Rugby

Fudge Friday-Meg and I have officially solidified our friendship with the guys at the fudge store. We got our fudge and because it was Friday, we got two stamps so now we have a free slice of fudge!
I don’t want to do my final paper or start studying for my finals! I realized in class that I have one week until my final!!!
Ellis-We learned about William Webb Ellis, the man who “took the ball in his arms and ran with it.” In Webb Ellis’s time, there was a rule that a man could not run with the ball but instead had to stop once he caught it. Instead, Webb Ellis would catch the ball and run as far as he could before the other team would tackle him. Basically, Webb Ellis was cheating, but his cheating ways were incorporated into the game after he left the school. This implementation has survived and lives on in the current rugby and football rules.
Late-our field trip was supposed to have us home by 6:00, but we got back at 7:45, and Meg had to run home to pack for her trip into London!
Dressed for the beach when I should have dressed for rain. I learned the hard way that English weather is not nearly as predictable as San Diego weather. For the field trip I wore a skirt, flip flops and a tank top, and so I spent the whole trip shivering and getting soaked.

Tom Brown’s School Days-before the trip, we learned about this influential novel written by Thomas Hughes that inspired the organization of sports at the school. We also learned that Harry Potter mirrors this novel, with Harry as Tom, the fearless and gallant athlete, Dumbledore as Thomas Arnold, the caring and encouraging headmaster, Quidditch as rugby, a wonderful and competitive sport, and Hogwarts as the Rugby School, a magical boarding school with different lingo and customs for the students to learn.
Rugby-We took coaches to the Rugby school, the birthplace of modern day organized sports. We had a two hour tour throughout the school and saw the fields and courts that housed the first organized games. Our tour guide, the school librarian/historian told us the stories of the boys who developed the rule books, paid for the playing space, and “got the ball rolling” for organized sport.
I want to be a fellow, (a member of the university academic staff)! Why? Because for one of their dinner parties, there was a very impressive firework display. We all got lucky and got to go watch at the back of the King’s College lawn.
Paninis-I think I’m finally getting sick of them.

July 16