Lake District

NOTICE- MORE PHOTOS ARE AVALIABLE UNDER THE LINK TO THE RIGHT. CLICK ON "AARON'S PHOTOS," THEN "LAKE DISTRICT." THERE SHOULD BE SOME VIDEOS UP ON YOUTUBE UNDER THE LINK "AARON'S VIDEOS" TO THE RIGHT AS WELL.

As the title indicated, this weekend (Saturday-Monday) was spent up in the Lake District, which is sort of in the northwest corner of England, up near the Scottish border. If you are familiar with the Romantic poet William Wordsworth, it's where he was born and spent most of his life. Basically, a series of lakes, seperated by really big hills/mountains. Pretty impressive scenery overall.

I'll just quick recap Friday. I went to orchestra, which actually is starting to sound alright. The 2nd trombone doesn't know what the hell he's doing, but the faux-bass trombonist actually is okay. It was a beautiful night, so I ended up making the 45 minute walk back from campus with my trombone. I spent the night watching part of the World Series, talking to my mom and Benjamin (seperately) on Skype, and hanging out. The rest of the group however, went out to celebrate Brandon's 21st birthday. Needless to say, everyone was pretty gone.

Anyways, everyone got up early, and we shipped off for the lake district. It's about 2.5 hours away by bus, and we arrived in Grasmere around noon. That's where Wordsworth lived during his most brilliant poetic years. So we checked out the cottage he lived in with his wife and sister, as well as the attached museum. I'm not really a literary person, and certainly not a poetry person, but it was cool. He seems like a poet I could get into. It's all this Romantic stuff about man and nature, and finding the sublime essence of humanity in wildness. So, if you're in to that, check it out. We also saw his grave, and had real gingerbread. Not gingerbread cookies, but real gingerbread. Anyways, we ate at a pub for dinner, then went back to our hotel in Ambleside, a few miles away. We wanted to go see a movie, but we missed them. Brandon and I stumbled into a jazz club, so we sat for about an hour and listened to a singer backed by a piano and bass. The bassist was not very good, the pianist mediocre, but the singer had some talent. In any case, it was good to hear some live jazz, especially in such a random small town.

Sunday, we got up again and had breakfast in the hotel (it was a B&B). I had the "American Style" pancakes, which in reality were more like pancake flavored crepes. Really thin. American breakfasts are like, legendary in England for their amazingness. That seems to be our one great culinary triumph. Amazing breakfasts. We then went on a hike that pretty much consumed the whole day. Not a whole lot to say. The scenery was amazing, we hiked up a mountain. Then we went around it, and came back to town. On the top we had lunch, and then we stopped in a small town to get a drink at a pub. I had a Coke, and the combination of correct carbonated water/syrup ratio and my own exhaustedness made it one of the greatest Coca Cola experiences I've ever had. I documented it on my camera. We finally got back, and Ryan, Anna, and I ate dinner at an Indian restaurant. Had some pretty good chicken curry. Afterwards, a bunch of us went and saw "The Departed" at the theater in town. The one with Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Matt Damon. It was bloody, violent, and full of foul language. If you are offended by any of these, don't go see it. If not, it's a great movie. I liked it, but it's not really a feel good film, if you get the idea.

Anyways, Monday I opted for the continental breakfast plus toast. I should mention, that when you order coffee at this B&B, you get your own small coffee press. I was impressed. We walked around and checked out all the highly priced hiking stores. There was this wack exhibit about football photography, and they had a foosball table. Church readers may now that I was at one time the undisputed Christus Victor foosball champion, and was pretty well accomplished at the game. Needless to say, Brandon accepted an invitation to play, and he was promptly crushed 10-0. We played again and I was once again victorious, 8-2. It was satisfying, after a rather dismal winter season. I lost on a couple of occasions to Scott (on a Tornado table too). Lame. Anyways, we went to Hawkshead by bus, which is another somewhat lame touristy town filled with hiking shops. The Lake District is like, England's hiking mecca, partly because of Wordsworth. So yeah, we hung out there. Border collies are big here, and as is probably known, Buddy is half border collie. So I was extremely tempted to buy a ceremic figurine of a border collie lying on the floor, which looked exactly like the border collie half of Buddy. Anyways, we did all that, then got on the bus and came back to Nottingham. It was intense.

In slightly more humorous Luther news, I heard that a good friend of mine proclaimed today "Dress Like Aaron Nyquist Day" in order to justify his obnoxiously colored shirt. When you're so typically seen in a mock turtleneck, I guess you do need some outside justification. Needless to say, I'm marking my calender, and next Oct. 30, I'm going to get as many people as I can to dress like me, whatever that means. I'm still trying to find the best way to get to Vienna in January. These lame cheap budget airlines do not exactly give you the most options for travel, so I'm exploring some other, larger airlines. I'll have a better appreciation for travel agents after all of this.

World Series

The Cardinals won the World Series. Really didn't see that one coming. Whatever, the Twins will win in 4 next year. Update and photos coming either Monday or Tuesday from the Lake District.

Music

Many people may have been confused at the fact that I hadn't mentioned a lot of music stuff in the past few bloggings, aside from the orchestra announcement. So here it goes. I am in fact, principal of the school's top orchestra, but unfortunately, I really don't consider it much of an accomplishment. Meaning, however happy I am with my role as leader, the other trombones in the group are rather subpar. They would not survive at Luther. In general, I don't like how musical ensembles are run here. You basically only meet once a week for groups, for a 2 hour rehearsal. No daily meetings like at Luther. And in the case of the orchestra I am playing in, we rehearse on the weekends until our first concert, which is next Sunday. And then, we won't meet again until early February, to prepare for the next concert. Once again, I am not a fan. Here are the reasons why this system is stupid.

