Blog Post Prompt 7

Class during our study abroad trip differs tremendously from our classes at home. First of all, it's fun. This may be due to the fact that it is a bit more laid back and informal, or the fact that it is mostly discussion and participation based. At home I feel like a lot of our classes are lecture based, and tend to be boring. During a certain Phonics class last quarter I found myself constantly looking at my watch, and begging for the class to be over. This class with Ruth Benander is interesting. I constantly find myself learning new things about literature or even vocabulary. Ruth uses so many words that I have never heard of in my life, I have to stop her and be like "huh? What did you just say?" Now, I am even starting to use some of the new vocabulary that I have been picking up. I feel so much more intelligent.

In addition to my new vocabulary knowledge I have learned a great deal more about literature (as I stated previously). I think that being in Europe and traveling to all of these relevant places concerning the text, has just made that much more excited about reading them. For instance, at home I would never have read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, or Sherlock Holmes on my own. And to be honest, had I never read these texts I truly feel that I would have been missing out on some remarkable things. I am like completely obsessed with Jane Eyre. I don't think that anyone at home who knows me would have anticipated that I would have become enchanted with that particular text. Whats more is that I honestly don't know if anyone at home would truly understand my new found fascination. I also actually like reading Sherlock Holmes, I'm not the biggest fan of the television show, but I like the text all the same. The fact that I read the text will actually come in handy, when I go see the movie this fall (I will have the background knowledge).

I think that this study abroad experience has made things a great deal more interesting. I am honestly fascinated by a lot of our text. (Excluding Byron of course, except for the fact that I did actually like the poems that we read of his in class yesterday). The most important thing that I feel that I have gained from this course is a true appreciation of classic literature. I have also learned a great deal about the time periods that the literature was written in, and this knowledge has helped me to understand the texts even further. I have also gained a new found appreciation for the role that landscape plays in a text. Before this trip, I thought more of landscape/setting as just a backdrop; but now I see it as almost an additional character in the story. Sometimes, it can even be the most important character. This appreciation would not have occurred had we not had such in depth conversations regarding setting or had we not traveled to the Moors.

Blog Post Prompt 5

In terms of my daily routine I have noticed that the orders of my days have changed a great deal since arriving in Europe. At Harlaxton breakfast is served from 7:30 to 8:30 every day, when we first arrived I went to breakfast regularly. This was due to the fact that we had class directly after breakfast. However, after awhile we opted to move class to the afternoons and sometimes the evenings. This move prompted me to sleep in. An opportunity that at home I rarely get, since I usual have to get up with my three year old. The change in class schedules actual persuaded us to stay up later, this means either going to the pub, or staying in and watching movies (i.e. Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and of course more episodes of the BBC's Robin Hood). Since we were staying up later, we obviously began to sleep later. I shocked myself when I rolled over one morning and the clock said 11am! I can't remember the last time that I slept that late!

If we are at Harlaxton, after waking up, I may go to breakfast (if it's early enough) or I may take a shower. Then at some point in the day we usually have class and lunch and dinner. The big difference in daily routine at Harlaxton is that I do not have to cook or clean anything, and I do not have to get anyone else ready for the day. This is a bit weird for me. I had completely forgotten how little time it actually takes just me to get ready. We I schedule out how much time it will take me to get ready to go I usually give myself too much time, and I am ready way earlier than everyone else.

If we are staying somewhere else (i.e. a hostel etc) things tend to change based on our plans for the day. For example, when we stayed at Haworth we got up got dressed, and went and ate breakfast before beginning our treacherous nine mile hike/climb into the Moors. There was no showering involved, we all made a pact not to shower there, because we couldn't fit towels or other shower supplies into our bags. Not showering is also something that is a little bit out of the norm for me, I mean I usually shower once a day. When we made this pact we had no anticipated the mounds and mounds of sheep poop that were completely covering the Moors...ew is all I have to say concerning that.

In Rome, Lauren and I did things pretty standard. We showered in the morning and ate breakfast (the coffee at our hotel tasted like bacon, the implications of that continue to marvel me). However, after walking around Rome all day we felt disgusting and again in need of a shower before we felt acceptable to go to dinner.

