Day 10: The journey home

I'm finally home after a very looonnnng day of traveling. Our flight left at 3 pm London time on Tuesday the 24th and it took a little over 8 years I mean hours. We were delayed a little before take off and landed after 6 pm Chicago time. We went through customs and picked up our luggage, then went to wait for the IWU coach that was picking up our group as well as a group that flew in from Thailand at around 5 pm. We left the airport around 8ish, then arrived back at IWU around 2 am. So here I am at 3:45 am... finishing my journal... and my body technically thinks it's 8:45 am. Weird.

What a trip. Definitely the highlight of my summer. Completely indescribable. :) It's nice to be home but bittersweet at the same time. I really hope I get to go back someday!

So, until next time, cheers!

Day 9: A not-so-foggy day in London-town :)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Today has quite possibly been one of the best days of my life so far – no joke. After spending a full day in London, I’ve decided that it’s my favorite city in the world so far. Definitely tops both Chicago and NYC. I am love struck with this city! I would pack up and move here in a heartbeat, I’m pretty positive.

We all hated to say goodbye to John last night but hugs went all around and I think we all went to bed excited for today to come. Free day in London? Aaklsdhfakasdkfa!!!!!! A group of us (Team London) all wanted to do similar things so we decided to try to stick together. We sat down and made our plans for the day. Then we all headed for bed.

This morning we went to breakfast around 8:30 and left the hotel around 9:00. Our tube passes didn’t start working until 9:30, so Lauren, Taylor, Ashlee, Noah and I decided to shop on the blocks closest to our hotel for awhile, then head to the tube and hit Oxford Street – one of the best shopping areas in London according to John. We shopped for a little over an hour, and then took the tube to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery where we met up with another smaller group. We went into the Gallery and saw the enormous painting "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey" by Paul Delaroche that we saw and discussed in class. It was pretty spectacular – I wasn’t disappointed. I could have spent hours in the Gallery – it’s magnificent (and completely free!!). I saw some Van Gogh, Cezanne, Serrat, and countless others... so much wonderful art.

I worked out to where my afternoon was free to tour Shakespeare's Globe Theatre! I originally had a big group interested but it ended up only being a few of us. Last night when we were working out the day’s schedule, it had looked like I was going to have to take the tube from the National Gallery to the Globe by myself but Dr. Buck wouldn’t have that, so he was so kind as to meet me outside the National Gallery and accompany me to the Globe. We stopped for lunch and were running a little behind, so after we got off the tube, he even flagged down a cab to get us there. We got there just in time, and Kellie, Jonica, Nancy, Kay, Andrea and I got to tour Shakespeare’s Globe. I was so happy. It was great. I loved the tour. There were people working on putting up a set while we were there (they’re currently doing Much Ado About Nothing and All’s Well that Ends Well – they switch from week to week, sometimes day to day, and sometimes they’ll even have a matinee of one show and an evening performance of another). While we were up in the highest level of seating, one of the actors from Much Ado came out and rehearsed one of his scenes – that was really neat. I was just so happy that I ended up being able to take the tour. I was afraid I wasn’t going to get to, and I probably would have cried to have come to London and not seen the Globe. :) But I got to. I was thrilled. :)

Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready and dressed up! The entire group met in the lobby at 4:30, got a couple of group photos, and then headed to Salieri for dinner. It was very good – I really enjoyed it. Then we headed for the Queen’s Theatre and Les Misérables – probably the absolute best ending to a trip there couple possibly be in the world. I was... of course... blown away. I lost count of how many times I got chills from how powerful and wonderful it was. You had to pay for playbills unfortunately and Cale bought one for me, which was very sweet of him. And to put the icing on the cake, the group went down to the stage door after the show and managed to catch... that’s right... Samantha Barks as she was coming out of the theatre. Several of us got her autograph and we even got a group photo with her. It was fantastic. :) She’s the same girl who played Eponine in the 25th Anniversary Concert Edition. Javert was also played by the same guy who was in the 25^th Anniversary Concert Edition and was magnificent – Norm Lewis. He darted off before we could catch him. Those two were the best in my opinion. Jean Valjean was played by the understudy tonight and he was very good but just wasn’t as much of a powerhouse as the one in the 25^th. The actor who played Enjolras – Killian Donnelly – was fantastic, and the guy who played Marius – Gareth Gates – was SO much better than Nick Jonas. Ha.

Then we came back to the hotel. It has been an utterly marvelous trip. I seriously could not have asked for anything better. This has been absolutely brilliant. There really aren’t words to describe how fantastic it’s been.

Tomorrow morning we’re eating breakfast, packing up, getting on a coach to the airport, and then getting on a plane and heading home. 

