Who Takes 32 Pictures of a Group of Rocks?!.... ME!

Stonehenge rocked! haha, no pun intended. It was really neat, but it was just a small part of my long weekend.

Friday I left with the school trip for Oxford, England where Oxford University is located. It's like a posh college town. We paid 3 pounds to get into Christ Church College where we took pictures of the staircase and dining hall... where parts of Harry Potter were filmed!!! Also, the author of Alice in Wonderland went to school here. John and Charles Wesley went to school here, too. We toured the church where they were both ordained. Yay for Methodists!

I stayed at my first bed & breakfast in Bath. Caitlin and I walk into our room to find that we apparently got the Honeymoon room. haha. Everyone else got single beds, but Caitlin and I had to share a double. It was pretty funny. We joked all weekend about being the newlyweds on honeymoon in Bath, England.

On Saturday we went to Wells where we toured the Cathedral and we shopped at a outdoor market. Next we went to Glastonbury to see the ruins of a Cathedral that supposedly Jesus visited! Pretty awesome!

Sunday we saw the Roman Baths... this intricate system of water and hot springs and baths that the Romans created almost 2,000 years ago. It's amazing, and parts of it still work! I took plenty of pictures at all of our stops, so check out my picture site...

I'm off to Lincoln now.. big basketball game against the Nightriders!!!!!! Go Harlaxton!

Germany, snow, soccer & more snow

Germany was a blast! I found no "Henke's" but still it was a great trip. Courtney, Brittany & I planned the entire trip ourselves and their were no kinks and glitches. We were so proud of our traveling abilities!

Thursday evening we left the manor by taxi to go to the Grantham Train Station. We took a late train into London Stansted Airport. We stayed the night in the Airport and we each got about 2 hours of sleep. We flew out of London at 7:20 a.m. Friday. We arrived in Germany around 9 a.m. We wanted to go to Frankfurt, but the airport we flew into was Frankfurt Hahn - - - a jankity airport 2 hours away from downtown Frankfurt. We loaded a coach and paid 12 Euros to ride the 2 hours to the city's center. By noon we arrived in Frankfurt. Our hotel was awesome... Hotel Europa! Our room was tiny to share between 3 girls, but it was still very nice. The continental breakfast was awesome, too. I ate at least 2 Kaiser Rolls each morning.

There's nothing really terrific about the city of Frankfurt. The girls and I spent most of our 2 days there just walking around, taking pictures of random buildings, and visiting museums. At the Stadel Museum I was able to see original paintings by Renoir, Picasso and Monet. It was amazing!

On Saturday we walked through a Flea Market located along Main River. It was scary! Imagine the worst yard sale you've ever been to and multiply it by 45. Take all the junk at that yard sale and throw it out on random mis-shapen plastic tarps. Now imagine the seller is speaking a different language. Oh, and it's snowing. . . That was our Frankfurt Flea Market experience 2005. We still had a great time, and managed to purchase a hairdryer for one Euro because we forgot ours. haha.

We had a couple of disappointments in Frankfurt. We were really hoping to see a Ballet performance while we were there, but the ballet company doesn't come until May. Also, we wanted to take a boat tour on the Main River, but it was too cold and the tours don't start until March. On the way home there was a snowstorm and our plane to London was delayed by 3 hours.

Frankfurt was really cold, and people there weren't all that pleasant. I just expected because I am of German descent that everyone there would be like me. haha. naive. On a possible scale of 5 stars, Frankfurt hospitality gets a one. (This does not include the nice old man working reception at our hotel.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Snow snow snow and more snow. I thought the cold weather was long over. It's been snowing all day. Yesterday we even had some hail.

Tonight I attended my first real soccer game ("football" here). It was awesome! I had to pay $32 to go, but I think it was worth it. About 35 Harlaxton students took a bus to Nottingham. We were there to see a semi-pro game between Nottingham Forest and Preston. Now you know from the movies how serious the British are about their footy football, right? It's for real! They are hard-core. Our bus driver Ralph even got up and gave us a speech before we got off of the bus... telling us to root for the home team if we decided to cheer; don't wear colors representing the opponent; etc. Ralph was right. The fans were intense. The entire stadium seemed to be singing and chanting cult-like songs. The songs engulfed the whole stadium. These fans are so loyal to their team. I think they'd defend them to the death. Crazy Brits.

