honorary "swansea jack"

According to legend, there was a black lab named Jack that lived in Swansea years ago that would dive into the sea and save people in trouble. Ever since, the people of Swansea have been nicknamed the "Jacks." I learned this before being named an honorary "Swansea Jack" at a 21st birthday party I was invited to last night.

21st birthday parties here are nothing like 21sts at home. In the States, turning 21 is pretty much all about a person's ability to drink alcohol legally. Here, at 21, they've been drinking for three years already! But 21 is still a big deal. I would compare it to our tradition of celebrating high school graduations. Friends and family were all invited, there was a finger-food buffet, music was being played, and gifts were given. It was very fun.

At one point in the evening, there was karaoke which quickly turned into a string of football (soccer) chants that the entire crowd joined in on. As I've gotten more involved with the athletic union at the university, I've picked up on the rivalry between Swansea and Cardiff, especially when it comes to rugby and football (soccer), but also pretty much all of the time. Never has this rivalry been more apparent than when I was in the middle of the chanting and singing about their beloved teams, putting down the nasty Cardiff teams. I am starting to wonder if all of the Welsh people eat, sleep and breathe rugby, football (soccer) and this deep divide between the Jacks and the people of Cardiff.

While we're talking sports... Comparing home to here: replace basketball, baseball, football, and volleyball with netball, rugby, and football (soccer). Granted, we've got soccer at home- but its no where near as prevalent as it is here. And I've been somewhat exposed to rugby before, but never like this! The local rugby team, the Ospreys, are practically worshiped. And netball... I'd never even heard of netball before! Apparently its huge on this side of the world. For those of you, like me, who've never heard of it, its sort of like the old 6-0n-6 women's basketball... but with a slightly smaller ball and you can't dribble- its all passing. It's quite fast-paced and all the "cool girls" do it. Haha.

You can't find baseball anywhere here. There is club "American football", volleyball, and basketball. But honestly, the American football team is quite small compared to football players at home (and although I've never watched them play, I've heard they are "rubbish"). The volleyball team is entirely made of exchange students- mostly German and American. And I think I mentioned it before, but I'm playing on the basketball team... We're alright. I applaud the girls for learning and trying but you can tell that basketball isn't something they learn in grade school. And they don't even have it available in high school! So needless to say, most of the girls started playing for the first time here at the uni. They call the basketball courts the "sports hall", the hoops are called "rings", practice is called "training", games are called "fixtures"... I'm learning a whole new terminology!

Sports culture here is simply just different. They don't have athletic scholarships or recruiting the way we do. Being here and talking to British people has sort of started to make me think Americans are a little bit sports/fitness obsessed (comparatively).

In any sense... I'm off to "training"... Missing you all in the states!