Killing time in the USA

I'm sat in the food court of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, USA waiting for my connecting flight to Monterrey, Mexico. It's crazy! I've hardly been around the bloody UK and here I am, for the first time, in another continent! I'M IN THE USA OMG!

Okay actually I'm in the USA in the same way as Tom Hanks was in the Terminal: not being allowed actual access to the country and having to make do with the airport's limited and expensive facilities. Luckily, I'm just here for 5 hours (unless Enrique Peña Nieto declares civil war in the next couple of hours) but I was way too excited to spend US dollars for the first time on an actual American Maccy Ds! I feel like Eddie Murphy in Coming to America.

My current location

Already I stick out in this crowd like a lumberjack at gay pride, thanks to my accent. A couple of people have remarked on it already, or at least I think so because I can hardly understand their Southern American accent! This is my own bloody language too: what hope do I have in Mexico!

The journey started early, with my dad very kindly taking me to Heathrow in plenty of time for my 9am departure. The flight was nine hours: my very first long haul flight. I had no idea what to do with myself in that time, but I ended up discussing Candy Crush strategies with the lady next to me (Okay it was more like her helping me. I've become addicted, and for someone who was so good at Tetris I really do suck at this game!) I was pleasantly surprised every time the air hostess came round with refreshments and I didn't have to pay for another Coke.

And thank God for in-flight entertainment! There was an awesome languages game where I could learn numbers and days in lots of languages, but the touch screen was pretty shit. I kept getting the answers wrong on the general knowledge quiz there too! Yes the questions were asking things like "What is the first track of Chaz and Dave's second album?" but I blame the touchscreen for my failure. 

The system also had music on it, so I finally checked out Paramore's latest eponymous album, which isn't as shit as I first thought (maybe it grows on you, but it has nothing on Brand New Eyes or Riot), as well as Jake Bugg, who's somehow made Bob Dylan-style music popular again. 

Oh and the movies! The Campaign, The Identity Thief, and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. As you can tell, I wasn't interested in any movie with a challenging plot. I've had hardly any sleep so comedy was all I could take. 

I realise this is a lame blog post for those of you who've done long-haul flights before, as it's like someone saying "Have you heard of this awesome thing called Google?!" but hey it's a new experience for me, a statement of intent for the years to come of flying around the world. 

So it's just another few hours until the real fun begins, until I see Daniela again after a whole year apart. I seriously cannot wait: this is insane! I have no clue how I'll react when I see her, but it's exciting. I can already hear a lot of Mexicans in this airport and it's getting me feeling excited and ready for what's about to come. 

Next time you hear from me, I'll be at my destination in Monterrey, Mexico.

Done (for now).

Ollie

PS. I had made a quick video in my attempted Spanish to go with this but the upload speed here sucks, so I'll just upload it later...

I'm back!

WOOHOO! I'm doing it! I'm actually doing it! I'm writing a blog again! HAHA this feels like the first time you hear that crunch when you walk in the snow, the first bite into your favourite cake/steak/hake, when you finally manage to get it in...... A MATHS PROBLEM! Yes, that's right. A MATHS problem that has been bothering you for a long time and you finally get it! Well, anyway, you thought I was gone. No, I was only on a hiatus.

For ever since I wrote my last blog post on New Year's Eve 2012, I have been unable to continue, as on the 5th January I had been surprisingly arrested for libel and sent for 6 months' community service in the Gobi Desert, where I slaved away digging with a diet of nothing but mouldy bread and my own tears.... I obviously had no Internet connection, and so a blog was rather difficult to maintain. One day, while I was there, I did happen upon a Starbucks (they really are everywhere these days aren't they!) but while I grappled away at my smuggled netbook trying to chronicle my life with updates on the geology of the desert, the guards came in and apprehended me, with the temerity to take my netbook to the barista and ask how many iced drinks they could get for the netbook. Thirty minutes later, and I was in solitary confinement, and the guards shared their two tall frappuccinos.

But seriously, the reason why I haven't been able to update is because..... I suck at time management (regular readers/anyone who knows me may have inferred this already). I had been busy with finishing the degree, working my teaching job, and my other commitments at university. I never set the time aside to write anything, but don't worry: there wasn't much worth writing about. I probably saved you an hour's worth of reading of me evaluating classes and whining about my (many) mistakes. Please pass on this extra hour by giving someone you love an hour break as well.... not everyone needs to know the manufacturing process of today's sandwich.