Sooo, we weren't all that excited when we learned that "our team" Nottingham was ranked 23rd out of a possible 25 teams, while our opponent Preston was ranked 3rd. We expected the game to be a slaughtering. Quite the contrary! Nottingham Forest ended up winning 2-0, and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the game! ( I've always said that I hated soccer. ) It was really cold at the game. It snowed a lot. I felt sorry for the players out there in shorts, freezing their bums off.

Overall, this has been a good week. We safely planned and executed our trip to Frankfurt. I've managed to not slip on the ice and snow yet. (*knock on wood) And I watched and enjoyed my first full soccer game.

Cheers!

Have y'all seen any Henke's 'round here?

I'm off to my homeland tomorrow.. the place where my ancestors lived... the country from which my last name comes.... GERMANY! I leave for Frankfurt tomorrow evening with my friends Brittany and Courtney. We're staying 2 nights in the city of Frankfurt, and we'll also have to stay 2 nights in the London Stansted Airport (one on Thursday and one on Sunday). I'm not worried though. If I survived the Dublin Airport I can surely handle London.

The only thing I'm really worried about is that none of us girls speak any German. This could be somewhat of a problem. Don't worry about me too much. I've heard most of the people in Europe know English or parts of it. Also, I've got my handy phrase book of commonly used German words. We'll be fine.

Last night we met with our Meet-A-Family, the Chubbs. Henrietta came and picked Stacey, Lauren and I up from the Manor at 6 p.m. We arrived at their house in Melton Mowbry around 6:25, and we were introduced to the twins. (4 years old) Harry and Libby were very shy. They were watching Toy Story 2, so we plopped down and watched the end of it with them. Dinners in the UK are very formal and time consuming. We sat around for at least an hour, watching the movie and chatting and drinking and eating crisps (potato chips). We finally ate, and it was delicious. It was some kind of beef stew. We also had homemade mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. Dessert was a "pudding," but it really wasn't the pudding we're used to. It was a small glass cup that had almost like a brownie batter in it. Henrietta baked the cups, and the top turned out like a chocolate cake, while the inside remained gooey. . . . almost like licking the brownie mix bowl. yum!

We sat around and talked for awhile after dinner. The children were already in bed. My parents and grandma sent me a box of Libs' Chocolates from Evansville to give to the Chubbs. They thought that was so neat that I had chocolates from the States. They insisted on opening them for after dinner. As you know, I'm not one to turn down free candy, so I ate a few chocolates. We ate them with, yep - you guessed it, English tea! I'm not a big fan of tea, but I added quite a bit of milk and sugar and managed to sip my way through a large cup.

We really had a great time, and we made dinner plans for March... in about 3 weeks. I can't wait!

Well, I'm off to play in our basketball game now. I'm not even sure who we're playing... probably another Lincoln team. We'll see! Wish me luck!

Ireland = Rain

I've found the quickest and easiest way to make friends when traveling to different countries:
1. Find something or someone that your new country hates with a passion.
2. Tell your new "friends" that you and America also dislike this person or thing.
Voila! Instant Friendship!

This formula worked quite well for me this weekend. You see, last week in British Studies we learned about an extreme Puritan, Oliver Cromwell, who basically hated the Catholics, especially Irish Catholics. When he took over as Lord Protector of England in the mid-1600s he attacked and tortured Ireland relentlessly. Throughout our trip to Ireland this weekend we would meet new people and tell them we were from the States, and then proceed to tell them that "America hates Oliver Cromwell." Our new Irish friends thought we were pretty funny and it gave us something to talk about. . .

Well, it's Monday and I'm exhausted. I had an amazing trip to Ireland, but I'm really worn down... probably because this was our first long trip done completely on our own. We traveled in a group of 10 girls: Me, Lauren, Dani, Daphne, Kimberly, Erica, Denee, Penny, Caitlin, Sarah. This was a long trip, and there are so many things we did. I think the best way to explain my trip is to break it up into days. Here we go...

Wednesday - 7 p.m. - Street Car Taxis pick us up from the Manor. (one 4-person car and one 6-person van) We drove an hour to Nottingham Airport. This Airport is similar to Evansville Airport. Yes, it was really that small. All 10 of us bought our plane tickets from a discount website... ryanair.com. We now understand why our flight was so cheap. The same woman who checked our luggage and gave us our ticket turned out to be the same person who took our tickets so that we could board the plane almost 2 hours later. And what do ya know.. she was also a flight attendant on our plane. ha. I wouldn't be surprised if the Airport janitor turned out to be the pilot. Our flight went smoothly and only lasted about 45 minutes. We arrived in Dublin before midnight. The 10 of us found benches in the Dublin Airport and we made ourselves at home. It was a pretty rough night, and my first night staying in an Airport. I probably slept a total of 2 hours. Did you know there's actually a website ranking the best airports to sleep in? Erica found it: http://www.sleepinginairports.net/

