its raining sweets, hallelujah, its raining sweets!

Before this trip started, someone who had previously came on the trip said that I had to goto Cambridge and go punting so Chelsea & I made it our mission to do just this.

We invited everyone on the trip and set off on Wednesday afternoon after lunch. The trip already started with a bang..the ticket lady was a...CRAZY. She really was a bit of a nazi with her tickets and even tried to take Dani & Meghan's rail passes. She was crazy, we were scared.

We finally made it to Cambridge and had to walk a million miles (it felt like) and ask a million people for directions around Cambridge to go punting.

Cambridge was surprisingly diverse, absolutely gorgeous, and there were bikes everywhere! Everyone was on a bike!

We finally found a place to go punting, which I didn't even end up paying for...awesome!

Our punter was named Sam.

Sam was hilarious and really, really entertaining. We all boarded the boat and began our punting adventure.

We took a tour and everything was so, so gorgeous and it was really neat because the city is so rich with history. It was super interesting, and entertaining since Sam had plenty of jokes and stories and wittyness to add to the experience.

I learned that during World War II, Cambridge was never bombed because Hitler thought that the city was very beautiful, so he refused to let anyone bomb it. He also said that if were to ever conquer Britian he would move in to one of the Universities. I thought this was super interesting.

While on the punting ride, we made some friends. Some of these friends included a group of kids that were standing on a bridge. As we passed under the bridge, they threw candy to (or at) us. It was raining sweets! We all ate our candy and made our way down the canal thinger.

Those kids weren't the only friends we made, however. We also made friends with this boat of 2 girls and 2 guys. We kept passing them on our tour and we'd say hi and talk as we passed each time. The last time we passed them, they threw us a bag of... drinks, which was surprisingly nice. Nothing like enjoying refreshments with our punting!

We heard stories about the Red Hot Chili Peppers going on punting rides, interesting facts about ducks, and Sam even shared his accents with us, which were hilarious. His American and Newcastle accents were spot on.

Sam also told us about the Cambridge Beerfest that still happened to be in town...BINGO!

We payed £3 to get in and then £2 for souvenir glasses and then we went in to see the walls lined with kegs, and kegs, and kegs.

Cider, beer, and bison burgers followed.
Sam the punter ended up meeting up with us later; I asked him if he knew any drinking songs and he shared a particular one that he and his rugby team enjoyed. It was about Yogi Bear...

Since the last train left from Cambridge to Grantham at 8pm, we had to run across the city to the train station. Luckily, we made it just in time to catch the train back to Grantham and we went on our merry way. It was a fantastic day!

Gently Down the Stream

congaaaa time!

AROUND THE WORLD IN AN HOUR AND A HALF

Themed party number two.
We decided that going around the world would be a fun party.
Our room decided to represent the Caribbean, the room next door was white trash America, and the room across the hall represented France.

We first headed to white trash America. Everyone was decked out in trash bags, which was, legit, disturbing. Seeing everyone wrapped in trash bags was amusing, interesting...disturbing? We had salted chips, and sang Karaoke to Shania Twain and Taylor Swift. We even received some neon colored, star shaped glasses as party favors. After the karaoke, chips, and a marriage, we had to get through "border patrol" and then we went into the Caribbean, which was me & Chelsea's room.



In the Caribbean, we dimmed the lights, set out our fruit and drinks and just relaxed. Everyone talked and laughed and it was a great time.



We proceeded to play Limbo, which Chelsea ended up winning, and after we were all Caribbeaned out, we Conga-lined to France.


Wine, cheese, and an Eiffel tower made out of toilet paper..what more could you want?

After some wine and cheese and equally cheese Eiffel Tower pictures, we laughed and talked some more and even watched the birth of a child...a white trash American..which was rather disturbing, also.

Going around the world in an hour and a half is quite a feat, and yet, we did it! It was a crazy good time & it was amusing to see Dr. Bradford, Dr Fenner, and Paul's reactions to all of this crazyness!

Man, I love themed parties.

toga time

Basically, I am a fan of themed parties. So when I realized that no one really wanted to go out on this trip, we decided that themed parties were the way to go. On the way to town one day, we shared the idea with everyone else and the theme was decided: TOGA PARTY!

A classic.

Do not underestimate the amount of brain power that is involved when designing your toga. When I walked down the hall, I could hear the sounds of frustrated girls trying to find cute and clever ways to wrap a sheet around themselves. These are the times you find out how creative people really are - especially since these sheets couldn't be ripped or altered at all, they belong to the school afterall.


