Wednesday, May 26th

Hey Ewe tonight at the Student union. Love Wednesdays! Today at work I am working on more of the same project-- it is my sole job to research the extra stuff that we didn't cover that the sponsors wanted while Dave and Ash work on other projects.

Tonight is the last big Hey Ewe at the student union because everyone will be busy with revisions and finals next week. And ALL the girls are coming out tonight which is exciting. Basically, all of DC will be out-- tonight is a special Hey Ewe-- a foam party. Gross, right? But apparently they are really fun and everyone was pretty pumped for it. Now that it is after the matter...yes, it was messy, and gross, and cold, and dirty haha...but an experience nonetheless! Ella has the pictures of the mountainous foam on her camera, but her are some of the pics BEFORE the foam invasion :)

Tuesday, May 25th

Today was a rather slow day and I can't remember doing anything in particular.. Oh! After work I went into town to Tesco (the grocery store..like Wal-Mart). Due to the fact that my curling iron melted while it was in my hair, and my hair straightener suddenly stopped working, I had to get a cheap straightener (HAD to). I saw Henry and Mike on the way in haha. Oh, but back to my curling iron...soo, I was curling my hair to go out and my hair was wrapped all around the iron and then it started smoking (I thought it was just hot) so I got excited because it really doesnt ever get hot enough... then it started smoking REALLY badly and the iron just fell off the handle...luckily my hair was not affected. PHEW! Anyway, I went for a run after that in outwoods..my friend Chip is going to start running w/ me occasioanlly. Now I have Mike, Henry, the Loughboro girls team, and Chip! Hooray.

Monday, May 24

Today I went to just North of London to help present the current progression of our project to the sponsors. I actually presented a good bit of it-- basically just my sections in the paper dealing with the affects of the substance we are using on the body and all the chem/bio stuff (typical haha). They gave us a tour of the factory and for my first actual presentation, I was surprised I didn't get nervous at all and that I didn't stumble on words or anything! I felt like I have made a solid contribution here already!!

Tonight I went to a local pub for a trivia night with the people I work with. We had 8 people on our team and we still finished in last...shows how much a bunch of PhD's know :P I 2 of the questions right due to my knowledge learned from watching CashCab wayyy too much back at home! Maybe next week we will bring our A game...

Sunday, May 21st

SoOoo tired from Friday and Saturday, so I slept until noon :) Got up for brunch and then went to DC Day-- only the best day ever! DC day is a day once a year at the end of the spring term where there is just a bunch of fun stuff to do. It also helped that it was about 95 degrees out and the nicest day Loughborough has ever seen
(what can I say, I bring sunshine!). Anyway, they had sumo wrestling suits, slip n' slide, ice cream truck, bouncy bounce, a bungee run, and a kiddie pool :) It was perfect for a summer's day! Here are some pictures of my friends and I having fun.

I spent some time at DC Day and then headed over to the track to watch Loughborough athletics take on the world (aka England, Scotland, and a bunch of other really good competition!) There were a couple of British records set, and I even saw an Olympian run! The track here is named after Paula Radcliffe (because she went here) . Although many people have not heard of Loughborough, sooo many famous athletes and coaches have graduated from here. It's one of the best sport uni's in the world. Such a perfect fit for me!!

Saturday, May 20th

This morning I woke up bright and early because today was the epic dragon boat racing in Barry, a town just down the road from here! I caught a ride with James and Ian from work and some other guy I can't quite remember his name..Oh wait I think it was Rob. Anyway, it was packed! It was like a mini fair-- just what you picture a small town gathering like. The dragon boat race was a charity event for the Loughborough Women's Aid. Because I really wanted to do it, I donated 22 pounds towards the cause, so..if you want to donate after-the-matter, I'd appreciate it :) JJ (another guy I work with) gave me 18 pounds that he had raised and I got another 10 pounds from the STI (sports tech institute) bake sale.

