Thank You

Hey everyone,

So I have been home about a week, and I have started to get back in the swing of things here back in the states. I have started work, got a new phone, and are getting ready to move into my apartment back up at my University here in the states. But this time has allowed me to think about the year that I have spent in the UK. The friendships I made, the experiences I had, and the places I saw have turned me into the person I am today, and I am so thankful for that. So right now looking back I wanted to put into words what this trip met to me and I thank those who I had the pleasure to meet.

Dad and Beth, thank you for supporting the idea that I wanted to study abroad, and making me do all the work to get me there. Because of that I feel I have grown more independent, which makes me a better human being. I know you guys didn't have much, but the fact that you both tried so hard to try to get me here was more than enough. The constant Skype calls, and messages made the adjustment easier believe me. Beth it was great seeing you in Germany, and Dad I look forward to seeing you when you get back. So thank you again for your support and I can't wait to see you both when you come state side once again. Love you guys!

Thomas Janis, most of the readers really don't realize that you were the one sending and receiving everything I needed in order to come here. You were the ultimate study abroad middle man. I'm sorry if I seemed overbearing at times when I came to getting information, I was just a little too excited. But thank you for your guidance and help getting me to the UK, working with both Uni's for classes and making sure I was alright. I look forward to catching up with you when I get back to campus in the fall. And Laura thank you for meeting with me when I was deciding where to study. If it wasn't for your input I don't know if I would of ended up in Plymouth, but I am so glad I did. And to be quite honest I couldn't think of a better British city to spend my year!

Haley, I think there might be a little bit too much to thank you for to write it all down in this post, but I'll give it my best shot. First thanks for not disappearing on me well I was away. I know many people that would have just thrown in the towel a month or two in, but for some reason you didn't and that means more than you can imagine. Thanks for listening to me on nights I was over stressed or just plain homesick. It was amazing to see you when you came over here for the winter break. That was some of the best traveling I got to do when I was there, and I can't wait to adventure some more when I'm home. I know that you know hate Skype and in all honestly I don't plan to use it anytime in near future to talk to you! But above all thank you for being the amazing person that I have come to know, and know I am not going anywhere.

Mama Liz, and Ed, ok little bit of real talk here. If it wasn't for you I won't have taken this trip in the first place. In my hour of need, you and Ed backed me on my loan to make this crazy dream, well a crazy reality. I can't thank you enough for this opportunity of a lifetime that you have given me. And thank you for giving up your Christmas stateside just to come hang out with me in London. I can say that I will never forget that Christmas. And every Sunday like clockwork on Skype gave me something to look forward, so I look forward to continuing that when I get back home. Thank you for everything you've done so far and for your support over the years. I love you both!

Ok now for all the people that I have met in Plymouth and or have asked for a shoutout in this blog (UPFC Sparrows...) here's to you.

My flatmates, Tom, Ellie, Rob, Sophie, Katie, and Rose, thank you all for an amazing year. Thanks for helping me adjust and deal with all the cultural differences. I will miss the conversations we had at dinner, and Tom's constant banter about how crazy us American's are and how we suck at grammar. But above all I will always remember both your hospitality, grace, and welcoming spirit of me, the exchange student of the group, over the past year. Thank you all and I wish you all luck during the rest of your time at uni. Enjoy it, because it goes by fast.

Enactus Plymouth, Ant, Tom S, Laura Morgan, Laura Merchant, Alex, Katie, Hannah, Tom D, Lenni, Fabin, and the rest of the Enactus crew. First off, thank you for allowing me to become one of family if only for a year. By working with you all I have grown as a person, and as a business leader. I look forward to taking those skills back and putting them to good use wherever I end up. I know every single one of you have the skill set and the drive to get you where you want in your life. It was a pleasure to work as the Recreo team leader and I look forward to seeing how it grows. Thank you all,  but I know I'll see you all again!

OK UPFC Sparrows here is your moment. Boys it's been an amazing time playing football with you lot. Like I said in a previous post, thanks for letting me be that token American that plays nothing like Clint Dempsey. Although we may not have won a title the wins that we did get we're very well deserved. Adam thank you for being a solid captain this year and letting me join the team later in the season. Ismael thank you for being over the top and 100% the whole season! I look forward to hearing about how next season goes! Seb, it's been a long year going from Pilgrim Halls FC to playing together as Sparrows. I wish your Newcastle all the best to go back up next season. Scott keep that back line together next year and Jesse keep scoring screamers from right back. PK work on not missing your sitters and you'll be world class...well for Plymouth Uni. Lucien keep calling for the ball it will eventually get to you. Morgan thank you for giving me the chance to play CDM it was an honor, but don't be afraid to switch the play every now and again. Will keep making those runs and the goals will start coming! Darro boss the midfield next year just like you did this season. Karl I wish you the best next season and kill it in varsity next year! And for anyone I missed again it's been a pleasure and I can't wait to see what you all do in the future!

