Safe and sound

Merry Christmas everybody!

I am in Rome and the trip has been amazing thus far. Even after a small bought with food poisoning and millions of hours on trains, this is such a rewarding experience. So far, we have gone to Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Hendaye, Bordeaux, Nice, Milan, Formia, Rome and Taormina. I cannot wait to see you all again! Not too much longer.

Happy new year, as well!

Cheers.
Dan

Bon voyage.

Good evening, sports racers:

The past few weeks have been pretty relaxed. With classes finishing up, the temperature getting colder and the rain moving in, things settle down a bit in Liverpool's December. I'm finished with class until my exams in January, so I'm taking a few weeks to travel around Europe. It's going to be an odd thing living out of a backpack, especially during the holidays. Each piece of rail I travel along will bring me further into unfamiliar territory. My home will be transient - taking form anwhere I can stop and read a little bit of On the Road before catching some sleep. My plans will undoubtedly change, and I'm exciting to see where they take me. I'll see many of you again in about a month! Be ready.

Current plan of ATTACK:

Barcelona -> Marseille -> Nice -> Venice -> Rome -> Sicily -> Rome -> Vienna -> Munich -> Paris -> Liverpool.

I'm going to try my best to check in to this blog as much as I can, even if it's only a sentence or two. Check ya laterrrrrrrr.

Pints of Guinness Make You Strong

Sometime next March, my roommate Andy, myself and any other soldiers we can recruit will be embarking on a quest of mythical proportions. The Spring Break Hot Dog Tour of America will bring happiness and joy to us brave few... the ones who are ready and willing to eat at least three hot dogs a day from three different cities across the Eastern part of America for an entire week. The HAWTDAWG'08 tour is truly the most exciting trip one could imagine. However, my recent trip to Ireland was a very close second.

Booking a plane for a 6:30am departure allowed us to see Liverpool in all its glory at an ungodly hour. We picked up a cab at 4:30 and headed to Jon Lennon International Airport. The absolute best part about drinking pints of Guinness at an airport in Liverpool at 5:00 am is that there are tons of other people doing the same thing.



We touched down at sunrise in Dublin after a 35 minute flight. We took a bus to the city centre and stopped at a cafe to purchase some much-needed caffeine. As we paid our 4 euro for coffee, Brock and I realized that Dublin was going to be quite expensive for a couple of students on a fixed budget.



After breakfast we wandered around the city trying to find our hostel. We were lost for about two and a half hours, which gave us time to see a lot of Dublin. The city is absolutely beautiful. People actually smile as they pass, the architecture is great, and traditional pubs line every street. After a few episodes of Scrubs at the hostel, we wandered back through the city. We hopped from pub to pub for the remainder of the day, with a few tourist stops in between. We checked out the Guinness Storehouse, but instead decided to take the tour of the Old Jameson Distillery. The tour guide was hilarious and I learned a lot about whiskey... and about how passionately Irish whiskey-makers despise Scottish whiskey-makers. We hung out around the Temple Bar area for the rest of the night, drinking pints of Guinness with the innumerable other tourists.








Dublin was fantastic, but we wanted to check out a smaller Irish city, so the next afternoon we took a two hour train ride to Kilkenny. Kilkenny is a small city built around an old castle. We arrived in the evening and booked a night at a nice bed and breakfast. It even included hundreds of giant spiders lining the walk to our room! After we were settled in, we went out. For a town of around 9,000 people, Kilkenny has a great nightlife. There were tons of pubs flooded with people, live music and of course, Guinness. We watched the England/Austria soccer match at one of the best pubs I have ever been to. The little pub, lined with brick archways, played amazing music through the whole game. Lou Reed, Arcade Fire, Meat Loaf, the Ronettes, Prince, CSS... nothing was missing except some Springsteen.








The next pub we visited was full of locals doing karaoke and a bachelorette party. Apparently everyone in Ireland can sing. It was pretty impressive. It was really cool hearing everybody sing along to traditional Irish songs. I wish I would have known the lyrics. At the final pub we went to, we met an archaeologist, a software engineer who had met River freaking Phoenix, and a couple who stayed across the street from us when we were in Vegas in April. The place had an awesome terrace where we almost got thrown up on - but no worries, they had a bucket of water to clean it up. There was live music and happiness all over the place. Irish people are amazing.






