The End: back in the US and missing Bath

I can’t believe my trip to England is now over. Today is my first real day at home and unpacking, cleaning, and laundry are in store for me.

I did not get to bed very early Friday night so the morning came too early. We ventured down the hill at 6:45am and the bus was incredibly full. Since this was an issue when they picked us up at the airport at the very beginning you would think they would have planned better this time. I sat next to Professor Ryan and he was very chatty for early in the morning and was all interested in my schedule for next semester when I didn’t want to think about it because I just finished classes let me have some time without any classes.

England security is even more intense than US security. A guy came and asked us a bunch of questions in line and then we went up to check my bags. They were both under 50lbs YAY! The plane ride was pretty uneventful, but longer than the way out. We landed in Newark with announcements on the plane several times telling us that everyone must pick up their bags even if they are connecting. It was a long wait for our bags to come so we all said goodbye while we were waiting. No pictures because its not allowed in the baggage claim area and we all split off there when our bags came because people had connecting flights to catch. Greg was waiting for me and we ventured on to the farm party and I made it home on Sunday at around 3pm.

The trip was absolutely amazing and I’m so glad I went. I can’t believe it’s over already. Five weeks really fly by. It was just an incredible trip and as I unpack now I am already thinking to my scrapbook when I will organize all my adventures. Hopefully I’ll see you all soon if I haven’t seen you already!

--------

10 things to remember from the trip

1. I found almost 40 lions in Bath

2. I walked up and down that wonderful hill (or slope as they say) over 35 times

3. I realized I am a B+ / A- student who can not break the threshold of a true A

4. Going to London three times is still not enough time to see it all

5. You accumulate a lot of things in 5 weeks

6. Getting around England is so much easier than the US with trains and the tube

7. The Brits dress nicer than Americans and you almost never see them wearing sneakers

8. The Brits are really nice, saying "of course you can my love," remembering your usual, and saying they are going to miss you at the gelato place

9. It doesn't actually rain all the time in England, and most of time it is nice and hot (though they are going into a drought so I'm not sure that weather is typical)

10. I met some really great people and I will miss seeing them all the time

--------

our first housemate picture (minus Chelsea who hadn't arrived yet)

and our last

July 9: The final tea and the final day in Bath

Our last day in Bath was a busy one and as much as I would like to tell you all about it I should really get to bed as the bus is picking us up at 7am. So this will be brief. After a late night last night I got up a little after 10am and did some shopping. Laura and I then met up to go to the huntsman for lunch complete with fish n chips and our English beer made in Bath (It wasn’t our favorite). Back up the hill to get ready for the tea and then to the hotel down the hill.

The final tea had homemade tea, cucumber sandwiches, something I can’t remember with clotted cream and jam that involved a dispute over the order based on north or south, and lemon cake. We also picked up some goodies including a picture and t-shirt and then headed out to queen park to take a housemate picture. There was little hang out at the Huntman and it was all sad to realize it was all over. The end of the evening was pretty uneventful with packing and cleaning. I am checking two suitcases that both weigh under 50lbs so cross your fingers that all works and the whole baggage issue and customs goes well. Security too we can’t forget that. Tomorrow has me at the Quinn resort so no post, but soon I will leave a wrap up post. In less than 24 hours I will be on US soil.

photos

We've had some great times here and met so many great people. We had such a wonderful house. Thanks for being great guys.

July 8: Last day of classes

Today was the last day of classes. In Jane Austen we did fun activites and a quiz that was not meant for a grade. Laura actually won at that. Between classes Chelsea took us out to find some clothes and I bought a dress. Film class was long, he let us out 15 minutes late (really! It’s the last class, we had to take a quiz and be ready for write night and he lets us out late). The quiz was hard of course. We practiced our reading again and then we headed over to the Huntsman.

We were on the list first. It went pretty well there was a lot of laughter and later people said it was really good so yay! A lot of the other acts were really good too. (It’s kinda late so I will spare long details and a long post so I actually get to sleep) After write night we came back up to the house to get ready. All the girls decided to go out. Chelsea helped us figure it all out and did a real intricate updo for my hair. Everyone looked amazing. Peter accompanied us but MJ and Jason opted out. It was a lot of fun and we ended up staying out pretty late. Tomorrow looks like a busy last day.

photos of today (#74, page 4)

In Search of Mr. Darcy what we performed for Write Night

Amelia – Janie aka Jane & Barbara

Me – Beth aka Elizabeth

MJ – Will aka Darcy, Butterworth & Computer

Catherine – narrator

Peter – Chuck aka Mr. Bingley, Dr. Fallon & Security Guard

Chelsea – Su & Jonathan

Laura – Claire, Lindsay, & ASE student

Jason – George aka Wickham

July 7: Relaxing at the spa

Yesterday evening ending with a most of the house honesty room chat in Laura and my room. It was good since we were planning on just heading to bed because we didn’t really know what to do with ourselves. We ended up staying up til around 2am. I was so tired I just decided to pass out on my bed and get a shower in the morning.

