Lauren Vejvoda
Since graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2007 with a BA in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish, I have taught at George Watts Montessori Elementary School for 6 years as a Lower Elementary teacher. I teach all subjects to 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students and I received my Montessori certification from the American Montessori Society in 2011. During my first three years of teaching I became increasingly interested in learning how to teach early elementary students how to read so I went back to UNC to earn my Masters in Education with a focus in Literacy from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2012. I'm very proud to be a Tar Heel.
My Google Map of Guildford
View Sites in Guildford in a larger map
My Glogster
Adventures in England: Day 1 in Guildford, day 2 in London July 19th-20th 2013
So far it's been fun times here in England. I got to Guilford yesterday/Friday afternoon and time has just flown by! We had class for part of the day on Friday and then had lunch in various pubs around Guildford. Guildford is kind of a college town because of the University of Surrey (which is where were are staying, check out the link for more info, http://www.surrey.ac.uk)
Apparently graduation ceremonies for the University of Surrey have been going on since Tuesday and there was a carnival and large reception set up for the graduates. The graduates must have stayed out pretty late because we saw some of them stumbling home this morning on our way to breakfast around 7:30 this morning. haha crazy kids.
After class we headed to lunch in small groups. I had lunch at a local pub called the Three Pigeons and I enjoyed my very first Fish and chips. I was starving and it was delicious. Somehow the croissant and butter breakfast on the plane didn't hold me over. Pubs are kind of a big deal here and most people think of the pub as their, "home away from home." Lots of pubs have long history, often including ghost stories.
After lunch we walked over to Guildford castle. These English people just have castles lying around in the middle of towns, it's pretty cool. You never know when you might bump into ancient ruins. There were beautiful gardens surrounding the castle...I have a feeling beautiful gardens surrounding castles may also be a trend. Check out the link for more info. on the Guildford Castle.
http://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/10189/Guildford-Castle
I'm attaching links to each place I mention because it occurs to me that I know nothing about the places I visited besides that they are in Guildford and I visited them.
After my 2 hour power nap I joined a few people on the Guildford Ghost tour which was informative and hilarious because our guide provided us with lots of sarcastic British humor, very Faulty Towers.
On Saturday I woke up at 7:15 which is unheard of for me, but I was starving so I walked to breakfast at the dining hall and enjoyed some bangers/sausage and eggs. After breakfast we meet one of our professors and tour guide for the day, Kevin Oliver. We walked to the train station and learned about the "group save 3 ticket deal" which definitely saves you money on a day pass to London. My ticket for a train pass to London for the day (including use of the buses) was about 12 pounds (equivalent to about 18 dollars). First we went to the Camden markets in the city of...Camden :) There was mostly touristy stuff like shot glasses, ti-shirts and stuff but it was fun. Next we went to Notting Hill/Portobello Rd and those markets had more of a unique flavor such as antiques and leather goods, there were even scarves! :)
However I have not purchased any scarves...yet ;)
We took a bus from Camden to Trafalger Square
http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/arts-culture/trafalgar-square
and then walked a few blocks see Parliament (with it's famous clock tower, Big Ben)
http://www.parliament.uk/bigben
We also saw Westminster Abbey which is right across the street from Parliament (so convenient!)
http://www.westminster-abbey.org
The bells of Westminister Abbey started ringing and ringing which made us wonder if the royal baby had been born. We are not really sure when and/or why the bells of the Westminister Abbey are supposed to ring but we thought a royal baby could be a reason (even though it wasn't). I took pictures of the entrance where Kate walked in the church on her wedding day...until Kevin told us we were at the wrong entrance (the side, not the front), so then we took pictures at the actual place she walked in.
After many photos of Westminister Abbey we walked along the Thames river and saw the London Eye, which is a ferris wheel, I didn't know that but maybe you did. We have another free day tomorrow and we plan to try and attend a service at Westminister Abbey before going on the London Eye.
http://www.londoneye.com
I'm learning a lot about what things are and where things are and how to get around. While I do not plan to venture off by myself, getting around seems relatively easy.
Sending love from across the pond,
Lauren
Apparently graduation ceremonies for the University of Surrey have been going on since Tuesday and there was a carnival and large reception set up for the graduates. The graduates must have stayed out pretty late because we saw some of them stumbling home this morning on our way to breakfast around 7:30 this morning. haha crazy kids.
After class we headed to lunch in small groups. I had lunch at a local pub called the Three Pigeons and I enjoyed my very first Fish and chips. I was starving and it was delicious. Somehow the croissant and butter breakfast on the plane didn't hold me over. Pubs are kind of a big deal here and most people think of the pub as their, "home away from home." Lots of pubs have long history, often including ghost stories.
After lunch we walked over to Guildford castle. These English people just have castles lying around in the middle of towns, it's pretty cool. You never know when you might bump into ancient ruins. There were beautiful gardens surrounding the castle...I have a feeling beautiful gardens surrounding castles may also be a trend. Check out the link for more info. on the Guildford Castle.
http://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/10189/Guildford-Castle
I'm attaching links to each place I mention because it occurs to me that I know nothing about the places I visited besides that they are in Guildford and I visited them.
After my 2 hour power nap I joined a few people on the Guildford Ghost tour which was informative and hilarious because our guide provided us with lots of sarcastic British humor, very Faulty Towers.
On Saturday I woke up at 7:15 which is unheard of for me, but I was starving so I walked to breakfast at the dining hall and enjoyed some bangers/sausage and eggs. After breakfast we meet one of our professors and tour guide for the day, Kevin Oliver. We walked to the train station and learned about the "group save 3 ticket deal" which definitely saves you money on a day pass to London. My ticket for a train pass to London for the day (including use of the buses) was about 12 pounds (equivalent to about 18 dollars). First we went to the Camden markets in the city of...Camden :) There was mostly touristy stuff like shot glasses, ti-shirts and stuff but it was fun. Next we went to Notting Hill/Portobello Rd and those markets had more of a unique flavor such as antiques and leather goods, there were even scarves! :)
However I have not purchased any scarves...yet ;)
We took a bus from Camden to Trafalger Square
http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/arts-culture/trafalgar-square
and then walked a few blocks see Parliament (with it's famous clock tower, Big Ben)
http://www.parliament.uk/bigben
We also saw Westminster Abbey which is right across the street from Parliament (so convenient!)
http://www.westminster-abbey.org
The bells of Westminister Abbey started ringing and ringing which made us wonder if the royal baby had been born. We are not really sure when and/or why the bells of the Westminister Abbey are supposed to ring but we thought a royal baby could be a reason (even though it wasn't). I took pictures of the entrance where Kate walked in the church on her wedding day...until Kevin told us we were at the wrong entrance (the side, not the front), so then we took pictures at the actual place she walked in.
After many photos of Westminister Abbey we walked along the Thames river and saw the London Eye, which is a ferris wheel, I didn't know that but maybe you did. We have another free day tomorrow and we plan to try and attend a service at Westminister Abbey before going on the London Eye.
http://www.londoneye.com
I'm learning a lot about what things are and where things are and how to get around. While I do not plan to venture off by myself, getting around seems relatively easy.
Sending love from across the pond,
Lauren
Adventures in England: Day 3 in London July 21st 2013
Yesterday was another packed day. We began with taking the train from Guildford to London again and we attended the 11:15 service at Westminister Abbey.
http://www.westminster-abbey.org
I spent most of the service in awe of the sheer size of the building. So large and impressive, but how do they clean this thing? I did find some dust but that's to be expected. I got to walk down the same aisle that Kate walked down when she got married. AH! It was pretty cool. Sundays are reserved for services only, no tours and no pictures allowed. I do have pictures from the outside (that I took yesterday) but I got some postcards from the Abbey gift shop which are even better than anything I could take. I also may have purchased a replica engagement ring...because I just couldn't help myself :)
After Westminister we went to lunch at a local pub. We asked a bobby (police officer) and he recommended his favorite pub, the Silver Cross, which apparently is the only pub in London that gets its license from the queen (not sure exactly what that means but the food was good). I enjoyed the steak and ale pie which is basically a chicken pot pie but with steak and gravy....so maybe very different from chicken pot pie but still wrapped in pastry. I also tried a half pint of a popular beer, London Pride.
We walked so much yesterday as we saw Buckingham palace which is down a very long, yet impressive street. There are flag poles lining the street about every 20 feet with GIANT British flags and each flag pole had a decorative crown on top. Every royal building or structure is very ornate. We stared at the guards at Buckingham who really do stand completely still, but we couldn't go inside. The Palace will open it's state rooms for visitors on July 27th. However, we saw that the media is camped outside awaiting any baby news.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/theroyalresidences/buckinghampalace/buckinghampalace.aspx
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/the-queens-coronation-1953
We also visited the London Eye and took lots of pictures. Before hopping in the long line for the Eye (which we thought it would take forever but was less than 30 minutes) we saw a short 4D video about the London Eye. I didn't realize that 4D means it's 3D so we had the glasses but we also felt a spray of water when we would see waves on the screen, pretty nifty.
http://www.londoneye.com
Other impressions of London:
-The doors are all different when we pass by houses that look similar, maybe that means something.
-Cars are small, gas is very expensive. I actually haven't seen a gas station yet
-People are generally friendly, especially the staff on the train
-It has been easy to get around on the train
-Pop tarts and Frosties (Frosted flakes)are in the World Foods section
-I'm going to try and eat lighter-fish and chips and steak and ale pie are pretty heavy
-excited about my trip to the grocery store tomorrow, called Tesco. I'm told it's overwhelming and there is an entire aisle on both sides of just yogurt, woo.
A little funny story, during our lunch at the Silver Cross pub we heard a few people at another table making fun of Americans. They were discussing how to say the word, "status" (in connection with a facebook status) and apparently one of the Englishmen said the word too American because their friend said, "It's not STAT-us it's stay-tus, you sound so American."
THIS JUST IN, the Duchess of Cambridge is in labor at the hospital. Very exciting. We are in class today and then visiting Wisley Gardens but it's exciting to be so close to London. Check out the article.