1- Plainly put, it just isn't enough time to play music to an appropriate standard
2- It doesn't allow for the ensembles to "gel" as a group
2A- There isn't sufficient time for relationships to form among people
2B- Without the connection that usually is intrinsic among tight knit ensembles, a lot of the joy and emotion of making music is lost

So that's what's up. I'm a little bitter right now, partially because of this weird system, but mostly because I was sort of let down by the other players. The "bass trombonist" of the top orchestra is playing his part on a straight Yamaha. At Luther, you don't even get close to 3rd part in Concert Band without a real bass trombone, to say nothing of any of the orchestras. And overall, if put in a musical battle, Luther orchestras would absoloutely demolish Nottingham's. I won't say anything of the concert band, since I haven't heard them yet. I really am irritated that I can't do concert band, and I really miss playing band music. Hopefully I'll be able to join next semester. But they're playing some sweet pieces this semester in honor of Shostakovich, like a jazz suite and Festive Overture. Subliminally though, my desire to play wind music stems from an intense missing of the World Famous Luther College Concert Band. A lot of photos from fall tour have been posted on Facebook, so it's good to see what's been going on, but it's also difficult for someone who feels a great tie to the LCCB. I think mainly though, I just miss my friends. It's hard, when you're so used to hanging out with people who share your same passions, and then be thrown into a group of people who are so different. I very much enjoy the people here, but we have to be honest, most people don't understand why you kiss your hand before buzzing on the mouthpiece. Just so I can still feel somewhat a part of it, like a member on sabbatical, I'm posting a few randomly selected Luther band/trombone photos.



Anyways, it's Brandon's 21st birthday today, so happy birthday. This weekend we are going to the Lake District, made famous by William Wordsworth and the Romantics. I guess it'll be fun, but I'm angry about missing both the first baseball tournament and an orchestra rehearsal. It's fair to say that I am chafing under the two directors here, Mark and Carol. Being so used to being independent, it's hard. Also, being a history/music person, their blatant bias towards art and literature annoys me. There was more to the Romantic period than Wordsworth, surprisingly enough. Maybe Edward Elgar? He's on the frekking 20 pound note. I've mentioned this before, but it's so hard with all this crap we have to do to really get involved in the university. I can't do concert band, can't do Sunday baseball practice, can't do a lot of the games, etc, etc, etc. For a college (Luther) that is so keen on students getting involved, it seems like a very ironic twist. I wish these trips were optional. As educational and enlightening as they are, I think I'd rather be able to fully experience foreign university life. Plus, it would be an escape from the pseudo-pretentiousness of Mark and Carol, who may or may not be reliving raising their children with us. It's lame, the director last year was a music professor, and the one next year is an intense philosophy guy. But despite the relative grumblings of this post, things really are going well. I'm looking forward to playing in alto clef on my tenor trombone in orchestra, and am being challenged by my teacher. I really suck at playing musically, but my pedal notes are improving exponentially. I have to pack up my instrument. Later.

Garish Shoes

I was talking to some friends from home when I was ridiculed for playing baseball in hiking boots. I believe the words of Shane Colin were "Way to represent, Aaron," given in a sarcastic tone. When discussing this comment, I mentioned my somewhat flamboyant 13 pound football boots (British slang for you) turned baseball cleats and was obliged by my readers to post a photo. So, here they are. If my amateur baseball career continues back in the States, I just might have to invest in a real pair of shoes. Needless to say, the combination of garish soccer cleats, cheap Umbro windpants, free from getting a credit card Twins shirt and/or random soccer jersey, and cheapest you can buy baseball glove is pretty inspiring. Anyways, Shane, if you come across this, I'm not taking no crap from you. If I recall, you have a certain predispostion towards eating the garnish lettuce that comes with steak. Way to represent, way to represent. People may have noticed the new photo element on the right hand side of this page. I'm going to post an intense photo for an unspecified amount of time, when I will then switch photos. I didn't want the pressures of "photo of the week" or "pic of the day" hanging over me. I actually have a somewhat substantial assignment for my university classes. I began work today on my American History essay. I'm going to explore the factors that led Andrew Jackson to the widespread expulsion of American Indians west of the Mississippi in the 1830's. So I checked out some books, took some notes, etc, etc, etc. It's sort of strange to actually have to do something for class. Crap, I almost forgot. Happy National CPhT Day for everyone back in the USA! It's a day where all of us should appreciate the hard work that CPhT's like myself put in every day. Or in my case, in the summer and on occasional weekends. I need to go do some stuff. Later.

Upcoming Travel

After a soggy day trip to Chatsworth, I'm back at the flat. Chatsworth is a huge country mansion, with a landscape that was basically completely redesigned so the duke who lived there could have a pretty view out of his bedroom window. No joke, it's ridiculous what you can do if you have huge amounts of money and no inhibitions. Anyways, I've spent a good portion of my time since we got back doing some research for my upcoming travels. On the weekend of November 17-19, Ryan and I are going to go to London, where for sure we're going to see Wicked, and probably Avenue Q on the West End. Do a lot of other stuff too, I'm sure. I wanted to go hear the London Symphony, but they're not playing. I also want to go see Elstree Street Studios, where the original Star Wars was filmed. That would be crazy. I've also found a weekend to go visit my orchestra friends in Vienna. I'll probably get there late on January 10th, and stay until Sunday the 14th. I'm really excited, as I'll both have an opportunity to hear the Luther orchestra, and see a couple of my best friends. Benjamin, I'm looking forward to having to make sure you don't do anything too stupid in a foreign country again. It's going to rock. Somewhat more difficult on the planning end is the week I have to myself on Christmas break. School is over on the 15th, and my mom comes on the morning of the 26th, so I need to find ways to fill that space. Since my time period is so constrained, I'll probably be traveling solo, staying in hostels and such. It's a little sad, to be alone on Christmas, but I'll power through it. I know for sure I'm going to go to Dublin. One of my goals to accomplish in Europe is to visit the Guinness Brewery/Museum thing in Dublin, and I'm going to hit that up, hardcore. I think overall, Guinness may be my favorite beer, so it'll be good. Other than that, I really have no plans whatsoever. I may go to northern France, I think it'd be really sweet to see Mont St. Michel and the Normandy beaches. I'd like to in general stay close to the British Isles, as I want to be in London for Christmas. I have to meet my mom in London the day after, then we're hanging out until New Year's Eve, when I'm meeting my friend Scott in London. Then we're going to chill for a couple days. So if anyone has any other suggestions for me, I'd be happy to take them. In any case, it's going to be an intense next couple of months.