Yesterday evening was celebration because papers were done. As a result when we arrived in Jane Austen class and he asked if we had done the reading we all started at him blankly. Then upon realizing we had readings we searched for our packets filled with the reading only for him to tell us it was online. With no possible way for us to pretend we’d read it we shook our heads. The class was mostly spent watching the adaptation for Persuasion. The actress who plays Anne was soooooo depressing. On a side note she was also the actress in the Jane Austen video at the centre that we watched yesterday. Aunt Petunia was also in it.

Between classes I got a nice salmon sandwich again :] wonderful and Laura, MJ, and I had a nice chat in the basement of Nelson house. Film class was boring as per usual. We finished watching The Last of England, an avant-garde film. He also said we could get out of class earlier, but that did not really happen.

After finishing class Laura, Chelsea, and I ventured off to the Bath Spas. We got the cheapest package which only included the pools and the steam room. It cost £3 to simply get a towel. We started out in the steam rooms. We inadvertently ended up in the lavender smelling room, which we went back to later. We tried the other rooms later, but the scents were not nearly as good and the one room that was good in scent was not nearly as warm.

After the steam room we went up to the terrace pool on the top floor. No pictures are allowed up there unfortunately, but it is a beautiful view and the waterfall is very nice for a back massage type feeling. We then ventured to the Minerva pool. We concluded back at the steam rooms and then got a shower and headed out. We went to a Thai place for dinner and took it back to the house to eat while watching the football match of Spain vs. Germany. We were rooting for Germany, but Spain won. Now we are rooting for the Netherlands.

I haven’t actually gone upstairs this evening Laura did and brought my computer down. We’ve been practicing a story “In Search of Mr. Darcy.” Catherine wrote it as a parody of Pride and Prejudice with ASE staff. I was assigned the part of Beth (aka Elizabeth). We were practicing and hopefully my secret acting talents will emerge tomorrow.

Other than that we’ve chatted a little and are now watching Pride and Prejudice to prepare for our performance tomorrow in which all of the house is participating. We won’t be filming it, but hopefully someone will take pictures. Wish us luck!

p.s. it took me forever to figure out what was in fact causing me to still smell like the spa but the lavender scent is very present in my hair despite the shower ;)

photos (page 3 #52)

July 6: With papers done now it is starting to feel like the end...

First things first HAPPY 21^st BIRTHDAY DEB! I hope you have a great day! Today I turned in my last paper and I am officially on the home stretch.

For Jane Austen we went to the Jane Austen Centre. It wasn’t actually that exciting, but it beats sitting in class discussing and we had to go since we were here. After class I went and printed out my film paper and did a little bit of shopping. I also tried a new sandwich with salmon, SO GOOD! I am definitely getting it tomorrow too. Film class had us watching another avant-garde film that I found boring. Why can’t we watch something happy and entertaining? After class I decided to go to an atm. I was going to try and make it, but with the bus and gift and lunch I just can’t make it. Of course I then found a 20 in a pair of my pants later.

Laura finished writing her paper that is due tomorrow so we had a little movie night. Now it is just a little after 10 and I am not sure what I am going to do with the rest of my evening. I may get a shower and head to bed because yesterday was a long night, but I am actually not that tired.

It is hard to believe that my time here is coming to an end. Nothing too exciting planned for the rest of the week: some shopping, relaxing at the spa, going out to a pub, and the final tea. Packing must start taking place soon too. I will be seeing you all before too long.

photos (today starts on page 2, second row, #29)

July 5: Having fun is more important than writing papers right?

