And so it goes...

Yesterday, was one of those nights that was completely off the hook. I found my long lost friend Mr John Bogi, and I'm sure many of you will be pleased to hear this guy has returned with avengence! A certain Mr Bogi came out yesterdy evening with this little nugget... "Vittu en oo ollu näin kännissä pitkään aikaan" Love it... I think my work here is done!

Yesterday in addition to leading Jugi back down the slippery slope of sekoilu, we decided to really pull out all the stops. Video and pictures are on the way, as soon as the disclaimers have been signed and the lawyers deployed. After all we are in America the country of litigation and we hardly want our naked asses sued! But yeah, some streaking, swiming and extreme belly flops were the order of the day yesterday.

Today was more of the same ol same ol. We checked out the beach which was awesome.. I love the sea, and everything about it. Must be the captain morgan in me speaking.

This evening there was a friend of Jugis and Perttus from Sweden, who came around with his brother. Needless to say, we got rather tanked up. Chatted culture, did the old traditional backslapping.. and then headed once again to the pool. For some Scandinavian silly times. (think wrestling, running, shouting and general mayhem)

I think I have managed to restore the life force to San Diego, and espescially, to a certain member in particular. Those in the know.. know.. and those who aren't, well they are missing out.

In 6 hours time we are heading to Vegas. This trip could be viewed from many different perspectives. It is certainly a cultural escapade, a cliche filled charge on a city full of culinry delights, gambling frights and ladies of the night. No promises about photographic material will be made. We all know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. But we shall see. When I get the time I will edit Wednesday nights video into something sort of respectable. But for now I need my sleep.

G'night,
The Bogi and Morgan are back in town...

C'est Fantastique!

The past week in NIU has again been one filled with action of all sorts. School work and partying have been the words of the day. On Thursday we presented our Internet Marketing project to the CEO of CBcampus.com which was a complete success. Of course before the presentation I presented my group with a bottle of champagne, because well... we had an absolute blast working together. Later in the evening we headed to a local bar where the Prof bought beer and pizza, which went down an absolute treat with us students. It then provided a wonderful networking opportunity again, and a possible job opportunity. Later that evening I demonstrated the Mikkeli style how to party, which went down a treat with the locals.

The weekend was then full of random house parties, which again involved beer pong, beer bongs and general sekoilu. Including waking up with a certain captain morgan. (and I mean that in the literal sense)

Recently I have been procrastinating in a big way, which is why I'm sitting here at 00.30 just sort of starting a 10 page Human Resource paper. In fact, I was so dissilusioned about the whole thing that I had to go to the local bar for a few games of pool and a few beers with a mate. Well, as you all know the drill goes one beer, then the second out of courtesy, the third because well it tastes so good.. and then from there on the next N drinks because the bar tender was in your class and is offering ou free alcohol. Which would be rude to turn down.

I must say, I am in sort of party mode already... because tmr I'm off to San Diego to meet up with Perttu, Jugi and Tuija, and from there on the direction is Las Vegas. So my mood is certainly not one that is in tune with academic literature, or trying to explain why the cheating W$@*?rs at Enron buggered employees out of their 401(k). I guess this is why the most key person in my life at the moment is an inanimate object called Red Bull, and with its help I hope to survive the night without drooling all over my keyboard.

On Saturday, I bumped into a freind called Captain Morgan. Here is the proof. Watch out San Diego.. Here I come (and the captain is joining me)

The plot thickens...

So last week, went quick jam packed full of all sorts of interesting stories, situations and shady dealings. The fun started off on Thursday when a friend of mine find out she had managed to get a job for when she graduates in December, so naturally we had to go out and celebrate big style. The evening involved stops at numerous house parties and also bars, where some foolish idiot decided to start a tab... (don't go there)

The evening went smth like this.....

Seeing who can drink a can of beer quickest, unfortunately I lost with a time of 6 seconds.