My First Football Match

Today, I went and saw Nottingham Forest play Bristol City at the City Ground. The pictures at the right are on top, the City Ground from the Trent Bridge, and the second, a couple seconds before Forest scored the first goal. Forest is currently number 1 in the league, with Bristol right behind at number 2, so it was a big game. Anyways, most everyone from Luther went, and as a whole, we got a somewhat late start down to the stadium. I was planning on being there an hour or so before kickoff, as is typical of myself and sporting events, but it turned out we got there right after kickoff. So right, that was not cool, but I'll get over it. And next time, I'll be there early. Anyways, here is a list of things that I found most striking about English professional football.

1- There is no scoreboard or game clock. There is only a clock that shows the actual time of day. No multimedia displays really, the closest thing was just a regular light up scroll board that showed messages from families and such. Very simple. No replays, no video introduction of the players or team, nothing like that.

2- When the game is going on, people sit and watch the game, intently. At a baseball game or whatever, there are always people going in and out of the stadium, going to get food, drinks, whatever. At the game this afternoon, there was no one in the aisles.

3- The different stands are seperate. Meaning, we had to go in a specific gate to get to our seats. At any other gate, we physically could not get to them. It's like having GA at the Metrodome being completely seperate from the Upper Club. Because of the history of hooliganism (more on that later), and a lot of unfortunate accidents, they are really strict about seperating fans, especially home and away.

4- There are barely any food stands or souvenir shops. In our stand, the upper deck had only one food stand which was severely understaffed and had only limited options. Nothing like the Metrodome or any modern stadium back in the US. In addition, you can't bring beer or alcohol into the stands. You can order a beer at halftime, but you have to drink it in the concourse, then go back to your seat.

5- Everything you've heard about the chanting and stuff, it's true. There is no music or anything piped in, because the fans are so vocal, in either chanting, singing, or voicing their pleasure or displeasure at their team's performance. As a general rule, the fan involvement wasn't as concentrated as it would be in baseball, say, when there is a batter up at a crucial moment, or a crucial pitch is about to be made. Certainly when goals are scored, people freak out a little more, but overall, it's a very steady atmosphere of chanting and such.

I'd like to see if these differences are more pronounced simply because Forest is not in the top league. If I ever make it to a Premiership game, in a modern stadium, I'll let you know. Forest ended up winning 1-0. They scored in the first 9 minutes or so, then it went back and forth for the whole game. We really had to rely on the defense, especially in the second half. This was the first soccer game I have actually ever seen in person, so it was fun. The rough plan is to go to a game maybe once a month or so. Tickets are fairly cheap, I have the required red Forest jersey, it'll be good. Although, I have to say, the City Ground generally makes the Metrodome look state of the art. It had cramped corridors, prison like turnstiles, and in general sort of looked like it may fall apart at any moment. But the outdoorsness of it was great. Makes me look forward to Opening Day 2010, with tickets to the brand new outdoor Twins ballpark in downtown Minneapolis... So yeah, it was a really good game.

Oh yeah, I was about 30 feet away from a real soccer brawl too.

We were leaving the stadium following the game, and we came out on this main street, where some commotion was going on. All these young guys dressed somewhat thuggishly kept running past us up ahead. It turns out, the Forest "firm" was beating the crap out of the Bristol "firm." So, they battled for a while on the street, as Brandon, Kevin, Ryan, and myself tried to get up close and take photographs. They slowly moved down the street, and pretty soon the Bristol group got backed up against a pastry shop with lawn furniture out on the sidewalk. Anyways, the two groups started hurling the chairs around at each other, along with bottles and pretty much anything they could find. Finally, the cops showed up, en force. They had two mounted officers, a couple police vans, some cars, and probably 20 officers, who proceeded to beat the crap out of the guys with billy clubs. The pastry shop front was all messed up, all the windows were broken, crap everywhere. It was crazy. Some old guys said it was the worst fight they've seen in a long time. So yeah, I saw the local team win an important game, and also survived a soccer brawl. It was a successful day.

No Title

It's Tuesday, I'm watching Game 4 of the NLCS via the internet. I bought the MLB postseason package, hoping to watch the Twins win the World Series, but since that didn't happen, I might as well get my $9.95 out of it. Today, Kevin, Brandon, and I went downtown to the City Grounds, home of Nottingham Forest. It looks sort of like some run down Soviet coliseum from the outside, but the inside looks amazing. It's outdoors, but we couldn't really see the stands and pitch (field) very well. But what we did see, it looks sweet. We were planning to buy tickets, but we didn't. Since a lot of people want to go, and you need your student ID to get discount tickets, we're just all going to buy them on game day. We also checked out the Forest store, which was full of soccer goods. It's a long story, but I wanted to buy a red Forest home jersey, but no one in the city had my size, so I'm still in search. I might settle for a different one and buy it on Friday. I did buy a US home jersey for a ridiculously low price. It was their World Cup jersey, and I got it for a third of the price it would be back home. I know we suck, but England has been sucking lately too, but that doesn't stop people from wearing their stuff.

