Bye Bye Bath... Hello Hilton!

Before backtracking to tell you all about my final week in Bath, I just want to inform you that I was suppose to be home on Saturday. However, due to Britain's inexperience with snow (10cm of snow to be exact), I am stuck at the Hilton in the Heathrow Airport because of canceled flights, closed airports, etc. However, I hopefully will be on a plane tomorrow at 14:40ish (give or take five hours with delays) flying home. 

On Friday (which now seems ages ago), ASE put on their last event for us - the final tea. The event was beautifully put on and the tea was wonderful. We had endless pots of tea, loads of sandwiches, delicious scones, and fantastic cakes. After the large quantities of food, Jonathan (our programme director) gave a speech thanking us for a great first semester as a director. He then finished the event with a slideshow of the semester, including the Halloween picture of our Ghosts and Ghothic class. I seriously cannot wait to get that photo. Afterwards, everyone spent time mingling, taking pictures, and saying goodbye.

My education class and Andrew Butterworth!

The room is empty....

Afterward the tea, Erin and I went back to the flat for one last time, to finish package and headed to grab our coach into Heathrow. We spent the night at the Hilton before waking up early the night morning to catch our flight... which never happened. Instead, we spent ten long tedious hours at the airport waiting to see if our flight would leave... which it never did. So, at 9pm, after learning our flight would not leave, we headed back to the Hilton to see if we could get a room. However, they were all booked for that night, but if we stayed, the nice man at the front desk said we might be able to early check in for the next day (which we did have reservations for). So, down on the floor of the Hilton lobby we went. Finally at 3:30am, we were able to do a very early check in for our room. It was so nice to collapsed upon a bed.

Long Live

SO FINALS ARE DONE!!!! Junior year is half over. I cannot believe it. I feel as though this year was kind of easy, and next year my load is heavy, which scares me. Next semester I will be taking Cognitive & Individual Differences in Middle and High School, Critical Theory (English), Woman's Literature, and Islam. I'm also suppose to be doing a internship as well. I am really excited about my Woman's Literature and Islam class.


So, since I officially have two days left in Bath I thought I'd dedicate this post to things and aspects of Bath that I would miss most. Here goes! 

1. English Breakfast Tea. Since Diet Coke is pretty expensive here, I have substituted this addiction for another - TEA.  Alright, confession... I do buy Diet Coke, but I only drink about 6oz of it a day (SHOCKING, right?!) Not really when you learn how much tea I'm drinking. Its sad. Yet, England sure does know how to brew tea, and I cannot get enough of it. Plus, its healthier for me, right? 


2. Cider. This is not the New England Apple Cider that you are thinking of. This cider is a fermented beverage made from apple juice. Its possible my favorite drink here, especially when you add some blackcurrant cordial to it.

3. Pubs. I really wish we had Pubs in the United States. When traveling, pubs are your savior, for there is always one around the corner, and they always promise the hungry traveler a solid meal and a pint a cider. The local pubs are the best for the have the most genuine homey atmosphere. Its like your in the living room and the whole neighborhood is there having lunch! Some pubs I went to even give one the feels of time having stood still for a couple of centuries. Its going to be weird going out to eat in a Chillies or a Bertucci's now.


4. Castles. Do I have to say anything here. Seriously, Founding Fathers! Why didn't you build any awesome castles?!


5. Amazing Indain Food. I had never experienced Indian food until I came to England. My perfect meal? Chicken Korma, with a side of Nan and Veggie Samosas. (This is a hint for you Grandpa, so you can either make it for me over break or find an Indian restaurant for us to go to!)




6. Pasties. More food that I'm going to miss. My favorite type of Pasty is the traditional Cornish Pasty, which is pasty case filled with beef, sliced potato, and onion. Basically it taste like Beef Stew stuffed in a dumpling! 


7. Conference Pears. The best pears I have EVER tasted. They are soo sweet and delicious!!!


8. Living so close to everything, especially grocery stores (especially M&S). It was really great to be walking distance from everything, grocery stores, bus stops, movie theatres, clothes stores, book stores, pubs, etc. It was really nice not having to drive anywhere and search for a parking spot, or drive 20 minutes to a grocery store. I am also going to miss M&S (Marks and Spencers) terribly. They had an excellent bakery, where I would get bread for dinner. They also had a great homemade soup selection (my favorite - leak and potato), and an amazing cake selection where I got Erin's birthday cake from. 
 