Going to bar, ordering food, starting tab, and ordering long island ice teas.


Heading to houseparties somewhere.


Impressing locals with British charm.... hmmm...


Getting thirsty


Mastering beer pong.


And after a hard evening on the town, polishing off what is left of the peppermint liqor.

Luckily I skipped Friday morning, and headed straight into the afternoon portion, which brought with it a trip to Chicago to watch the Blackhawks play some hockey against the St Louis Blues. It was great seeing the huge United Center where both the Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Bulls play. The game itself was not a great one but the Blackhawks ended their losing streak so there was a pretty good atmosphere.




Then Saturday, I decided to pop down to do some laundry but got hijacked by some friends on the way, and was asked if pizza and beer sounded good. So that was a pretty hard decision. One of the guys got completely hammered on mexican tequila and ended up passing out with his shoes on, so he was as they say "fair game" Out came the markers and profanities and I actually ended up feeling really sorry for the guy. I will post pictures if I can get them off my American phone onto the computer.

The weekend also involved other highpoints, such as going to watch Borats film, which was outragous ! I haven't laughed that hard for so long for quite a while, I'm sure it was made all the sweeter sitting there surrounded by Americans!! If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favour and go to your local cinema. You will not be dissapointed. It was also fun this weekend because I got to drive a friends tripped out car which had 350bhp and 4wd. That certainly made for some fun around the backroads of DeKalb!

Thats all for now, time to hit the books!

It's wonderful!

What has the world come to when University students actually need to do some work? I mean here I am on a Monday evening with a HRM test in the morning, presentation and mini assignment straight after that, and oh musn't forget the two ethics papers that I need to do and the buyer behaviour exam later this week. Then again, this is pretty much the last and only week of hard work, which will be followed by some more cultural explorations and shenanigans. It's amazing how much one can achieve with so little effort!

The horror of Haloween

Haloween in the US is huge, simply uncomprehensible. The stores are full of comstumes and other Haloween realted stuff, and students very cleverly use the excuse of haloween to have house parties and get royally drunk. Lovin it. The house parties are great fun and it was a blast to see the ladies dressed up in very little. I havent quite worked out how kinky nurse costumes relate to haloween and frankly I couldn't give two hoots because...well, they looked hot. I didn't dress up, rather chose to invest my money in a bottle of vodka which I then emptied at a speed that would make any alcoholic proud!

Oh and while on the subject of alcohol, I would love to know why I'm staring at an almost empty bottle of jim beam on my desk and why instead of waking up next to some sweet filly in a sorority house, I was cuddling a beer can. Fear and loathing in DeKalb anyone? I think the Koreans might have their fingers in this one.

Now where did I put that can of beer?

Jerry Springer and Jaeger Bombs

Well, this exchange just keeps heading into murkier waters. Yesterday I was in the audience of the Jerry Springer show with Kevin an Irish exchange student here. All I can say is that... well. Anyone who has seen the show knows the sort of messed up people they have on it. It's just unbelievable that there are people with problems like that, and its made even more unbelievable by the fact that they are willing to beat the living daylights out of say their own mum on TV. It was quite an experience, the best bit was the soundman teasing one of the guests and then getting the crap beaten out of him. (He did deserve it) It was also rather amusing chanting Jerry.. Jerry.. Jerry..

Thursday night was yet again party party time, which involved buying trays of Jaeger bombs (jeggu battery) The only gripe I have here is that the bars close at 2. So when everything gets going its time to leave. Then again, no matter. Thats what frats and sororities are for!! So yet again I trundled back home at 9 in the morning, leaving behind my phone. Real smooth way to roll.


Got the results for the final that I didn't study for and was somewhat suprised. Above class average result. So I guess I should go out and celebrate, that was the final test for the course and I have already got enough points to pass with a few more assignments in store. One course down and 3 to go!

Tonight yet more halloween house parties to look forward to. I guess its time to head off to walmart to get a costume of some sort.