As you can see, I actually had a toga wardrobe change since my first toga kept falling and slipping and I had to keep adjusting. A friendly, but loud, game of flip cup ensued..and I was on the winning team. We were toga clad champs.

Quite a few games of toga beer pong also happened AND, when we played, there was a double overtime! I have never experienced double over time in a game of beer pong, so it was quite exciting!

and like at any good toga parties, the togas eventually came off..

Essay Response #3

I thought the article was a bit...random? I don't think that I'm thinking abstractly enough to fully understand the article, but it did bring up some good points. The author says that touristic photography is problematic because the tourist taking the picture does so to feel in control of a situation that they are not, otherwise, in control of. Like I said before, maybe I'm not thinking abstractly enough, but I don't agree with this. When I am taking pictures while on vacation, I'm not doing it to feel in control of a situation. I'm doing so to remember these moments, so that when I look at these pictures in 30 years, maybe there will be a picture that sparks a memory that I thought I had long forgotten.

I do agree when the author says that when you take pictures, "it gives shape to his or her experience, and significant, as Sontag notes, it conveys the appearance of participation in the situation." I think this is true. You take pictures at monuments, posed next to famous statues, and making silly faces at festivals so that you can say, "Hey, look, I was there, I saw that." You want to show people that you visited these places, you participated in things that other people didn't get to do. It is sometimes comforting to know that you've seen things and experienced things - you're more cultured or worldly after these experiences.

I also agreed with the author when they said that, "to photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them they can never have." I think this is a pretty true statement, because when you take a picture of a person without them knowing, acting completely naturally, this is something that the person themselves, will never get to experience. Even when someone looks in a mirror, or passes a reflective buidling, they automatically touch their hair, stand a little taller. And maybe it is a violation to that person to see and photograph them in a way that they can never see. I know that while out, I have caught someone trying to take a picture of me, and it made me uncomfortable. Why? "Well, I wasn't ready for it, so I wasn't standing straight, I was probably slouching..oh gosh, was I biting my nails or picking my nose? Ah, they probably got my double chin" and so on and so forth.

I also thought the author's take on the "unphotographable sight" was interesting. I can relate to the feeling of trying to photograph something, or a situation and not being able to get it the way you want it, or not being able to capture the moment the way you want to. This especially happens to me when I'm trying to take a picture of something fun or funny that is happening with a lot of people, because yes, you can photograph a person, but sometimes you can't necessarily capture an atmosphere, which is often what I want. Everyone experiences this, even when they aren't necessarily trying to capture the moment with a photo. Everyone has listened to a story about this awesome, crazy time someone had doing whatever, and the story usually ends with.. "You just had to be there." It is hard to capture emotion and the atmosphere of a place or situation whether you're just recounting the experience, or trying to capture it with a photo.

Lastly, I also really liked the author's take on travel. Why do people feel the need to travel places and see things for themselves, when they can find tons of pictures and videos online of these exact things? Before I came on the England trip, I had seen tons of pictures of double Decker buses, people crammed in red phone booth boxes, people posing next to Shakespeare's home, the manor at sunset. Seeing these things is not the same as experiencing them, though. Every person is going to experience one thing differently. For example, when I went to Spain to study abroad, we visited the Algar Waterfalls. It was, quite possibly, one of the most amazing and beautiful experiences of my life. These waterfalls were gorgeous and climbing onto the side of a mountain and then flinging myself off of the side of this mountain into the frigid water was exhilarating and scary and amazing all at once. Doggy-paddling for my life through the actual waterfall to get behind it was terrifying, especially since I'm not a strong swimmer at all, but once I reached the back of the waterfall and finally saw how gorgeous it was, made it worth it. Chelsea and I couldn't stop talking about how beautiful the waterfalls were and what a great experience it was. I told a friend of mine about this gorgeous place, and two years later she studied abroad in Spain. When she finally got back, I asked about the waterfalls. "They were okay" was all she said. Um, what? What one person takes away from an experience, is completely different from what another will take away from it, so that's why some people aren't satisfied with just seeing pictures of different places or hearing stories about foreign countries. Some people need to experience and see and feel these things for themselves.

