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00:08
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Sen: Hello and welcome to our podcast, English Trips. I’m Sen, and I’ll give you expert guidance on how to make the most of these episodes as a language learning tool.
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00:30
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Today’s trip takes us back to the USA!
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00:36
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Are you learning English at the moment? Then this podcast is perfect for you. In each episode, we’ll take a virtual trip to a different part of the English-speaking world, where you’ll hear a real story from a real person… in English, of course!
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00:53
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Each episode focuses on a specific part of the language, such as a grammar topic. But don’t worry, this isn’t a grammar podcast. The main thing is that our stories are fun and interesting, and they also get you more comfortable with understanding the language!
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01:11
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Also, did you know that you can read along while you listen using our dynamic transcript? You’ll find the link in our show notes. Here’s a learning tip just for you: the first time you listen to the episode, follow along with the transcript. This will help you understand more of the story, and identify any difficult words or expressions. Then, listen a second, or even third time without the transcript, and see how much more you understand!
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01:46
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Today we’re going to focus on the words much, many, and a lot of. We use these words to talk about quantities… but when do we use each one? Well, with things you can count, like people, bottles of water, or universities, you use many. For example: There are many people at this party.
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02:15
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But there are things we can’t count, like snow, time, and sun. For these things, we use the word much, like in the sentence I don’t have much time. If you aren’t sure which word to use, here’s a tip: you can use the words a lot of in any situation. You can say There are a lot of people at this party, or I don’t have a lot of time. Cool, eh?
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02:47
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So, are you ready to go? Today we have two destinations. We’ll start in cold, snowy Wisconsin, and then take a flight to sunny Los Angeles, in California.
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02:56
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03:00
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03:02
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We’re going to hear a story from Ted about something really American: a marching band!
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03:17
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Ted: When I was 18 years old, I started to study at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. I studied German for four years, but… I also played bass drum in the marching band.
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03:31
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03:37
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Many universities in the States have marching bands. They usually perform at sporting events, like football games, and are a big part of the atmosphere on game day.
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03:47
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03:56
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My marching band had a lot of people… about 300. We had trumpets, trombones, tubas, clarinets, and the best, of course, drums. From August to January, we practiced for three hours each day.
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04:29
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We also had to memorize new music every week. And every Saturday, we played in the stadium for the football game. It was a lot of time, but it was also so much fun.
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04:36
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04:48
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In college football, teams can go to a “bowl game” if they win enough games during the season. Bowl games are kind of like the Super Bowl, but there are many different ones.
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05:03
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Some have funny names like the “Orange Bowl”, the “Sugar Bowl” and the “Fiesta Bowl”. But… the oldest and most famous is called the “Rose Bowl”.
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05:15
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Rose Bowl (Wikimedia) 

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05:18
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It takes place in Pasadena, California every January. When the team goes to a bowl game, the band goes too.
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05:31
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I was really lucky when I was in the marching band. I had the chance to go to the Rose Bowl not one time, not two times, but THREE times. For free! I’ll tell you about the first time we went, in 2011.
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05:53
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Wisconsin, in the north of the United States, is suuuuuuper cold in the winter. Sometimes it can be -40 degrees fahrenheit [-40 C]…
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06:06
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 ... and there’s sooo much snow. 
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06:10
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So, you can imagine how happy we were to get a free vacation to southern California!
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06:19
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Directly after we got off the plane, we all changed into our shorts and t-shirts. It was so warm! And there was so much sun!
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06:33
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A lot of the Californians thought we were crazy. They all had sweatshirts, jackets and long pants on. It was only 65 degrees [18 C], but to us, it was a tropical paradise.
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06:51
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We had a couple days before the game, but we weren’t bored. We had a lot of activities. Our hotel was in Hollywood. We marched in a parade at Disneyland. We played at Santa Monica Pier.
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07:07
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Santa Monica Pier (Wikimedia)
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07:09
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We even got to perform with will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas on New Year’s Eve, the day before the game. It was wild.
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07:11
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07:21
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We didn’t sleep much that night. We had to wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning to get ready. We put on our uniforms, loaded our instruments onto the bus, and drove from Hollywood to Pasadena.
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07:43
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The first, and most difficult, event of the day was the Rose Parade. The parade is 5.5 miles [9 km] long. My bass drum was about 45 lbs [20 kg].
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08:03
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And the weather that day was really hot, about 80 degrees [27 C] at 8 am. And my uniform was made of wool. This would not be easy.
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08:21
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For the next three hours, we marched and played and marched and played and marched and played.
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08:32
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We drank so many bottles of water. And we sweat so much. Finally the parade was finished. We had a short time to eat something and relax. Then, it was time to go into the stadium.
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08:53
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We went inside, and it was so loud! 95,000 football fans can make a lot of noise! During the game, we played songs from the stands to energize the fans and the players.
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09:18
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Finally, it was our chance to go on the field. Half-time.
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09:23
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09:24
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We had trained so much over the last six months, and it was worth it.
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09:39
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The show was perfect. Every turn. Every note. All perfect. We finished, and the crowd went wild.
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09:58
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After the half-time show, we watched the rest of the game. Our football team lost by two points, but we weren’t too sad. We had a great time in California.
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10:13
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The weather, the performances, Disneyland and New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles. Maybe the football team lost, but the band… the band won.
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10:31
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Sen: Disneyland, Santa Monica Pier and even an appearance by will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas?! What a crazy trip! It’s too bad that the football team lost the game, but it sounds like the band enjoyed every minute of the trip anyway.
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10:51
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Well, listeners, we don’t have much time left today, but I hope you enjoyed the episode and learned a bit more about much, many, and a lot of! As always, you can get more practice with this topic by checking out the grammar section in the Babbel app!
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11:12
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Finally, we’d love to hear what you think of the podcast. You can write us an email at podcasting@babbel.com, or simply leave a comment in your podcast app and we’ll see it. Thanks for listening, and see you next time for another exciting English trip!
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End
Ted travels to California with his college marching band for a big football game. During his studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ted joined the marching band. It consisted of 300 band members and played at every football game of the university's team. Since their team did so well the entire marching band got to travel to a big game in California for a little adventure. We'd love to get your feedback, suggestions or learn about your own language learning journey. Email podcasting@babbel.com