MT applies to Law School

Law School Application Updates

Day 1 in Iowa (it’s 2:00am, I’ll fix it in the morning)

Our first morning in Iowa began with a trip to Starbucks… because all of the local breakfast places were closed. It was inside of the Temple of Fine Arts… or something along those lines. Guys with cameras were pretty much a constant sight.

Next, we moved to the Romney for President Iowa campaign headquarters, which was located in an old Blockbuster fairly close to downtown. We met with the Field Director who assigned the rest of the people from Vanderbilt to make phone calls. Since calls aren’t really my thing, team “Mitt 2″ decided to actually meet the candidate, so we headed to Atlantic, Iowa. The event took place in a small restaurant called the “Family Table.” The crowd was about half traveling journalists and about half locals.

Welcome to the “real America”

After about 8 hours of driving we stopped in Mount Pleasant, IA. This place is quintessential small town America. We stopped at a small pizza place on the town square called Breadeaux Pizza. The restaurant is still decorated for Christmas with posters for the local basketball team, the Panthers, on the counter.

There were several middle age people eating in the sleepy restaurant as we arrived. A group of 20 college students coming off of a difficult bowl loss walking into a town that probably hasn’t seen tourists in decades.

Happy new year! I’ll provide some more updates once we arrive.

Apparently, Mount Pleasant is 80% Republicans

Tennessee by the numbers

So, I think all of you reading this know that I think Tennessee is great. I wear my Tennessee flag belt/hat/sticker everywhere I go. I have a Tennessee flag flying in my room. However, I think it’s time for us to take a moment and look at how we rank compared to the other states.

16 – Order of admission to the Union
17 – Size by population
36 – Size by area
104 – rank of our flagship public institute of education
42 – Job creation
3 – Friendly for business
36 – ranking in education

Things wrong with the new Predators Alt. Logo

In case you hadn’t seen it yet, this is the new set of Predators logos:

Anyone from Tennessee will immediately notice that the tri-star is all wrong.

This is what the logo should actually look like… If Predators branding cared about what our state flag actually looks like…

Things I’ll miss about the United Kingdom

So, as I sit here in the Atlanta Airport, I’m beginning to think of things that I’m going to miss about the United Kingdom and Europe in general.

1. The Schengen Agreement — After the process of having to pick up my baggage and re-check 50 feet away in the International Terminal, I must say that I love the Schengen Agreement. I went to 3 different countries without ever showing a passport.

2. The London Underground — I could get anywhere in London by walking two blocks to my Tube Stop, and I never had to worry about parking or gas… just that I had my Oyster Card.

3. Ben’s Cookies — I’ve brought four home.

4. Tesco & Waitrose –The ability to walk to two different grocery stores to get pretty much anything I needed was great. You could just decide to walk a block if you wanted a Cider or a candy bar or a loaf of bread.

5. Cider — no explanation needed.

6. Samuel Smith Pubs — A place to socialize with friends, inexpensive.

7. £1 coins — They feel like they way an actual pound. Awesome to use instead of bills.

Things that I will not miss:

1. France

2. Manson Place

3. No trash cans

England: where Evian is cheaper than Coca-Cola.

While most students have to deal with incredible culture shocks and having to learn a foreign language, thankfully we did not. We’re living in essentially dorm style housing that’s fairly comparable to Towers. A couple hundred kids within a few hundred square feet on 7 or so floors. They also dropped us in the Hillsboro Village of London. We’re surrounded by Maseratis, Ferraris, and Aston Martins. I don’t think I’ve seen a Ford around our dorm. I live about 3 blocks from the South Kensington Underground station. In between here and there we have two mainline British grocery stores, a Pret (more later), about 15 coffee shops, Ben’s Cookies, and a Lamborghini dealership.

While I mentioned that we didn’t have to learn a new language, walking around London is nothing like walking around Nashville. People from all nations and languages roam the streets from Picadilly to Trafalgar to Holborn. You’re just as likely to hear someone speaking in French or Farsi than to hear them in English. It’s always a little bit comforting to hear the American accent on the Underground.

The worst part about London is the price of everything. Most things are priced the same as in America–i.e. a shirt that’s $70 in the US is £70 here, which is approximately $115. The prices of food are just as bad. Whether it’s a 2l or a 10cl, Coca-Cola is around £1.80 or about $3. Thankfully, Evian is only 90p, so it’s not terrible.

Also, Coffee is different. Only Starbucks sells normal American coffee, but the machine is broken half the time. Everywhere else sells Espresso and Americanos. I might pretend to be cool when I get home by only ordering Americanos… probably not. They’re also trying their hand at American drinks like Frappuccinos and Iced Coffee, but they don’t understand it yet. There are three dominant coffee chains here–Starbucks, Costa, and Caffé Nero. I’m about halfway to a free drink at Caffé Nero, except that I lost my card. . They’ve also got a Panera equivalent called Pret A Manger. There’s one on every corner, sometimes they’re even on opposing corners. I think I’ve probably eaten there about half of the days I’ve been in London. You just grab a sandwich, a drink, and then say that you’re getting it take out so you don’t have to pay VAT.

Key Term Differences:

US English: Exit
UK English: Way Out
US English: To Go
UK English: Take Away

Until next time,

Matthew goes from DC to UK

Well, after much encouragement, I’ve decided to restart this blog. I’ll be providing commentary and descriptions of adventures in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, and Belgium.

See you over there!