Football & Cheese Rolling.

The Cheese Rolling crowd descending.

Someone being carried off in a stretcher.

The race UP hill. Count me out please.
My Cheese Rolling watching face?

There were 100 times this many people. This is a very small group!

Ladies and Gentlemen, THIS is what it looks like when you've rolled down a steep, muddy hill at 70 MPH and victory is yours because you leave with the Gloucester cheese tucked under your arm. Touche, boy in the white shirt.

The official Gloucester cheese being sold out of the back of a van.

I was very far away and my camera can only zoom in so much, but this is people flinging themselves down a mountain in pursuit of cheese. My insurance doesn't cover such a thing, so I couldn't enter the race. There is always next year...

The little white speck is the cheese that was "chucked" down the hill and is rapidly running from the chasers.

THE hill.

The LONG line of people behind me and the treacherous trek to the top. The view was spectacular though.

The long string of people in front of me. That "little" hill was no friend of mine. I am going to be SORE tomorrow.

The flowers everywhere are very charming.

The apple and bacon MONSTER pancake I had at the Dutch pancake house.

The congratulations.

This run made the score 2-nil in favor of Everton toward the end of the game, thus putting the final nail in Fulham's coffin. It was a glorious shot.

The chanting, singing, drinking Everton fans.

An action shot. Fulham is in white and Everton is in blue.

A corner kick.

Another action shot towards Fulham's goal.

The sprinklers on at halftime. This may or may not have been on purpose.

The game is about to begin.

The two teams enter.

The Fulham mascot...a badger maybe? Who cares, he threw us candy.

This is my game face...also note that I am wearing the winning colors. :)

The Fulham Football Club (stadium).

Fulham players stretching.

The FFC again.

Pre-game field. Notice the other stands say "FULHAM"...we sat in the "neutral" stands. Haha, there is NO such thing as neutral in English football.

The police on horseback...maybe the same ones that woke me up?! (see older posted blogs for details and a picture for evidence.)

Hi all!

My apologies on taking a few days off from the blog, It seems as if I have been running around like crazy and haven't even had time to catch my breath. I am currently running up and down the stairs as we speak checking on laundry. Anyway...here is what the last couple of days have been like for yours truly. Yesterday (Sunday) the AIFS students attended a football (soccer) game. Let me walk you through this day because it was extensively exciting and overwhelming. I left for the football (Premiership) game around 2:30 PM. I got on the Tube and it was already filled to the brim with screaming, pumped up, hard-core soccer fans in blue and white striped jerseys (in support of Everton) doing pull ups on the yellow bars one grips onto while the train is in motion. They were your typical soccer hooligans, just like in the movies. I couldn't help but smile to myself. We got off the District Tube line at the Putney Station stop where I naturally just followed the mass of people in hopes of finding the field that way. This method proved successful and I was mixed up among whirling chants done in strong British brogues. We passed pubs that were spilling out into the street with fans and policemen in chartreuse coats on horse back dotted throughout Putney Gardens (what we had to walk through to get the the game). The electricity in the air was so physical it seemed to surge just underneath the surface of my skin. The crowd that I blended into was made of anyone and everyone; from young lads with soccer jerseys and shin guards to elderly men who seemed like they had been fans since the very first soccer game was ever played. It was amazing. I got to the gate (passing three policeman on large sorrel horses) and presented my ticket just as proud as any fan who went in beside me. I wandered around the stadium for a while taking it all in. I went to find my seat and was pleased to see that we were rather close to the pitch (field) and right behind the goal. "This is going to be amazing" I thought as the generous weather Gods smiled down on the entire afternoon. The weather was perfect, and the game was spectacular. I have always been a fan of soccer (my dad is rolling is eyes as he reads this) and this game just instilled that fire for the joga bonita ("beautiful game") deeper into my soul. The game was (I wish I had better words to describe it) amazing. Both teams (Fulham [home] and Everton [away]) were chalked full of extraordinary players and competed with gumption and persistence. Everton won 2-nil and it was well deserved. They were relentless in their pursuit of a goal and never stopped shooting at any chance, eventually earning them the victory. The whole game was filled with chants and songs sang by spirited soccer fans all over the stands. It was truly an experience I will never forget. After the game, I followed the spirited crowd back to the Tube station and got off on Kensington High Street (or Main Street as we would call it in the States). I went to a Dutch pancake house and ordered a pancake with bacon and apple. This seemed like the most sane choice. The pancakes offered came with various meats and vegetables in them, certainly not the way I am used to pancakes being. They brought out a large, blue embellished platter with a pancake two times bigger then my head! I was astounded until I started to cut into it and found that it was paper thin and therefore not as intimidating as I originally thought. I went home after my pancake dinner and slept in preparation for today's events; the English tradition of Cheese Rolling.

Cheese Rolling was made out of five races running from noon until about 2 PM. They had two different styles of racing: 1.) Cheese Rolling- a wheel of Gloucester cheese is rolled down a hill and twenty young men (or women) throw themselves down the hill in pursuit of the cheese wheel. Whoever catches it is the winner. This hill is muddy and very steep and speeds of 70 MPH can be reached on it. I strongly encourage everyone to watch this to see just what it is about. It's really something. 2.) There is also an uphill race. No cheese, just a treacherous climb straight up hill for several yards; from one extreme to the next.

My experience with cheese rolling goes as follows: It was more of a disappointment then entertainment. Here is why: The bus ride there was about two and a half hours long and we were paired with a group from Arizona State who had some abnormally loud and obnoxious girls who insisted on singing loudly and yelling instead of speaking at a reasonable lever the whole trip there (at 8 AM). It was disconcerting and started things off on the wrong foot for me. We got there and the weather wasn't exactly ideal. It was misty and humid and we had to climb a very steep, VERY large hill to get to the top. Needless to say I had to stop quite often and was drenched in sweat when I got to the top. Attractive. There were more people then I expected there to be and they were on every surface of the hill and they spread all the way across England I think. It was hard to find a good, close spot to watch the races. I ended up being fairly far away with a poor view. Far away events and crowds are not kind to a person of my height. I managed to get a couple of good (far away) pictures and videos of which I have posted, but there was just too much waiting on the events and not enough of the cheese rolling itself. I managed to talk to a very sweet ASU girl on the way home, which was a first. We got home and I went and got some essentials from our local supermarket; Sainsbury's and came home to do laundry and attempt to write my short story. That, my friends, is where I will leave you all now. I hope everyone in the States had a great Memorial Day and I miss you all. Have an excellent week. I love you.

Always,

Mattie.

Here are some videos of the Cheese Rolling. Keep in mind that I was very far away, so everything is unfortuantely very minscule. The white thing rolling down hill in the beginning is the Gloucester cheese...and then hilarity ensues as people fling themselves after it. :) Enjoy!

The following video is one of a man dressed as a cow who just flings himself down the hill for the fun of it? Yes, it's beyond me too. It was hilarious, regardless. Check YouTube for more Cheese Rolling videos. They are sure to provide quaility entertainment for a while.

The following video is just abother Cheese Rolling race in which participants bump, scrape, and slide their way to the finished line and ultimately to a mud covered wheel of cheese. How logical.