For everyone else I met or worked on a project with. Don't think you've gone unnoticed. It was a pleasure getting to know you this year and I hope to see you all again at some point in life. If it wasn't for your hard work and understanding I would not have enjoyed Plymouth Uni as much as I have.

So as my pilgrimage from Plymouth to Plymouth has come to an end. However, the memories and friends I have made there will last a lifetime. I never thought how much I would get attached to the city of Plymouth, but at this point I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you to all who have supported me and have read this blog. You all made me want to write this and I never thought it would grow into something that people wanted to read. I'm glad you got to see my journey through my eyes. Plymouth was hard to leave but when I stepped on my flight to fly back home I was able to have a smile on my face from what I accomplished this year, and learned. Now Although this story has run its course, I am happy I got a chance to experience it. Experiences like this have to begin, be enjoyed, and end at some point and that point is now. But this was my experience, so thank you all for making this experience what it was.

Thank you,
Tucker Moss 

It's Almost Closing Time

Hey Everyone,

So it's almost been a month since I last wrote so I figured it was time for a bit of an update for you all in my travels and studies around england! So for those who read this for the travel aspect this post might be a little dry however if you want something a little more travel centered stay tuned later this week, and the upcoming weeks!

We'll after getting back from Nationals in London things started to gear up for deadline time. I had two papers, a few quizzes, and a sales video. Shout out to the boys I worked on the video with for putting up with me filming my part as I only had a few hours of sleep that morning. But even though the deadlines seemed endless I got through them all and I am moving to get my last two done as well.

Things with Enactus are slowing down as I take a step back from Recreo. I'm glad I'm leaving now so they can focus on the ideas that were built on this year and take it even further. I can't wait to see what the program will look like in the following months, and I will be the first international buyer of our product! From my time here I look forward to seeing what I can do to see what I can accomplish back with Enactus Plymouth State, it will be a lot of hard work starting a project from the ground up again, but I relish the challenge once again.

I did make the journey with a few of the Enactus crew up to Exeter to watch some horse racing. It was something I will remember for the rest of my life! I think I might have made some money I'm not sure, but I did pick one winner. I will always remember the Gone To Far for being the first horse I had win for me! It was a great time out with the gang and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.

                                          Photo Credit: Hannah Yarr, @hannahyarr

Then about a week after that I celebrated my 21st birthday. I can finally drink a legal beer in the States! However since I've been following the english laws for the past year it's going to be nothing new to me when I get home. But it was the first birthday in a long time that I got to celebrate it with people. My flat surprised me with a cake, and so did my Enactus team in our meeting. Then there was a crew that went out on a Tuesday with me. Needless to say it was a great time and thank you to everyone that came out to celebrate, and making it a birthday I will never forget!

Quick side note, thanks to committee having the last Enactus Social after my birthday. Even though I was dragging it was great to go out with the Enactus crew at least one more time.

So besides my birthday I also got to play my final games as a member of UPFC Sparrows. I know most of the boys wanted a shout out in this blog, because of all the banter I get from them. So boys here is your moment. I want to thank you all for letting the token American play the sport your country had created. I know I wasn't a Tim Howard or Clint Dempsey but I did my best to try and play the position you asked of me. Seb, I wish you and Newcastle the best of luck in getting back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Ismael, you keep up with that touch on the ball, and yes the Plymouth 2 Plymouth banter was good. Scott, keep that backline in check and Lucien keep calling for the ball on the wing you'll get Morgan to switch the play at some point. And for the rest of the team, especially Adam, and Will it was a pleasure to play with everyone of you, and I wish you luck on whatever team you get to play for next season, and I hope I get to see you on my side of the pound at some point.

On the topic of Football I did attend my final English Football match on the 7th of May. Argyle took on Hartlepool United winning 5-0. It was a perfect way to end my English Football experience. I am going to miss how inexpensive tickets are, and how close to the park I was. But above all I will miss the amount of heart that is showcased every sunday on both the pitch and stands. Plymouth has turned me into a green, so up the Argyle boys and get the win at Wembley to get to League one. I'll be supporting wherever I am.

But I think that is it for right now. I have one more final deadline and then I have an exam next week and then my England adventure is coming to an end. I still have a ton of travel plans that I will be telling you all about so keep on the lookout for that. I hope you're having a good day well you're reading this and remember be safe and enjoy the moment.



