From Rome and Paris with love

After finishing the semester I went on a school trip to Paris. We had five days to explore the City of Lights, but two of my friends and I decided to cut the number of days to four and visit Rome for a day. I know a day in Rome is crazy, but it was amazing. We got to wander around the streets of Rome adn be astounded by the city's beauty.

It is so wonderful walking around a city that is so vibrante and historic. There are literally ruins everywhere. 

The next few days we wandered the streets of Paris. The three of us continued to explore together and we added two boys. I am not the biggest fan of Paris, but this was the best trip of the semester for me. We had so much fun. We did not push to do anything and just took the trip as it came. That is the way to travel. 

Next leg of the journey

So, I have been to London, lived in  a Manor, travelled to Edinburgh and Ireland, visited Cambridge, Stratford Upon Avon, Byron and D.H. Lawrence's homes, and spent time with some really cool and talented people over the last five weeks, am I exhausted? Yes. Am I ready to be home? Yes. Am I headed home? No.

Next, up is four days in Paris and a day in Rome. So, basically I am going to be exhausted and stuffed when I get home. I hope to have internet at my hotel so keep checking in for more updates.
SK

A London Weekend, or being a wizard with great travel difficulties

So, for my last weekend trip of the semester I returned to London. One of my friends from my writing class and I went to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, which words cannot describe how cool it is so pictures most.

Side note: Butterbeer is delicious.

After that lovely stop I was supposed to wait for my traveling companion (the girl I went to HPST with was going somewhere else, and other companion was not feeling HP) at one of the tube stops. I love the London Tube. It feels a little dangerous and super cool, like something James Dean would love, don't judge me. However, after 45 minutes of waiting I assumed my companion was at our next stop. He was not. At this point I was beyond annoyed and decided to head on the boyfriend's parents house. I know I should have waited more, but I didn't. Companion called me half through my ride and we eventually met up at the house. It all worked out fine and I had a relaxing day at boyfriend's house. 

And then it wasn't relaxing. After traveling back into London, I discovered I had booked my tickets for a completely different day and there were no more trains to Grantham. I panicked and for awhile we thought we would stay up all night in a McDonalds, then we thought better of it and called boyfriend's father who graciously let us stay another night at their house. The next morning he even drove us back to the manor.

So, when it comes down to it, it was still a great weekend.

Peace,

SK

Falling in love with Ireland

I am glad I waited a little while to post about this because if not it might have just been the world Love in giant letters across the page. Instead of doing the normal telling what I did I am just going to post what I loved about Ireland.

• Irish people
• friendliness 
• wild flowers 
• this tour http://www.maccooletours.com/
• climbing the Burren mountains, yeah I just said that
• the majesty of the Cliffs of Moher 
• fresh cream
• Cake!!!!!
• pub music
• ghosts
• wildflowers again
• sheep
• celtic music
• mashed potatoes
• fresh fruit
• vintage stores
• handmade beauties
• Temple Bar
• Irish people again
• pizza
• my trip mates
• and everything
• and anything else I forgot
  
  
  
  

You can't be meek to be a writer

So, I have been crazy busy with writing, trips, and the new season of Arrested Development because of this I am going to combine my two recent day trips into one.
Stratford Upon Avon:

Wow. I got to see my heros birth place and grave and a production by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was a little overwhelming how great that was. I spent most of the day with some of my classmates and our amazing profs. We started out visiting Shakespeare's birthplace museum, which did not live up to my imagination, but that is ok, we then went to his grave. At the church where his grave is they have wonderful banners explaining the traditions in marriage and funerals during Shakespeare's time. I found these incredibly interesting, and I am sure I learned new things, but I can't remember them. The day was really cold and rainy so we spent the next portion of the day at Anne Hathaway's Tea House (Shakespeare's wife not the actress). We each got a pot of tea and most of us got clotted cream and scones. That was just so wonderfully British I almost couldn't handle it. We spent the time talking about writing and ghost stories. One of my profs said something that I really need to remember more, "You can't be meek to be a writer." Who is a better example of not being meek as a writer than Shakespeare.

