Stratford-Upon-Avon and Driving a Car!

Last week our entire program spent three days in Stratford-Upon-Avon... the town where Shakespeare lived. We saw three shows, all put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The first was Antony and Cleopatra, which, if I'm being honest, was kind of terrible. I know, who am I to judge the RSC, but I was just so bored. I just didn't think it was acted very well and the fact that the dress of the characters kept switching time periods confused the crap out of me. So, I was not expecting anything particularly wonderful when we saw Romeo and Juliet on the second night. It was fantastic!!!! They modernized the two main characters but left the rest traditional. The actors were ridiculously good, it was amazing to watch! This was the night, however, when catastrophe struck.
Okay, so you all remember the epic tale of that terrible phone that I got. Well, this night I have never hated that phone so much! So before the show, everyone is turning their phones off and I do the same. I even made a comment to one of the girls in my program about 'not being that girl' whose phone goes off in the middle of the production. So... about half way through the second act, the phone starts ringing. I just about fainted I was so mortified. I fumbled around in my bag and finally found it and hit as many buttons as I could get my hands on until it stopped ringing. About ten minutes later, it goes off again... of course. I shut if off again and put the phone under my thigh with my finger on the power button (for optimum shutting off speed). The show ended without the stupid thing going off again, and no one could really tell that it was mine, but I was still completely embarrassed and annoyed with myself for letting it happen. The next night, I took the battery out before the show... problem solved. The third day we saw the matinee of King Lear, which was alright. The acting was very good, impressive, but the show is three and a half hours long... and who can sit through that without wondering when the end will come.These first two pictures are from our trip, on the second day, to Anne Hathoway's Cottage (Shakespeare's wife, not the actress). It was English in idyllic in every sense of the word! The house was old and adorable and the gardens were absolutely beautiful, I had a really nice time!

Tonight we are sitting at dinner, a few housemates and I and a guy who one of them is seeing and I mention that I haven't gotten to drive a car. One of the goals that I made before coming to England was to get to drive a car... with the steering wheel on the wrong side! So the boy offered to let me drive his car after dinner! I was so excited... and I didn't even crash into anything! It was a little weird, because the stick shift was on the other side and my parking skills were a little off, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't trust myself enough, so I told him that I just wanted to drive around in a parking lot... but it was still wicked fun!!!
When we were walking home, the sun was setting and the Pultney Bridge looked so pretty, so I decided to take a picture of it. I love England and I'm really going to miss it, but I'm excited to see all of you when I get home!

Jane Austen

On Friday day the Jane Austen classes took a day trip about the life of Jane! First we all went to Winchester, to the places where Jane spent her last few months. We saw the Winchester Cathedral, where her tombstone is (above) and they also had a nice little exhibit with some of the letters she wrote to her brothers. It was actually nice to be able to see her handwriting and the stone that her family had installed for her. Our professor told us that just before she died the family had lost a considerable amount of money (because the brother who failed at everything, failed most at owning a bank), but that they still paid a considerable amount to give her her own stone. It humanized her to know how much her family cared about her. You all know by now how I feel about cathedrals, but apart from all of the sexism... it wasn't that bad.

After the cathedral we went into the town to supposedly find somewhere to buy lunch. We had all packed lunches, but we found a really adorable vegetable stand and bought some raspberries. Yum!

After that we got back on the bus and drove to Chawton, where Jane spent most of her time when she was writing. First we saw her brother Edward's estate. He's the one that got adopted by a really rich family, because they needed an heir and he needed the money and status (plus they were family friends). The house has been turned into a functioning library by an American donor. It was beautiful, especially the gardens/lawn where we all sat and had our picnic lunches while discussing Jane Auten. It all sounds very English and lovely, I know!

Then we went to the house where Jane Austen lived, with her mother and two sisters after her father died. The house was small, but pretty... in the way that a house turned into a museum is bound to be. The best part, again, was the garden/lawn. I brought my skidmore blanket on the trip (so I could sleep on the bus) but it actually turned out to be much more useful to sit on in the grass and enjoy the beautiful day!