Peace

Water fights and Miller lights

Homecoming came and went, leaving behind it fantastic memories and yet another bonkers group of friends.

Saturday started in a very tame manner, just wondering around for a couple of hours before the homecoming football game eating free hamburgers and knocking back free beer courtesy of the various alumni tents. The footie game started and we gave Temple college a good ass whopping, it was nice being in a completely full student section with those rowdy Americans. They certainly can make a lot of noise.

Just the end of the game the heavens opened and it started to piss down with rain, which wasn't the best thing that could have happened considering that we were going out later and would have to walk.

The evening started off in a very dodgy manner, not having a clue where we were going or how we were going to get there. No problem though, my Irish friend has made a habbit of just gatecrashing parties here so we just sort of followed the leader. After lots of searching we found a kegger, only problem was it was an asians party. So we felt that rather than sticking out like the balls on a bulldog, we would rather head somewhere else where we might stand the chance of blending in. Oh if we had only known what was in store for us next.

Yes we found another party, yes there was alcohol there and yes there was also some food. However it was some guys 21st birthday party, and the best bit was that all the people there were either first or second generation Indian (no not native americans) During our short time there we were invited to dance to Indian dance music (think Punjabi Mc) which was for want of a better word ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS !

After me and Kevin ran to the liqor store to pick up a few beers... 60 miller lights and a bottle of jamesson, we headed back to the party. But then decided that we couldn't handle the pace of those crazy Indian dancers, and again we felt we stuck out slightly. Although the guys there were really nice.

So we moved on again, with no real idea of where we were heading, completely random. We then ended up a house party in.. erm someones house. Anyhow as the evening went on more and more people turned up. Then someone decided to start playing drinking games, so I thought I might as well join in for a laugh. Those poor Americans didn't know what had hit them!

3 hours and countless beers later the wheat got separated from the chaff, and it was just me and some sorority girl sitting and drinking. She then had the absolutely fantastic idea of making water bombs to wake up her friends. Which at like 8am in the morning in the inebriated state that we were in seemed like a really funny idea. However what actually followed was a full blown waterfight between me and her in the downstairs of her house. At this point I would like to say in typical 5 year old fashion that: "she started it" Not me!

At 10am I wondered into my dorms absolutely dripping wet looking like I had been for a swim or something. I will never forget the looks that I got on the way to the elevator!!

Absolutely priceless!!

At 4pm in the afternoon when I woke up I thought I had missed the car that was piloted by Juha Kankkunen, unfortunately though he ran me over a couple of hours later...In fact I'm certain that he also reversed over me a couple of times for good measure. What an absolute hum-dinger of a hangover! Which was great considering that at nine in the evening I realized that I had a final exam the next day. Needless to say my studying consisted of me opening my book only to fall asleep after reading all of half a page. I then had the pleasure of waking up with a drool covered book glued to my face. NICE!

But as many of my fellow students will no doubt agree, it's not as though we came on exchange to study!

Homecoming

It's homecoming weekend here in the cornfields, and so far it hasn't dissapointed. I have absolutely no idea what homecoming is actually about, but it seems to be a big deal over here. There have been parties everwhere all week and 60 extra police cars and men have been brought in from other states to makes sure that everything runs smoothly, it's crazy!

Thursday was good fun, involving free drinks yet again (one of the perks of being an exchange student here) and after parties at a sorority house. It's a shame that I'm only here until Xmas because it really is a nice place with great people. My view of Americans has changed an awful lot in some respects, and been re-enforced regarding others. Take the Americans knowledge of geography for example.

American: So wheres Finland ?
Me: Its in between Sweden and Russia
American: *akward silence*
Me: Like go upwards North East from Germany
American: Wheres Germany ?
Me: Bollocks.... you want a beer? this is going to take a while.

