Another week gone...

Well It was another good week over here in the UK. The week itself was relatively uneventful except for the excitement of Derby Day on Wednesday. I spent the majority of the week working on preparing for papers and starting to write them. But you don't want to read about me writing papers so I'll move onto something a bit more interesting.

Derby Day was this past Wednesday, and was easily the highlight of the last few weeks. Now there is nothing similar enough to Derby (pronounced DAR-be) Day in the States for me to relate it to anything you might be familiar with so I will just explain it all out in detail.

I will start by saying that Essex University has a bitter cross county rival, the University of East Anglia. And when I say bitter I mean bitter, picture Nebraska v. Colorado but in closer physical relation. We have been bitter rivals for ages and complete in everything for bragging rights and Uni pride.

So Derby Day. It is a day in which Essex and UEA get together at one of the two universities (alternating every other year as to which university hosts the day) to compete in all sports. On this one day, in the matter of just a few hours, every single one of the two universities sports teams competes against the other universities team. The lacrosse teams compete, the futball (soccer) teams compete, the American football teams compete, rugby, climbing, boxing, cricket, fencing, dance, archery, badminton, and the list goes on...

Imagine CU and Nebraska completing in all university sports in one day...ya thats the environment, its nuts.

UEA brought their teams and a bunch of supporters but weren't enough and were easily handled by Essex as we beat them 30-15 with the largest winning margin in the history of the rivalry.

The American Football team played its part in adding to the score in favour of Essex. In the game UEA scored first in the first quarter, on a decent drive and a lucky run play. We responded on the following drive to level the score at 7 all. The rest of the half went without seeing another scoring drive although we controlled the game in nearly all facets but were unable to cross the goal line. We entered the second half feeling good about our opportunities and played well for a while. Then on a brilliant play UEA scored to go up 14-7 near the end of the third quarter. This put the pressure on us. We played hard for the next 15 minutes but were unable to cross the goal line. We got the ball back on our 10 with about 3 minutes left in the game. We drove it down the field well and then got stuck on their 10. It was 4th and 5 with 1:20 left to play, we ran a brilliantly executed 'B cross' pass play to score on what would have otherwise been the last play of the game, making it 13-14 still in favour of UEA. Now we were left with a choice, kick the extra point and go to over time or go for two and win it outright. We choose to go for two and went with an 'A Jet crack' where the Fullback (me) lead blocks for the A back who goes into motion swings behind the line to pick up the pitch and then run for the corner of the end zone. It was going as planned until a MLB blitzed and tackled the A back behind the line leaving the 2-point attempt no good. However, UEA's celebration was short-lived as there was a flag on the play against UEA giving us a second chance. So we lined up again, and went for it again, and this time converted the 2-point extra play to take the lead 15-14 with just a little over a minute left.

Our defense then went onto the field playing like men on fire, recording two tackles-for-losses and one sack ending any hope of a miracle play for UEA.

It was a great ending to a great game. We then went out, after showers that is, and supported our fellow students in other sports and had an all around great day.

On Friday, I went to London again to meet up with Wil Flanigan a classmate from back at Creighton who is studying in Milan this term. He, his girlfriend, and another friend of theirs from back home were in London for the weekend so I went down to spend the day with them. We bummed around London for the day and crashed at a hostel near St. Paul's Cathedral near the East End. In the morning I woke early and went to Saint Paul's for morning prayer, which was amazing to do in this beautiful cathedral.

I then hopped on the tube and met up with other students from IFSA Bulter for a group trip to Dover and Faversham. We stopped in Faversham first to visit and take a tour of Shepherd Neame the oldest Brewer in Britain. It was established in 1669 and has remained in the same spot ever since. We got a tour of the Brewer and were walked through all the different stages that go into making good ale. At the end of the tour we had a guided taste testing session in which we were taught how to properly taste test lagers and ales of different kinds. It was a great tour and the highlight of my day.

We then got in the bus and headed to Dover to see the Dover Castle and the famous White Cliffs of Dover. The castle is beautiful and rich in history which was great to experience, but not much can really be said about it since you kind of have to experience it for yourself to understand.

Its now Sunday evening and I am working on papers, and probably should return to doing so. I hope all is well back wherever you are.

The pictures are from Derby day (the football one), two from the brewer, and one of Dover Castle.