-Tucker    

Enactus UK Nationals

Hello everybody,


So I know that I posted just three days ago about my time in Sweden, but I felt the need to write this post sooner rather than later. Since I'm writing this the night before we have our first meeting back since our journey to Nationals, I thought I would explain my experience at the Enactus UK Nationals with you all.

So my journey to nationals didn't start in the UK like most of my teammates. Mine started on a beautiful Swedish morning in Stockholm. At this point in the morning I was already checked out from my hostel, and I had my morning cup of coffee. I found a bench overlooking the Gamla Stan, and began to truly memorize my script for nationals the next day. I had read the script over and over again since I received the finalized script, but I didn't quite have it fully memorized yet. So for about three and a half hours that morning, I spent reading my script out loud on that lovely park bench. Where my bench was it was a busy footpath, and a lot of people walked past me as I was learning my script. My only thought was those people thought I looked crazy. I managed to get most of it down before I got on my train back to the airport for my flight to London for Nationals.

The flight went well, and after a getting back over the UK border it was a quick stop at the airport Boots to get some essentials for me for nationals the next morning. I called the rest of the gang to let them know I was on the way to the hotel, and to my surprise Keith still hadn't showed up so I was doing ok on time then.

So after a quick tube ride and a half a mile walk I managed to get to get to the hotel were everyone was. It was great to see Anthony, Alex, Laura, Lenni, and Keith again, but meeting there was for business and we got right down to it after I showed up. Then for the next three hours we practiced our script and folded annual reports. Annual reports, I might add, were the best of the whole competition. So big shout out to Tom S for the report. We managed to get some food and once we got back we all practiced our lines till we passed out.

After a great night sleep we managed to get ready to show Enactus UK what we did this year. I donned the suit Anthony was grateful enough to bring to London for me. And after a shower and shave I looked sharp in that suit. We all looked sharp that morning, and right then I knew we were ready to go. We did one more run through and I was confident we were going to do a great job during our presentation.

 
After meeting the rest of the crew (Tom D, Tom S, Catherine, Laura, Shashank, Toby, Emily, and Andrew) at the Hammersmith Novotel. We found out we were in the same league as Newcastle, GCU, Warwick, and Bedfordshire. When we saw that we knew it was a tough league, but we would do our best to come out on top. Then after Newcastle presented we were up. We were all on nevers for the three minutes of step up time, trying to remember lines to make sure that our presentation was prefect. After a bit of a rocky start we pulled it back and finished strong. I personally could have done the Q and A better, but we learn from our mistakes. However I could not have been prouder than I was with how we did.

Although we didn't make it to the semi-final round we were able to show Enactus UK what we were doing and who we plan to impact in the coming months. It was a weird weight off of my shoulders, but right there was when I realized that I am an Enactus UK Alumni, and an Enactus Plymouth Alumni. It was a bittersweet feeling, and I knew it's going to be a lot more work with my team back at PSU, but I'm ready for it. And I think it was also knowing I'll be leaving my project Recreo, however I know the team will continue to impact more people in Plymouth. But after finding out our faith we had a team dinner, and that made me mood change real fast. It was great to see everyone celebrating our achievements this year.

We got up the next morning and headed to nationals once again to see the semi-finals, and the finals. We were able to showcase our projects at the Project Fair, and get some great feedback from other teams. We stayed and watched the final presentations, and every team deserved to win it but huge congrats to Enactus Nottingham for winning it all. You guys will kill it at the World Cup. After that we headed to our hostel and got ready for a night out on the town in London. And it was well worth the feeling the next morning to have such a great send off for Nationals.

But I just want to take a second to thank everyone at Enactus Plymouth for a 'phenomenal' year. It was an honour to work with everyone of you, extremely skilled students. For those of you reading this who just joined, know your time spent here will be some of the best memories of your life. For committee this year, you all showed why you deserved your roles and made this team what it is. And for the Recreo Team it was an honour being your team leader this year. It was a pleasure to get to know you all, and I know you all will do big things with the rest of your lifes. But keep working hard and this project will be great in the coming year. But thank you all again, I wish you all the best in your future endeavors, and I hope I get another chance to work with you all!

Ok, so that was the last of my travel posts for now since I'm back in Plymouth. But there will be more of those to come in a few months time. I hope you're all having a great day, and remember to be safe and have fun!

-Tucker        

March Madness

Hey everyone,

So it's been a little bit since I last talked to you all, but man do I have a ton to fill you all in on. It has been a crazy busy few weeks well more like month of deadlines, and events that I was involved in so as all the college basketball players geared up for March Madness I had my own version of it this month.

