I went out in Bournemouth with Franky, my pub buddy. I think I've written about her, but if not she's the one who grew up around pubs so she knows a good British pub. She's cool. She's 22 but she was completely hammered tonight. She owes me taxi fare. (Update: it turns out Franky bought a round of drinks. She was shocked to discover how much she spent in the days that passed.)
In other news, I have full access to my loan funds now. When I found out this morning I was giddy. Now I have cleats, gloves, a membership to the football team, an unlocked phone (in two weeks) and obviously a night out. But I realize I paid for this with money that isn't actually mine. But whatever, I'll deal with that when the time comes. I also found a few local stores on High Street in Poole where I can get stuff for really cheap. For example, a pair of shoes for four pounds. Good deal!
But my biggest concern at the moment is making it to 11 a.m. football practice. It's now 4:04 a.m.
Later on Sunday...
I can't wait until we get pads and helmets.
Drawing up the formations on a white board in a classroom session is one thing, but it's a whole other ballgame when you actually go out and physically line up in those formations and learn what all the signs and terminology mean. It's very confusing at first, like a new language, but it becomes more and more clear.
I spent the practice lining up as a slot receiver. When the play call comes in and the offensive coordinator makes his signs there's something that applies to everybody. So for example, if he calls "over 2 flex Y," that means I line up on the right side. And if the coordinator locks his hands together and spreads his arms wide close to the ground, that means the play will run to the left; over his head, the play goes to the right. Additionally, there are plays such as "under 1 slot 2" which means the slot receiver (me) lines up on the quarterback's right side and could receive a handoff depending on which side of the field the play is running.
As a result of learning these formations, we had an intra-squad scrimmage where the defense, offense and lines combined to play a game. This was pretty fun, as it's a bit of a rush to go block someone. It feels great to be able to shove someone hard in the chest and drive them back. It's a one on one matchup with another person where both are battling for position. It's tough, but exhilarating.
And later I rode the bus to Bournemouth with Michael, the other guy from California on my floor. He plays volleyball for a couple teams here, and it turns out he likes Regular Show too. If you don't know what Regular show is, it's about a college-aged blue jay and his raccoon friend who work for a public park and have a gumball machine for a boss. It's absolutely fantastic. Check it out, it's on Netflix.
6/10 - That was one hell of a storm last night. It went all night and didn't stop until about 1 p.m. My window wasn't completely closed so noises were louder than normal which woke me up a few times. The wind was really blowing and the rain was driving down. I loved it! I haven't seen a storm like that in California for a while.
Since I don't have classes on Monday, it was a stay-inside-and-study-and-do-chores kind of day. With my business classes, readings are typically so much more interesting when real-world examples are used when supporting unfascinating theory. But with a sports and society book, I came across another interesting reason why we have sports, and it goes along with the fact we like to kill. We have sports because modern humans haven't completely evolved from their hunter-gatherer ancestors. So we still chase the feeling of the hunt. We're still predators.
While I was around town today getting groceries (it's kind of difficult because things like tomato sauce and paste are labeled differently, such as tomato puree) and visiting CrossFit Poole, I'm still marveling at the fact I'm here. I'm not uncomfortable anymore. I have a routine now, I've got some money and a bank account and some friends and am discovering a new hobby. Man, I'm glad I came here.
And as a final thought, when talking to Floyd, one of the coaches at CrossFit Poole, it turns out he was born at one of the Air Force bases in Sacramento, though he moved here when he was very young, and has some family there. Small world.
7/10 - Some bad news: I didn't make the first team with the American Football team. The announcement was made during tonight's chalkboard session, and I gotta say I was disappointed. However, the lineups are fluid, so anyone can go up or down at any time. I still get pads and a helmet and a kit, so I'll just keep going to practice, getting stronger with CrossFit and work my tail off to take someone's job. (I apologize for the generic statement a football player makes to the media; it seemed appropriate.)
Now for some good news: I met with the editor and sports editor of the school newspaper and they seemed impressed with my resume so that's a good start. I guess it's a plus to have professional experience when trying to get on the school newspaper. I was also picked to contribute to a UK American football website called Double Coverage.
I found out the German guy (Nico?) in my sports principles and practices class is an Arsenal fan, because while in discussion he said he's going to the Champions League game between Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund. So I hung back to talk to him and his friend Frieda who comes from Munich. We seemed to hit it off after I told them I studied German for four semesters in college but have since forgotten most of it.
I rode the bus back to Poole with Stella, my flatmate from Kenya. She said she was going to get some KFC at the bus station because she was too tired to cook. I rolled my eyes at her and she started laughing.
Finally, I got a haircut today courtesy of a guy on the football team named Sammy. I'll say right now it was the strangest haircut I've ever had. Going through the door I had to step over beer bottles and empty pizza boxes. The kitchen to the left was completely filthy with no counter space. Sammy whipped out a chair in the middle of the carpet and had me sit on it. He didn't lay out anything on the floor, nor did he put a towel around my shoulders. I said I wanted a fade, but I don't think he had either the skills or the tools to do it. He just ended up quickly shaving my head while his roommates laughed at him and about the night they had last night. Several times I pointed out where Sammy missed, such as around my ears and on my neck. So now I'm little better than bald, though I can't complain because it was free. I don't know the guy too well, but I had to give him a chance. I think this qualified as a train wreck, so I'll look elsewhere.
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But I like it, especially after I got a chance to wash my head with some shampoo and shave off my widow's peak. The only problem is that my head is freezing now, especially with fall well and truly here.
And speaking of fall in Poole and Bournemouth, it's awesome! The colors are so vibrant and it's pretty chilly and wet, just how I like it.
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