9. The cafes on every corner, where you can get tea - seriously I'm addicted! 


10. The train systems. I think we need railroads throughout the United States. I really enjoyed riding the trains throughout the United Kingdom. You could use these trains to get to anywhere! We traveled from Scotland to Bath, Bath to Cardiff, and so many more places!

Jane Austen's Bath

Yesterday, instead of studying for my Jane Austen final, I decided to download an audio tour of Jane Austen's Bath and followed in her footsteps. It was fun discovering the city of Bath again, though the audio tour was a bit dry and didn't actually have much on Austen than it did on historical Bath. The tour started at Bath Abbey and took me through the entire city, ending up by the Assembly Rooms.
One stop was Sally Lunns House, the oldest house in Bath. This chair is a chair frequently used in Austen's time to travel around Bath. Usually this chairs would have poles on the bottom, which would be used to carry the chair around town. However, Jane Austen preferred to walk - as I was told by the audio guide.

The Pulteney Bridge is a famous landmark in Bath. The Pulteney Bridge is one of only four bridges in the world with shops across the full span on both sides.
However, Lara Place and Great Pulteney Street is a great Jane Austen landmark. At the end of the street is where Jane Austen once lived. In her writing, Jane Austen also situates two of her characters on these streets. The Allens, in Northanger Abbey, live on Great Pulteney Street, while Anne Elliot's cousin, from Persuasion, lives on Lara Place. Great Pulteney Street is also a famous filming location. Vanity  Fair and The Duchess were both filmed on this street. Just off Great Pulteney Street is Sydney Place where Jane Austen lived. Sydney Place was used during the filming of both Persuasion and Vanity Fair.

Great Pulteney Street

After the audio tour, I did some more Christmas shopping (along with food shopping for dinner - Spaghetti!!!).


I now only have six days left in Bath...

Eight Days...

(Okay, first I would like to apologize for everyone receiving this post via email unfinished twice! For some reason, while I was typing the post up, Blogger decided to randomly post it without me actually pressing the button!)

So the countdown for the days left in Bath has finally entered the single digits. I'm not sure how exactly I feel about this. It might be because I am currently on loads of cold medication... but at some moments this past weeks I'm been dying get back home to the States, while others, I've been depressed that I'm going to have to  leave this beautiful city.

These past two weeks have been spent isolated in my room finishing up final papers, my education portfolio, and sleeping off this cold. And today, I had my last class, handed in my last assignment, and I am officially done! Hold on, I think I'm forgetting something.... what is it..... oh, yeah.... finals. Bloody hell.

However, between my workload, a couple noteworthy events have occurred. First, the lovely Andrew Butterworth, who is my Education Placement Tutor, (and yes, his last name is like the syrup Butterworth), took the Education class out for a pub crawl, where we ended up at the St. James Pub for a pub quiz. I had an excellent time, though it was a little weird that my tutor was buying my drinks and that it was okay (and legal) to be drinking with him and his wife. The first pub we stopped at was The Coeur De Lion, which is known as the smallest pub in Bath. While we were enjoying a nice pint, some individuals walked in to perform a Mummers' Play. Mummers' Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by a group of actors known as mummers. In mummers’ plays, the main event is the killing and restoring to life of one of the characters. The mummers go from house to house or pub to pub performing and then collecting money for a charity. This play was highly entertaining, but no very well performed at all. The next pub we went to was The Old Green Tree, one of the oldest pubs in Bath. And guess who followed us there? The Mummers! Except the pub owner threw them out, not wanting them to perform in their small pub. Finally, we arrived at our final destination, St. James Pub, were we participated in the pub quiz. Though, we did not win, we also did not come in last thanks to Andrew Butterworth and his wife. Overall it was a great night.