Day 8: Box Hill and an introductory tour to London

My sincerest apologies for the fact that these posts weren't posted on the actual days. When we got to London I discovered that internet access is a hot commodity and prices were a little too ridiculous for me. These next two WERE written and completed on the days they say they are, however. :)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Today was glorious! Exhausting, but glorious. :)

We started off from the hotel at 8:30 am and headed for London, making a quick stop at Box Hill to climb up just like the characters do in Emma. It was a very steep hill, and I think that everyone who climbed got a pretty decent dose of exercise for today. :)

Then we got back on the bus and headed for London. It didn’t take long – we were in the farthest outlying suburbs before too long at all. Then we got farther into the city and took a short bus tour through the city, stopping to get out and snap some pictures of the Tower of London (I’m pretty sure). Then Andy dropped us off at our hotel and we said goodbye to him quickly before he left for his 8 ½ hour drive back to Glasgow, Scotland. Then we checked into our hotel and dropped our bags off, heading out immediately into the city. John gave us some suggestions for lunch, and then we split up and got something to eat. We met back up after lunch and John introduced us to “The Tube” or the Underground. Then we want on a walking tour of London and, well, let’s just say I’m going to sleep REALLY well tonight because I’m pretty exhausted. :)

We saw Trafalgar Square and the outside of the National Gallery, went to Buckingham Palace, walked through St. James’s Park, saw the Prime Minister’s residence, got some great pictures of Big Ben, rode a double-decker red bus, and went to Piccadilly Circus.

I’ve already found my favorite part of London. We got to Piccadilly Circus (the Times Square of London) and found ourselves in the Theatre District. There were advertisements for half-priced show tickets everywhere. Everything from Wicked to Grease to Billy Elliot to Shakespeare. I wanted to cry just passing by some of the deals. Part of me wishes I could miss the flight on Tuesday and just stay in London seeing theatre, shopping, and eating great food. But, alas, one needs money for such things. =P

A little farther is Leicester Square – the heart of the cinema scene in London. There are probably five or six movie theatres around. At the moment it’s under construction for the 2012 Olympics and isn’t exactly pretty, but you got the gist of the area. Apparently it’s very touristy. Then we went to the marketplace, saw St. Paul’s Church (the Actor’s Church), and saw where Eliza Dolittle sat as she sang “All I want is a room somewhere...” Then we split up into groups to have dinner and explore some more. I went with a few people to the Spaghetti House and had some great Spaghetti Pomodoro, but our waitress seemed extremely offended that we had only ordered water and cleared the empty wineglasses away all in a huff. Then we walked back to the marketplace, listened to a street performer briefly, then went into Starbucks (just so we could say we’d been to a Starbucks in London). :) Then the six of us (Noah, Lauren, Ashlee, Taylor, Liz and I) managed to get back to the hotel on the Tube by ourselves. Tonight we have to say goodbye to John because he’s leaving early in the morning. :( He’s been so fantastic – I don’t know how anyone could ask for a better tour guide. We loved him!

Tomorrow will be our free day in London. I think several people are planning on seeing Abbey Road and the Globe. I would like to go to the National Gallery and perhaps the Modern Art Museum, but I don’t know what everyone else is doing. I guess we’ll figure it out. :) Then we go to dinner and Les Miz that night, and the next morning we leave for the airport from the hotel at 11:00 and our flight leaves at 3:00ish. Because of the time difference, we should arrive back in Marion at around 11:00ish pm. It’s been a fantastic trip.

Day 7: Bath

Today was fun. :) But then, what day hasn’t been? I can’t believe it’s already Saturday. We can’t be almost done already. This trip has been astounding.

Today we took a day trip to Bath. Jane Austen lived in this city for several years and set a couple of her novels there, including Persuasion, which we read in class.

Bath is rumoured to have been discovered by King Lear’s father, who was riding through the countryside and fell off his horse into water and was healed of leprosy (pre-Christian era). When Rome invaded Britain, the Romans discovered the natural hot spring and built up bath houses around it, dedicating one pool to the goddess Sulis Minerva. There was an entire complex, including a temple on the site at one time. People eventually began to build over the baths, but excavations have been in progress for quite a few years.

During the Georgian era, baths became the fashion in England (probably originating with a royal visit of some kind). The aristocracy began to come to Bath both for medicinal reasons and societal reasons. Because so many people visited, they began to build a city on the site. They built houses and apartments, assembly rooms, buildings for shops and other amusements. It became a center of society where prominent people would come to mingle with other prominent people, even to try to find husbands for their daughters (or wives for their sons... as the case may have been).

The first thing we did when we got to Bath was to go to the Jane Austen Centre, which was kind of nice, but at the same time not as interesting as some of the other things we've seen. It was basically just a building where they've several costumes and some information relating to Jane Austen and the period she lived in. A lady gave us a quick presentation and then we were free to walk through and explore for ourselves. It was somewhat interesting, but had little to nothing to do with the real Jane Austen. It's several buildings up the row from the house where she lived when she was a resident of Bath. She lived in number 25 which is now a dentist's office. We passed it on the way up the hill.

We then went to the fashion museum, which is in the building where the historical assembly rooms still are. We saw a tribute to fashion through the eras that was extremely interesting. I wished I could have spent more time there. I did, however, get one of my only souvenirs from the gift shop just outside the museum. 

