Party in the UK

(Disclaimer: I started this post Friday afternoon. It's now early Monday morning. I'm not very good at this whole "keeping a blog up-to-date" thing. But I'm trying.)

I'm always up for a party.

Especially when there's root beer.

Last night, the BYU students were invited to an American-style BBQ by the LDS Cambridge YSA (Young Single Adults). It was at Darwin College on Darwin's Island (which I think is the only island on the River Cam . . . correct me if I'm wrong). As I crossed the Mathematical Bridge, I could smell the charcoal. It made me so happy; my insides were skipping with joy. I LOVE barbeques. My dad always grills during the summer, and I was definitely missing burgers and hot dogs, so the barbeque was just what I needed.

Just when I thought I couldn't get any happier, I saw the A&W ROOT BEER. Europeans hate root beer (they think it tastes like cough syrup), but I am a typical American, and I love it. (Especially Brick Oven's root beer, but that's another story.) A number of us headed straight for the root beer. It was so good; I didn't realize how much I missed it until I took a sip. Yum. It's really hard to find root beer in England, so we were all pleasantly surprised. There were also Doritos at the party--another American novelty. We found out later that Brady, the Cambridge YSA Rep, drove out to the military base to get all of these goodies for us. We were all soooo grateful for that.

Mmm . . . Root Beer . . .

The barbeque was so much fun. The food was great (hurray for hamburgers!), it was fun to talk with people and get to know them better, and Dr. Kerry brought his wife and children, and it was really fun to play with his kids. I fished for octopus(es?) (i?) with Dr. Kerry's son, and we blew a monster off the bridge. So much fun.

Friends

I also got to go punting along the Cam for my first time! I went with Jen & Derek Bruton, Camille, Jared, Natalie, and Christina, so our boat was pretty much awesome. I will admit though (and there were multiple witnesses, so it would be stupid for me to lie), that I was kinda scared when I got on the boat. I was afraid that we'd tip over. Which I wouldn't have been scared if my valuables (i.e., camera, phone) weren't with me. But they were. So I swear I was scared for my valuables' lives, and not my own. (Okay, okay, maybe my own, too.)

Punting!

I didn't have anything to be afraid of. Derek and Jared (who took turns navigating) did a really fine job of getting us through a very crowded Cam. We had a few mishaps: we bumped against other boats, and we lost the punting pole a few times, but we didn't tip over. Yay. :) It was super fun, though. The Cam is beautiful, and it was so neat to sail past King's College and right by Bodley's Court. So I got to see where I live from the river! We also had fun singing songs. The girls started singing "Kiss the Girl" when we went under a willow tree, and Jared seranaded us in Italian. Awesome.


Kiss the Girl!


Punting down the River Cam
Anywho, there's the story that I should have told days ago. Two morals to the story:
1) BYU students have the most fun.
2) I really need to write blog posts the night they happen.
Post on my unexpected weekend trips to come soon!