Off Week

This will easily be my shortest blog post- you can thank me later. Although I have yet to have a chill week, this was the closest I’ll get. The way I see it, the less sleep I get results in the more London experiences, so being busy is always a plus.

The highlights of the week were the sporting events (you must be shocked, I know). However, the three events this week were each relatively significant in comparison to other matches I have attended. On Tuesday night, I saw the England national team face Ivory Coast in a friendly competition. Although my favorite player (Mason Mount) did not play, everyone else who I had hoped to see at least made an appearance on the pitch. England thrashed their opponents, who played a man down the entire second half because of a late first half red card. The final score at Wembley Stadium was 3-0, although it could have been even worse. Wembley Stadium was a sight to see in and of itself; an enormous venue which saw 73,405 fans come and watch a match on a Tuesday night, it can only be described as both beautiful and impressive. The crowd was very into the match and the enthusiasm of the English fans cannot be doubted. Arguably one of the most entertaining aspects of the match was watching the hundreds of paper airplanes thrown by fans, building anticipation for the few chosen ones to make it onto the pitch, resulting in a cheer from across the stadium. After this match and my experience abroad, I’m honestly pretty disappointed that the U.S and England were drawn in the same group for the World Cup later in the year- I’ll be torn watching their match.

The next two sporting events this week were possible thanks to my Sport in Britain class. My professor and her husband took us to the QPR v Fulham match yesterday at Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, QPR’s home ground. Fulham continued their dominant run in the Championship with a 2-0 victory, sitting 8 points clear of second place. Although I was sitting in the home stand section, I was secretly supporting Fulham in my hope to see them compete in the Premier League next season once again. The environment was unmatched in terms of football crowds, and the London derby did not disappoint.

Today, our class went to the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, aka “The Boat Race.” If you look up the first collegiate sporting event on Google, don’t trust their answer. It will tell you that Harvard and Yale’s first boat race was in 1852, making it the first. However, the first Boat Race between Oxbridge took place in 1829 (although it was not a permanent competition until 1956). We were able to watch both the women’s and men's teams along the river at the start of the race for a solid 30 seconds before converting to the nearby big screens at the park once they disappeared. The large crowd, the drunk college students; it’s the closest you’ll get to an American football tailgate. Cambridge won the women’s event while Oxford took the trophy home for the men; however, Cambridge is in the lead for both all-time. I was tired for the athletes after watching 30 seconds; I can’t imagine the 16 minutes and 42 seconds (men’s time) of continual rowing for the 4.2 miles that the course entails. This was one of the events I had been looking forward to the entire semester, and it lived up to my expectations.

Although this week was taken up by a fair amount of essay writing, I managed to fit in a lot of other things into my schedule as well. I went to Brixton twice; once in one of my classes for a tour and once for a kilo sale in which I, regrettably, did not find any clothes which fit my extensive style. I walked along a graffiti tunnel near Waterloo Station and admired what I would describe as one of my favorite forms of art. I saw The Batman in Camden after a stop for some food in the market. I made a quick visit to the Design Museum which was a tad underwhelming, though I may have to revisit for their “Designing Football” exhibit coming up. And lastly, I made the hike down to Brighton again on a program sponsored event for a beautiful, snowy beach day.

Oh, I did have some good food as well. I finally got around to the steak chain Flat Iron with my friend Adam, where their menu consists of little else but their renowned steak. It was absolutely delicious (and cheap, too). Additionally, I got a cookie from Ben’s Cookies one day after class. I didn’t realize I was such a baker, although I definitely still have some work to do if I want to live up to my Mom’s reputation.

That’s all for now. Next weekend I’ll be in Paris, where Mom, Dad, Amber and Endo will be awaiting my return. So make sure to tune in next time! My viewer count has decreased severely; I need to up my advertising game. Maybe I’ll start to exaggerate a few stories to gauge some interest. I’m kidding, of course (just don’t be surprised if you start hearing about some celebrity sightings on a daily basis).

Cheers