The architecture in Bath is still the original Georgian architecture, designed mostly by John Wood the Elder and his son, also John Wood. Between them, the marvels of the Circus and the Royal Crescent were designed. Landscaping had also become important at the time. A landscape architect named Lancelot or “Capability” Brown landscaped over 170 parks in the 18^th century. An important concept in architecture at the time was that the view of the land was uninterrupted and that the landscaper, in essence, attempted to improve upon what nature had placed there naturally. This, as our fabulous guide John informed us, was the reasoning behind what is called a “ha-ha.” He had mentioned them the night before and many people looked slightly bewildered. Apparently Jane Austen talks about them in Mansfield Park and (perhaps?) Persuasion. I looked it up last night and saw that it was defined as a “sunk fence,” but I found further explanation detailing that it was created to divide properties and contain livestock without disrupting the view of the landscape. So, today, we saw a ha-ha in Bath. John also gave a fabulous explanation for why it’s called a ha-ha – he said he had always been curious so he researched it and found out that it was called that because you can’t see it, so when you’re walking and you come up on it, you’re so surprised that all you can say is, “Ha-ha!” Well. Perhaps the 18^th century British people said that. I think I would probably just say, “Oh.” :)

Then we split up into groups of three or four for the afternoon. Noah, Liz and I ate at the Roscoff Café, and I got salmon scrambled eggs and the best apple juice I’ve ever tasted in my life. Then the three of us toured the Roman baths (absolutely fascinating), then went into the Pump Room and had a glass of the spring water (it was warm and basically tasted like well water... kind of nasty. But they say it’s good for your liver), then went into the Bath church. It’s a beautiful, enormous cathedral with dozens upon dozens of ancient grave markers. The architecture is Gothic and stunning. 

After seeing the cathedral we wandered around some more, went into a few shops, got some ice cream, then headed back to the bus and started back for the hotel. Tonight’s dinner consisted of a tomato-mozarella starter, followed by a main course of penne pasta, followed by lemon tart for dessert.

Tomorrow we head for Box Hill first, then for London. When our coach driver, Andy, drops us off at the hotel, that’s the last time we’ll see him. He’s been fantastic! We’ll walk around the city some together, get accustomed to using the tube, and try to get our bearings before tomorrow when we’ll split up and take on London in smaller groups. Then tomorrow night will be the last time we’ll see John as he’ll be leaving extremely early on Monday morning. I can’t believe it’s already coming to an end! I’m very excited for London though. At the moment my plans basically consist of a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe (I probably would have cried if I’d left England and not gotten to go), and going to the British Museum and/or the National Gallery. Several people want to go to Abbey Road and I may go along, but I’m not much of a Beatles fan so it wouldn’t really mean much to me, but it would certainly be interesting.

Well, in any case. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be in London. :)

Day 6: Chawton - Jane Austen's house and the Enchanted Forest of Southeast England

Today was a pretty easy day. We woke up and had breakfast, then got on the bus for a very long ride – about 4 and a half or 5 hours. We had some great times on the bus though. Lauren and Noah told an extemporaneous story about an enchanted land and incorporated everyone’s names. It ended up being about a magic carpet named Andy (our coach driver), a chimney sweep named John (our tour guide), a leaf named Mike (Dr. Buck), a fairy named Jessie, a gazelle named Ashley, two old hags named Hanna and No-Jonica, a death ogre named Nancy, a cloud goddess named Liz, a wood nymph named Ashlee, a sheep named Kellie, a gambling aardvark named Cale, a water droplet named Kendra, a pyramid inscription named Andrea, Taylor who could only saw the words “Jack” and “Slaw,” the good ice cream fairy Kay, and a pom-pom witch named Emily. :) Then we passed around cards that Liz made with all our names on the outsides and signed everyone’s cards so we have a memory from the trip. Then we started to watch Cool Runnings in the bus but didn’t quite finish.

We arrived in Haworth and some of us had lunch in a little tea shop called “Cassandra’s Cup” right across the road from Jane Austen’s house. (Cassandra was Jane Austen's sister's name.) I had a toasted bacon sandwich and tea – it was perfectly lovely. Then we toured Jane Austen’s home where she lived for the last eight years of her life. It was here that she revised Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice before sending them to publishers, and she wrote Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion while living there. I even have a picture of the tiny little desk where she sat and wrote every day.

Probably my favorite part of the day was, after touring the house, when our group went out into the garden, and gathered around John, who read us the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice. It was absolutely perfect and I got a great video of most of it. :) If I’m ever having a bad day I’m pretty sure I’m going to pull up this video and watch it because it’s just that fantastic. :)

Then we left Jane Austen’s house and walked to Chawton House which is where Jane’s brother lived. He inherited the estate in Chawton, and we went to the church where Jane’s mother and sister are buried. Jane herself spent the last days of her life in Winchester so she could be near to her doctor, and is buried inside the Winchester Cathedral. She died when she was only 41.

Then we got on the bus and came to our new hotel. We’ll stay here for two nights. Tomorrow is our day trip to Bath. Touring Jane Austen’s house today, it sort of dawned on me for the first time that Jane lived in Bath for awhile but really didn’t like it. She didn’t like the city atmosphere and it’s been recorded that the clacking of pattens (people’s wooden overshoes) on the stone streets got on her nerves. In class we read Persuasion, and in the novel, the heroine (Anne Elliot) doesn’t like Bath either. It’s just interesting to see the little pieces of herself that she sometimes wove into her characters.