The next morning we visited Kilkenny castle. While we were waiting for the tour, we met a woman who was an alumnus of U of I. The castle was extremely beautiful and the tour was pretty entertaining. I'm pretty sure I want to live in a castle when I'm older (that's a hint if anyone wants to buy me a Christmas gift). We walked around Kilkenny checking out the old buildings and cathedrals until our train left back to Dublin.


That night, the weather decided to be uncooperative. The rain, wind and cold forced us to stay close to our hostel. We did most of our Christmas shopping for our families (Tommy and Maggie got some righteous gifts), then headed out to some of the bars we hadn't checked out the first night in Dublin. I wanted to go to Cassidy's but we never got around to it. Every time I walked by it, I thought about the Kerouac novel Maggie Cassidy.

First, we went to a hotel bar where they were showing the Euro 2008 qualifier soccer matches. Poland was playing Belgium with a chance to qualify for the first time. Dublin has a big Polish population, and there was a ton of Polish fans watching the game. They won 2-0 and the crowd went crazy. It was pretty entertaining.






We headed back to Temple Bar, and it was packed again. We met two girls from Australia who were studying abroad in Nottingham, which was pretty cool. We went to a few more bars with some English people we had met, then called it a night. Back at the hostel, we met a girl from Kansas and a boy from Canada who are living in Dublin for a work abroad program. They were really cool and it was interesting to hear an outsider's opinion of living in Dublin. I don't know how they can afford it. Right after someone changed the channel (if anyone knows the ending of Shark episode #14, let Brock know), we took off. The only part of the trip that remained was the part that is becoming second nature - wake up, pack, airport, wait, fly, home.


All in all, Ireland is an amazing place. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys relaxing, taking things as they come and having some drinks along the way. I really can not wait to go back when I have real money to spend, and I'm old enough to rent a car - checking out some of the really small towns would have been amazing.

Giving thanks.

To my wonderful family and friends:

Thank you for being such amazing people. So many people have made my life better in some way or another. If you are reading this, you are probably one of them. For that, I am grateful. I wish I could see you all today; just remember to give me an extra bumpin' high-five next time you see me. I love you all.

Dan
p.s. - Ireland post coming sooon.

It's been a long time, long time.

It's been a mix of laziness and being busy that has kept me away from the blog for the past two weeks. The British weather is finally revealing itself as I had imagined - cold, gray and wet. The wind and rain smothers the city into hibernation, but hopefully we will get a break sometime soon. The weather changes even more often than it does in Chicago.

Anyhow, it's time to fill you in on my Euro Trip 2007 (and a bit of 08). If I had been blogging over the past ten days, here are some of the things I would have included:

One of my best friends from home came to spend a week in Liverpool. Phil flew into London then took the train up. We went straight to one of my favorite bars where we fell in love with Guinness Red. Apparently it's being given a trial at a handful of pubs in the UK... tasty stuff. We hopped to a few other bars and Phil finally crashed after being awake for about 40 hours in a row.

The next night our friend Molly threw a Halloween party, where I unleashed some more zombie upon the world. Everyone had a great time except for the residents of the building across the street... at about 2 a.m. the place decided to burn down (insert "the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire..." jokes here). The fire department decided to do nothing to help, so we'll just assume everybody got out safely.

Early the next morning Brock, Phil and I took the train to Bangor, Wales. The three hour trip was great - the Welsh countryside is gorgeously green, hilly and full of sheep. When we got to Bangor we walked around and visited a few pubs. It was hard to decide which ones to patron, since it appeared that all of them had signs painted by the same person. At the last bar we went to, a drunk, neglectful mother sat down next to us and started at Phil. Finally she told him, "I thought you were a girl..." Not knowing how to respond, Phil thanked her. She carried on by telling him that he was beautiful - for a girl or a boy. Then her friend started serenading Phil with "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. For a second I considered the possibility that our train had exploded and I was actually in hell.



From Bangor, we took a bus to Llanberis. This is a small town at the base of Snowden - the largest mountain in the UK south of the Scottish highlands. It was dark by the time we got into Llanberis, but we had met a girl on the bus who worked at a hotel we could stay at for the night. The place was straight out of The Shining. We watched the Liverpool game at the hotel bar then headed out. Outside of the hotel we ran into a nice girl named Nikki who pointed us towards a few bars. At the first, we met a couple awesome people including a guy named Kev, who later showed us an impressive bar trick.



