What time is it? TATTOO TIME!

Tattoo? What is it? It's an all day big 'ol party. I have absolutely no idea where the name for the party came from...but I do know that part of the party is the application of (many) LBS tattoos. These are rub on tattoos...or in the case of the party...lick-on. A very strange bonding ritual for the students of LBS....more on that later. Anyway, the day starts off with sporting competitions in Regent's Park. There was a paddle boat race that I missed, Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee, and Football (aka Soccer for all my American friends reading this) and of course, Touch Rugby!! You know what I did. Touch was sooo much fun. It was mixed, so we played with the boys, and they introduced some different rules than what we play, which made it a bit more challenging, a lot easier to score, and a whole lot of fun! There are pics somewhere out there, but I can't seem to find them. Sad. This was the part of the day that I started saying "TATTOO TIME!" whenever anyone asked what time it was. Love it.

So after all the sporting, it's time for the party, which kicks off at 6pm, it's all over campus, and pretty much every country that is represented by at least one student has a "booth". Some are combined (i.e. North American, Australia/New Zealand) some aren't. Each booth has food and decor representing their country. Everyone dresses up in ensembles that also represent their country...hence the cowgirls from the USA. Aren't we cute? I love the shirts...totally like a puff paint experiment gone wrong (we just used markers). I took tons of pics, but they only let you put so many up on this site. Anyway, below is me and Dan, the other social chair for me stream (on the left), and James. These are 2 of my brit friends. I'm pretty sure they had all agreed to dress a certain way, but half showed up in ghetto looking outfits, half showed up in normal clothes, and Dan wore a tux. awesome.

Then there is Stuart my Aussie friend. We swapped hats.

And Igor, the russian. We also swapped hats, but he had that pic on his camera, and as far as I know, those pics aren't posted anywhere public yet, so I haven't been able to get ahold of them!

As the night goes on, there are lots of entertainment things. The brazilians brought their own dance troupe...at first I thought this was a student! yikes! But the guys on the drums are the students, so that was kinda cool. They had a good time wandering around the campus, stopping here and there to dance

There was also a group that did like the chinese dragon sort of thing. The indian students put on an awesome show. There was square dancing of some sort (i'm thinking it was maybe scottish??!) The AUS/NZ tent had a whole pig on a roast. The Japanese did sushi. There were caprainhas (sp??) and Pims, and Sangria, and beer from around the world. My favorite food was the french table...they did crepes with nutella!! yum yum.

There were henna artists...these are their works on Carolina's and my hands. lovely!

There was also a lady who did your name in Chinese, so I've got that hanging on my wall. There was dancing and singing, and lots and lots of tattooing.

Here is me getting one of my tattoos...

yes, he is licking my neck. No, this is not in any way scandalous. Well, maybe it is just in the sense that he is licking my neck!! But that's how the tattooing at tattoo is done. Why? Who knows. Definitely an odd bonding ritual. (And it turns into a theme wherever a group of LBSers congregates) Very interesting indeed. I've even seen a sports trophy that has been tattooed! crazy! Anyway, the night was awesome, I was sad that it ended, and am already thinking about which booths I should hit up next year!