When we got to the new hotel, a few of us took a walk on a footpath through the woods near the hotel. (All hotels seem to have woods and places to explore here. Having “grounds” must be a UK thing.) The guys (Cale and Noah) acted as tour guides and gave a fantastic impromptu tour of the Enchanted Forest of Southeast England. (Which happens to be beside a Best Western hotel in Chawton. Who knew?) We saw Dotty-Dotty-Woo-Toos, Amazonian Tree Snipe tracks, Ugwumps, Guppydactyls, fossilized dragon claws, a wishing stump, and even a Hisser. And Cale told us all about the epic battle between the Welsh clan and another clan I can’t remember the name of on Swan Lake as we stood on the edge and looked out. It was fabulous... and extremely entertaining. Dinner was delicious – an appetizer of goat cheese, followed by a main course of poached salmon and vegetables, and a dessert of apple crumble and custard. Andy (our Scottish coach driver) sat at our table so we asked him several culture-related questions and laughed. A lot. :)

Tomorrow, as I said, is our day trip to Bath. I’m pretty excited. :)

Day 5: Haworth - Brontë Parsonage, St. Michael's, and a talent show

Another great day. But, then, how could I expect anything else?

We had a wonderful breakfast this morning at the Cragwood, then headed out from the Lake District. We drove to Haworth, the home of the Brontë family – Charlotte, Anne, and Emily, and then their brother Branwell and their father Patrick. When we arrived in Haworth, the first thing we did was to walk down the streets to shop and look for a little place to have lunch. Some of us went quite a way down the road because we were determined to have fish and chips. Since, of course, we’re in England now and all. :) We did find a place - "The Golden Hind." Delicious!

After our fish and chips we wandered back up the road, going into shops here and there and looking around. Ashley (my roommate) and I went into the visitors’ center, actually, and we found copies of some of Anne and Charlotte’s books. After reading all about them and studying them in class, I would really like to collect and read all their books. I found a copy of Charlotte’s Villette for only £2.00, so of course I HAD to get it. :)

Then we walked to the parsonage where they lived which, of course, has now been converted into a museum. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the house but we saw the room where both Branwell and his father slept (where Branwell eventually died), the couch where Emily was lying when she died, their dining room table where they sat and wrote and discussed the stories they were writing, Charlotte’s room (which contained a dress, shoes, stockings, and spectacles that she actually wore), and the room where the siblings played as children and first started making up their fantasy worlds. It was different from what I expected. Part of that had to do with the fact that it was sunny and when I pictured their house in my mind I always saw dark gloominess, an isolated house on the moors where the wind is always whipping mercilessly, chilling you to the bone, and the ominous sound of crows cawing accompanies the bending of the leafless trees to and fro. That’s not really how it was. The house was a little bigger than I expected, the trees had leaves and everything was very green. Instead of being intimidating and dark, the moors were very pretty, actually (we hiked on them after the tour of the parsonage). I think most of it had to do with the fact that it was sunny. But I was almost hoping that it would be miserable, cloudy, and windy so that I could better imagine Cathy and Heathcliffe’s ghosts walking and sighing across the dark, foreboding moors. As it was, we had a lovely hike full of laughter and sunshine. I don’t know which I would prefer. :o)

After seeing the parsonage museum, we went next door to the Sunday School building for the Brontës’ church (St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church), where Charlotte taught. We offered our services as a group to the people there and we ended up doing a little cleanup outside the building. Some people weeded and scraped moss off the rocks outside the building, and a few of us planted flowers in wooden tubs out front. I think we helped out some. :) Here is the tub of flowers I planted. :) 

After that, we went into the church for a little bit, and then headed to one of the members of the church, Jens Hislop’s house. Dr. Buck has formed a friendship with him over the years of visiting, and tonight he and some friends had us over for dinner and we had a talent show of sorts. We had singing, a poetry recitation, Noah and Jens played some trombone duets, Emily Bair did some cheerleading tumbles out on the lawn, I performed three Shakespeare monologues, they put on a skit for us about Jonah that was HILARIOUS, and then we finished up with Noah performing “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler. SO funny.

After that we headed to the hotel – we’re here in Bradford, West Yorkshire for one night tonight. Tomorrow we’re headed to Chawton and Jane Austen’s brother’s house where she lived for most of her life and wrote most of her novels. :) I can’t wait!

Day 4: Grasmere, Rydal Mount, Bowness, and Cultural Reflections with Mr. John Lionet

Today we woke up at the same hotel we were at the night before – still in Scotland, in Symington – about an hour drive away from Edinburgh. We ate a quick breakfast, then hopped on the bus for a two and a half hour drive south across the border into the Lake District in England (where William Wordsworth grew up and lived for the majority of his life). I have to admit, I napped for a big part of the trip down. :o)

We got into the Lake District and John (our guide) told us about the differences between a U.S. state park and a European state park. In the U.S. a state park is preserved as a wilderness where no one really lives. In Europe, a state park is a place acclaimed as a natural beauty, but there are still villages and neighborhoods and communities where people live and work. There are strict regulations about houses and buildings, etc., but there are villages and communities.