For those of you who watch The Office, notice the resemblance to Michael Scott of Phil's yelling "yeeeeeahhhh baby".

We took a cab to another small pub, where we were one week too early. The following Saturday the place was hosting a pig roast. Total bummer. However, we did meet a bunch of people here. Nikki even showed up with a ton of friends. At that point, Phil was drunk enough to mispronounce all of their Welsh names, which pissed them off a little bit, but amused me.
We spent the rest of the night hanging out with that group of kids until Phil tried taking a nap in the parking lot and we decided it was time to go.



We spent the next morning hiking up Snowden. It was a pretty fun hike and we couldn't have asked for better weather. The landscape is amazing, especially to someone who spends 8 months a year in Champaign. We had to stand our ground against an army of sheep that took control of the path, but we hung tough.



The next night was Guy Fawkes day... kind of like a morbid version of the 4th of July. Guy Fawkes attempted to destroy the Houses of Parliament in the 1600s, for which he was hanged, drawn and quartered. This lovely little procedure allowed Mr. Fawkes to be:

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. (This is one possible meaning of drawn.)
2. Hanged by the neck for a short time or until almost dead. (hanged).
3. Disembowelled and emasculated and the genitalia and entrails burned before the condemned's eyes (This is another meaning of drawn. It is often used in cookbooks to denote the disembowelment of chicken or rabbit carcasses before cooking).^[2]
4. Beheaded and the body divided into four parts (quartered).

So what does one do to celebrate such an occasion? FIREWORKS, BITCHES! That's right, fireworks.

Phil and I were on a train towards London while the bursts of pyrotechnics shown from small towns in the distance. We made it to London at 9pm with no intentions of sleeping until Phil left for his flight home at 7am. We sort of just chilled out and followed the crowd through the night. Highlights of the adventure were:

• Meeting an old hippie drug dealer from Orange County who was moving to Israel to buy a farm to build a baseball field on.
• Being followed down several streets in Leicester Square.
• More Guinness Red.
• Taking the tube around the city.
• Meeting a band who was on tour from Austin, TX.
• Hanging out with a Chicago White Sox fan from London.
  
• Being at Paddington Station at 4am with all the other crazies.
• A string of crazy days concluding with me passing out while eating a Snickers bar on the 8:30 a.m. train back to Liverpool.

Shiverpoolin'.

Last night marked the first Halloween festivities of the trip. We met our friends Jane and Bif for an extravagant party full of wizards, pirates, a green guy, burlesque girls and a gorilla. The house has a cleared out basement which was a school about 100 years ago. Probably the creepiest thing ever. The biggest lesson of the night was that however tempting it may be, do not mix ale, wine, lemonade and vodka. It does bad things. Here are some pictures, y'all.

Like a Blister in the Sun

Last Saturday was all kinds of crazy. At noon, we watched the Merseyside Derby at our favorite bar. This is a match between both football clubs in Liverpool (Everton and Liverpool F.C.). It was great game, and Liverpool pulled out a win with almost no time remaining.

That evening, England played against South Africa in the finals of the Rugby World Cup. The atmosphere was just as crazy as the earlier soccer match, though the end result was less fortunate. England lost, and I think they played pretty poorly, although rugby makes little to no sense to me.


We ducked out before any riots began, and a group of us went to one of the classier bars in Liverpool, Alma de Cuba. The club is in a gutted old church, retouched with paintings of Jesus and the rest of his crew. There's nothing like drinking obscenely overpriced whiskey while the Son of God watches down on you. After a while, some Brazilian dancers performed and the J-man made it rain flower petals on the crowd.

After that, we decided to go to a Baa Bar, where we could actually afford to drink. On the way, we witnessed a guy with an intense small-man's complex and accelerated male pattern baldness stomp on a rat. He then preceded to kick it at people for about five minutes. What a nice guy...

On the way home from Baa Bar, we called some friends we made a few nights earlier. They invited us to a party they were throwing a block or two away from our flat. Brock, Molly, Victor and I grabbed all the booze from our flats and headed out. The party was full of mid-to-late 20's hippie types and was a total blast. One of the guys had a guitar and harmonica and played some Elvis and Violent Femmes while everyone else danced. We're headed back there tomorrow for a Halloween party. Brock might be the Todd or Dr. Acula from Scrubs. I'm going to be a zombie River Phoenix.

