Of these my favourite being a 1TB external hard drive. So before I head to America I can completely fill it (to the best ability of myself and DC++) with British movies, music and TV shows. Of which without I would very likely either go insane or possibly turn into a yank. Both have been problems in the past.
Another couple of my favourites to remember are not just one, but two inflatable globes. So not only can I undeniably locate America on a globe. I can also make America kiss itself.
My lovely Mother Dearest also gave me Bill Bryson's 'Made in America' which I have to say is a bloody interesting read. One I definitely recommend if you're planning to visit America or not. It goes from how America was founded, including many misconceptions, to even how the English language developed over that time.
I also quickly borrowed and read through Bill Bryson's 'Notes from a Big Country' and 'Stephen Fry in America'. Notes from a Big Country was very informative as Bill always is, annoyingly though it made the uncanny ability to build back up those stereotypes we usually assign to Americans which I had been trying to knock down over the last few weeks. He's very nimble with his statistics though. In one column he pulls out a massive 'Half of Americans are overweight, while a quarter are classed as obese'. Wowzer. Makes me wonder what they're defining as obese over there.
Stephen Fry's book was more of a road trip across America rather than analysing its culture. He doesn't go into detail on Indiana unfortunately but he does go into detail about it's nickname, 'The Hoosier state'. Where if you are an Indianan, you are known as a 'Hoosier'. The most interesting thing about these nickname he says is that no one can really pin down where it came from. He does mention Elkhart though, which is a town very close to where I'll be going in South Bend. It is known apparently for being the RV centre for the US. Great...
Me and Gemma the other day looked up some tourist attractions in Indiana the other day while I was convincing her it is actually an awesome place. Unfortunately to our dismay the world's largest ball of twine resides in Kansas City. However Indiana is home to the world's largest ball of paint. How impressive is that ladies and gentlemen. It currently has around 34'000 coats of paint and the owner even lets you come and add a layer of paint to it if you so desired. Now how can that not make the 'do before you die' list I do not know or even want to know.
Not too far from where I'll be is even a couple of nudist camps. One of them has a massive ladies leg that acts as a sundial for those nudists that are so hardcore they don't even wear watches. Now lately, and even a few times in the past I have had a want deep down to walk around naked in public and to do it proudly. To be able to do this legally would never stop to be a bonus. I can't promise a visit here but don't be surprised if I suddenly also start hugging trees and thinking I'm some sort of Druid who is one with nature.
I've been doing a little more digging into what happens on campus and around South Bend as well. Turn's out there's actually two Universities in South Bend. University of Notre Dame and Indiana University South Bend (IUSB). I was rather pleased with this discovery. The chances that there may be little to do in a town with a University as big as Notre Dame is already quite low but a town with two Universities is very slim indeed. I want to get into some rivalry here. I've never seen it or met any of its students but for some reason I already have a indescribable urge to better and belittle IUSB. I could be getting too excited of course and once I get there it actually turns out that ND and IUSB all get on like a house on fire. But I have to say there's a same part of me that hopes that's not the case. I wanna get a Sharks Versus Jets routine going on here South Bend. Don't disappoint me.
Notre Dame also seem to have every single (non-extreme) sport going on under the sun. They even have a Rugby club there. Something tells me that they view Rugby in the same way Brits view American Football so I may not be joining that club in a hurry. Now here's the thing. I could be quite willing to try out American Football while I was there. Live in Rome and all that. But they take their Football quite seriously over there. I've seen the University league coaches cry over loosing games. Something tells me they won't enjoy too much someone with no experience in the game showing up half way through the year. But this I will have to see. As long as I can use the campus' swimming pool I'll be quite happy with whatever sport I end up in.
Anyhow I'm going to cut this here as I have the pressing matter of continuing my American education by watching reruns of South Park. So please do excuse me.
College football in the states is big business, the many universities have massive stadiums and prospective students who could play on the team get money and wavered tuition fees thrown at them. It's more like a professional sport than any uni sport over this side of the pond ;-p
ReplyDeleteThanks man. I guess no Football for me once I get there. Not on the college team anyway.
ReplyDeleteEven more reason for me to get involved though if it's such a big thing, as a fan if nothing else. Maybe they'll let me be the mascot. It's usually some guys dressed as a Leprechaun running around with a flag. Who would not want to be dressed as a Leprechaun and run around.