Meet the Cast Part 1

We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you this special report on the cast of characters traversing the world (riding 15 hour buses and singing loudly in the flat kitchen) with me.

I had decided not to get my hopes up. As I sit waiting for the first lecture of our pre-sessional course (on British culture and politics), I remember being 12 - skinny, muscular, goofy, giant eyebrows, probably bossy. I remember being 12 and realizing that my rapidly approaching summer camp arrival meant a whole new group of friends. Whole hours spent doubled over in laughter, canoe flipping memories, maybe a food fight? I based my sleep-away expectations on Parent Trap.

None of it happened. I was a kid - complete with scraped up knees and an excellent soccer short tan. They got up every morning and put on makeup. My close-nit cabin mates, camp friends since early childhood (and for some reason all from Florida), had no reason to waste energy finding a place for me among their ranks. They were too busy not participating in the evening programs that required physical exertion. They never meant to be exclusive, but then again they never broke their knee to knee circle at the back of the cabin to let anyone else join in the conversation about voyages on their respective family's yacht.

At the end of every letter home I included a countdown to the day I'd spot our Pickup crunching down the gravel in the massive line up of cars come to drag my sobbing cabin mates away from each other for another year. Despite all that, I missed camp. I missed waking up beside other campers. I missed the counselors, the waterfall, and campfires, and wandering off when I wasn't supposed to. But that, and other experiences (see: middle school) taught me not to get my hopes up.

So I'm in the first lecture of our pre-sessional course, just letting relationships happen as they will, when the professor asks, "do I have any Doctor Who fans." Brenna (who I already am familiar with after our flight together) and I turn to each other and trade poorly muffled (hysterical) giggles. It is echoed across the room by presumably more fans, and excited, we lean out over the table to spot them. The rest is history.

Stay tuned for the separate posts, each introducing two members (in the order I met them) of HarryWhovieSuperNerdyHerdyGurdy - the highly sophisticated group name we have awarded ourselves. I have included the first member (Brenna) below.

Brenna Slingerland

Brenna hails from the distant world of Lancaster County, PA - she has assured us she is not Amish. Brenna and I have every single class together. We haven't killed each other yet - definitely a testament to our love. Early on, it was established that Brenna is the mom (keeps everyone together, issues reminders, acts as general shit gatherer for those of us who don't have our shit together (i.e. me)), and I am the dad (lover of stupid random facts and engineer of bad puns). Additionally, for those of you reading this who will get this reference) on the official Doctor Who companion quiz, she scored Rory, while I ended up as Amy. Basically, we're married. Brenna is unabashedly a Hufflepuff, which comes in handy when she must find the random objects the rest of us lose. She likes hockey far more than is recommended by 4 out of 5 doctors in the US, and also loves to sing (soprano one - as we are constantly reminded by her "silly girl" voice from Beauty and the Beast). Brenna also enjoys reading (English major), hiking, and hockey (wait didn't I mention that already? - yes, yes I did, hockey is just that important).