Thursday - (it rained today) by 5 a.m. most of us were awake in the Dublin Airport. We used the public restroom to wash our faces and brush our teeth. We found information on buses leaving the airport and going to the place we were supposed to meet our paddywagon tour. (the paddywagon is a 3-day tour bus that travels through southern Ireland). We bought a bus pass for 1.6 euros, and we caught the next double-decker bus at a little after 6 a.m. We all climbed to the top of the double-decker bus and then realized we really had no idea where we were supposed to get off at. It was dark outside, there were no maps on the bus walls telling about the stops, and the bus driver didn't make announcements at the stops. Erica went back down the bus stairs and asked the bus driver which stop we needed to get off at to get to Paddy's Palace (our paddywagon meeting place). He told her he would give us a "shout out." About 15 minutes later on our journey, the bus driver yells something over the speaker about a group of 10 this is your stop. It was really funny & embarrassing at the same time. The bus was packed and people were chuckling when we got off. It was very clear we were American tourists.

So Erica told the bus driver we needed to go to Lower Gardener Street. He dropped us off at Upper Gardener Street. Picture this: It's dark, wet, and chilly. Ten American girls are walking down a sketchy Dublin street at 6:45 in the morning.... dragging loads of luggage. It was quite a scene. After a good 15-20 minute walk we arrived at Paddy's Palace. At 8 a.m. the tour began.

I don't know what I was imagining this trip would be like. Maybe a ghetto tour bus from the early 70s with peace signs and "love not war" painted all over it. I was way off. Our tour bus, or our coach, was awesome. It was this huge green Mercedes bus that had Paddywagon painted down the side. The cool thing about this tour is that it lasted Thursday through Saturday and provided all major transportation as well as 2 nights in hostels. (Hostels are different from hotels... hostels are more like church camp or dorm living... bunk beds and community showers.) Tours to different historic places were also included in our trip. Other than meals, souvenirs, and clubs, most of this trip was covered. However, I still managed to spend a lot of money. You'll have that, I guess.

First stop on Thursday was Cahir Castle. All I remember about it was that they used part of it in the filming of the movie Braveheart starring Mel Gibson. Next we went to Blarney Castle where we got to kiss the Blarney Stone. Supposedly it gives you 7 years of eloquent speech. We'll just have to see about that. We spent a lot of time on the bus because we covered so much ground. I slept quite a bit, but our bus driver, Gabriel, also pointed out interesting historical points as we drove along. Thursday night we stayed in Killarney at a Paddy's Palace Hostel. We took a carriage ride around the town, and later we went out for dinner. Following dinner we went to a pub that had live music and then we finished off the night at Club Grand where they played 80s music. Yay!

Friday - (it rained today) We departed at 10 a.m. and made several interesting stops throughout the day. We had sing-alongs on our bus. Gabriel liked to jam to some of our favorite 80s and 90s songs. We even got to dance in the aisle.

I found that most of the Irish aren't too hard to understand. They have a lot of different words that I've never heard of before though. Most of the words are Gaelic which is another language spoken in Ireland. One guy taught me how to say "My name is Ashley" in Irish, but I can't remember how to right now. Turns out Ashley is not an Irish name, but Ashlyn is! Sometimes I introduced myself as Ashlyn, just for fun. Oh, haha, and get this... The Irish don't use the "th" sound. So, example time. American: "I thought about my weekend." Irish: "I taught about my weekend." .... American "I have my third class at noon." Irish: "I have my terd class at noon." Haha.

Friday we saw some of the Lakes of Killarney. We drove through the festival town of Tralee. Have you ever heard of the "Rose of Tralee?" It's some kind of beauty pageant, and also a song. We took the Shannon Ferry into county Clare. We saw the walls that were built during the Potato Famine. We also got out to see some 3-million-year-old rocks. The rocks weren't that exciting, but of course I still had to take pictures with them. We saw the Cliffs of Moher... well sort of. It was way to foggy to see anything, so I just bought a postcard of them at our lunch stop.

