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Blackpool: Farewell to Lancashire

Mention Blackpool to any Briton and you get two 'Y' responses: either Yeah! or Yuck!... there is nothing in between. We have yet to find someone who would 'take-or-leave' Blackpool; they either love it or hate it. With that kind of reputation, we felt it safe to leave the Blackpool experience for the end of the program. As a reward (or punishment, again depending on your point of view) for the job done on the individual project presentations, the students were taken to Blackpool on Wednesday afternoon, 19 July 2000. Any place that promotes 'cavorting' has got to be... shall we say... interesting?

Blackpool is a seaside resort (top) where not a whole lot of bathing takes place. It has a long history and is probably one of the best known places in all of Britain. As a traditional victorian resort town, it has a long esplanade along the shore with trolleys (above left) to ride the entire 7 mile stretch of the city's coastline (although the 'fun' or, as some would say 'sinful,' part is concentrated along a 1-mile stretch, the Golden Mile). Some describe it as 'tacky, tacky, tacky.' Others describe it was a 'Disneyland for the over-21 crowd... after they've had 5 pints.' Others describe it as 'Wot's wrong with some unwholesome fun?'

Some at Myerscough (guess who, Graeme and Tom?) had dared us to go to the well-known Blackpool Tower (left) -- a pseudo-Eiffel Tower structure -- and walk on the 'walk of faith,' a small section of plexiglass floor with a clear view 500 feet down (below left). Some of us took the challenge with glee: Prof. Dan Struve, next year's Resident Director for the Study Abroad Program, showed some students how to 'navigate' the site (below center) while Troy, Nate Rogers, and Matt did a bit better by pumping push-ups on the transparent floor. To quote Nate: "Man! That was sooo weird!!" Case closed.

It was rather interesting that when asked about Blackpool, the students responded as..., you guessed it, Yeah! and Yuck!

Blackpool: Farewell to Lancashire