We found out that most of the lakes are actually not called “lakes,” most are called “Ullswater” or something ending in “-water.” Only the largest, Lake Windermere, is actually called a lake. The drive was just beautiful! I tried to get lots of pictures out the windows (the sun peaked through occasionally and shone on the water), but in most of them there’s a glare and you can see my reflection. =P But I tried. :)

We stopped at a lookout on Kirkstone Pass which is named for a (rather unremarkable) stone on the hillside that apparently is supposed to look like a church. Maybe it did at one point, I don’t know. :)

We went into a town called Grasmere which was charming. We went into a few shops and stopped for lunch. A few of us got lunch at a little café called Potted Out. Noah and I got spaghetti and tried to inconspicuously eat sugar cubes from the container in the middle of the table. :) Then we went and visited Wordworth’s grave in the church cemetery, where he is buried along with his wife, Mary, his sister, Dorothy, and his daughter, Dora. I visited the graveyard with Noah, and it WAS a graveyard and there SHOULD be a sort of unspoken reverence that goes with you into such places, but you know those times when you get the giggles when you're supposed to be serious and then it just gets worse? Yep - that happened.

Grasmere is also famous for Beatrix Potter and her stories about Peter Rabbit and Aunt Jemima Puddleduck. I haven’t read the stories since I was little and I was very tempted to buy a few of the children’s books to take back with me. :)

Then we got back on the bus and went to see Wordsworth’s house, called “Rydal Mount.” It was fairly modest, but the grounds covered 4 acres that he landscaped entirely by himself. THAT was very impressive. The grounds are still kept up today, and the house is owned and kept up by his direct descendants. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the house, but I took plenty outside. It was simply splendid walking around the grounds – just gorgeous. You could even see a little bit of the lake at times.

Wordsworth has quite a few poems that we studied in class about nature. Well... Nature really. Wordsworth had a very pantheistic view of the world which comes through in a great majority of his poems, especially in the “great decade” of his life (from 1798 to 1808). And it was easy to see where he got his inspiration – the grounds were beautiful.

Then we got back on the bus, went to the dock in Grasmere where we got some ice cream and wandered around a few more shops, and then took the ferry across Lake Windermere to the town of Bowness. We got to wander through the town of Bowness as well – a very pretty town.

After about forty-five minutes, we got back on the bus and headed to our hotel, the Cragwood, which is right on Lake Windermere. It’s a wonderful hotel – I am very impressed with it. From the rooms to the food; and I especially love the grounds here. A few of us took a walk on a trail that led right down to the water’s edge. It was a very nice walk through the woods and around the stunning house. I absolutely love it. I went on another walk with my roommate Ashley so that she could get some pictures as well (her camera had been charging earlier). Then we came in and sat by the fireplace (it was a tad chilly outside), and read The Times. Fortunately, John was there and I asked him about some of the things I was reading in the newspaper. He kindly explained to me a little bit about the English political parties (of which I was totally ignorant). They have three – the Tory or conservative party, the Liberal Democrats in the middle, and then the Labour party. Currently, the Tories and the Lib Dems are being lumped together and having to share power because of some situation where neither party came out on top in a recent election, and the Lib Dems are apparently griping about it.

Then we had dinner. The appetizer was a chicken liver pate (or parfait as it was listed on the menu). It bore an interesting resemblance to bologna in a way. The meal was absolutely delicious – roasted saddle of lamb with lentils. Then dessert was orange crème brulee and blackberry ice cream on what John called a “cracker,” which reminded me of a sugar cone.

After dinner we had some free time, so our whole group let me do a dress rehearsal of my Shakespearean monologues that I prepared for the talent show at the Brontë sisters’ church in Haworth. So I did a run-through and I think it went well. I got positive feedback. :) Then we sat down and had a fascinating conversation with John about the main differences he perceives between American culture and European (more specifically British) culture. One of the main differences he talked about was how we raise our children. In the U.S., a lot of times, everything is about the kids. He gave the example that they occasionally have American friends stay with them and when the adults will be having coffee or sitting around having wine, their friends’ kids will come in and ask for something and they immediately jump up to take care of it for them, whereas if his kids come in and ask for something, they’ll often say “Hold on for awhile, we’re talking,” or “Yes, all right, but you’re going to have to wait for a bit.” He also said that for his kids to walk into the house and just go grab something out of the fridge without asking even though they’re 14 and 16 would be extremely rude and disrespectful and they would never think of doing that.

Another difference is the way Americans talk to their children. He said he’s heard Americans tell their kids “I’m proud of you” and “I love you” about ten times a day whereas in England and France, parents only really give high praise to their children if, quite frankly, they’ve earned it. Teachers also, he said, seem to give students a more truthful picture of how they did instead of sugar coating everything. Basically, they don’t give undue praise.

We asked what his favorite thing was about different cultures that he’s been to. He said that his favorite thing about France is the determination of its people to preserve and uphold their culture – even the uneducated class will go to museums and art galleries on Sunday afternoons, etc. His favorite thing about Scotland is the pride and respect the people have for their nation – their patriotism. His favorite thing about Italy is just how full of life and joy people are. His favorite thing about the U.S. is that it doesn’t matter who you are, most people will accept you. He also likes Americans’ ability to apparently be comfortable wherever we’re at. :o) He said that, yes, on a whole, Americans are quite a bit louder than really anyone anywhere in Europe, and, as a tour guide, he has seen his fair share of Americans’ insensitivity to other cultures, but for the most part seemed very fond of the U.S. and its people.