This brings me to another dramatic change from the norm, my level of physical activity. At home most of my physical activity comes from running after my three year old. We go to the park, the Children's Museum, Kings Island, and the pool. This usually summarizes my level of outdoor activity. However, on this trip we are constantly outside and constantly moving. We pretty much walk everywhere. This combined with the fact that our rooms are on the fifth floor results in a great work out. And to spite what you may think, I actually kind of like hiking and climbing and just exploring whats around me. So much so that when I get home, I may look for a place to go hiking/exploring. In addition, I like taking the stairs up to my room. This is not really a new development, because I tend to take the stairs at school when given any choice in the matter.

At home the things that I take for granted in terms of my daily routine, is that I have my own shower, my own bathroom, and more than one towel at my disposal. I also take for granted my level of privacy, and the fact that at home I can take a bubble bath. I have really missed being able to do that here, due to the fact that after hiking and attempting to keep up with "ninja Ruth" we all tend to be a bit sore at the end of the day.

These changes in routine have led me to consider a lot regarding my routine at home. There are definitely some changes that I may make at home regarding my outdoor activities especially. I also might miss someone else cooking and cleaning up once I get home!

Blog Post Prompt 1: Roma

When venturing to Italy obviously there is a big difference between both the languages and cultures of Italy, England, and the United States. However, the first thing that was extremely noticeable to Lauren and I was the difference in driving styles. We had to take a 40 minute taxi ride to our hotel. I had thought that the taxi drivers in the U.K. were bad, however when arriving in Rome and getting into a taxi there, I experienced what true fear really was. The frist driver that we approached told us in perfect English that he did not speak English and that he did not want to drive us. First of all, the taxi driver did not speak a word of English. Therefore, he was hard to judge what kind of greeting he used, the only wat that we could judge what he was saying was based on his tone...a and his tone implied that he was completely frustrated with us. We had to resort to pulling out our hotel reservation and pointing out the name and address of our hotel. He then agreed to take us to our hotel for a little over 60 euro (translation about ninety dollars give or take). We got into his taxi, and he began to drive. Lauren and I were pretty much terrified at this point. First off, the concept of traffic lanes does not exist in Rome. I mean don't get me wrong there are lanes drawn, but I assure you they are purely for decoration purposes only. Our driver drove in the middle of lanes, swerved in and out of them. He also cut people of at his leisure, and proceeded to drive into head on traffic. He drove straight at pedestrians, and did not pay any attention to motorcycles or mopeds. The driver basically drove like he was the only person on the road. On top of that he would squeeze into spaces that you would never imagine trying to put a car into. You would see an extremely small space, and think no way would he even attempt to put a vechicle through that. Oh contrare my friend, he would and he did. I think that Lauren and I probably thought that we were going to die at least three maybe four times. This taxi driver basically made us a nervous wreck.

When we arrived at our hotel our conceirage was an adorable old Italian man, and he said Hello in a thick Italian accent with an excited tone. We were created the same way when we went to the pizzeria next to our hotel for lunch. Another thing that I noticed in terms of common things said to us, were "Gratzi" (thank you) and "prego" it's nothing. We also heard "Ciao" (goodbye). Also a great deal of the people that we encountered spoke English pretty well, or at least spoke some broken English. We were able to get by throughout Rome pretty well. It was just a little bit wierd constantly being surrounded by this other language. Pretty much everyone around us was speaking Italian, and many of the signs were only in Italian. I was actually a little surprised at how many words I was able to pick out based on the little bit of background knowledge I have regarding the Spanish language. Who would have guessed that after the three years of Spanish I took in high school I actually retained something? Had you asked me last week if I remembered anything that I learned in Spanish class my answer would have been unequivocably no, but now I actually realized that I learned quite a bit.

