The Long and Winding Road

Sunday was pretty much all a travel day.  We woke up, ate breakfast, and were on the road by 9 am.  We stopped again at the Scotland/England border for photos and then trekked on to Hadrian's Wall.  Hadrian's Wall was built during the Roman conquest of England to mark and divide the border between England and Scotland.  It was to keep out the "barbarians".  We also got to check out the remains of an ancient fort that was built there as well by the Romans.  It was beautiful here because we were literally just in the middle of the countryside.  They even had sheep grazing out around the property.  The sky was big, the grass was the greenest of green, and the sun shone through the clouds like light from the heavens.  Truly a breathtaking sight!  We loaded the coach once again and stopped for the final break at Durham.  Durham is a town in England and we had a short break for lunch before we loaded up and drove the final 3 hours back to the manor.  It was nice to be back!  I was so tired of traveling on the coach (I compared it to the pilgrims riding the Mayflower).  Back just in time to get a good night's rest and prepare for another week of classes.

Keep your black and white, I'm thinking tartan :)

Saturday was definitely a marathon day.  We rolled out of bed and got down to breakfast by 8am.  They served us a full english breakfast which was pretty good.  We embarked on the city and first headed to the Edinburgh Castle.  Here we got a great view of the city and saw cool stuff like the Scotland crown jewels and the Stone of Destiny.  The stone of Destiny has been an integral part of monarch coronations for a long time and even be used when Prince Charles becomes crowned King.  It can be seen placed under the throne during the ceremony (I'm excited for that to happen because I can honestly say I've seen it in person).  Afterwards, we headed down the street to the Scottish Whisky Experience.  Famous in Scotland as their drink of choice we learned about the process that it takes to produce the drink.  I also have learned that Irish Whiskey is spelled with an "e" and Scottish Whisky without.  We grabbed some lunch in their restaurant that was pretty good.  I had a bacon and cheese sandwich with chicken soup (turned out to actually have beef in it so I'm not sure what happened?).  From here we trekked down the royal mile to visit the other places on our agenda such as the cathedral, adam smith's grave site (founder of modern economics), and the royal palace.  All were quite enjoyable :)  Tired as we were it was now time to climb up to Arthur's Seat to capture a breathtaking view of the city.  It was intense, but worth it.  We saw the entire city and were able to pick out places that we had visited during the weekend.  You could see everything!  Oh and I accidently lost one of my gloves on the way up so we were looking for it on the way back down.  Just as we gave up all hope it turned up and it was really funny.  Also, the girls and I passed the time on the way back down by singing songs.  It was a hoot!  We made the uphill trek all the way back to Princes Steet (where our hotel was) and then we took a rest and planned out ghost tour.  The ghost tour was neat because it took us down into the underground vaults of the city.  They are supposedly haunted and claimed to be the most haunted place on earth.  It was kind of silly, but fun as well.  We headed back and went to bed because we were all literally exhausted.  It was a great day though!

My Journey to Scotland

This trip ran slightly differently than my trip to Germany because we went on the school led trip.  In other words, all of the transportation and lodging was organized by Harlaxton.  The coach was scheduled to leave Friday morning at 8 am so we all got up really early and ate breakfast in time to load the coach.  Unfortunately, the coach that we were going to take broke down, so we lost an hour due to them having to switch it before we could leave.  This was sort of dissappointing because that pushed back out arrival time.  We made two stops on the way, first at a rest stop to eat our lunches, and then at the England/Scotland border for a photo op.  As we arrived in Scotland, I immediately fell in love with the beautiful countryside and view of the North Sea.  It was truly magnificant.  We arrived in Edinburgh (pronounced Edinborough) at 3:30 pm and by the time we got checked in to our hotel, it was 4pm.  This left us with no time for hitting the major "sight-seeing" places in the capital of Scotland.  Nevertheless, Amanda, Clare, Christina, and I took a walk around to sort of see what the city had to offer.  We did a little souvenir shopping and then set off to find the Birthplace of Harry Potter.  J.K. Rowling began writing this amazing series in a little cafe called The Elephant House.  We decided to have our dinner here and so we sat down for a relaxing meal.  Afterwards, we also checked out the statue of Greyfriar's Bobby because it was also located near the cafe.  The story is that this little dog sat by the grave of his master for 7 years after he died.  It was a cute story and the statue of the dog was fun.  We walked back to the hotel then to plan our adventure for the following day, because now we had to fit all of Edinburgh in a single day.  After we got organized, Amanda and I also left and walked around the city to experience some of the night life.  We tried a fried Mars Bar which was good, but sooo greasy!  I liked it, but I don't think I'll be getting another one anytime soon!  We also met a couple new Scottish friends and we learned a lot about their country.  It was interesting, their driver's license are pink and their permits are green!  Also, they wear the tartan (famous plaid design) kilts to formal events such as weddings even now.  Everyone was very nice, and it was a good time.  We headed back to the hotel to catch a few hours of sleep before we had to wake up early for our touring the following day.

