Alright! Hello to everyone out there who, at the moment that I am writing this, amounts to just me! It took about twelve hours of traveling, much napping in the car, and a couple of days to figure out this blasted WiFi system, but I now have internet capabilities! Ha ha!
Before I left Massachusetts earlier this week (oh, wow, that was still just this week?), a neighbor of mine met me and suggested that I start this blog. If anything it's a good bit of practice writing a journal and keeping track of events, but hopefully someone will get a little kick out of it!
Anyhow, my name is Matthew, a graduate of Tabor Academy, and I am currently taking a gap year at what amounts to an English high school known as Ellesmere College. So, in essence, I'm pumped to be here! I have had little experience in Europe and this scholarship that I got just seemed like the perfect opportunity to travel, meet new people, take a year to refine my writing, and sort out what I desire from my life. I am planning on heading to Chapman University for film direction and editing once this year ends, however I am also applying to new schools that I had not considered, such as NYU. While I may be on track to enter the film industry, my ultimate goal in life is to become a prolific and critically acclaimed writer. While those two things might sound mutually exclusive, I have hope that it is possible. Tolkien managed it, albeit not quite in his lifetime. Hopefully I'll be able to observe the results of my work before the end though.
Wow that got dreary. That's enough about my background if it's going to continue on so dismally. On to my shenanigans! So far, I have been in England for a week and a day, one of which was spent traveling, as I mentioned. During that time I have visited four pubs, become somewhat of a social hit at school, been invited to several parties, thrown myself into classes that are half-way through their subjects, and experienced a twenty-three year old teacher dressed as a pirate trying to pick me up at a bar before she discovered that I was eighteen. I kid you not. I don't think that I could make that last bit up even if I tried.
There are certain benefits to being "The American" in an English school. For one, I get to play the part of the bubbly, excitable, genial guy which I could not easily do in America (too many others doing the same) which in turn has already garnered for me several friendships and dozens of acquaintances. I have never been this popular in my whole life. I was mostly the quiet, reserved guy except for with my friends before this. Now I can understand why the popular guys in America were so willing to embarrass themselves in public. Aside from grabbing everyone's attention, it endeared them to others just because they lacked inhibition. They were, in short, fun! How I missed this before, I do not know.
Aside from mostly being taken the girls here are quite lovely! I feel like Tantilus, who could see the food and water all around him, but never slake his thirst or sate his appetite. I've made a point of talking to most of them, but, as ever, I have been too terrified to actually, heavens forfend, ask for a phone number. That much about me hasn't changed a bit. I'm still hopeless with women. I can chat them up fine, but actually asking them out is a real stretch. Give me a week and a couple of beers to change that!
One disadvantage to being "The American:" My phone does not quite work over here. It's fifty cents to send a text, five to receive one, and almost a dollar thirty per minute to talk on the phone! So even if I were to get a girl's number, I could not use it for fear of my bill. That's what Facebook is for, though, right?
There is actually one other American here who is, I think, two years my junior and far more reserved than I am making myself out to be. He's a great guy though and, strangely enough, he lives in Massachusetts too! Who would've thought?
There is one thing that I already love, and I mean absolutely adore, about the English school life. They do not have cliques. Yes, people tend to filter into groups of friends and talk to each other, but everyone talks to everyone else! People mingle and no one bats an eye about a Brit going to sit with a table of Lithuanians! This sort of social mobility has opened so many avenues to me! I have learned some small bits of Lithuanian, German, and Russian culture and, better still, befriended someone from just about every national group. It's gratifying to not worry about that social stigma of consorting with "other" people.
Speaking of Russians, one random thing: I've presented myself as a big drama fan and student thus, when several students could not attend a trip to the theater for a class this week, I was invited along. I was told that the title of the production was "Lenin" and I thought "This is great! I love history and I don't really know much about Vladamir Lenin as a person. How are these English people going to portray a communist anyhow? I hope they don't vilify him." It took until the next day, when the bus pulled up to the theater in Liverpool, and me seeing the playbill to finally register that the play was about John Lennon. Yeah. I gave myself a good face palming on the sidewalk right there. Now, I'm not much of a Beatles fan, but the play was rather well done in both production and acting while the energy of the performances rekindled my interest in their music. "I Am The Walrus" continues to be one of the trippyest songs I've ever heard though.
I just noticed that this is already over one-thousand words long, so I'll cut it short here. I will try to post every Friday if I can manage it and, if I become so inspired, I will add something during the week as well! I hope that you enjoy this blog and, more than anything else, if you have ANY constructive criticism or any suggestions, please leave a comment! Criticism and revision are what make a writer!
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