Just to give a little background about John – his name is John Lionet. He’s English, and I believe married to an Englishwoman; they have two boys and moved to France awhile ago because they liked it much better than where they had been living in England. He speaks English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian all pretty much fluently, and guides most often in English, French, and Spanish. He’s been all over the world and is very knowledgeable about pretty much anything you’d care to ask him about. It was great to talk to him and hear his opinion about the cultural differences.

Well, tomorrow we head to Haworth – the village where the Brontë sisters lived and wrote. We’ll do some service projects for their church, and then have dinner and the talent show. I am loving this trip. :)

Day 3: Dryburgh Abbey, Abbotsford, and Céilidh

Today was such a fantastic day!

Well. Let’s start with last night. I was having trouble falling asleep (which is very unusual for me) and I was contemplating getting up to take a Benadryl when my roommate, Ashley (who had been asleep for about an hour), got up, walked over to the window, tried to open it, looked out for awhile and then got back in bed. This morning when I asked her about it she didn’t remember at all, and we had a good laugh about her sleepwalking episode. When we set the alarm clock in our room last night it was 10:30 and we forgot to set it for 22:30, so we woke up a little late for breakfast but we got down in time to eat something. Then we set out.

We were planning on going to Scott’s View first (a great lookout where you can take great pictures) but a road was closed and we couldn’t get there easily, so we went straight to Dryburgh Abbey, where I got bunches of pictures that will have to just go on Facebook because there are way too many to put on here! But it was fascinating. Dr. Buck asked us to find a quiet spot for about 20 minutes and journal or meditate so I found a spot in the Chapter House off of the Cloister and beside where the dormitories would have been. It was an administrative area for the Abbey so it seemed funny to choose to sit in there and meditate, but they had Gregorian chants and sacred music sung by a choir playing through a stereo system beneath the stairs that sounded just gorgeous echoing off the stone walls of the Chapter House and I didn’t want to leave. The monks would go to the Chapter House each morning to sit beneath the stone arches, listen to a chapter of the monastic rule read to them, make administrative decisions, confess their sins, and receive chastisement. After sitting there for awhile I started wandering around and taking pictures. Sir Walter Scott is buried at Dryburgh Abbey, so I have a few pictures of his grave as well.

Next we went to Sir Walter Scott’s home, Abbotsford. In the class, I enjoyed his novel The Bride of Lammermoor, but I can’t say it was the easiest one to read or necessarily my favorite. But when we got to Sir Walter Scott’s home and the guide (not John but the one who takes care of Abbotsford) began giving us a tour of the house, I was fascinated and just astounded by everything. He made it so exciting! He even recited some of Scott's poetry for us (I tried to get a video but I don't know how well it turned out). I could have listened to him forever. When the tour was over I just wanted to start over from the beginning and have him go into all the minute details of everything - it was that great. We ate lunch (soup, sandwiches, and dessert) in Scott’s own bedroom upstairs. Then we began the tour and went into his private study (containing 2,000 books) where sat his desk and armchair (the desk still holds his spectacles, some quills and record books), and then into his library (which holds another 7,000 volumes, as well as a display containing artifacts that Sir Walter collected such as a lock of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s hair, the crucifix that Mary Queen of Scots clutched as she was executed, a wooden box made from one of Shakespeare’s trees, etc.). (I should mention that for the extra credit journal scavenger hunt I was supposed to have found a statue of Eddie Olchiltree [a character from one of Scott’s novels] and get a picture with my arm around him but I forgot to take my syllabus so I forgot to find Eddie... so I think I’m probably discontinuing the scavenger hunt at this point.) There was also a painting in the library that told a story of when Sir Walter was about 15 years old and staying with a fried whose father had the poet Robert Burns at his house one day talking with a collection of intelligent men of that time. Burns noticed a painting and poem on the wall and loved the poem so much that he was moved to tears. He asked all the men in the room who the poet was, but no one could tell him except young Walter Scott, who was so shy that he had to be pushed up to Burns by his friend.

The next room was a beautiful sitting room decorated with stunning green hand-painted Chinese wallpaper. There was a portrait of Sir Walter on the wall with his beloved dogs. Next we passed through his armory (he loved to collect things, so the walls were full of every kind of weapon you can imagine). Then we went into the beautiful dining room. The enormous table was set with a set of his china, and there were portraits of his family on the walls. When he had suffered from strokes near the end of his life, he could no longer climb the stairs to his bedroom, so he asked for his bed to be brought down to the bay window at the far end of the dining room, which looks out over the yard and the river tweed – a gorgeous view. That was the last view that Scott ever saw - he died in that dining room. We also went into the entrance hall which is filled with suits of armor, animal skulls (among them a walrus skull), swords, and there is a clock above the fireplace that once belonged to Marie Antoinette. Then we went out and explored the grounds. We walked through the gardens, walked around to the back of the house where there’s a hill sloping down to the river. We walked down to the river and petted the horses and then Lauren and I went and spent some more time inside looking at the house and the artifacts (I was absolutely intrigued by the study, the library, the sitting room with Chinese wallpaper, and the armory).

