The truth

Country music was invented in Great Britain. That is all.



I told you! This is at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, so don't argue.



Mat trying to be Johnny Cash.



Some real Cash.



I pay my respects...



Stuff that used to belong to Hank Williams.



Emily, me and the hits. Which one is Shania Twain's?



The strangest exhibit in the museum.



The second strangest?



Working 9 to 5. I remember what that felt like.



The church-like Hall of Fame itself.



Mat and his favourite artist.



After a four hour drive we're down in Memphis. Yep, this is the right place.



That guy knew what he was talking about.



Our hotel, just across the road from Graceland.



First encounter with the King.

If I should stay, I would only be in your way

We arrived in Nashville after one of the more amusing flights I've been on (safety talk: "place the oxygen mask over your own face before helping your child. If you have more than one child, pick your favourite and work down. It's a cruel world.")

At the car rental desk they were very apologetic that, although I had booked ahead, they had run out of economy sized cars. Would I mind a free upgrade to a minivan? Looking at their little chart it turned out this was seven sizes bigger than the one I'd ordered. Did they have anything inbetween? Nope, it was that or a hummer. I'm now driving a bus around, and contemplating making some money as a taxi.

We navigated successfully to our hotel - they drive on the wrong side of the road in this part of the states too! - and met up with our friend Mat who had got a Greyhound down from Louisville and lived to tell the tale.

That was all last night, and after breakfast this morning (where they genuinely served grits!) we drove out to Opry Mills mall. Emily avoided buying more shoes, and after lunch and a quick look around the Grand Ole Opry itself we decided to play Glow Golf. It's crazy golf in the dark! What else do you come to Nashville for?

Thankfully this afternoon was more country based, with a tour of the local live music bars. The talent of the various musicians is not in doubt, but their song choices often were. Country can be as middle-of-the-road as any other type of music, and in some places it felt like you'd been listening to the same continuous song for the last hour.

An interesting change was our visit to Lonnie's Western Room, where karaoke is the order of the day. As the only three people there we sat in silence until a guy called Bruce arrived and decided to sing Prince songs in a very high voice staring directly at us the whole time. He knew all the words and everything! It was scary, and we left to seek refuge in the line dancing and deeply inoffensive country of the Wildhorse Saloon.



My "economy" car



Mat entertains on the porch...inside the Gibson guitar shop.



It certainly is.



It really is crazy golf in the dark! I told you!!



Country music is piped out of these. Surely it should be soft rock...



The Grand Ole Opry, where country music began (sort of).



Where's the fun in that?



Check out my new hat!



Emily and Mat against the Nashville skyline.



The world famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.



The slightly less famous, and deserted, Lonnie's Western Room. Vince told us to go there.



Emily sits on a cow.



Pre-dinner line dance lesson at the Wildhorse Saloon.

Bored in San Jose

San Jose airport might be the most boring place in the world. That said, they do have a Cinnabon and free Wi-Fi, and really that's all you need. Our trip here, on bus, BART and CalTrain, was smooth and quick. Too quick, and we now have two-and-a-half hours to wait until our flight to San Diego and our connection to Nashville.

To fill the time, I'm introducing a new series to this blog: Get to know... This will be an in-depth, online expose of people in and around Haas and University Village, a chance to air dirty linen in public and prove/disprove many of the scurrilous rumours that are currently circulating about certain individuals.

Looking around me I see...my sister Emily!



Would you like to be the first person to appear on Get to know...?
Not really.

Where were you born?
Bath, England.

What was your earliest memory?
Pushing a ladybird doll pram.

Was your constant torture of me while young an autonomous choice or an example of Darwinian instinct?
An absolute conscious choice.

Why did you steal my Chopper bike?
I had no choice, it was the worst, most uncool thing anyone at the cycling proficiency classes had ever seen.

What have you been up to in California?
Everything possible on the tourist trail. And I'm proud of it.

Why do Mum and Dad love Hannah more than they love their own flesh-and-blood children?
She cooks better than either of us. And she took you off their hands.

I am an F-2 visa holder, which means that frustratingly I cannot work and have to spend my days relaxing and drinking wine in the sun. How do you make a living?
I'm a pediatric intensive care nurse.

Really? When did that happen?
Very funny.

How did I miss your childhood?
You were too busy playing with those stupid Space Marine miniatures.

What's your favourite disease?
Necrotizing fasciitis.