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/the-queens-coronation-1953
http://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley
sending love from across the pond,
Lauren
http://www.westminster-abbey.org
I spent most of the service in awe of the sheer size of the building. So large and impressive, but how do they clean this thing? I did find some dust but that's to be expected. I got to walk down the same aisle that Kate walked down when she got married. AH! It was pretty cool. Sundays are reserved for services only, no tours and no pictures allowed. I do have pictures from the outside (that I took yesterday) but I got some postcards from the Abbey gift shop which are even better than anything I could take. I also may have purchased a replica engagement ring...because I just couldn't help myself :)
After Westminister we went to lunch at a local pub. We asked a bobby (police officer) and he recommended his favorite pub, the Silver Cross, which apparently is the only pub in London that gets its license from the queen (not sure exactly what that means but the food was good). I enjoyed the steak and ale pie which is basically a chicken pot pie but with steak and gravy....so maybe very different from chicken pot pie but still wrapped in pastry. I also tried a half pint of a popular beer, London Pride.
We walked so much yesterday as we saw Buckingham palace which is down a very long, yet impressive street. There are flag poles lining the street about every 20 feet with GIANT British flags and each flag pole had a decorative crown on top. Every royal building or structure is very ornate. We stared at the guards at Buckingham who really do stand completely still, but we couldn't go inside. The Palace will open it's state rooms for visitors on July 27th. However, we saw that the media is camped outside awaiting any baby news.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/theroyalresidences/buckinghampalace/buckinghampalace.aspx
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/the-queens-coronation-1953
We also visited the London Eye and took lots of pictures. Before hopping in the long line for the Eye (which we thought it would take forever but was less than 30 minutes) we saw a short 4D video about the London Eye. I didn't realize that 4D means it's 3D so we had the glasses but we also felt a spray of water when we would see waves on the screen, pretty nifty.
http://www.londoneye.com
Other impressions of London:
-The doors are all different when we pass by houses that look similar, maybe that means something.
-Cars are small, gas is very expensive. I actually haven't seen a gas station yet
-People are generally friendly, especially the staff on the train
-It has been easy to get around on the train
-Pop tarts and Frosties (Frosted flakes)are in the World Foods section
-I'm going to try and eat lighter-fish and chips and steak and ale pie are pretty heavy
-excited about my trip to the grocery store tomorrow, called Tesco. I'm told it's overwhelming and there is an entire aisle on both sides of just yogurt, woo.
A little funny story, during our lunch at the Silver Cross pub we heard a few people at another table making fun of Americans. They were discussing how to say the word, "status" (in connection with a facebook status) and apparently one of the Englishmen said the word too American because their friend said, "It's not STAT-us it's stay-tus, you sound so American."
THIS JUST IN, the Duchess of Cambridge is in labor at the hospital. Very exciting. We are in class today and then visiting Wisley Gardens but it's exciting to be so close to London. Check out the article.
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/the-queens-coronation-1953
http://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley
sending love from across the pond,
Lauren
Adventures in England: Day 4 Wisley Gardens July 22nd 2013
Today we had class from 8:45-11:00 in a pretty toasty classroom. Dr. Pritchard had us begin with an expressive writing assignment. She asked us to close our eyes to imagine our perfect room and then gave us soothing verbal prompts to help us add more detail to our imaginary rooms. It may not surprise you to find out that my ideal room had teal walls, shabby chic furniture and large glass doors leading to a deck and then on to the beach. After we had a draft written Ruie gave us some great tips on directly teaching revisions. For example"
Think about adding/revising for
-texture
-state of being verbs
-sound
Add Collocation- using a theme or motif:
Take out : There is…There are…It is…and consider adding stronger language.
Megan, our technology professor, explained how to use Glogster which was exciting because, besides Pinterest, Glogster was the only other technology piece I knew about in this course. Check out Glogster to learn how to make an online poster.
http://www.glogster.com
Dr. Oliver than showed us how to use ToonDoo which is a fun way to make tons of different comic strips to tell stories.
http://www.toondoo.com
After class Elizabeth and I swing by the student stores on campus and guess what I saw!! Beer and wine! What! The drinking age is 18 here so why wouldn't there be beer and wine. The set-up of the student stores reminded me of the universities in the US there is a post office, grocery, book store and even a pharmacy. The campus is also very pretty with statues, ponds and large grass spaces for lounging.
At 12:30 we headed to Wisley Gardens in our Mercedes bus and spent the day wandering the expansive a beautiful gardens. We found some shade to sit under as it was stiflingly hot. I also discovered that other people know and use the term, swamp ass which we may Englandize by using swamp arse. hehe
We saw some small children feeding fish by a pond and the mum asked one of them, "are you grown now? please go to the buggy and get some more bread for the fish." Translated into American English the mother was asking if the boy could be a big kid and go get more bread from the stroller. We enjoyed some yummy ice cream before hanging out underneath shady trees and enjoying our surroundings. I took lots of pictures and even found a structure in the gardens the resembled the Old Well so of course I took a picture with it. Then I realized since England is older than our country I'm sure the Old Well may resemble the well I discovered. However, being a nerd, I looked it up.
http://www.unc.edu/interactive-tour/landmarks/ which stated...
"In 1897, the well was given its present decorative form at the direction of President Erwin A. Alderman, who described his beautification project as largely derived from the Temple of Love in the Garden of Versailles."
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover-the-estate/le-domaine-de-marie-antoinette/the-queen-hamlet/the-english-garden-
...that's bit of a tangent but also a fun fact that may end up as a trivia question one day.
Did I mention there is no air conditioning here? It's typically not a big deal but it's been hotter than usual (the locals say) and they hope they can rain soon, which did happen today around 7:00ish. We are hoping to enjoy cooler weather even though us North Carolinians should be used to the humid weather...but e are also spoiled with air conditioning.
The heat got to me today and since typically I do not drink enough water but I made sure I did. I thought I was hydrating well throughout the day but I fell asleep around 7:30pm without even trying. When I woke up about an hour later there was exciting news of the royal baby!
In case you missed it,
It's a boy!
The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby boy, Kensington Palace has announced.
The baby was delivered at 16:24 BST at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, weighing 8lb 6oz.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were "delighted at the news".
The news is now also expected to be displayed on an ornate easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in line with tradition.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/416585/The-Royal-Baby-has-arrived-The-Duchess-of-Cambridge-gives-birth-to-a-son-and-future-king
Random things I've noticed, learned and/or appreciate:
-the f word is used very liberally here
-the price that is posted is the price you pay, for any item in any store
-a popular style is to wear colored bras underneath lacy tops...is this a trend in American and I missed it? Can't say I'm on top of the fashion scene anyway
-I appreciate not having to worry about water quality and throwing toilet paper in the waste basket like i have had to do on other international trips
-my debit card works, which I was worried about. I had my first debit card transaction today and I learned you don't swipe your card to pay for stuff, you actually place it halfway into a slot.
Words
Pigtails are called plads
Maxi pads are called press-on towels
Chips are called crisps
Fries are called chips
Cookies are biscuits
Cheers I think means thanks or a goodbyeish kind of thanks
We are off to the iconic village of Winchester
http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk
Cheers,
Lauren
Think about adding/revising for
-texture
-state of being verbs
-sound
Add Collocation- using a theme or motif:
Take out : There is…There are…It is…and consider adding stronger language.
Megan, our technology professor, explained how to use Glogster which was exciting because, besides Pinterest, Glogster was the only other technology piece I knew about in this course. Check out Glogster to learn how to make an online poster.
http://www.glogster.com
Dr. Oliver than showed us how to use ToonDoo which is a fun way to make tons of different comic strips to tell stories.
http://www.toondoo.com
After class Elizabeth and I swing by the student stores on campus and guess what I saw!! Beer and wine! What! The drinking age is 18 here so why wouldn't there be beer and wine. The set-up of the student stores reminded me of the universities in the US there is a post office, grocery, book store and even a pharmacy. The campus is also very pretty with statues, ponds and large grass spaces for lounging.
At 12:30 we headed to Wisley Gardens in our Mercedes bus and spent the day wandering the expansive a beautiful gardens. We found some shade to sit under as it was stiflingly hot. I also discovered that other people know and use the term, swamp ass which we may Englandize by using swamp arse. hehe
We saw some small children feeding fish by a pond and the mum asked one of them, "are you grown now? please go to the buggy and get some more bread for the fish." Translated into American English the mother was asking if the boy could be a big kid and go get more bread from the stroller. We enjoyed some yummy ice cream before hanging out underneath shady trees and enjoying our surroundings. I took lots of pictures and even found a structure in the gardens the resembled the Old Well so of course I took a picture with it. Then I realized since England is older than our country I'm sure the Old Well may resemble the well I discovered. However, being a nerd, I looked it up.
http://www.unc.edu/interactive-tour/landmarks/ which stated...
"In 1897, the well was given its present decorative form at the direction of President Erwin A. Alderman, who described his beautification project as largely derived from the Temple of Love in the Garden of Versailles."
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover-the-estate/le-domaine-de-marie-antoinette/the-queen-hamlet/the-english-garden-
...that's bit of a tangent but also a fun fact that may end up as a trivia question one day.
Did I mention there is no air conditioning here? It's typically not a big deal but it's been hotter than usual (the locals say) and they hope they can rain soon, which did happen today around 7:00ish. We are hoping to enjoy cooler weather even though us North Carolinians should be used to the humid weather...but e are also spoiled with air conditioning.
The heat got to me today and since typically I do not drink enough water but I made sure I did. I thought I was hydrating well throughout the day but I fell asleep around 7:30pm without even trying. When I woke up about an hour later there was exciting news of the royal baby!
In case you missed it,
It's a boy!
The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a baby boy, Kensington Palace has announced.
The baby was delivered at 16:24 BST at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, weighing 8lb 6oz.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were "delighted at the news".
The news is now also expected to be displayed on an ornate easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace in line with tradition.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/416585/The-Royal-Baby-has-arrived-The-Duchess-of-Cambridge-gives-birth-to-a-son-and-future-king
Random things I've noticed, learned and/or appreciate:
-the f word is used very liberally here
-the price that is posted is the price you pay, for any item in any store
-a popular style is to wear colored bras underneath lacy tops...is this a trend in American and I missed it? Can't say I'm on top of the fashion scene anyway
-I appreciate not having to worry about water quality and throwing toilet paper in the waste basket like i have had to do on other international trips
-my debit card works, which I was worried about. I had my first debit card transaction today and I learned you don't swipe your card to pay for stuff, you actually place it halfway into a slot.
Words
Pigtails are called plads
Maxi pads are called press-on towels
Chips are called crisps
Fries are called chips
Cookies are biscuits
Cheers I think means thanks or a goodbyeish kind of thanks
We are off to the iconic village of Winchester
http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk
Cheers,
Lauren
Day 5: Village of Winchester July 23rd 2013
So the royal baby news is super exciting and it's super cool to be here while it is happening. Check out the link below for the news coverage that is being shown constantlyhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23427180
Today we spent the day in the iconic Village of Winchester
http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk
First we stopped by the Great Hall and saw the round table that was important because the knights sat around it. Perhaps if i called it the Knights of the Round Table that is more clear :) The table is actually hung up on the wall probably because too many people/tourists were trying to sit around it and it was ruining the table...that's just my thought and not a confirmed fact.
