I miss pubs

Above:  The Welsh flag.  I have one that my sister brought me from her semester in Wales, four years before I went, and it still hangs, framed in my apartment - it has also graced my dorm room for the past two years.  Cymru am byth! (Wales forever, for you non Welsh folk).  Cariad am byth Abertawe.

I just wanted to say that.  Last night at Bar Louie was a lot of fun, but it made me realize how much I miss living in Britain.  Granted the food here is better, but the beer is better over there.  Sitting in a corner of Pub on the Pond and watching people wrestle with the giant Santa in the doorway while my flatmates and friends laughed is something I wish I still had.  Pubs and beer gardens just offered an atmosphere of warmth, kindness, and friendship that is hard to find over here, if it can be found at all.  Yeah, Bar Louie was happening and chic, but it wasn't a "great good place."  Pubs are such a center of the community in Britain that my university's student union had two in it.  USF just got a Beef O'brady's, and although they served beer during the day for about a week the administration has since limited their beer hours to after six.  What kind of a social center is that?

I just liked walking into pubs and being welcomed immediately.  In the States you have to have frequented the place at least a year before they begin to even remember your face, much less your name or drink preference.  I found it very interesting last Friday when I met three Irishmen in Ceviche in St. Pete.  They were the friendliest people in the place and the only people who made my friend and I feel welcome, in our own country.  It must be hard to be a foreigner here if you're not visiting someone you already know.  Chris and I have a German friend who we lived with in the dorm last year.  She is back for her master's degree and will be here at least two years.  She was lucky and came here with many friends, as I went to Britain, but it must be very lonely to do it by yourself.  I moved to Tampa knowing only one person, my aunt, and I honestly think it was more lonely and difficult than moving to Europe.  I do not mean to offend anyone, but I wish desperately that Americans were more friendly.  Many of us are, but as with every country, there are many who are not so much.  Alright, well it's my bed time - I have to write a paper tomorrow and go to class so I'm off now.  Sorry for the depressing thoughts, but I was doing some reading for my communications class, and all of the talk about America's lack of the "great good place" made me really miss Wales and Europe.  Should you be visiting the other side of the pond anytime soon, please send my regards to those people and places I once knew and loved so well.  Here's to Monday, may it pass quickly and painlessly.