Good afternoon,

Well, well, well, here’s another blog entry coming at you across the interweb. Today marks the official only two weeks left checkpoint. Its hard to believe but in fourteen days at this time I’ll be in an airport terminal, maybe going through security, maybe getting a croissant and tea, maybe buying last minute souvenirs. Holy Toledo, that gets my blood pumping. So what do I have left on the agenda for my April abroad...not too much really. I still have those darn research papers (yawn). I’m going to try to get one out the way today. I think its doable. As for adventuring, next Saturday I’m going to see Andrew Bird. This weekend still remains unbooked. I’m fine with that, but I’m also pretty sure something will be coming up.

By the way, it looks like everyone who did the poll went with the most boring answer, Friends and Family. Yes, you can pat yourself on the back, that is the correct answer. I guess I’ll try to make this week’s poll less clean cut.

Last night my friends and I did a murder mystery party. It went really well, one of the best get-togethers all semester. The idea started on Sunday when a group of us were all hanging out watching some movies and playing board games. We were playing the British game “Cluedo” which is the exact same as “Clue” except some of the weapons have British names (Knife= Dagger, Wrench= Spanner) also Mr. Green is called Reverend Green (like the Animal Collective song!). Anyway, someone else actually mentioned the idea of a murder mystery party and I was like “Well, hey guys! I’ve set-up two murder mystery parties before!”. And everyone else was like “Let’s do it!” in unison. So Monday and Tuesday, Me and my friend David met up in a couple times and wrote this whole story out. Everyone (about 10 people) got a character, complete with background info and a motive for murder. Then last night we all got dressed up (it was a 20s themed party, by the way) and went to this snazzy pub. The object of the game was for everyone to mingle and learn each others stories. David and I played the hosts and presented a list of questions to everyone (such as, Which four characters are the same age?). When someone got a question right we’d give them a clue, which was another step to figuring out the true murderer. Everyone got really into it, and it was a great time. The bonus was that people actually figured it out. We kicked everything off at seven and then at ten o’clock we let everyone give there accusations. The person who knew the most about who was the murderer and what their motive was won. I think everyone was really pleased. Anyway, it was a good time. The last murder mystery I orchestrated with DJ and, well, it kind of fell flat on its face, it just wasn’t planned long enough. But if everyone is into it, maybe we can do another once I get back home.

That was definitely the big event for the week. Classes are the same old same old, pretty much a snooze-fest, with the exception of my poetry class which can be interesting. Unfortunately, thats the class that I’ve got all my work done in. These coming essays are for the boring stuff: “Compare the representation of ‘the gentlemen’ in Dickens’ Oliver Twist and Gaskell’s Mary Barton”.... “Discuss the pros and cons of Britain’s subsides for the arts”. Both 8 pages. Zzz, Zzz, Zzz.

The weather here is really beautiful for 80% of the day. Then you get some rain for 15 minutes and its back to sun. I know I mentioned that in the last blog entry. When I was walking home that day I took some pictures which I’ve posted below. You can see that its torrential downpours, then it was really torrential downpours, then it was sunny, then drizzle, sunny again and finally ending with a rainbow. All in a 20 minute walk.

I’m pretty excited to get home, it will be fun, mostly for the volcano rolls and hitting the gym. So, I don’t know if you guys have been following the Spring music releases for this year, but I have (thanks to NPR’s all songs considered podcast) and I have to say im excited. There’s the new Wolf Parade CD, I just heard the single yesterday and I really like it. They pretty much keep with the same sound as the first record, which is really all I would have wanted them to do. Plus, after really getting in the latest Sunset Rubdown record I like anything that involves Spencer Krug. The other new stuff I heard was from the Islands, which I wouldn’t normally be too psyched about for whatever reason. But, I also heard some of that album yesterday and I was really pleasantly surprised. The song’s take some really unexpected turns while still staying concise and together great. Anyway, there is a preview of what my blog might look like once I get home and don’t have traveling stories anymore. Zzz, Zzz, Zzz.

I’m writing this blog entry in my room before heading to campus and I just realized that for the last three minutes I’ve been listening to Elton John’s “Your Song” by myself while eating a rice krispy treat and typing my thoughts on this year’s Spring music releases. I don’t really know what to think about that. I think the embarrassment is in the eye of the beholder.

I wonder how many times I say anyway or anywho in my blog entries. Until next time, enjoy some of the pictures from the murder mystery party and the stunning rainbow I saw after a fifteen minute rain spell.

Arrivederci,

Roy