Next we visited Winchester cathedral which is ENORMOUS. Our tour guide, Linda told us it was impossible to see everything even in 1 hour. WOW. She warned us to watch our step as we walked around because the building was very uneven and there are often ambulance visits (she was not kidding). Luckily no one fell and broke anything. As we walked to the back of the church there was a strong smell that I couldn't place until a lady beside said in her lovely British accent, "the smell of those lillies is so strong and wonderful."
The picture of me next to the gold plaque is close to where Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral which was a big moment for me since she is one of my favorite authors. The interesting thing about her gravestone and her plaque (which we learned from Elliot Engel) is that there are lovely things stated about Jane but there is never a mention that she was an author since it was forbidden for women to be writers in Austen's time. Many people are buried in the cathedral which kind of made me feel bad after I realized I was unknowingly walking on their graves, but I supposed it was designed that way and no one tells you not to step on them. While our tour guide was great she said we couldn't go into the crypts until after 2:00pm. I wandered away from the tour and down into the crypts, which sounds scary but just my luck there was a tour already in progress and one of my group members had also wandered down to the crypts. It's not like I broke any rules, the door was open but the gate was locked. I got lucky again when the tour guide opened the gate to go turn on some lights in the crypt so I was in! It was cool, literally because we were underground surrounded by stone. Visiting the crypts was my second favorite thing about today after Jane Austen's grave.
My third favorite thing was the lunchtime concert we just so happened to hear about and Ruie (Dr. Pritchard) joined us as well. Two opera singers and a piano player put on a phenomenal performance in which they sang songs in French, German and English including Memories from Cats. My favorite was when they sang Sull'aria (Le Nozze di Figaro) which you may recognize from the Shawshank Redemption, it's the song Andy plays over the loud speakers for the prisoners to enjoy. Check out the youtube.com link below for the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8z_i3NAxbM
I got goosebumps especially when their voices would hit the high notes because the acoustics in the cathedral were superb. My other favorite was a song about Champagne, which I kid you not, was about how lovely it is to drink champagne and the best line was, "a touch of inebriation la la la la." Jill and I got a kick out of an opera song that celebrated alcohol.
After enjoying a quick lunch that consisted of a banana we hiked up to St. Catherine's Hill, following the Itchen River most of the way, to get the best views of Winchester and I learned from Jill and Spencer how to take panoramic photos with my iPhone. I LOVE my iphone :) I use it to take pictures as well as notes about what I'm seeing and enjoying throughout the day so I can remember all the great moments I'm experiencing. We packed ALOT into the day as we hurried back to our meeting spot we came upon some castle ruins. Spencer and Jill thought it would be a shortcut to hop over on of the castle walls so we did. After jogging across a field and coming to another wall we saw the path we needed to be on but the drop off was way too steep so we backtracked and ended up running across some private gardens. Luckily the gardner just laughed at us as we frantically tried to get out. In our defense there were signs that said Private but we only saw those as we exited.
When we returned around 5:00pm we were sweaty and tired some people took naps and some went to do laundry. I decided not to take a nap since yesterday when I took a nap the royal baby was born!! Well in reality the baby was actually born at 4:30pm but the announcement was not made until about 8:30pm. The sprint from St. Catherine's hill really woke me up so I went to the Chancellors Pub, a pub on campus (mind blowing for us Americans with 21 as the drinking age) and had a Carlsberg and the bartender was super friendly and apologetic that they stopped serving food (bummer because I was starving). I decided to join to Spencer and Jill on a laundry adventure which was an educational but very complicated process. You may be asking, "Lauren, why did you have to do laundry so soon, it's only your 5th day." To which I would respond, "excellent question friend, since it's been pretty flippin' hot I've sweated through 2 outfits a day and my laundry is/was quite smelly."
I learned some new words during the laundry adventure such as:
laundromat is the launderette
laundry detergent is laundry gel
It's 10:37pm here so I'm going to call it a night but it's only 5:37pm in the US so enjoy your evening and perhaps you are relaxing with a pint. :)
Cheers,
Lauren
Today we spent the day in the iconic Village of Winchester
http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk
First we stopped by the Great Hall and saw the round table that was important because the knights sat around it. Perhaps if i called it the Knights of the Round Table that is more clear :) The table is actually hung up on the wall probably because too many people/tourists were trying to sit around it and it was ruining the table...that's just my thought and not a confirmed fact.
Next we visited Winchester cathedral which is ENORMOUS. Our tour guide, Linda told us it was impossible to see everything even in 1 hour. WOW. She warned us to watch our step as we walked around because the building was very uneven and there are often ambulance visits (she was not kidding). Luckily no one fell and broke anything. As we walked to the back of the church there was a strong smell that I couldn't place until a lady beside said in her lovely British accent, "the smell of those lillies is so strong and wonderful."
The picture of me next to the gold plaque is close to where Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral which was a big moment for me since she is one of my favorite authors. The interesting thing about her gravestone and her plaque (which we learned from Elliot Engel) is that there are lovely things stated about Jane but there is never a mention that she was an author since it was forbidden for women to be writers in Austen's time. Many people are buried in the cathedral which kind of made me feel bad after I realized I was unknowingly walking on their graves, but I supposed it was designed that way and no one tells you not to step on them. While our tour guide was great she said we couldn't go into the crypts until after 2:00pm. I wandered away from the tour and down into the crypts, which sounds scary but just my luck there was a tour already in progress and one of my group members had also wandered down to the crypts. It's not like I broke any rules, the door was open but the gate was locked. I got lucky again when the tour guide opened the gate to go turn on some lights in the crypt so I was in! It was cool, literally because we were underground surrounded by stone. Visiting the crypts was my second favorite thing about today after Jane Austen's grave.
My third favorite thing was the lunchtime concert we just so happened to hear about and Ruie (Dr. Pritchard) joined us as well. Two opera singers and a piano player put on a phenomenal performance in which they sang songs in French, German and English including Memories from Cats. My favorite was when they sang Sull'aria (Le Nozze di Figaro) which you may recognize from the Shawshank Redemption, it's the song Andy plays over the loud speakers for the prisoners to enjoy. Check out the youtube.com link below for the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8z_i3NAxbM
I got goosebumps especially when their voices would hit the high notes because the acoustics in the cathedral were superb. My other favorite was a song about Champagne, which I kid you not, was about how lovely it is to drink champagne and the best line was, "a touch of inebriation la la la la." Jill and I got a kick out of an opera song that celebrated alcohol.
After enjoying a quick lunch that consisted of a banana we hiked up to St. Catherine's Hill, following the Itchen River most of the way, to get the best views of Winchester and I learned from Jill and Spencer how to take panoramic photos with my iPhone. I LOVE my iphone :) I use it to take pictures as well as notes about what I'm seeing and enjoying throughout the day so I can remember all the great moments I'm experiencing. We packed ALOT into the day as we hurried back to our meeting spot we came upon some castle ruins. Spencer and Jill thought it would be a shortcut to hop over on of the castle walls so we did. After jogging across a field and coming to another wall we saw the path we needed to be on but the drop off was way too steep so we backtracked and ended up running across some private gardens. Luckily the gardner just laughed at us as we frantically tried to get out. In our defense there were signs that said Private but we only saw those as we exited.
When we returned around 5:00pm we were sweaty and tired some people took naps and some went to do laundry. I decided not to take a nap since yesterday when I took a nap the royal baby was born!! Well in reality the baby was actually born at 4:30pm but the announcement was not made until about 8:30pm. The sprint from St. Catherine's hill really woke me up so I went to the Chancellors Pub, a pub on campus (mind blowing for us Americans with 21 as the drinking age) and had a Carlsberg and the bartender was super friendly and apologetic that they stopped serving food (bummer because I was starving). I decided to join to Spencer and Jill on a laundry adventure which was an educational but very complicated process. You may be asking, "Lauren, why did you have to do laundry so soon, it's only your 5th day." To which I would respond, "excellent question friend, since it's been pretty flippin' hot I've sweated through 2 outfits a day and my laundry is/was quite smelly."
I learned some new words during the laundry adventure such as:
laundromat is the launderette
laundry detergent is laundry gel
It's 10:37pm here so I'm going to call it a night but it's only 5:37pm in the US so enjoy your evening and perhaps you are relaxing with a pint. :)
Cheers,
Lauren
Day 6: Class and Brooklands Museum July 24th 2013
Wednesday, July 24th 2013- Day 6
We had class this morning and Ruie gave us some great tips for writing postcards home so if you get a postcard from me with an inverted sentence or an acrostic poem it’s because I was trying to diversify my postcard writing beyond the standard, “having so much fun, wish you were here,” kind of stuff.
I’m gonna go girly for a second. The sun has been out and I’ve been rocking some tank tops so I’m working on getting rid of my farmers tan and it’s working! I’m pretty excited. Also I did not pack a hair dryer so I haven’t dried my hair and, in my opinion, it looks fabulous, I’ve also gotten compliments on my hair (thanks Jackie J.) I may look a little rough in my pictures though mostly because we do a LOT of walking and sweating which is not conducive to being photogenic.
I also feel spoiled, not because I’ve been invited to Kensington Palace for high tea (hehe), but because we have a cleaning service come into our rooms about every two to three days. Every time I enter my room there is the fresh scent of cleanliness and I LOVE it! Apparently this maid service is provided to all the students here on the Surrey campus, year round, how cool is that? Does anyone remember having some come to clean your dorm room? Probably not. I just remember posting a cleaning schedule that everyone basically ignored. Anyway, I like the set up of the dorms here. They have lots of 2 story dorm houses with about 10 rooms on each floor. You have a private room and bath and you share a kitchen with the other people on your floor. Kitchens come equipped with 2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, 1 stove and microwave. Ruie, Mike, Sarah, Kevin and Megan have stocked each of our kitchens with some pots, pans, silverware, plates, napkins and cling film (plastic wrap) so it’s definitely nice when you are preparing food to have those kitchen things around. I feel like I’m in college again and it’s pretty cool. I love walking to the dining hall for breakfast, getting my tray and eating eggs, Special K, some juice and bangers/sausage. I like saying bangers, it’s just a fun word.
