Standard Last Words (Final Post)

As is customary, this will be a brief, un-detailed reflection upon my time here and a pathetic excuse for a goodbye to those I couldn't see in person.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing my time has been here.  As I said in my previous post, this place has become a second home to me.  I'm sure I'll constantly be making references to experiences and funny sayings back home and no one (except Paul, Mike, and Amy) will know what I'm talking about.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

To the 27 crew (this includes Jon and Jaddy): you are all crazy people.  Keep it up.  I expect no less when I see all of you again.

To the Stevo crew (this, for simplicity's sake, includes Jacob): I love all of you.  You're another family to me.  I'm still trying to think of all the family relationships this would entail, but all I can muster up so far is that Watto would have to be the father (skin color aside).  Seriously, if his hair turned gray, I wouldn't notice.

To Michelle, Nicci, Filli, Tany, and Guy: I miss all of you dearly and it'll only get worse when I get home.  I actually tear up a bit when I see the picture of all of you together.  I can't wait to see all of you again and I promise I will try my best to make it back to Switzerland next summer.

To Diane: Keep spreading the positive message of Drum & Bass.  We DnB'ers need to make sure the good word gets out.

To John: I totally wish I could have asked you to help me with my rugby skills.  My younger brother is picking it up quickly and I need to get better than him.  Perhaps another time when I return...

To Monique: I promise to try and speak with better English.  And I'll try to retain my manners when I get home.  Also, I'll be sure to let you know if/when I make plans for the European backpacking thing.

Finally, to anyone I missed, thank you very much for making this trip the spectacular experience that it was.

Definitely Not Enough Time

How do I know I haven't spent enough time here?  Simple: I still remember exactly what I'll order at Chipotle as soon as I leave O'Hare.

Looking back on my time here, I notice two very interesting phenomena: one is that this experience in Europe doesn't seem like a discontinuity with respect to the rest of my life.  It's almost as if this was supposed to happen and that there was nothing special about me leaving the United States to spend 4.5 months in South Yorkshire.  The second thing is that this place has become my second home, without a shadow of a doubt.  I already find myself using Yorkshire/English vernacular (calling me' mates 'Duck' and replying with 'Cheers' instead of 'Thank You', etc.).  I know many who've asked if I could spend my life here have heard from me that I probably wouldn't be able to, but I think that opinion may have taken a complete 360.  Maybe it's just the pre-departure blues, but I seriously think I could make a good life here if the opportunity arose.

Most importantly though, I've come to realize that one semester abroad simply isn't enough at all.  Many had said the full year was necessary and I agreed with them; if it wasn't for obligations back home, I undoubtedly would have come for all of Junior year.

But for now, I appreciate, to no end, the time I've had here and the new friends I've made.  Hopefully, that 'around the world' trip will come to fruition at some point so I can get to see them again.

And to those considering study abroad in Europe, do the full year if you can.  Seriously, it's worth double what you'll pay, at least.

England hates its students

Why do I say England hates its students?  See the picture below:

It's currently 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 celsius) and there isn't a cloud in the sky.  Only yesterday did this weather start.  And according to forecasts, it will probably be like this all throughout the week.

In my almost 4 months here, this is the first time I've encountered such weather anywhere.  And best of all, it decides to arrive right when students are supposed to be studying for exams, which, by the way, begin in 2 days.  Yet as this picture shows, many students have other things on their mind, like finally getting that tan they've always wanted (frankly, a lost cause because the only tan people I've seen here are either not from here or are using spray-ons so thick you could wipe it off them with your finger).

I, meanwhile, am using all my willpower to stay in my room and read for my upcoming mechanical design exam.  I've got my window open and some concentration music playing softly in the background to get me in that proper study mood, but every time I glance outside, I just wish more and more that I could grab my football and play some catch outside.

Closing in on the End

It's May 17th now and I'm right around 3 weeks away from leaving this country that I now love to death.

As the realization of departure has been setting in amongst the internationals here, emotions have been running high.  People are suddenly unable to focus on their studies (though to be honest, no one ever could, but with finals looming, this can be a problem) and the inevitable sadness of leaving some of one's best friends is becoming a harsh reality.

However, as classes have essentially ended, many of us found a great opportunity to squeeze in one more small trip to explore the country.  For me, that trip ended up leading me to Dover and Canterbury with a few of my friends.

The funny thing about this is that most English people whom I told this to would reply "you're going to... Dover?" in a way that made it seem like the town was no place for a student to go.  However, the town was the exact opposite.  Between the white cliffs, the view over the English Channel, and the old Dover Castle, the town was riddled with amazingly interesting and beautiful things to see.  For those on Facebook, the pictures are up (for those who aren't, I totally understand why you wouldn't want to join with all their privacy issues, but I've run out of room on my Picasa account).

And although we only saw the massive cathedral in Canterbury, I can safely say it's one of the most intricate and spectacular ones I've seen in all of Europe.