Well first things first schoolwork took a priority at the beginning of this and continued till the day before I wrote this post. I had three papers, a presentation, and exam, which this isn’t including the amount of posts and quizzes I needed to do for my online PSU class. So I did my best and hit the books as hard as I could, and through that I had quite a few sleepless nights, but in the end it's all worth it I guess.

But I know a lot of you don’t read this blog to see what schoolwork I’ve been up too. So on that note let me dive straight into the fun stuff that happened this month. First there has been a slight running theme of the month of whenever I would go out into town, and that was travel gear. At the end of this month I have some travel plans to see some things that I’ve always wanted to see. So I made a point to get all the necessary things a euro traveler would need. I did my best to get the best quality I could on my shoestring budget. I managed to get everything I needed in order to make sure my journey should be a fun one. I will be writing more about my little euro adventure as I go through it so keep an eye our for that.

But during the shopping for gear, and studying for all of my course work I still had one of the more important things to this month, which was to prepare for Enactus UK regionals. I was on the presentation team so it was a huge responsibility to make sure that our presentation went off without a problem and with Anthony, Laura, Keith, Lenni, and Alex on the team as well I knew that we had a great change of that happening. We meet almost everyday in the week leading up to the presentation, and although most of us were exhausted from the constant work it proved to pay off during our presentation at regionals.

We had to travel up to Bristol to compete in the South-West Regionals the team and I, including Nina our University advisor made our way there. Even after we parked the van, and were still going over our lines and we were making sure that it was near perfect. Me and Lenni almost got killed practicing our lines as we walked across streets in Bristol. When we finally got to KPMG in Bristol it was game time. It was only a short time waiting before we walked in to give our presentation. We were able to show the judges our three core projects Spark, Edify, and my project Recreo and what impact they have already created, through both our Annual Report (shout out to Tom for making it), and our presentation.

Needless to say our presentation was almost flawless, but that's just me being bias saying that. But then the pressure was on when our presentation finished and Q and A began. From the being of the questions till what seemed like forever the judges asked questions about Recreo, and I was answering every phenomenal question they had. After they were done grilling me, and moved on to the other projects it seemed like we had made it into the clear. During our feedback at the end everything seemed so positive I couldn’t help but think that we had made it through to Nationals.

After getting a quick bite to eat we all got back into the van and headed back to Plymouth. We all had the same though on our mind as to whether we had made it through or not. I ended up sleeping the whole ride back to Plymouth after regionals knowing that we had a great shot to get through to Nationals. So when the news broke later that week that Enactus Plymouth had made it through to Nationals in London I was more than happy. However I think the only reason I fell asleep on that drive back was because I was exhausted from regionals and seeing UPFC play at home park for Varsity.

First let me explain what Varsity is for those who don’t know. Varsity is when your school goes head to head with your rival school in our case Marjon Uni, in every sport both schools have. From that for every win that sports team gets the school gets points overall on the varsity leaderboard, and the school with the most points after the last event wins Varsity. For every sports team this is the most important game of the year, and for UPFC’s first team it was no different.

As they took to the pitch that Thursday night at home park they needed to win in order for Plymouth to win Varsity. Although they went down early in the first half to goal conceded due to a poor clearance, the boys fought back and made the match level half way through the second half. So being that they needed a winner, and that the match was level at the final whistle, the match went straight to pens. With all the stress of penalties UPFC slotted every single one home to win 4-1 on pen’s. I have to say that was one of the best nights of watching football I’ve had in a long time.

Then the rest of the month was filled with parties, Enactus, and studies. I continued to work hard and then I went and ran in the Plymouth Rag’s Color run, which was great fun. Wish there was more people throwing paint, however it was still great fun.

So that was my March Madness. I know this was a post that was a lot longer than usual, but with how crazy it was I really didn’t get a chance to write in this blog. But I want to thank you all who read this because never did I think I would have had 1400 views on this blog. So thank you so much for enjoying the content that I put out and I hope I can keep doing for the rest of my time in the UK. But in the coming weeks it will be a bit more a travel blog so be prepared for some really jam packed blogs with some really cool stories. But until then stay safe, and as always enjoy the ride!

-Tucker     

Work and a Festival

Hey everyone,

It’s been a busy few weeks but I just wanted to fill you all in on what I have been up to. It’s seems like it was not to long ago since I got here in September, and then at the end of next month it’s the Easter break. So time here is starting to dwindle but I am taking every opportunity to enjoy the remaining time that I have here in the UK. And yes, I do plan on doing some more traveling before I leave Europe and that’s one of things that I will be doing during Easter break, but I can talk about that later.

So over the past few weeks lectures have started, and our Enactus project Recreo has started to take off. So needless to say that things here are moving fast, and they have me working hard. I have some great lectures here, one of which is an American. I enjoy his class, because he gives that very American style of teaching that I am use to back home in the states. It makes me feel at home.

