No huddle, hut hut hut

 

 

Yo

Quick article about the first football game opposing Howard university against its eternal rival Hampton University, happening on september 11. Howard tried but failed to break the 14 years consecutive series of loss against Hampton.

Before getting to the field, I could see the marching bands rehearsing on the main yard.

 

Then I took my seat in the gradins, and waited for the marching bands to walk in. As the sun was already roasting my skin, the Howard University marching band came in and started to play the US anthem, the Star Spangled Banner.

 

 

Right hand on heart, for cheerleaders and refs! And then everyone suddendly raised the fist. I’m not sure why, i should have asked.

 

Then the Howard players came in, under tons of applause and the loud shaking vibration of the brass playing some funky melodies. Yeah, that was cool

 

Players of both team were then in position to start the game and were waiting for the kickoff. However, before the first punt, the game host asked the audience a moment of silence to commemorate the casualties of the 11th september.
The problem was that no one really cared, and the players might haven’t heard the host’s request! It was a very awkward moment. I even got the video for you, to show you how bad it was…i really laughed tho!

 

During the half time, the two marching bands came and play. That was the best moment of the game. Some people told me that they came just for that, not for the game because Howard’s team really sucks according to them.

They played funky themes and were dancing simultaneously, very cool too.

Then the game continued and the gap between the Howard and Hampton scores was growing…

I missed several interesting game actions because of the cheerleaders, they were just in front of me and didn’t stop shouting and dancing, doing flips and wild dance moves ;)

 

The game finally ended, and Howard lost…15 years in a row without a win against Hampton, huhu.

Georgetown continued

Soooo… I continued my walk in the neighborhood until I arrived to Georgetown University!



Georgetown University is the oldest Jesuit Catholic university in the USA, founded in January 1789, before the French Revolution, that’s really old. Its look is scary, especially at night, when the campus is empty and silent.



The funny fact is that students traditionnaly steal the hands of the main hall big clock! Last time was in 2005. This university is known for having an alumni including important people like Bill Clinton. But more important, this university and Georgetown were the place where the Exorcist was shot! So bravo to Guillaume who found out in the previous article comments!
More details on this fan’s blog  : http://exorcist-revisited.blogspot.com/



Inside the Healy Hall – that’s the main building – it looked like this :

 

I can tell you it was scary, it was so silent that I thrilled when I heard some foot steps, or a opening door cracking. I walked across this long corridor and arrived on a little yard with a fountain and a chapel.



Even if it’s not that beautiful, I really liked the atmosphere of this place, it really was like in a movie of the 80s, it reminded me a lot the college in the Dead Poet Society. I was expecting students dressed in suit coming at any moment! I rewatched  the movie as soon as I got home!



I went out of the main building, and wandered around the campus. The atmosphere was still very thrilling. The campus is huge and there are dorms everywhere. There’s even a graveyard, isn’t it creepy?

And then I saw bright lights and sounds of referees whistles…It was the football team training.
For the first time i saw football players. The famous Georgetown Hoyas! The team is quite good in the league as far as i know.

 

 

In the nineties, every kid during primary school used to have a Hoya cap, or a Hoya jumper, that was trendy, everyone liked that bulldog face unconscious of its real origin. Even me, until that night.
I finished this long walk into one of the oldest pub in Georgetown, called The Tombs. Everyone around there knows it, and people say that all the students that attend Georgetown University go to this pub at least once during the studies!



Here are my two mates that enjoyed that cool adventure, ladies and gentlemen, Nikki from Netherlands, and Pablo from Spain, give’em a round of applause!
Can you spot Agassi’s 1995 tennis racket on the wall?

bonne nuit :)

Georgetown

Hi guys, long time no see.

I got to apologize for this lack of news! You think I was slacking off, but I was not! I started my courses and got tons of homework to do + I had to do a 28 pages essay for which I’ve had like 3 months to prepare. I finally did it in two days and sent it less than a day before the deadline! Relieved, I can now continue sharing my experience in Washington. Do you want some more?! Make some nooooooooise! …

I went to Georgetown, the oldest part of Washington. In facts Georgetown was a city built before Washington, in 1751.

Georgetown is very nice. Cute woodhouses, cute streets. It looks like a village, or a very small town, I couldn’t tell I was in the USA capital. This is a rich area with wealthy habitants, but it doesn’t look like. I mean it looks very modest, no showing off here.

Georgetown is located next to the Potomac river – i love that name, Potomac, sounds like Pachacamac, the name of the Inca god of sun. The one that Tintin pretends to know to make the Inca stopping the burning ceremony in Le Temple du Soleil. It’s also the name of the boat where Tournesol is kept prisoner, and Tintin sneaks in to rescue him, but he fails…he’s my hero though!

 

Anyway, let’s go back to Georgetown and its Potomac river : that’s how it looks like.

