Long bus ride

we did a lot of hanging out in the lounge area in between planned activities. They had a great fire going that warmed up the entire place. It was very loud but made for good conversation atmosphere. I think this activity attracted the coolest of Butler students because these were people who really wanted to get out of the city and didn't mind a bit of mud. We were all surprised at how posh our lodging was!
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Geez, today's bus trip was ridiculously long.  butler said we'd leave at 930 AM sharp but of course we didn't actually leave until 10 AM.  One stop was at 1145 AM and another was at 315 PM.  In between stops I only listened to music or fell asleep.  I didn't sit next to a talkative person so that was boring.  When I was awake, the surrounding scenery was beautiful.  We drove down into the valley where we were to stay and it was so pretty.  We were surrounded by high mountains, plush greenery, and a lake here and there.  Sheep were everywhere!

more surrounding area
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We didn't arrive at our destination until 600 PM.  We're staying at a hotel that is easily nicer than my dorm!  Dinner was a 3-course meal: rarebit and something, cajun samlon w/potatoes and chips, then a sponge desert with ice cream.  The sponge thing was like a cake...but soaked with a cinnamon sauce.  It must have cost at least 15 GBP/person.  They had a pub quiz, which is basically trivia about anything and everything (mainly British stuff).  Our group of 8 came in 4th place.  First was the staff...yes they played and no they didn't have any mercy on us.  The trivia was on geography, movies and media, art and literature, and sports.  I was completely useless and couldn't answer any of the questions.

our lodging was so great!
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I met some cool people including Zach from Alaska.  He and I share similar anti-American sentiments regarding certain politics and cultural values of pop media cultures.  We hung out until midnight and I left to get ready to sleep.

This area is beautiful.  We're in a valley surrounded by everything that you see in the pictures.  I won't be able to take any pictures for tomorrow's gorge-scrambling because I'm going to get very wet.  Hopefully I can take some when we're mountain biking.