San Francisco & New York

Our debate in Maryland was our final University stop, and our next stop, San Francisco was different to the rest. We were heading to California for the National Communication Association conference – the annual gathering of professionals and academics in the field of communication (which incorporates not only debate but lots of other related fields). The event is enormous, with about 5000 delegates, and hundreds of event over four days. This was a fairly low intensity pressure in terms of debating, with just one debate during our stay. The debate was on whether or not the NCA should 'strongly discourage the use of the 'public speaking pill' without physician advice'. The drug in question is an over the counter natural drug for public speaking anxiety. We were debating against each other and each gave a speech, and after the debate part of the event a panel of experts on public speaking and speech anxiety commented on the issue, followed by the audience, before we gave summary speeches. Fitting with it being our final debate of the tour, the audience vote at the end was tied! It was great to get a chance to be part of an academic conference, and unusually for debating the issues we were discussing were actually potentially going to chance something – the discussion was about a possible resolution to NCA's legislative body.

NCA was also an excellent chance to catch up with many of the hosts, coaches and graduate students we met over the course of our trip, and our evenings were very enjoyable and spent hanging out with people we'd met (Lewis likened it to the Big Brother final night, where everyone who was evicted returns..). NCA is a hugely sociable event, and every evening different University's communication departments hosted parties (with the aim to reconnect alumni and faculty, provide networking opportunities and to promote their graduate programmes) we very much enjoyed various Universities parties, and aswell as catching up with familiar faces got introduced to lots of new and very interesting people. And of course, with only one debate to do, we had plenty of free time to explore what is a truly amazing city – beautiful, diverse, laid back and, importantly warm (even in mid-November!). We spent a lot of time wandering around the beautiful streets, checked out fisherman's wharf, took a boat trip around the bay to see the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz with Brian and Dave (who was our host in Miami) and took one of the famous trolley cars up the cities steep hills.

Our final stop on tour was a brief, one-day stop in Manhattan. One can't fail to be impressed by the city, and we managed to fit a lot into our limited time, starting in downtown Manhattan to visit the ground zero site and stopping by the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street (where we saw the announcement by GM about their share price changes). After walking through China town, Little Italy, Soho and passing by the Empire State building we found ourselves amongst the impressive lights and sights of Times Square. We then headed East to the United Nations HQ for a quick tour, where we got to see the General Assembly room (so cool!). After brief stops at the Rockefeller centre and Trump tower, we jumped back on the subway to our hotel to go to the airport.

So, after 2 months, 14 states, 22 Universities and about 30 flights, we finally embarked on our final flight back to London (and, for both of us, onwards to a debating tournament in Cambridge...). It has been an amazing journey, and we'd like to take these final lines of the blog for anyone who has the stamina to still be reading, to thank everyone who has hosted us so generously and made the experience such a incredible one. We'd also especially like to thank the English Speaking Union, the NCA Committee for International Discussion and Debate, and tour co-ordinator Brian Lain for everything they have done to make this programme happen. Long may it continue!

Maryland & DC

As an avid West Wing Fan DC was a stop that I had always been looking forward to and fitting in with the pattern of this trip this stop did not disappoint. We arrived in DC from Virginia by amtrak which is a really comfy way of travelling especially since you can have your bags checked in at your destination leaving you free to leave you to wander around. We met up with Marlene our host who then took us on a night time tour of DC starting with the world renowned Lincoln Memorial to the less visited but equally impressive Jefferson Memorial. It goes without saying that we paid homage to the White House and Congress.

The next day we met up with Adam Bonnifield a great guy who I had got to know on my Japan Tour and a former Cornell and Cambridge debater. Adam is a funny guy who kept us entertained all day and coming from DC knew a lot about the city. We were later accompanied by Michael Baer someone who I got to know in Turkey and we drank the night away in the Dupont Circle area of DC.

