And Now We're in England!

Our ship left Dublin last night and traveled south on the Irish Sea, rounded the southwest corner of England this morning, and docked in the very pretty harbor town of Falmouth around 10:00 a.m. local time. Some passengers headed down the gangway right away and took shuttle buses into town (around here, buses are called motorcoaches). Others disembarked for a tour of St. Michael's Mount, a very cool castle that at high tide is surrounded by water on all sides. I'm with some other Penn State passengers on a tour that goes to St. Ives, which I'm told is a lovely seaside resort town chock-full of art galleries.

You know the poem about "As I was going to St. Ives / I met a man with seven wives ..."? Well, this is the very same St. Ives. I'll let you know if I see that guy.

Speaking of buses being called motorcoaches: Even though everyone in the cities we've visited speaks English as their first language, there still have been some words and phrases to get used to. Trucks are called lorries; elevators, of course, are called lifts; and when someone tells you that the motorcoach will be returning to the ship at "half five," that means 5:30. We also got a kick out of our guide in Dublin yesterday, who talked about something being so amazing that "your eyes will stand out on sticks."

We've enjoyed friendly rivalries with other passengers who, like us, signed up with this trip via Alumni Holidays International but who, unlike us, are not affiliated with Penn State. I keep running into a couple from Pitt who are *constantly* teasing me about being from Penn State, even though I assure them that I have a nephew who is a junior-to-be at Pitt. This morning in the Internet lounge I helped a gentleman from Michigan State who was having trouble logging onto his AOL account, and I told him that his problem clearly was his userID: tru2msu. Change that to "tru2psu," I told him, and you'll get right in. I had a nice chat with a couple from Georgia Tech this morning as we stood by the railing and watched the dock workers tie the ship to the pier. And I met a woman from Honolulu (I forget which school she's affiliated with) who told me "The only thing I know about Penn State is Joe Paterno."

This evening the Penn State travelers will gather for a reception in the Orpheus Room -- we have to stick to the port side of the lounge, because some Indiana University travelers will be having a party on the starboard side at the same time. I'll let you know if any hostilities break out. :-)