Sunday morning, we adventured around Liverpool. The city does have some gorgeous places, especially along the Mersey. We even discovered a new sport! It's called 'Canoe Polo' and looks like the most thing since Pogs. Here are some photos from the excursion.

My New Best Friend.

Once upon a time, a magical sauce descended from the heavens to provide me with sensational spice and robust flavor. The Queen summoned the delicacy as a gift to her people, and now I am sharing in the festivities. This hot chili sauce is able to turn any dish into a masterpiece.

White rice? You know it.
Egg noodles? Best believe it.
Spaghetti sauce? Good enough to drink.

My new chili sauce friend and I are at the stage in our relationship where we begin to get adventurous. You know - busting out the kinky stuff.

Tea and biscuits? Tea and hot sauce. Biscuits are for the weak.
Pints of beer? Pints of sauce, please. You have it on tap, right?
Fish and chips? Screw the vinegar, give me the chili sauce before someone gets hurt.

The Cavern, Los Campesinos!, Jon Binder

I think I'm finally on the better side of this cold, which make me ecstatic. As soon as the medicine I ordered from an online Canadian pharmacy arrives, I'll be totally in the clear.

On Thursday night, Brock and I tagged along with our friends Victor, Molly and her roommates to the Cavern. It's a club made famous by the Beatles, which Wikipedia told me all about. It is this great little bar a couple floors underground, made completely of brick archways. Obviously, a Beatles cover band was playing to a crowd of tourists whom all ate it up. It was a whole bunch of fun, even though one of the Band members wore a wig.

After the Cavern Club we headed to punk rock night. Brock was in his most comfortable environment as Rise Against and Operation Ivy played over the stereo, but I left him there to catch some sleep. Apparently he started dancing by himself and made a bunch of friends. He even got the DJ's phone number. He must have some killer dance moves.

Friday night was awesome. We went to see Los Campesinos! with our friend Naomi at Barfly. They were so much fun to watch, and played a fairly different set than the last time I saw them. After the show we hung around for Catfight, an indie music night at the bar. An extremely intoxicated guy sat down at our table and asked me if I was his friend named Jared. I told him no, but he wouldn't believe me. He enjoyed spitting as he spoke, which made the conversation that much more wonderful. Even after we established that I was American, and Jared wasn't, he wasn't convinced. After drinking all of the half-empty glasses on our table (which had been sitting there since before we arrived), he made his way back to the dance floor.

Later in the evening, I saw the lead singer of Los Campesinos! walking through the bar, and talked with him for a little bit. He was extremely nice, and told me I was the first person he had met that saw him at Lollapalooza and in Europe. We even got to talk about how amazing Broken Social Scene is.

After Barfly, we followed tradition and stopped for some always fantastic Liverpudlian pizza, and stayed up way past our bedtimes. Definitely one of the most fun times I've had so far in England.

Allow me to go on a tangent. Jon Binder is one of my all-time favorite person and has an internship with the Chicago Tribune this semester. It looks like he's getting to do some awesome work, and I wanted to share it with all of you. I think it's so cool, and the Trib' must love Jon if they are letting him put together pieces this early in his internship. Just wait until this kid is famous.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0710cosplay-story,0,2541383.story

In the words of my legendary friend: "This is a story about the interesting culture of CosPlay. I shot and edited the video to accompany the story written by Chicago Tribune reporter Glen Jeffers. Check it out!". Well said, Jon.

To the motherland

Round-trip flight to Dublin: $32.
November 15th-18th.
Beautiful.

We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.

I decided to take a temporary retirement from alcohol in order to give my body a chance to fight off this vicious cold. A weekend without frequenting the bars meant I could focus on getting some important work done.

I want to be all better for my favorite night of the week: Emo Mondays at Baa Bar. Walking into the ground floor of Baa gives you the illusion that you're in another crappy pop, old house and overplayed dance music club in Liverpool. However, make the trek upstairs, and you're in a different world. All of a sudden, Cascada is replaced by The Used and 50 Cent is wiped out by Motion City Soundtrack. Alright... the music isn't that much better, but at least I know the words of the songs and people look like this... familiar surroundings. Plus, with one pound bottles of Brahma (a Brazilian version of Keystone Light), how can you go wrong?