Then there is our Encatus project Recreo. I am really happy to be starting to get our project off the ground here. Although we’ve hit a few bumps in the road here and there we’ve managed to get over those and continue to steam ahead on the project. Our project looks like it will be apart of our regional presentation for the Enactus southwest Regionals. I’m also on that presentation team so I also have to work on our presentation and how we would like to present it. So like I said before I have been crazy busy.

Even though I’ve been really busy writing papers, doing course work, and anything that has to do with Enactus I have still managed to find some time to enjoy my time here. So last week my University had a Beer Festival, that they called it Beauty and the Yeast, but besides the odd name the beers were great. The section of brews ranged from the very mainstream names that most people here know, but there was also a list of local brewed cask beers.

So I took the time right after one of my lectures to drink some beer at the festival. The SU was packed already and the festival had started about an hour before, but luckily none of the cask beers were sold out yet. So I made my way over the cask brew area as Irish and German drinking songs were being blasted through speakers throughout the SU. The best beer that I tried there was Summerskills Devon Dew, but a bit of advice for all the soon to be travelers who read this if you're in England go to a local beer festival and try some of the local brews.

During the festival, the sun was making what seemed to a rare appearance that week so everyone was taking their beers outside and soaking in the sun well enjoying a great brew. I followed suit and went on top of the SU and enjoyed the weather. It wasn’t long for the sun so after trying some more local brews I called it a day and headed home.

So things here are going well busy, but well. I hope there will be some more festivals I get to experience before I head off in July. But every minute here isn’t getting wasted whether it is for course work or enjoying a local event everything is going extremely well. I hope you all are having just as good of a time in your own lives wherever you are in the world. I will be writing again soon, but until then have fun and enjoy life.

-Tucker

Being a Tour Guide and Adventuring Around England

Hey everyone,

So it's taken me a bit longer on writing this post because I wasn't sure how I would be going around writing it, but I think I have figured out how I want to write this, well I think. But I'm still playing a bit of catch up from the holiday season for writing in the blog, but I'm back at it now.

So after Mama Liz and Ed left London on New Year's Day me and Haley were left to adventure on our own before we had to get our train down to Plymouth later that day. We made our way around the city and over to Paddington Station. After dropping some bags off at the Left Luggage booth we explored the area, which there wasn't much. We ended up seeing 221b Baker street, and great Beatles store, but the best thing we saw or I saw was a Dunkin Donuts, which I haven't seen since I left. We then made our way down to Plymouth after a bit of a wait in Paddington. After spending the money that I did it was nice to just be able to know I was headed back to Plymouth where things were a lot cheaper.

So the next morning after a bit of a pause with not having anything to do but be a tour guide for Haley, we headed out to see what Plymouth had to offer us that day. It was great to see the city through Haley's eyes because she had the same reactions to when I saw the city for the first time. One of the first things that we had to do was head to see the Mayflower steps it, Haley made sure of it. Then we made our way around the rest of the Barbican. After we headed to the Co-op to get some food for dinner and when Haley saw some the brands I think I saw her mouth the words "Why don't we have this in the States?"

 The next day we ended up taking another large walk around the city and this time it was sunny which felt like a first, due to all the cloudy weather. We took quite a bit of a walk and headed over to Royal William Yard where we got dinner and called it a day.

The next day was a rather low key day we started late and then we went to the National Aquarium. I was surprised at how large the place was, but still not as big as the Boston Aquarium in my book. But we walked around for a bit then went and got some local seafood right next to the Aquarium. I got mussels and Haley got fish tacos which she told me I need to go back and get, cause they were so good. We then made it to the hotel and called it a night in preparation for our trip to Bath the next day.      

We awoke early the next morning to catch our train to Bath, to see the Roman Baths. I had gone to Bath before the holidays, but wanted to save the Roman Baths for when Haley made it over here. So it was a nice simple train journey to Bath Spa and then we went exploring around the city. After getting some awesome bagels for Breakfast/Lunch we ended up in one of the many parks in Bath enjoying the views of the River Avon, that flows through the city. We then finally got into the Roman Baths, which really took me back thinking that there was a civilization here thousands of years before I was even born, and I think it took Haley back too, although she became a tour guide for me showing off all the Latin she learned in high school or what she remembers. After that we got dinner and we made our way back to the train station and got the train home.

The next day was the in between day where we found ourselves having a bit of R&R between all of our traveling and seeing what's going on around the city to just take a day for ourselves. It was nice we got some food and beer at a local pub and just kept it a nice low key day, for tomorrow we were going to see Stonehenge.

