Week 2

               After some confusion and adjustments I got my classes all set up and Monday was the first day. It was kind of hectic finding the different classrooms and everything but I managed to get to all of my classes and settle in. The week went by pretty quickly which was good and friday night Colin, Jenna, Alexa, LJ, Rebecca, Kendall, Madison, and myself all walked over to chinatown for dinner. The food wasn't bad but it was very expensive but I guess we were paying for the experience more than anything which was fine.
               Saturday, we had an early wakeup call for our group-wide day trip to York. The bus left Newcastle at 9:30 and we got to York around 11:30. A lot of people slept on the way there but I wasn't able to so I took in the scenery and listened to some music. We got to York and walked around the quaint city admiring things like the massive architectural masterpiece that is the cathedral. Kevin, Matt, Colin and I went off on our own and went to lunch at a pub on a road that was the inspiration for Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter movies which was really cool. We mostly walked around popping into different places and getting a feel for the city. We left York at 4:30 and I was able to nap on the bus ride home which made it go by fast.
               Sunday, I had another very early wake up call for the team bus for the Newcastle American football team's game at Durham. Will Grill - a graduate of Loyola and current grad student back at Newcastle plays on the team and told me I should come watch if I'm interested in playing. Also, I wanted to go because my friend John plays for Durham and I wanted to get to a game. We left at 8:40 and the game was at 11. I couldn't do much as I was in street clothes but while the team was warming up me and an injured player tossed the pigskin around a little bit. One of the refs asked me to be a ball spotter so I pretty much had to just follow him around and when there was an incomplete pass I would hand him the ball I was holding. The first half was close but we got blown out in the second half. Everybody knows Durham is the best team in the league so everyone was kind of expecting it. JP played well for Durham - made a lot of tackles and recovered a fumble and we got to talk a little bit after the game which was good.
               When we got back to Newcastle around 4:30 I took a long nap and woke up ready for the Super Bowl party. The football team rented a pub out for the viewing of the game so a lot of the Loyola kids came to watch. I thought the Seahawks would win but I wasn't expecting them to do it in that fashion. Blowout city. But it was fun watching it with everyone and we had some good food. Today, I had class at 1 and 5 and got my haircut in between. I was nervous how it would look but I'm pleasantly surprised. Here are some photos and potentially a video from York.