Then we headed back to Edinburgh and went to “A Taste of Scotland,” which is apparently a Las-Vegas-ified version of a Scottish Céilidh (I spelled it wrong yesterday but a Céilidh was a get-together for people from all around where they would sing, dance, eat, and spend time together. What we saw was more of a show. But it was so much fun!) I had a great time. To my chagrin we had to ask them to remove the wine from our tables but... rules are rules. There was a bagpiper, dancers, a singer, an accordion player, a fiddler, and four little girls who came out and did some traditional Scottish dances. One guy did the traditional sword dance – that was cool. Twice the dancers went out into the audience and picked people to bring up to the front to dance with and once, one of the girls came and grabbed Cale from our table so he got to go up and dance at the front. :) Right before intermission, the chef brought up a plate of haggis, to which the host recited Robert Burns’ poem “Address to a Haggis,” and then invited us all to have some. We were brought plates of haggis and I wondered how I would like it, but I loved it! It was delicious and I’d definitely eat it again. :)

Then we got on the bus and came back to the hotel, with John, our guide, and our new coach driver, Andy, telling us jokes on the drive back. It was a fantastic day and I’m having an amazing time. It just keeps getting better and better! Tomorrow we’ll pack up and head to the Lake District (!!!) to see William Wordsworth’s town and grave, take a boat across Lake Windermere (on which apparently Nessie’s cousin was recently sighted... ha!) and eventually get to our hotel, the Craigwood (which is apparently very nice). I can’t wait!

Days 1 & 2: Flights, Arriving in Scotland, and Edinburgh

Wow. I really don’t know how to start! My internal clock is extremely confused. :o) It’s now about 10:30 pm, meaning that at home it would be about 5:30. I got a good solid two hours of sleep on the flight from Chicago to London, but that was about it. The sun went down as we were flying over the east coast of southern Canada and when I woke up about two hours later, we were over the edge of Ireland and the sun was rising. Whoa.

All our flights and connections and travel went very smoothly, including the connection from London to Edinburgh where we thought we were only going to have an hour. We ended up having about an hour and forty minutes which was extremely helpful. And I learned that UK airport security is T-I-G-H-T.

When we finally landed in Scotland, we met our guide, Mr. John Lionet (who is really cool!) and headed out on our coach for downtown Edinburgh. We arrived and went straight down the hill to tour the royal palace – Holyrood – so called because “rood” is an old Scottish word for “cross.” Her majesty the queen of Scotland still resides at the palace in the summer. Across from the palace is the Scottish parliament, where John explained some of the differences between the British and Scottish governments. Then we went on a personal-listening-device guided tour of the castle. For extra credit on my journal, I have to do a scavenger hunt, and the first thing on the list is to give an informal tour of Holyrood from memory, so here it goes. I would give you pictures to accompany this tour, but we weren’t permitted to take pictures inside the palace. So there are a couple, but you’ll mostly have to make do with my words. :)

We walked through the gates and got our tickets, and then the first area we entered was called the forecourt. It was a square courtyard of sorts with grass and surrounded by the internal walls the palace. There was a “fountain” in the middle, although I was confused because I usually associate fountains with water.

Then we went up a grand staircase. The architecture, layout, and overall splendour (sorry, I couldn’t help it) of the palace increases as you get closer and closer to the king’s bedchamber. There are several columns throughout based on ancient Greek architecture (Corinthian, Doric, Ionic), and across from the staircase is a great portrait of the queen painted in 1967 I believe. The first room we enter is the dining room, where the queen sits in the middle of the table (that seats from twenty to thirty guests) and looks out over the forecourt. The table is set with silver and surrounded by portraits of several people including Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The next room was the throne room where we saw a huge portrait of a Charles... either I or II... I can’t remember which at the moment. But he was painted in an interesting fashion because there was armor either discarded or ready to be put on in a corner behind him, but the king himself was wearing a simple black outfit that a scholar might have worn, and wore only the neck piece of armor. Apparently this represented chivalry.

The next room was the evening drawing room, complete with a portrait of the Queen Mother, and the next room was the morning drawing room, equally as lavish as its evening counterpart. Apparently many important affairs of state have taken place in this room even recently. Next was the ante chamber, and then the king’s bedchamber, which was more splendid than anything we had seen thus far. There was a mural on the ceiling of Hercules, painted with the illusion that the person was actually looking into the sky and seeing Olympus – it was meant to flatter the king.

We then passed through the king’s closet (only slightly smaller than the bedchamber itself), and went into the Great Gallery which was carpeted with a lush, deep red carpet and the walls were covered with more portraits than I think it would’ve been possible for me to count. This was the room where knights have been honored – Sir Sean Connery was knighted in the room. Many of the portraits looked similar, and that was apparently because the painter was commissioned to do so. It was to further establish the Stuarts’ right to rule Scotland.

We then passed into the Queen’s lobby, where we found the deep green velvet robe and official insignia (star and crest) of the Order of the Thistle all contained in glass. The Order of the Thistle is the most prestigious Order in all of Scotland. There was a picture of the Queen dressed in the robe, hat, and insignia, etc. This room was the first of the “Queen’s apartments.”

Next was the Queen’s antechamber and it was the oldest part of the palace, and right away we went into the Queen’s bedchamber where the famous Darnley bed, recently restored, is contained behind glass. On the wall was a picture of Mary Queen of Scots.