If you look at the pictures and my description from Monday, a dragon boat has 10 paddlers and one person keeping the beat on the drum. Our first race we won and I was paddling. In our second race we also won and I was paddling. We had the best time then. Our third race I was the drummer and we did not so hot. In semi's I was the drummer and we bombed it. I'm personally convinced it was because I was not in the boat that we lost...but it's uo for debate I suppose depedning on who you ask. Anyway, the day was filled with LOTS of sunshine, NO sunscreen, and some drinks to go around! It was a great way to get to know everyone I workwith..now we are all great friends!

After the race I went back to DC for dinner and met up with everyone at the local oub called the Varsity to watch the football game that was on...Premier League Championship maybe? I'm probably wrong about that... Anyway, the night progressed and we went to Echoes, a disgusting yet very cheap nigh club with sticky floors and loud music. Depsite the negativity, I had a lot of fun! Enjoy the pics!

Friday, May 20th

Yay- it's Friday, and gorgeous out! Literally, it's been about 85 degrees or higher, and it is supposed to continue this weekend. At lunch today we played Frisbee and catch outside, and it was just wonderful..kind of like summer in NY!

Tonight was definitely Friday Night Disco (FND) at the student union. A lot of people were busy w/ revision (studying), so Kirsty and I went to the union solo..well kind of solo.. we met up with a bunch of people there ha. Best part was that a group of guys went as the Jersey Shore guys ("The Situation")-- they thought I was famous when I told them a girl that went to my high school stars in the show (I personally think it's embarrassing and the worst show ever), but they thought it was cool. Also met up with a guy dressed as a pirate (Ali is his name). Also, my friends here are so nice and let me borrow their clothes to wear b/c I had already worn my going out clothes. Here are some pics..mind you, I am outfitted by my friends closets :) Lucky me!! Below is Kirsty. To the right is us with our DC friends (Sam and Paul) and below is me with the pirates (and the telescope!).

Thursday, May 20th

Work today was great. Dave and I are compiling a report and we are going to a small town just North of London on Monday morning to present our idea to potential sponsors! Yea-- official, I know :)

After work of course I hung out with my DC crew. A lounge/ bar downtown called Newshouse or something had a free buffet and drink night for members of the hall council at Loughborough. Hall council is kind of like our SGA, with more of a focus on freshman and second years. Anyway, being that I am "International Sec", I went to! It was pretty fun. Because it was SUCH a nice night out, Chip, Becky, Ella, and I walked back to the Uni from town. Of course we stopped to take some pictures with the Loughborough sign along the way ;)

Wednesday, May 19th

Tonight I went to my second ever official rugby match! It was between our Loughborough team and the England U20 team, which means all the players on the English team have to be under 21 until August I believe. Anyway, the match was SO much fun, and I think as of now it is my favorite sport to watch! After the game we went back to Becky's room and listened to some music. When I was walking back to my dorm, I ran into a couple of guys from the English team who were walking back. Chatted for a little bit-- they were actually pretty cool! Then I talked to Arianna on skype for like an hour. She is working in Geneva, Switzerland! Here are some wicked pics from the match!













Loughborough's colors are burgundy and light purple :)

Tuesday, May 18th

Today I went for a short run with Henry after work and then watched this AWESOME TV show in Steps room called Gavin and Stacey. It is about a guy from Essex and a girl from Wales who meet over the internet. It is absolutely hilarious and everyone should watch it online! I'm hooked on it :) Also went to the park Hollywell for a bit to have a kick around. fun times. Not too eventful other than that!

Monday, May 17

Today was the beginning of another work week, and I am working on a new project with the Progressive team!! I am putting my biomedical engineering skills and really digging up research into this project. The best part is is that my input actually adds a lot of value to the team and how we proceed etc etc. I love it!!

On another note today I found out that my physiology grade from Fall 09 got raised a letter grade, bringing my whole GPA up a good bit! Go figure! How lucky am I. Apparently there was a recalculation of grades due to the fact that our professor was 1 hour late for the final exam. I guess that tiny bit extra was enough to push me into the B range. Hoorray!