In terms of the language barrier there was one specific altercation that I noticed between other Americans and some of the natives; specifically at our restuarant on the last night. There was a middle age man and his wife who approached the waiter and wanted a table. The man spoke to our waiter very loudly and very slowly, with a condescending tone. He basically treated the waiter like he was an idiot, and I'm thinking to myself in this situation you're the idiot pal, you came to an Italian speaking country and you can't speak the language, don't speak to the man like he is a moron just because you think that he can't speak English. And the ironic thing was that our waiter actual spoke English rather well. After the man sat down, he proceeded to ask our waiter if he was Spanish. To which the waiter replied "No I'm Italian." This event kind of epitomized to me why some Italians express frustration with tourists.

Something that I noticed that was different in Italy from the U.K. is the volume of the voices of people speaking. Many of the people in Italy spoke rather loudly, even louder than the Americans surrounding them. I found this very interesting after having spent so much time in the U.K. where people tend to speak a great deal softer. In terms of nonverbal communication, I noticed that there was a fair amount of shaking hands, and smiling. And for the most part many of the people that owned businesses near each other tended to be on friendly terms, often speaking back forth across the street to eachother. In terms of listening for words that I did not know, they were everywhere, since the language was Italian.

Basically what I learned from my trip to Rome was that it is important to try to communicate with the locals on a level that they will not find offensive. Try to learn words from their language, etc. But do not talk to them like they're morons just because they do not speak the same language as you do (English). I also think that it is important to take in this new culture, and appreciate it for its differences from your own. I found the Italian culture fascinating, and I would definitely be interested in returning to Italy someday.

Searching for Byron: Our Quest In Rome

Let me just get this part out of the way by saying my experience in Rome looking for Byron differs from my experience in the Yorkshire Moors and Sherwood Forest in that I do not like Byron. I find it difficult to find any element of Byron's work or character that I admire in any way. I feel like the majority of his work consists of him whining about his "plight" (and I use that term very loosely) in life. He was so put upon because so many great men came before him in his family line, and he could not even aspire to equal these great men so he might as well just give up. Then there was the whole if you are bored you might as well just go die mentality that he echoes throughout, or then we have the happiness is the worst thing that could possible happen to you and if you are happy you might as well die because you have nothing further to achieve or look for. So as I have said I am not a Byron fan, had a been asked to hike something similar to the Moors in quest of Byron's inspiration, I would have made it about a mile, and once my feet started to bleed I would have just given up. There would have been no higher power pushing me, there would have been nothing fueling my determination, I would not have felt like I was missing anything. In Sherwood forest, I felt a connection to childhood. Had I read Byron as a child I may have turned out like Emily Bronte, I could have written a beautifully twisted novel, had virtually no social skills, and had a rather large dog named Keeper for a companion. Maybe, I should cut Byron a little bit of a break. I mean without him we wouldn't have this concept of the Byronic hero (Amy Weinhouse etc). I mean Bryon kind of invented this concept that self destruction is the only way to produce legitimately good art. I mean Amy Weinhouse may be a complete train wreck but she produces some pretty good music. So is there something to be said for destroying yourself to produce a hit? I mean would Byron have been as massively popular as he was without his many escapades? Would we still read him or take pleasure in it if he weren't a complete and total hot mess?

So ultimately, after all of Byron's whining he opts to leave England and travel. Hence his autobiographical poem (which he claims is not autobiographical) Childe Harold. Rome is an area filled with a variety of different architecture types/styles. Some of which even have a strong Egyptian influence. When venturing through Rome I wondered what Byron may have seen when writing Childe Harold. In addition, what information would he have known about the various architecture and the other elements of Roman history surrounding him? Furthermore, how would this have affected his poems? It wasn't until our guided tour/hike of the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill that I finally got some answers. Our tour guide, as part of our little tour had a couple little comments that she made about Byron. (By the way she was also not a Byron fan, go figure, I mean with all of the things that he has to offer). But she talked about how in Byron's day he would have seen little of what we were actually able to see based on the fact that a great deal of excavation has been done since that time. Therefore, clearly the little that he saw (comparatively) must have had a profound influence on him. In addition, our tour guide told us of a park that housed a monument to Lord Byron. So of course the following day we went in search of said monument. Our tour guide had neglected to mention that this park was contained about a thousand monuments. We spent much of our last day in Rome searching for Byron, with little luck. I was very eager to find him, due to the fact that most of the monuments had been graffiti ed on and I was interested to see what these people had written on the bust of Byron. (Please note that unfortunately we never did find Byron's bust, we found its location on a map, but ultimately the map proved to be of little help).