Some other random thoughts: people do not really wave here. I saw some people driving by me today and I waved and….nothing. I got stared at but no hand movement. Oh well, it’s just not part of the culture. Maybe my waving tipped them off that I was American and then they chose not to wave. Also, and as a Montessori teacher this breaks my peaceful heart, but the peace sign here-two fingers in a V, means something very vulgar like f$%* you, I think. So I will make sure I do not use the peace sign or hold up 2 fingers to signal that I would like 2 pints of beer. One of my classmates, May, actually flashed her peace sign and said people acted offended (this is how she found out what it meant and then passed on the info to use, thanks May). So, note to self, if I need to ask for 2 things and I feel the need to use my fingers I will hold up my thumb and pointer finger.
Today we went to the Brooklands Transportation Museum which dad and Rich, you two would have loved it! I saw a ton of planes, buses, cars, bikes and motorcycles. The cool thing about the museum is that is run by volunteers so the gentlemen I spoke to were super passionate about the work they were doing.
I learned some cool things. Here is a short list
1.) the Bac one eleven 475 G-Asyd (whatever that means) was a British test plane that crashed during one of it’s test flights when it was testing stalling patterns, which I think means the pilot and a small crew takes the plane up and sees what happens when it stalls…pretty scary job. I spoke to a guy on the Bac one eleven about how when the plane stalled on it’s first flight it crashed because the tail was so heavy. Apparently it is hard to recover when the plane is going down tail first so on the next flight they installed a hefty parachute to support the back of the plane so if it did stall they could recover more easily.
2. On the next plane I boarded, the viscount, I had a good conversation with the guide after a somewhat awkward exchange mostly due to the fact that I know nothing about planes and history much less the history of British plants…so I didn’t know quite what to say and/or ask…but I recovered nicely. ;) We started talking about the bac-eleven (so I tapped into my prior knowledge from the other plane) and he let me in on a little staff joke about what that advertisement must look like for the bac eleven job- possible something like, “certain danger involved in testing planes for stall patterns,” Hmm, might be hard to find candidates. Then I mentioned that I feel pretty safe on planes even if there are plane crashes because it’s more likely that I would be in a car accident than a plane accident. The guide responded with, “well which accident would you rather be in, car or plane.” It didn’t take me long to say, “definitely a car accident if I had to choose.” He then explained how planes are extensively tested before becoming passenger planes, which made me very grateful to know that people risk their lives to make sure that planes are safe. He also told me that 50% of crashes are due to pilot/human error therefore if you take away the pilot that decreases the chance of an accident by 50% but then he asked, “but would you want to be on a plane without a pilot?” This dude had some very thought provoking questions. I thanked him for chatting with me and said, “cheers,” before leaving.
So as I wander away from the plane area I came to the bus museum, which has only been opened 2 years. I should pause here to say that the Brooklands museum is very large and parts of it are outside.
Refer to the website for a map and more information if you are interested
http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com
As I walked out of the bus museum I saw some of my classmates and Ruie walking towards a old trolley-looking thing. I do not know the exact make and model of the bus but I will post pictures on Pinterest.
For more info. on the bus museum in the Brooklands Transportation Museum check out
http://www.londonbusmuseum.com
So I quickly learned that one of my classmates, Sara was SUPER excited because, wait for it…the bus was being prepared to be taken to the Downton Abbey set!!!! AHH!! That’s right people, the bus is going to be in one of the episodes in this coming season. It was awesome! Not only did we get on the bus AND take pictures on the bus but we also talked to the two guys who were managers and volunteers at the London Bus Museum. Kevin Hibbs is the managers name and he has been on Downton Abbey before and a variety of other tv shows and films because he can drive ALL of the buses that are housed in the London Bus Museum. So here are some quick facts because I love lists:
-the soon to be famous Downton Abbey bus was made in 1925 but it was restored a few years ago by apprentices at the Dennis Factory in Guildford.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Specialist_Vehicles
All the apprentices rebuilt the engine
-it has no front brakes, only back brakes
-you have to crank it to start it up
-they fill the gas with petrol
-the Downton Abbey car get a whooping 4 miles to the gallon.
-kevin and the other guy we spoke to (never got his name) are the only 2 who can drive all the different buses and they are not available to drive the bus to the Downton Abbey set this Sunday when they are shooting. The guy who is supposed to do it, get this, is trying to get out of it! Can you believe that? Not wanting to go to the Downton Abbey site and drive an antique bus, not to mention you are almost guarantee to be on TV.
-the volunteer staff at the London Bus Museum restores and maintains all the vehicles so they are in working order. I saw the oil drip pans under the buses which proves these things work. They really are very proud of the fact that they are a museum with more working cars that any other museum in London.
-to maintain the vehicles they have lots of gear boxes, engines and axles but sometimes they have to make their own parts from scratch, how cool is that? I would love to know what that process entails.
-I got the feeling that the volunteers who run the museum are just a bunch of awesome car/bus nerds who love to tinker around with this old stuff and tell stories about the history of the stuff.
-The manager Kevin Hibbs even said, “if we were employees who got paid to be here, you wouldn’t get the same passion.”
-when the buses are used in a tv show or movie a large donation is made to the London Bus Museum, which is great because that allows them to continue the awesome work they are doing because my small donation of 3 pounds (approx. $4.58 American dollars) might not be enough.
Around 4:00 Justin and I meandered around before I spotted a guy relaxing on a bench in front of an old gas station. It was Curtis and he said he needed to chill because he was out of gas, haha. I do not think he realized how ironic his statement was.
On our way back from the museum our bus stopped at Tesco, the local supermarket, which is a 20-minute walk from the Surrey campus. I was overwhelmed immediately when entering. I bought some turkey, a cornish pastie (like a calzone only with meat and veggies…I think), some rolls, milk, some crackers and cheese and cashews. I even did the self check out! I needed help 3 or 4 times but the nice self-check out lady was nice. I have a different view of people who struggle at the self-checkout and I will be more patient in the future…but only if that person is from a foreign country.
The debit card payments are still tricky because you leave your card in the slot until your receipt prints out. Sometimes I forget and swipe it and that never works or I get funny looks from cashiers.
Mike returned with the rental car to collect everyone’s bags so we didn’t have to lug it back (thanks Mike!). I was cordially invited to dinner by Jill and Spencer, fellow classmates and occupants of building 65 right across the courtyard. I brought the wine and then watched Jill and Spencer make the spaghetti, meat sauce and strawberry spinach salad with goat cheese. I put the bread in the oven and poured the wine. Afterwards I did most of the dishes so I didn’t feel like too much of a slacker. Then a short work session occurred with a little wine, cider, cookies and a variety of music.
Cheers for now. I will be spending the night in a hostel in London after seeing the Dickens Museum and the Tower of London. Then on Friday we will see Macbeth at the Globe Theater and perhaps have time to tour Kensington Palace.
Love,
Lauren
We had class this morning and Ruie gave us some great tips for writing postcards home so if you get a postcard from me with an inverted sentence or an acrostic poem it’s because I was trying to diversify my postcard writing beyond the standard, “having so much fun, wish you were here,” kind of stuff.
I’m gonna go girly for a second. The sun has been out and I’ve been rocking some tank tops so I’m working on getting rid of my farmers tan and it’s working! I’m pretty excited. Also I did not pack a hair dryer so I haven’t dried my hair and, in my opinion, it looks fabulous, I’ve also gotten compliments on my hair (thanks Jackie J.) I may look a little rough in my pictures though mostly because we do a LOT of walking and sweating which is not conducive to being photogenic.
I also feel spoiled, not because I’ve been invited to Kensington Palace for high tea (hehe), but because we have a cleaning service come into our rooms about every two to three days. Every time I enter my room there is the fresh scent of cleanliness and I LOVE it! Apparently this maid service is provided to all the students here on the Surrey campus, year round, how cool is that? Does anyone remember having some come to clean your dorm room? Probably not. I just remember posting a cleaning schedule that everyone basically ignored. Anyway, I like the set up of the dorms here. They have lots of 2 story dorm houses with about 10 rooms on each floor. You have a private room and bath and you share a kitchen with the other people on your floor. Kitchens come equipped with 2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, 1 stove and microwave. Ruie, Mike, Sarah, Kevin and Megan have stocked each of our kitchens with some pots, pans, silverware, plates, napkins and cling film (plastic wrap) so it’s definitely nice when you are preparing food to have those kitchen things around. I feel like I’m in college again and it’s pretty cool. I love walking to the dining hall for breakfast, getting my tray and eating eggs, Special K, some juice and bangers/sausage. I like saying bangers, it’s just a fun word.
Some other random thoughts: people do not really wave here. I saw some people driving by me today and I waved and….nothing. I got stared at but no hand movement. Oh well, it’s just not part of the culture. Maybe my waving tipped them off that I was American and then they chose not to wave. Also, and as a Montessori teacher this breaks my peaceful heart, but the peace sign here-two fingers in a V, means something very vulgar like f$%* you, I think. So I will make sure I do not use the peace sign or hold up 2 fingers to signal that I would like 2 pints of beer. One of my classmates, May, actually flashed her peace sign and said people acted offended (this is how she found out what it meant and then passed on the info to use, thanks May). So, note to self, if I need to ask for 2 things and I feel the need to use my fingers I will hold up my thumb and pointer finger.
Today we went to the Brooklands Transportation Museum which dad and Rich, you two would have loved it! I saw a ton of planes, buses, cars, bikes and motorcycles. The cool thing about the museum is that is run by volunteers so the gentlemen I spoke to were super passionate about the work they were doing.
I learned some cool things. Here is a short list
1.) the Bac one eleven 475 G-Asyd (whatever that means) was a British test plane that crashed during one of it’s test flights when it was testing stalling patterns, which I think means the pilot and a small crew takes the plane up and sees what happens when it stalls…pretty scary job. I spoke to a guy on the Bac one eleven about how when the plane stalled on it’s first flight it crashed because the tail was so heavy. Apparently it is hard to recover when the plane is going down tail first so on the next flight they installed a hefty parachute to support the back of the plane so if it did stall they could recover more easily.
