Then...Now...Forever Forest (sort of)

Last Thursday at approximately 3:00 P.M., I completed my last academic obligations to the University of Nottingham. Earlier in the day I had printed off the crucial first copy of my 2500 word British Novel essay. Moral of the story, the hump has been passed. All that stands in my way now from summer is an essay on myself as a traveler and a International Studies final which shouldn't be too bad at all. It's very weird to think of summer coming up, especially still being in England. To be honest, I haven't even thought of it until I just typed it. Weird.

Friday night 7 of us decided to shell out £20 to go to the Forest playoff match against Yeovil. It was a really big game, if the Forest could win by the combined score of Friday's match and a match they previously won, they would go to a final at Wembley stadium in London. The winner of that match would then be promoted to the Championship league. Thousands of Forest supporters descended upon the City Ground, which was sold out for the match. We got sort of crappy seats behind the goal. An interesting perspective, but not as cool as being able to see the entire pitch from the side. But it was cool, as we were in one of the sections which featured a lot of chanting and singing. Learned to pick up a few of the verses. The "Come on you reds" one was the only one I definitively got. Needless to say, it was a great atmosphere to watch the game in. I haven't watched as much football as I would have liked this year, but I think I've learned to appreciate it a lot more. I can see why it's called the "beautiful game." Whenever the goalie would kick the ball deep down the field, the ball would rise up against the massive Trent End stand at the other side of the pitch, seemingly floating in front of thousands of rabid Forest supporters. It was a very majestic sight, for the few instants when all you heard was the boot of the ball, the roar of the crowd, and seeing the ball rise skyward. Unfortunately, the poetry of the goalie kicks didn't apply to Forest, who played a sloppy game and ended up losing by a margin in double overtime that allowed Yeovil to go to the final. Nottingham will once again be playing in League One next year. A sad end, but it was a very fun night.

My sadness at Forest's loss has been pretty much erased by the Twins' recent success in Milwaukee. Strange to think that quality pitching and good hitting results in winning. Hmm, maybe we should continue this trend?

Saturday was a typical English day with the usual schizophrenic weather. Got up, watched the season finale of "The Office." Brilliant, I thought about crying with both parts joy and laughter. Electing to go to baseball practice, I biked through alternating bouts of drizzle and sunshine before showing up to the sports field and discovering I was the only one there. I decided not to have made my journey in vain, so I explored the area of the city south of the university a little bit by bike. I ended up biking around the perimeter of Wollaton Park before entering and biking around for about 20 minutes. Wollaton Park is a huge green space, possibly the Nottingham equivalent of Central Park, but 20 minutes away from the city centre. I've been walking there once before, but I only saw a bit of it. Today I biked around a gorgeous pond, past middle aged Britons out with their dogs, and through the deer park. Yes, they have a deer reserve. The centrepiece of the park is Wollaton Hall, a large stately home with very unusual architecture. It's a free museum, but since there was no place to lock my bike, I decided it was a good excuse to return on foot in the coming weeks. Met Emily downtown for dinner at an Asian noodle place, which was quite good.

This morning I got up early and went to church at the crazy evangelical church I researched for my January Paideia II paper. I had wanted to return once more. It was what I expected. I guess I just find it fascinating, it's so different from what I'm used to. Plus they give away free coffee, tea, and doughnuts. Afterwards, I did one of my favorite Nottingham activities. I walked from Lenton (the district of town containing the church, nearby the University) to the city centre along the canal. My dad knows the system of British canals well, but for those of you who haven't captained a canal boat, I'll attempt to explain. Britain is criscrossed by a number of canals, created in the 1800's to move goods about. A lot of them are here in the Midlands, and nowadays, people just cruise them in canal boats, which are like long houseboats. One of the canals goes right through Nottingham and empties into the river Trent. They have a path alongside of the canal which provides a very pleasant walk with great views of the canal boats, the Castle, and the waterfront. I stopped at Sainsbury's (British supermarket) on the way downtown and loaded up on tea to ship back to the US. Went downtown, had coffee (actually a mistakenly ordered Banana Java Chip Frappuccino) with Emily, and now find myself back at the flat.

The rest of today probably will be filled with trying to plan my weekend trip to London, revising my British novel paper due tomorrow, practice, and going to Brandon's choir concert later tonight at St. Mary's. Plus every Sunday night at 1 in the morning there is live MLB on TV here, streamed from ESPN. During the commercial breaks the British commentators go to work. Well, one fairly ignorant Brit and an extremely over-zealous American. Weirdest dynamic ever. Tomorrow will be duly lazy as well I feel. Ryan, Anna, and I are grilling beer-can chicken for dinner. Tuesday will mark the 2 week point, only 2 weeks until we bus down to Heathrow, jet to Reykjavik, and then onwards to Minneapolis. I've been trying to cram as much as I can in. Probably going to continue.