Today I woke up later than I intended, got a shower and headed off to class. Nothing too eventful in Jane Austen. I edited my paper one more time during my lunch break before submitting it and then it was off to film class where we watched an unexpected film; now don’t get too excited as it was an avant-garde film and I fell asleep a few times while watching. It was very weird. After class I spent most of the evening writing my film paper before a bunch of us from the house decided to go out. We weren’t out too long and it was a lot of fun. We are planning to go out later this week and it may just have to happen tomorrow in celebration of completing the papers. I have just reedited my paper again and worry that it is not very good, but I just want to be done. I think I am going to call it quits and just submit what I have. It is a grand 2,209 words with the lower limit of the paper being 2,000 and the upper being 2,500. Hopefully it is alright as his instructions are very, very vague for this assignment and it is unclear what he really wants. Tomorrow during lunch I also have to pick out all the pictures I am going to give to Jonathan for his slideshow at the final tea, but I think it is time for bed now.

pictures from today (page 1 #15)

July 3-4, 2010: Celebrating the 4th in England seems ironic

So I realize I got a little behind in my blog, but a paper was due. As I have now submitted it I thought this 15 minute gap between my classes would be a good time to catch you up on the weekend happenings.

We went to London bright and early on Saturday, making this my third Saturday in a row in London. Still we did not manage to do everything, but just more of a reason to come back to England ;] We began the day a little later then planned and going straight to the changing of the guard instead of doing Westminster Abbey first. The changing of the guard was long and we got rather annoyed. We stood on the monument and they had ropes all in front of the gates, but they still let people walk in front of the gates between the guards entering them. We thought that was rather pointless as there was no where for them to go. We distinctly saw several of the same individuals continually changing sides just to take photos. After the long process that the changing of the guard takes we ventured back to Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was cool and we got to see a lot of tombs, but no pictures allowed in there. We split from Amelia at this point and Laura and I continued on to The Tower.

Now you could easily spend an entire day at The Tower, but we only had a couple hours. We got to see the beefeaters and visit some of the different towers where famous individuals were housed such as Walter Raleigh, the princes, and Anne Boleyn. You even got to vote on who you think orchestrated the presumed murders of the princes, y opinion being their Uncle who then ascended the throne. Other areas included the new armory exhibit as well as the torture exhibit. Not an entirely happy place.

Laura, being the avid tennis player, and I on simply the idea that we were in London ventured to Wimbledon. We did not realize how very far away it is being one of the last stops. It was then quite a hike to actual Wimbledon where we could only see the outside. We took a few pictures and then hiked back to the station. We did get to see the scoreboards and some cheers. The plan was to go on the eye but the long line and the uncertainty of the timing made us avoid it in favor of not running to the train station and avoiding being stranded in London overnight.

photos from London

Sunday was an early morning, but not quite as early as we went to the Abbey for a church service. It was a small gathering and seemed very like a Catholic service to me, which I wasn’t entirely expecting. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, no fireworks or anything signifying the 4^th of July. Instead I worked on my Jane Austen paper for the majority of the day.

photos from Sunday

July 2: Today I went to Hogwarts

Today was the Oxford adventure. We left at 8am and upon arriving got a short tour by Jonathan. Then we were left to our own devices and we chose to go to Christ Church College, a main point for Harry Potter productions. We went to the great hall, which actually wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. The staircase was so much better! It was my favorite part. The library was sadly not open to us, but we did get to go to a room that was the basis for the Hospital Wing and the Gryffindor dancing lessons. We also tried to find specific Oxford sweatshirts, but failed. Furthermore I split off and then was a few minutes late getting back because I got lost. But the rational is to ask a cute old couple where the main library is, no well the big round building is and they will direct you. They then took us to go punting, which was quite an endeavor. It is not our forte. Some groups got Jonathan or were just naturally gifted, but that was not how I would describe us. We did not get very far, but we did all try our hands at it. I ended up directing us the whole way back.

So in conclusion of the day we visited Hogwarts and discovered that punting is not as easy as it looks (and make sure you wear appropriate clothing, clothing you can get wet if you are inexperienced). Tomorrow we head back to London bright an early for a 7:13 train. We plan to see Westminster Abbey, then the changing of the guard, followed by the Tower a possible trip to Wimbledon to just take a photo (as there is no way we can get seats because it is finals for the women) and conclude with the London Eye. Hopefully we won’t be out too too late because we have papers due Monday and we want to have fun on the 4^th of July. We need to get to bed so we can wake up in the morning for our trip though we did catch a few fireworks. Not only are we in the wrong country but it is a few days early :P Enjoy your weekend everyone!

photos

July 1: I want the real Obi-Wan Kenobi

In Jane Austen class we learned all about the navy and I zoned out through most of it. Film included a very depressing movie and an incredibly difficult quiz. He said they would get harder, as if that was normal, but since the quizzes are supposed to help our grade I don’t know why as they are certainly bringing down my grade and not helping. I mean he asked what one point someone made in class was. He just expects us to be a sponge and absorb absolutely everything. Anyway, what you need to remember about this movie is it has Obi-Wan Kenobi (the original) in it and he is fat and mean, which he just can't be. I want the real Obi-Wan, the guiding, nice Obi-Wan.

