Can I Say Wicked in England?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

3 Weeks

TIME IN BATH IS GOING BY TOO QUICKLY! I HAVE 3 WEEKS LEFT AND IT'S LEFT MY FRIENDS AND I IN A PANIC IF YOU CANNOT TELL BY MY CAPS LOCKS! I love this place and I don't want to leave!
But I still have this horribly difficult paper due tomorrow and it's making me really frustrated so I will feel so much better once it's finished :)
Here is a photo that says why I love Bath so much.

My first view of the Bath Abbey from inside the Roman Baths. This was taken in August when I visited Bath with my Dad. I am so luck to live here and for the purpose of connecting this to my Middle Ages paper, the Abbey was constructed in the thirteenth century! SO OLD! But of course it was under construction for 300 years...

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving:

   Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have to say my family and I miss our family at home today, and it certainly feels strange to break the tradition of having a relaxing day with all of our family. But here in England, it's not so bad either! My parents and sister are here which makes me so happy, and it's been great to see them :)
   They are going to London right now so that they can see Billy Elliot! Although I wish I didn't have school today, I've already seen the show so I don't mind missing it too much. And I did get to take a field trip around Bath to learn about what women did in the 18th century here. So I appreciated that excursion because of the holiday. Another awesome thing about today is that ASE is holding a Thanksgiving feast tonight at a fancy restaurant! We are having an "American Thanksgiving" and the Bath University culinary students are cooking it for us as a test. I think it will be really yummy and in a way, I will have my new family there...I've been some really close friends this year and we have become great friends but I would consider some of them more like my family while I'm here in England.
   With that being said, I'm so thankful to have my family here and I know how lucky I am that they could be here for the holiday. I am feeling homesick for my friends on my program that don't have their families here today and it makes me so appreciate that Mom and Dad and Courtney are all here.
   So far, our week has been awesome! We've done so much around Bath and I think they really like this cute city! Mom and I took a really long walk all around the park near my house and we got to eat at this AWESOME italian restaurant. yummy. Also, Dad and Mom got to see the Roman Baths and the Bath Abbey which are all really important historical places in Bath. I think my Mom was impressed with the Roman Baths, at least for me, it was hard to grasp how incredible it was until I had seen everything there. Other than that, Courtney and I went to a pub with our friends and it was great for everyone to meet her! They loved her of course! My parents were so nice to my friends and they took us out for cider and beer at a pub last night! My friends were thankful to have a few free pints and it was nice that my parents got to meet everyone! :)
   This week has flown by and although I'm looking forward to going back to London, I wish my family had more time in Bath. It's just a great place and I wish they had a little longer to see some of the hidden beauties of the city. But this weekend, I get to see Margaret and Kelsey in London! It will be great to see my good friends from the Burg and I can't wait!
   So for now, I have to go write a paper...But Happy Thanksgiving! I miss everyone at home my friends and my family, so I hope you all have a wonderful day. I'm so thankful to have you in my life!
   As we say here in England as a sign of thanks...CHEERS!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Bath Rugby:

   So tonight I went to my first ever Rugby game! After a pint in the Huntsman pub, that our professor bought for us, we walked over to the stadium to see the Bath Rugby team play the London Wasps. The reason it was free was because it was the B teams playing each other so they were the rookies, the injured and the old players who practicing for their chance to move up to the A team.
   Wow, I've never seen such a violent game before! OMG!!! Guys were tackling each other like them hitting 300 pounds of muscle wouldn't hurt. Most guys even ran into the tackles and I thought it was INSANE to witness. I kept asking Andrew Butterworth (our professor) if the players would get hurt from all of the "scrumming" and hitting and he told me that they were really tough and so only one or two guys would get taken out because of head injuries...per game!
   So I fully enjoyed the Rugby culture, the game was thrilling even though it was very complicated to watch and the fans seemed to be into it. And I have come to the conclusion that Rugby is actually one on the toughest sports out there because there are no pads or helmets and people kill each other all the same.

Go Bath Rugby! So fierce...

Scotland!

Last weekend, not this past one but the weekend before, I went to Edinburgh! It was an amazing city, I loved that it was on a hill between two volcanoes... The hills and mountains were beautiful, and the castle gave the whole city this medieval feel to it. My friend Shannon and I went on an amazing walking tour and got to the see the city (for free) from such a cool and different perspective. Along with the tour, we went on a wicked fun pub crawl and met some awesome people- one from Arkansas, one from Germany and they made our night such a blast. Because I have a lot to do, I'm going to just post pictures for now and maybe later I will post stories.
Oh! One story that I can't forget though...We arrived in Edinburgh early in the morning and by 10am we were walking around. My two friends who I met in Dublin were going to be there but I didn't suspect I would find them because we weren't staying at the same hostel. But, at 10am, as me and Shannon were walking up the stair, I saw Angela and Kim!!! It was one of those crazy moments where I was like, is this really happening!? Did I really manage to find my new friends from Dublin in another country!? It was fun, so we went on the walking tour with them and I was happy we got to hang out! Ok here are some pictures:

A beautiful fall morning in Edinburgh!

