Back to school, back to school to prove to dad I'm not a fool.

Jake bid us farewell and the ride to Madison to see our besti Sean was under way. Madison became the second college town for us to visit on our trip. It turned out to be an awesome town, we think we could live there - until it gets cold. Upon arrival Sean took us on a tour of town, complete with the futuristic parking lot/lounge Frank Lloyd Wright built, Emma throwing a chair in the lake from the top, and watching all the bikers and runners. next tour stop was a statue of Frank Brown - or someone, who held Sean with an adorning look in his dying arms, next came Humpty Dumpty, who is really Harry Dumpty. Sean called the number emblazed in the statue hoping to get the chance to speak with the real Harry Dumpty, but instead his call was returned with a questioning citizen not recognizing the number. Though he commented that the number is there to be called...curious.

Enough with statue scandals, we then went to the state capitol building where security was on their toes ready as we did the self-tour, seeing the Eagle Mascot Abe, and the star fish embedded in the stairs. Much to our surprise we walked out of the building onto the stage of a reggae concert in the middle of an Obama rally. Once getting past the rally we came across the McCain supporters walking towards the rally and were hoping for a riot, though we didn't wait to see.

Instead we moved on to an art exhibit, where a maze of streamers and barking dogs got us a bit confused and dizzy. And an exhibit of plaster statues which would have made for great pictures if there wasn't a grad student "working" and watching us. However we ask you, "Do you love the dyke in your life?"

We said no to dinner that night and decided to pub crawl instead. Making our way to maybe 9 or 10 bars we were able to have everything from East Africa Tusker to the worst $1.50 beer in all of Wisconsin. "I just wanted to see that shot naked and rolled in butterscotch" was one of the many confusing quotes to come out of the night. On other occasions during the night swahili banter made its way quite normally into our conversations. At the end while drinking cheap rum and coke Emma and Sean played plastic darts, pool, Mrs. Pacman, and Phil watched Adult Swim with captions.

The next morning seemed really freaking early but Sean, who never fails at anything!!, made us breakfast before heading to his Swahili class. The weather seemed to also have a hangover. Gloomy, rainy, and cold. The way to class was fraught with eye gouging umbrellas, horrendous rain boots or galoshes if you listen to Emma, huge hills, and cars trying to hit Sean. Beatrice, the Tanzanian Swahili teacher was happy to have guests as per the culture of Africans. Amefurahi sana! It was fun, yet strange to be back in a classroom.

After a bit of failed vintage shopping we escaped the rain and watched movies in Sean's man-pad. Two movies later, and our first home cooked meal, we headed out to Wando's - home of the fishbowl, dumb blondes, and hot bartenders. Yeah we do love the dyke in our life! We would have had an early night but then the fishbowl appeared like a shinny piece of metal in our lives which we couldn't ignore. Phil made sweet love to it while the others watched on extremely appalled by this behaviour. Before the end of the night we showed two pieces of id to get our final beers of Madison and slumped home to rest for the ride to Sleeping Cat Farm. Sean, my friend, thanks for a grand time and being a besti to both of us. We love ya and will be seeing you again!