Registration

In a university with some 30,000 students, you would think there would be a more efficient way to register for classes than having to run around to each individual school and then wait in line for 2 hours for a professor to initial a blue sheet of paper, which takes about 2 minutes. One would think, with the wonders of the internet, that such a process could be streamlined. They didn't get the memo in Britain. Yesterday I waited in line for an hour and a half to register for one religion class. And today, I waited for 2 hours to register for history. First I had to listen to this professor tell me how unless I was registered with the School of History, I won't get into anything until after all the history students. Being a study abroad student, we're not really registered with any particular school. Education in Britain is a lot different than the United States, in that it is incredibly more specialized. In their equivalent of high school, most British students are only taking 3 or 4 subjects. And at university (not college), you basically only study one subject. Obviously a far cry from the liberal arts Luther education. So, we get a lot of strange looks, registering for religion, history, American studies, music, etc, etc, etc. Anyways, after the little lecture, I got in line. I was in the front third of the line (queue), about 15 feet from the professor's door. And it took 2 hours. Thankfully, it seemed that I was indeed registered with the history department, as my registration went smoothly. So, my class load is as such

Fall-
1 - American History I: 1607-1900
2- The Islamic Tradition
3- The Rise of the West: European Society 1500-1789

Spring
1 - American History II: The United States in the Twentieth Century
2- Introduction to Early Music
3- War and the Clash of Ideologies: 1919-1945 (possibly)

We are only alotted 30 credits per semester with the Luther program, so, given that American History II is a 20 credit class, I don't know if I'll be able to do the other history class. Or if the music class doesn't transfer, I'll do history instead. Anyways, other than history and religion, registration has gone smoothly. I just walked in to register for American Studies, and didn't wait in any line at all. The music lady was very friendly, for you Luther folk, she was like a British version of Kathy Reed-Maxfield. "Oh, you're from America, that class will be fine." I signed up for a number of clubs and such the other day. I joined the jazz club, where people get together and listen to jazz. I also signed up for ballroom/latin dance lessons. And as anticipated, the softball team. There actually is a new baseball team this year, but they practiced much more often, and the softball people seemed like more fun. On the music scene, I joined both the general music society and the more specialized wind instrument society. I fear I won't get my 5 pounds worth from the wind society, as I can't do concert band because of the Luther Paideia II class, and can't do brass band because of my history class. I did sign up to audition for jazz, but determined it might be too much, especially with all the independent study. I do have an audition for orchestra this Friday, and got an indication that good trombone players are hard to come by here. So, I'm going to play the first movement of the Larsson Concertino, and hopefully get in. There are two orchestras, and I'm gunning for the top one. Doing a lot of practicing. I also got in touch with the private teacher that the university school of music uses for trombone lessons, and we're going to set up a weekly time later this week. So, things are going well. I still have to register for a history seminar tomorrow though. The sign said, "Expect delays."

Sunday

Today, we took a trip out to the Peak District, which is to the west of us slightly. In the morning, we attended an Anglican service, which was actually pretty fun. It's like Protestant doctrine with all the Catholic frilly stuff. So, kind of fun. All the people were extremely friendly, and insisted that we stay for coffee afterwards. People were interested in hearing about where we came from and all that jazz. We toured a large mansion/castle that dated from Elizabethan times called Haddon Hall. It was pretty cool. Cooler still was the early music group that was playing a bunch of different Renaissance instruments. We had a similar group at Luther last year, and it was really cool. Anyways, the bulk of the day was a 6 mile hike through the Peak District, namely Stanton Moor. I don't really know how to describe the terrain and unfortunately, I forgot my camera to document it. I can assure you though, it was quintessentially English, and very very beautiful. England, as a result of all the rain, is a very green country. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the farms are also all split up and divided by various fences, be it stone, hedges, or streams. Our hike took us over, around, and through all of these obstacles. Hiking here is a big deal, except it's called rambling. There are a ton of "public footpaths" that go everywhere. Probably the most footpaths per capita than anywhere else in the world. Part of the earlier mentioned walking culture. So it was fun to get out and go hiking for a while. We ate dinner at a pub in a small hill town, where I had my first real fish and chips of the trip, along with some really strange white Belgian beer. We all came back to the flat, and spent most of the night trying to figure out classes and such, as registration is this week. Tomorrow is also this big information festival for university activities known as Fresher's Fayre. I hope to get a good handle on the musical organizations I want to audition for. A schedule conflict prevents me from being in the top wind ensemble, so I am going to focus my attentions on the orchestra, the jazz ensemble, and the brass band. I'm really bummed about not being able to do concert band, as the Luther Concert Band is such an integral part of my normal college life. More incentive to get back in next year, I guess. But seriously, it's time to get in a band or something. In addition to music, I'm planning on joining the softball team. Yeah, for real. I bought a brand new Rawlings glove back in the States, and think it'll be a fun thing to do. Especially since I haven't played ball since 5th grade. I'll also join some other "societies": maybe the wine club, or the football supporters club, or any number of stuff. More details on classes later on. Some people have been asking for a ground address. So, here it is, and I'll also include my cell phone number, if anyone is interested.

