This lowly blog chronicles the life-altering experiences of a certain beloved Chicagoan. As he establishes his
identity in the United Kingdom, he shall post *semi-regular* updates regarding his year-long endeavor. Please do
enjoy these baffled thoughts; it might help to sip some tea while doing so. Cheers!

Sunday 22 May 2011

This is it!

Well my faithful friends, it is almost that time.

Very soon Allyson and I will begin our 15 hour trip home, back to the United States of America.

Our time here has been swell, and I'm sure we will never forget it.

I'll offer a more coherent blog post upon my return, but for now, farewell! Thanks for reading! Perhaps we can share a cocktail (or, indeed, a cup of tea) sometime and talk about worldly matters.

Cheers,

Saturday 21 May 2011

Phototour: The Lake District

Alright, so I couldn't sleep. It's 3 a.m. and I'm listening to "Be OK" by Ingrid Michaelson and it's time for a phototour.

In my professional opinion, the Lake District is one of the most beautiful places in England. We went as a group a few weeks ago and it was glorious. (There were also some literary detours, such as Wordsworth's home, but he's not included.) Anyway, here are some pictures, yo.

We first visited the house of the Brontë sisters (the parsonage)

Another shot

Also the nearby graveyard, which houses thousands due to TB

Haworth, Yorkshire

Church  Brontë sisters attended

Oh hey, horses. Please don't bite my hands off.

*swoon* The first of the lake pictures...


(At sunset)

The lakeside view from our hostel



<3

Group at the beginning of our "moderate" hike...

A waterfall on our hike

More hike shots

Forest of lilac 


Rolling hills


We did several poetry readings in honor of Lake District Poets

We begin the ascent...



Another reading, by Abby


It was so windy at the top--I barely got this without bowling over.


It was pretty neeto, to be sure. I don't think I'll ever forget the climb up there. (My thighs certainly haven't.)

Kay so maybe I'll go to sleep now THANKS FOR WATCHING BYE.


Yours,



Still Alive

So I haven't been raptured/raptored.

Which means I'm sinful enough to keep blogging.

I will update tomorrow. Today I'm a little sad as I reflect upon the past year.

I leave in two days.



Yours,

Sunday 24 April 2011

Spring Break Photo Tour

Hi friends! As you may or may not have known, I've recently been double abroad. My girlfriend and I spent a week with our dear friend Brenden in Norway, and then another week with Norma Hervey, previous Nottingham program assistant and retired Luther Professor, in Prague.

I think I took too many pictures. Whatever. Don't judge me.

Without further ado, here's beautiful Bø, Norway and the Telemark region!


Brenden's dorm is surrounded by Mountains. Lucky duck. 

More mountains...

Norway: where snow is more common than sunlight.

Can you tell I like mountains?

A shot of the dorms

Girlfriend being silly

Us on our hike!

On our way to the grocery store...

...where everything costs x5 the dollar

And here's the doom hill back to the dorms.

It was quite a relaxing week. We didn't do much aside from hanging out and walking around. But hey, it's a college town, so what else do you do? (Unlike at Luther, there wasn't really a Walmart to frequent in the early hours of the morning...) It was nice, though. Afterwards we said goodbye to Brenden, who had been thoroughly distracted from his studies while we visited.

So yeah! Next we hit up Prague, home of the original stag party. Hahahahahahahahahahaha no but seriously, there were quite a lot of tourists. I was a tourist and I was tired of the tourists. I mean, frick. But crowd craziness aside, we had a splendid time exploring the [cheap] elegance that is Prague.

First photo in Prague: Cannabis liquor. Why wouldn't it exist?

Shot of the market in Old Town Square

More town square... 

The astronomical clock in Old Town Square

The clock tower itself

Views from clock tower/above Prague!

Lookit those rooftops

Cathedral and surrounding buildings

The actual Old Town Square

Yay panoramic!

Castle in the distance...

One roof two roof green roof red roof

Oh hey, girlfriend

Aww

Gelato! There was quite an Italian influence here...

Nummy? Yes, yes it was.

On the way to Karlův Most (Charles Bridge)

Entrance to Charles Bridge

On the tourist-I mean Charles Bridge 

Statues on the bridge



Views from the bridge







Vyšehrad cathedral

Entrance to Vyšehrad cemetery 

Vyšehrad cemetery



Dvorák's grave!

From afar...

A look that way...

...and a look this way

A view from the top of Vyšehrad

On the way to Pražský hrad (Prague Castle)

Prague streets

*steep* stairs to Prague Castle

Girlfriend chillin' on the stairs

Panoramic of rooftops and Petřín Hill

I call this one: "Lamppost and Gardens"

I just thought he was nifty.

Entrance to Prague Castle (complete with menacing statues)

Castle from afar

Petřín Hill gardens. SO beautiful.

More of Petřín Hill

Oh yeah, we found the American Embassy!

Bridge and Vltava river at sunset

Boats!

Pedestrian non-tourist bridge and graffiti

Concert hall where we saw the Czech Philharmonic!

So sexy.

Yep, Prague was pretty awesome. We saw a ballet, Cinderella/Popelka, which proved to be quite neeto. We tried Czech wine. We enjoyed the 16.5:1 exchange rate. We explored this city until we were tired, and then we explored some more. When it was time we departed, though not without difficulty and teary goodbyes.

Overall we had an amazing (almost surreal) two weeks, and I definitely feel more worldly. Currently I am back in Nottingham, working, reading, and psychologically/emotionally/spiritually/grammatically preparing myself for finals in the next few weeks. Don't worry, I'll be updating again before long; I don't leave until May 23rd.

THERE'S STILL TIME, DANGIT.

Yours,