2. On the next plane I boarded, the viscount, I had a good conversation with the guide after a somewhat awkward exchange mostly due to the fact that I know nothing about planes and history much less the history of British plants…so I didn’t know quite what to say and/or ask…but I recovered nicely. ;) We started talking about the bac-eleven (so I tapped into my prior knowledge from the other plane) and he let me in on a little staff joke about what that advertisement must look like for the bac eleven job- possible something like, “certain danger involved in testing planes for stall patterns,” Hmm, might be hard to find candidates. Then I mentioned that I feel pretty safe on planes even if there are plane crashes because it’s more likely that I would be in a car accident than a plane accident. The guide responded with, “well which accident would you rather be in, car or plane.” It didn’t take me long to say, “definitely a car accident if I had to choose.” He then explained how planes are extensively tested before becoming passenger planes, which made me very grateful to know that people risk their lives to make sure that planes are safe. He also told me that 50% of crashes are due to pilot/human error therefore if you take away the pilot that decreases the chance of an accident by 50% but then he asked, “but would you want to be on a plane without a pilot?” This dude had some very thought provoking questions. I thanked him for chatting with me and said, “cheers,” before leaving.
So as I wander away from the plane area I came to the bus museum, which has only been opened 2 years. I should pause here to say that the Brooklands museum is very large and parts of it are outside.
Refer to the website for a map and more information if you are interested
http://www.brooklandsmuseum.com
As I walked out of the bus museum I saw some of my classmates and Ruie walking towards a old trolley-looking thing. I do not know the exact make and model of the bus but I will post pictures on Pinterest.
For more info. on the bus museum in the Brooklands Transportation Museum check out
http://www.londonbusmuseum.com
So I quickly learned that one of my classmates, Sara was SUPER excited because, wait for it…the bus was being prepared to be taken to the Downton Abbey set!!!! AHH!! That’s right people, the bus is going to be in one of the episodes in this coming season. It was awesome! Not only did we get on the bus AND take pictures on the bus but we also talked to the two guys who were managers and volunteers at the London Bus Museum. Kevin Hibbs is the managers name and he has been on Downton Abbey before and a variety of other tv shows and films because he can drive ALL of the buses that are housed in the London Bus Museum. So here are some quick facts because I love lists:
-the soon to be famous Downton Abbey bus was made in 1925 but it was restored a few years ago by apprentices at the Dennis Factory in Guildford.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Specialist_Vehicles
All the apprentices rebuilt the engine
-it has no front brakes, only back brakes
-you have to crank it to start it up
-they fill the gas with petrol
-the Downton Abbey car get a whooping 4 miles to the gallon.
-kevin and the other guy we spoke to (never got his name) are the only 2 who can drive all the different buses and they are not available to drive the bus to the Downton Abbey set this Sunday when they are shooting. The guy who is supposed to do it, get this, is trying to get out of it! Can you believe that? Not wanting to go to the Downton Abbey site and drive an antique bus, not to mention you are almost guarantee to be on TV.
-the volunteer staff at the London Bus Museum restores and maintains all the vehicles so they are in working order. I saw the oil drip pans under the buses which proves these things work. They really are very proud of the fact that they are a museum with more working cars that any other museum in London.
-to maintain the vehicles they have lots of gear boxes, engines and axles but sometimes they have to make their own parts from scratch, how cool is that? I would love to know what that process entails.
-I got the feeling that the volunteers who run the museum are just a bunch of awesome car/bus nerds who love to tinker around with this old stuff and tell stories about the history of the stuff.
-The manager Kevin Hibbs even said, “if we were employees who got paid to be here, you wouldn’t get the same passion.”
-when the buses are used in a tv show or movie a large donation is made to the London Bus Museum, which is great because that allows them to continue the awesome work they are doing because my small donation of 3 pounds (approx. $4.58 American dollars) might not be enough.
Around 4:00 Justin and I meandered around before I spotted a guy relaxing on a bench in front of an old gas station. It was Curtis and he said he needed to chill because he was out of gas, haha. I do not think he realized how ironic his statement was.
On our way back from the museum our bus stopped at Tesco, the local supermarket, which is a 20-minute walk from the Surrey campus. I was overwhelmed immediately when entering. I bought some turkey, a cornish pastie (like a calzone only with meat and veggies…I think), some rolls, milk, some crackers and cheese and cashews. I even did the self check out! I needed help 3 or 4 times but the nice self-check out lady was nice. I have a different view of people who struggle at the self-checkout and I will be more patient in the future…but only if that person is from a foreign country.
The debit card payments are still tricky because you leave your card in the slot until your receipt prints out. Sometimes I forget and swipe it and that never works or I get funny looks from cashiers.
Mike returned with the rental car to collect everyone’s bags so we didn’t have to lug it back (thanks Mike!). I was cordially invited to dinner by Jill and Spencer, fellow classmates and occupants of building 65 right across the courtyard. I brought the wine and then watched Jill and Spencer make the spaghetti, meat sauce and strawberry spinach salad with goat cheese. I put the bread in the oven and poured the wine. Afterwards I did most of the dishes so I didn’t feel like too much of a slacker. Then a short work session occurred with a little wine, cider, cookies and a variety of music.
Cheers for now. I will be spending the night in a hostel in London after seeing the Dickens Museum and the Tower of London. Then on Friday we will see Macbeth at the Globe Theater and perhaps have time to tour Kensington Palace.
Love,
Lauren
Day 7: London July 25th 2013
We took the train into London as a group to go to Dickens House and on the way I had a great conversation with Curtis about how England's transportation and public gardens/parks just seem built for interaction. In American we tend to kick it (aka do things) solo in our cars and/or stay within out neighborhoods.
The Dickens House was interested and as we waited 30 minutes for the first group to go through we enjoyed taking picture into front of the teal door (loved it!) to the house and Jill took a cool picture of me through bicycle spokes. We have some great photographers on the trip and it's great to travel in a group with people because, when they post pictures to Pinterest, you end of seeing some cool shots you may never have noticed were taken. Lisa said I was very photogenic today which was such a lovely compliment because I do not feel I photograph well, especially after a day of walking and sweating. My hair has gotten much blonder and my farmers tan has all but disappeared. It's funny too because even when it's 80 degrees the locals talk about the heat. All of us North Carolinians want to say, "you ain't felt nothing, come on to the South where you feel like you are living in an armpit because it's so flippin' humid." But we don't say that, because we are nice Americans. There are even nice warning posters and announcement in the tube warning people to carry water and to get off at the next stop if they are feeling unwell so they can seek help from a tube official. Can you imagine that poster and/or announcement on the subway in NY city.....yea, I'm having a hard time imagining it was well.
Anyway back to the Dickens House. It’s a beautifully restored house where Dickens and his family used to live and it contains lots of his personal items. Although he only lived in the house for 2 years he wrote 2 of his novels in the house: Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. I found some creaky floor boards on the top floor in one of the servants rooms which got me wondering if the boards used to creak like that back in Dickens time and I kind of creepy myself out so I ventured on to a less spooky and less stuffy room. Turns out they had the heat on in the Dickens Museum and I have no idea why because it got quite toasty.
For more info. on the Dickens House check out http://www.dickensmuseum.com
Before we headed off to the Tower of London we enjoyed a lovely lunch at a small café just up the road from the Dicken House. The sign in front of the café said
“the best café in the world,” –Beyonce *
*might not have been Beyone. We thought that was funny so we decided it must be a cool café.
I tried some yummy black currant tea with Elizabeth, Spencer and Jill before we smelled something amazing coming from the back kitchen of the place. We decided it must be cinnamon rolls so we split one before heading to the Tower of London. I also learned that if you are going to have something wrapped up to go and/or carry out they call it take away. I’m learning so many new terms.
When we reached the Tower of London I was surprised to see it was so much more than just a tower. Silly me, I thought it was one tower and we would go up and then come back down. Nope, It’s HUGE!
Check out the website for a map and more history.
http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/?gclid=CPW978z_0bgCFbHKtAoddxEAjw
We headed inside to meet our Beefeater tour guide for a 1-hour tour with a large group of people. A beefeater is a Yeoman of the Guard in the Tower of London. Some historians believe that they were called beefeaters because their salaries included getting a ration of meat but I like to think it’s because they ate the raw flesh of their victims! Wa ha ha! So evil and gruesome, which brings me to the gruesome history of the Tower of London told to us by our hilarious yet at times disgruntled tour guide/Beefeater (from here on out I will refer to him as guide or BE).
After telling us a few gory stories about how people were tortured and beheaded (earmuffs little ones) our BE remarked as he gestured around the tower, “Brits this is your gory history and Americans…..this could have been yours if you’d paid your taxes!”
I learned that the liberty bell was a gift from England, did you know that? Our guide told us Americans, “You broke our bell just like you broke our language.” Although I can’t find exact info. about how or when it broke, anyone know?
We heard lots of stories about famous royals who had been taken to the Tower of London and executed on the Tower Green, such as Anne Boleyn and her cousin Queen Catherine. Our guide told us that Queen Catherine tried very hard to have a baby, not always with her husband King Henry, therefore she was executed for being an adulteress.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/anne_boleyn
http://tudorhistory.org/howard/
We went into a chapel called, St. Paul’s chapel where St. Thomas Moore, a Roman Catholic saint, so the chapel is a place of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics. There is a crypt underneath the church where 1,500 headless corpses are buried, all executed in the Tower of London.
Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Dudley was yet another sad story we heard then ended with an execution and I was beginning to see a pattern in his stories.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/grey_lady_jane.shtml
Our BE also realized he was being a bit of a downer so decided to share a happy story so that we would spend money in the gift shop. J
He told us some stories about the prisoners who escaped from the Tower of London.
http://www.hrp.org.uk/Resources/Great%20Escapes%20from%20the%20Tower%20of%20London.pdf
My favorite story was about how Lord Nithsdale escaped because of his brave wife and her two female friends who got the guard drunk and somehow managed to sneak out Lord Nithsdale in women’s clothing. (a more detailed story is in the link above)
However the guard on duty when Lord Nithsdale escaped was named Jeremiah and he suffered a very cruel punishment. He was arrested and taken in front of the governor who had many options at his disposal to deal with Jeremiah, however he chose the most awful one. He told Jeremiah, “for this day forth you and all future guards of the Tower shall give guided tours to hundreds of toursist.” That got a big laugh and we never did find out what really happened to Jeremiah but I suppose he suffered the same end as all the people who visited the Tower.
Our guide had a bit of a soft spot because he ended the tour by saying, “There are many different people in this room, all smiling and laughing and looking in the same direction which I think is the best thing about this tour.” I think he really appreciated the diversity of cultures that he was exposed to in his profession.
The Beefeaters is a very well respected positions. Here are some quick facts about the Beefeaters:
-the guards live on-site, that’s right! They live IN the Tower of London. How awesome is that!?
-you have to have 22 years of army service before you can apply for the guard position
-113 people live in the tower, that includes the 37 guards and their family members.