After getting up extremely early we caught our train to Salisbury. I booked first class tickets, (cheaper than normal tickets and we have no idea why) and we got everything complementary on all the trains to Salisbury. Once we arrived we found our bus which took us from the station around the medieval city of Salisbury, which along the way we found out the Magna Carta was in Salisbury Cathedral. After a short ride on the bus we found ourselves on a windy hilltop getting our audio tour guides, and it was off to see one of the wonders of the world. For the first 10 minutes I kept finding myself thinking that I was actually seeing something with my own two eyes, that some people only see in textbooks. But it eventually rubbed off and I enjoyed the moment that was filled with a lot of wind and large stones.
After seeing Stonehenge we then found our way back to Salisbury and then to the cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful, but it was the Magna Carta which I was most intrigued about. Being I want to go to law school after I get back to the states, it was a moment that I won't forget seeing the document that basically started my future profession. After seeing so much history for the day Myself, and Haley got a nice Italian dinner in town and got back to our train. We ended up making it back to Plymouth in one piece all nice and happy in first class.

But just as it seemed that Haley was here she was gone as we headed back to London to get her on her flight home the next day. We stayed the night before her flight in London, and although it was raining it was a nice night. We took the tubes into Heathrow and after about an hour or two wait we had to say our goodbyes, or as I like to say it see yah laters. It was a bittersweet moment as we both didn't want to leave each other, but we knew we had to. Although with her time here I will never forget some of the things I got to experience with her. Haley, I know you read every single post so thank you for coming here and being my travel buddy, my partner in crime, but most importantly my best friend, and I look forward to traveling more with you when I'm home.

So now some housekeeping. I know this post was a bit behind as well as I have been a bit behind the eight ball as it has been said recently. But I have a few more posts that I will be posting through the next week to two weeks so keep your eyes peeled for those. Other than that have fun in the snow back home in New England!

-Tucker

 

 

Enactus: UK edition

Hey Guys,

So I know a few weeks ago I told you that I was going to fill you in on some of the things that happened during that spell in October where I really didn't post because I was so buzy. Well now I'm going to try and fill you all in on a few things here and there that I think were cool that happened to me that month. So the first thing that I want to tell you about is the trip I went on with Enactus Plymouth to Grantham for the Enactus UK training weekend.

So that weekend started really early, and I mean really early. We all meet in front of the Cookworthy building at 5:00am to make the journey up to Grantham. There were eight of use including myself that piled into the van. There was Katie, Laura, Eleanor, Leecy, Fabian, Tom, Anthony, and myself that got up to get up to Grantham. When we left Plymouth I talked to Fabian for a short time then I was out like a light. We stopped once on the way up to Grantham, and that was at the poshest highway rest station I have ever been in. The rest stop had its own butcher! But after the quick ritzy stop we continued our journey. 

After Fabian took the wheel and finally got us to Grantham we pulled up to the place that we would be calling home for the next few days. The place that we would be staying at was called PGL, which I later found out stands for Parents Get Lost. Yep staying at a summer camps style place, but to be honest it wasn't as bad as some of you reading this might think it is. We got the room key after a bit of a wait where half of the group were off in pre-session to our actual training that the weekend had to offer. So it was myself, Tom, Fabian, and Anthony staying in a room, but since me and Tom had gotten to the room first we claimed our bunks first. But it was nice to be there. Made me miss working at Camp Lincoln this summer.

But after that me and Tom went to a career fair, which employers were looking for English born students, not international students. So it really didn't help me, but I still tried to make a few contacts. After that we all meet up as a group to get dinner. The food there was actually pretty good for what it was worth. After dinner we all went to the field house and had our kick off meeting. Enactus UK was still riding the high of winning the Enactus World Cup for the first time so everyone was extremely keen to hear what the speakers had to say. It was a lot of speakers and they gave out a few awards and grants where we, as Enactus Plymouth, got two grants. Shortly after that they explained how the weekend would work, and one of our many sponsors Enterprise Rent-a-car spoke, they also sponsored a bonfire and all the drinks for that later that night. I got a laugh of a rent-a-car company supplying drinks, when all we here in the states is 'don't drink and drive.'

We all when to the bonfire after and had a great time. We all called it quits early because we all know the next day was going to be a long day. We got up in the morning and right after breakfast we went right into sessions. It was a lot to take in a short period of time. I had three sessions back to back to back before lunch. Then after Lunch it was back to back to back again until we finally were done for the day. It was a lot of powerpoints early, and then later in the day it was a lot more hands on. But I will say some of the buildings that were on the property were stunning.

