Four Days, Four Cities, Four Hundred Cups of Tea

It started on Wednesday afternoon when about 70 students and myself went 30 miles south of us to a little town called Stamford. It was an adorable little town and the professors had convinced the higher ups it would be educational. So we went for free. I was fine with that arrangement, getting to see cities for free is totally fine by me. So we went and started out at this amazing secondhand book store and taxidermy shop. Yeah, I don't really understand that one but it was cool. The store had AMAZING books. Like seriously amazing. There was as close to a first edition of Winnie the Pooh as you could get, they had illustrated copies of Cinderella from the early 20th century, and books that were from the early 1800's. I wanted a book so bad but the one I wanted was 65 pounds. That's over a hundred dollars. I settled on a the Girl Guide Manual from the early 1900's to complement my Girl Scout Manual from the same time period. I was super excited that I found it because it's the Girl Scouts of England and I'm a Girl Scout in England. (Geekish I know but I love it) We went in to a little cafe that was adorable and had a pot of tea after we had been antiquing. After buying the most adorable little Eiffel Tower bottle that I would later break by setting my purse down rapidly, I had 3 cups of tea to warm up. That wasn't even my dose of tea that day. The addiction is becoming severe.

The next day I had an exam which was crazy but I didn't have my afternoon class so I got to go into Grantham. After running a few errands we went and grabbed tea at a coffee shop to warm up and kill time before the shuttle picked us back up. We had to get things sorted out before our field trip the next day, including how to dress for super windy, cold rain. Friday morning came too early when we had to wake up and jet off to Lincoln for British Studies. A lot of people fell in love with England in Lincoln but I don't think many people did. It was cold and windy all day and started to rain and eventually poor on everyone. Luckily by the time it was raining I had had a pot of tea and was warm and only outside for a few minutes to climb up onto the Roman wall of the fortress/castle we were to tour. As we started to climb up people were unsure if we could even get up there. Well I took charge, a shock right, and started just going. I walked up the hill, and started going up the stairs. People freaked and were like 'I don't think we're supposed to do this' or 'What if the stair break?' Admittedly I had thought both of those but I am also operating under the mantra of Why not? You never know if you'll have the chance again. I at one point recall yelling "You either lead or you follow! I choose to lead, you can follow if you want to!" I was going to get up to the wall and see the view. I did and it was cool for like 5 seconds. We could only walk along parts of it because the majority of it was all under construction because everywhere is right now. Next year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta so all of the monuments are getting pretty. It's cool to think about all of these places being essential in the signing of it so I don't mind too much. Once I was sopping wet I went to find a warm cafe with tea. I did and luckily they had gluten free brownie - seriously almost every cafe here has something gluten free of there's one next door that does- and it was so nice. I sat there for over an hour getting back to a normal body temperature and had the entire of pot of tea myself. Then back to the manor. Riding by the professors is lots of fun. They tell you a lot even if you just listen to the random things they say.

Saturday was off to York to see a Panto. A Panto is a style of theatre here in England that involves a cross-dresser, contemporary music, contemporary costume, people that break character, and audience involvement. It was weird and yet amazing. I want to see a ton more. Before the Panto I got to explore York by myself and fell in love with the picturesque ruins and grounds of a garden. I loved walking through the Diagon Alley - ish streets of shops called the Shambles and seeing street performers and walking through a street market. I loved the freedom of just roaming and having a picnic lunch. Eventually after I had seen enough and the winds had picked up I found a cafe and settled in with a pot of tea and my iPod touch to check into the world with the free WiFi. That pot lasted me two hours and I managed about 7 cups out of it. I was so happy and warm. Then I watched the panto and fell further into love with England. I don't want to leave ever except to travel but I could live here forever and the rain and wind would never bother me.