After class, Laura, Catherine and I ventured to the old Roman Baths. We tried to convince Amelia but she was too dedicated to her papers. The baths were alright, cool to see, but some places were really creepy and dark. After the baths we came back to the house where there were no boys! They went to Scotland for the day and are missing Oxford tomorrow. Speaking of that I should probably start getting ready for bed, I still need to get a shower and as is the case with most of the trips I have to get up earlier than I do for class. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

photos (page 5, third from the end or #98)

June 30: Just as one thing works out another breaks down

Today was going so well too. Classes brought nothing of interest, but after class was the skyline walk. Now this was to be a strenuous walk including many steep hills and over 2 miles. We started on this voyage and not too far into it my stomach decided it was not going to be happy. So for the over 2 hours that this hike took I felt like I was going to throw up. The hike itself was not that bad; I was expecting much worse if only my stomach had decided it would cooperate. We walked back to the apartment later than usual and had pasta for dinner.

Interrupting the work of the evening was a declaration of trash day as we all burst into song and made an assembly line of our trash and recycling. We forgot to take it out last week so we were on a mission not to forget this week. And why not make a game out of it? It was quite amusing. "IT'S GARBAGE DAY!"

On a positive note the baggage issue seems to be resolved, but now my camera is not cooperating. It takes photos, but after a little while says there is an error and must shut down. It only has a little over a week to last and then my handy warranty will be used as I take it into Best Buy and they fix it up. You can do it little camera!

photos (page 3, third to last picture or #58)

June 29: We may be starting a bad habit

So Laura and I may be starting a bad habit of going to this little gelato shop after classes. It has been a hard start to the week so we felt it necessary.

In our Jane Austen class we had presentations. Hopefully ours went ok, but as he hasn’t given us grades on our last presentation so there is nothing to gauge it on. Between classes I went to Retro for lunch where we had already put my bacon on for my sandwich :]. Amelia did a great presentation on a British tv show, she’s so knowledgeable. The film we watched afterwards was pretty boring and lacked a plot, but did have the father from Pirates of the Caribbean. As I mentioned Laura and I went to the gelato place and we had thought to go shopping, but we forgot to bring extra money so we have decided to do it during lunch break tomorrow.

Chelsea and Catherine made a nice pork, potato, salad, and tomato dinner complete with chocolate cake, icecream, raspberries, and strawberries for dessert. Amelia, Laura, and I then had a brief discussion about places to see while in Oxford on Friday including some Harry Potter places :] I’m pretty excited.

Otherwise nothing much of interest has happened today. Hope all is well in the States and you guys are doing fun things!

photos (today starts on page 2 at the bottom #36)

June 28: They didn't say the miles uphill it would take to get to Prior Park

Today was an earlier Jane Austen class so we could venture to Prior Park. Now what they didn’t say was that it was miles to Prior Park and all up hill. This was quite an unexpected uphill battle. Upon arriving at the park we discovered it was closed and didn’t open for a little while, sigh why did we rush up that hill then? Dr. Fallon took us around a bit and we took some scenic shots :] The focus was basically the picturesque of Jane Austen’s times and landscapes looking like paintings. We then made the walk back to Nelson House where I had to prepare for my presentation.

I was significantly flustered when it was time for my presentation to begin, but I made it through. I forgot some things on my notes and felt like I missed some points, but I had some active participation, mostly by Amelia (thanks) and Professor Ryan went on a totally different tangent with one of my points. Furthermore in his powerpoint he had scheduled to talk about something that I talked about so he skipped it :D Amelia said I did really well.

I met with my Jane Austen presentation partner after class and we worked on our discussion on Highbury (the city in Emma). The common room is amazing in Linley house and they have a real dinning room. Afterwards, Laura and I went for some well deserved gelato. I called the credit card company to sort it all out. They were calling just to make sure it was me, but wasn’t that the point of me telling them I was going to be in the UK?

