Final Days at Harlaxton

At this point, we have all just been trying to savor our last days in England.  Plus, now the weather is unbelievably lovely here and everything is blooming so it's hard not to love it!  Here is some of what I've been up to lately.

Burghley House: This was a free trip we could take on a Wednesday afternoon.  It just so happened that the day we went was absolutely gorgeous (warmest day of the year at that point!)  We explored the house, which was used as Lady Catherine's house in Pride and Prejudice the film.  It was grand, and very beautiful!  Then we ventured out to the gardens for some spring fun!  They had a lot of really cool fountains, flowers, and even a maze!

Capture the Flag:  This was awesome!  We played outside around the manor after dark and my team dominated--well sort of!  It reminded me of playing games back in youth group during high school.  It was kind of dangerous though because there is so much to trip on, etc. 

Costume Ball:  Once again, really really great way to end the semester.  I dressed up as James Bond, but the girl version.  It was cool to see what everyone else came up with.  We had a nice dinner and then a dance in the Great Hall.  That night Amanda met some Bobby's as well (police officers) and they were nice (we got to take our picture with them!) 

Fair in Grantham:  This was really fun.  They set up a fair inside the streets of Grantham and it reminded me of the one they have every May in Mt. Vernon.  It was fun, Amanda and I both played a game and she won a goldfish named Algae and I won a banana!  We also got some doughnuts (we wanted funnel cake but I guess that isn't popular here?!)

Valedictory Dinner:  Bittersweet.  Last day of classes!  But it also meant that things were coming to a close.  It was a lovely dinner and afterwards we all headed out to the bistro for the last time.  It was a great night hanging out with Cara and Kelsey.  We made plans to meet up at Holiday World this summer so I hope we can make that happen.

Packing:  Ughh--not fun.  I had to pack stuff take to Italy, and also pack everything that was left in my suitcases to meet me at the airport.  This was a process, and I had to give some things away.

Bakewell/Chatsworth House Trip:  On my final Friday my English Novel class took another trip out to Bakewell and Chatsworth to see the home that Jane Austen based Mr. Darcy's house, Pemberley, after in Pride and Prejudice.  It was magnificant.  We started our day in Bakewell where we went to a tea shop for some tea and a famous Bakewell Tart.  As a group we trekked on public footpaths across sheep pastures to find the Chatsworth house.  The view approaching the house is iconic, but in our experience we got to come over the hill and see it "shrinkwrapped" essentially.  They were doing construction on the front of the house which was a bummer but it was still really magnificant.  The inside of the home was spectacular, so ornate!  Some of the rooms have been used in filming of Pride and Prejudice so I can't wait to get home and watch it again!  My favourite part was going out to the gardens.  These romantic style gardens are built to impress you and make you think that you are in the middle of nature--it worked!  So pretty, and so full of fountains!  Unfortunately, I ran out of camera battery so I don't really have picture evidence :(  This trip was really really rewarding and I had an amazing time.

Belvoir Castle Adventure:  On Monday Amanda and I had a day off from finals so we decided to take a walking trip to Belvoir Castle.  On a clear day I can see it from my bedroom window, but it is a good five miles away.  We brought directions, but we decided to meander around and take the wonderful public footpaths they have in England (I wish the US had them, you can walk right through ppl pastures and yards using styles to climb over their fences and such--very neat!)  We left at 9:30 and finally arrived at the castle at about noon.  Unfortunately, it was closed!  We did get some Belvoir springs juice that was delicious!  On our way back we decided to just go south because that was the direction that Harlaxton was in relation to the castle (I used my compass so that was cool).  We kind of got lost, went to Knipton and Croxton Kerrial.  We saw a LOT of English countryside that was very lovely.  Lots of flowers and lots of animals-sheep, ram, white horse, chickens, birds, cows, and so much more!  We even fed an apple to Steedy-our white horse!  Amanda found a magic feather and we literally walked out feet off!  We were sort of lost, and eventually we had to call a cab to pick us up because we needed to make it back for Amanda's checkout time.  It was a really fun adventure and I had a really goood time exploring!

Final Exams:  Not so fun, and took up a lot of my last time in England so I wasn't so happy about that.  It also made it very difficult to concentrate knowing that I had to get packed, say my goodbyes, and get ready for a trip to italy.  But I got through them thank goodness!