Still it has been good fun, and everyone that I have met so far has been really nice.
Today was the homecoming football game which we won, so that was great. Before that we wondered around the grounds for a couple of hours eating free food and drinking free beer courtesy of the College of Business Alumni tent, fantastic.

This evening should be pretty mad, either a kegger (house party where there are beer kegs) or heading out to a bar and some afterparty. Have to see where the evening takes me.

Looks like my calender is filling up pretty quickly. Next weekend I might be going to the Jerry Springer show to be in the audience, and possibly go to a Chicago Blackhawks game. There is also the possiblity of some wild Haloween parties, so I guess I better think of something to wear. Could dress up as a Finnish drunk to raise the profile of our country in the eyes of the Americans... then again, maybe not.

Thats all for now, might try to get some pictures from tonight, but I have to remember who reads this. So the self censorship may kick in!!

Laterz peeps

Getting around

Well the past week has brought with it snow, freezing cold winds, live music, free drinks, Korean stories of prostitutes, job offers, job applications and yet again *cringe* shopping trips.

So I'll start from the top. At the middle of the week there was a dusting of snow on the ground, fortunately me and Samu were sleeping in as we didn't have lectures, so we didn't get to see it, but the wind was certainly freezing and cut through you right to the bones. Winter is certainly on its way!

All week I have been toiling with job applications, online forms are so much fun to fill out! 7 applications down 46 to go! I will be an expert on these online forms soon! It's also fun trying to remember all the dates of employment as I have left all my official documentaion in Finland! Superb ! (anyone detect a hint of sarcasm?!)
Oh yeah and a job offer came from the West coast for a internet marketing company. Tempting I must say, but not quite for me. However my Prof is looking for a job for me, which is something I never thought would happen!

Thursday evening was spent listening to some absolutely awesome live music, knocking back free drinks courtesy of a class mate who said he wanted to get me drunk. He obviously knew nothing about the amount of alcohol the average Finn can consume!

Today, slight boredom struck in the late morning so we did what any normal member of this American society would do. We went shopping... AGAIN... Needless to say bank account sustained serious damage again, and my logistics skills will need to be employed to get the mountains of stuff I have bought back to Finland. We also decide to go and pop into the local Applebees restaraunt, where our foreign accents were immediately noticed by the waitresses, who then invited others over to hear our cute accents. Needless to say, we shall probably be heading back there sometime.

Had a few beers with the Koreans this evening, and those guys really do not dissapoint, more stories of how cheap prostitutes are in Thailand and ... well somethings are just best left unsaid.

Well tomorrow should be good fun, a local Finnish family is treating us to breakfast (only minus is 9am wake up) and dinner. So all is looking promising. Also the evening looks like it will be spent with the Koreans listening to more xxx stories... I think I might need a "few" drinks!

An Englishman, an Irishman and ....... an American

Popped out for a few beverages of the brewed variety last night with an Irish guy who is here on exchange and an American friend of his, and ended up bar hopping around DeKalb.

If Wednesday is the night on the lash in Mikkeli then Thursday is certainly the night that NIU's students go out and large it up. Now in Mikkeli its great going to Kharma and getting 50% off with the club card, but here there is nothing like it. No sir. For the students of NIU Thursday night is the one when you can go out and get completely blottoed without breaking the bank. All of the bars offer 75ct drafts (Used to 50cts but the district council raised it to try to lower it to curb excessive drinking)

Yes 75cts for that lovely amber nectar that in the words of Frank the Tank "Tastes so good" Now there is a downside to this, which is waking up the next morning with more quarters in your pocket than a vending machine!

And it doesn't stop there... I thought early on in the evening it might be nice to enjoy a nice glass of whiskey on the rocks, so I ordered myself a Johnny Walker and was amazed when the guy gave me a glass three quarters full and relieved me of 3 dollars! In fact I was so shocked that I asked the guy if he took the right money.