The River Avon

That Saturday, Erin and I decided to take a train over to Bradford-on-Avon.  Bradford-on-Avon is a small town along the River Avon with many buildings dating back to the 17th century. Our first stop in Bradford was the Christmas market, which was sadly much smaller than the Bath Christmas market. However, we also walked throughout the village stopping in various shops, occasionally buying things. J As it started to rain, we stopped to get tea at the Bridge Tea Room, a Victorian style tea place. I ordered a scone, which came out warm and was absolutely delicious!

Bridge Tea Room

The Saxon Church: not much is known about this church. It is believed that the church was built sometime between the early 8th century and mid 11th.

Reading and Recreation Week

Last week was Reading and Recreation (R&R) Week at ASE. Now I originally thought R&R week stood for rest and relaxation, but that was silly of me. Why would they allow us relaxation! Instead last week really should have been called Stress-out-because-papers-are-due-next-week-but-you-have-no-time-to-write-them-because-you-have-to-go-on-mandatory-trips-week. However, while I actually got no work done, let alone any reading, I did have a fantastic time on the trips.

Broadway Tower

On Monday headed to Broadway - yes, I'm that close to Broadway :) Broadway is a tiny village in the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds were once immensely rich villages because they had basically had all the sheep, and as a result being the center of textile industry. Our stop in Broadway was the Broadway Tower. The Tower reminded of a fairy tale tower, especially Rapunzel. However, the tower did not hold any princesses with long golden hair. Instead this tower was created in 1799 for a Lady Coventry, just so she could look outside her window of her house, see the tower, and say "that's mine." Broadway Tower is a "folly" - basically, a totally pointless structure built by rich people to show how much money they have and can spend.

After spending some time in the Tower, we headed to the village of Broadway via a 40 minute hike along the Cotswold way. The hike was awesome and the scenery was beautiful. We climbed over fences and gates, walked through muddy fields - at one point we even walked through a field of SHEEP!

View from the top of the Tower

Cotswold Way

SHEEP!

After arriving in the center of the village, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Bourton on the Water for lunch. Bourton on the Water is labeled the Venice of the Cotswolds because there is a fun river running through the center of the village. After Bourton, we hopped back on the bus and drove to the Chavenage House. The tour of this house was one of the best possible tours I have taken yet (besides the ones given by Andrew Butterworth). The tour guide was a member of the family who actually still lives in part of the house. Our tour guide was absolutely hilarious. She, and her dogs, took us around the house and told us funny stories about the house's history and the family. After the tour, she and her sister gave us an incredible tea time, complete with cucumber sandwiches, scones, cakes, and excellent tea!

Early Thursday morning, we once again hopped on the bus to debark on our last programme trip - Glastonbury and Wells. As we started forth to our first destination, Wells, Lindsay started playing Hot Fuzz --  an awesome movie staring Simon Pegg that was filmed in.... (drum roll please)... WELLS. ***By the way, Dad, I will watching this movie with you the moment I return, because you will absolutely love it*** The moment I entered Wells, I easily recognized sites from the film. Andrew Butterworth gave us a lovely tour of the town and cathedral, which was excellent. I saw a moat at the Bishop's Palace -- yes, the Bishop got a Palace.

The fountain where the "hoodlums" are hanging out at the beginning.

The Wells Cathedral -- where the fund-raising carnival was held.

We next traveled to Glastonbury and the Tor. I was aware the the Glastonbury Tor was a hill, but as the bus got closer and closer to our destination, the hill quickly became the hill of doom. It was quite a climb up -- however, totally worth it. This hill, the Glastonbury Tor, is actually the legendary Isle of Avalon. Originally, Glastonbury use to be an island, surrounded by water. King Arthur supposedly sailed here after being wounded at his last battle. (Glastonbury Village is a village of new-age magic, with shops full of crystals, herbs, magical amulets, etc.) Next, we headed to the Glastonbury Abbey, the site where King Arthur and Queen Guenevere 's graves were reportedly found.

Glastonbury Tor

I made it to the top!

The final resting spot of King Arthur and Queen Guenevere

Basically it was a lovely week, ignoring my enormous work load. And I was able to end the week by seeing HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. The best HP film I have seen yet. (Don't worry I won't spoil anything). I thought the seven potter scene was superbly done. One of my favorite parts of the film (and I was worried about how they were going to tell the tale) was how they told the audience the Tale of the Deathly Hallows. It was so different and interesting, and absolutely excellent. I also loved that they took some lines exactly word for word from the book. Also, Alan Rickman was fantastic! In the end, I only had one complaint -- however, if I told you what that was, I would spoil a bit of the movie. Overall, 5 stars! 