Monday night I had baseball practice again. I actually got to take batting practice, which was cool. I forgot how exhilirating it could be. I did get a few hits, which meant I surpassed my expectations of consistently striking out. Also, I faced a few of my 5th grade demons when I got hit by a pitch in the left arm. It hurts. But I got through it. I'm really having fun with the baseball thing, it's cool to play it in a foreign country. A really diverse group of people, all of them really cool. I threw down the cash for a jersey last night. My lucky number 12 was taken, so I'm 34. Everyone should know the significance.

So, I've been English for more than a month now. Looking back on this blog, I've realized that I've spent a lot of time talking about what I've been doing, but not a lot about the little differences and experiences I have everyday that really highlight the realities of living in a foreign country. So, I hope in the coming months I can do a better job of that, to better inform you, the reader. I'm going to take some pictures of Nottingham this weekend, as well as the intensity that is English professional football, so everyone can get a better sense of my world.

Football

Last night, Kevin, Ryan, and myself ventured downtown to The Gatehouse, a hotel bar-esque pub filled with middle aged men wearing sweaters and blazers. The reason for this was that there was a sweet gypsy jazz trio playing, comprised of two guitarists with an upright bass. Needless to say, the jazz was sweet, featuring a lot of really cool arrangements of some classic tunes. It was also a very enlightening evening, in the fact that we gained a much deeper understanding of English football, courtesy of David and Philip Juggins. The Juggins are the neighbors to the Luther directors, so they have a long history with the program. Philip is their kid, who's going for a masters at the University. They're all really cool. Anyways, they were at the bar as well, and sat down and talked with us. The conversation turned to soccer, and they imparted much wisdom upon us. Here's the deal. English soccer is administered by the Football Association (FA). There are 4 main leagues, the Premiership, the Champions League, the Coca-Cola League 1, and the Coke League 2, with the Premiership being the top league. Respectively, there are 20, 20, 24, and 24 teams in each league. Each year, the three bottom teams in the Premiership are "downgraded" to the Champions League, while the top three in that league take places in the Premiership. This same system works for every level in the system. Also, the FA has leagues that basically go down to the local level. So, theoretically, you could start a team with you friends just playing pick up soccer, and progress your way up to the Premiership. Apparently, this actually happened some time ago with Wimbledon, who went from nothing to playing Manchester United. David compared this to a baseball team from Decorah ending up playing the Yankees in the World Series. So, it's pretty intense competition, all the time.

The local team in Nottingham is Nottingham Forest. In 1979-1980, Forest was literally the best football club in Europe, winning the European Cup two consecutive years. The European Cup, now known as the Champions League (different from the one previously mentioned), is like the World Cup for club teams. Nottingham is a small city compared to the teams that usually win, so it was an amazing achievement. Since then however, Forest has fallen down to League 1, which also gives them the distinction of being the only former European champion to play in a third class league. Still, it's a big deal. Nottingham is currently in first place in the league, seperated by two points from Bristol. So, if they continue to play well, they could be back in the Champions League next year. It was cool to hear from David, who was born in Nottingham and is a lifetime Forest fan. He apparently was watching them when they were pretty much the best team in the world. Forest football runs as much in their family as Twins baseball runs in mine, so that was an interesting comparison. They have the same superstitions regarding what article of clothing to wear to each game, etc, etc, etc. Also, dispel all those rumors about collapsing stadiums, riots, and general football hooliganism. They are pretty strict when it comes to security at games nowadays, with police everywhere. Unless you belong to a "firm" (group of people devoted to fighting other teams firms), it is very unlikely to be in any danger.

Big news after that, we (being a good number of the Luther group, Kevin, Ryan, and myself for sure) are going to the Forest match on Saturday against Bristol. It is a really big game, as Bristol is immediately behind them in the standings, and they have a big rivalry. We're going to go down to the stadium tomorrow, buy tickets, and also outfit ourselves with jerseys and other apparel. The stadium is apparently somewhat comparable to Wrigley Field, in that it is over 100 years old, and has a lot of history contained in it. The Juggins' seemed to indicate it was a pretty popular place to play. It also features 10 pound student tickets. So yeah, that's what's going on.

Other than that, it was a good weekend. Orchestra was definitely a challenge on Saturday, as I struggled with the burdens of playing an alto trombone part on my tenor, which basically means I have to play ungodly high. It calls for a high D, which in all practicality, I cannot play. So, don't know how I'm going to do that quite yet. A lot of people, myself included, went shopping yesterday. I got a sweater thing that's very popular over here, a t-shirt, and an England soccer jersey. They're actually quite cheap. They had a US home jersey at this sports store too on a big sale, and I was so tempted to get it, as it's a lot cheaper than you'd ever get in the States, but I didn't. This morning, we had to sing for the church that the flat is connected to, so I missed baseball practice, which was unfortunate. I'm going to miss the Sunday Astroturf practices pretty much for a month, which sucks. The pastor at the chuch (which had 4 members in the congregation), was, interesting. He compared the Bible to a machine gun, blatantly said how he was in favor of violence to solve problems, explained how the British SAS could beat a Navy SEAL, and also talked about how church members put Bibles on their coffee tables to impress him. Right. Tonight, I'm just going to get a jump-start on reading for the week I think. Anyways, this is getting long. Later.