After all of our meetings we got a chance to relax for a bit, then we had to get ready for our send off dinner. We were all dressed nice and we got a great 3 course meal (it was only 2 courses for many of us because we were off to socialize), and we got to see the presentation that won the World Cup in person which was really great. After the presentation for some reason we got a picture with the World Cup. The rest of the night was filled with socializing and seemed a bit of a blur the next morning, but it was a lot of fun.

After slowly getting up the next morning we all headed off to the ropes course, where I realized I wasn't the only one moving slow that morning. We all had a go on the ropes course, and after we all jumped off a perfectly good tower, we went back to the field house to hear one more sponsor speak. Then we walked over to the other side of the camp and got a large group photo for Enactus UK.

We had one more meeting after the photo, and then we all packed our stuff got back in the van and we started our way back home. But as I slept on the way back to Plymouth I realized everything that I learned here will help me with my project Recreo: Renewing Creative Opportunity, and with any projects that I will work on when I am back home at PSU. That weekend I made new friends that will be around for a lifetime, and information that will shape how I do things, and interact with people for years to come. Thank you Enactus Plymouth for letting me come with you on such a great trip which let me learn so much. I hope I can put everything that I learned to use to make Recreo an amazing program.

So that was one of the things that I got a chance to do over the month. I have a few more updates that I need to give to you all, and those will be coming up over the next few weeks. Keep your eyes peeled for my experience watching the Devon Derby at Home Park, my first derby match here. As always I hope you have a good day!

-Tucker 

  

My Sunday League Experience

Hey everyone,

So yesterday I got a chance to do something that I wanted to do since I started the process of coming to study abroad here. I got to play in my first proper English football match, and for the folks back home it's soccer. But earlier this year I tried my hand at getting a team together to play in a sunday league and that unfortunately failed, but it opened a door to play for another team instead. I decided to join the Football society and play for the UPFC Sparrows. It's was a while till my first game, but I didn't mind the wait because I just wanted to play.

Sunday came around and I met the rest of the team in front of one of our local bars to get a cab over to the pitch where we play. I got a ride over with one of the guys, and we talked football over the way there. I was just itching to put on my boots and get on the pitch. When we finally got to the pitch a match was already underway. It was a 3g turf pitch just like the Seacoast United ones I played on back in high school and it made me feel right at home.

I was told that I would be playing center back during our match, and I would be starting. I was pumped that I would be getting the start, but granted that there was only 11 of us so we didn't have subs or a man to offer as a linesman. O yeah in sunday leagues to players for each team are the linesman for the official. But back on topic when we were able to get our kit tops, it just so happens I grab my number, 14, out of all the tops we had so I know this was going to be a good time.

   Unfortunately, since we didn't have any subs I didn't have anyone to ask to get a photos of me playing. But it was alright, and even though we played well we lost. I had some great plays and the cleanest slide tackle in the box I think I have ever had. I got up the pitch twice but didn't have a chance at goal. I'm looking forward to playing more for the Sparrows, and seeing where the season takes the team.

I hope you all liked this post and if you want more updates about how the team is doing let me know in the comments below, and I'll make sure to post more. I'll also leave a link below so you can see the table and see where we are. Have a great day, and I'll talk to you all soon.

Table:
http://full-time.thefa.com/Index.do?league=281915906

-Tucker

So I've Been Busy

Hey Everyone!

So I'm assuming most of you are trying to figure out why I haven't posted in over a month, and I have a reason for that. For the past three weeks I have had course work that was due that weighted either 50%, 30%, or 70% of my overall grade and having only two assignments here that make my grade able to transfer back it's been stressful. But I have made it through it all. So over the next few days I will be filling you all in on what's been going on with me over the past few weeks. I have no real order I'm going to be doing this in so expect several posts really fast. So I will be talking to you all again later this week. Have a good day everyone!

-Tucker

First Time at Home Park

Hey everyone,

I know I just posted a few days ago, but with Plymouth Argyle playing away this weekend at Notts County I thought I would tell the story of my first time watching English football.

First let me say this for any of my American readers. When you come here get out of the habit of calling it soccer, it's a dead giveaway you're from the states. It's not a big thing just trying to make sure you don't stick out like sore thumb when you come here. But I will say that I will not look at football the same after going to a Plymouth Argyle Football Club match.

Since I love football and I was coming to England I wanted to see if there was a team in Plymouth to see play when I was here. It only took a few minutes and I found out about Plymouth Argyle. They are a Football League Two side, which is the fourth tier of English Football. Even though the team is a League Two Side they still draw an attendance better than some MLS teams back in the states.