We finally capped off the weekend with a massive party at the usual international party house, the supposed last one of the semester.  Needless to say, the experience was bittersweet.

So now, we've come to the final stages of the study abroad experience: exams, exchanging contact info, and making rather unfeasible plans to visit one another in our respective countries whenever we find time.  As sad and pathetic as it seems, all this only reinforces the positive experiences one gains by studying in another country.

Believe me, the sadness is worth it in the end.


P.S. Even though most plans to visit our new friends will never come to fruition, there are some things that I have learned in recent times that have definitely brightened my day.  For one, my good friend Steph from Australia is spending her next semester in Madison, Wisconsin, just a short drive away from Champaign.  Additionally, it looks like a few of the Texans plan on visiting Champaign for spring break.  And with the Minnesotans not too far off, it looks like we could have one huge "USA in Sheffield" reunion in the near future.  And oh, how awesome that would be...

Ringing Ears

NOTE: This post is me expressing my inner electronic music nerd.  To fully appreciate this piece, you might want to look up some of the songs I mention.  If this doesn't sound like your kinda thing, then I won't feel the slightest bit bad if you choose to ignore this post.  If I were normal, I'd definitely skip it.

If I'll be completely honest, there's really only one major reason why I wanted to study in the United Kingdom this semester... and I got to live out that reason tonight for the first time.

The organizer was called Detonation (in conjunction with Hospital Records' travelling showcase, Hospitality), it was held at The Plug (a major club in Sheffield), and it was a night of extreme Drum & Bass music from some of the top artists in the game.

Those who know me well know that I might be the only individual in the United States (ok, maybe just the only individual in the midwest) who even listens to Drum & Bass music, let alone appreciates it.  My own parents ridicule me for liking music that's so fast and frantic.

And it's true, maybe it's a bit unorthodox to have a bunch of it on you iPod and listen to it everywhere you go, no matter what mood you're in (but to be fair, there are enough sub-genres in Drum & Bass that you can find the right tune for almost any state of mind).  But once you're in the club and your favorite producer is behind the decks giving you one straight hour of non-stop mayhem of his own creation, everything changes.

First up for the night was Logistics.  A great producer (already own two of his albums, "Now More Than Ever" and "Crash, Bang, Wallop"), but as a DJ, I have to admit his music selection was a bit sub-par compared to those who would come after.  Additionally, and this is by no fault of his own (rather, it's Hospital Records' fault), his MC sorta sucked.

Next up was one of my all time favorite producers and an individual who's making a name for himself as an outright electronic artist capable of entertaining the masses rather than just us junglists: Sub Focus.  His music selection was absolutely prime, his manipulation of the decks to rile up the crowd was spot-on, and the MC Ram Records selected for him was definitely on top of his game.  Everyone in attendance went absolutely crazy for him, especially when he dropped his hits "Rock It" and "Could This Be Real".  It was also a good opportunity to see the usual Drum & Bass crowd occasionally dance to some slower, more mainstream electro-oriented beats (but still having that massive bass that is a staple of Drum & Bass music).

The third DJ was, in effect, a sort of interlude: London Elektricity (in reality, just Tony Coleman, CEO of Hospital Records and the main guy behind the band London Elektricity).  Still a great DJ with an awesome selection, but that selection was a bit more jazzy, atmospheric, and a well-deserved calm-down period for the dancers.  The main highlight: his playing of the Apex remix of his band's "Just One Second"... quite possible the most beautiful song I've ever heard (Chris H., you can back me up on that one).

The final DJ (well, the last one I stayed for) was by far the best of the night: Noisia's Martijn Van Sonderen.  With Noisia just coming out with their debut album not even a month ago, most of the set was a self-dedication.  Not that this is a bad thing; quite the contrary, it was epic to say the least.  The Noisia sound was a complete 180 from the previous DJ's as it was dominated by incredibly complex synth patterns, dark atmospherics, and a bass so crazy and deep that no one has ever been able to replicate it (seriously, music production forums are packed with people trying to find the secret to "Noisia Bass").  I have never seen a dance floor rock so hard.  Even though people were visibly getting tired just before he came on (who wouldn't be after some intense dancing to 3 previous hours of DNB?), Martijn's tunes brought out the craziness in everyone, causing some of the most intense dancing of the night.  Highlights would definitely include his playing of Noisia and Foreign Beggars' "Shellshock" and the sudden slowdown/speedup/slowdown-again of Noisia's "Machine Gun".  Making things even better was when the one song encore was 16 Bit's dubstep remix of "Machine Gun", a truly epic and heavy tune.

By this time, it was closing in on 4 AM and I was, for lack of a better term, properly knackered.  There was one more DJ up (Netsky, one of the newest members at Hospital Records), but I simply had to get home.  But it must be said, for the 15 or so minutes that I heard his set, he was quite good for a newbie.