Burn's Night & Lincoln Field Trip

Last night we gathered in the Bistro for Burns Night.  Burns Night is a Scottish traditional holiday to celebrate the poetry of Robert Burns.  Burns is the national poet of Scotland.  We gathered for a fun time singing scottish songs, reading Burn's poetry, and taste-testing Haggis (look it up if you want to know what it is!)  It was actually not too bad suprisingly!  It was a good time and really put me in the mindset for my trip this weekend to Scotland :)

Today was a fun day except for the rainy/cold weather.  We were able to board the coaches and take a school-wide trip to Lincoln (no, not the 16th president Lincoln).  Lincoln had a lot to offer.  We first broke off into small groups and my group took the Roman walk first.  We saw where the Romans first built the city Lindon and saw some of the walls and original archways that have been there since 48 a.d.  Afterwards, it was time for my group's self-guided tour so Clare, Dannie, and I followed the confusing directions down Steep Hill Street (named very literally!).  Here we ran into an assortment of tea parlors, sweet shops, vintage clothing stores, and used book stores.  It was quaint.  We followed the street all the way down to the High Street shopping centre.  We saw the river and walked around in a mall to warm up.  We took the terrible journey back up Steep Hill Street and then caught up with a few friends from a different group.  At this point we were on lunch and pretty much just wanted to find some place warm and dry.  Thus, we stopped in a quaint little restaurant called the Prince of Wales Inn.  Here I split some Sticky Toffee Pudding with Amanda and it was absolutely delicious!  I definitely wouldn't mind having that again!  It came time for me to re-join my tour group for our visit to the Lincoln Castle.  This castle was built by William the Conquerer after the Norman conquest of England.  It is a traditional motte and bailey style castle (motte is the mound and bailey is the ditch they dig around to make the motte) and it is special because it has two mottes.  Here we saw a dungeon, stood where they publicly hung people, and also were able to view one of the 12 original copies of the Magna Carta.  This was really neat because we've been learning about it in our British Studies class.  Finally, my group went to the Lincoln Cathedral.  This cathedral exhibits four different types of architecture; Norman, Old English, Decorative, Perpendicular.  It is a magnificant building and has soo much history within its walls--truly amazing.  We also went into the Chapter House.  This room of the cathedral was neat because they filmed part of the DaVinci Code film there.  When all of our tours were complete, we headed to a tea shoppe for the last time that we had there in Lincoln before the bus left.  I enjoyed some tea from The Tea House that was delicious and warming :)  It was also served in ornate teacups and a teapot which I thought was special!  We loaded the buses and took the ride back to the manor gladly.  Today was a very long and tiring day, but it was very interesting too!

Sorry, I haven't posted in a while!

