An all nighter of epic preportions (Youth for Europe is over!)

I have finally returned from the Newbury Youth for Europe gathering which consisted of about 40 people from 6 different countries. The entire event was absolutely amazing and just a ton of fun, Mark and I met so many new people that were very interested in the British culture and we were happy to tell them everything they wanted to know.

The Europeans even joined us in many game of improvised indoor tennis

I already mentioned the trip to Thorpe Park but a few days later we headed off to London to show them everything the city had to offer. Immediately after exiting the train however, one of the Spanish people lost their train ticket, also since we were using the group ticket thing the trains offer, I had to stay with them to buy a new ticket and take them around London for a little bit. I was told to meet the rest of my group in Westminster but I had great difficulty in understanding how the underground worked, after a brief delay though we were back on track and visited Parliament and Trafalgar Square.

 At the end of the day the main group were due to leave London at 7:30 but a small group wanted to stay for another hour to do a little bit of shopping. Being the gracious host person I am, I opted to stay with them so they could get their 'Mind the Gap' fridge magnets and other bits of memorabilia. This group, consisting of an Italian, 3 Germans, 3 Hungarians and myself, as I took them back to the station an hour later I had to joyfully explain why London trains are typically delayed, in this case, we waited an hour longer for our train to arrive. After it did, there was only standing room in the bar area available, it was very warm and the train experienced technical difficulties multiple times. On a happier note, one of the Germans I was with got into a very peculiar conversation with a commuter about school, sport and ethics, I could only listen and laugh quietly to myself as it went on, the German also got a free beer out of him so that was good. Eventually the train stopped in Reading so there was now room for my group to sit on the train, just as we get comfy there is an announcement.

'Everyone expecting to be traveling to Newbury this evening, I'm afraid I have some bad news. This Train is experiencing some technical difficulties and will not be traveling to Newbury. However, alternative transport is being arranged for you.'

AKA: The bus of shame. We got home that night at 11:30 to frozen pizza.

Last night on the other hand was very special as Newbury was the host of the first ever sporting event inspired by next weeks games.

The famous logo!

The first every 'Beerlympics Games' took place outside, starting off with 2 rounds of Flunky Ball (google it!) And later on some games of Beer Pong, all was very good fun, even Mark got roped into downing a small glass of cider. And by the way, I was also on the winning team!

As the games came to a close at 4:30am I decided to call it a night, little did I know that our bedroom was hosting a Mario Kart tournament so I stayed up for that too. At 5am we were all tucked in while having a bit of witty banter. The oldest English person, and general care taker of the Youth for Europe group however was quite eager to do an all nighter, suggesting more Mario Kart of card games. Then he burst out with this:

'I know what we should do... Feed the ducks at the park! I know its ridiculously early in the morning, but it will be worth it for the looks on their little ducky faces!' 

So, some English guys and 2 French people all piled into Mark's car at 5:30am to feed the ducks. It was incredible.

I am currently writing this during the real Olympic ceremony, not quite as prestigious as the Beerlympics but it is still special. Danny Boyle's ceremony has been phenomenally spectacular and now the countries are all marching into the stadium, after seeing Argentina, Australia and Armenia I quickly realized that they were alphabetical and we had a very long way to go. Here hoping that we earn a couple of medals and that everyone has a very good weekend, for me, it will be an excellent time to recover from an awesome week.