The rest of the evening holds little excitement and may turn into an early evening as I have a headache. I’m also craving some real food and it is lacking in our house so I shall have to see what I can actually muster up for dinner.

photos from today

June 27: castles, polo, and all things welsh

Today is the father’s day feast at the Fulton Veasey’s. I am sad I’m not there, but hope you all are having a great time. Just because I’m not eating crabs doesn’t mean I didn't do something today so Laura and I ventured to Wales. It is only a short train ride away. Upon arriving in Cardiff, Wales we discovered we left the map back at our house. Great planning I know, but we continued on in the city and spotted the castle. It cost us a bit to go in and there were signs everywhere about the polo match, but we ventured on. Inside we watched a little video, just the two of us, that was quite weird. Upon its completion we went down some sketchy passageways and up to the wall. We walked around looking at all the different flags before climbing the steps to the keep. This was no easy feet as they were pretty steep and included a spiral staircase, which is easier to go up then down. Next was the mansion where we were allowed to take photos YAY but no flash.

For lunch I picked up some chips and a hot-dog (very American though the hotdog was very bizarre and I ended up not liking it). We then went back up to the wall and sat to take in the polo. Now these people who were actually there for the polo match sitting down by the field (we were elevated up at the wall height) were dressed like they were going to a wedding. Polo is a very proper sport. And as I said in the photo album I consider it a combination of croquet and soccer with horses. Though when they were doing it with the castle backdrop it made me think of medieval jousting. After the first match they had the people go out and level the grass where divots were formed – seems weird if it is such a proper sport but Amelia says the king and queen used to do it and it was considered quite an honor. We watched one game and then a British cowboy did a sort of between game show. A British cowboy seems interesting to begin with and he said lassoo instead of lasso, which was very funny. He further commented on how he went to Dallas to compete and I feel as though Laura and I were the only ones who knew what he was talking about. We had a very relaxing day and headed back to the train station at our leisure. There ended up being a hold up on route because two trains got stuck, but we arrived. On the train we heard updates about the England Germany World Cup Match. In Bath all the pubs were silent as people watched the game near the end. No riots in the streets tonight.

Back in Bath I got to talk to some lovely people: My Dad, Uncle Bob, Ren, Kendy, Uncle Michael, Frances, Granddad, Grandmom, Allyson, my brother for a brief moment, David, Uncle Michael T, and Granddad T. and see the wonderfulness that is the father’s day crab feast. So jealous! I hope you guys enjoyed it as well as the croquet and horse! We had our own fun chat in the little landing on the staircase. It was nice to just chat and ignore schoolwork, our unplanned hang outs are best. Homework is calling me now and I suppose I must give into it, or I may delay a bit longer with a shower ;)

photos from wales

p.s. the magic cookie bars that Ren and Kendy made looked great! Were they as delicious as they looked?

June 25-26: Study Trip to London

It is again late and tomorrow is an early rise so I will try to be brief. The past two days were spent in London on our study trip. Each class had a different agenda. Ours seem to be the most haphazard and not related to our class, but I’m not the organizer. Friday began with our bus not starting so instead of being picked up at 8:15 we were picked up at 9:30. Of course we didn’t know this ahead of time so we bonded over an episode of Columbo. The bus ride was long and upon arriving we found ourselves on the other side of the bridge from where we were when we visited London. Our “walking tour” if you can even call it that was random along the water point out a few things. They took us past the Film institute, but we had other random sights to see and the tube to take back to our hostel. Now they said it was not up a hill, but that was a lie there was a slight hill and it was about a mile from the tube stop to our hostel. We entered finding out that all 11 girls would be staying in one room with triple bunk beds. I’ve never seen that before. We all conquer that they should do these trips with these hostels first and then take us to Coverrack where the hostels are infinitely nicer. For some reason they thought it was a good idea to take us to the hostel only to have to leave after dinner to go right back where we were before dinner for the movie. They also didn’t leave enough time so we had to run that 1 mile back to the tube. The movie was intense and depressing. You felt like you needed to watch an episode of Winnie the pooh or something after that.

