go southern tide!

tuesday, august 3:

woke up this morning and went to breakfast ... sluggishly ... but i did make it. as is to be expected, the numbers of students at breakfast has fallen (and continues to fall) from day to day. everyone is so far behind on sleep, it's crazy. but anyway. breakfast: the usual except i had raspberry jam instead of nutella on my toast. it was amazing.

the political economy of gb was ... okay. as always, the best part of the morning was our awkward 30 min break where we marched down to the tuck shop at the corner. i got a cappuccino and a millionaire shortbread - fantastic snack, no? and headed back for intl. econ.

our classes are 90 mins each, and today for the first half of intl. econ, we talked about horse racing. since we were going to the races later that day, our professor decided to impart some of his experience and wisdom on us. he told us how the whole horse racing/betting thing works, how to pick a horse, where to place your bet, etc. so needless to say, class was awesome. 45 mins of notetaking is much more manageable than 90.

after class we went back and got lunch and then went to get ready for horseracing. it's a very classy event, so we obviously had to look our best. all the girls had big hats and it made me feel like i was going to easter church. so we hopped on the bus to go to epsom (2 hours away) and got our meal money. i'm pretty sure 90% of the people on the bus had their ipods on almost the whole way there (i was one of those people, i'm not gonna lie). the ride was kinda rough when we got closer to london, and we got stuck in some congestion on the way.

we poured out of the bus and in front of us stood a huge complex of stables, stands, and other buildings. we had tickets for the queens stand (the classier of the 2) and went up to watch them preparing for the races. everything in the stands was a lot of money ... way more than the meal money we had received. in the middle of the track there was a burger stand. so jenna, andi, josh, and i walked over the track and, in our dressy clothes, bought burgers and fries and cokes. it was awesome ... and only 5.50 for it all, so we were stoked.

then the races started. there were 6 all together. we watched the first couple and then we went over to the paddock to watch the horses. on the third race i bet on a horse called spanish music to win. the odds were 4.25/1. he definitely didn't do so well, but i had only bet 2 pounds (the minimum). we took lots of pictures and watched the next race and then i bet on the fifth race ... odds of 4/1. my horse came out strong and led for probably just over half the race, but in the end fell to the back of the pack. it was an exciting race, though. then came the last one of the day and andi and i put 2 pounds each on the long-shot horse at odds of 47/1 to win and 14/1 to place. we put money on to place, meaning he only had to finish in the top 3 (of 10) for us to collect. as the race started, it was clear that southern tide (our horse) was woefully unprepared for the demands of the race. he lagged behind and at one point i could've sworn he was flat-out stopping. by the time he finally trotted over the finish line, andi and i were cracking up. it was a good time.

going to the races made me feel really classy, and i think it'd be fun to go to the kentucky derby someday. i'll put it on my "to do before i die" list. what was especially classy was that we got ice cream on the way out of the track. yummy. we piled back into the buses for another long ride back to oxford.

we got back at about 2230, and then we headed over to po na na (a club) with free passes we got (girls are always free, guys have a 3 pound cover). i only stayed until about 0030 ... and then went back to study. i know...i'm studious! but we were all tired anyway and i went to bed shortly after that. and such was my day.

classily,
grant