Aaron Nyquist
67 Homefield Road
Nottingham
NG8 5GH
England

Cell Phone (from United States) 001-079-6003-9380

Mundane Stuff

First of all, the top is a photo of the sweet Euro Pumas I bought the other day. I figured I needed a pair of Euro shoes to fit in on a regular basis. Secondly, there's a more complete view of the "business" side of my room. The other side is just a bed. Thirdly, that's my cell phone. Mundane stuff, but whatever. The university "orientation" is over. Basically, it really did nothing. We went on this really lame campus tour, and the tour guide actually exclaimed that she had never been to a certain part of campus before (no joke). We bolted. It was international student week here, which gave a good overview as to the make up of the international community. It sort of feels like 95% of foreign students are Asian, be it Chinese, Indian, or Pakistani. In general, there are more Muslims here, or at least in terms of percentage of the general population. Obviously since there are so many Asian students, but both in the city and around England, the Muslim community is a lot more visible than it is in America. Very few Americans in general are at the university. There are a good amount of Europeans as well. I met a German guy the other day, and apparently there are quite a few French. We all had a pretty funny encounter with an Iranian member of the international students bureau. We were taking a bus back from a club (more later), and when he learned we were American, he was like, "You should be scared of me, I'm Iranian." Then he stuck his hand out, and made a motion with his thumb like he was pressing a button, saying, "You know what they say about Iranians and buses." Pretty funny.

All the free time did give us a chance to explore downtown Nottingham somewhat, which was good. We all have bus passes now, which allow us to ride the buses and tram unlimited for free, which is nice. One thing that is striking about England is the extensive walking culture. A lot of downtown is closed to traffic, and there always seem to be a million people out and about. There are stores and services everywhere, all easily accessible by foot. Because of this, you can tell why Europeans are in general, more fit than Americans. I haven't been here 2 weeks, and already I can see myself slimming down, which I think is because of the walking culture.

On Thursday night, the international student bureau held a club night downtown, at a place called Oceana. It held something like 2500 people, had 5 themed rooms, and all in all seemed pretty intense. Along with a couple members of the Luther group, it was my first ever visit to a "club." Pure craziness. I honestly couldn't hear anything after we left, the techno was pumping so loud. It seemed like there were 2500 people on the dance floor alone. Add in these huge glass chandeliers, resplendent with both neon and strobe lights, low slung ceilings, and mirrored walls, and you might get a sense of the ridiculousness of the place. It definitely was fun, but being a club novice, I really had no idea what I was doing. I have to say, I much prefer the swing dance facilities I frequent in the Cities (i.e. the Tapestry) to Oceana, but I would go again. I have a feeling we'll go back. Hopefully we'll all know what we're doing then. But in summary, it was ridiculous.

University registration is next week, so we'll see how classes pan out, as well as extracurricular activities, such as band and my quest to play softball. I hear registration over here is crazy, so hopefully it will all pan out well. Tomorrow night we're going to see some play called "The History Boys" at the theater in town. The theater here seems pretty prominent, in December, the big touring version of "Chicago" is playing. I fully intend to go. Or maybe I'll go see it in the West End. Who knows. Anyways, that's what's up.