Edinburgh

So, I've been really busy catching up on reading teaching in my school placement and I apologize for that because I have not blogged about the second (and possibly best) part of my mid semester break.

On Monday, Erin and I left Dublin and headed onward to Edinburgh, Scotland.After riding three different bus for two hours, we finally found the Priestville Guesthouse. Now, if you are ever going to go and visit Edinburgh, you must stay at the Priestville Guesthouse. I felt like I was spending a week at my grandparents house. The room was great and Colin (the owner) provided us with tea and biscuits in our room everyday. When we arrived, they gave us maps (which we much needed) and a map they had made with suggested restaurants to go to. The Guesthouse even had a video library, where we watched Seven and Happy Gilmore (it down poured one night). Also, since Erin and I could never finish our huge Continental breakfast, Colin turned our rolls into cheese and butter sandwiches for us to eat later on - he even did this the we left so we had a snack on the train, so sweet!

On our first day in Edinburgh, we did a New Europe Walking Tour. I would highly recommend this tour (and a huge thanks to Kelly for this recommendation). The New Europe Walking Tour is a three walking tour (free but tip based), which brings you throughout the city of Edinburgh, pointing out all the sights. I saw the Elephant House where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, Edinburgh Castle, St. Giles Cathedral (where Sean Connery was knighted), and much more. We stopped outside this one pub called Maggie Dickson Pub, which has an interesting tale attached to it. 

Maggie Dickson was a women who was deserted by her husband in the early 18th century. As a result, Maggie  left Edinburgh and moved to the countryside where she started working at an inn. Not long after, Maggie fell in love with the Innkeeper's son and she soon became pregnant. However, Maggie concealed the pregnancy successfully, for if the innkeeper found out she would be forced to leave. Maggie concealed the pregnancy until the baby was born. Yet, sadly, the baby was stillborn, so Maggie decided to continue hiding the baby's existence by disposing the body in the nearest river. This plan would have work, except for the fact that two men saw what Maggie was doing and brought her back to Edinburgh to be arrested and tried. What was Maggie arrested for? Not adultery (since she was still married to her husband when she had the affair), not for disposing a human body down a river (for it was illegal), but for concealing the pregnancy. Maggie was found guilty and hanged. After the hanging, she was pronounced dead and her body was brought to the local cemetery. However, her body never arrived to the cemetery because during the journey, the driver heard a knock coming from the coffin. When the driver lifted the lead, out popped Maggie, quite alive. Since Maggie could not be tried for the same crime twice, she was free to live. Maggie was also freed from her marriage - since "it's till Death do us part", and Maggie was technically dead.
Our second day was spent walking around the city doing a ton of sightseeing. As we were in the National Museum of Scotland searching for Dolly the sheep (who we did eventually find), we chatted with a really nice museum man who told us the man sight we had to go and see was the Rosslyn Chapel. So, the next day, after searching the internet and finding the right bus routes, we headed to Roslin. Roslin is a beautiful village and the chapel is gorgeous. The architecture within the chapel is absolutely exquisite. The chapel was a major feature in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code, and was used as a location in the movie. Supposedly this chapel not only holds the holy grail, but also the ark of the covenant and the real stone of destiny. The chapel was founded in 1446. Within the chapel there are many symbols connecting to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. Also, within the chapel are so carvings of Indian corn (maize). However, the chapel was built before Columbus technically discovered America, so how did these carvings come to be?
 Overall, my trip to Edinburgh was absolutely fabulous. I would have loved to spend more time there and would love to go back. 

A Glimpse of Erin

 Erin is the romantic name poets in the nineteenth-century would  use for Ireland. Erin is also the Welsh name for Ireland. 

