Entered on 30 September 2002 at 8:45 a.m..

American Weekend

This weekend was marked by the shear number of Americans I have come into contact with. Since weekends for students often begin on a Thursday, my visit with the new Marshall's counts as my first American encounter. They were everywhere. I really enjoyed meeting all the new scholars, they seemed much more "with-it" or mature than last year's group. Although they did drive Mary (the scholarship coordinator) nuts, because they arrived everywhere late. They had some really good questions during the discussions, and overall I was impressed. During the reception that night I was pleased to meet up with a bunch of my class. 30 of the 40 of us will be at Oxford this year. I'm rather jealous of all the memories they'll have of each other when they leave next year. I wish I was going to be there, but I guess I'll just have to plan on visiting.

On Saturday I got up and took the bus into bedford (remember I cannot drive anymore) and had forgotten why my car is so economical. The return journey cost me �4.40. But I had to go because I had signed up to take a one day Spanish class. The class was great, and so was the instructor. The funny thing was that she was American. She reminded me of my cousin Jenny, the way I remember her. Turns out that she's actually from St. Louis about 10 miles from Belleville. The world is a small place.

After class I hopped a ride into town from one of my fellow class mates, as the class was near the edge of town and I didn't feel like repeating my 30 minute walk from that morning back into town. I went to the market and got some vegetables and bread, looked around for some black boots and then caught a bus home.

As the bus pulled into Cranfield I noticed that there was only one other person on the bus, and I figured that he must be a new student because of the new pillow he was holding. When we both got off and headed toward Lanchester I asked him if he was a new student and what he was studying. He responded that he was here for an MBA, at which point I noticed my second American accent of the day. So I asked him where he was from and found out that it was Atlanta. Subsequently came to discover that he is a GT alum, ChemE '99. What are the odds? Unfortunately I was tired and so I didn't find out where he was staying other than Lanchester Hall, so I told him where I lived and to come around later for the game if it was on early. He never came, which is probably good because I fell asleep in the middle of the 4th quarter. It was a good game though, but football isn't as good as baseball over the radio.

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