Our final day in DC would feature Mary a I debating against each other on a motion about significantly increasing immigration. I was opp Mary was Prop and this turned out to be one of best events we took part in during our tour. The audience, largely comprised of African Americans were really involved in the discussion and in a close debate – I WON. In reality we were both winners because we both received an excellent welcome at a reception held afterwards with the honour students. Getting to spend a lot of time with the students at Prince George's County was a amazing experience especially since this school was really international.

Randolph-Macon College

After flying into Richmond, it was straight on the road with the debate team to drive to Hampton-Sydney, a nearby college and Randolph Macon's most ardent rival. Hampton-Sydney is an all male college, and in the 1970s Randolph Macon was too, and the rival that came with this is still strong. The week we were there was the week of the annual and very significant football match between the two colleges, and the week proceeding the big match saw a series of competitive events between the two colleges, and Monday night saw a debate! Lewis and I, along with a judge from Hampton-Sydney, judged the debate on animal conservation. Happily, Randolph-Macon put up a strong fight and won the debate!

The next day we were taken into Richmond to see what is a beautiful city with and a rich and interesting history, and John, who worked with the debate team, was a great guide. We also had some incredible BBQ food for lunch! That night was the debate, on whether religious toleration was tenable in an age of terrorism and extremism. We were proposing, and ran a case about the need to take lots of necessary steps to foster integration and not allow communities to isolate themselves, in order to secure a safe and cohesive society. It was a great debate, and a very interesting topic. We enjoyed hanging out with the debate team that evening, and all in all had a great stop in Virginia.

University of Central Missouri

Our next stop, and 11^th State on the tour, was Warrenburg, for our visit to the University of Central Missouri. After checking out the campus, we did a quick interview with a local TV station about the debate and our tour, and then headed back to the hotel. That evening the President of the University hosted a dinner for us along with some of the University administration in his home. It was a great welcome to UCM, with excellent food and company.

Saturday was an exciting day of competition for UCM, not only because of our debate against the 'Talking Mules' (the debate society) that evening, but the day also saw one of the UCM's biggest Football matches in recent years against Northwestern Missouri, and was a cup match for the end of the season. That stadium was full of faithful Mules fans, as well as an actual Mule, with very intense support. It was a very closely fought match. With literally seconds to go the score was 16-14 to UCM but, in what was probably the most tense sporting moment I've ever seen, Northwest kicked a field goal as the clock turned to zero, giving them them the match and the next spot in the state league. The crowd stood in shocked silence, whilst the opposite side of the stadium errupted in a roar of University pride. It was a pretty dramatic game with an incredibly dramatic final moment.

That evening saw an even more exciting sporting (kind of..) moment in the British vs. Talking Mules debate. We did the extremists on campus topic again, and it was another lively debate. We were lucky enough to be honoured as 'Honorary Talking Mules' after the debate. We then headed to Applebees, a true American experience (we've seen them everywhere we've been!) and had fun hanging out with the team. UCM was hosting a tournament the weekend we were there, and Sunday was mostly spent at the tournament, and our time in Missouri ended in truly American fashion, with a great Mexican meal followed by hanging out with the team watching football.

Washburn University

The next day we took the relatively short drive up to Topeka, to Washburn University. We met Kevin and Steve, our hosts at Washburn, and after lunch took a ride through Topeka. We were shown some of the sites of Kansas's state capitol, including the Phelps family compound, the family who are a part of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church (stars of the documentary “America's most hated family”); the infamous nature of the family and their church was demonstrated by the 'God Hates America' banner on the side of the building.

After meeting the debate team and checking out the Washburn campus, that evening we judged Washburn's 'Speak-off', a public speaking contest the Department of Communications hosts each year for students new to debating and public speaking. It was interesting to see a different kind of competitive speak, with the contestants offering an 'informative' speech, and were fighting to win a scholarship. We headed out that evening for an excellent Thai meal, followed by drinks at a local sports bar with some of the team. The next day, after a bit of shopping at a local mall, we went to the cinema with Steve to watch Inception (again!). Our debate that evening was on the motion of banning extremist speakers on University campuses. The topic was a particularly pertinent one in the context of Topeka, with the Westboro Baptist Church as local residents, who regularly picket military funerals with homophobic protestations.