Lame

I got an e-mail last night saying we're indeed not playing Shostakovich No. 15 because there aren't enough violins. That was the piece with the sweet 1st trombone solos. In general, it's an intense symphony. Instead we're going to play Schumann No. 4, which I'm sure is cool, but the part is for an alto trombone. Does anyone else see a problem with this? Besides the fact that the closest I've ever come to playing an alto is when I was looking at Dr. Smith's, there's the little issue that I basically started learning alto clef, oh, this week. There also is the slight problem that I don't own an alto trombone. So right, I don't know what I'm going to do, or what these orchestra people want me to do. I'll find out tonight. Needless to say, I'm pissed. First rehearsal, we're hitting up Richard Wagner, hardcore. I had my first trombone lesson yesterday. The guy, Doug Wilkie, is different than Smith, but he's alright. I guess I'm so used to Smith and John Tranter, it's a bit of a change. He has some really good ideas though, like practicing with your eyes closed so you can only rely on your ears. Anyways, he also said that at least one of the other guys who made orchestra was in his words, "weak." So, we'll see how this goes tonight. All four of my limbs are pretty much in a perpetual state of strain and throbbing, thanks to my lack of stretching during Wednesday's base stealing in the mud experience, so that sucks. Tomorrow I have orchestra from 10-1, and then will probably hit up downtown. I'm going to see whether or not it's more economically feasible to buy cheap soccer shoes, or buy cheap baseball shoes and ship them over here. And I guess there's a sweet Euro-chic clothing store that's having a ridiculous sale, so practically everyone from Luther is going to hit it up. Sunday brings more baseball practice, this time on Astroturf, which most likely means we won't be sliding, which is probably good. First week of class has been deemed a success. I'm really liking American History a lot. It's sort of funny to have the professor, describing America's current superpower status, also say under his breath that it could also be considered a hyperpower or a world threat. Good times. Anyways, I need to eat before orchestra. Later dudes.

Baseball

In the summer, when I discovered Nottingham had a softball team, I made up my mind to join that. Not being able to do softball, I made up my mind to play baseball. So, I've now experienced 2 practices of English baseball. Hmm, where to begin. On Monday, we practiced for an hour in this big gym. I didn't get to bat, but they had two net like batting "cages" where these two guys where pitching. I somewhat question their methods, as they were throwing as hard as they could, to people who didn't seem to have much experience batting. I know if I would have batted, I would barely have hit anything. Anyways, we did some fielding drills and such. There are a lot of different ethnicities on the team. 2 or 3 Americans, a guy from Mexico City, a guy who is half Iraqi half English, a guy who is half Japanese, half English, etc, etc, etc. People of foreign ancestry I am sure outweigh native English, with good reason. People of varying abilities. I guess, I'm not really bad, but am definitely not good. Right in the middle. Today, it was the stereotypical British day that everyone thinks of. Meaning, rainy and dreary. After a very wet bike ride to campus, and a class on Islam, I showed up to the sports center for practice. No one was really expecting to do much, as not many people were expected to show in such inclement weather. But, probably around 7 or 8 guys showed up, so the leader figure decided it was a perfect day to practice sliding and stealing bases. Needless to say, my beautiful new Umbro athletic pants, Twins Territory T-shirt, and hiking boots are covered in mud. The majority of us do not own baseball or soccer cleats, so we were definitely slipping all over the place. I either need to get some baseball shoes shipped over to me, or fake it and buy soccer shoes. All in all, I think it's going to be a good experience. The past few years, I've been so consumed with music at Luther, that I can't really do anything else. So, I think it's good to take a bit of a breather from ensemble playing, and do something that I normally could not do at Luther. I figure this is one of the only chances I have remaining to play baseball, a game I really love. So, it's good, and I'm sticking with it, no matter how much it may damage my self-dignity or sore up my arm. The people on the team are nice. I guess the two leaders are really "sporty" people, so they're not really the type I would normally hang out with, but I can dig it. It will surely be a learning experience. I just hope I don't suck too much. I'm really worried about how my batting ability is going to turn out.

Anyways, I have my first trombone lesson tomorrow, so that should be exciting. I've also been practicing my orchestra music. I picked it up the other day, and it turns out I have at least 3 pretty significant solos in the Shostakovich symphony no. 15. It definitely is intimidating, as the only orchestral playing I have ever done is bass trombone in an opera, which certainly didn't feature any solos. It's giving me a little fear, which is good. I need to learn it, and learn it well. It feels like Concert Band first year, sort of. Speaking of Concert Band, a big good luck to those of my readers who are members of said ensemble on their upcoming fall tour. You have no idea how much I want to be going, and every imaginable effort is going to be put into being in the band next fall. Benjamin, how can you live with yourself, going on a band tour and not rooming with me? I know they'll sound great though. I heard from Mr. Nyline, the Luther band director and Dr. Smith, my trombone professor in the past few days, which was really good. I don't want to completely fall off the face of the planet for 9 months or whatever. Speaking of months, it's been a whole month since we arrived in England now. It can be labeled a success overall, I think. Although, I can already see where I am going to miss the considerably more independent Luther life. As good as the group meals and such are, it effectively takes away around 4 hours of your day if you cook, which could be better spent practicing trombone, doing homework, exploring the city, or something like that. I feel as if I have a lot more control over how I spend my time at Luther, and consequently, do things a lot more efficiently. We always complain about having to trek to Jenson from Miller or Farwell or whatever to get our instruments, then go to the CFL. Try navigating a city bus, or a 45 minute walk in the rain, or a bike with your trombone, and you can appreciate the immense comforts that a small, residential college in the middle of nowhere presents. But, I suppose, it's the burden you take upon yourself when you choose a large instrument. This has gotten way too long. I have to hit this music. Later.

Northern Wales

NOTICE- NEW PHOTOS HAVE BEEN POSTED ON THE PHOTOBUCKET SITE. CLICK ON "AARON'S PHOTOS" TO THE RIGHT, THEN CLICK ON "NORTHERN WALES" TO SEE PHOTOS FROM THE RECENT WEEKEND TRIP

Hey all, back from a weekend excursion to northern Wales, with a quick stop in Chester, which is right on the English side of the border. For those not too familiar with the make up of the United Kingdom, check this out. The UK is made up of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The island which contains England, Wales, and Scotland is known as Great Britain. It's kind of like 4 states, but each "country" (because England, Scotland, and Wales, were historically at some point independent kingdoms) has a distinct heritage and sense of nationalism. Recently, the main UK government in London has devoluted Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland a bit. There is now a Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, which has somewhat more authority than the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff, plus a Northern Irish Assembly in Belfast. Anyways, whatever. On to the trip.