DAY ONE
I arrived in Dublin, Ireland with Erin late Thursday evening, after spending 6 1/2 hours traveling. The Abbot Guesthouse turned out to be on a street with just about every other B&B hotel in Dublin.Our first stop in Dublin was the James Joyce Centre. While Erin and I had fun imitating Joyce and reading one of his Children books The Cat and the Devil, the centre was not worth its fee. However, our next stop, which was also my favorite place of the day, was the Irish Writer's Museum, and that was definitely worth every penny. Within this museum I saw first editions of The Faerie Queen, Dracula, Ulysses, and works by Charles Maturin (sadly not Melmoth), Oscar Wilde, Yeats, etc. We also went to the Hugh Lane Museum since it was right next door and completely free. This museum was...interesting. Galleries two through five were closed because they were short staffed, but I was able to see two Monet paintings. After these three museums, Erin and I were museum-ed out, so we decided to test our our map skills and head down to Grafton Street & Temple Bar for some shopping. We went to Bewley's Cafe for dinner, which was an excellent dinner that finally wasn't pub food. I had chicken, spinach penne dish with tomato sauce. I got a brownie sundae for dessert and Erin got a slice of apple pie. I tried some of Erin's pie and let me tell you, British apple pie is nothing like American apple pie.

DAYS TWO & THREE:
Day two was spent wandering around some more and getting lost. The first stop was Trinity College, where we took a tour of the campus. We also went to see the Book of Kells, which is the illuminated copy of the four gospel in Latin, and held in the Old Library at Trinity College. It was written over one thousand years ago, in the early 9th century, by the monks of Iona. The book of Kells is absolutely beautiful and definitely worth seeing. Next to the Writer's Museum, this was probably one of my favorite places we visited in Dublin. For lunch, Erin and I did take-away at a bagel shop and ate in St. Stephen's Green, which is a beautiful park. I could have stayed there all day if it hadn't been so windy and cold. In order to get away from the cold, we headed over to the National Museum of Archaeology. The best exhibit there was the Kingship and Sacrifice exhibit, which held a couple of bog bodies. What are bog bodies exactly??? They are bodies found in the bogs in Ireland. These bodies, because they were in the bog, were so well preserved that one could still see their skin. Archaeologists believe that these bodies were either sacrificed or persecuted for their deaths that were neither peaceful nor pretty. The rest of the evening was spent buying presents and eating dinner.   

View from the Gravity Bar

For our last day in Dublin, we met up with two other girls from the ASE programme, Kate and Liz. We spent the day doing a ton of sightseeing. First we saw Oscar Wilde's statue, went to Dublin Castle, and the Guinness Storehouse. The Dublin Castle was much more of a palace than a castle - it even had its own throne room! We also got to go down to see the excavation site where parts of the old Dublin Castle is (from the Viking era). The Guinness Storehouse was neat. I enjoyed the advertisement exhibit with all the different slogans. At the end of the exhibits, we were able to go up to the Gravity Bar and enjoy a pint of Guinness. Points of interest I was also able to see included:

The Irish President's House

St. Patrick's Cathedral
The O'Connell Monument
Phoenix Park
The President of Ireland's House
The Hotel US owns (and the Gilmore Girls stalked while in Ireland)

The Roman Baaaaths

I finally handed in my last paper, got my other two papers given back to me, presented on Melmoth the Wanderer, and presented on Northanger Abby. These past two weeks have been so busy with work and full of stress, and I am just overjoyed that it's behind me (though in six weeks I have to do it all over again). Friday and Saturday were spent exploring the beautiful city of Bath. Since Friday was Erin's birthday, we both decided not to do any work and instead go shopping. To celebrate Erin's birthday, a bunch of us (Kate, Kate, Sasha, Rachel, Cullyn, Erin & I) went to Strada. Strada was AMAZING. I got a Caprese salad and Spaghetti al Ragù.

Saturday, after doing some homework, was tourist day. First, we went to the Jane Austen Centre. As we walked up to the entrance, there was a man outside dressed in Regency clothing and it was no other than Martin (a fellow Jane Austen dancer).  The centre itself was alright and sadly the tea room was closed.  We next headed down to the Roman Baths. They were really awesome. The Roman Bath House was much larger than I thought it actually was. The baths, house, and temple are such an impressive showcase of architecture and house some amazing artifacts. One artifact is the head of the bronze statue of Sullis Minerva, the goddess to whom the temple was dedicated to. When the temple actually stood, is was located where the Bath Abby stands now.

