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Day 44
Today my parents arrived, I rushed off from my group project to meet them and have drinks at a bar. Was great to see them again. On the way back home we had quite a funny incident trying to photograph some racoons. As brits we were amazed by this foreign and exotic creature and we were determined to get a photo, this involved standing around arguing over how to turn the flash on and put the camera on the right setting, to americans we must have looked like right tourists.
Day 45
After my lectures finished at 12 30 me and my parents went shopping on pearl street. I got to use my 2 for 1 ben n jerrys voucher which was very satisfying. Bought a few clothes and showed the parents a new part of town. Strangely enough I treated my parents to dinner that night, by swiping them into the brand new dining hall which is really fancy, there are stations for sushi, bbq stuff, Mexican, asian. Afterwards we played pool at the university bar and for all my practice at university I cannot beat the old warhorse that is my dad. I would have thought by his age his mental strength and concentration would have gone but it turns out this is not the case.
Day 46
On Fridays I finish at lunch time so at midday we drove out to Breckenridge, this is a small town that is quiet for most of the year until ski season. It's an ex mining town so the buildings are really old and the high street looks just like an old western town. The drive was quite fun thanks to some amusing roadsigns ("runaway trucks - lane diverges in ½ mile", "correctional facility ahead, do not stop for hitch hikers") As soon as we got to the hotel we got in the hot tub that overlooked the ski resort, it was a great hotel and surprisingly cheap. We went to the steakhouse for dinner and ate like real Americans - a huge quantity of fatty but delicious food - then on the way back to the car we came across 'crepes a la cart' a crepe stand that was incredible. I had a berry swirl which was blackberries and raspberries with white chocolate cooked to perfection. I sensed I would be back again before too long.
Day 47
While I have missed my parents I certainly have not missed being woken up by dad. He woke us up at 7am on a Saturday morning to watch the ryder cup. The early start was what we needed though as we went on a hike, finding a fascinating old log cabin and meeting many nice American hikers. That evening we browsed the high street and ended up eating at 'rasta pasta' - a Jamaican pasta restaurant that was delicious, I also went back to crepes a la cart to get another berry swirl! The evening however was slightly spoilt by having to use some public toilets that were rank beyond description.
The CU buffs won again!
Day 48
We drove to another local ski resort and had a look around the shops. It was odd to see that the resort was designed to look like an Austrian town, it was like being back in Europe for awhile.
I think the design of the hotel also warrants a mention - it seemed the designer had thought an interesting feature of the room would be to make everything give you a painful static shock. It was bizarre, the doors, appliances and coat racks were genuinely painful to touch.
After being dropped off back at my dorm I was studying when the next door neighbours decided that instead of bringing their bins back up to the 2nd floor themselves that they would try and launch them up 2 flights of stairs onto the balcony. One crashed against my window and I felt like walking outside and yelling at them for making such an unholy racket. It was at this moment that I realised I am getting old, I am now the grumpy old man that I was destined to be, maybe I should just go the whole nine yards and get a pipe and a rocking chair...oh and do the crossword.
Day 50
Tuesday...(shudder)
Went for a meal with parents at a Tapas bar which was really nice, another nice night out with good food and good company.
Day 51
Went shopping with parents to get winter essentials like ski jacket, more socks.
At the dining hall I encountered the strangest culinary experiment ever... deep fried green beans. Only the Americans could think "hum I like green beans, how could I make them better? Oh I know I'll dip them in batter and counter any nutritional value that they once had".
I really hope they do not count this as 1 of their 5-a-day.
Day 52
People in the US are much more trusting when leaving their facebook unattended. This has been to many of my flatmates' downfall. After changing Ally's gender to male it seems she got many friend requests from girls trying to chat her up! Some other highlights have included changing Ben's middle name to Mejico and changing people's religious views to 'british people'.
My balcony overlooks Boulder high school and I saw them lose their softball game 24 0. Now I'm no softball expert but that seems to me to be more like a cricket score? The fact that they had balloons surrounding the pitch to mark the occasion of the game made the loss look all the more tragic.
Day 53
A Friday night in Boulder, what exciting stuff does that hold for Jonny?
The answer I'm afraid is rather boring, playing table tennis and gambling on our results. I managed to acquire 3 cans of mountain dew and a quarter but I really need to start doing something with my Friday nights! Oh it should be noted that Trevor has now beaten me at ping pong. I would say I probably maintain a 95% winning record.
Day 54
This was another painfully early start with parents but it was well worth it as we went to Rocky mountain national park and as you can see from the pictures the place is fantastic, so wild and untouched. It was however a bit chilly and the plucky british tourists got caught in the snow, good thing I had brought a cagool for mum to wear! The one downside with the park was that there was many an ignorant American guy who would offer his insightful opinion on Britain. "Oh I've been there, I mean there's London, and then there's...the rest of it...oh and Scotland" If he didn't weight about as much as an arctic lorry I would have given him a slap.
Day 56
During a day in which I spent 10 hours in the library I was asked to represent my dorm and attend a meeting of the different residence halls. It was worth turning up for the sheer comedy value. After roll call (including favourite pizza topping...obviously - I'm sure this happens in congress as well) we discussed many a fascinating fact like...how people want more printers, but don't want to have to pay to use them (AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH).
The people here also show their appreciation of something that someone has said by 'snapping', this is where people click their fingers rapidly. This was originally very confusing, it was like Americans were communicating in some sort of aboriginal clicking language.
Here are some of the essential notes I made during the meeting:
·People who live in Farrand Hall like pineapple pizza
·College Inn sucks at organising anything - we are a joke
·People who go to these meetings are morons
Thursday Day 59
Mid term molecular techniques exam went horribly badly. As soon as that was over I had to stay up until 3am trying to finish lab report which had to get postponed till the next day.
Day 60
Handed in lab report with 8 minutes to spare, result. I was so relieved to have that out of the way and I could finally enjoy a Friday night. It turns out haunted houses are a popular thing to go to on a Friday night, so Nate drove us to Denver. In the car I was introduced to a yellow car-type game but you had to spot cars with only one headlight on. It's staggering how many Americans drive around barely being able to see anything, how have the police not clamped down on this - oh that's right because they're wasting their time at College Inn checking to see if anyone is drinking. The justice system here is so stupid, what's the point in making an underage drinker go to court? Such a waste of everyone's time.
The haunted house was not nearly as lame as I thought it'd be, there really was no expense spared. The noises were deafening, the makeup was flawless and the chainsaw guys even smelt like petrol. We scuttled along in our group of 5 with me at the back because I was assured this was the scariest place to be. They were right as well, when some crazy zombie runs through the group you assume that he's gone and you carry on walking, only to have him run at you from behind, I had to keep looking behind me and the adrenaline was certainly going. At one point a zombie jumped from behind me and It scared the hell out of me, I tried to run but I slipped and landed on the dirt watch-first. The metal strap broke on it and that's going to be a pain to get fixed. It turned out to be quite an expensive trip to the haunted house. I managed to not scream like an absolute girl which I was happy about, the most scared person in our group of 5 (me, nate and 3 girls) had to be Nate. He was visibly shaking when we got out the otherside and we probably should've made him wait a while before he started driving really, he was a mess!
We then got a drive-thru mcdonalds (living the American dream dude) and watched Anchorman, it was a great Friday night.
Day 61
Bought ski pass for $450, after xmas I am gunna take easy classes and go every weekend and make the most of this opportunity, I will probably never live in a ski resort again in my life so I'm not that bothered about having to shell out a bit - it seems like a good use of my scholarship.
Hope you've enjoyed reading.
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