-there is 1 female guard
-there is a private pub on site
As we were walking away from the Tower of London, reflecting on how awesome it was. Jill noticed a little boy sprinting down the street and said, “did you see that boy, I hope he is ok,” The boy ran back towards us and we noticed he was crying. He had hopped on a bus and lost his parents and he was terrified. After Lisa calmed the kid down we found out he was an American from Texas and that his name was Derek. He explained he had hopped on a bus that he thought his family was on and he couldn’t remember how far he had gone, maybe one or two stops. He calmed down a little more when we told him we were Americans too and that we were teachers. As he was trying to remember his mom or dad’s cell phone number so I could call it (really happy to have a global plan for emergencies such as this) his mom jumped off a bus and they were reunited. She thanked us quickly before hopping back on the bus. It was definitely a scary and emotional moment and I’m sure she was freaked out but for heaven’s sake lady, hold your kids hand when you are in a foreign city! AH! I’m sure Derek is currently being lead around London with one of those child leashes/animal backpacks with “tails.”
We continued our journey to Hype Park where our hostel was located and dropped off our stuff. We were super tired and sweaty because we had carried our packs around ALL DAY. We meandered through Kensington Park/Hype Park enjoying the view from afar of Kensington Palace, where Will and Kate live. It was then I realized I hadn’t eaten much or had water during the day. So we were starving.
We met Lisa near the beautiful St. Albert’s statue in Kensington park and then walked around Covenant Garden, a nice area with hoppin’ night life, before we ate at Nicholson’s Freehouse pub in London. I enjoyed 2 pints of a delicious local beer and a fish basket. I also charged my phone during dinner, which was super exciting for me because there wasn’t a good place to charge my phone at the hostel.
Since we were extra exhausted after dinner we took a rickshaw ride back to our tube station for 10 pounds. Yes, we were overcharged but it was worth it. We took a cold shower at the hostel followed by drying ourselves off with our dirty clothes because towels were a whopping 5 pounds! We collapsed into bed around midnight and we all slept well.
Believe it or not I have lots of other assignments besides pinning to Pinterest and this travel blog, so I'm feeling like I need to get crackin on finishing those assignment mostly because I'd like to post them here for all to see but also because it's a requirement for this course :) So I may take a few days off from posting, but since my posts have been rather long perhaps that can give you time to catch up....assuming that you care to catch up because I realize the inherent selfishness that is within a blog, thinking that others want to hear about each minute of your day. I will leave you with my word section...
I learned some new words today:
queu means line
potato jackets means potatoes with the skins on
tube is also called the underground and we would call it a subway.
Cheers,
Lauren
The Dickens House was interested and as we waited 30 minutes for the first group to go through we enjoyed taking picture into front of the teal door (loved it!) to the house and Jill took a cool picture of me through bicycle spokes. We have some great photographers on the trip and it's great to travel in a group with people because, when they post pictures to Pinterest, you end of seeing some cool shots you may never have noticed were taken. Lisa said I was very photogenic today which was such a lovely compliment because I do not feel I photograph well, especially after a day of walking and sweating. My hair has gotten much blonder and my farmers tan has all but disappeared. It's funny too because even when it's 80 degrees the locals talk about the heat. All of us North Carolinians want to say, "you ain't felt nothing, come on to the South where you feel like you are living in an armpit because it's so flippin' humid." But we don't say that, because we are nice Americans. There are even nice warning posters and announcement in the tube warning people to carry water and to get off at the next stop if they are feeling unwell so they can seek help from a tube official. Can you imagine that poster and/or announcement on the subway in NY city.....yea, I'm having a hard time imagining it was well.
Anyway back to the Dickens House. It’s a beautifully restored house where Dickens and his family used to live and it contains lots of his personal items. Although he only lived in the house for 2 years he wrote 2 of his novels in the house: Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. I found some creaky floor boards on the top floor in one of the servants rooms which got me wondering if the boards used to creak like that back in Dickens time and I kind of creepy myself out so I ventured on to a less spooky and less stuffy room. Turns out they had the heat on in the Dickens Museum and I have no idea why because it got quite toasty.
For more info. on the Dickens House check out http://www.dickensmuseum.com
Before we headed off to the Tower of London we enjoyed a lovely lunch at a small café just up the road from the Dicken House. The sign in front of the café said
“the best café in the world,” –Beyonce *
*might not have been Beyone. We thought that was funny so we decided it must be a cool café.
I tried some yummy black currant tea with Elizabeth, Spencer and Jill before we smelled something amazing coming from the back kitchen of the place. We decided it must be cinnamon rolls so we split one before heading to the Tower of London. I also learned that if you are going to have something wrapped up to go and/or carry out they call it take away. I’m learning so many new terms.
When we reached the Tower of London I was surprised to see it was so much more than just a tower. Silly me, I thought it was one tower and we would go up and then come back down. Nope, It’s HUGE!
Check out the website for a map and more history.
http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/?gclid=CPW978z_0bgCFbHKtAoddxEAjw
We headed inside to meet our Beefeater tour guide for a 1-hour tour with a large group of people. A beefeater is a Yeoman of the Guard in the Tower of London. Some historians believe that they were called beefeaters because their salaries included getting a ration of meat but I like to think it’s because they ate the raw flesh of their victims! Wa ha ha! So evil and gruesome, which brings me to the gruesome history of the Tower of London told to us by our hilarious yet at times disgruntled tour guide/Beefeater (from here on out I will refer to him as guide or BE).
After telling us a few gory stories about how people were tortured and beheaded (earmuffs little ones) our BE remarked as he gestured around the tower, “Brits this is your gory history and Americans…..this could have been yours if you’d paid your taxes!”
I learned that the liberty bell was a gift from England, did you know that? Our guide told us Americans, “You broke our bell just like you broke our language.” Although I can’t find exact info. about how or when it broke, anyone know?
We heard lots of stories about famous royals who had been taken to the Tower of London and executed on the Tower Green, such as Anne Boleyn and her cousin Queen Catherine. Our guide told us that Queen Catherine tried very hard to have a baby, not always with her husband King Henry, therefore she was executed for being an adulteress.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/anne_boleyn
http://tudorhistory.org/howard/
We went into a chapel called, St. Paul’s chapel where St. Thomas Moore, a Roman Catholic saint, so the chapel is a place of pilgrimage for Roman Catholics. There is a crypt underneath the church where 1,500 headless corpses are buried, all executed in the Tower of London.
Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Dudley was yet another sad story we heard then ended with an execution and I was beginning to see a pattern in his stories.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/grey_lady_jane.shtml
Our BE also realized he was being a bit of a downer so decided to share a happy story so that we would spend money in the gift shop. J
He told us some stories about the prisoners who escaped from the Tower of London.
http://www.hrp.org.uk/Resources/Great%20Escapes%20from%20the%20Tower%20of%20London.pdf
My favorite story was about how Lord Nithsdale escaped because of his brave wife and her two female friends who got the guard drunk and somehow managed to sneak out Lord Nithsdale in women’s clothing. (a more detailed story is in the link above)
However the guard on duty when Lord Nithsdale escaped was named Jeremiah and he suffered a very cruel punishment. He was arrested and taken in front of the governor who had many options at his disposal to deal with Jeremiah, however he chose the most awful one. He told Jeremiah, “for this day forth you and all future guards of the Tower shall give guided tours to hundreds of toursist.” That got a big laugh and we never did find out what really happened to Jeremiah but I suppose he suffered the same end as all the people who visited the Tower.
Our guide had a bit of a soft spot because he ended the tour by saying, “There are many different people in this room, all smiling and laughing and looking in the same direction which I think is the best thing about this tour.” I think he really appreciated the diversity of cultures that he was exposed to in his profession.
The Beefeaters is a very well respected positions. Here are some quick facts about the Beefeaters:
-the guards live on-site, that’s right! They live IN the Tower of London. How awesome is that!?
-you have to have 22 years of army service before you can apply for the guard position
-113 people live in the tower, that includes the 37 guards and their family members.
-there is 1 female guard
-there is a private pub on site
As we were walking away from the Tower of London, reflecting on how awesome it was. Jill noticed a little boy sprinting down the street and said, “did you see that boy, I hope he is ok,” The boy ran back towards us and we noticed he was crying. He had hopped on a bus and lost his parents and he was terrified. After Lisa calmed the kid down we found out he was an American from Texas and that his name was Derek. He explained he had hopped on a bus that he thought his family was on and he couldn’t remember how far he had gone, maybe one or two stops. He calmed down a little more when we told him we were Americans too and that we were teachers. As he was trying to remember his mom or dad’s cell phone number so I could call it (really happy to have a global plan for emergencies such as this) his mom jumped off a bus and they were reunited. She thanked us quickly before hopping back on the bus. It was definitely a scary and emotional moment and I’m sure she was freaked out but for heaven’s sake lady, hold your kids hand when you are in a foreign city! AH! I’m sure Derek is currently being lead around London with one of those child leashes/animal backpacks with “tails.”
We continued our journey to Hype Park where our hostel was located and dropped off our stuff. We were super tired and sweaty because we had carried our packs around ALL DAY. We meandered through Kensington Park/Hype Park enjoying the view from afar of Kensington Palace, where Will and Kate live. It was then I realized I hadn’t eaten much or had water during the day. So we were starving.
We met Lisa near the beautiful St. Albert’s statue in Kensington park and then walked around Covenant Garden, a nice area with hoppin’ night life, before we ate at Nicholson’s Freehouse pub in London. I enjoyed 2 pints of a delicious local beer and a fish basket. I also charged my phone during dinner, which was super exciting for me because there wasn’t a good place to charge my phone at the hostel.
Since we were extra exhausted after dinner we took a rickshaw ride back to our tube station for 10 pounds. Yes, we were overcharged but it was worth it. We took a cold shower at the hostel followed by drying ourselves off with our dirty clothes because towels were a whopping 5 pounds! We collapsed into bed around midnight and we all slept well.
Believe it or not I have lots of other assignments besides pinning to Pinterest and this travel blog, so I'm feeling like I need to get crackin on finishing those assignment mostly because I'd like to post them here for all to see but also because it's a requirement for this course :) So I may take a few days off from posting, but since my posts have been rather long perhaps that can give you time to catch up....assuming that you care to catch up because I realize the inherent selfishness that is within a blog, thinking that others want to hear about each minute of your day. I will leave you with my word section...
I learned some new words today:
queu means line
potato jackets means potatoes with the skins on
tube is also called the underground and we would call it a subway.