Orientation

Quick update, as I'm on a shared computer with a lot of people trying to use it. We're at the university, which is very nice, and going through a somewhat lax orientation. For example, we all spent a majority of today downtown, buying cell phones and such. Except here it's called a mobile almost exclusively. I was really tempted, and still am, to get a pair of sweet Puma's for everyday wear. Still debating that one. Anyways, I did get a cell phone through T-Mobile. Still trying to figure it out and charge it. Slowly, the Luther group is really starting to feel like a group group, which is good. There is a girl here who, whenever she gets an apple, she eats the whole thing. I mean every single part of the apple, save the seeds and stem. It's one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. I really hope she teaches me the secret. Anyways, I should go, and use my coupon for a free drink at the coffeehouse. So, out for now, and go Twins, who are currently only a half game back! On a quick sidenote, you see a lot of young people here wearing this really cheap knockoff Yankee gear (yes, those Yankees). It's sort of strange. I also saw some guy in a White Sox hat. It's like me wearing that French soccer jersey back home, far as I can tell. I don't know anything about French soccer, I just wear the jersey to look Euro. Maybe they all want to look American? Hopefully not, but it's pretty strange.

The North

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Just recently returned from a tour of the North, which included stops in York, Durham, Alnwick, Lindisfarne, Hadrian's Wall, and Rievaulx. It has been 6 long days of very intense travel and learning. Since these house trips are actually a class, we get rocked with history and a bunch of lectures and stuff. It got a bit overwhelming at times. Like our tour guide of the York Minster said, "When you were fighting your revolution, we were busy cleaning the windows [of our huge, 500 year old Gothic cathedral]." Things aren't really considered old here unless they're at least 16th or 15th century. The 1800's might have well have been last week. In Northumberland, we walked along (and on top of) Hadrian's Wall, which is right around 2,000 years old. That is a long time, much longer than most of us can imagine. We went to Lindisfarne, a tidal island off the coast, which basically was where Christianity came to Anglo-Saxon Britain in the 7th century. It's really hard to wrap your head around the immense history, but it's slowly becoming easier.

All in all, I think John Travolta really got it right in Pulp Fiction. They have the same stuff over here, only it's just a little different. There's the whole driving on the left side of the road thing which is probably the biggest difference. There's this whole weird system of aristocracy that theoretically doesn't mean anything (but it really still does). There's the candy bars that have "Not for girls" written on them. Potato chips are crisps, and french fries are chips. Sometimes it's Diet Coke, others it's Coca-Cola Light. But overall, it's not so much different from the US. It's kind of weird to have people referring to those "American rebels" back in 1776 though.

Anyways, the trip took us to York, which is an ancient city about an hour to the north of us. It used to be a Viking settlement, and then it became a big economic center. There's a beautiful church there, the York Minster, that is just enormous. I don't know, it was like, 200 feet tall, and they built it in the 1300's or something. Something ridiculous like that. After witnessing it and the next cathedral at Durham (more to come), I am amazed at the skill and technology that was employed to create such structures. We're talking building a 200 foot tall building out of solid stone 700 years ago, with nothing but wood, rope, and heavy labor to construct it. Damn. I was very impressed. York Minster contains the largest medieval stained glass window in the world, and is also home to roughly 1/2 of all the medieval stained glass in Great Britain. Basically, they went hardcore. Out of the two days spent in York, I spent the first with the girls, then we all sort of ran around as a group on the second. Among the other sights seen were the Fairfax House, a townhome owned by a collector of antique furniture; the Medieval Adventurer's Guild Hall, which was really boring; the York Castle Museum, which was your basic history museum from the Victorian period on; the Treasurer's House, which was this house that some bachelor bought and decorated in 3 different styles, plus a lot of random wandering. There is this old medieval street in York called The Shambles where the buildings hang out so close together, you could probably reach out and touch the house directly across from you. We had our first experience with Indian food (very big in Britain), and went to a sweet pizza place. Some of us also experienced the local nightlife at a place called The Evil Eye. Apparently, it's where the locals hang. Some waitress stopped and said something to me, and with the combination of her accent and the noise, I had no idea what she said to me. I just sort of smiled and nodded. We stayed at a youth hostel, which gave me a good idea of my accomodations during the breaks. Overall, it was pretty nice. Oh yeah, we also saw a play called "The Man with Two Gaffers," about a con artist/stupid servant who ends up having two bosses simultaneously. Pretty funny.