Ok so I guess I haven't posted at all this past week, but honestly, it has just been kind of a regular school week.  One morning we were woke up by a fire drill at 7am where we had to file out of the school in our pjs (this is the third time since we have arrived).  Not fun at all!  Otherwise I've just been trying to keep up with my readings for class.  I've already read Pride and Prejudice (which I have previously read) and now I'm working on Jane Eyre.  Both classics and very good.  Oh and now I'm deciphering Shakespeare's Henry IV.  Last weekend Amanda and I made it into town on Friday night and had a nice time.  We even ran into someone we had previously met.  We ended up spending Saturday in though so that we could save our money for our trip to Scotland next weekend.  Also, we booked a trip to Ireland for the weekend right before Valentines Day.  We are going to arrive on Thursday afternoon, hang out in Dublin that night, and then join a Paddywagon tour that will take us all over Southern Ireland for the duration of Friday-Sunday.  I'm pretty excited to see all of the homelands of my ancestors!  We also picked up some delicious candy bars and IRN BRU in town (English soda that tastes like cream soda).  Oh and we walked about the grounds and took some glorious photos of the manor.  Afterwards we took a guided tour and learned all about the property, design and builder of the house, and the history of the owners.  Tomorrow we are taking a school wide field trip to Lincoln so I am getting excited to have a day out to explore!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Sunday we woke up in utter exhaustion.  After 3 days of traveling, we were sore and very tired.  We left the hostel and decided to get a one day subway ticket for Hamburg so that we could just practice our expert navigating skills.  We rode back up to the main part of the city, back to the Reeperbahn to see Beatles Platz (which is where I believe the Beatles began their international tour), and to the waterfront.  It was a pretty chill day and we had a good time just getting lost.  We headed out to catch our plane late afternoon from the Hamburg Airport and from there we flew into London Luton.  We didn't have the train tickets bought in advance this time, so when we arrived back into London, we had to figure out and purchase our fare to travel back into Grantham.  When we arrived at the airport, we called a taxi for a lift home to Harlaxton.  Upon arrival, we shared our stories and prepared for the start of another week of school.

In Germany, We Speak German!

On Friday night when we arrived in Hamburg we rode the bahn (train) to the Altona station and checked into our hostel.  Meininger Hamburg City Hostel was the name and we had no problems checking in.  We did realize that because we booked this accomodation separately, they placed us in separate 10 person rooms.  It was a little suprising, but Amanda and I are pretty easy going so we went with it and embraced it as just part of the experience.  The room I had was nice, the only issue I had was that my locker didn't work.  The front desk was nice and gave me a free locker in the lobby to keep our important stuff in.  Saturday morning we woke up and had to get online (free wifi in the lobby!) so that we could communicate with Max (who lives in Hamburg).  We met Max last year when he was a foriegn exhange student with my cousins and we all went to the arch in st. louis together.  Max agreed to take us on a tour of the city and he also took us out with some of his friends that night.  We got to see many beautiful sites in Hamburg, and we climbed the tower at St. Michelas Cathedral to see an awesome view of the entire city.  The steps were killer, it was a long way up!  We also stopped for some currywurst which turned out to be very good!  That night Max took us to a typical german restaurant that you would imagine on tv and we were entertained by his friends and the rest of the restaurant breaking out into german song and pounding on the tables!  It was a lot of fun :)  Our new German friends took us then to the Reeperbahn where we walked around on the famous red light district of Hamburg.  It was a long but very interesting evening!

Gutentag Berlin!

My day in Berlin :)  Today we woke up super early and caught a train from Shoneyfield (American way of spelling the name of our German airport lol) to the haupbahnhoff (central station) in Berlin.  We had our route planned out and upon arriving we took off in the direction of the Berlin Wall.  First on the agenda was the Reichstag (German Parliament).  We were excited to go up in the dome to see the city but for some reason it was closed.  From there we went to the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Holocaust memorial, Topography of Terror Museum.  We made sure to pick up some doner kebabs (lamb meat sandwiches) that were awesome.  To drink I had a orange coke which was also really tasty!  Unfortunately it rained on us ALL day in Berlin but we still had a great time.  Technically we "backpacked" through Europe (or a small part anyway) because we had to wear our backpacks around town all day :)  Needless to say, we were cold, wet, and our feet and backs hurt and we were pretty ready to get on the train to Hamburg that evening.

