Europe in a Day

Yesterday I went to Italy, Germany, France, and the British Isles all in the same day. Ha ha, not really, I just went to Busch Gardens: Europe, which is broken up into little sections that are based on European Countries. Of course, the Europe depicted there more closely corresponds with stereotypes and theme-park kitsch than actual European countries. The roller coasters were pretty cool, but the best part about Busch Gardens is the availability beer! By the end of the night Rosa and I had seen several close calls, with people fighting about cutting in line, not-quite-quiet-enough insults, and father-son disputes. Plus it made my meal in Germany extra good--what goes better with sausage, saurkraut, and potatoes than beer?

We went with a group of mixed nationality, including Korean, Chinese, Turkish, Senegalese, Saudi, and Venezuelan, and made several discoveries by the end of the day:

Dogs do not speak the same language (they say, variously, "mong," "how," "woof," and "wah"), while cats can understand each other the world over (they all say "meow");

Fart jokes make everyone laugh;

Boys are less likely to ride scary roller coasters than girls (if you go according to our group dynamics, that is).

We didn't get back to Norfolk until late at night, so we dropped everyone off in front of their apartment building/ house/ residence hall. Rosa was especially nervous because of reports of a flasher stalking the campus. We escaped that fate and all made it home safely.