I take pictures when I'm on vacation for a lot reasons, but mostly just to help me remember what I saw. I also take pictures to share with other people who weren't on the trip. I always want to share my experiences with other people. I usually take pictures of places that I see, obvious things like monuments and statues, but I also take pictures of random things that I think are interesting, like window displays of little stores or tea houses. I take pictures of dogs sometimes, and I also take random pictures of people and things that I find beautiful, whether it be landscapes or alleyways. I also like to take pictures of myself and the people I'm with having a good time, experiencing things. The pictures I take while on vacation are different from the pictures I take while I'm at school or at home, especially considering the sheer amount of photos I take. While on vacation I take tons and tons of pictures, but while at school or home, the amount of pictures I take is significantly less. I'm still taking pictures of myself and friends and family having fun and experiencing things, but not as often. Maybe, because these moments don't feel as important in the moment compared to when you're on vacation, even though I think they are.
After I take pictures, I usually load them onto Snapfish to save and store them because they are organized and preserved there. I can also order prints when I want to. I post some pictures on facebook. but not all of the ones that I take. I post pictures of time spent with friends mostly on faecbook, because that is usually who I am communicating with on facebook. I don't usually post pictures of my family or random pictures of alleyways or dogs because there are photos that I take for myself and fully appreciate.

Response #2: Editing Photos

I think that the media and news outlets shouldn't alter their images that they are publishing, because it is usually misleading to the public. Like the article said, misleading the public makes the public less trusting of the news media and what they have to say. The media's job is to inform the public of what is happening, but they can't do that if the public doesn't trust them, and with good reason.
I believe that it is only acceptable to edit images when it doesn't change the context, meaning, or original message of the picture. If you are just editing pictures to restore natural color, or to make darker pictures lighter and clearer, then I think it is acceptable. For example, brightening up a picture of a landscape photo if it came out too dark, isn't going to effect anyone emotionally. If you are editing out random things like the feet in the picture where the baseball team was praying, then I think it is acceptable because once again it isn't changing the meaning of the photo. Once the picture is edited to change the context of an image, and therefore change a viewers opinion based on an altered photo, then I think it is unacceptable; you are misleading people who look at this photo. People can develop strong opinions or emotions based on photographs, and it is unethical, I think to mislead people with altered photos like the Rome protest photos.
I also think that extreme photo editing of magazine cover photos is wrong. By doing this you are majorly misleading many people. For example, we looked at magazine covers in class where they had made the models thinner. On the cover of Redbook, Faith Hill looked much thinner than she actually was. I think this is unacceptable because it is misleading and leads many people, mostly young females, to develop an unrealistic idea of body image. If girls are constantly seeing magazine covers with women who have sticks for arms, they are just being reinforced that this is natural and normal, when it is definitely not.
Overall, I think it's acceptable to doctor small things in photos like restoring color or other small things that aren't actually altering the meaning or context of the photo.

scotland - beware of the wobblestones!

After going to bed in the weee hours of the morning, Chelsea and I woke up for breakfast and then we headed to the castle. The castle had a gorgeous view of Edinburgh.

I also happened to have a greeeeat smudge on my camera lens...

I absolutely loved the cemetary for the solider's dogs, the Crown Jewels, and the war memorial. I thought the last two were especially gorgeous.

After the castle, a big group of us practically ravaged High Street. We must have hit every single souvenir shop there was. I bought a lone fuzzy, wool scarf.

After High Street we were exhausted and proceeded to ravage the Chinese buffet, which was absolutely delcious, even if the "hostess" was hecka rude :/

After completely stuffing ourselves (and I mean stuffing) we headed up the hill (the one Justin proceeded to roll down, and Jeff fell down).

It was also gorgeous!

We are obviously masochists, because after the hill climb we decided to stop by the mall to grab a fizzy and do some shopping....

We finally headed back to the hotel and at 830 we headed back out to Mary King's Close tour, which was super interesting and a lot of fun..especially since it was underground!

After a short nap, we once again wanted to experience then Edinburgh nightlife! On the previous night, we asked a local for fun place to go and he suggested we goto a great piano bar called Fingers. He said that it was where all locals went out, we would be the only foreigners and it would be a greeeeat time..

..so we google-mapped FINGERS and headed on down.

It was a hole in the wall and it definitely did not follow any type of fire saftey standards/maximum occupancy requirements if such things even exist in Scotland..it was packed.

It was an amazing, amazing time with the Scottish piano player playing Hey Jude and Summer of '69. We danced like crazy, sang at the top of our lungs, and we definitely were the piano man's favorites..

After head-banging old ladies who liked to shove you around amidst their dancing, we left and went to a more upscale bar, where we made some more Scottish dancing friends.

It was a fantastic night in Edinburgh! You gotta love those holes in the walls that only the locals know about!