In hopes of a speedy recovery, I burned through about two weeks worth of medicine in 48 hours. Unfortunately, businesses in England don't believe in being open on Sundays (big ups, J-man!), so I'll have to deal with Earl Gray tea and digestives to get me through the night. Everything else is going great - I'm having an absolute blast. I get to see one of my favorite bands this week ( Los Campesinos!), and Brock and I are going to plan out trips to Ireland and London within the next month.



I will have some more interesting, thought-provoking and life changing posts soon. This cold drained my motivation to write or think of anything which resembles wit. To appease those of you who feel sleighed by this sub par entry, I have pictures for you below. Also, the first four e-mailers or commenters who leave an address will receive one of the four postcards shown below. Supplies are limited, and just think of the hand-written hilarity that could be yours... don't miss your chance.

The aforementioned postcards... don't you want one?!


Heineken in Amsterdam.


Watching Liverpool FC in Amsterdam.


Canal in Amsterdam.


Amsterdam, again. I wanted to be like Paul and
take pictures in the bathroom.


Concrete suitcases. Brock and I stacked
them up because we're strong.


My all time favorite anchor besides Dan Rather.

Comments

Hey everyone. I just wanted to let people know that you can now leave comments on the blog without creating an account.

I didn't even know that was necessary, so I apologize to all those who had to sign up. However, thanks to everyone that did - I love hearing from everyone.

That being said, if you're reading, stop by the comments and say 'hi'!


Here's are two videos I've been digging lately. The first one is of Jack Keroauc reading an excerpt from some of his works. Primarily, it is a blend of Visions of Cody and On the Road. If you listen closely, you'll hear where I took the title of my blog (the long, long skies) from.

The second video is of David Cross, the funniest comedian alive.

Back to School

One week of class finished, and only nine more remain before winter holiday. No break for Thanksgiving means that Dan will remain Turkey-less until his return to the States.

The University of Liverpool is vastly different from UIUC. Less organized but more laid back, it really is a nice, fresh environment to learn in. Plus, my classes seem absurdly interesting. I'm taking all computer science courses, which is interesting. Usually I have a couple 'filler' classes to soften the workload. Oh well, I can take Wine Tasting when I get back to Champaign next semester.

Brock and I joined the Indie Society, and quickly appointed ourselves as the American ambassadors of the club. We are so glad to be able to vocalize our superior music tastes to people even when we are out of the country.

Everything else is going great (except for the exchange rate). I'm on Skype (danielcgilbert), so feel free to call me if you want to hear me say phrases such as "as you like it", "cheeky" and "fancy any brown sauce?" in my newly-formed British accent.

Also, I'm soon going to begin my foray into video blogging, so if you have any requests (car chases, shout outs, sword fights, dance sequences, etc.), let me know.

Amsterdamned.

It is the strangest thing arriving 'home' and realizing that you are still in a foreign country. That was the only thought flooding my mind as I stepped into my room in Liverpool after a three night trip to Amsterdam.

The trip was a great time, and one that completely wiped out any preconceived notions I had regarding the city. Amsterdam is less of a mecca of debauchery as portrayed in movies, and more of a center of culture, beauty and history fostered by a community of friendly, laid back people. Sure, there are the coffee shops that act as chimneys pumping marijuana smoke into the streets and there are the windowsill prostitutes who line the alleys of the red-light district. However, even in the 'shadier' areas, the people were friendly and everything felt completely safe. Above and beyond these places, there are the canals, museums and architecture that make Amsterdam great.

Brock and I flew out of John Lennon airport on Thursday evening. We met a nice girl from Liverpool who was meeting a friend who gave us a ride from the airport to the Amsterdam city center. We made our way to our hostel, which was the cheapest one in the city for good reason. Within a couple of hours, I was approached and asked whether I 'needed any Charlie Parker'. Assuming that either meant heroin or was a sexual proposition, I decided to pass.

We went out to a bar, where we watched Everton (a soccer club from Liverpool) play a match against a Dutch team. After that, we met a band who gave us a free ticket to a concert. The show was advertised as 'gypsy-ska' and turned out to be a blast.

