-The weather in this place is crazy. Yesterday, there was rain, snow, sun, and strong winds all in the span of fifteen minutes (and the random switching between the four continued all day, leaving about an inch of snow on the ground). Usually, I would have just laughed at it, but because of the strong winds, my (broken) window blew open, as it does when it's really windy, and knocked my lamp to the ground, shattering it. The problem is that this is the SECOND time that this has happened this year, and the second destroyed lamp. I think I've learned to not keep my lamp on my windowsill from now on. So of course, I went to the infamous Argos and bought a pack of two small shade lamps for £7, and I'm actually quite in love with them, but that's not the point. The point is that Norwich owes me two lamps and £14.

-We all went to the Norwich City football match today, and I had a great time. I'm not certain I understand football mania any more now than I did before having experienced a match, but the trip doubled as a cultural experience and a leisure day. The stadium is at the end of the bus line from the university, but it took about 45 minutes to get there since it was Saturday when it usually would have taken between 20 and 30. Once we got in, we decided to partake in the surprisingly fairly priced concessions before the match started. Many of us were grateful they sold hot chocolate and coffee and tea, since it was about 29 degrees F out today (and I wore so many layers that I couldn't put my arms down like the little brother in A Christmas Story), but Sarah and I decided to get hotdogs and cider. The hotdog, while not like the stadium hotdogs I sometimes crave from the former Shea Stadium, MSG, or any sporting event snackbar, was about a foot long and came in a baguette rather than a doughy bun, so I was satisfied with that for £2.70 (about $4, which I suppose is typical of an American sport event). The cider, though, was only £3.30, and I was thinking it would be kind of fun and maybe even kind of English to sit watching the football in a stadium while having a drink. So we got our things together and proceeded back to our seats, only to be stopped by a security guard who kicked us out because we had alcohol. Whaaaa? We huddled around a rubbish bin in the hall and cannonballed our food and drink before the match started, which made me feel a bit sick, but at least I felt warmer for the first half. Turns out, you're not allowed to drink alcohol during a match, or even bring it into the stands. Thinking about it, it makes perfect sense: football matches can turn into madhouses without drinking while watching, so apparently you haven't been allowed to drink while the match is going on since the 1980s. But I suppose I was just surprised, since the attitude towards alcohol here is so much more relaxed, and you're most certainly allowed to drink multiple beers while watching a hockey/baseball/football/basketball game in America (and I could have sworn that I could have brought in a single, sealed drink to the Coldplay concert at Wembley if I had wanted, but maybe that's only for non-football events). Anyway, I guess I'll know next time.

The Canaries (Norwich) won, 2-1, though Chris Martin (the Norwich player, unfortunately, not the singer I love so dearly) didn't score a goal despite me rooting for him on principle. I actually had a great time. I've never been one for watching sports on TV unless it's the Olympics or the FIFA world cup, but I usually quite enjoy going to live events. Football is definitely a sport I can get into: the rules are simple enough, there are only two halves, the whole match is 90 minutes long without stopping the clock at any point, and people are about as passionate about it as I am about certain bands, so I can relate to the ownership/obsession part of it. It was definitely a cultural experience as well, though: there are songs inherent to each team, and they're sung at random intervals throughout the match. Of course, with half the 25,000+ crowd being drunk, overexcited, or having strong regional accents, I couldn't understand most of what was sung if I tried, but it felt very...un-American, anyway, which was cool.

I actually didn't even feel cold until about the last twenty minutes, which is saying something, since it was below freezing (though I think I need thicker gloves), and then it was over and the masses flooded outside. Aidan, Sarah, Barron and I got separated from the rest of the group, and since there were thousands of people all trying to catch the same two buses, we decided to walk a little farther away to the rail station and catch the bus there. Turns out that was a BAD move: all of the buses filled up at Carrow Road, then completely bypassed the rail station to get the crowds moving away from the stadium quicker. In the end, it took us longer to get home than it took the match to complete, from beginning to end, and we had to cross the street and ride the bus longer than from terminus to terminus to do it. Sigh. I actually wouldn't have minded if I had thicker gloves and didn't have to go to the bathroom, but still, it was basically that SpongeBob episode "Rock Bottom" where the second SpongeBob moves, three buses show up, but when he comes back to the stop, none ever come. That episode actually always kind of freaked me out, but I lived it tonight. Whoo.