Response Essay #1

I think that sometimes disturbing images are necessary to convey a message that can sometimes be otherwise lost. For example, in the article Readers Balance Compassion with Privacy, they have a picture of a wounded American soldier who later dies. The image itself is disturbing for a number of reasons. First of all, the image shows the violence of war and it shows an American soldier wounded, which is always something that hits close to home. The picture isn't taken from a distance, so you can see the faces of these soldiers which makes the picture more personal. Yes, the image is disturbing, but it also sends a message that isn't conveyed as powerfully through words. Seeing the image shows the reader the effects of war, the violence of war, and the heroes of war. Is freedom really free?
I do think that there are boundries when it comes to disturbing images, though. I know that, personally, anything that shows violence against children or animals or any type of extreme violence is always something that seems to cross the line for me, but it always depends on the context of the picture, and the message that the publication is trying to convey. I think that people should be exposed to some images that could be considered disturbing and that make the person uncomfortable. I know that when I look at an image that is disturbing, it makes me uncomfortable, but it also makes me aware of the situation. I have to ask myself "Why does this picture disturb me? Why am I uncomfortable looking at this picture?" When looking at a picture of a starving child, I become uncomfortable, but I also become aware that, yes there are people all over the world suffering from poverty and hunger, while I am not.
I would agree that not being able to face reality is a pretty true statement about society today. Many people fail to recognize major issues outside of their world because they are often not exposed to it. How many people are aware of the politics of other countries? Not many, until these politics effect their environment or their government.
Censoring images isn't always a bad thing. I don't think that the news should have to censor images, but they should be aware of the image they are showing, the message and purpose of showing the message, and if it is appropriate. Obviously you won't be showing disturbing images on a morning news show right before Sunday morning cartoons run, but maybe you would show them on FOX news or CNN. It is a matter of whether the image is appropriate and the message and purpose of the image.

SCOTLAND!!

Scotland was fantastic. I really enjoyed it and thought it was beyond gorgeous, even though the weather was absolutely atrocious to my Floridian self.




Like I said, when we arrived on Friday the weather was terrible, but a group of us decided to venture out into Edinburgh to shop around a little bit and grab some dinner. We stopped in a couple of stores and window shopped mostly since everything closed relatively early. We then decided to grab a bite to eat. I thought I was all cool since I was carrying an umbrella and many others weren't, but I soon found out why no one else did. The wind kept blowing my umbrella this way and that way, turning it inside out. Instead of looking cute and dry with my umbrella, I looked like an idiot getting wet because my umbrella was inside out and not exactly serving its purpose. Everyone was wet, frustrated and starving so we finally stopped at The Filling Station, the first place with food and empty seats....and the most American restaurant in Edinburgh, me thinks. I had some delicious pasta and an even better Long Island Iced Tea.

After our exhausting hunt for dinner, we headed back to the hotel and rested.
& then the party started.

We headed to Espionage, a five-story club.





The people there were very interesting dancers, to say the least, but the club played great music. It was fun for our first night in Edinburgh..

shopping at morrisons :)

grantham

Grantham is so, so small! Ah. There doesn't seem to be a lot to do around Grantham as far as going out and partying, but everyone decided to head out to downtown Grantham this past Tuesday. It was fun and I met some very interesting characters, which isn't surprising!



We started the night off with a call to the cab company to pick up 15 of us from the manor to take us to downtown Grantham. We started at Goose at the Bank, moved to Inferno, and then ended the night at Gravity.




Interesting things that happened:
# We met some interesting guys at Gravity. Our entire group was convinced that they were gay since they were hanging all over eachother, but when we asked they denied it. They were totally gay, and really cool...and decent dancers.



# Also while at Gravity, Emily and I were sitting at the table when a strange lady in a leather mini skirt and red top approaches our table. "Do you guys have boyfriends?" is the first thing she asks. She then proceeds to ask us if we know of this famous gangster, and me and emily have no idea what she is talking about. "I have a limo outside with all of the drugs and alcohol you could want and you should come and party with us tonight....and you don't have to do anything with the men.." she explains.
Uh, what?
Needless to say, we turned down her very "tempting" offer..

# When we finally did decide to head back to the manor, we all caught cabs back. Emily, Chelsea and I were the last group waiting for the taxi. We were waiting outside with other random British people, when our taxi finally arrives. Just as we are walking up to get into the taxi, a badly groomed British woman tries to steal our taxi ride; she tells us that this taxi is for her and blahblahblah. After a heated conversation, we jump in the taxi as she continually argues that this is her taxi, even though the driver specifically said he was headed to the manor. She yells after us as the driver speeds off..

Overall, it was a good Tuesday bonding night!

and...run!

and...RUN!