One conclusion that I have come to here is that Americans can't drink for shit! Unfortunately I had to be proven right by my American drinking partner pouring the contents of his beer down my trousers. Which was to say the least fairly embaressing because he managed to hit the crotch area, and I was forced to explain to everyone that "No I haven't pissed myself, I'm not that drunk yet" But anyway, fairgame, it's all good in da hood.

Sorry for the heavily alcohol biased post, but well, gotta let people know the important cultural differences!

Tootaloo for now !

Thunder & lightning

They say a picture speaks more than a thousand words... this was taken yesterday from my room.

Chi town

Seeing as I have been waffling on the last few posts, I thought some photographic material might be in order. So here are some pictures from the amazing city of Chicago... Enjoy !

The Sears tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world dominates Chicagos high rise skyline


Awesome water attraction in Chicagos Millenium park. The photos are projected behind a glass wall and they are of Chicagoians off the streets.

Walking on water


The "Bean" a polished metal bean that is a beheamouth and reflects the Chicago skyline

View of Chicago from the Navy Pier

This my friends is a heart attack on a plate. In other words Chicagos world famous Pan Pizza. That is 2cm of cheese there, which tastes fantastic but is about as good for you as a gun shot wound to the head.


"The other side of the tracks" Chicagos ghetto is cheap, if you don't mind crack dealers or drivebyes on your doorstep!

Ubelievable man-made scenery makes for an awesome sunset!


ABC 6 O'clock news, moments after this they showed the crowd on camera, so we started jumping up and down like kangaroos on speed. There is however a 5 second delay on the feed ever since Janet Jacksons "Wardrobe malfunction" (read nipple flashing) so any naturists out there wanting to expose themselves on National Tv will be dissapointed. *sigh*


The Chicago river which flows through the city. This river has been widened deepened and they have even reversed the current, so it now flows the other way !!!

The amazing ampitheatre in Millenium park, and I caught Joulupukki that bearded wonder on his holiday!!

A huge structure...... and the Sears tower ! :p


Tourists !!!

Well thats all for now, I guess I should get started with my Sales interview paper which needs to be returned tmr morning, and study for the 2 exams that we have. Our HRM prof recomended reading the book like 35 times..... I think I will be lucky if I open it!

See y'all later !

Black is the new white

Fantastic this exchange lark, new experiences, new culture and funny new "akward situations" Yesterday evening me and Samu decided to go and watch a fashion show that was being held on campus by one of the fashion clubs. The show sucked big time and there was nothing "fashionable" about it. Easy to see how all the American guys dress the same way, I think the most fashionable item of clothing was a D&G tshirt. Tres chic indeed!

It was also funny to notice that me and Samu were the minority, and I'm not talking about being from a different country, rather a different race. Out of about 300+ people there were under 6 caucasians, us included. We had a good old laugh that maybe we shoudl try to join some African American sorority!

Anyhow, today is meant to be a free day but I guess I might have to open some school books as we have loads of exams coming up. Then again I didn't say anything about actually reading! Tmr we are heading off to Chicago so that should be a good laugh, and produce some photgraphic material. Sorry but I've been lazy and really can't be bothered to carry around my camera to document me eating American fast food or drinking piss weak American beer! Although I promise more pictures are on the way.

For now though, ta-ta !
DeKalb over and out.

Culture, culture, culture

Well, Thursday evening came and went, leaving behind it empty beer bottles sore heads and promises never to drink again. What started out as the powerhour quickly turned into the century club, which then deteriorated into drinking neat vodka and general...well..... mayhem. It was seriously like a circus because everyone at the party belonged to the uni gymnastic team and were just throwing flips in every possible direction! Certainly made for an entertaining evening!

On a more academic note got the results from one of our courses and was pleasantly suprised as I had managed to get a great score with little studying! Nice to know that I can now sit back even more!! ...... Hope the proffs aren't reading this!