Friday night we stayed in Galway, where supposedly 40% of the population is under 20 years of age. It was supposed to be "Ireland's most hip, most historic medieval party city." It was alright. I actually enjoyed Killarney better. Friday evening we had dinner at a pub called Richardson's, then we went to dance at Club Cuba. We slept at the Kilnay House Hostel. Cold showers, but clean sheets. I'm not complaining. :)

Saturday - (it rained today) Last day of the Paddywagon tour. We left Galway at 9 a.m. and traveled on the bus for awhile before hitting our first stop at Clonmacnoise. This was the site of some Monastic ruins and celtic crosses from the 9th century. On our way to lunch we saw the Great Bogs of Allen. It just looked like a bunch of mud to me. For lunch we ate at a pub that was known for their Guinness Stew. It was delicious. Guinness (the beer) is huge in Ireland. There are signs everywhere advertising it. The Guinness factory is actually in Dublin... we were going to visit it on Sunday but ran out of time.

Before Gabriel dropped us back off at the hostel he took us for a tour of Dublin. We drove through Dublin's Phoenix Park, the largest urban park in the world. We saw where the Irish Uachtaran (President) lives.... it looks similar to the White House.

Our Saturday night stay was not included in the cost of the paddywagon tour, so we booked an additional night at Paddy's Palace (our original starting point on Thursday). Somehow they lost our reservations, but they were able to put us in one of their sister hostels, Jacob's Inn... located down the street. It was actually very nice. We had one bathroom for 10 girls, but it was nice that we could all be in one room. Saturday evening we did a bit of souvenir shopping, and then we ate at Hard Rock Cafe. It was a great meal. We even splurged and shared the giant desserts. We asked our waiter where the good clubs were located. He told us about several, and then gave us all VIP passes to a Club M. After dinner we showered and went out to Club M where they were having a Valentine's celbration... free chocolates and champagne. Their dance floor was killer! We had a great time dancing and meeting new Irish friends, bonding on the fact that we all hate Oliver Cromwell.

Sunday - (it didn't rain today! but we're leaving) We checked out of Jacob's Inn by 11 a.m. and we went in search of the bus station. It took us a good hour of walking (with all of our luggage) before we found it. We made it to the Dublin Airport and checked-in with plenty of time to spare. We ate lunch in the food court and then waited to board or plane for the last leg of our journey. We arrived at Nottingham Airport at 3:30 p.m. and waited for our taxis from Grantham which were to pick us up at 4:00. The hour-ride home was a little sad... I was really sad to see our Ireland trip come to an end.

I've posted new pictures under the "Ireland" album. I hope you enjoy them! Just click here: http://community.webshots.com/user/ashleyhenke

There's so much more I could write, but this entry is already the longest I've ever written. An experience of a lifetime, that's the only way I can describe it. In fact, this whole Harlaxton experience has been the experience of a lifetime. I can't believe I'm visiting these places and seeing all these wonderful, historical, famous things. Ah! Sometimes I just have to pinch myself to make sure I'm really here... in England, studying, living, taking it all in.

I'm off to find me Lucky Charms!

I'm going to Ireland! We leave in less than 2 hours... the itinerary is as follows: taxi from here to Nottingham. Flight from Nottingham East Midlands to Dublin. Sleep in the Airport. 8 a.m. Thursday meet up with our Paddy Wagon tour! What's a paddywagon tour, you say?? It's this bus that drives us all over southern Ireland and stops randomly for us to take pictures. It's a 3-day tour, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. There are 10 of girls going together! Here's the website if you want to see where I'm headed http://paddywagontours.com/all.html ... It has a map and shows our main stops.

I just finished my British Studies test. It was okay, but pretty exhausting. It was over 42 chapters, a Shakespeare play, a few works of art, 9 lectures, and some other writing works. I'm glad to have it over with!

I'm eating Frosted Flakes right now. It's really weird.... Frosties over here are like our Frosted Flakes at home (you know, Kellogg's with Tony the Tiger on the Box). Well, their generic brand is actually called "Frosted Flakes." The crispy way to start your day! (that's what the box says anyway)

I should probably go pack now for Ireland, considering we're leaving in less than 2 hours... I'll be sure to kiss the Blarney Stone for you!!

xoxo
Ashley M. O'Henke

Why do you watch the Super Bowl???

If you're like most Americans, you're saying you like to watch the Super Bowl because of the great commercials. It's true, at Super Bowl time all the companies bring out their best works of advertisement. It's only natural then that 100 American students who haven't watched US television in over a month are going to be excited for the Super Bowl and it's phenomenal commericals.

You can imagine our disappointment when we realized that, yes, we are in England, I guess they'll be showing British commercials, not American ones. Booo. And because the Brits don't especially enjoy the NFL, the commercials were not cream-of-the-crop (due to a very limited British audience). Soooo, they were average-day British commercials that most of didn't understand.