In the new town looking up towards the Royal Mile

Ok! This is for you Harry Potter fans, this is the coffee shop J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter while she was poor and living in Scotland! With a view of the castle, I could see how she created Hogwarts, and the coffee shop was really cozy and lovely to eat breakfast in. I loved seeing all the inspiring graffiti message to her all over the wood tabled and chairs.

Me, standing in the Royal Mile. It was cold out!

This is where the queen stays when she comes up to Scotland for six days a year.

I really wanted to hike this mountain but we didn't have time! It's the mountain that looks over the city, and it's a volcano!!!

You guys won't believe I actually ate this but I will tell you anyways...This is haggis: ground sheep...don't worry they cant use organs in this anymore. haha and it's all boiled in sheep stomach but then removed and served on top of potatoes. It honestly tasted like shepherds pie...I wouldn't eat it again but hey, When in Rome!

A view of the castle, on the hill from across the bridge! It felt so magical.

Me and Shannon inside the castle early on Sunday morning. I wish you could see the view behind us better because it was so amazing!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Things I Love About Bath:

   Because I had a virus this past week, I couldn't travel this weekend because I didn't feel well enough. I was disappointed at first because I really wanted to go to the Dover Cliffs and see more of England. But, today I had the best day! I slept in, woke up feeling a little better, and took a wonderful 2 hour walk around the city! I walked up the hill further than I ever had before and I felt like I was discovering new corners everywhere I went.
   The fact that this can happen after living in a city for almost two months was a great feeling! So I kept walking down towards the shopping center, and the city was buzzing...I realized it was a Rugby day so everyone drinks beer and cider on the street waiting for the game to start. It's pretty fun to watch! Then, I bought new shoes, and got Starbucks which was such a treat and the Toffee Nut Latte was delicious. Perhaps the funniest thing about my day was that I left my house with a mission to write one of my papers at Nelson House which is a 20 minute walk from here, yet I kept getting distracted because of all the places I wanted to explore and 2 hours later...I still hadn't made it to school. Oh well! I had a productive day in other ways.
   Also, I love that Christmas is in full swing here because all of the decorations and lights are up. Because Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here, the Christmas season starts at the beginning of November! It's makes the town very fun because everyones out Christmas shopping and it's just very exciting. With that being said, it's a little weird to hear carols already and see Christmas specials up on advertisements.
   So even though I was upset about not being able to travel, I feel grateful that I got to explore even more of the city. And it's been a relaxing weekend which is probably good considering I have so much to do this weekend.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Important English Holidays:

   Over the past two weeks, there have been some really important days in England that define the British culture. The first day was November 5, also known as Guy Fawkes Day aka Bonfire Day. Ignorantly enough, coming to the UK I only knew the expression remember remember the 5th of November bur had no idea what it was really about. Now I know the story so I can share it with you!
   Basically in the 16th century at the time of the reformation of the church under King Henry VIII, the church of England dominated English life. Catholicism was completely shunned, Catholics couldn't vote, they couldn't hold office and they were seen very negatively to the rest of England. And Guy Fawkes, a rebel who was raised Catholic wanted to change this by blowing up Parliament. His thought was that blowing up Parliament meant overthrowing the government and the church. After creating a well devised plan and gaining a lot of covert support, the eve of the project came. Here's where it gets complicated, he was betrayed and everyone involved was hung on November 5th the day the explosion was supposed to happen.
   Now, why do English people celebrate the slaughter of Catholics? I've concluded that it's not so much who the rebels were, it's more what they represented which was chaos and rebellion. So with killing them first, England was able to remain stable and for the first time in centuries, the rebels didn't destroy all order in the UK. The celebration can be compared to our July 4th because there are great firework displays all over England, Scotland, and Wales. But it's different because instead of an organization setting off fireworks, it's everyone setting off individual fireworks! Quite chaotic...haha So there you have it, the story of Guy Fawkes, if you didn't understand how I said it, you should watch V for Vendetta, because it's about Guy Fawkes.

Burning the effigy of Guy Fawkes:

The next holiday is one that we also celebrate in America except in Britain it's a little different. November 11-Veterans Day/Remembrance Day. Here to show their support most people start wearing red poppy's a week into November and everyday more and more people wear them. I never really thought as Veterans day as a somber day, but I've also never lived in a town that was heavily bombed in both World Wars. In World War II, Bath- being one of the most historic places in England was targeted to demoralize the British people and a lot of my street, the Royal Crescent and the town center was destroyed. So even though Veterans Day is a day of appreciation and remembrance, here it's more about remembering the devastation that occurred all over the innocent British countryside. I guess being here has made me really thankful that because of our families actions in past and present wars, we can live relatively peacefully without the constant fear of being bombed. With that being said, Happy Veterans Day! For everyone that's ever served for America, I truly appreciate your courage and dedication to our country.