So now to the question regarding the gift shop. Since we were in Rome, there was no Byron gift shop per se, oddly he wasn't a main focus in Rome (he kind of had all of that hundreds upon hundreds of years of Roman history and architecture to compete with). However, Lauren and I were completely ecstatic when we found a store called Byron. We were like "Oh My Gosh we have to take a picture of this for Ruth!" And would you believe what this store was? It was a men's clothing store, with various other men's apparel. I mean how fitting is that? And right in the window there was a bright pink tie, I totally think that if Byron had lived during the modern era, he definitely would have worn pink.

Sherwood Photodiary

The Modern: Something that contains ideas that contrast with eachother in a way that causes you to see them in a new way. This picture is modern because, the idea of nature (life) and pollution/littering are two contrasting ideas. They cause me to see the harmful effects of littering within a forest oasis and to be honest the trash throughout the woods made me a little angry. I think maybe even angrier than I would have been had I seen it walking on the streets at home.

The Romantic: something that is beautiful but melancholy. This picture represents Romanticism to me because the little girl in the picture is adorable, however she reminds me of my daughter whom I miss very much. Therefore watching her sing and dance around made me feel sad and long to be home with my daughter.







The Sublime: something with a spiritual element. When looking at these trees I saw the holy trinity. Three trees growing from the same base.

The Picturesque: Something that is pretty. These roses are beautiful. They were the first thing to really catch my eye at Nottingham Castle.

Robin Hood

Ever since I was a little child I have always loved Robin Hood. My younger brother and I would watch the Disney version almost everyday from the time that I was six until the time that I was eight. During this time my dad would read us the Disney version of the book at night before we went to bed. Next we moved on to the Errol Flynn version of Robin Hood which we watched religiously until the time that I was about eleven. That was when we of course got to the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood, and well I probably don't have to tell you that this movie was pretty popular in my house as well. Now of course on our trip we have been presented the BBC television series of Robin Hood, and we are all fascinated by this version (to clear up any questions as to why, take a look at who they cast as Robin Hood).


Furthermore, now that I am a mother, my daughter is completely obsessed with Robin Hood. The Disney version is again popular in our house. Although according to R.B. "Disney has made love and tolerance stupid" (I just had to work this quote in here, because I thought that it was hilarious, it is only fair to note that she made this quote in reference to the Disney version of Winny the Pooh. Although I would argue that this concept can be extended to other Disney interpretations of classics as well). However, I digress, due to the extreme popularity of the Robin Hood story in my household I came into this trip with an idea in my head regarding the story of Robin Hood. However, this trip has led me to have some new interpretations of this classic tale.

First of all, based on the stories that we have been reading in class it has become clear to me that in accordance with the traditional tale Robin Hood isn't overly good at anything except for manipulation and personal relations. He loses every fight he ever engages in, he makes countless errors, and yet all of his men follow him and remain loyal? In these tales he is still a hero, who robs the rich to feed the poor, but Hollywood has certainly a different twist on it. However, with all of my previous experience with Robin Hood, and my new experience of reading the text I was looking forward to my visit to Sherwood Forest, and Nottingham Castle.

The forest was exactly how I pictured it when reading the stories, and was a good representation of the sets that I have seen in the movies. I could just imagine Robin Hood, Will Scarlet, and Little John gallivanting throughout these woods. However, there were two things that took away from my day dreaming of Robin Hood. The firs, was the cow grazing sign, and the second was that I saw no bodies of water. This makes the infamous scene of Robin being knocked into the water by Little John (allegedly a symbol of baptism) hard to imagine. I walked throughout the woods by myself, exploring the nature around me. I have to say, I found the experience to be oddly soothing. There is something so relaxing about walking throughout the woods with nothing but your own thoughts.