We shipped out Friday morning, and drove to Chester. It was a Roman fort, had city walls that basically stood on the same site as the old Roman walls, and was the headquarters for the English military conquest of north Wales. It was cool, but all these English cities sort of blur together. In such a small country, everything and I mean everything is intertwined. It's pretty much the same history everywhere. We're so used to the US, which is a huge country. Everyone we meet comments on how huge it is. And because of that hugeness, we have so many regional variations and different experiences. History in Virginia is different from Minnesota, which is different from Texas, etc, etc, etc. So needless to say, it's getting difficult to really appreciate the history here in England, because it's always a different angle of the same event. Anyways, Chester was also sort of lame because it was filled with the same cacophany of chain shops and restaurants which cloud almost every town of any size. So, we left, and went to Wales.

Wales is officially bi-lingual, so everything is labeled in both Welsh and English. Welsh is closely related to Irish, but although a Gaelic language, is of a different strain from the Gaelic sometimes spoken in Scotland. It sounded cool. We stayed in Conwy, which is a medieval castle town on a bay, with an intense castle dominating the town. Check out the pics. Edward I wanted to keep the Welsh in line, so he built this "Ring of Steel" of intense castles to deter any rebellion. On Friday then, we just scoped out the town, and ate dinner at this Italian restaurant. I had this intense pizza that involved spicy pepperoni, chiles, and some other hot substance. The medieval city walls are in excellent condition, so we decided it would be a good idea to climb the uneven walls in pitch blackness. We went to the top of the tallest turret on the wall, then proceeded to go to the end that juts out over the bay, and hung out for a while. Got some intense photos. Saturday, we got up, and had a lecture by this Welshman who is a sort of tour guide at the castle. He talked about Welsh history, rebellions, economics, all sorts of stuff. We then walked down to the castle and had a tour. The castle was really cool, it was the first really defensive castle we've visited. You could go to the top of the turrets as well, so that was cool. We had some sort of bacon/mustard sandwich known as a Welsh rabbit for lunch, then took the bus to Lladudno, which was across the bay. Lladudno is pretty much a resort town, so it had the whole shop spiel as well. There is this hardcore plateau/highland/hill called the Great Orme which juts out as a penninsula above the town. It's a big national park, so we took a cable car to the top. No joke, there was probably a steady 50 MPH wind at the top. Windiest condition I've ever been in, but we took some epic photos. The Welsh landscape is absolutely stunning, no question. Ryan and I got seperated from the group, took some more epic photographs, then walked back to town via a scenic roadway. We then met up with the group for an absolutely disgusting meal at The Cambridge restaurant. People ordered chicken, roast beef, and lamb, and when it came out, every single dish looked EXACTLY THE SAME, absolutely covered in this nasty brown gravy. If anyone every goes to Lladudno, don't go there. You'd rather eat raw sewage. After that, we went back to Conwy, where Brandon, Kevin, and I went to a pub and played a couple games of pool. We talked with a retired English couple who just recently retired and moved to Wales about how no one quite knows what the hell is going on with American football. Meaning, how to play it, the rules, etc, etc, etc. We then met the rest of the group on the same part of the city walls as the night before. A bunch of us had bought Cuban cigars the day before, because, well, because we could. So, we smoked them on the walls. I am not a smoker at all, but I guess it was alright. Don't worry parents, I'm not going to get addicted or anything.

The next day we got up, ate breakfast at the hostel, and hit the village. We just sort of shopped around and had some tea. Then the group, plus Mark and Carol (the professors) hiked up into the mountains/hills that surround the town, and had a picnic. We had about 2 hours to do as we wished, so I, along with about 4 others, elected to stay up in the hills and hike around. I ended up going to the top of the tallest peak within easy reach, and crap, it was intense. I put on some Lord of the Rings music and proceeded to run along the hills for a while, just because I could. Not quite New Zealand, but pretty damn close in terms of epic landscape. Check out the photos, you'll see what I mean. It wasn't quite as windy, which was nice. Probably the highlight of the trip. I love epic landscapes, and epic photography. It was cool, there were a bunch of horses grazing up there, so we sort of had to dodge them as we walked. Anyways, then we came back down, got in the bus, waited through ridiculous traffic, and finally got back to Nottingham. All in all, a good trip. I don't have class tomorrow, but I'll probably keep busy with Paideia stuff and maybe going to baseball practice? Still trying to figure out whether I am eligible to join the baseball team, which I really hope to do. Haven't heard back from the guy yet.

Speaking of baseball, I have to address the issue of the Twins. First of all, they played terribly for 3 games. Good pitching the first two games, horrendous offense throughout. I put much blame on the fact that I wasn't in the country. I tried my best to will the Twins to victory, from wearing my "This is Twins Territory" t-shirt, to wearing my lucky hat, to using my Twins credit card, to listening to "Win Twins" on my iPod, and to waiting up Friday night to recieve Scott's text message of the final score. But I wasn't in the country, which probably negated all of that. To be fair, they did suck at a time when they could not afford to suck. Bottom line though, it was an amazing season, even if it didn't end how they wanted it too. An even lower bottom line is the fact that next year the Twins will boast the AL batting champion, the possible MVP, the Cy Young winner, and a (hopefully) healthy Liriano. Along with Mike Redmond, the Piranhas, and myself, in the country with season tickets. So this was depressing, but it's only the start. We can all also take solace in the fact that the Yankees, who boasted one of the most powerful lineups ever, are also out of the playoffs. We'll get them all next year, no doubt.