Germany Trip Part 1

Okay so before leaving, I can honestly say I had a lot of jitters/anxiety about the Germany trip.  Amanda and I (first-time trip planners) decided to go against the norm (everyone else was going to london) and on a Sunday bought all of our transportation and lodging for the following Thursday.  There were a few minor glitches but with a little re-organizing we were ready to depart.  My final class of the day was scheduled to end at 3:00 pm and my teacher has a tendency to run a little late.  Usually it's not a big deal but our shuttle to the train station in Grantham left at 3:10pm so I ran over there to find out that the shuttle was filled to capacity.  In this case they are able to have another shuttle run but the time was ticking until our train left Grantham at 3:26pm.  Thankfully, the driver agreed to take us straight to the station, where we ran in and had to have our tickets printed.  I was so nervous we were going to miss the train, but we had them ready and were standing on the platform just in time at 3:24pm.  We ended up taking seats next to different people due to the full coach and we both had pleasant conversations with locals.  The girl I sat by was going to visit her dad who is working on the 2012 Olympics that will be held in London.  When we got off the train, we made sure to quickly get our photos taken by Platform 9 3/4 to Hogwarts at Kings Cross :) Next we had to catch the tube up to Victoria and then take Victoria to Gatwick Airport.  We easily found right where we needed to be and went right through security.  We exchanged our pounds to euros and then grabbed some sandwiches while we waited for our flight.   We boarded the flight and then had a pleasant EasyJet flight that was less than 2 hours to Berlin, Germany.  In Berlin, we exited onto the tarmac (which was a little weird but also fun because it was like the movies).  After going through border control, we couldn't really figure out what bus to get on so we decided to walk to our hotel (it wasn't too far).  When we arrived at the Albergo Hotel we had a few issues checking in because of the paperwork, but they were patient and we eventually got it all straightened out.  Our hotel room was nice, very european!  We couldn't figure out how to turn the TV on though lol!  Here we relaxed and spent some time planning our time in Berlin the following morning :)

Where are you from? Are you French?

Today while talking to our new friend Rich at the "Phones for U" store, his coworker thought we were french, which is quite odd!  When we explained that we were from America, Amanda and I found ourselves sharing a little bit about culture in the states.  They were a little let down when we explained that no, Americans/american colleges are not really like American Pie or Van Wilder.  Furthermore, we talked about pop culture, toliets, and the food portion differences between the two countries.  I guess I should really start where I left off.  Monday night, close to the entire school joined in the school choir.  Here we sang several new songs.  It was really fun, and for just 1 hour of practice, we sounded great!  Here is a link to someone singing one of the songs we learned :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaGSoimW-pE&feature=related  Amanda and I also started getting worried about the minor details for our trip to Germany (tomorrow).  Last night we spent time in the library looking up anything and everything we could find and translating it to english.  We are a good team, amanda does all the directions and transportation and I work with what exactly we do/see when we get there!  We have both been feeling a little disconnected from the real culture in england seeing as we are cooped up in the manor house living with mostly americans.  Therefore, after classes got done on Wednesday, we hopped the coach and headed into town for another visit in Grantham.  Amanda and I visited the supermarket, ASDA, which is comparable to our walmarts.  Here we picked up granola bars, tolietries, and I got a watch so i can actually know what time it is here!  They had a escalator thingy that was actually a ramp you could use to take your cart to the second floor.  Also, I've discovered they have sales tax (VAT) but it is added into the advertised cost (unlike in america).  From here, we tried to get lost in the town.  We walked along the river and saw some fisherman who were fishing with these really long poles.  Along the river we spotted some swans that we fed granola bars to.  They were beautiful!  From here we walked by the catholic church and I even got to see an elementary school being let out for the day :)  We stopped in again at the phone store and requested suggestions for dinner (or tea which is what they call in it England).  They sent us down the street to a restauraunt/pub called Atrium.  Here we had fish and chips and something new, mushy peas.  The mushy peas looked like baby food but they were actually really good!  Overall today was relaxing and a nice change of pace.  I'm excited/nervous for my trip (in less than 24 hours we will be on our way!!)  I will update you all on my adventure when I return :)  Off to Deutschland!!

