Parada siguiente, España!

Tomorrow I take a bus to London, spend the night and then fly to Girona for two weeks in Spain! So here’s a quick catch up on what I’ve been up to before I leave.

A couple weekends ago I participated in Superteams. This is a tournament between different club sports teams (men and women compete separately), everyone split into teams of seven. My football team put in three teams and there were numerous teams from netball, rugby, basketball, cricket, swimming, water polo, field hockey. Over three days we competed in way too many events: swimming, kayaking, volleyball, dodgeball, basketball, football, gym test, sprints, campus mile, and an obstacle course.
My favorite bit was the basketball. Our first match in basketball was against the rugby girls. The only way to describe it is that there was absolutely no basketball involved. I don’t know how it began, but as soon as anyone got the ball, there was a maul and all you could do was hold on to it for dear life. Then the ball would pop out again, play would move down the court about ten feet, and the next maul would commence. There was only one basket scored, we lost, and I left the court not really sure what had just occurred. But after that game I did agree to take part in a rugby tournament in May, just so I could get back at the rugby girls. Not really sure what I signed myself up for.

Another highlight was the parents came for a visit! They stayed in Aber for a couple nights and we drove up to Snowdonia to see a couple castles. Weather wasn’t too great, unfortunately, but I’m still really glad they could come through. As they say, welcome to Wales! From what I hear, north Wales was their favorite. I agree. There’s some that’s just so wild and beautiful about it. If any of you have ever have a chance to come to Wales, Snowdonia should be first on your list.

And yes, I’m still going to classes… some of the time. Just finished research on the implications of the last two enlargements (Central and Eastern Europe) on the future of the European Union. European politics and the ins and outs of the EU are sort of tedious subjects, but overall it’s nice to build a background in an area of the world I’m not too familiar with. It’s also really interesting to be studying a subject so new that they are still developing theories to explain its institutions, policies and processes.
I’m just beginning to research the intervention in Somalia in the 1990s, hoping to come up with a paper that sheds some light on how to judge the success of humanitarian interventions. And lastly I’m looking at how the childhood/pre-political lives political leaders affect the psychology of their leadership.

And now off to Spain! I’m going with a couple of friends from Aber, and as our itinerary stands now, this is what the next couple of weeks look like: Girona - Barcelona - Madrid - Malaga - Valencia - Girona. And all the side trips that come with it. There’ll be a good long blog on my return, I promise!

Adios!

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