Author Archive

England: Nil
USA: 1

maybe next time, Thanks Green for the help.

So, we have finally experienced this “terrible weather” that awaits the GSE Team when we arrive in England.  The only problem was that it took a month to arrive, and it hasn’t been that terrible.  We’ve only had about 3-4 days of weather that was even partially bad; I guess we brought the good weather with us.  The Team had a great day on Thursday touring the area of Stockport, which was a Roman crossroads back in the day (and when I say “back in the day”, I really mean a thousand years or so, give or take a few hundred years). Everything in England is so bloody old (I’m trying to sound like a local) that it just seems crazy for these buildings and structures to still be standing.  In Georgia it’s hard to find a structure that’s 100 years old, let alone one that is still being used.

 I don’t think that I’ve spent much time talking about the differences in our sporting culture from England, so now seems like an appropriate time.  They have 5-6 major sports: football, football, football, football, football, and oh yeah this other sport called Cricket.  And for those back home that are obsessed with football, don’t move here just yet.  When I say football, I mean soccer.  Everywhere you turn people are flying these white and red flags to support England in the World Cup (I guess they are a culture of flag waivers, at least thats what English Steve told me).  And yes people, it’s that time again where there is a sport that everyone else in the world loves, but we look for “ESPN Classics” to watch and dream about college football. In-case you are inclined to support our team in the World Cup, England is playing the US in the first round on Sat.  The game should be on around 2ish for those back home.  I suspect that the US is an underdog for a victory, but hey it’s only one sport that we don’t dominate at (actually two, I don’t think we play Cricket either).  Until next time, much love and wishes from the GSE Team.

London was full of great adventures and surprises.  Steve from the England GSE team was gracious enough to meet us in London to show us the sights.  I can say that London is BIG, way too many people.   The team spent some time on the legendary big red buses while enjoying the open roof experience (not so much for Melissa who isn’t a big fan of heights) and was able to visit some of the iconic images of London.  The queen wanted me to come by and visit, but it wasn’t on my itinerary, maybe next time.  My favourite part was all of the shops and restaurants.  It reminded me of New Orleans; plenty of fun places to eat, street performers in the markets, and as many good people watching opportunities as one could hope for.  My only regret is not having more time to spend in London.  Our team had a blast and made more memories, and some that we probably wouldn’t mind forgetting, luckily we have videos and pictures to keep the memories alive!

We returned from London to meet our new host families.  Until next time, much love from the GSE Team 2010!

So Much and yet it seems like so little time. As you can probably guess by the pictures and the couple of videos that have been posted the GSE team has been busy. From Rotary presentations, to tours of historic churches, and cross country car rally’s, we’ve seen plenty. I think I can speak for everyone that our host families have been amazing. I’m often thinking to myself that if I was hosting a GSE team member, would I be this accommodating? (Well, maybe not if I was hosting myself, but Jessica, Melissa, or Ali would probably be another story) A couple of highlights from my experiences: visiting the castle that was used to film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, finding out what a church looks like after a thousand years of use, figuring out that Ox tongue sandwich isn’t as bad as it sounds, trying this mythical meal for breakfast called a “bacon buddy with brown sauce” (I’ll go into detail at a later date), touring the Manchester City stadium (for some reason the air didn’t smell very good there, kind of a stench, something I’m told happens when you don’t win enough), and finally making some lifelong friends in my GSE team members. Until next time, be safe and know that we miss our loved ones back home (and our previous host families, miss you Ian, Vic, and Chloe)

Hello Friends and Family, I’m sure that you have all been in suspense waiting for my posts. Well, here is the play-by-play.

Day 1: Airport and Volcano 0, GSE Team1. We arrived without incident….almost. Doug’s luggage had a slight problem making the journey; it took an extra day to make the trip. Volcano 0, Airport 1.

Day 2: We met our host families and each member parted ways for the moment. It was great to see a familiar face, Steve from the UK GSE team, at the airport upon arrival. I was fortunate to visit the University of Manchester with my host, Ian Bradley. Ian has been working for the University for 17 years in an administrative position. The student body numbers around 38,000; nice place but I didn’t see any mascots that could rival UGA.

Day 3: Preparation for our first presentation, 100 plus people eagerly awaiting our performance. We felt right at home with a dinner of tomato soup, potatoes, veggies, and chicken. A small side note: when referring to “you say to-ma-toe, I say toe-ma-tow”, I finally figured out who says the later.

Day 4: Styal Mill, a historic cotton mill that produced a large amount of textiles in the 19^th century, along with employing child labor. This mill was later renamed the Nike Corporation. That night Ian treated us to a trip to the infamous “Curry mile”. Another food group that involves unique sauces, fried rice, and some sort of meat product mixed in, I loved it! After the train ride back, Ian also treated me to my first UK pub. In as few words as possible: “better beer than home”

Day 5: My first vocational day. I was able to visit the Royal London with Stuart Kinsey. Royal London is a very successful mutual insurance company that has been able to find growth opportunities even within this harsh economic environment. It was also very interesting to spend some one-on-one time with Stuart Kinsey. He has been in the financial services business for 30 years. I have to say that I was surprised to find that compliance is just as stringent in the UK as back home and in some aspects even more difficult.

We finished off the day with a very unique bowling game. It’s similar to Bocce Ball, but instead of the balls being uniform, they are lopsided and don’t roll in a straight line. As you can imagine after a couple of pints this can be quite the challenge. Until my next post, stay safe and know that everyone on the GSE sends love to those across the pond.

May 14th and only a couple of shorts days until I’m going to be living in England for a month.  I’m excited, nervous, eager, and stressed all rolled into one.  Our team has amassed a large amount of luggage (50 pounds per person in addition to our personal luggage), and I’m going to be happy when we have successfully moved this cargo through airport security.  That should be fun.  I’ll keep you posted with all of the comic events, most probably involving me and just sit back and enjoy the ride.