  

There’s also an interesting area with old factories and an old canal used to carry courrier, digged before rails were commonly used in the US. Rapidly the Chesapeake and Ohio canal – that’s its name and it doesn’t remind me anything in Tintin’s adventures – became useless and now is a part of the decoration.

 

Georgetown is on a hill. To connect that hill and the river, you have to walk up long and narrow stairs.

The steps are high and numerous, a pain to climb, especially with my increased weight. It’s not easy to see, but it’s very dark overthere, I can tell you that was scary…Those stairs have a secret. Maybe with that picture you would recognize them and know what I’m talking about…Let me know in the comments.

As you can see on the pictures, the sun was going down. The low light made things look nice at the beginning, but quickly the darkness started to spread on the streets. Ô Great Pachacamac ...
I could suddendly feel something was going on about this place, the stairs were a first sign. This place has a secret that I had to discover.
But hold on?! What do my elf-eyes see?

Please click on the picture for a better view...

What are these scary massive gothic buildings?
Is that a clocktower? I must go there to find out before the sublime Pachacamac goes to sleep!

To be continued in the next article…

Washington Monument

 
I did a “quick” walk by night to see the Washington Monument. I always thought that this big obelisk was ugly and pointless until I saw it.
Its massiveness in the middle of the empty mall gives an impression of purity and timelessness, that impressed me a lot!
With the lights on, a pure black sky behind and the silence brought by the wind, this tall memorial looked like from outter space, and out of time.


Each step closer grew that impression of being so little. I finally arrived at the bottom and looked up – that was almost scary. It looked like the monolith that fascinates the apes during the opening of Kubrick’s Space Odyssey.
It doesn’t make me an ape…I love bananas though!

It’s actually possible to go inside the monument and go to the top with a lift. I got a ticket from a very nice group of visitors from Texas, Norway, Germany and England.
Just before taking the lift , people have to wait in a little lobby. And be careful, George Washington himself watches out if you’re not messing with his monument - that he actually never saw, he died half a century before the first stones were assembled.

 

This lobby was not extraordinary but I truly appreciated its Art Deco style : marble + tiles + iron and warm lights.
In the elevator, the hostess explained that it was originally a steam elevator that used to bring up visitors. It would take 20 minutes and bread with cheese was served!
At the top, I could see the whole city and even parts of Virginia and Maryland according to the indications below the windows…It was hard to distinguish anything with the dark though. Anyway, the view was amazing, especially with the city lights! Each side of the obelisk faces the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, The White House, and something else I don’t remember the name :-p
Here is the view on the Capitol

From that point I understood how wide the city is, almost endless.
It also gave me an historical view of this country which I usually see as a place where the life culture is extraordinary and funny.
Now it’s like I was very close to the USA roots and to what this nation wanted to be on its “first days”.

First Night

Act III – The fried bacon smell
I spent 8 hours on the plane. There was a huge selection of movies, series and cartoons. The choice was hard but it didn’t matter ‘cause each time I was falling asleep in the middle of it, and each time I decided to watch another from the beginning. I haven’t completed any of them after all! But I have to say, they were censored version and it didn’t help, especially for Kick-Ass.
A friend picked me at Washington Dulles Airport and hosted me for a night in a small town of Maryland. I had a quick look around in the hood and I felt really good. The american car plates, the yellow line on the road, the sidewalk made of big concrete squares, the electric wires on huge wooden posts, small details, but important.
It was hard to realize I was in the US, in a place I saw so many times on TV or in cinemas! And now that I arrived here, I could smell the US! And it smells fried bacon, or french fries, for real! We drove along fast foods and the smell very strong, that was astonishing.



I was starving to death. The time for my first meal in the USA had come and I had to make it a success, and to make a wise choice. The number of restaurant chains was huge : MacDo’, KFC, Pizza Hut, and many others. I finally picked one I heard a lot of good about thanks to the silly Philippa – Chipotle! Caramba! Yeah I can hear you yelling, big girl!



They serve mexican food, mostly based on burritos and nachos : you pick your main ingredient (the meat) and choose any topping. I got myself a chicken burrito I  really struggled to finish. It was tasty and good though, and cheap, 6$ only.

I hardly got up on my feet, definitely became a slave to the law of attraction because of this enormous burrito. I walked away and arrived to a country fair, the kind of fair where they show farm animals, rodeo, and monster trucks wrecking cars! I didn’t get it because I was too tired, but it looked very nice from the outside! My first glance of the deep american culture :)




On my way back home, I admired the typical american wooden houses. I really like their style, especially their illuminated porchs through the night – they remind me a lot the Edward Hopper’s painting Summer Evening. I love them, so peaceful and quiet!

 

That night was special, it’s been ages since I hadn’t the feeling of discovering new things by exploration, I hope it will continue.
good night dear followers
-toto