Cheers,
Lauren
Day 8: London, Kensington Palace and Macbeth at Globe Theater July 26th 2013
We awoke well rested at the hostel and went downstairs to a check out breakfast. Jill and I ended up eating some cookies packed in my bag for breakfast and I think we also had cookies for lunch. Looking back I do not remember eating a lot during the day. We reluctantly put our backpacks on remembering how heavy they felt after carrying them around yesterday. It was then I remembered my pack had a wait support strap that took all the weigh off my shoulders. DUH! I really wish I realized that yesterday.
We walked around Kensington Gardens and we followed a path to the Princess Diana memorial gardens. We waited by the sunken gardens in front of Kensington to meet our friend, Stephanie. We later found out that Stephanie got to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace so she made it to Kensington later.
The picture to the left is of the luminous lace, a beautifully intricate light fixture, made of almost 4 km of electroluminescent wire and contains nearly 12,000 Swarovski crystals. Woo.
Check out more info using the link below: http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/PlanYourVisit/topsightsandactivities#sthash.8o3ph1Je.dpuf
I loved seeing the fashion exhibits inside Kensington where they displayed gorgeous gowns and my favorite was the display of some of Princess Diana's famous dresses. We also viewed the King and Queen's state apartments. The walls were wired so they would whisper information to you if you sat down on one of the benches in front of a window. I visited the gift shop and bought a biography of the Duchess of Cambridge/Kate Middleton because I just couldn't resist. Kate and William live in a different wing of Kensington Palace and their apartment is not included on the tour. If you are interested in all the apartments and who lives in them in Kensington Palace click herehttp://www.zimbio.com/Kate+Middleton/articles/0xAELulzeAE/Royal+Couple+Stepped+Their+New+Home
Jill and I walked around the center of London to see Big Ben and the House Calvary (super swanky place where they keep the royal horses) before realizing we needed to get going to the Globe theater to meet our group to see Macbeth. We also remembered we were starving so although we took the long way to get to the Globe theater (by accident) we ran across a small and super cheap sandwich shop. It was the best bacon and chicken sandwich I ever had.
The performance of Macbeth was amazing! We got cheap tickets but that also meant we were groundlings aka we stood in front of the stage for the 2 and a half hour performance. I brought my travel sunscreen and made sure to reapply and share with friends. There was an intermission and people left to get out of the sun, get some food and enjoy the shade but we took that opportunity to move even closer to the stage. The 2nd half of the performance we were so close I got to see the spittle on the actors' lips when during really intense monologues and/or acts. The actors were phenomenal!
We hopped on the tube to Waterloo station after the show and had to wait in line to purchase our train tickets back to Guildford. We luckily got to the platform in time to take the faster train to Guildford (about 40 minutes). We couldn't find any seats and we desperately wanted to sit down after standing for 2 and half hours so we parked ourselves in front of the first class train car so that every one in awhile the doors would open and we would get a blast of cold air.
We walked around Kensington Gardens and we followed a path to the Princess Diana memorial gardens. We waited by the sunken gardens in front of Kensington to meet our friend, Stephanie. We later found out that Stephanie got to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace so she made it to Kensington later.
The picture to the left is of the luminous lace, a beautifully intricate light fixture, made of almost 4 km of electroluminescent wire and contains nearly 12,000 Swarovski crystals. Woo.
Check out more info using the link below: http://www.hrp.org.uk/KensingtonPalace/PlanYourVisit/topsightsandactivities#sthash.8o3ph1Je.dpuf
I loved seeing the fashion exhibits inside Kensington where they displayed gorgeous gowns and my favorite was the display of some of Princess Diana's famous dresses. We also viewed the King and Queen's state apartments. The walls were wired so they would whisper information to you if you sat down on one of the benches in front of a window. I visited the gift shop and bought a biography of the Duchess of Cambridge/Kate Middleton because I just couldn't resist. Kate and William live in a different wing of Kensington Palace and their apartment is not included on the tour. If you are interested in all the apartments and who lives in them in Kensington Palace click herehttp://www.zimbio.com/Kate+Middleton/articles/0xAELulzeAE/Royal+Couple+Stepped+Their+New+Home
Jill and I walked around the center of London to see Big Ben and the House Calvary (super swanky place where they keep the royal horses) before realizing we needed to get going to the Globe theater to meet our group to see Macbeth. We also remembered we were starving so although we took the long way to get to the Globe theater (by accident) we ran across a small and super cheap sandwich shop. It was the best bacon and chicken sandwich I ever had.
The performance of Macbeth was amazing! We got cheap tickets but that also meant we were groundlings aka we stood in front of the stage for the 2 and a half hour performance. I brought my travel sunscreen and made sure to reapply and share with friends. There was an intermission and people left to get out of the sun, get some food and enjoy the shade but we took that opportunity to move even closer to the stage. The 2nd half of the performance we were so close I got to see the spittle on the actors' lips when during really intense monologues and/or acts. The actors were phenomenal!
We hopped on the tube to Waterloo station after the show and had to wait in line to purchase our train tickets back to Guildford. We luckily got to the platform in time to take the faster train to Guildford (about 40 minutes). We couldn't find any seats and we desperately wanted to sit down after standing for 2 and half hours so we parked ourselves in front of the first class train car so that every one in awhile the doors would open and we would get a blast of cold air.
Day 9: Oxford with international students July 27th 2013
We spent the day in Oxford today which is a bustling city with beautiful views and unique stores. I was excited because for the first time since this trip I was able to find my way around on my own! :) This is probably because Oxford is a very walkable city and I didn't have to figure out the tube or the bus system or the train schedule. It was a lovely day of no pressure sight seeing. We walked to Christ Church with our group of international students, most of them from China. We chatted with a few of them about what they were studying and how they liked the Surrey campus. I met a very friendly girl named Judy when I offered to take her picture in front of Christ Church. Judy graduated from university (that's how they say it here) and is now completing her masters in finance at the University of Surrey. When I met her I shook her hand, and then wondered if that was the correct thing to do because perhaps handshaking is not part of the Chinese culture. Judy assured me that hand shaking was the way the Chinese greeted each other. Judy then asked if Americans kiss both cheeks to say hello and I told her that I had experienced the double-cheek kiss in Spanish speaking countries and not in America. Judy also offered to take my picture with Adrienne, which is the picture you see above and she counted to three in English before taking the picture. I asked Judy to teach me how to count to three in Chinese and she did tell me and I did practice it but I can't tell you now and or type it.
We walked along the Broad Walk from Christ Church (you can see the church in the background of the photo) along the River Cherwell. Then we meandered down Rose Lane before stopping at a sweet cafe for a crepe and a mocha frappe. After all the running around the past 2 days it was really nice to sit and relax for a bit. After our lovely cafe experience we walked up the High Street to check out some shops. I have learned that almost every town has a High Street and it's considered to be the main street in the town, very similar to our, you guessed it, Main Streets in the states. We walked into a antique store that featured local artists in their background and I purchased my very first scarf! Check out the website to check out her stuff. The antique store owner was very proud to feature local artists and he remarked that their wares would be antiques one day.
http://www.tnormandesigns.co.uk/default.html
I couldn’t help but stop in a thrift store as well which had great stuff and the owner remarked that she always gets great stuff because it’s a college town.
Since I was trying to treat myself right we had lunch at a reasonable hour at the Eagle and Child, which is the place where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien worked on their famous novels.
Before we knew it was 3:30 and we needed to head back to Christ Church to meet our group at 4pm so we could head back to the buses. I lead the way back to Christ Church and we laid in the meadow enjoying the beautiful day until the rest of our group arrived.
We walked along the Broad Walk from Christ Church (you can see the church in the background of the photo) along the River Cherwell. Then we meandered down Rose Lane before stopping at a sweet cafe for a crepe and a mocha frappe. After all the running around the past 2 days it was really nice to sit and relax for a bit. After our lovely cafe experience we walked up the High Street to check out some shops. I have learned that almost every town has a High Street and it's considered to be the main street in the town, very similar to our, you guessed it, Main Streets in the states. We walked into a antique store that featured local artists in their background and I purchased my very first scarf! Check out the website to check out her stuff. The antique store owner was very proud to feature local artists and he remarked that their wares would be antiques one day.
http://www.tnormandesigns.co.uk/default.html
I couldn’t help but stop in a thrift store as well which had great stuff and the owner remarked that she always gets great stuff because it’s a college town.
Since I was trying to treat myself right we had lunch at a reasonable hour at the Eagle and Child, which is the place where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien worked on their famous novels.
Before we knew it was 3:30 and we needed to head back to Christ Church to meet our group at 4pm so we could head back to the buses. I lead the way back to Christ Church and we laid in the meadow enjoying the beautiful day until the rest of our group arrived.
Day 10: Guildford July 28th 2013
*sigh* Today was such a relaxing day. After sleeping late and getting some work done I headed down to the White House Pub with Lisa and Adrienne. We enjoyed a lovely 2 hour lunch by the River Wey. The White House Pub is a freehouse which means they can sell any beer they choose. A tied house is a pub that has a contractual obligation to sell certain beers (usually the popular beer, Fullers). This contractual obligation is similar to how restaurants serve Coke or Pepsi products in the states. The picture on the left is of our lovely waitress/photographer/classmate, Lisa.
As we took our leisurely walk along the river Lisa took pictures of dogs (for her Pinterest board devoted to Dogs of England). I noticed the beautiful houses along the river which are probably worth 600,000 pounds or more (about 916,000 American dollars so pretty much million dollar homes)
After our long walk admiring postcard-worthy views of Guildford I felt completely relaxed...perhaps it was the walk and being so close to nature...or perhaps it was the 2 pints I enjoyed at the pub. :)
We visited Poundland where almost everything costs a pound, this is similar to our dollar store in America. We met Jackie there picking up some gifts for her kids which is the exact same thing that Adrienne did.
A few hours later, we decided to get a pint and enjoy dinner at another pub in Guildford. Since I was interested in trying some cider I was thrilled to here that today was the last day of their Cider Festival so they had a large variety of ciders. I enjoyed a pint of pear cider before ordering...another pear cider :)
We stopped by the Tesco Express (a smaller version of the supermarket chain) which is similar to the 7 Eleven stores we have (or had?) in the states. There was a very friendly security guard at the Tesco who not only gave us a wine recommendation but also was happy to chat with us about where we were from. He was thrilled to hear that our group was comprised mostly of women.
