hometowns to look around and stay. I can honestly say that I have no bad word to say about the American people.