I found the Robin Hood Museum to be completely fascinating, and in some aspects hilarious. The museum reminded me of a ride at Disneyland rather than a legitimate museum. It had adorable paintings on the wall, meaningful quotes, and sets portraying various scenes of Robin Hood throughout. After exiting the museum, you enter directly into the gift shop (a well thought out marketing ploy obviously). The gift shop focuses mostly on the character of Robin Hood and secondly on the character of Maid Marian. The outlaws/ Merrymen seem to be treated almost as third class citizens. For example, there is only one costume choice for the Merrymen, and it is not specific to any one character. For example, there is no Little John costume...I found this a little upsetting (he is one of my favorites). However, the gift shop was prevalent with various Robin Hood memorabilia. i purchased a Robin Hood hat and fox stuffed animal for my daughter. And I purchased a Green Man postcard for myself. Since I had just presented on the medieval mindset, and more specifically the story of Gawain and the Green Knight.

My trip to Sherwood has in some ways diminished my appreciation of Robin Hood based on how commercial it is (this is in terms of the gift shop etc.) However, my journey throughout the forest has also created a renewed appreciation for the magic that is Robin Hood. Sherwood Forest is so beautiful and so open, and it provides a great deal of potential for any adventure.

Prompt Six

Something that I have been able to pay particular attention to in my travels is that attitudes that I have encountered in regards to the "locals". In England, specifically in Grantham people are very friendly. I think that this may be due to the fact that they are more accustomed to tourists/americans in this area because Harlaxton is an extension of the University of Evansville campus. Therefore, Harlaxton pretty much always has American college students living there. The closest town is Grantham, therefore that is where many of the college students go for entertainment, shopping, and necessities. Therefore their kindness may be closely linked to this idea. When I am in need of directions, or wondering where to catch a cab, or where a particular store is, the people in Grantham are particularly helpful. However, as I have noted in earlier blogs, you usually have to ask for the help.

While for the most part the area surrounding Harlaxton is particularly welcoming, we have also encountered people who were very clear about not wanting us in their establishments. This was something that I had not expected at all. Based on my previous trip, I had assumed that everyone in Grantham was relatively okay with "tourists." Two years ago when I came here to study, the Gregory was closed. However, when I returned this year I was excited to find that it had reopened. We decided a few days ago to go and check it out. When we walked in virtually everyone went silent. As we walked forward to the bar, we recieved a plethora of dirty looks. We asked to see a menu, this was our first mistake, the bartender gave us a snide look. Then she replied "we stop serving food soon." Then she walked away, and did not address us agian. Obviously after this enteraction we opted to leave. We walked back to Harlaxton, and took a cab to the Blue Pig. Although, the establishment was virtually vacant, the bartender seemed a great deal happier to have us there.

In addition, an issue that we have had to deal with regarding acceptable behavior is this whole idea of tipping. In England if you tip a cab driver they get offended. However, if you ride in any other cab besides street car, the cab already has a price of £2.75 on the meter...isn't that just a built in tip? Furthermore, although it is not necessarily customary to tip bartenders in England they are not offended when you do. This is an issue that I was familar with on our last trip, it was always a debate of whether to tip or not. Another issue, is the volume of voices of Americans vs. the volume of voices of Europeans. As a tourist or outsider you can generally tell when the group you are with is too loud based on the looks that you recieve.

These experiences have taught me that sometimes I need to realize that people are not always pleased about their home town being invaded with tourists. Furthermore, as an American I need to be conscious of my volume when I speak. Also, I just need to be aware of the environment around me and keep that in mind in terms of how the other members of my group and I behave. In addition, aparently whether or not it is customary to tip seems to differ based on the situation and location.

Edinburgh: Blog Post Prompt 4

After having spent some time in England, and my entire life in the U.S. I had pretty much no idea what to expect in Edinburgh, Scotland. Would it be similar to England? Or would it be completely different, and would I like it? We arrived in Edinburgh in around seven pm. I have to say I was not at all prepared for what I saw. It was amazing. The buildings were beautiful, and the architecture was unbelievable.