All in all, my experience on the Drum & Bass dance floor was... enlightening.  There are so many things one would expect when they first walk in to such a club, with its fast and loud music and kids dancing like they're high on crack.  And yet when I came in with these preconceptions, they were all quickly destroyed.  Some of the key things that really made me like Drum & Bass parties way way more:

1.) Alcohol is a deterrent to the experience.  Because of Drum & Bass's tempo (175 to 180 BPM in a live setting), dancing requires a great deal of coordination and an even large amount of stamina.  Even the slightest bit of excess alcohol would ruin the experience.

2.) Everyone is super friendly.  When people are packed on a Drum & Bass dance floor dancing to 180 BPM music, people are constantly running into each other or bumping each other.  And yet not a single fight broke out.  In fact, everyone would apologize profusely if they even thought they hit you too hard accidentally.  An even better example was when me and my friend who came with got separated on the dance floor.  The big guy in between us noticed we were trying to get to one another and moved himself and his friends out of the way so I could get back to her (even gave me a pat on the back).  Contrary to all this, at pretty much every other club I've gone to, it seems that dancing to pop music brings out the fight in guys.  At one club, I seriously saw a fight break out during the Macarena.

3.) A sense of community.  Everyone there is there to enjoy the music and help one another become better acquainted with it.  Those who started the night on the sidelines were in the middle of the floor dancing like crazy within one DJ set because of the encouragement of the rest of the attendees.  The more people that got involved, the more fun it became.

In closing: Mad props going out to the Hospital Records crew, Logistics, London Elektricity, big up to the Ram Records crew and Sub Focus, and 'nuff respect to the Noisia crew who tore down Plug with some of the most epic bass ever.

Now, if only I could convert more of my friends here to the religion of the Amen Break...

Reflections on Italy

I was a bit bored in Modena, Italy one day after visiting the Galleria Ferrari and decided to note down the impression I received from the northern part of the country that I hadn't visited before:
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1.) All Italians speak with their hands as well, even on the phone.  However, their sign language conveys no meaning whatsoever, as it’s all forceful hand gestures no matter the sentiment.

2.) Italian, as much as a “romantic” language as it may seem, is only romantic when spoken slowly by beautiful people.  Which it almost never is.  Not to say people here are ugly, it’s just that you never get a combination of both.

3.) It’s quite apparent that most schools here don’t teach English.  Which makes them a minority in the parts of the world I’ve seen.  Then again, I haven’t seen much so I won’t hold that judgement against them.

4.) Italians almost always are wearing something very fashionable and expensive.  I have no idea where everyone can have this kind of money.

5.) Institutions which bring Italian pride onto the world stage are worshipped in Italy.  Case and point: the entire town of Maranello is a shrine unto Enzo Ferrari and the creations of his company.

6.) Everyone in Italy smokes.  Doesn’t matter where, when, who’s around (kids), or what the smoking rules are in that area (no smoking allowed!).  Everyone is smoking and no one cares.

7.) The police are practically non-existent, kind of like unstylish clothing.  Or maybe that’s just Modena and Maranello.  Though let’s be honest, with a bunch of Ferrari’s driving around, Maranello might need it’s fair share of cops.  Hell, I busted out a 120 MPH run today.  And while we’re at it, Sant’agata probably needs some extra patrols as well.  Rampant bulls parading are no better than an army of prancing horses.

8.) Each village/town almost has a soundtrack to it.  For Modena, it was a quite one; occasional electric busses passing by (which, by the way, are genius in design), the quick chatter of people discussing clothing stores, etc.  For Maranello, it’s quite literally the sound of Ferrari V8’s and V12’s at wide open throttle.  No matter where one is around Maranello, so long as they are within a mile of it an the Fiorano Test Track, one can hear old F1 cars, 599 GTO’s, and FXX’s being wrung around the track at full blast.  It would probably take a town full of petrolheads to live in such a place.  My kind of town for sure!

9.) All negatives aside, Italy is a wonderful place.  When it comes to language, sure, I can’t understand them, but at least I can read a bit (thank you Latin!).  The architecture is beyond gorgeous and the whole country seems vibrant and full of life.  Passion is a big thing here, no matter what you invest it in.  And this is big with me.  Could I see myself living in a place like Italy?  Maybe, as long as it’s Maranello.  That town has the best soundtrack of any town/village/city/hamlet on Earth.

Proof that I actually went to all these places

EDIT: All pictures are finally up.  Links are below.

Finally made it back to Sheffield last night after a flight that almost got cancelled yet again.  Seriously, EasyJet needs to be run into the ground, they aren't fit to transport people or goods.

Pictures of the trip are below...

Brussels: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/Brussels?feat=directlink

Mercedes Benz Museum: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/MercedesBenzMuseum?feat=directlink

Stuttgart: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/Stuttgart?feat=directlink

Vienna: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/Vienna?feat=directlink

Modena: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/Modena?feat=directlink

Maranello & Ferrari: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/MaranelloFerrari?feat=directlink

Lucerne & Swiss Transportation Museum: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/LucerneSwissTransportationMuseum?feat=directlink

Zurich: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbird60/WanderingAroundZurich?feat=directlink