But back to the story, I knew from the first day I was here I wanted to see them play and I asked a few of my flatmates if they wanted to go and Sophie wanted to go. So last saturday we took the half an hour walk to the match. During the walk to Home Park (the name of Plymouth Argyle's stadium) you have to walk through Central Park. Getting to walk through the park before the stadium is great, because I found out the park was just so beautiful. This walk ended with the front of the stadium.

After we got the the stadium we walked over to the ticket office and waiting in a short line to get our tickets. I had to grab a program it was my first game how could I not right. I have to make the journey back to the stadium one of these days to get a scarf and a Custom top with Boateng on the back. After getting the program we went through the turnstiles, and even though it's a small club the moment I went through I felt at home. 

But we both realized that we walked through the wrong turnstyle and the provided for a moment I didn't think I would get to do. We had to get stewarded to our sets, and because of that we had to walk across part of the outer pitch at home park. Even though I will never get a chance to play on a pitch like Home Park in my life it was still nice to say that I've been on that pitch.

We finally got to our seats and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed at all. We were one row back and a walkway across and then there was the pitch. When Sophie told the guy get us close I didn't realize how close he was going to get us. We were only sitting for a few seconds until the players took to the pitch, and from that moment nothing could have pried me from that seat, because there was no where else I wanted to be.

I had an idea of what English football was like, and all I've ever wanted was to see it in person. Well I finally did, and I don't know if I want to watch it anywhere else again. There was a support section, but all they did was start the song everyone else began to sing. All 9441 spectators started to sing, and it's something that I can't describe. Reuben Reid scored for Argyle just before the half and when every single person went up on their feet and started to celebrate I was amazed. Watching as much football as I do back home when our team scores back home only a good chunk stand and cheer, but not here every single person did.

We ended up conceding late in the second half, and a lot of us thought it was going to end in a draw, but Boateng had other ideas. We scored in the 89th minute, and because of that goal it meant that on points and goal difference we would go top of the table, and the chants begin when we realized that.

All you could hear for the next 15 minutes was "We're Top of the Table!", and not even 3 minutes into the chant I had to join in. That day was an experience that I want every person in the world to experience, the heart and passion that every fan showed to the players that day made them dig deep and get the result. That alone is why I love this game. I've walked by the stadium a few times since, and all I've wanted was another home game so I can go and be a crazed supporter. Needless to say I think I might have become a Plymouth Argyle supporter.

"We're Top of the Table!"

-Tucker

I'm here!

Hey everyone,

So after a long what seemed like two days of travel due to the time difference I've finally made it to Plymouth, England! It was extremely stressful and I still feel drained from the trip but it was worth it. So I started out on a flight from Logan International Airport to Halifax International Airport up in Halifax, Canada. My flight was delayed about a half an-hour due to some weather that had moved in when I was in Boston, so that made getting to my connecting flight a bit stressful. I had to get off my plane, to go through customs (got my first stamp in my passport though), get my luggage to get it on another conveyor belt to get it to my other connecting flight. I then had to go back through security, which I had never taken my shoes off so fast in my life. I then ran through the Halifax airport and I ended up catching my flight by about ten minutes before it left.

 That's when it really hit me "I'm on the way to England!", and I can't tell you how big the grin was on my face. I had a TV on that flight and saw Furious Seven before it came on DVD in the states. And I don't know why every comedian has to crack a joke about airplane food because it wasn't bad at all, well the breakfast was good. During breakfast I got a chance to talk to the women next to me, who just by chance was on her way to Plymouth Uni as well, and we got to talk about that.

I got off the plane about ten UK time and I was to happy to realize that it was it was five back home. It took forever to get through customs because of the amount of non-EU passport holders that were going through at that moment. I got through and went to terminal 3 to meet the Plymouth Uni students that were going to get me on my shuttle down to plymouth. I ended up having to wait, so me and a friend from the states, James, went and got some food, and I had real Guinness for the first time. I don't know if I'll be able to drink it in the states because it tastes so much better here.

After that we got on the shuttle, and started a five hour shuttle ride where I meet a few more people, of which was Jacob from Sweden, and Terezka from Czech Republic. But we all were stuck on that five hour shuttle ride so we slept, and tried to get to know each other. The whole ride I was just amazed at how beautiful the countryside in the UK is.

 But we made it here safe and sound. James and Jacob when out to the club that night, I on the other hand opted to stay in un-pack and most importantly sleep. The first night was a bit rough not being home, but it got a lot better. I did a ton of shopping last night and got enrolled and collected my BPR, all the usual stuff an international student needs to do. I finally got to see Plymouth Uni in the daylight and the pictures online don't do it justice.

Well guys I'll keep you all posted on what's going later this week. I just wanted to update you all on how I'm doing. So I'll talk to you all later this week!

-Tucker