Despite the lack of great commercials, it turned out to be a good night. The atmosphere in the Manor's Junior Commons Room was awesome. About 100 students gathered on random couches, chairs, and bean bags to watch the big game. Hot dogs were served. Everyone settled down when the National Anthem began. You could tell there was a bit of pride shared by everyone in the room. At the end of the Anthem we were all being typical cocky Americans and we shouted, "Go USA," "America!" etc. It was fun.

I found the actual game quite boring (probably because the Colts aren't in it.. another sad story for another day). Due to time differences, the Super Bowl didn't start until about 11:30 p.m. here. I fought to stay awake for the halftime show. It didn't come on until after 1:30 a.m. I was so tired. All I remember was cheering for Paul McCartney and singing along to "Hey Jude." I thought it was ironic to have Paul McCartney do the halftime show, because he's British and the Brits hate American football. In fact, check out this article I found in the Brits Star TV Magazine: "Normally, we wouldn't be seen dead watching 'Rugby for Softies,' but after last year's Janet Jackson 'Nipplegate' Incident, we'll be tuning in with our fingers hovering eagerly over the 'record' button. This American sporting institution is traditionally screened on some obscure digital channel, but ITV has stepped in to cover the event this year with a star-studded line-up of broadcasting and sporting talent... The game's between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, in case you care. I know we don't!"

Rude! I love my American football. I love the NFL. BUT, I have watched a rugby game on television here. It is quite intense, I will give them that. Here's a site to check out the game that they claim is so superior to our football, our "rugby for softies." http://www.planet-rugby.com/

Have a great Wednesday... I'm off to bed!

Lions Slaughtered in Battle at Lincoln

You can't win 'em all, right? And when you don't win 'em, sometimes you lose by an unspeakable margin.

Tonight our basketball team traveled to Lincoln where we took on the Lincoln University Lakers. Driving up to the "Uni" (that's what they call their universities here) we could tell we were in trouble. Their school was huge, and their fitness/workout center alone was the size of my hometown of Holland. Let's just say they reached 100 points, and we sure didn't. In fact we scored a third of what they did. As you can tell, I'm avoiding writing out the final score because it's too embarrassing... you can figure it out. We're still 2-2 on the season though.

I can't get too down about the game. As usual, it was still fun. The Lakers were all tall, lanky Englishmen... but only half of them have recognized the importance of a good deodorant. When I was in the game, player # 4 asked me in a very butchered English, "Do you speak Greek?" I was thinking, "heck no...do I look Greek?!" and all I could think about was the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding (great movie, by the way). So how often are you playing in a basketball game in England when a 6 foot 6 Uni boy asks you if you speek Greek? How do you reply? Well, if you're Ashley Henke you reply with the only Greek word in your vocabulary: "baklava." If you're not rolling on the floor with laughter right now, you obviously don't know what baklava is.... It's a delicious Greek dessert, first introduced to me by my friend Shirley who's a home economics teacher (sorry, I know there is a more up-to-date proper name for Home Ec, but i can't think of it right now.) Anyway, it would be like me asking a random person from, say Uzbekistan, if he speaks English... and they'd reply with "Apple pie." haha.

I'm off to attempt some homework... goodbye for now.

Who knew sparkling water was explosive?

Yesterday was a long day. We attempted to leave the manor at 9:30 a.m. by calling a cab. We called 4 cab companies, all telling us that they were booked until 10:20. Well great, because our train was scheduled to leave at 10:15. !!!! We were frantic. We found our friend, Ralph outside (he's one of the shuttle bus drivers at Harlaxton.) The next shuttle bus wasn't supposed to leave until 10:10 but we begged Ralph and he agreed to take us to the train station. He saved the day! We're going to repay him in Cadbury chocolate.

The train ride was very long. It was a good time to bond with my AOPi (Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority) sisters. We had to ride 3 different trains to get to Bournville, where Cadbury World is. It took just over 3 hours. We ate sack lunches on the train that "mother Lauren" made for us.