Head of Sullis Minerva

After the Baths, Erin and I were terribly hungry and decided to go Sally Lunns for something to eat. Sally Lunns is the oldest house in Bath and the home of the original Bath bun. The Sally Lunn Bath bun should not be confused with the Bath bun, for they are two completely different buns. Sally Lunn came to Bath in 1680. The Sally Lunn bun is much larger than the Bath bun and very light and airy. These buns are usually served with different jams, butters, and/or clotted creams. I had the Jane Austen Cream Tea, which was a half a toasted Sally Lunn Bun, with their homemade raspberry spread and a ton of clotted cream. It was absolutely delicious! Now I have yet to try a Bath bun, which is suppose to be much sweeter (it has a sugar lump in the center), but it is on the list.

Today has been spent finishing Northanger Abby, preparing to teach an art lesson to the year five class (they will be drawing what they believe the future will look like in 50 years), and starting The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. On a positive note, there are only four days until mid semester break where I will be heading to Dublin, Edinburgh, & York. I cannot wait! This break marks the the half way point of my study abroad semester.  If this first half has gone by so quickly, I cannot imagine how quick the second half will go by.

Two Papers Down...

Four to go. Though three of them aren't due until the of the 15th of November. However, one is due next Monday, so I should probably start researching. The Topic: The Pros and Cons of Britain's National Curriculum and would a National Curriculum work in the United States? I have honestly been so busy with writing papers, researching/preparing for a presentation on Melmoth the Wanderer, reading Mansfield Park and Melmoth the Wanderer that this weekend was spent sitting on my bed attempting these tedious tasks. The geek in me, however, did make my usual checkoff list, and I excitedly check off each task off as I accomplished them.

Last weekend, I was able to travel to Cardiff, Wales with Rachel and Kate and spent an amazing morning by Cardiff Bay, then went to the Doctor Who exhibit, and finally experienced the annual cheese festival at the Cardiff Castle.

As for this past week, I've been consumed with papers and reading. My classes are going well, I'm really enjoying my Education and Jane Austen Classes. As for my Ghosts and the Gothic class, well its just about as much fun as British Literature I with Shea back at SMC... and that's saying something. I've also found my school placement here very different than any American school I've been placed at. While I thoroughly enjoy Tuesdays spent with the children, I'm not sure how well I like my teacher's management in the classroom. It is a very traditional structure where students are required to stay silent during their lessons. Now, this is not the ethos of every classroom in the school I'm placed in, just my teacher's. And while I think independent work for some lessons is important, I also believe that for art lessons students should be able to converse quietly with their fellow peers while creatively accomplishing their assignment. Every Tuesday I present to the students a Power Point presentation on some aspect of the United States - this I'm really enjoying. For this Tuesday, my Power Point is on American food. I am really excited about this Power Point. Yet, while creating it, I came to realize that there are major American foods that I truly miss:

• Cookies. While England has cookies (they are called biscuits here), they are not the same. These biscuits are very small hard cookies (hence the name the biscuit - honestly think of a dog biscuit). Not warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies!!!I also want Oreos!
• Pancakes and Maple Syrup: more specifically, Bisquick. Erin and I attempted to make our pancakes from scratch and for some reason it did not turn out so well. They didn't rise and become nice and fluffy, and the taste was a bit off. Also, the "maple syrup" here that we bought is not maple syrup... its
• BAGELS!Enough said. (Any SMC students who could send some Bagel Market Bagels.... I would be eternally grateful.)
• CHEAP FRESH FRUIT: I seriously miss grabbing some blueberries, strawberries, raspberries out of the container that my dad had just brought in after picking them in our fields. Also, people say that England has a great variety of apples - well, they don't have MACINTOSH APPLES. I am dying for a good crisp Macintosh. Also, the apples here, are smaller than the size of my fist. They are an embarrassment to all apple kind.
• S'mores: Now I don't actually eat a lot of s'mores, but I am constantly craving them over here. I think I'm craving more the graham crackers (which they don't have), a good old Hersey's Chocolate Bar with Almonds, and marshmallows each separately then together. But then when you put them together, you get an amazing treat. 
• Goldfish & Pretzels: Seriously, if you go down the snacks aisle in Sainsbury's, all there is is 15 different flavours of crisps (chips to us Americans) but no Goldfish or Pretzels! How am I suppose to enjoy my snack when its not smiling back???
• Grape Flavored Anything: Okay, instead of grape jelly, grape gummies, grape skittles, etc. its blackcurrant - which is not okay with me. I would really love a PB & Grape Jelly Sandwich. While I enjoy blackcurrant syrup added in my cider, I do not want it as my jelly flavour. 