How do you treat that?
By cutting off the infected area.

Are you, in fact, a fraud masquerading as a nurse? Your answers lack substance and detail.
No.

Was it not obvious that, no matter how many tantrums you threw, Mum and Dad were never going to buy you a pony?
I wanted a kitten.

If you could choose any person, living or dead, to replace me as a sibling, who would it be?
Brad Pitt's best friend.

You're supposed to say "I'd never replace you". You're really horrible, I'm telling Mum.
Fine.

Fine.
Fine.

I will.
Fine.

Next month: whoever's nearest when I'm bored again.

Pot luck

The gifts of Britain to world cuisine are many and varied: jellied eels, liver and bacon, the deep-fried Mars Bar. Today was the business school's International Pot Luck Dinner, and every nationality had to bring along a dish to represent their country. Hannah took mercy on everyone and cooked up a delicious cheese and onion pie. It disappeared in minutes!

The dinner was a great idea, and I munched my way through sushi, Israeli bread and dips and an Indian rice salad. Laurie arrived with all the ingredients of a pavlova, which he assembled claiming that the dessert was invented in Australia (further research suggests that the truth is New Zealand, but with no Kiwis present an international incident was avoided).

After the exams, adrenaline levels amongst the students are running at close to normal levels. Tomorrow a two-day careers conference should keep them relaxed, but unfortunately after that it's the second half of the Fall semester: marketing, finance and accounting...



The united nations of Haas.



A nice spread.



Laurie assembles his Australian pavlova, which included kiwi fruit in the topping. The irony!



Mayu (Japan), Daphny (Israel), Hannah (England), Emily (Wales).

Red or white?

The chocolate tasting of yesterday was logically followed today by a tour of vineyards in the Sonoma and Napa valleys, just north of San Francisco. Unlike in France, where the business philosophy is that drunk visitors will buy more wine, most US wineries charge for tasting! Learning this led to shock and justified European anger, but a quick flick through the guidebook revealed some "off piste" destinations that still offer a free tipple.

The guidebook also helped me to learn phrases like "well developed tannins" and "complex structure" which I sprinkled throughout my increasingly slurred conversation. Everyone we met was fooled, as far as I can remember...



Emily, Amanda, Jack and Hannah at the first call of the day - Champagne!



Cheers!



Emily's new best friend.



A lot of bottle.



David, Jack, more Champagne.



Vineyard number two, something to do with hummingbirds.



Newly harvested Pinot Noir grapes.



Jack fills the trunk.



Lunch stop! But eating's cheating.



Vines everywhere.



Perhaps sir has had enough to drink...?



Hannah and her weekly Chardonnay order.



This way guys!



The view from the bottom of an empty glass.

Chocolatey goodness

The last "Fall A" exam (dreaded statistics!) was this morning. Apparently it wasn't too bad, and most students finished before the time was up. Outside the exam hall bagels and mimosa (Bucks Fizz to all English speakers) had been laid on for them. It's always good to hear where those fees are being spent.

To ease everyone into a long weekend of hard partying, Hannah had arranged a lunch and tour of the local Sharffen Berger chocolate factory. After a couple of hours of delicious food and wine, and several minutes of working out the average cost and standard deviation of the items on the bill, we were guided into a mini lecture theatre where Danny the tour guide took us through the ins-and-outs of chocolate making.

Days like this are, of course, all about the tasting, and samples came in abundance - bittersweet, semisweet and milk varieties were passed around, and we were even allowed to sample a limited edition bar in the shop afterwards for being such a well behaved tour party.

The verdict? Well, it was good, but who can beat Cadbury's Dairy Milk?



Post-exam students and partners. See the aura of unstressedness.



A happy Daphny and an exhausted Elad.



Hopefuls for internships at the factory.



Shauli and Hannah toast exam success with hot chocolate.



Ha ha! Now I'm blogging Dana's own photos before she is. Victory!



Limited edition bars. There seems to be plenty to me.



Here are the cocoa seeds, fruit removed and fermented. The seeds are inside the fruit, which is inside the pod. By all accounts they taste nasty until they ferment, roast and thresh the whole lot.



Danny explains what's going on.



Elad looking sharp, and ready for the factory tour.



My new look.



Lots of pipes, and a machine called a conch.



Mad chocolate scientist at work.



Mad scientist's assistant...?



You see, it was all worth it in the end.



An orderly queue for more tasting.