On Saturday we explored the city and checked out the Rijksmusuem. This museum had a bunch of masterpieces from Dutch painters. Prominently, they had about a dozen Rembrandts, including the hugely famous 'The Night Watch'. It was incredible to see firsthand. We had a nice dinner and hung out in some more bars the rest of the night.


We began Sunday by checking out the Van Gogh museum. It was insane being in the same building as over 200 original Van Gogh paintings. We saw a few by Monet as well. After the museum, we took a canal tour through the city and stopped at a flea market. There were so many friendly Dutch people selling cool little things. I even saw a Wham! 45 for sale.

We made our way to the Anne Frank house, which was the one thing in Amsterdam I was most excited to see. Unfortunately, due to Yom Kippur, the house was closed all day. That's what I get for not being familiar with Jewish holidays.

Next we went to check out the red light district, since we were too afraid to be there at night time. It was rather unsettling to see the prostitutes, but interesting, nonetheless. We found a bar that was playing the Liverpool match, so we had a few Heinekens while watching the team struggle again. It was such a cool feeling being able to support a British football club that plays a few miles away from my current home.

We attempted to stay up all night, since our flight home was early Sunday morning, but after several bars I was ready for a two hour nap. At 7am, half-asleep and fully-exhausted, Brock and I made our way to the airport to catch our short flight back 'home' to Liverpool.

More pictures will be up once I upload everything to Flickr. Until then, just use your imagination.

I'll pass on the Charlie Parker...

We're back from Amsterdam without being stabbed or robbed! Just wanted to let anyone who is concerned with our safety. I'll do a post about the trip within a few days, but I'm off to class.

Cheers.

Flat tour.

Here's a little house showing Brock and I have put together for your viewing pleasure. We're off to Amsterdam for three nights, so we should have some good pictures and stories when we return. I miss you all, leave me your messages so I can feel somewhat connected to life back home.

Word?

We're all moved in now, but without internet for a few more days. By midweek, I'll be online, providing you with all of the communication you've been missing since I left.

My roommates and I have been wandering around Liverpool, stopping at some of the billion pubs and clubs here. Somebody thought I was from Ireland, and another woman thought I was a Liverpudlian pretending to be from Chicago. Brock and I saw a couple of fights, and are planning on staying out of any ones we see in the future, even though Brock feels it necessary to throw pizza and gum when he's drunk.

We moved into our flat yesterday, and it's pretty amazing. We live in a gated community underneath the biggest Anglican church in the world. Buying stuff for an apartment feels so chaotic, especially since we're looking for really cheap things for our short stay. England is not the country to be looking for cheap things, though.




Here's the view from my bedroom....

...outside our front door

... and Brock reppin' the J-Man.


I'll be able to post more as soon as we get internet at our flat. So until then, keep it real homies.

Liverpoolin'

So, Brock and I are safe and sound in Liverpool, England.

The last few days have been sort of a whirlwind, but I'll take a minute to review.


Once we got to O'Hare, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our flight had been delayed an hour. Later, we were pleasantly surprised that the flight was pushed back an additional 20 minutes. Our last pleasant surprise was learning that the plane was moved to a different gate all the way across the airport. We decided that the best way to deal with all of these setbacks was to go to a place that embodies all that America has to offer - the place we will miss the most while we are away: Chili's.


The eight-hour plane ride was an experience in itself. I was able to sleep in 30 minute intervals for a large portion of the trip, waking up a couple of times to find "delicious" airplane meals waiting for me.





We finally made it to Manchester, where it was around 8am, though it felt like 2 in the morning to us. Took about 1.5 hours to clear customs, then we were off to the train station. After catching some fresh air and a bacon-and-tomato sandwich, we took a 40 minute trip to our home for the semester, Liverpool.

The city has been wonderful, so far. We spent most of our first day viewing flats and visiting pubs. We decided on an awesome flat that is right below a giant cathedral. Moving in on Saturday, so pictures will soon follow. We met a couple of students from Denmark along the way, who we'll be living with this semester.



Here are all of the roommates. Well, it would be if I were in the picture, so just imagine that I am. In fact, imagine that I am holding a giant sword and fighting some sort of dragon-spider monster. That's about right.








We're staying at a hostel one more night, then have a bunch of orientation/fresher's week events. I'll try to keep current on this blog-o-rama, and will try to throw in special treats, such as this video of Brock:

CHEERS!
Dan