We then went upstairs to Mary’s own bedroom which was splendid and lush and had its own little supper room attached to it. It was here that she was eating with several people including her Italian secretary Rizzio when Lord Darnley a few other men burst onto the scene, dragged Rizzio into the next room and stabbed him to death (56 times actually) in a fit of jealousy.

Next were the Outer Chambers and they contained a few portraits including a famous one of Mary Queen of Scots, and the Darnley jewel. There was also an alcove where Mary knelt daily to say her prayers.

This room concluded the tour in the palace and we were back to the forecourt, and then passed through to the Holyrood Abbey ruins. I stood in the ruins of the Abbey nave (and took a few pictures).  The Abbey was built in 1128. The story goes that King David... was in the woods and was almost attacked by an enraged stag. Suddenly, however, he saw a crucifix in the stag’s antlers, so he reached up and grabbed it and was saved. So he built the Abbey in honor of his delivery, and that is where the name “Holyrood” came from. Next we walked through the royal gardens, which were lovely, blooming, and fragrant. The sun was even out for us! It made me feel like I was in a Jane Austen novel, going for a walk in the gardens. :)

And that was Holyrood palace! After touring the palace, we went to St. Giles’ cathedral. Here he is in the middle pane of this window. The story goes that he rescued a hind from being shot – he took the arrow in his hand instead, so he is always depicted with an arrow through his hand. There was another stained glass window that was more recent and is a very modern tribute to Robert Burns. Next, back in what is called the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle, there are stalls for the various lords and ladies that have been selected for the order because of their contributions to different causes. Each stall has all the coats of arms of every lord or lady that has sat there, and the vaulted ceiling (you can kind of see) is richly decorated. But I got really excited when he pointed out this coat of arms in one of the stalls. It belonged to a Lord Cullen who was a judge in the Lockerbie trial! The IWU Theatre Guild will present the play “The Women of Lockerbie” this coming April which tells the story of that incident.

After the Cathedral (which is now basically a community center with an eclectic collection of items dedicated to different historical figures), we went to lunch at a pub called The Last Drop. The food was delicious, I had a shot of coffee, and we had Sticky Tacky pudding for dessert (delicious!). Then we did a little bit of browsing and shopping, then climbed back on the bus to head for our hotel (which I was told was only about 55 minutes away). I tried my hardest to keep my eyes open because I wanted shots of the countryside but it was a useless battle. I fell asleep pretty quickly and dozed on and off. Awhile later I remember waking up and seeing signs for south Edinburgh. I thought that was odd because we’d been driving for some time and still weren’t out of Edinburgh. But I feel back asleep and didn’t wake up again until close to when we arrived at the hotel. Come to find out, we had spent about two and a half hours on the coach because the driver had gotten lost. But that was all right – I got a great nap out of it. :) We unloaded, freshened up, had a delicious dinner, and then sat around for awhile having tea and coffee. Then I decided I had better sit down and record this all before I forgot it. That’s all for tonight, but I will have to write some more tomorrow on the death of Rizzio for my scavenger hunt. Tomorrow we’re going to Dryburgh Abbey, and we’ll finish out the day by going to a Scottish Caligh where I’m going to try haggis for the first time! And we might even get a Scottish dance – we’ll have to see. :)

Wow, what a crazy 48 hours. And we’re not even done with Scotland yet!

T minus 2 days

Surprisingly, this is the first blog I've ever attempted. Fortunately it will only be 10 days long.  :o)

This month, I took 19th Century British Literature for May Term at Indiana Wesleyan. Why? Well that's easy. Part of the class is a ten day trip to the UK.

The class started on May 4 and we've had eight days of classes including lectures, quizzes, and two exams. Today was our final exam for the class, and now all that's left is the trip!

We depart on Sunday, May 15 (leaving Chicago a little after 5:00 pm) on British Airways, have a connection in London at 8:00 am, and arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland at around 9:20 am on May 16. From there, we'll embark on a ten day literary tour that highlights Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, and the Brontë sisters - the main authors we studied in the class. We'll depart from London on May 24, arriving back in Chicago at about 6:00 pm. The itinerary outline is as follows:

Day 1 - Departure from Chicago
Day 2 - Arrive in Edinburgh - Symington (2 nights)
Day 3 - Day trip to Scott's View, Dryburgh Abbey and Abbotsford
Day 4 - Symington - Lake District (1 night)
Day 5 - The Lake District - Haworth (1 night)
Day 6 - Haworth - Chawton - Farnham (2 nights)
Day 7 - Day trip to Bath
Day 8 - Farnham - Box Hill - London (2 nights)
Day 9 - London
Day 10 - Departure from London

The last grade I get for the class will be the completion of a journal. But I've noticed that, in the past few days, I've had about 39845028745 people ask me to tell them all about the trip and bring back pictures. (Okay maybe not quite that many. But you know.) So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. The blog can serve both as my journal for the class, and as an easy way for me to share my trip with everyone else who wants to know about the shenanigans I get myself into over there. :)

T minus 2 days. Tomorrow: packing!

"Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns. These things and deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virtue. Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded; appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ. There is - I repeat it - a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them." -Charlotte Brontë, Preface, Jane Eyre