Went out Cd shopping again today as music is so ridiculously cheap here and there are so many great bands. I swear I'm gonna be skint when I get back home, but you only live once!

Thats about all the text that I can squeeze out for now, as the creative part of my brain has ceased to function, time for bed and a movie. But maybe not in that order!

Oh yeah and there was another Tornado that touched down next to campus, so another exodus to the basement (this time I remembered to close the window) In addition to that I experienced an UNBELIEVABLE thunder storm with some amazing lightning! Beats any fireworks that I have ever seen hands down.

N-I-U I-love-you!

Worrying cultural observations about my Korean neighbours

While taking a shower the other day one of the Korean dudes shouted from the cubicle next to me "guess what I'm doing?"
"Taking a shower I hope" I replied.
Well the Korean dude then fired back with some heavy duty fodder........

"I'm masturbating"

......Needless to say I got the heck outta the shower ASAP


Today one of them was walking into the toilets with a videocamera and tripod and proudly told me that he was the director. Director of what ?! Who the hell takes a videocamera into the toilets?! I dread to think what the hell they were doing in there......well whatever floats your boat.

Multiple guess, gym and the powerhour

Well, it's been fairly quiet these last couple of days. Had my first midterm exam in the principles of selling course, which was a multiple guess *ahem* sorry... choice. I hope it went well because I spent a very precious 40 minutes skimming over the book....which cost $150.. Money well spent as they say. In addition to trying to study I have actually suceeded in going to the gym, and in ploughing my way through the 3kg monstrosity of weight gainer, which suprisingly enough actually tastes good.........

..........But not as good as an ice cold brewski... Which is why I have organised the powerhour at a friends house for thursday evening. Should be a riot, although I hope not literally. Last time I was at a house party the cops came and stood behind the door for 15 minutes, but luckily here you don't need to let them in ! Well thats all for now, more updates later..

cornfields over and out !

Weight gain 2200

Oh yea people, it's cheap thrills for me. The plastic is dead. Still that doesn't matter, I have decided that it would be a travesty for me to come back from America weighing the same as when I left, especially since everyone talks about how they gain weight here. So I took a leaf out of Eric Cartmans book and got myself some weightgainer *beeefcaaaake* and will start visiting the awesome free gym on a daily basis. (check back in a few weeks to see how I'm going) *everything is bigger in America*

Today me and Samu walked into a dingy looking store wondering if there would be anything inside that would tickle our fancy, as we are both incurable shop-a-holics. Well, 30 minutes later we had to drag ourselves out of what turned out being a factory outlet store. We both ran around the store as though we had never seen clothes before, which is quite worrying. Anyhow, we have put off our trip to Chicago so as to let our finances settle, and I guess to work out if we are going to need a cargo plane on the return journey to Finland.

Our courses at uni are just getting better and better. In one of our marketing courses with big gay al (I swear the guy is straight out of Southpark) we watched adverts for half an hour and discussed the differences between North American and other countries ads. Good fun, also got to see some of the famous superbowl adverts (google Budweiser ads) which were for want of a better word. Hilarious!

and now the fucking fire alarms gone off, nice. Hahahaha Samu was in the shower and walked out of the building 5 minutes after everyone else... Priceless.

The joys of living in dorms with 4,000 other students in the same complex. Bound to be a few pyromaniacs!

Verified by visa

Well thats just wonderful finding out that your credit card has been thrashed to within an inch of its life and that you will have to live on a card with a limit of 41 Euros for 2 weeks. At least all my food is paid for etc.. Damn, a quick call to my summer employer confirmed what I had suspected. The traditional student credit limit was SOD ALL and definitely not enough! Well, luckily the American plastic turned up yesterday so its time to stick that under the afterburner, and should that not be enough there is always the British cards. Sometimes I swear my wallet is more international than I am!

Oh the joy of dealing with financial institutions, they're about as flexible as a piece of ice!