Bath Skyline Walk

Last weekend there was Bath Skyline Walk trip. A bunch of people from the program all got together and began on the trail that leads around the entire city in an eight mile loop. Mind you, we did not plan to do all of it, but about half was expected. I, suprisingly, remembered to put on sneakers instead of my little flats before we set out, and boy was I glad that I did. What I didn't realize is that the city center of Bath is situated in a giant valley and to be able to walk around the outskirts means that first you have to climb out of the city. I wasn't exactly like hiking Kearsarge, but we did do a fair amount of walking up hill and up stairs and I was glad to have good shoes. We didn't mind the walk though, because now we are in the middle of 'paper weeks' and everyone is so excited to get outside and get a little exercise instead of sitting in the living room and writing (not that I don't love our living room). We all talked about our papers and our lesson plans until we had reached the top of the city. The view was absolutely stunning. You could see the houses lined along the sides of the hills leading into the center with all the churches and the Abbey (of course). There are also air balloons that fly over Bath quite frequently, I know, it's weird, but they made for a very pretty sky view. We walked along for a while and then all went back to doing work, but it was a very nice break!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Yesterday, like the past four days, was brilliantly sunny and warmer than it has been all year. In honor of such nice weather my housemate and I decided to go to the farmers market that is open on Saturdays on the other side of the city. While walking over we found the fruit and vegetable stand that is always open in the middle of the square by the big supermarket, so we stopped to look. Low and behold, they had rhubarb stalks in a big box and I just couldn't help myself. I started thinking about the rhubarb plant that used to grow behind our house and how amazing it tasted in the summer, dipped in some brown sugar... so I bought some. I also bought strawberries and enlisted my housemate, who is an amazing cook, in the making of a strawberry rhubarb pie. When we got back to the house, we decided that there wasn't really enough time for pie crust baking, so strawberry rhubarb crumble it was to be!
I was so excited that I ran to the store before it closed to get some oats. Then I found a recipe online and got to it. Our house, being very quirky, has only a stovetop in our actual kitchen. The oven part of the stove is a 1970's or 80's model with a broiler on top and a full oven on the bottom, wedged in next to our washer and drier. The conversion, we have all figured out, is that 350 degrees fahrenheit is 176 degrees celsius. So, Tessa helped me figure out what "cutting in" butter entails, I made the crumble, and put it in the oven. It came out and it was incredible! I highly suggest that all of you follow the recipe that I'm going to post below and make your own because, oh man, it was so good! The house of us, eight girls plus one (who pretty much lives here), finished off the entire thing in one night. So, for anyone who feels the need to eat something amazing today, here it is: Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Recipe! Enjoy!

Rome, Venice, Madrid, and Alicante!

The pictures are actually in reverse chronological order, but it would take too long to fix, so I will just explain them backwards. We had nine days for our mid semester break so we decided that we would travel to four different cities. We would sleep two nights and have one full day in each.

The first city we saw was Rome, Italy! We flew in on Saturday night, made our way to the hostel and just slept that first night. The next morning we got up early, ate our complimentary breakfast (a hard roll) and set out to do everything possible. First was the Colosseum, gigantic, and probably the oldest thing I have ever seen still standing. It was crazy. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we were all in very high spirits. We signed up for a tour and let this lady lead us around as we pressed little walkie talkies to our ears so we could hear her. I am so glad that we did it though, because I definitely learned a lot. Ready? So did you know that the Romans invented cement? And that they strengthened all those giant granite pillars with steel rods so they wouldn't fall down, but then the emperor didn't like them and made them take our all the rods (leaving big holes in all the pillars). The entire thing was built in eight years by Jewish slaves that they shipped in especially for the occasion. The Latin word for 'sand' is 'rena' and because they coated the entire floor of the building with tons of sand so that it would soak up all the animal and human blood that was spilt, they called the building an 'arena.' Cool right? I know you can find most of this on Wikipedia, but being there in person and learning it was just so amazing. Then we went to the Roman Forum to take the second half of our tour. The city of Rome, as the story is told because all the documents were burnt at some point, was started by Romulus and Remus, two miracle brothers. They were born out of wedlock and so their mother was supposed to be put to death, but instead she hid herself away and when the boys were born she put them in a basket and sent them down a river... (sound familiar to anyone... Moses maybe)... anyway, they were found by a she-wolf (the funny thing being that the word for female wolf and the word for prostitute are the same thing in Latin, so no one really knows which it was) and nursed until they were old enough to venture out on their own. Then they went to Palatine hill and decided to start a great city. Then they fought over which hill they would build it on, had some funny tournament, and one brother killed the other. Then the still living one built the city on his hill.