First Day of Classes & everything I missed from the weekend!

This is a photo I shot from my view out my dorm window :) Saturday night we had a Presidential dinner in the long gallery.  It was a classy affair that got everyone dressed up in their very best.  The dinner was an imitation of a "high table" dinner like they still hold frequently at english universities such as Oxford.  We had assigned seating so that we could get to know more students.  After the dinner Amanda and I decided to spend our Saturday evening in back in Grantham.  We met a couple of english boys (they prefer "english" to "british" btw) who showed us some cool places to go and let us ask silly questions about life in England.  It was interesting to listen to their accents and try to understand the jargon they used.  I woke up Sunday morning bright and early to make it once again into Grantham for a church service at the Reformed Methodist Church.  The building was rather large but sadly quite empty.  Everyone who attended was very welcoming though and I quickly caught on to their traditional style of worship.  Other than the two other Harlaxton students that were with me, there was only one young person in attendance (who happened to be the organist).  I arrived back to the manor and was able to eat lunch and pick up my textbooks in preparation for our first class day.  Amanda and I spent the greater part of the evening planning an independent trip for this weekend to Germany.  We plan to leave thursday after class to catch a flight out of London to Berlin where we will stay in a Hostel and spend Friday visiting the sites.  We then hop on the railway from Berlin to Hamburg to spend both Saturday and Sunday until we must depart back to London to return to the Manor.  It was crazy, but we booked it!  It might not be the most conventional trip, but we planned it ourselves and we are still learning :)  This morning I got up early for breakfast before our schoolwide lecture for British Studies at 8:30 a.m.  From there I attended my seminar class for British Studies and also a literature class called "The English Novel."  So far it seems like we are going to be in for a lot of work, but I think it will be a good semester.  Oh and this morning Amanda and I were brave and tried black pudding.  Yuck!  I won't even say what it is made out of, you'll have to look it up yourself.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding  I am glad we did it because for some ridiculous reason it is part of english cuisine, and afterall I am in England!

More Orientating

Today has been full of more instructions about life in the manor and discoveries.  The best part was when we hopped onto the coach and made are way to Grantham for our first shopping experience.  There is an awesome store called Poundland that is comparable to the dollar stores in the states.  We also went to a coffee shop and I purchased my first Earl Grey tea for "take away" or to-go.  I even added the suggested milk.  It was pretty good.  Also, so far we have noticed that either they don't charge taxes on the sorts of items we purchased, or the tax is built into the price because anything that was advertised to cost 8 pounds, literally cost 8 pounds exactly.  We walked around and got a little lost but it was really fun.  Tonight we have to dress up and attend the principal's address in which we will have a fancy dinner.  Well, Cheers!

Day 1 1/2

On Thursday, January 6, 2010 I caught a flight out of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago to London Heathrow.  I wasn't worried until I arrived at the airport and realized that the last time I flew was in 8th grade, and I honestly couldn't really recall the procedure for security in the airport.  After checking in and getting our bags checked, Amanda (my compadre and partner in crime) and I were both a little shocked at how soon we had to part from our parents to go through security.  I only had a minor breakdown when sitting at the gate for our flight.  Somehow my parents left with all of the copies of my flight itinerary.  This document is not completely necessary, but when going through customs there was a chance I would have had to provid proof of onward journey.  Luckily the nice airlines people printed a copy off for me and all was well again :)  The flight was approximately 8 hours, and they fed us a snack, dinner, and then breakfast just before landing.  Amanda and I were entertained for about 2 hours by watching The Social Network, and then were left to chatting and wishing we could fall asleep.  We arrived on time, and were eventually picked up by a coach bus to take us another 2 ½ hours out to Harlaxton College in Grantham, England.  Here they welcomed us like family, fed us, and let us explore the truly beautiful grounds of the manor.  So far I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to the accents, getting used to riding and even walking on the left hand side, and also my first “fish and chips.”  I will post pictures soon, but for now I am going to try to get back into a normal sleep routine.  I would say goodnight, but it is only 4:42 pm for my American family so good evening :)