Catherine, Amelia, Christina and I were the only ones to stay in London after the movie. We walked around a bit, took some photos, had some ice cream and then made our way back. The next day was met with a cornucopia of alarms all going off at different times and people putting them on snooze and refusing to get up. We ate breakfast and headed to met our guide, but upon arriving there they told us we were almost an hour early so we could go explore. We walked down the street and found nothing to go into so we simply walked back. The tour was of Notting Hill, which didn’t used to be as nice as it is now. More celebrities live there than anywhere else in London and London has the most celebrities of anywhere in the world. The tour was fine, but I felt like we were going in circles as we passed right by our hostel. We ended at portabella market, which was way more expensive than I thought it would be at the little shops and it was super crowded. Furthermore, we had way too much time there and most of us sat in an alley waiting for the time to pass, getting some amusement from the pigeons. We then had to hike all the way back to our hostel to catch the bus (why the bus couldn’t meet us I have no idea) and embark on the long bus ride back to Bath.

In Bath we watched the USA vs. Ghana game :[ so GO ENGLAND! The rest of the evening was uploading pictures and such. Laura and I are going to Cardiff, Wales for a short day trip tomorrow. Hope the Veaseys have a great crab fest! I wish I was there! Have tons of fun!

photos from the trip

June 24: Bristol, Bath's ugly twin

In the interest of the hour (and because I have to get up in a very short amount of time) , this will again be a short post. Tomorrow we leave for London, at least the Film and Politics classes do. Laura departs with the Holmes class for Dartmoor. In London the politics class will split from the film class with the politics going to parliament and the film class going to some obscure places.

Today our Jane Austen class went to Bristol. This meant getting up earlier for class and from Nelson house catching the train to Bristol. The train ride was only around 10 minutes. The tour of Bristol itself wasn’t all that interesting and it didn’t actually have a lot to do with Jane Austen either. None of us really thought it would be quite that long either. I’m glad we went so I can say I went to Bristol and saw a few things of interest like the abbey and St. Mary Redcliff’s, but otherwise not that different from a U.S. city. In Jane Austen's time Bristol was a trading city and was not viewed as highly as Bath for that and other reasons. It was often smelly and more dirty as well.

In film we watched A Room With A View which I did my paper on. The quiz we take once a week on the computer after class was incredibly difficult, a drastic change from last week’s quiz. It was as though since we all did so well on that quiz he felt he had to make this one harder but he went to such the other extreme. And there was a typo and one wasn’t even a question it was simply a statement. The quiz is timed so we couldn’t ask him about it, but hopefully he’ll give us credit for his mistake. Other than that we tried to do a bit of shopping, but failed at the store we’ve been eyeing. We hoped to catch the end of the really long match from Wimbledon, but we missed that as well.

The rest of the evening passed fairly uneventfully. We were all pretty tired and we think it might have to do something with the fact that we’ve basically had one day off this entire trip and it’s catching up to us. Well I am off to bed so I can get up in a few hours and go down to catch the bus at 8:15. Oh the joys of being the first group to get picked up. I’ll write when we return on Saturday, though it will be late so perhaps not til Sunday. Have a great crab feast Veaseys!

photos from today (page 4 #72)

June 23: The Best of Both Worlds - USA and England advance in the World Cup

In an effort to not go to bed incredibly late tonight, I shall write a fairly short blog entry tonight. Classes were not that eventful. In Jane Austen we talked a bit about Emma and Laura, MJ and I were in a group. We were talking about mysteries and puzzles with characters. Our second class was pushed up to 1:30pm instead of 2:30pm. This was all because of the world cup games. Our classes were to get out by 3:20pm so we could watch the game that started at 3pm. My teacher let us out a little bit after 3, but I waited for Laura and 3:20 and then we headed up to watch the game. We switched between the USA and the England match. They were really exciting with the USA scoring in the 92^nd minute! Yay for both advancing. The USA now plans Ghana and England plays Germany.

We went on a walking tour at 6pm with a guy named Andrew Butterworth. It wasn’t as good as the Bizarre Bath tour, but it was alright. He invited us all into a place called Porter’s afterwards for a drink. There we watched the Ghana versus Germany game and then headed up to our house at halftime. We caught a bit of the Wimbledon game that is so far lasting for over 9hours. I then ventured down to use the telephone booth and make a few calls.

Tomorrow the Jane Austen classes head to Bristol, the opposite of Bath during Austen’s time. This weekend is our study trip weekends too and we are going to London, but the non-touristy parts of London. Nothing else too exciting happened today I just hope my roommate feels better soon! Oh and the minutes on your phone card are not actually the number of minutes you get; it is a lie! You get a ton less actually, which is weird.

photos from today (staring with #24 page 2 first row)

June 22: tacos, clueless, and emma lead to fun discussions

Nothing of interest really happened today. I was awoken this morning by the cleaning ladies. They came before we went off to class, which was slightly odd. It is nice that they empty our trash and vacuum our room though. I went to class as usual and got assigned our next presentation assignments. I am doing the Highbury in Emma. I talked with Lindsay between classes about our possible trip this weekend. We are thinking of going to Cardiff in Wales on Sunday and possibly Tintern Abbey as well. We watched High Hopes in our film class, which wasn’t really my cup of tea, but a lot of other people liked it.