Then we wet to the Trevi Fountain, where we all made wishes and threw euros into the water... except that I had to throw mine twice, because the first time I didn't throw it at a great angle and it just ended up falling at my feet (skilled, I know). Then we made our way to the Spanish Steps, which is a huge thing of lots of stairs leading to an obelisk and a museum of some sort. They were extremely beautiful, all in granite, and you got a great view of the city from the top. There we sat, on the steps, in the sun and rejuvenated ourselves after all the walking we had just done. A man tried, for a very long time I might add, to sell us some roses, but none of us would budge and eventually we got him to go harass some other people. Then we walked home, got ice cream on the way, and had dinner. We ate a lot of pasta in Italy. I had penne with salmon sauce the first night, which was good, but can not hold a candle to my mom's salmon sauce... sorry Italy. I fell in love with gelato... and you will notice that there is a picture of me eating it in every city that we went to!

The second day we booked it to Vatican City, we even took the Metro. I got yelled at in Italian by some woman whose kid I accidentally stepped on the foot of as we were getting shoved into a too-small subway car. I had no idea what she was yelling about, but she said bambino, so I apologized to her daughter and then she seemed alright. We saw St. Peter's Basilica, absolutely beautiful. We stood in line for the Sistine Chapel for an hour, but the wait was going to take two more and our train left at two, so we got crepes instead! C'est la vie!
The train ride was about four hours long, but it was through the Italian country side, so it was completely worth it. We arrived in Venice at around six, got a map, and preceded to attempt to find our hostel. Two hours later the sun went down, Melissa called the hostel and they gave us directions from the Rialto. We had dinner beside the river and a huge tourist trap... but we got wine and pasta and just enjoyed each other's company. The picture of me with the wine glass is me toasting to you Mom! I asked my housemate to take a picture of it so I could show you.
The next morning we decided that since we had walked so much in Rome we would shop in Venice. We walked all around the tiny, beautiful streets, looking at the masks and the jewelry. I actually saw a man make a necklace of Venetian glass, so pretty! I also saw a man who was making Pinoccio marionettes in a little workshop. We had dinner at a little restaurant that we found. I got a spinach and ricotta croissant, which was huge and delicious. Then we sat on the Rialto bridge and ate chocolate and banana crepes. Then we went back to the hostel to get ready to go out. Just as we were getting dressed, a man came in to tell us that the 'flood warning alarm' was going off and that it would be a good idea if we stayed inside... so we just stayed in and played pool. The next morning we had breakfast and headed for the airport.
The next city was Madrid, Spain. This was the most 'normal' looking city that we had seen so far. We had dinner... where my croquettes got lost in translation and we discovered the trend of Spain service that would continue for the rest of the trip. We met up with another group of girls from our program and took our own version of a walking tour of the city. We shopped a little and looked at the buildings a lot. There were murals and graffiti everywhere... I took a lot of pictures. We got some more ice cream and then decided to go to the museums. The museums in Madrid are free for the two hours before they close every night, the Proda from 6-8 and the Reina Sophia from 7-9. We did the Proda first, the classical museum. I know this is terrible, but we basically spent the entire time noticing the differences between painters renditions of Jesus and Mary... they were in just about every painting. After an hour and a half we go kicked out and made our way to the modern art museum, the Reina Sophia.
Everyone booked it for the Picaso exhibit, but I was not really in the mood, so I took a walk outside in the garden and then just wandered around for a bit. I just have to say that I love modern art! I love that a hundred different people could look at a piece and all find different things about it, all depending on how that particular person is feeling. It's just great! By the end of our museum tour it was getting late and we decided to find a restaurant. The interesting thing about eating in Spain is that you are not supposed to tip because the waiters/waitresses are paid well and so they have no tip incentive... and people are allowed to smoke inside every building in the city. So, no one has to be courteous to you if you are eating out, your food does not have to come in a timely manner, and it never comes all at the same time. Yep, it was definitely interesting every time we sat down for a meal.
The next morning we got up very early, got a taxi and got to the airport for the flight to our last destination.