The next day, we were off to Durham. Our directors, Mark and Carol, lived in Durham for a year back in the early 90's, so they were quite familiar with it. The main town is on a peninsula, which is surrounded on three sides by a river. In the middle of the peninsula is a spectacular Romanesque cathedral. Apparently it was voted by a group of international architects as the world's most beautiful building, ahead of the Taj Mahal. After eating a lunch of bread and cheese on the palace green, we took a tour of the church. Our tour guide was a little old lady who had been doing this for 30 years, and loved it. Unfortunately, photos were prohibited in the church, but it was awe-inspiring. This particular cathedral is very important because it holds two very important shrines. One to St. Bede, who basically wrote the first and most important book of English history. The second, and most important, of St. Cuthbert. It's a long story, but he was one of the original missionaries to England, and when his grave was ransacked by Vikings, a group of monks carted his body around for 100 years until bringing it to Durham. Apparently, when his coffin was opened 11 years after his death, his body was still completely intact. Pretty intense. This guy is a very big deal in England, needless to say. The cathedral was also attached to a monastery, so it was a real center of learning in medieval times. The museum actually had this guy's gold cross that he wore back in the day, so it was pretty impressive. After that, I went rowing with three other people on the river, meaning, we rented a rowboat. We had some issues getting started, but afterwards, it was quite pleasant.

Anyways, that night and the two following it were spent in Alnwick Castle (pronounced AHN-ick), in the town of Alnwick. The castle is actually the home of the Duke of Northumberland, and St. Cloud State University has a study abroad program in the castle, who provided us with rooms. Apparently it was also the site of some filming for Harry Potter, but I wouldn't know the details. It was pretty impressive, I'll tell you that much. It was really wild, on the tour of the staterooms, there were family portraits everywhere, a foosball table in the Victorian library, and the silk carpet was worn from where the kids played ping pong. There were these two chests from the Palace of Versaille or something, encrusted with gold and precious stones. The tour guide said they were literally priceless, as they were the only pair of their kind ever made. The Duke also has like, the best private art collection in all of Britain. Anyways, this would be on Saturday, we shipped out to Lindisfarne, which is known as the Holy Island in Britain. It's a tidal island, so you can only enter and exit by land when the tide is out, which is pretty cool. Anyways, Lindisfarne is significant because it's the birthplace of Christianity in England. Christian missionaries, starting around the 7th century, established a monastery on Lindisfarne, and then spread Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons. St. Cuthbert was one of these early missionaries. They were later pushed out by the Vikings. Anyways, there are a bunch of ruins from a later medieval monastery built on the same spot as the early one. We went on a very misty day, so the ruins were really ethereal in the weather. There's also this big gun emplacement sticking out into the North Sea to the east, and I took some awesome photos of it in the mist. Anyways, on the way back, we stopped at Bamburgh, which has a huge medieval castle, and took some photos, as well as ran along the North Sea.