After class Chelsea and I went to a little grocery store to search for taco ingredients. We were successful and I made tacos for everyone. The seasoning over here is a little interesting and Chelsea said it gave it a bit of an Indian flavor. We chatted for a bit and then started to watch Clueless. We have to watch Clueless or Emma for our Jane Austen class. In that time I also chatted with Jenny and she told me she got a 36 on her mcats. CONGRATULATIONS JENNY! You’ll make a great doctor!

We are currently watching Emma after finishing Clueless and having quit ea fun time criticizing and comparing, but I thought I should write a little blog. Sorry that there is nothing too exciting to talk about. We are having some very interesting conversations, but they would not relate well here.

photos from today (starting with #12)

June 21: Is it really week three already?

Happy first day of summer everyone. If we were at Stonhenge today instead of last Friday we would have been greeted with quite the variety of individuals. Today was the beginning of week three, I can’t believe it. As Laura and I planned out the things we have left to do we realized how little time is left for us to do them in.

My first class was Jane Austen where we talked about social rank, status, and morals. I felt like I understood it more than usual and participated a great deal. Between classes I was proud that I made it to Reyman’s to purchase some dvds for pictures. My second class was a discussion on the film Another Country and concluded with the handing of our papers. He sufficiently worried most of us with his speech beforehand, but concluded by saying no one did poorly. I got an A- which isn’t bad, but it’s frustrating I can’t break into the true A range. But it’s done and I can just hope to do better on the final paper, however unlikely that may be.

Laura and I ventured to Iceland and M&S after class to get some food, but alas they failed me and did not have everything I need so I must venture to the true grocery store tomorrow after class. The majority of the evening was spent reading Emma and discovering that I don’t really like her as a character. She is in stark contrast to many of Jane Austen’s heroines and she seems to represent a different kind of female character who doesn’t aspire to marry and has a certain amount of money. I didn’t actually finish, but had to consult summaries for the ending, but as I was only required to finish Volume I, I still have time to truly finish.

No major plans for this week, but we shall see what the week holds. My roommate Laura is now sick (a different kind then mine) so I’m not sure how much adventuring will happen this week. Hopefully she makes a speedy recovery.

photos from today (starting with #7)

June 20: A day with no plans, what a nice change

Hello again. It was a very short time ago that I wrote my last blog for yesterday, since I wrote it this morning, but that shall not stop me from writing a blog today. Nothing really of interest happened today. It was our very first day with nothing on the schedule, which was actually very refreshing. No alarm had to be set, didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything. I still woke up before noon, which for the adults seems very late, but as I didn’t go to bed until after 3am and I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep the past few days that was not that much sleep.

I didn’t do much today either. I woke up and had some cereal for breakfast. I uploaded a bunch of photos and read some of Emma. Later I had some eggs and more cereal (haven’t been to the store recently so this is what I have to eat. Furthermore it’s Sunday and Bath stores close really early but even earlier on Sundays). I called my dad to wish him a Happy Father’s Day! Happy Father’s Day Dad! I hope you had a good day and sorry I wasn’t there to give you a hug and tell you what a great dad you are!

That was pretty much the end of my eventful day, so I will not bore you with more ramblings as you will likely be reading yesterday’s post and being absorbed by the large number of photos. Have a good start to the week everyone!

Happy Father's Day Dad! I Love You!

photos from today

June 19: Running through London, literally

What is there to say about our trip to London? Let us start with a checklist.