Today was quite adventure filled itself. I got to sleep in late for once and enjoyed that. Then I went and shot archery provided by the school and loved having the opportunity. Then an exploration of the grounds a little and eventually I fell into a mud hole. The creek I started to explore is a little deeper than just my boot so I emptied my boots and then came inside to warm up with some tea. Tea solves everything. Even the hurt imagination of trying to come up with a story other than I wanted to use my wellies for some stomping and splashing. I did and ended up needing a shower after the exploration. Now I upload things and catch up and enjoy the afternoon. This week will be busy. I go back to London to see a show and then finally venture to IRELAND!!!!!!! I'm so excited to visit the country of my family! I know I'll love it and I can't wait for the adventure to take on full force!

Off to dinner where we get a roasted meat and potatoes just like every Sunday. They like continuity here and it suits me just fine.


Bise Bise

Harlaxton Village and the Class

The Village and Town

On Wednesday, after our group photo, I went on a walk. I expected it to be just around the grounds or to Harlaxton Village, but I got a treat. We walked through the village, where Isaac Newton and Margaret Thatcher are from, and passes a medieval wall and through an amazing cemetery. It was gorgeous. Then we started using the public footpaths that are all over England. No matter where the path crosses, the land owner has to maintain a path. This involved sidewalks, a cemetery, fields, pastures, and farms. It being typical England having rained recently, the earth was all mud. So my boots were covered. And I almost fell; however, the view was amazing. We saw dogs, which we pet, a horse, and ducks in the ravine. I found oysters in the creak bed, I teased my friend by pretending I was going to push her into the ravine, and I got to glimpse the canal system that runs throughout England. All in all it was amazing and beautiful, next time I'll wear wellies. 

Then Thursday we celebrated Burns night. Robert Burns is a poet from Scotland. So down in the Bistro people read and sang his poems. He wrote Auld Lang Syne and we gave it a go. They also served haggis and a whisky punch. I couldn't try the haggis because it contains oats but I wasn't too tempted to try sheep intestine. It was so much fun though because we were singing folk songs and just hanging out with professors and other faculty and staff. 

Friday we had class so nothing too exciting happened but I needed to run into town for some groceries. I may never leave here. I paid £17 for a lot of food. I got gluten free bread, some nut mixes, free from everything brownies, clementines, strawberries, peanut butter, rice cakes, crackers, and dairy free chocolate. Oh and my addiction - diet Coke. I'm so happy!! Fruit and white bread and chocolate and diet Coke. When I got back I watched movies and just relaxed as most of campus jetted off. It was nice to just be. 

Saturday I finally slept in. I woke up at 11:00 am and leisurely got ready for lunch. After lunch I read a book and watched another movie. When dinner rolled around everyone was famished. I got two lamb chops and some potatoes. Everyone else got lamb stew on a plate. I was enjoying the gluten free life at that moment. Later when everyone was starving the manor got flooded with pizzas. On a last minute whim I went into town with some sisters to visit a pub. We walked up to the main road, about a mile, under the stars and fell in live with how clear the sky was and how many stars we could see. We couldn't see where we were walking and it had stormed earlier in the day so we choose the mud over large puddles. We got back and all fell into bed we were so tired. 

Then this morning I once again slept until 11 and didn't get to brunch until 11:50ish. But I didn't have homework or any reason to hurry. I checked out some French movies from the library, studied for a quiz, and started planning more trips. All in all I just enjoyed spending time in the manor even when the power kept flicking on and off. 

Off to bed now so I can wake up for breakfast before my 8:30 am lecture and face the week of traveling to three different cities throughout England. 

Bise Bise 

What's the opposite of procrastinating?

Today has been a weird day. One of my classes was cancelled and I literally didn't know what to do with myself. I decided to do all the trivial stuff I didn't want to do. I went and signed up for a trip just to do something. I willingly went all the way back downstairs and then hiked all the way back up just to go to a place to drink tea. I then decided to take a long time showering because why not? Then I did laundry - I HATE doing laundry. While doing laundry I read the play I have to read for theatre. I don't have to have it read until Thursday. I have completely finished reading it and wrote my response on it. I also went to the library and got books about travel, my research paper that's due in several weeks, and books to read for fun. I have a stack of books on my desk that I am about to dive into.