Sunday was probably my favorite day. We started out with a tour of the Alnwick Castle staterooms, then took a two hour bus ride into the middle of Northumberland to Vindolanda, which is an ancient Roman site. They've been excavating this site for something like 50 years, and they still estimate it will take an additional 100 to fully discover everything, that's how hardcore it is. The footprints of a civilization that 2,000 years ago, was thriving. Of special importance is a group of writing tablets that have been unearthed, which have correspondance from normal Romans. Apparently the British Museum in London, where they are now kept, voted them Britain's greatest historical treasure in 2000. They're a pretty big deal, because they shed light on normal life on the Roman frontier. Anyways, more Roman ruins, whatever. For about 2 hours in the afternoon, we hiked Hadrian's Wall. It's this wall that at one point, stretched all the way across Britain, some 70 miles, and was probably 15 feet high. Now, it's only about 4 feet tall, but it travels some epic scenery. They basically cut their own cliffs to mount this thing on, to make it even more difficult to attack. I have some sweet photos from the wall, and it was just really fun. It's sort of like the Great Wall of China, except not as big, not rebuilt to what it might have looked like, and there aren't any vendors trying to sell you a crappy t-shirt or a sayings of Mao Tse-Tung book. It's just a 2,000 year old wall, snaking its way through the hillsides. It's so intense, because it's still being used. Like, the ancient Roman wall is still used to keep sheep in their respective pastures. Just sort of mind boggling, this whole idea of the oldness of British history, but also how history is still being re-written and respected. At night, most of us went to an Italian restaurant in town. It was very nice, save for the electric parmesan cheese machine. It was this handmade device that shredded cheese while giving off about the most annoying noise I could imagine. Sort of put a damper on the otherwise nice atmosphere. Whenever you have to charge up and reload your cheese gun, it's not a good sign. Later on, the Luther guys all took up an invitation by some St. Cloud students to go out to a pub in town. We met some interesting people, including a roughly 300 lb guy wearing an England soccer jersey, who had most likely been drunk since Friday, and could have easily ripped me in half. Very interesting. But we (being the 4 of us) had a good time. Finally got the Guinness.

On Monday, we left the castle and took a very harrowing bus ride to Rievaulx. We basically went 60 MPH on a one lane road for 2 hours through intensely rugged moorland. By one lane road, I mean the road is physically only big enough for one vehicle to drive on it at a time, but it's still used for both directions of traffic. Which means if you come around a bend and there's a car there, you better break fast, or you're head on with some guy's Peugeot. Speaking of cars, I found a car named the "Punto." Of course, this must be in honor of Nick Punto, the third baseman for the Twins, who are currently 1 GAME OUT OF THE AL CENTRAL LEAD. I'll tell you what, it's hard to keep up on the Twins here unless you have a computer. Because the English honesly don't give a crap about baseball. All soccer, it's true. Sorry, football. Yesterday Arsenal played Manchester United, and I guess it was a really big deal. Arsenal won. Anyways, the landscape here is quite stunning. Out in the country, it's a lot of farmland, but a lot of that is pasture for sheep and, occasionally, cattle. The distinct thing is how almost every field is seperated either by a fence of stacked stones, or hedges. And I mean everywhere. These fences are probably 18th century easy. Anyways, we finally got to Rievaulx, which is in the middle of freaking nowhere, and was moreso back in the middle ages when it was a thriving monastery. The ruins were very tranquil and beautiful, like so many things here. They were a most excellent place to sit and think, or write, or whatever. Walking among the ruins of abbeys and whatnot here, you really get a sense for the sacredness of the place, and the generations that used it as a place of worship and spirituality. Unfortunately, almost every monastery was destoryed in the late 16th century, when Henry VIII took control of them, after accusing them of corruption. This was during that whole deal where the Church of England was founded. In two years, 500 monasteries were done for.

One thing I notice about England is the fact that there is no suburbia as we would imagine it back in the U.S. It's country, country, country, city, city, city. It just seems very sudden to me. No laid out grids of Targets and McDonalds and 300,000 homes with the same front yards. I mean, there are "suburban" parts as the English describe them, but they're always a part of the city it seems. Very strange to an American's eyes. Anyways, it's late here, and it's been a very busy 6 days. Tomorrow evening we start the university orientation. And that will be good. It'll take our mind off all the stuff everyone misses at Luther. I was definitely bummed to learn from my friend that the trombone choir is playing at the IMEA Conference, and I'll miss it. Plus, the newly rejuvenated Mr. Nyline in Concert Band. Yeah, it's definitely time to start playing trombone, and start playing in a band or something. Anything would be good, hopefully it won't suck too much. I'm tired. Later.