Just walking from the train to the hostel you could get a sense of the immense history surrounding you as you walk through the streets. Not only was it beautiful, but it just had this great feel. There were so many aspects of Edinburgh that I had not expected. First, there were all of the street entertainers. There were singers and painters and bag pipe players throughout the streets. Another thing that I was not all together prepared for was how friendly the people there are. I mean if you even look slightly lost someone approaches you and asks to help you. I even had one guy pull out a map, and draw a path on it so that I would not get lost. Can you imagine anyone in the U.S. doing that? Certainly not. Furthermore, I haven't encountered anything similar to that in England. The people in England are very helpful, but you usually have to ask for the help, I haven't encountered anyone who readily volunteered it.

Also, the pub culture that has virtually disappeared from Grantham, we discovered a much better version of it in Scotland. We learned so much about the culture just based on our interactions with many of the people in the pub. I had an AMAZING time that night. On top of learning about the culture, we heard live music, and some of the people attempted to us some traditional dances. This attempt, although completely futile, was extremely entertaining. In addition, we also quickly discovered an important difference between Scottish and English culture, in Scotland it is perfectly acceptable and often preferred that you tip, whereas in England in many cases if you attempt to tip they can often get offended.

I have to say a somewhat pleasant and unpleasant surprise was my hostel. We stayed at the Castle Rock Hostel, and it was directly across from Edinburgh Castle (which was completely gorgeous). The people who worked at the hostel were so cool. We basically came home at like 3 am and then talked to the people at the front desk for like two hours about our night and everything that we encountered. So the workers at the hostel were cool and it was relatively clean; these are the positives. So now onto some of the negatives, as you will note from earlier postings I am basically a clumsy mess, and my bed was on the top bunk. You can only imagine how many issues I had with getting up to that top bunk in a pitch black room, while trying to remain quiet and not tick off the other people in the hostel. Even with all of the lights on this endeavor would have been a candidate for America's Funniest Home Videos. In pitch black this display would easily have won the cash prize. Another surprising thing about the Hostel was that the bathrooms and showers were entirely coed. This concept was something that I had never considered. To be honest I was a little shocked when I walked into the bathroom the first time, and Lauren just started laughing hysterically after she discovered the bathroom/shower situation. This took a little bit of getting use to, but ultimately it was not that big of a deal.

Being Scotland made me realize how much more willing I am to go with the flow. At home, I tend to be very regimented. I have set places that I always to be. I have to get Sophie to school in the morning and then I have to get to class; so everything has to be on a schedule. I feel like maintaining that schedule is what kind of makes me a bit more uptight at home. Here I am able to be a bit more spontaneous. And that spontaneity seems to make me more open to new experiences. I feel like I have really been able to embrace all of the different elements of the culture here, and in Scotland. I am not so afraid of change and/or novelty as I would be at home.

Haworth (SPOILER ALERT: Do NOT read this post if you have not read Jane Eyre)

The Moors were completely and totally amazing. There are simply no words to sufficiently describe the experience. Not only was everything about them beautiful, but I was so incredibly proud of myself for climbing them. First of all, I am the clumsiest person that I know; I fall down stairs I knock things over, I am basically a walking disaster. The fact that I climbed the Moors and did not sustain terrible injury is in itself a miracle. Furthermore, I am not typically an outdoorsy kind of girl, but I guess that I was so passionate about this particular hike that I just wanted to keep going and going, and I refused to give up. Even when my shoes were completely tearing apart my feet, and they actually began to bleed, I just had to make it to the top.

The Moors were beautiful they were hills and hills of green, and flowers. I even made the comment that it reminded my of the Sound of Music and that someone should burst out singing "The Hills are Alive." So of course the logical choice of canidates to break out into song was Christy. (see picture).

I have to say that the thing that had the biggest impact on me was the realization that the hike that we took was the favorite walk of the Bronte sisters. It was amazing to take that walk, and wonder how the landscape may looked a bit different then. I would wonder was that house there, or were there always all of these Sheep (by the way I don't think that I will ever look at a sheep the same way after this experience). Overall the landscape was beautiful, hence why I took over a hundred pictures of it! In addition, it was an amazing feeling when we got to Top Withens, I was thinking to myself, I don't think that I can go any further, and then we were there. It was just really cool. The remanants of the structure of the house, I could totally picture what it must have looked like in its full glory.