Tonight I went to the dragon boat practice on the little river in a nearby town called Barry. We are entering the dragon boat race for the Loughborough Womens Aid or something like that (it's a huge fundraiser). Anyway, like I said, I am doing it w/ people from work so it will be fun to get to know them better and become better friends with them. What dragon boat racing is a big viking type boat with 5 paddlers on each side with a person at the stern who beats on a drum signalling the stoke tempo. Quite entertaining must I say! The race is this Saturday. After the practice we grabbed dinner at the boathouse and sat around for a while. Great fun. On the way back we dropped Kirsty off at the car park (her car recently had work done on it) and we were following her out and got stopped at the light. Her car had stalled and wouldnt turn over, so we got out and pushed her car about 3/4 of a mile all the way back to the car park. It was quite funny pushing/ running the car along the main road haha. Hopefully she gets things sorted out!

Anyway, got back to my room slimy and sweaty from the river/ pushing the car...and the water is broken. awesome. good thing they change the sheets on Tuesdays :)

Sunday, May 16

Today I woke up and had brunch with the girls in the dining hall. The food here kind of stinks, but it's OK..I'm not too picky anyway. After brunch we went into town to get dresses for the summer ball which was later that night. The town is very small, with one main strip of stores. I found a stellar dress and some boots that were on sale and thus could not help but buy. The summer ball was at Revolution Hall-- a really posh bar downtown. They had a roulette table and a chocolate fountain with fruit, mini desserts, and cake. Revolution hall is known for its many different flavors of vodka, including ice cream and bubble gum flavored vodka. Weird, right? It tasted so good though! Kirsty and Step and Hops and Ella are all on executive board, so they of course made me the international rep. I was fortunate enough to get free drinks at the summer ball! Lucky me :) Here are some pictures!!!

Loughborough

Monday, May 10

After having my flight cancelled and being rerouted to JFK before flying to Heathrow, I was privileged to spend 4 lovely hours in this park outside the train station in Victoria, in London. I opted to take the bus to Loughborough to try to make up for the train ticket I had already spent and lost money on being that my flight was cancelled.

Anyway, I made it safely to Loughborough on the 10th of May at about 8:30pm-- just in time to settle in and sleep in preparation for work on the 11th! The National Express bus dropped me off at the student union, the farthest possible place away from my dorm that I was to be living in. Being me, I had lost the university map and had to ask about 20 people how to get to the "University Lodge", the place where I was staying. Finally made it there and come to find that I was like one of the very few people staying in the lodge. Actually, it;s not really a lodge, but just a dorm for short stay people and non-students (like a conference hotel). They provide linens and towels which is nice and my breakfast and dinner meals are taken care of. I eat them just down the way at the David Collett Dining Hall (about a 3 minute walk). In my dorm the bathrooms are just down the hall but I have my own sink in my room which is VERY convenient!

Tuesday, May 11
Today was my first day of work-- Mike from MIT (the guy I had been talking to who put me in touch with the head guy from Loughborough) met me at the library and walked with me to Progressive, which was more than nice! He also introduced me to everyone at the office who was there. Most;y everyone are pHd or work study students like me, with a few people who are making a salary salary there. I also got to see all the really neat machines they use for testing sports stuff. State of the art, top of the world! No wonderwhy all these popular sports companies like Nike and Callway outsource projects to the Loughborough sports Tech. I will try to get a picture soon of me with the robot that simulates the soccer kick at some ridiculous speed of 80mph. Quite entertaining, actually!

I left early and explored the campus a bit,and naturally, with my sense of wonderful direction, I got incredibly lost!! Least to say that two weeks has gone by, and I laugh at the fact that I got lost on this tiny campus! Here is a standard picture of me with the Loughborough sign!!

At dinner I sat next to these group of girls who I actualy am now very good friends with. Their names are Kirsty, Ella, Ella, and Becky. Below is a picture of us!! From left to right is Becky (Step), Ella, me, and Kirsty. The other Ella we call Hops is not in the picture. They are all so nice and so sweet and remind me of my friends back home (so naturally, I love them). After dinner we went down to park behind the residence hall and played ball for a little bit. I love it here because it truly isa sports uni and even those who don't play sports competitively still love it and have a kickabout nearly every night after dinner. It's fantastic! We watched the boys football (soccer) team play in their intramural (IMS) match!