Nearly get run over on Abbey Road...check

Ask how to get to platform 9¾...check

Sit on a big book in the British Library...check

Walk in the footsteps of Sherlock...check

See the Rosetta Stone...check

Recreate the image of Harold framed by the Tower Bridge...check

Witness three different weddings going on in the city...check

Fight to get on and ride a double decker bus...check

Spy on the guards at Buckingham palace with my long lens...check

Take phonebooth photo...check

Pose with Big Ben (both in the day and at night)...check

Eat at a London pub...check

Flag down a taxi (after failing twice, third time's the charm)...check

Well we certainly made the most of one day. We got up at 5:50am and headed down to the train station at 6:15am to catch our train at 7am. The train ride was fairly uneventful with most of us reading Emma or falling asleep or in my case both. There were some technical problems so we didn’t end up arriving until after 9am. From there we purchased all day tube tickets (well worth it for how much we used them). From our detailed planning earlier in the week Amelia typed up a list of our stops and coordinating tube stations. We first got off to take the very important Beatles photo on Abbey Road. With our assigned parts in two groups we set out to recreate it. We did not expect it to be such a busy road! It was a bit ridiculous but we were comforted by the fact that a group of four guys were attempting to recreate it as well. It took several attempts, but we finally got a couple that we decided were good enough and we ceased risking our lives on the crosswalk.

From the delay on the train to the amount of time for the abbey road picture we were set back in our schedule a bit, but next on our agenda was King’s Cross Station. Here we culminated our experience by asking a guard where Platform 9 ¾ was. He kept an amazingly straight face for a bunch of college kids asking this bizarre question. We proceeded in the direction and were guided by people saying Harry (like Harry when he is searching for the platform only he follows people saying muggle). After this stop we split up and Casey and Christina went to the globe whereas the rest of us went to the British Library. My statement on Friday about seeing the oldest document I will ever see was a lie for we saw much older pieces today. We also saw another copy of the Magna Carta (there are four in total and I think I’ve probably also seen the one in DC so now I just have one left to go). The globe ended up taking the other group a great deal of time so went on to meet them at 221b baker street. The tube station was covered with Sherlock as well which was cool.

Now this stop was probably Laura’s favorite as she loves Sherlock Holmes and is taking the seminar class on him. I went in with her to visit the house and we took lots of pictures, but probably my favorite is our one with the guard at the door complete with hats and pipe. They even had wax figures on the upper floors depicting characters from some of the stories. The globe crew was still delayed so we headed over to the British Museum and did the quickest museum trip ever ;) Trying to get back on schedule. I saw the Rosetta Stone and some of the Parthenon sculptures.

The last true stop and not simply a photo shoot was the Tower of London, however we arrived there a little after 4pm and they said it would not be enough time. This was a little disappointing as I really wanted to go in, but never fear for Laura and I are already planning a trip back to London so we can see the changing of the guard, the inside of Westminster Abbey, and the tower. We got rained on a bit here and waited a while for Casey and Christina to rejoin us. Laura and I went down to look at the Tower Bridge where we took a picture framed by it. It made me think of Harold, who is in the movie The Long Good Friday and delivers a moving speech while being framed by that bridge on a boat. It took some coordinating to finally find Casey and Christina but Amelia discovered them and we headed onward.

The next part of our journey involved the touristy parts of London. First we had to get on a double decker bus because they close certain lines on the weekends to work on them. This was quite a difficult task as everyone seemed to want to get on the bus. We managed to get on the third one that came by and went on the second level. Getting off in Trafalgar Square we discovered that the museums there were closed (our guide books lied to us) so we took some photos and decided to make our way down to Buckingham Palace. It was quite a walk, but upon arriving we got to see the guards move around and take some pretty photos. On the way back we stopped in a gift shop that was just entirely overwhelming and then we made our way to Big Ben. The main sightseeing things in London are all right by each other so we got some photos with Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey before finally stopping for food. It was nearly 9pm by this point so we stopped in a pub where I ordered a coronation chicken sandwich. It was ok, but not my favorite. The chips were really good. After eating, it was sufficiently dark to take our night photos with Big Ben so we did that and then got on the tube followed by the train to get home. The train was fairly full for so late, but we were the very first ones on it. It also was a bit delayed on the way back too.

Upon arriving back we discovered that it was quite cold and quite a long walk to get back up to our house. We elected to see how much it would cost to get a taxi, but that task was more difficult than expected. We got one and as he pulled around he picked up someone else. Another taxi said he would come around but he drove away. We finally got one and she said it would be £6. I sat in the front seat. Now I never really thought that driving on the other side was that weird, but when you are sitting in the space that should have the wheel and when you can see out the front window it is a bit weird. I looked at the temperature gauge in the taxi and it was just 40 degrees outside! Furthermore, in a bizarre twist, Bath was a happenign place at 1:30am. So it shuts down at like 6pm but is bustling with people again later, very strange. Upon arriving back the plan was to upload photos, but I was just too tired to finish so I got a shower and went to bed.

photos from London part 1

photos from London part 2