I also really miss Clorox cleaning products - especially their wipes. I do not know how the Brits clean their kitchen table, kitchen counters, desks, etc. without Clorox wipes.  

So now that everyone knows what I'm missing from American, if you would like to send me a letter about how much you are missing me, (you might get a postcard in return!), you can mail it to:

Kathryn Schnare
14 North Parade
Nunes House
Bath
BA2 4AJ
England

And if you feel the desire to send me a care package :)

Kathryn Schnare
2 Pierrepont Street
Nelson House
Bath
BA1 1LB
England

Living at the Oldest College in Oxford

I am finally in Oxford! For this week, the programme has picked up and moved from Bath to Oxford.

Early Friday morning we all piled into the bus and headed to Oxford. Our journey, however, was delayed due to highway traffic. We sat on the bus for over an hour singing Disney songs to pass the time. By the time we had arrived in Oxford, I was ready to return back to Bath. I had been awake since 7:30 am, had hardly any caffeine, and had spent three long hours on a stifling bus. Yet, after eating lunch, which the college provided us with in their buttery (dining hall), I was ready to give Oxford a second chance. For the week, I am living at the University College of Oxford. There is actually no Oxford University. Instead the University of Oxford actually consists of 39 different colleges. University College (our affiliate school, and where I’m staying and studying for this week) was established in 1249 and is Oxford’s oldest college.

The center of the College, you are not allowed to step on the grass

After exploring the city, Erin, Cullyn, Sasha, Rachel, Kate Six, Kate, and I had dinner at a pub called The Chequers where I ordered my first Fish and Chips. Now I usually do not like fish, but it was covered in beer batter, which made them absolutely delicious.

On Sunday I was able to experience the most brilliant activity of all time: PUNTING! It was hilarious. I was in a boat with my friends Sasha, Sarah, Ali, and Rachel. I didn’t actually punt myself, but I enjoyed boating around the canal. And we all survived, without tipping the boat over. Later that night, there was a disco dance party at the school’s bar and it was EPIC. I had a great time dancing with everyone as well as some ASE staff members.

Thankfully this week I only had my normal classes and I did not go to my school placement since it was back in Bath, so I was able to spend plenty of time exploring the city of Oxford. Tuesday, I took a tour of Christ Church. Christ Church is where Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) befriended one of the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, Alice. Charles Dodgson who was a tutor at the college made up the tales Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass to entertain Alice and her sister. Christ Church’s dining hall was a model for the Hogwarts dining hall.

As Harry and the new first-years enter Hogwarts they are greeted by Professor McGonagall. This scene was shot on the 16th century staircase which leads up to the Great Hall.

 

 

The Great Hall was replicated in the film studios to create Hogwart's Hall.

For dinner that night, ASE took us to an amazing Indian restaurant. I once again ordered Chicken Korma, and I believe it was better the second time around. Sadly, Wednesday was spent doing homework and going to class. But today I had the whole day off. Early in the morning I went to the Pitt Rivers and the Natural History Museum, where I saw some shrunken heads and the dodo bird! Next, I had a lovely lunch with Vanessa and Erin, where I ate Venison cheeseburger and chips. Later tonight ASE is putting on a posh dinner for us, where we get to dress up and eat with everyone including our tutors. I’ve been looking forward to this all week and it should be loads of fun. I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave Oxford tomorrow.