While walking the Moors, I kept wondering what specifically fit with Jane Eyre, and what aspects may have inspired Charlotte Bronte in her writing. I can definitely see a resemblence between the walks that Jane and Rochester took; and this particular walk that the Bronte's took. It seemed as though walks played an important role throughout Jane Eyre. When it was raining and gloomy looking I could see a resemblance between the scenes in the book after Jane leaves Rochester, and is wondering, basically starving until she stumbles upon St. John. On a seperate note something that I noticed in Haworth was River Street...is it possible that this street may have been an inspiration for the name of her character St. John Rivers?

I also really loved the Bronte Museum. I found it facinating. All of the information presented and all of the artifacts were so informative and interesting. I also loved how Jane Eyre was clearly inspired by events in Bronte's own life. Loowood was inspired by Bronte's own experience at Cowan Bridge (clearly she wasn't a fan). I was also surprised by the fact that Bronte's Helen character was inspired by her sister Maria. This knowledge only makes the death of Helen that much more traumatic.

The gift shop I found to be highly entertaining. While they did not have the Bronte doll that I was so excited about/in desperate need of, they did have pretty much everything else under the sun that they could cash in on. They had tee shirts, however I definitely think that I should become like their marketing/creative director, I could design such better tee shirts. I mean I was totally hoping for a tee shirt that had a really cool quote from Jane Eyre or Weathuring Heights. I would totally have bought one of those. They also had coffee mugs, key chains, and erasers. There were some really cool post cards with the best quotes from the books on them, and I purchased those. I also purchased a graphic novel of Jane Eyre that I am completley entranced with, it is ridiculously cool. The Weathuring Heights version was aname and just tacky, so I did not feel the need to purchase that one.

Blog Post Prompt 2

I am currently living in Harlaxton College, which is a manor house built in the 1830s. It is often referred to as Grantham Castle. Harlaxton Manor is a sight to behold, and simply put, amazing in every aspect. The manor itself is an amazing work of architecture. The ceilings themselves defy imagination, with their ornate molding work. Throughout the house several beautiful artistic touches can be found, whether it's an exquisitely designed leather Italian door, or beautiful marble fireplaces. The interior design of the manor has a touch of several different nationalities throughout. While a large part of the house still maintains it's original brilliance, many areas throughout the manner have been converted to dorm rooms. We are staying on the fifth floor. While our room has been converted to a dorm the ceiling still has elaborate molding work and you can see the frame of an old marble fire place behind our desks. The brilliance of the interior of the manor is only matched by it's stunning exterior. Outside the manor there are miles of impressive and visual stimulating gardens. Throughout the landscaping stone lions can be seen as a common theme. At Harlaxton Manor both inside and out you feel as if your are a character in a nineteenth century novel. This is probably why we all enjoy reading and discussing our Bronte novels so frequently within the grounds of Harlaxton. Since this is my second trip here I already knew much of what to expect. However, I did not anticipate that it would be even more beautiful and extraordinary than I had recalled in my memories.


The closest town to Harlaxton is Grantham. Grantham is a small but charming town. The town has many small shops, thrift stores, a hilarious museum, and a grocery store. Grantham also has many pubs located within its small area. Pubs are a large element of English culture. Two years ago the pub that many of the locals and residents of Harlaxton frequented was the Blue Pig. I have also come to understand that this has been true for some time. However, apparently after an altercation occurred within its walls, the Blue Pig is nearly vacant. This new development is kind of sad to me. Mostly, I am saddened because a lot of the people on the trip think that there really isn't a big difference between British and American cultures; and I feel that there could be nothing further from the truth. While there are several similarities, there are also several vast and important difference between our culture at home and the culture here. I feel that if our group was able to interact more with the locals, especially in a pub setting, they would learn a lot of the important and interesting differences that make the British culture so special. In addition, I feel that the differences will become more evident after the group spends more time and engages in more activities in town. The grocery store in town is names Morrisons. They have several of the products similar to those that we have in the our U.S. grocery stores. However, the portions on nearly everything are smaller. They also carry several delicious products native the Great Britain, specifically biscuits. Biscuits are similar to a cookie within the U.S. but better. I purchased some Scooby Doo Biscuits with Jam for my daughter and the grocery store yesterday, hopefully she will enjoy them!

