This week has been my favorite in London so far. We have stayed extremely busy this week so I am just going to touch on a few of my favorite points (which will probably end up pretty much being everything!)
Tuesday I had Brit Pop with Rob and it was another extremely fun class. We learned a little more about the Beatles and it just makes me wish I lived back when they were so popular!!! We watched a short video and it was crazy how young they were. There truly is no music like theirs anymore! After that class I tagged along with the consumer health class because we were supposed to go to the Brands and Advertising museum and that’s right up my alley. We got kind of lost while trying to find the museum and never actually did make it there. Instead we went into a little coffee shop and talked about all the differences we had been noticing between the US and here. It was very interesting comparing some of the things and making connections I had not thought of before so I really enjoyed joining the class for a day!
Once the class was over we had to scurry home to get ready for the football match we were attending that night. Some of the girls were already out so they told me to meet up with them down the road to leave. Now this was the first time I had actually ever walked anywhere by myself as we are always doing things together. I wasn’t worried about anything happening but as I was walking I was thinking to myself how this is the first time I’ve walked alone and all of a sudden I feel someone walking very close behind me. Of course I got a little bit nervous and slowly turned my head only to realize it was one of the boys from the program. I am not going to lie I was freaked out a bit. He of course found it hysterical and looking back on it now I do to. Given what I was thinking in my head it was quite funny.
The match was Queen’s Park Rangers (whose side we were on) versus Milwall. The match took place at Loftus Road Stadium which is the home of Queen’s Park Rangers. . Going to a football match is an experience like no other. The teams are true rivals. In the US we say teams are rivals, but here I realized the true definition of a rival. Milwall had their own section of the stadium…the fans were not allowed to intermix. There were policemen everywhere making sure that they could break up any problem that started. The majority of the police were located near the Milwall section. We were in the Queen’s Park Rangers section, only three rows from the bottom so we had great seats! We were right next to the corner that separated the Queen’s section from the Millwall section so we were right in the middle of the action. The entire match the fans were cheering back and forth. It was the neatest sports atmosphere that I have ever been in. The match was great even though nobody scored. I actually really like how the clock never stops because it makes the game go by really fast. If you ask Europeans here what they think of football in America they will tell you it’s stupid because the clock stops every ten seconds. They also don’t see the point in cheering for someone who ran the ball ten yards. It’s very entertaining to hear them talk about what they think of football in America. I was a little disappointed that no one scored because I can only imagine how the stadium would have erupted. When the teams came close to scoring the fans went absolutely mad. Since this wasn’t a championship game no one had to actually win so that’s why the game ended without extra time or anything. Seems sad to me that they played so hard for 90 minutes and no one even gets to claim victory!
When the match was wrapping up the police and other security guards came and lined the walls of the entire stadium from the field. I think this was to ensure no one rushed the field as well as to get closer to the fans to keep everyone in check. At the end of the match the police blocked off the Milwall section and didn’t allow any of them to leave. The rest of the stadium cleared out including a few of the girls and me who booked it out of there to avoid any problems. It’s not that we felt unsafe; we just didn’t want to get in the middle of anything. The majority of the people in attendance were male so we were in the minority for sure. Denise and her family did not book it out of there and stayed to wait until the stadium cleared. In the morning Clark, her oldest, told us all about what he got to see. After we left the people began throwing water bottles and money at each other. Clark found 20p so he was pretty happy about that. I guess it got pretty wild in the stadium. I almost regret leaving so quickly because it probably would have been an experience. Overall it was an experience like no other. We are the first BSU group to go to a football match together, but I think every group should go to one from now on.
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