When we finally arrive in Bournville we had to walk for about a mile (in the rain) to actually get to Cadbury World. 10 minutes into our walk we could smell the chocolate so we quickened our pace. We walked in the building. It was heavenly. Free chocolate every 30 feet or so. We learned the history of chocolate and cocoa beans. We learned about the founders of Cadbury. We rode a Cocoa Bean ride, and we even saw people making chocolate. (And they gave us samples, of course)

We concluded our tour with a stop at the World's Biggest Cadbury Shop! I bought some candy (duh) and some postcards. I even bought a Cadbury t-shirt... haha. On the front is says "mmmm." I thought it was fun. I had to get it. As typical tourists, our group even paid for a picture with a giant Cadbury Egg named Chuckle.
(pictures: "Cadbury World": http://community.webshots.com/user/ashleyhenke )

On the way home our train was really crowded. The seven of us had to split up and find single seats wherever they were available. I ended up sitting at a 4-person table with three older, very posh and polite ladies. They told me they liked my accent and they asked what I was doing in England. We chatted for a bit and then they all opened books or newspapers to read. I put my headphones on, and I started sorting through my purse. I found a bottle of un-opened water that I had bought on my way out of Cadbury World. Well, I didn't realize that Sparkling Water is carbonated. I opened my bottle of water and it sprayed all over myself and my 3 posh co-passengers. The lady across from me continued to read her newspaper as the water dripped down the page. It didn't seem to phase her at first, or maybe she didn't notice. Luckily I had napkins in my purse because I am my mother's daughter. I started to dab up the mess I had made. The ladies kind of chuckled. It was really embarrassing.

Overall it was a great trip... bonding with my sisters, eating chocolate, spilling water on strangers.

Take care and have a great week...

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Who loves Mary Poppins? I do! Tonight I watched it in the basement of the manor with my friends, Danielle, Jenna, Kimmie and Austin. It's a great movie in the first place, but to watch it in England makes it even better! Between the age of 6 and 10 I probably watched this movie at least every week. At which time I didn't understand most of it, I just loved the songs. Watching this movie tonight was so much fun... the setting for the movie is London, and I recognized so many places... I even picked up on some fo the British lingo and references to British culture. I really hope I can find the time ( and money ) to travel to London to see the theatre production of Mary Poppins! http://marypoppinsthemusical.co.uk/

Sooooooooooo put on those comfy clothes! Today is PYJAMA DAY! No, that is not a typing error by yours truly. Our English-American spelling of "pajamas" is actually spelled "pyjamas" in England! Weird, huh? Those Brits are so crazy.

I've been doing laundry like crazy since I arrived last month... especially with having basketball practice and working out.. it seems I have double the amount of dirty clothes. I went into Grantham yesterday to buy some more laundry detergent. No problem. I bought the store brand, Morrison's. (similar to our Equate or Sam's Choice brands). Then, I went to find dryer sheets. No generic brand is available! Only the good stuff... Bounce. Fine, I love Bounce dryer sheets. I reach for the sheets... 3.95 pounds! That's almost $8 US dollars! I refuse to pay eight buckaroos for 25 dryer sheets. I won't do it! I will suffer with stiff socks and underwear. I won't let the exchange rate win this time.

"Ooompa oompa, doopidity doo, I've got another puzzle for you!" (sing along if you like. it's the song the Oompa Loompas sing in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory). Speaking of chocolate facotries... I'm going to Cadbury World tomorrow! Yum, what could be more exciting and delicious?! I can't think of anything! Do you want to see what you'll be missing? Click here: http://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/en/cworld Maybe I'll meet the Cadbury Bunny.. do you remember him from the Easter commercials? I just thought about it, and I've already been to one chocolate factory... Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Do you see a pattern here? I think I love chocolate.

I'm off to bed now... sweet dreams.... literally!

Spice Up Your Life!

The Bistro (our pub hangout in the basement of Harlaxton Manor) had a British Night last night where you're supposed to dress as your favorite British person. Four of my friends and I dressed as the five Spice Girls. Remember the Spice Girls? They were hot when I was in 8th grade. Let me refresh your memory... "If you wanna be my lover, you've gotta get with my friends; make it last forever, friendship never ends..." There's Posh Spice (Sonya), Sporty Spice (Me), Scary Spice (Danielle), Ginger Spice (Lauren), and Baby Spice (Caitlin). We all had to dress like our designated Spice Girl. It was crazy fun. Brittany and Juli went down to the Bistro before us and changed the CD to Spice World (the Spice Girls' second album). As soon as Spice World came on all 5 of us "Spice Girls" busted onto the dance floor. It was quite amusing.
If you want to see pictures from last night check out this link: http://community.webshots.com/user/ashleyhenke

Monday night we had a basketball game and we won... 52-41 or something close to that. I played pretty well. It was a lot of fun as usual. We played the Nightriders of Lincoln... they were funny. One of them had a crazy skunk mullet.

I'm off to basketball practice right now... catcha later