Wednesday May 12,

Today was my first full day at work, and boy was I busy! Mike already gave me a project to start working on dealing with dumbell weights. Because I'm under confidentiality on all my projects I can't really say exactly what they are, but it is very interesting and applicable! I also spoke with Ross who is head of Progressive and it looks like I will be putting some biomed physiology skills to test! Good thing I did so well in that class...not really haha.

After work I went for a run with Mike and Henry (another guy I work with from California) and they showed me around this cool park and such. Little did I know that that same park is the oark that Paula Radcliffe, an olympian runner who went to Loughborough! We are planning a 10-13 mile run for Saturday. Should be tiring but loads of fun!

Tonight I went out to the student Union for a night called "Hey Ewe", which is like a party the student union has every other week. They have 3 night clubs w/in the student union-- how crazy!! Because the drinking age is 18 here, it is legal to have nightclubs/ bars etc. in the student union. And everyone goes out for it-- probably b/c it is such a small town that is centered around the Uni.

Thursday May13

Today I didn't do much of anything. By the time dinner rolled around I was dead tired and went to sleep at like 8pm. I woke up this morning and ran and got lost..naturally-- so my 6 mile run ended up to be 10 or 11 miles..oh well! Tomorrow morning I am going for a run with Mike and Henry and another guy named Ash-- probably like 10-13 miles.

Also today I went and saw the track coach here at Loughborough. He said I could definitely train with the girls if I wanted..too bad they are wicked fast! The best two girls on the team posted a 4:30 and 4:37 1500m at their last meet. Right now I could probs run 5:05ish (eek)..so I'm going to work extra hard this next week to hopefully get in shape so I dont come in dead last with them. Sunday I am going to the summer ball downtown-- and this weekend I need to get a dress for it-- it's not fancy or anything..just like a normal dance type...i just dont have a dress for that-- with me or even at home. Should be pretty cool.

Friday, May 14

Today I had work and tried a standard British fast food called fish and chips..aka cod in fried batter with french fries. I ate the cod-- the fried stuff grossed me out. The fries were mighty tasty too. I'm definitely learning my way around Progressive and everyone is wicked cool. Got stuck on my problem for Mike and talked with him and im going to see some more people about it on Monday who have better knowledge of mechanics. Last night ate dinner and made some new friends (guys names are Tom and Sam)!! I love making new friends..caught up w/ some fellow engineers who have HW. like at Georgia Tech..kind of!

Tonight we went to the student union for Friday Night Disco (FND). Everyone gets all dressed up for it and it is great fun! I also met a Canadian who goes to this uni-- he's a bit older than your average student..only because he was a pro Canadian skier (maybe?) -- got injured and i guess couldnt stand being in the same country and came to loughborough to train haha (might have gotten that a bit messed up). Also met an English guy who is **obsessed** w/ American football and baseball. He knew that GT rivals UGA and Texas Tech v Texas. crazy. Now I am friends with a bunch bunch bunch of other people from DC who I am now friends with through the girls. They are on exec board like student council for their hall and thus are involved with a lot of social activities..which work out perfectly for me!!-- next weekend is athletics weekend (like field day) so some of the halls dressed in funny costumes to try to raise money for their teams and for their balls-- every hall as well as the athletic student union clubs has a ball either this weekend or next weekend. Left to right is Matt, me, Paul, Kirsty, Becky.




Saturday, May 15

This morning got up early and went for a run with Mike (MIT) and Henry, another American from work. We did 13 miles...and I was dyyyinggggg. It was fun to see some English countryside though. Very quaint and cute! We finished our run in town, and like France, every Thursday and Saturday there is a big big market and the entire pop. goes to town to walk around/ shop/ hang out. It's a very nice small town atmosphere-- something I wish the US had-- they probably do somewhere...Ill find the town and move there.

Also today went to a rugby match. Quite entertaining. I was going to ask this old guy next to me to explain the rules briefly. I figured it would take too long so I didn't ha. Seems straightforward enough though!!

More to come soon, but that was nearly my first week in recap!!!!