So I was sitting here doing all of this and cleaned my desk and am hang drying my clothes and wondering? What's the opposite of procrastinating? Had I ever done this before? Is the English air affecting my brain? It's weird. I accomplished so much and I watched a movie. I have stuff I could do and will do just to pass the time. I don't even understand it.

I could do homework, if I really had any more due soon. One of my classes, today was the first time we almost learned something. And then in British Studies, my six credit hour class, we've covered almost 1200 years of history in a week but it was things like the pre-Roman Briton and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. So we have a lot we'll cover more in depth I'm sure but there weren't too many trivial things they taught us. My theater class is interesting but I don't have intense homework so I have a lot of free time. I'm honestly thinking about taking up pigeon shooting because it's allowed around here and it would kill some time.

Or someone send me yarn because I need to do something! I'm going stir crazy. Maybe I'll learn Latin... Something to do I guess.


Bise Bise

A Weekend in London

It started like any other Thursday, but after classes and dinner it was a mad dash to get the last minute packing done. With a friend who didn't know what all to take and the amount of stuff I wanted to take I'm proud that I only took my backpack and my weekender. I survived- barely but I did. We stayed at the Royal National Hotel and along with my two other roommates the room was quite quaint and cramped. The only place we had WiFi was in the lobby for 4 hours of use, but luckily almost every restaurant had WiFi if you sat inside which was nice. We took that up quite a bit so we could check in with places and stay up to date on Instagraming things and checking Twitter. Friday night it was raining on and off but we went exploring anyway because you only have so long in London right? Well we got a little lost but it was fun. When we got back to the hotel, we were cold and wet but we had explored London - especially Soho and it had been fun. We then went to bed because we wanted an early start the next day.

I decided it would be a smart idea to wear a dress because I was seeing a show later that night and wouldn't have time to change because I also had a tour of the Houses of Parliament in the afternoon. I loved feeling classy all over London. I do however wish I had been wearing shoes made out of memory foam that massage your feet as you walk. My legs were dead after one day of walking around. We thoroughly explored Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, the Embankment, some of Covent Garden, and a lot of Westminster. Then I went to go to my tour of the Houses of Parliament, it was interesting but we all wanted to break the British conventions and sit in the House of Lords just to sit down because we were all dead. After exploring the houses for almost two hours, I then raced across the Thames river to try to get to the National Theater on time to see King Lear for my theater class. I made it luckily, although hungry and tired, I made it. It was a long show and rather interesting but I barely understand Shakespeare in a regular accent let alone in a British Accent. Afterwards I ventured back to the hotel through the tube, always 'minding the gap' and fell into bed. I was so tired but again you only have so much time in London, so a friend and I went walking down the street to see what was happening.

The next morning we were ready to spend the whole day exploring and that we did. We started in Kensington Gardens and found the Peter Pan statue. Then we found this amazing little tavern called The Swan. I had my first cup of Earl Grey tea and loved it. The people mistook us as Australians and it was altogether the funniest time I've ever spent in a restaurant. Then we ventured to Buckingham palace and realized it wasn't all it was cracked up to be but still we took lots of pictures. After starving because I couldn't really find food that was gluten free that didn't cost an arm and a leg, we made our way towards Picadilly Circus hoping to find this restaurant called Leon which serves gluten and dairy free food. Yeah, there's not one in the Picadilly area. Thankfully along the way to finding this I had been distracted by the amazing shops and was so happy to find adorable things for amazing prices. Eventually I took a chance on looking at a Pizza Expresses menu to see if just maybe they had anything gluten free. Let me tell you, when I saw they did I was ready to jump up and down but I had less than no energy so I just went in and sat down. I then splurged on lunch by enjoying an entire meal, including a pilsner, of gluten free deliciousness. I was content and ready for more exploring. Oxford street was not too far of a walk so of course we had to go shopping. I literally died when I stepped foot into Primark because it's like Forever 21 only better and cheaper. After that we thought we might try to find a tea shop to feed my tea addiction but it was closed. So then we headed back to the hotel to change for our Big Night Out adventure. Almost all of the Harlaxton students decided to do an event called 1 Big Night Out and it was basically Harlaxton's big night out. It was fun but at 11:30 I was beat and ready to fall asleep because 7am would come too soon.