Kansas Wesleyan

After our extended stay in Texas, we fly from Dallas into Wichita, Kansas, to be greeted by Gary Harman of Kansas Wesleyan College. He took us back to Salina where the college was based, and after settling into our hotel we headed to dinner with Gary and his wife, and the two students we'd be debating the next day. Dinner was both delicious and exciting – it was a Japanese Steak house, where we sat around the grill on which our chef for the evening cooked our food, a cooking process that involved impressive flair and many a trick involving fire and throwing things around. It was a great evening!

The next day, we got to see some of the campus and meet more of the debate team. Meriah, who we'd debate later, took us out to show us a bit of Salina. The day was punctuated with the excitement of it being election day, with polling stations around the town and people with stickers patriotically proclaiming their commitment to the democratic system. Our debate that evening was in-keeping with the theme of the mid-terms election, where we proposed the state funding and capping of election campaign spending, and a very interesting debate ensued. We headed out afterwards to a great steak house, and then watched some of the election result coverage with some of the team. As keen followers of American politics, and having visited states of a variety of hues of both red and blue, it was an exciting night

University of North Texas

After flying from Austin to Dallas, we were met by Brian Lain, coach at our next stop of UNT, and also our tour manager. It was great to finally meet the person behind the whole operation! Upon our arrival in Denton, where the University of North Texas is based, we were filmed my student journalists and asked about our trip and the debate. A quick turn around later and we went to dinner with the debate team to a 'traditional English Pub'. They offered number of "English delicacies" I'd certainly never seen in England, or anywhere else for that matter, including 'English dipping sauce' (still unclear what this is..). We then headed to the University for the debate, which was on making development aid conditional on women's rights, which is a great motion and created a good and very heated debate, and the evening ended well hanging out with some of the team in one of Denton's bars.

After a hearty Texas breakfast in a cafe full of people with cowboy hats and lots of pictures of guns (some of which were accompanied with omnious signs such as "We don't call 911"), we dealt with an impending clothes shortage at the laundromat, and Lewis, as the most high maintainence member of this team, got his haircut. After more food, we headed to Dallas with the UNT debate team to judge at the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance tournament, an organisation aimed at spreading debating amongst Dallas's High Schools. We spent the first couple of rounds getting aquintated with judging policy debating, and the next day judged a couple of rounds. Like many of the equivalent and fantastic programmes in the UK, the organisation really seems to be making a difference to the aspirations and educational experiences of many young people in the Dallas area. We also got to do a show debate about Afghanistan at lunch time against a couple of the UNT debaters,.

After the Dallas tournmanent, we headed into downtown Dallas for a bit of sight seeing, first stopping by the 'Sixth Floor Museum', which is dedicated to the JFK assasination, and overlooks the spot where he was killed - . is a re-creation of the 'sniper’s nest' where the assasin shot from, and the displays really illuminate the very historic event. We then checked out the conspiracy theorists on the street outside offering alternative, inside job, explanations (the evidence for is offered at the bargain price of $30...), and took the obligatory photos on the 'grassy knoll', where some claim shots were also fired from, and on the X marked spot on the road. We then wandered around downtown Dallas, checked out a few tourist shops (Lewis tried on some genuine cowboy boots!) and had a great dinner on a Dallas rooftop restaurant. We then spent the evening back in Denton at the house of one of the coaches, where we enjoyed an evening of great company and beer pong.

Sunday started with an excellent brunch in Denton, followed by a workshop with the debate team, where we introduced British Parliamentary format to them (UNT does Policy debate), using videos of last years worlds finals. We then headed to an enormous mall in the Dallas suburbs somewhere, where we took advantage of the exchange rate and cheap American prices for cloths, as well as replacing some the items we've worn out/broken/lost over the course of the tour. Our time in Denton ended well, with Lewis's poker skills winning out in a game with some of the debate team (making some headway into counter balancing some of the previous gambling losses of the tour).