Orchestra

I am now the principal trombone of the Nottingham University Philharmonia, the top orchestra on campus. Boo-yah.

What Is Going On?

I don't know what's up with the Twins. I really don't. I know this, they better play better in Oakland, or they are done. And after such an amazing season, it would be really depressing for them to exit the playoffs in 3 games. So Brad, tape your arm on for one more start, and give it your all. God knows you've already pitched with more heart this season than most people use in their whole lifetime. And all those guys on the team who supposedly score runs and play solid defense, it would be really nice if you could start doing that again. Mauer, get a couple hits, Morneau, get some RBI's, Torii, do some more of that 10 home runs in 15 games business. Win three for Kirby. I'd really appreciate it, and I'm sure he would as well. I've definitely worn my Twins hat constantly for 2 days, and used my Twins credit card both days. I'm not going to use it the next few, in an effort to reduce any sort of hex it may have put on them.

In English news, two days of class have passed. Tomorrow Rise of the West is on deck, then nothing. I have to finish this essay for Paideia capstone, but then I'm going to check out the Goose Fair at night. It's basically the Dakota County Fair, on a smaller scale. Same rickety rides, same greasy food stands, same big fuzzy stuffed animal prizes. Also featuring such fun filled activities as an American rifle range, complete with Confederate flags and "The South Will Rise Again" slogans. I went to the first brass ensemble rehearsal tonight. It went well. All the music is in B flat treble clef, so that will present some transposition challenges I'm sure, but it went fine tonight. We played Jurassic Park as arranged for brass band. The conductor is a 3rd year student, who actually is studying history. Her name is Chloe, she plays trumpet, and she is absolutely gorgeous. Also has a boyfriend, natch. Afterwards, we went to the on-campus bar for a little social. I met some guy named Chris who is finishing up his Ph.D in chemistry, and plays bass trombone. For Luther people, he's a lot like Luke (trombone playing Luke) in the fact that he has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the world's orchestral trombone players. So we talked for quite a while about the different musical emphasis in American and England, be it orchestra, jazz, brass band, etc. We also discussed bass vs. tenor trombone, and in honor of Dr. Smith, we did talk about Shires trombones. He was a good player too, really good. I found a wind instrument music store today, and checked it out. I ended up buying a solo called "A Life in the Day of a Trombone." I'll post a photo soon. I also ordered a book of orchestral excerpts. In the process, I saw a notice that the Nottingham Symphonic Winds (a Medalist band-esque type group) is in need of trombone players. So I e-mailed the lady questioning about auditioning and what times the rehearsals are. If it works out, I might give that a go. A lot of Luther people had socials for their respective groups tonight. Brandon went out for crew (rowing), Mary, who made the first line basketball team, had a basketball social, and Kevin and Hilary did a cross country thing. I didn't have anything save the short brass ensemble thing. So later on, Ryan, Anna, and I hit up this local pub called The Lion that came highly recommended by some of the neighbors. I have to say, it was very very nice. I probably had the most fantastic ale up to this point. Just a really great atmosphere. Plus, they have live music on the weekends, and Sunday afternoon is always jazz. Thursday night apparently is open mic, so there might be a chance of some jazz trombone/piano showing up during the course of the year (provided sufficient improvement is made in soloing). After that, we took the tram downtown and went to McDonald's (first time in England). It was mostly the same, but the ketchup on the burgers was definitely sweeter. But in general, the same. It was kind of refreshing to have french fries actually referred to as fries, and not chips. We're going to north Wales this weekend. I'm going to miss my first softball practice, which is quite unfortunate. I'm really looking forwards to playing. Like, a lot. I haven't played baseball for such a long time, it only seems natural that I play the game I love so much. I know, it's softball, not baseball, but whatever. You get the idea. I'm psyched. Smelling those RBI's. Next Wednesday is the first softball social, and they supposedly have a reputation for partying harder than they play, so it should be fun.

AL Central Champions!

This blog is theoretically supposed to be about adventures in England, but this is a story that demands commentary. As the whole world should know, the Twins, my favorite sports team ever, improbably won the American League Central on Sunday thanks to an equally improbable sweep of Detroit by baseball's worst team, the Kansas City Royals. And the Twins beat the Sox, obviously. I think I called this moment back in June, when the Twins reached .500 with a record of 34-34, and I said it clearly is destiny that we win the World Series. 34, Kirby Puckett, all of that. So here we are, preparing for the best month of the baseball year, October. I have to admit, it is quite painful to not be able to watch the games, or go to the games, or take part in the general atmosphere of October baseball in Minnesota, because half of England doesn't even know what baseball is. But the Twins can take heart that there are a few dedicated fans stuck in the middle of Britain who are cheering every bit as much as those back home. In the great tradition of baseball superstition, I wore my lucky Twins hat around today (the one I always wear) and also used my Twins credit card to purchase my first textbook. Santana pitches in about 3 and a half hours, and I'll be eagerly following the game online. It would be very nice to take the first two games at the Metrodome, and hopefully finish it up quickly. Give us extra rest for the ALCS. Just think about how much more beautiful this will be in 3 years, when I have season tickets in a brand spanking new outdoor ballpark...