This is where I currently live...jealous??? Because you should be! lol

Blog Post Prompt 3

We arrived at Harlaxton yesterday afternoon. It is beautiful; even more beautiful than I remember. We explored yesterday and did a tour of the manor. We also walked the grounds and walked down the long drive to the canal. It is about a four mile walk there and back but it was worth it. We plan to run/walk it every morning before class.


I am truly enjoying this trip so far. I know that we have only really been here for two days, but it feels as if we have been here much longer. We all seem to have established a bond instaneously, and we all have fun just being around each other and sharing this experience. Too be honest, I was a little aprehensive about this trip only consisting of girls. Due to the fact that in general girls tend to have a lot of drama surrounding them and I was worried about said drama creating a stressful environment. However, these specific girls are virtually drama free. I was surprised how quickly we all became friends. With my last trip it took a little bit of time for us all to warm up to eachother, so I am extremely excited that we all warmed up to eachother immediately. We went out to the Pubs last night and then we got back we stayed up late just talking and hanging out. Unfortunately, the night life in Grantham was is no longer as popular as it once was, and my favorite pub the Blue Pig was almost completely dead. In terms of how members of my group and I react to new situations I can think of one truly great example. Yesterday in the taxi on the way to the Blue Pig, we carried on a hilarious conversation with the taxi driver, joking back and forth. He had a bit of a different sense of humor, but we carried on with it all the same. We all seemed to be outgoing and have a good time on the drive over. In addition, the taxi driver told us about the important sites in Grantham, and then proceded to take us on a little tour of the town, for no additional cost. He showed us the "Angel" which is one of the oldest pubs in England (it has been there since the early fourteen hundreds). Even though I have been here before, and spent a great deal of time in Grantham, I had no idea about this pub or about its history. We only learned about its existance through the relationship that we established with the taxi driver.

The people at Harlaxton and in the town are amazing. Many of them are so sweet and polite and have a marvelous sense of humor. However, I have noticed that they all speak rather softly as compared to our group. We tend to be heard over other people as we walk through the grocery store, or chat in the pub.


I am really enjoying interacting with the members of my group and being at Harlaxton in general; I know that this is going to be a great experience. However, with every positive is a negative, and the only somewhat negative thing I am feeling while at Harlaxton is that I really miss my daughter. She is my entire life at home, so it is a little wierd for me to have this completely different lifestyle here. Today while at the Grocery store in Grantham I saw Scooby Doo Biscuits and Jam and I immediately thought of her. I bought them to take home to her. I think that a lot of members in the group are extremely excited to be here, and are completely in awe of Harlaxton. Many of the members of the group are pretty laid back, and seem to deal with their emotions well. I think that we are all pretty compatible and off to a great start.

What I am doing to get ready?

Okay, so now that finals are over and Spring Quarter is finished I am finally able to get ready for my trip to Europe! A few weeks ago I ordered a hiking backpack online, that should arrive tomorrow. I purchased comfortable walking shoes and some comfortable dressier shoes. I also have some flip flops to wear in the showers at Harlaxton. I am picking up $100 worth of pounds, and $100 dollars worth of Euros from AAA tomorrow. I loaded my AAA visa, and registered it online. I also bought the plastic bags from AAA to compress all of my stuff. I have laid out all of the clothes that I plan on taking (some new and some old). I have two nice outfits ready to pack to wear for our nicer outings. I have my camera ready, and I packing two additional memory cards so that I can capture my whole European experence on film ( i have also packed several batteries for my camera). I have the essentials soap, shampoo, etc. I also have my rainsuit, a sweatshirt, and a lightweight sweater. I have also packed my plane and tour tickets for Rome. I can't believe that we leave in five days! I couldn't be more excited! This is going to be such a rewarding experience!