I chose today to return to the blog for a couple of reasons. 1) It's about fucking time. 2) I have the time now I have finished my degree, obtaining the wonderfully mediocre 2:1 that you seem to need for just about any job these days, from investment banking to stunt planking. 3) It is a year to the day that I left Rennes, the French city where I had undergone my exchange, and a massive change, for it had awoken my desire to travel and to have an international career.

This is very fitting because you've probably been wondering "Hey, since a year ago this guy hasn't really said anything - just whining on about how much better his Erasmus life was than his life in the UK.When is this going to become interesting again?"

Yes my friends, in recent times my blog has become rather dull, and hardly worth updating - but NOT any more!!!

For I, Oliver Lloyd of South Wales, am about to embark on another journey! In just 13 days, I will begin ERASMUS LEVEL TWO!!

"But Ollie", you say "You've already been all the way across the pond to Rennes in France, where you hung out only with people who spoke English with you.... how could you make it any more difficult?"

Well, my sarcastic schizophrenic fictional reader, quite easily! I am going across a bigger pond this time: THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!

I'm going to Monterrey, Mexico.

For how long? I don't know! The reason? To be with my lovely girlfriend Daniela again and to have what will hopefully be another unforgettable experience! It's going to be the very first time I leave Europe, so that in itself is a big deal!

I'm not going for an exchange this time, and I don't have a job there BUT I can continue teaching online and maybe seek work there only if I need to. I plan on staying there no longer than a year, but who knows? I need to have an open mind.

My main goal is to become fluent in Spanish, and this time it is far more possible as I will be immersed in Mexican culture, hanging out with the locals. It will be far easier to mingle with the Mexicans than it was with the French, and it certainly helps that I'll be staying with Daniela's family for a while, and they don't speak much English!

I have no graduate job lined up, and for now I don't want one. It's time to take the gap year I never took. To experience another culture further away. I am sure that there will be many interesting updates along the way!



A New Blog?

Looking back on my last post all those months ago, I can say that I've done pretty well on my New Year's Resolutions. I booked the ticket to Mexico in February and got the 2:1 degree. I also think I did become more positive in my last months at uni, Spanish will come with Mexico, but I'm severely lacking in one department: to become a much more experienced writer.

How am I going to do that? I think it's time I launch a second blog to keep myself going. This one will have a theme though. I have really enjoyed learning occasional words of my friends' languages: it breaks down barriers and helps me make more friends. Language proficiency means I can travel to more places, meet more people and do more things, and of course it will also help my employability as well.

I have decided upon my new hobby. I want to become a polyglot: a person who speaks multiple languages.

I also want to look at  different methods for learning and teaching a foreign language. I feel that in this day and age most English speakers don't bother learning a second language due to the ever-growing importance of English worldwide. This saddens me, as I feel it's necessary if you want to travel and really be part of a globalised world. Learning another language has opened my mind - it's amazing to see how different tongues have different ways of saying the same thing. For example in Spanish to say to not count on something before it happens instead of "don't count your chickens before they hatch" they say "no vendas la piel del oso antes de cazarlo" which means literally "don't sell the bearskin before killing the bear". Yes it's nerdy, but I find this kind of thing fascinating, and would love to learn more!

So as I find cool websites and think of reflections I shall post on my new polyglot blog, to which I shall link once I've began. In terms of languages to learn, I'm thinking of German, Portuguese (like Spanish), Italian (should be easier with the other Latin languages), Russian and Mandarin Chinese at the moment. I should also consider my roots and learn Welsh and Polish. If you have any suggestions on languages, please comment!

I look forward to getting my polyglot blog up and running very soon!



As for now....

For now, I have to wait. I'm in Wales and I'm focusing on trying to make room for all the tacos I'll be eating, as I've already been rather too gluttonous over the finals period. As a result of my abstemious diet, I've become rather addicted to the show Man vs Food, insanely jealous of Adam Richman. The guy got paid to travel all over the USA and participate in eating challenges! Lucky bastard! Sitting on the sofa watching Richman dig into an 8-patty burger whilst munching desperately on an apple is just torture! They say punishing yourself like this makes you a stronger person. The only thing getting stronger right now is my urge to shove an 11 pound carnivore pizza down my gob!


In one week from today I shall graduate - dressing like a weirdo (if I can fit in the suit with this gut) to celebrate the fact that I didn't drop out or seriously fuck up my degree. It will be a sentimental day to share with the friends I've made at Warwick, but it has been weird as, unlike my friends, I'm not sad to leave university. I will miss them of course, but I'm just so excited for what's about to come.

I'll finish for now by saying: it's good to be back!

DONE,

Ollie