I had my first class today, American History. I had some good news, in that the 10 credit class doesn't have a seminar, and the book I had to buy also carries over into American History II, which I'm taking next semester. I'm in a lecture of at least a hundred people. This will freak people out. The only two assignments for the whole semester is an essay and the final exam. No daily homework, no busywork, nothing. All independent study. It's pretty cool, but will present its own set of challenges. I had my Intro to Early Music class approved by the Luther faculty the other day, so will be taking that in the spring with the aforementioned class. That's good news, as it will hopefully help to clear my schedule up next year at Luther. I've spent the last couple of afternoons wandering around downtown. I don't know if the English just don't have jobs, or they have nothing better to do, but Nottingham is always intensely crowded with shoppers. It blows me away. Tomorrow, I'll bring my camera and show you. I bought some notebooks and stuff, and looked around a Marshall Fields-esque department store. On the bus back to the flat, I found some legitimate music stores (like sheet music and stuff) that I'm going to check out tomorrow. There are some pretty cool record shops downtown as well, but CD's are really expensive, a new CD usually is the equivalent of right around $20. Anyways, that's what's up. Tomorrow I have Islamic Tradition, and also am going to check out brass choir, which I hear is pretty cool. If there's time, I'll go to the "taster session" for the ballroom club. But more importantly right now, go Twins! As glorious as they are, I think the state of Minnesota would appreciate some new World Series highlights to add to the old ones.

PS- I gave out the wrong cell phone number the other day. The correct number should be below. I think.

044-79-6003-9380

Village Life

It's been a couple days, so I better let you all know what's up. Friday, I had the orchestra audition. I played the first movement of the Larsson Concertino, and it went pretty well. I was unhappy with a couple instances of high note vibrato, and there's this triple tonguing run near the end that is brutal which I sucked up, but overall, pretty solid. It's hard to know, because I haven't set up trombone lessons yet, although I've talked to the guy. So usually, I'd have Dr. Smith telling me what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it. This time, it was all me. So, after that, I sightread two excerpts from Shostakovich 15, which went alright. The first one jumped into tenor clef in the middle, so that complicated things, and the other was very slow and lyrical, so that presented its own set of issues. But the conductor was very nice, he asked me if I knew Anna Bolz, who played in orchestra here two years ago. For those of you who don't know, I sat behind Anna in Concert Band last year. I got every indication from one of the music society people that I really don't have to worry, I got in. So, that's good. It was a joint audition for 2 orchestras, one student led, one led by the conductor. I really hope I get into the conductor's one, because they're playing Wagner's Die Meistersinger Overture, which has a sweet trombone part. I think I'm going to end up in both though. We'll find out on Thursday. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the music culture. I haven't played an ensemble since Music Showcase in May.

Yesterday, we had an assignment for the Luther International Studies course. The mission, which we pretty much had to accept, was to find our way to a small village around Nottingham, and get a sense of village life in contemporary England. We were supposed to talk to people and find out as much as we could about the town. Obviously not an assignment I would excel at. I got a town called Upton, figured out the bus schedule, and took a 50 minute ride out to the town. I saw 2 other people on the streets or outside the whole 3 hours I was there. I walked the length of the town (10 minute walk), and decided to check out the church, thinking there might be someone there. Nope, no one. But, I sat inside the church for a while, it was probably 16th or 17th century. Pretty nice. Then I was hungry, and was set on going to this pub called The French Horn. The musical and French connotations got me pretty excited. So I head over, and it says it opens at 12. It's 12:10, and the door is positively locked, and it looks dead. So I head to the other pub, called The Cross Keys, where I had cottage pie (mashed potatoes and minced beef), peas, chips, and a pint of ale. Still no success in discovering anything about the village. I see on a map there's a cricket ground nearby, and thinking that might be cool, I walk out to it. It was like being in the middle of nowhere. The cricket ground was nothing but a green field, I don't really know what I was expecting, since I don't even know how to play cricket. But by the time I got back to the village, I had missed the bus that I planned to take to the next town over. So, I go back to The Cross Keys for some Coke. Finally get on the bus, and head to Southwell (pronounced Suthall), which is a larger suburb of Nottingham. I stopped into the big cathedral there, and the Nottingham Symphony was rehearsing for a concert that night. They were playing (surprise), Wagner's Die Meistersinger Overture. So, I listened to that, and talked with a violinist for a while (the trombonists where otherwise occupied). Then I just sort of walked around a bit, and took the bus back into Nottingham. I stopped into a sweet independent music store, and was on the brink of buying Bob Dylan's Modern Times album, but I didn't.

We had to present the findings last night at dinner. To those of you who don't know, we have two Luther professors of English, Mark Muggli and Carol Gilbertson, here as program directors. They're married. They're both very nice and really cool, but the Luther aspect of this year is definitely starting to get stifling. Tuesday night is consumed from about 5:30 to 9:30 with Paideia Capstone (which prevented me from doing Concert Band). And it seems dinner every night takes 2 hours (literally), because they have the unique skill to turn a 5 minute announcement into an hour long ordeal. It's just sort of like, go home, please. In addition, the weekend house trips and other "assignments" are going to get increasingly problematic, as everyone is becoming more involved with societies, sports, class, etc, etc, etc. I'm going to miss my first softball practice this weekend because we're going to Wales. Obviously, they're a great opportunity and such, but it'd be nice to have a routine. And it would be nice to have a little more independence from these ridiculous 2 hour let's talk about nothing important that we could figure out by ourselves - a- thons. So, that's frustrating, but whatever. I better get some of this journaling that they require done. Class for me starts on Tuesday, so finally something is going to happen.

Quick sidenote. The Twins have a slight chance of winning the AL Central division today. As much as it pains me to say it, I think they are better off winning only the Wild Card, and tackling the Yankees head on in the Divisional Series. As ESPN and Fox Sports have pointed out, it's better to only have to beat them 3 times in the ALDS than 4 times in the ALCS. Right now Randy Johnson is iffy, and there's a chance the Yankees would have to trot out 4 righthanders, which the Twins hit very well. Plus, they would have the chance for Santana to pitch twice in a 5 game series, which if tradition is followed, pretty much means 2 wins. As many have pointed out, the goal is to win the World Series, not the AL Central.