Jane Austen Dancers

I know what everyone is thinking with that title. Seriously, Kathryn?! You’re in Bath, England and your spent your time learning 18th century dancing. Well, yes I did. And to sum up my experience in one word: Brilliant!
Last night, Erin and I, along with three other girls from the programme headed to a small Church where the event was being held. I have to admit, upon entering the church and seeing the eleven or so grandma and grandpas, I was skeptical that this was going to be any fun at all. In fact, I was pretty sure I was not going to be coming back next week. However, the dancers were thoroughly excited that they had American youngsters joining their session. These dancers have been practicing these dances for five to seven years and were so enthusiastic to teach them to us. When we messed up (which I did pretty frequently in the beginning) they laughed along with us, and then at the end when we were starting to get the hang it, my partner would clapped after I rightly completely a dance without any mistakes (which I did twice!). We danced for two hours and learned a number of difference dances and moves. However, none us expected us to sweat as much as we did. 18th century dancing is much more difficult than it look in the movie Pride & Prejudice. In that movie, those actors and actresses made dancing look like a piece of cake. That is not that case. My legs were killing from standing on tip-toes the whole time. It was honestly a great work out and such fun! I cannot wait to go back!

On another note, I had my first day in the classroom at my school on Tuesday and it was absolutely lovely. The kids are adorable and cannot wait to spend ten Tuesdays with them. This Tuesday I presented an all about me PowerPoint which I believed went well. The students asked a ton of questions about me and the teacher wants me to continue my "PowerPoint" lessons about all aspects of America. I am going to do next Tuesdays on the big sites in America. I'll put in Florida (Disney World), Washington DC, Washington, California, New Hampshire, New York, Nevada (Las Vegas), and Massachusetts. One lesson will be on American money, one student wanted American history (though that will be hard to do), American food (if there is no allergies, I will be bringing in Chocolate Chip Cookies!), one student wanted American Hollywood stars. I will be spending ten classes with these students, so I need ten PowerPoint lessons, so anyone who has any ideas, let me know!!!


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Tonight, I went out with some girls and got Indian take away (to go). We had a lovely dinner with the girls up in flat four. I got samosas and chicken korma. It was absolutely delicious! It was sweet and mild (not spicy at all), and had a yoghurt/cream base. I would most definitely get it again.

Stonehenge, Salisbury, & Lacock

So my first week in England has come and gone. I've become adjusted to the time change and the school sickness has slightly started to set in. While I love being in the amazing and beautiful city, I thoroughly miss Saint Mike's. I miss seeing all my friends and going to the socials, and I miss giving tours. I also miss Alliot - our cafeteria. It was my main socializing point, and without it, I feel isolated cooking my own meals each night.


However, on an exciting note, the programme took its first trip away from bath this weekend! We went to Stonehenge, Salisbury and Lacock. Though we had to get up super early, it was certainly worth it! Our first stop was Stonehenge, which was amazingly mythical and mysterious, even though they are just a bunch of rocks. For a short history lesson, Stonehenge was actually built in three different phases. The first Stonehenge was basically a bank and a ditch, which you can actually see in the picture. The second Stonehenge consisted of a double circle of bluestone inside the bank & ditch. These blue stones were brought all the way from South Wales. The theory is the stones were transported by the canal. Finally the third and final Stonehenge which we see standing now is a large circle of stones.



Our next stop was the village of Salisbury, which I would love to go back to. I spent all the time wondering the breathtaking Cathedral, which holds one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta. I had lunch in the refectory with a few friends, and then headed back to the bus. However, on the way back, we stopped at St. Thomas Church and saw the original Doom painting.

Inside Salisbury Cathedral

Doom Painting

Next Stop: Lacock! (This part is for you Lauren!) We headed to the Lacock Abby, which was founded by Ela, Countess of Salisbury. Many of the cloisters there were used in the filming of Harry Potter. 

Where Harry let Hedwig fly one winter day

A hallway where Hogwarts students travel from class to class 

The classrooms of Professors McGonagall, Snape & Quirrell

Outside Dumbledore's Office, where Dobby sent Lucius Malfoy flying with the words, "You shall not harm Harry Potter"

Our last stop for the day, dinner at the George Inn in Lacock. It was absolutely Delicious! I had Chicken wrapped in ham, which then looked like it was wrapped in some sort of croissant. Through there was gravy on it, I surprisingly didn't hate it. Then for dessert.... Torte! (which is basically a chocolate mousse pie.... YUM!)