Math is Fun

Fear not, brave TASPers - the European contingent has carried our proud community name to London and back unsullied! I finished 6th, a mere two points (i.e. a half-problem) ahead of Jason, you punk-and-a-half you! Congratulations! And both of your school's teams in the top ten - you guys are a pretty sharp bunch. My condolences on AISV's win - I assume you VIS folk will all black armbands for a month or so. :) You'll have to fill me in on the awards ceremony (or what you saw of it, at least) later - the winners of the Chase round, etc.

So the math competition was pretty ill. Outside of the actual sit-at-desk-and-do-problems part, we had a whole day for sightseeing, including a bus tour with a contest to see who could find the pub with the stupidest name. ("The Frog and Radiator" won, with "The Hung, Drawn, and Quartered" as runner-up.) They took us down to Greenwich, where we saw the prime meridian and Edmond Halley's tomb.
Interesting Fact: In 1884, representatives from around the world met in D.C. and agreed to adopt Greenwich Mean Time as the baseline for global timekeeping. The French, who thought Paris should get the Prime Meridian, voted no, and refused to accept GMT until 1911.

In Greenwich we also encountered squirrels, which, I realized when my classmates cried out in joy and excitement, are a rarity in Holland. These squirrels were as fearless in approaching us as the old A-squared breed, but in a Feed-Me-You-Rich-Tourist way rather than a Get-Out-Of-My-Way-You-Mere-Mortal way. My teammates fed one of them chocolate until he/she bent over and clutched his/her stomach. In the process, we got one of the sweetest photos I have ever seen taken, which is going on the photobucket as soon as I get a copy.

Later, we hung out with some people from the International School of Luxembourg - one of them applied to TASP *holds breath* but didn't get in *sigh*. Also, Jason and I, browsing through a bookstore in the old TASP tradition, came across a transcript of an entire season (?) of "The Office," which included (I am not kidding) sheet music for "Freelove Freeway." Ah, TASP . . .

Groetjes,

Sam