We arrived in Alicante, Spain at 9:00 in the morning, ready for some heat and sun! We all decided, for our final destination, to splurge a little and stay in a hotel instead of a hostel. IT WAS SO NICE!!!!! We put on dresses, skirts, and bathing suits, and then basically laid on the beach for the next two days. We would eat the AMAZING continental breakfast, and then head for the beach, where we would lay on our towels, reading Jane Austen and listening to music until we all got hungary for lunch, usually around three.
Then we would go get lunch and switch from the beach to the side of the pool until it got chilly. Then we went out to dinner, went back to the hotel, and slept really well in our hotel beds! After two days, very relucantly, we got on a plane and went back to Bath.

It was a wonderful vacation, but we were all very happy to be in England again!

Oxford, Punting, and Palaces

Our entire program spent the last week living at University College Oxford.

We took our normal classes with our normal professors (who already are 'tutors' from Oxford), but we lived in the University College dorms and did a bunch of activities.

The most eventful of the activities was probably something called "Punting." It is the picture where I am standing on the back of a boat. The deal is that four people sit in the boat and one person stands on the back and attempts to propel / steer the thing with a really long metal pole. The only issue was that we were only supposed to do it for an hour, but (long story short) we got kind of discombobulated and lost and ended up taking about three. There was even one point where Tessa got out of the boat and Nicole and I took turns sitting in the front, each of us holding an end of the pole as Tessa pulled it along from land.

The food was great in Oxford! Well... not so much at the actual school, but when we went out to eat, it was phenomenal! Our group even got to meet up with my friend Mary (who is going to Oxford this semester) one night for gourmet pizza, which was really nice.

We climbed to the top of the tower on the Church of St Mary the Virgin and got gorgeous views of the entire city.

The last night we had a lovely three course dinner... all fancy and everything. There was goat cheese and roasted figs... followed by steak on baby leeks, potato, and roasted cherry tomatoes... and ending with pear and something desserty thing (that was really really good). We all got dressed up, and attempted to eat with the correct fork and drink from the correct glass all night. It was really nice.

Today we came home, but on the way we stopped at Blenheim Palace on the way. It is a HUGE palace... I am not exaggerating! There is a lake that took a thousand men a year to dig by hand and gold encrusted everything and beautiful paintings. The best part, however, was the gardens! It reminded me of being at the Fells in New Hampshire or the Arboritum in Dallas, TX. Anyway, it was beautiful, and I'm sorry that I'm skipping a lot of details about this trip, but I have to go pack because I leave with my housemates for Italy tomorrow! SPRING BREAK!

Monday

This is the first time in two weeks that I have actually been able to sit down and say that I don't have a paper that I should be writing. I handed in the final one this morning after completing the finishing touches last night at about 1am, and I am so happy to be done with papers for a while! I have developed a very persistent cough, but other than that I am feeling great! I get to student teach twice this week, tomorrow and Wednesday and then on Friday our entire program is off to Oxford for a week. I'm starting to feel relatively at home in this city, which is a very good feeling as well as a slightly scary one... so I think it will be good to have two weeks away from Bath (although I love it, don't get me wrong).

I also just opened my bedroom window for the first time since we have been here! It is about 50 degrees and gloriously sunny. This morning I had Education in England, where we talked about gender inequality in schools in England. Surprisingly, we talked more about the underachievement of boys and how to curb that than the fact that it is becoming a very large trend for schools to be completely staffed (lunch ladies, maintenance, and teachers) by women, but run exclusively by men. I am sure that it is happening in America as well, but it has become more and more apparent to me because my teaching placement school is in that position. Then I had my Jane Austen class, which went really well, considering that I don't usually enjoy myself. We did a close reading exercise called a "silent discussion," where we were in groups of three, each group picked a sentence from a specific part of Mansfield Park, and then we passed the quotes around and everyone made literary comments on them. I found it more interesting than our class has ever been before.

Then we (a few housemates and I) went grocery shopping and made lunch. It really is nice to feel as independent as we are allowed to feel over here. To go grocery shopping for the week, do laundry, clean my room, and know that I am going to be able to get up tomorrow and go to school and at the very least see a tiny glimpse of what the rest of my life might actually be like is wonderful.

To anyone who I haven't written a postcard back to yet, I'm very sorry and I promise that I'll get them out this afternoon. Thank you to everyone who has sent mail, it is so much fun to get!