Well now I got that off my chest its time to listen to podcasts of my internet marketing course and ..... surf the net. All while eating muffins and drinking pepsi. I'm getting good at this American lifestyle !

Football, fun, friends and feelin better!

It's been quite a week. The start as many are sure to be aware was not the best, but gradually this week has got better. In fact better would be an understatement! Its been fantastic. I recieved soup from my support family who I haven't even met yet, my Korean room mates made me tea and food and bought me fruit all week, and generally everyone has been absolutely wonderful and very sincere in wishing me a speedy recovery! And speedy it has been, Thursday I was back in action in the class room and it was nice to be there again, although when I bought the books I wasn't too happy. Even though me an Samu are splitting the costs the books half and half, the cost is still $250 !!!
Anyhow, can't complain when it comes to education...its priceless!!

Friday was a dangerous day, despite the fact that we only visited 3 stores I still managed to put a nice big dent in the plastic in my wallet. Plenty of new CDs, T-shirts and stuff found its way into my possession. I'm increasingly worried because when we get to Chicago the shit is gonna hit the fan and my plastic is gonna melt!

The evening was spent Go-Karting, minigolfing and standing in a batting cage for the first time in my life being fired at by baseballs. I never realised how damn quick those things came! CRICKEY ! Certainly wouldn't wanna get a curveball in the nads. Still Despite my un-athleticism this summer I still managed to slug a good few balls into the roof of the cage, which really made me feel like a man ! Good stuff ! As the Americans say, good clean fun.... well until you go pro and start necking growth hormones for breakfast!

Today was pretty much spent sleeping and watching the University football team in action. The Americans certainly know how to put on a spectacle, and I don't mean Janet J flashing her nips!
Marching bands, cheerleaders, free stuff.... free stuff, noise and generally a good time ! Oh and the football itself was rather good, even though our team the Huskies lost. (Our reciever had greased hands and our defence was like seive)

This evening I'm off to do a dry recce run and visit a keg party.... unfortunately I'm not allowed to drink yet, doctors orders! Anyhow, you certainly don't need alcohol to have a good time ! Although it is a rather good social lubricant.

Over and out !

Tornados and a Temperature

When I signed up to come to De Kalb, I didn't realize that there was a risk of tornados here ! So you can imagine my amazement when yesterday the loudspeaker in our dorms belted out "A tornado warning has been issued for southern De Kalb area, please evacuate to the basement immediately staying away from any windows"

For a few moments I thought I was hallucinating as I was at that point laying in bed with a very high fever. Unfortunately I wasn't which meant draging my sweaty ass down to the basement and sitting there in the cold for 45 minutes while the Tornado passed pretty much over us!

Other than that theres not much news from over here except that I have a bitch ass fever and a killer throat, coupled with nice muscle pains.... NICE !

Oh and today I turned 24, not one of the best birthdays ever !

Adios !

This is the hood

Finally got some pictures up here on the net for all to marvel at.


American style, now all we need are the mullets !


Soon I'll be taking my game to the stadium !!


Stevenson Towers, where we have a room on the top floor. Unfortunately not a penthouse.

Huskie stadium, home to the University football team the capacity of the stadium is a fairly respectable 28,000 people. Doesn't look much from this angle but an overhead view shows the whole truth!

Beer bongs and gangland fights

BEER BONG : using a large funnel to rapidly consume a large amount of beer, or similar alcoholic beverage, as a sort of drinking game. The inherent challenge is to swallow the rapid flow of beer without spilling it.

Quote of the evening from yours truly : "Spilling it, no sir, not me. I'm never one to waste good alcohol"

A couple of classes in the morning followed by some shopping and topped off with a real beauty, the American college house party! Yes folks yesterday was one of those evenings where the beer bong was in use all evening the music slamming and the atmosphere electric. This was my first outing "in the wild" here and most certainly wont be the last, needless to say I kept my fellow countrymens reputation up by chugging down insanely cheap coronas all evening like a seasoned professional.