After about an hour ride in the coach we arrived at Hampton Court Palace and were told to explore for over four hours. That didn't go over too well but eventually we all bucked up and had fun seeing the home of Henry VIII. For lunch I had pizza express again because trying to locate another gluten free option probably wouldn't have gone well in that little town. Then the ride back was utterly silent as everyone napped because the school had worn us out.

Now I sit at my computer trying to upload the several hundred pictures I took and am trying to convince myself to do my homework. I am so ready for some more sleep. I love London and can't wait to go back on the field trips I have there. Time to write this essay I guess, I mean school is why I'm here right?


Bise Bise

Exploring Grantham

This past weekend we had a few chances to explore the town that's only about 10 minutes away, Grantham. It has the nearest grocery store and supermarket. It's a cute little town and it has a market on Saturday mornings that has lots of fresh food and old books. It's so much fun. After having gone in Friday night to see the night life, we knew our way around for the most part. We had to ask a local at the market for instructions to ASDA, the British Walmart, but otherwise we made our way around quite easily getting to see the city. ASDA is basically Walmart only British. So the clothes are adorable, the food is different, and they don't accept American credit cards. The cards here have chips in them and since we have to swipe our credit cards, we have to ask the cashier to do so. So far people have had quiet the trouble figuring out how to do it. But we still end up getting our goods so it's quite alright.

Friday night we went into Grantham we experienced the night life. We started at a pub called the Goose and found it rather fun. It was lively and there were people of all ages. Then we went to this place called the Cameleon that a local lead us to. It was weird. It was a bunch of 50 something year olds dancing to old American music and then some swing dancing happened. We left rather quickly just staying for a dance or two and moving onto a club atmosphere. We danced for a few songs at Gravity, a dance club, but they started playing weird and unknown music. Then we just crossed the street to another club and were in there for about 3 minutes before we ran out from the smoke machines. It was crazy but altogether fun because we got to figure out the town. It's weird being legal here - we got carded to get into the clubs and we felt cool. We just wanted to dance and experience the night. Saturday night after a long day of going into town, waiting for lunch and dinner, we were all dead tired. So I went to bed but that only lasted for 15 minutes. Then I went for a walk with friends. We walked to the pub at the end of the road just to see if it was worth the while. It really wasn't. It closed at 11pm and we got there at 10:30 pm so we just sat and enjoyed the calm atmosphere. We were able to get ice in our drinks which was a nice treat because most places here don't serve ice.

Today though, I ventured into town to get some snacks. Almost every store here has a Free From section that is gluten free and sometimes dairy free. I found some really cheap snacks and was really happy! Like chocolate I can have and some cookies. I'm so glad. I can take some with me for our weekend trip to London. I still have to pack up though.

I barely was able to keep myself from going crazy in the stationary store that was right next to the grocery store. They had an amazing selection of pens and Monsters University things. I'm so excited to go back!!!! I got stickers to decorate things and send to people! Time to pack for London and decorate with my stickers. I can't believe in less than 24 hours I'll be in London.


Bise Bise

Pictures of the Grounds & the Manor

Me and some friends out in front of the manor. It's so much fun
to explore and take pictures. 

I have class in this room ^^^ and get to start out the windows
while learning British history. 

It's so pretty to look out at the English countryside from the grounds. 

Is this really my home for the semester?

There are flowers. In January. It's amazing.