We ended our day with a trip to the Royal Shakespeare Company to see As You Like It. I am a sucker for a Shakespearean comedy so I knew I would enjoy the show, but the show absolutely inspired me. It changed my outlook on theatre and truly made me want to get back into theatre, even though I know that now is not the time. The emotions of the show felt so true and pure you could not come away without a huge grin on your face.

Speaking of not meek authors, the next weeks class trip was to D.H. Lawrence's house and Lord Byron's old estate.

I am going to be honest and say I didn't really know who D.H. Lawrence was, even though I had heard of his work. Lady Chatterley's Lover not a meek novel at all. It is still infamous. I knew about it without knowing who wrote it. D.H. Lawrence had a fascinating life with many interesting twist and turns and love affairs. I am excited to continue to learn about him.

We next went to Newstead Abbey which was Lord Byron's estate for a year. Lord Byron is another writer with a larger than life persona, between his partying and affairs he is one of the more interesting characters of his literary world. Byron's work is still important today manly because he wasn't meek.

Even though I doubt my work will ever be as prolific as Shakespeare's or Byron's or as scandalous as D.H. Lawrence I need to pay more attention to their example and not be meek.

A day trip to Cambridge and the terror of poetry

  So, I had a lovely calm weekend at the manor. I watched movies with my friends and slept a lot. On Saturday my routine changed and I went on a day trip to Cambridge with the school. The weather was lovely, for the first time ever, and Cambridge was beautiful.

  We started the day with a stop at the American Memorial Cemetery at Cambridge. We were told this was a small cemetery for the an American's abroad cemetery. It didn't feel that way. We were surrounded by Cross and Star of David white marble headstones everywhere. They did not reach all the way to the horizon like it felt like the Normandy cemetery did, but it was still enough to overwhelm me. I was in awe of the sacrifices these men and women had made, returning tour after tour to continue to fight for what they believed in. Freedom. There were so many stories of people valiantly facing death and continuing to persever for their fellow man. The chapel there was a beautifully decorated in mosaics with angels going to heaven and planes of soldiers joining them. It was a powerful Memorial Day weekend stop.

Our next  stop was the city of Cambridge. This college town is filled to the brim with pubs, cafes, and history. Everywhere we turned there was another college that produce amazing scholars, writers, and scientists. We started our city experience with a basic walk around and found our way to a fun outdoor market, where I did not buy everything insight. We then found another outdoor market, but this one was an artisan market and I did spend a chunk of money, but it was from an artist who made everything herself. Then, we went punting!!! It was awesome!!! Punting is when you go down the river in a punt, which is a small boat with a landing on the back for someone to row. We decided to have a guided tour instead of punting ourselves. It was a very good decision. We finished our trip with a stop at the Eagle Pub where Crick and Watson announced their discovery of the double helix.

So, I have talked about my class and it is still wonderful, but it is different now that I have been workshopped. I am realizing that even though I have some natural writing talent I have a lot to learn and I need to put more effort into thought. So, we will see where this leads me. 

a trip to Edinburgh

So my first weekend here I went to Edinburgh. I went with a very patient and good friend, Henry, and may I say we had a ball. We started our trip with a four hour train ride, which is always a good way to start a trip to me. Then we got lost in Edinburgh, but we found our hostel after awhile. We stayed in a 30 person mixed dorm, which scared me to be honest but it was fine. The guy next to me might have had the worst cough ever though. Our first night we were both full of energy so we explored the area around our hostel and ended up in the oldest pub in Edinburgh. We found this by listening for the quietest place. Neither of us like loud music and crazy drunk crowds. It was wonderful. There was a guitarist who was very talented and knew all of the locals in the place. He played music we could sing along to, so it did get loud but it was fun loud.
The next day we started the day by trying to go to the Castle, but it was raining and the wait for the castle was outside and took about an our so we found our way to the National Museum instead and it was worth it. We explored Scottish history, including the making of clothes and agriculture. It was awesome. We spent quite awhile in there. Then, we went down the street to one of the closes that had been covered up and went on a tour of it. Closes are another name for streets. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/ The next day we spent more time around our hostel and went into numerous cute little stores.