Walking back from the party with a local I witnessed my first proper hardcore fight, which included baseball bats tripped out SUV's and American history x style curb kissing. One guy was making sure the others ride was proper messed up while two other guys were taking care of the dudes on the ground. Not something that I wanted to see. These guys were pretty damn serious and I most certainly wasn't going to politely ask them to stop as I would have no doubt been given the same treatment as the poor guys on the ground. luckily the cops were on point pretty sharpish, and chasing after the guys, so that was nice to know that the rozzers here react quickly.
More photos on the way, when I can actually remember to take my camera out with me!

Well, I had better make a few phone calls and sort myself out for this evening!

Adios amigos

Crunk in NIU

After a relatively slow start to the week, things are starting to pick up steam. First days of classes have gone by with no problems, and all except Human resource management seem to be absolutely kick ass ! In our internet marketing course we have prizes on offer for various pieces of work, tmr I gotta try to win some Tickets to a Cubs baseball game in Chicago !!

Well enough of the academic side, we all know why we have been sent on exchange. Culture. Currently I'm trying to drink up all the culture I can with both hands. This includes chilling with the Korean dudes who are our neighbours and like to cook food for us and offer a drink or two, or three, or four....


To hanging with the home boys and their tripped out cars at the front of our dorms. (Think 22" chrome rims, baggy jeans and Dave Chappelle sketches and you're getting close) It honestly feels like we have landed in a completely different planet, everything just seems so surreal!

The campus is great, albeit rather spread out. Thank god for the Huskie buses which constantly drive around campus with no concern for pedestrian life! Then again walking is nice because it gives you the ability to admire the sights which teeter around in small skirts and hotpants, and also check out the campus.

Catch you later

Chicagooooo !!

Well, my journey is most certainly not boring. Having got off the plane and clearing immigration with no problems I jumped into a taxi. After having sat in it for 10 minutes I realised something was not quite right. There was no meter and the driver was most definitely from some arabian country and he spoke very broken English. His driving was straight out of the desert, I would have felt safer running across the freeway. Seeing the Chicago skyline though more than made up for the death ride !

Once I got to the bus station the guy tried to charge me $120 for a $30 trip ! He tried to get me to sign a blank check !! He also then tried to pressure me into signing it before we had agreed a price. Very dodgy ! Luckily I negotiated down to $40. Welcome to America !

At the Bus station the dodgy dealings carried on, in the toilets I bumped into a guy selling stolen jewelery and then another guy wanted to borrow my cell to make a "quick call" Yeah well.... all of these guys were built like brick shit houses and looked like they were carrying pieces so I just said I'm from Europe and they left me alone ! (I don't think they knew where Europe was!)

Anyhow, more updates later... If I can be bothered to sit down and write. Also I will try to get some pictures up here. Thats if someone doesnt steal my camera, or con me out of it !!

Chicago over and out !

Patted down and felt up

Well this is the first entry into my exchange blog, unfortunately I haven’t been as active as some of my fellow students in writing pre-departure stuff. But at the end of the day that is due to the fact that I have been busier than a rabbit during mating season.

Luckily now I’m sat on a plane somewhere over Canada. 5 hours ago I was extremely worried because at Charles de Gaulle airport those lovely French rolled out a welcome party, which consisted of waiting in the tunnel to the plane for an hour and then having to go though a body search, baggage inspection, latex glove treatment, (Noh thank god not that kind!) and getting your bollocks groped by some French over zealous airport security worker, that happened to look like he was really enjoying getting hands on with his job! Last time I checked patting someone down did not involve feeling them up.

Anyhow, I hope that I can get rid of that traumatic memory so that I won’t automatically have to run in the other direction when I see a security worker.

Really looking forward to getting to DeKalb ! Just have to work out how the heck I’m going to get there.

More updates later, If I get through immigration without being “abused” that is !