240 Volts

Today was a pretty good day. I got a good amount of sleep, and we had a meeting regarding our International Studies class in the morning. Just what the travel class will entail. We then took a short tour of the area surrounding the flat. We're basically bordered by 3 very busy streets forming a triangle around us. We went to a local produce shop, whose husband and wife owners are great supporters of the Luther program, and seemed very excited to have some guys this year (last year it was all girls). The guy offered to hook us up with some girl he knew. Anyways, there were some soccer fields and a bunch of other stuff. In the afternoon I practiced for about an hour, which was good. We ate dinner at a pub downtown, which we accessed by taking the tram. It's pretty much the Minneapolis light rail, with different cars and such. Had the first pint of real English ale, pulled from the cellar. Eh, it was alright. I'm sure it can get better. After that, about 6 of us did some exploring, and came across Nottingham Castle. It was closed, but we took pictures of the Robin Hood statue, and also found our way to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, reportedly the oldest pub in England. Apparently 3 pubs make the same claim. It's sort of half dug into this cave. Anyways, then we came back, and the night was spent writing a paper, reading some stuff, and blowing out my battery charger. It was acting funny, so I took it to the room next door and asked if I could plug it into a converter to see if it was just mine. Anyways, my request was misinterpreted, and I was offered a plug which did not contain a transformer/converter but a English/British converter. Basically, I ran 240 volts of electricity through a 120 volt object. Needless to say, it made a pop and started to smell like smoke. It's broke. I have an additional set of batteries to last for a while, but I definitely need to get a new charger soon. Tomorrow we leave on a 5 or 6 day trip to the North. We'll be hitting up York, then going over to Durham where we'll be staying in a castle. We will also cover Hadrian's Wall, which was built way back during the Roman Empire by the Emperor Hadrian to keep out the pagan Picts. So, that should be cool. Following that, we'll have an orientation for international students at the University. So, it'll be busy for a while. And I will not have my computer, so there will most likely be no posts until Sunday or Monday. At that point there should be some stuff to write about.

Arrival

Yeah, I'm in England now. I've probably been awake for something like, 30 hours now. So, that's kind of lame. Here's a photo of my desk thus far. It's still sort of under construction. We had a nice flight on Icelandair, I was especially impressed with the Rolls Royce jet engines. Arriving in London sort of gave a reality check. This isn't a weeklong trip to Disney World. I am here for 10 months. That is intimidating. Sort of frightening. I'm sure things will get better as the weeks progress and school actually starts. Anyways, I packed way too many clothes. Some of them are going to need to go. Anyways, it seems that we're going to eat pretty soon, so I should probably go. In a nutshell, just starting the process of figuring out what this year is going to be like.

Yikes

I'm going to England today. Yikes.

Pre-Departure Jitters

This is going to be the only post covering this topic, as I want it out of the way. I am currently at Luther, sitting in my private spot in the library, where usually, I write all my papers. In the basement, next to the East Asian history section. Being at Luther has certainly made me wonder what the hell I have gotten myself into, running abroad. I miss everything already, everything about this place. Little things, like not being able to use my ID to eat in the caf, because it doesn't work if you study abroad. I miss not having to get up for class. Most of all, I miss music, and all that is associated with it. Since a vast majority of my friends are music people, they fall in that category. Dr. Smith's Texas accent and strange techniques, Concert Band with Mr. Nyline, Jazz Orchestra with Tony. I even miss sitting in the practice room being so frustrated that I can't get something, I want to scream. It's hard to leave something that has so completely defined your existence for the past two years. Something that you've worked hard at, and accomplished a lot in. But as I was listening to the Concert Band warm up today, I decided it was enough. I can't spend anymore time regretting not being at Luther. Luther will be here when I return, along with all the music, the history, classes, and the challenges that accompany it. I'll have a new opportunity to be challenged musically. And my friends, well, they're all behind me. As much as it pains me to leave, they seem to see things clearer right now. I have an opportunity, and need to take it. This will most likely be the last post before actually arriving in Great Britain. I hope people will continue to follow this site and see some of my exploits. Please feel free to ask questions or comment too. As this is a prime way I'm going to communicate back home, I hope it can become a sort of dialogue. Or something like that.