As we took our leisurely walk along the river Lisa took pictures of dogs (for her Pinterest board devoted to Dogs of England). I noticed the beautiful houses along the river which are probably worth 600,000 pounds or more (about 916,000 American dollars so pretty much million dollar homes)
After our long walk admiring postcard-worthy views of Guildford I felt completely relaxed...perhaps it was the walk and being so close to nature...or perhaps it was the 2 pints I enjoyed at the pub. :)
We visited Poundland where almost everything costs a pound, this is similar to our dollar store in America. We met Jackie there picking up some gifts for her kids which is the exact same thing that Adrienne did.
A few hours later, we decided to get a pint and enjoy dinner at another pub in Guildford. Since I was interested in trying some cider I was thrilled to here that today was the last day of their Cider Festival so they had a large variety of ciders. I enjoyed a pint of pear cider before ordering...another pear cider :)
We stopped by the Tesco Express (a smaller version of the supermarket chain) which is similar to the 7 Eleven stores we have (or had?) in the states. There was a very friendly security guard at the Tesco who not only gave us a wine recommendation but also was happy to chat with us about where we were from. He was thrilled to hear that our group was comprised mostly of women.
Day 11: British Library July 29th 2013
Here I am standing next to a GIANT book!! :) To be more exact I'm standing in the British Library next to the 2nd biggest atlas in the world. Today was very educational and inspiring because we got to view actual manuscripts of very, very, VERY old books and documents.
For more exact information about the British Library check out the link below:
http://www.bl.uk
I was lucky to be in a group with Mr. Julian Walker and we received a 1 hour guided tour of the Treasures of the British Library. http://www.bl.uk/whatson/permgall/treasures/index.html
Mr. Walker is a very impressive and humble guy. When I searched for him on the British Library website (the link is below) he has published several books on the history of words and he had only told us about 2 books that he published, so modest. I can't wait to read one of them.
http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?mode=Basic&vid=BLVU1&vl(freeText0)=Julian%20Walker&fn=search&tab=local_tab&
Julian highlighted the following texts some of which I knew, most of which i didn't, but it was fun to see my classmates get REALLY excited, especially those who taught high school English literature.
• The Vision of Piers Plowman. 14th century
• Cotton Vespasian B XVI ff. 62v - 63
• The Beowulf Manuscript. England 11th century Cotton Vitellius A.XV ff 168v-169
My favorite thing to see, and a precursor for tomorrow, was Jane Austen's notebook (from 1782) with her ACTUAL handwriting in it and her writing desk with her very small spectacles. I never realized how tiny she was but her writing sure packed a punch as she was very witty.
Do you remember the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey who was executed at the Tower of London? Of course you do! Well we got to see her prayer book which is the last thing she touched before she left this world. There was even a note to the guard she handed it to asking him to care for her prayer book. Wow, it was so crazy to see the book and her hand writing after hearing the story of her death at the Tower on London. It was also exciting because I felt like I knew something about British history and could make a connection with the object I was seeing. I knew nothing about British literature and history before coming on this trip and I still feel like I have a great deal to learn...or maybe i should focus on learning about the history of my own country....which actually leads back to British history. As my classmate Sarah Glova said, "this trip has taught me how much I don't know and now I want to learn more." I feel the same way.
There was a small display of Beatles music that showed the lyrics of their top hits scribbled on the back of an envelope and some lyrics were on a back of a birthday card. I made me wonder if the Beatles saw it what they would think. Imagine if you scribbled something on a napkins and decades later it was featured in a museum/library exhibit. That would be pretty flippin’ cool. Note to self, write something awesome on a napkin or scrap piece of paper and send it to a museum with a note, “Save this, it might be worth something in a couple of decades.”
After viewing some of the first bibles to ever be produced, Julian explained how paper was made way back in the day. Parchment paper was made from the stomach lining of an animal. The stomach lining could be stretched and dried (much like leather). Also writing could be “erased” from the parchment by scrapping it with a pen knife.
We were supposed to attend on workshop about how to research the items in the Treasure room using the British libraries website. However there was some sort of mix-up which meant….the return of Julian Walker!
We spent the rest of the day learning about the origin of words and how language has changed so much over time. Some reasons for the change include
-small mistakes made while scribes or monks were recording words
-words are relationship based meaning if you call a friend a b^&* then it means something different that if you called a non-friend a b%^&.
Julian explained that they have a problem in the UK right now because they have been told for so long that a class structure does not exist. However a class hierarchy does exist therefore they are trying to find non-offensive names for the lower classes. I guess if you call it something pretty than the lower classes people won’t know they are poor….that just seems like you are wrapping up a thoughtless birthday gift.
Anyway Julian brought up more good points about the status of words by explaining that some words have a higher status than others. For example, mansion and house, they both refer to a place where a person lives but mansion has a higher status because it is considered to be bigger.
Julian was all about the deep questions and he was true to form when he asked, “how come you do not order a cow sandwich?” We all thought that we felt the need to come up with different words for cow and pig meat such as beef, bacon, and veal so we felt less bad about eating the animal.
Some other fun facts I learned were:
-names of trees and weapons are typically Old English words
-high fashion words are usually French
-words relating to medicine and law come from Latin
-1513 was the first usage of the f-word in a poem by Robert Henderson (I will keep trying to find that poem)
-stool was an Old English word used to describe a throne. Now it is used to describe a smaller seat or the sample of poop you give to your doctor.
-people in England spell yogurt with an h so it looks like yoghurt…I think.
Sadly our time with Julian had to end but our last activity was pretty cool. We got to very carefully handle 18th century dictionaries. Jill and I looked up the words herb (which means soft stalks) and
I mostly liked Julian lectures because he posed a question and let us decide the answer. For example he asked, “Are dominant forms of words correct simply because they are dominant?” and “Who and how do you manage language change?” We suggested that Julian should manage the language changes to which he replied, “I cannot take that on. I have too much on my plate.” Before he officially dismissed us Curtis said what everyone was thinking, “We don’t want to leave you.”
For more exact information about the British Library check out the link below:
http://www.bl.uk
I was lucky to be in a group with Mr. Julian Walker and we received a 1 hour guided tour of the Treasures of the British Library. http://www.bl.uk/whatson/permgall/treasures/index.html
Mr. Walker is a very impressive and humble guy. When I searched for him on the British Library website (the link is below) he has published several books on the history of words and he had only told us about 2 books that he published, so modest. I can't wait to read one of them.
http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?mode=Basic&vid=BLVU1&vl(freeText0)=Julian%20Walker&fn=search&tab=local_tab&
Julian highlighted the following texts some of which I knew, most of which i didn't, but it was fun to see my classmates get REALLY excited, especially those who taught high school English literature.
• The Vision of Piers Plowman. 14th century
• Cotton Vespasian B XVI ff. 62v - 63
• The Beowulf Manuscript. England 11th century Cotton Vitellius A.XV ff 168v-169
My favorite thing to see, and a precursor for tomorrow, was Jane Austen's notebook (from 1782) with her ACTUAL handwriting in it and her writing desk with her very small spectacles. I never realized how tiny she was but her writing sure packed a punch as she was very witty.
Do you remember the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey who was executed at the Tower of London? Of course you do! Well we got to see her prayer book which is the last thing she touched before she left this world. There was even a note to the guard she handed it to asking him to care for her prayer book. Wow, it was so crazy to see the book and her hand writing after hearing the story of her death at the Tower on London. It was also exciting because I felt like I knew something about British history and could make a connection with the object I was seeing. I knew nothing about British literature and history before coming on this trip and I still feel like I have a great deal to learn...or maybe i should focus on learning about the history of my own country....which actually leads back to British history. As my classmate Sarah Glova said, "this trip has taught me how much I don't know and now I want to learn more." I feel the same way.
There was a small display of Beatles music that showed the lyrics of their top hits scribbled on the back of an envelope and some lyrics were on a back of a birthday card. I made me wonder if the Beatles saw it what they would think. Imagine if you scribbled something on a napkins and decades later it was featured in a museum/library exhibit. That would be pretty flippin’ cool. Note to self, write something awesome on a napkin or scrap piece of paper and send it to a museum with a note, “Save this, it might be worth something in a couple of decades.”
After viewing some of the first bibles to ever be produced, Julian explained how paper was made way back in the day. Parchment paper was made from the stomach lining of an animal. The stomach lining could be stretched and dried (much like leather). Also writing could be “erased” from the parchment by scrapping it with a pen knife.
We were supposed to attend on workshop about how to research the items in the Treasure room using the British libraries website. However there was some sort of mix-up which meant….the return of Julian Walker!
We spent the rest of the day learning about the origin of words and how language has changed so much over time. Some reasons for the change include
-small mistakes made while scribes or monks were recording words
-words are relationship based meaning if you call a friend a b^&* then it means something different that if you called a non-friend a b%^&.
Julian explained that they have a problem in the UK right now because they have been told for so long that a class structure does not exist. However a class hierarchy does exist therefore they are trying to find non-offensive names for the lower classes. I guess if you call it something pretty than the lower classes people won’t know they are poor….that just seems like you are wrapping up a thoughtless birthday gift.
Anyway Julian brought up more good points about the status of words by explaining that some words have a higher status than others. For example, mansion and house, they both refer to a place where a person lives but mansion has a higher status because it is considered to be bigger.
Julian was all about the deep questions and he was true to form when he asked, “how come you do not order a cow sandwich?” We all thought that we felt the need to come up with different words for cow and pig meat such as beef, bacon, and veal so we felt less bad about eating the animal.
Some other fun facts I learned were:
-names of trees and weapons are typically Old English words
-high fashion words are usually French
-words relating to medicine and law come from Latin
-1513 was the first usage of the f-word in a poem by Robert Henderson (I will keep trying to find that poem)
-stool was an Old English word used to describe a throne. Now it is used to describe a smaller seat or the sample of poop you give to your doctor.
-people in England spell yogurt with an h so it looks like yoghurt…I think.
Sadly our time with Julian had to end but our last activity was pretty cool. We got to very carefully handle 18th century dictionaries. Jill and I looked up the words herb (which means soft stalks) and
I mostly liked Julian lectures because he posed a question and let us decide the answer. For example he asked, “Are dominant forms of words correct simply because they are dominant?” and “Who and how do you manage language change?” We suggested that Julian should manage the language changes to which he replied, “I cannot take that on. I have too much on my plate.” Before he officially dismissed us Curtis said what everyone was thinking, “We don’t want to leave you.”
Our next activity reminded me of the activities that the museum educators do with my students at the Nasher Museum. Around 2:30 we meet Helen and Sheila who began our session with a whisper game. We whispered a phrase to each other and by the time the phrase got to the last person....it was still exactly the same! Helen and Sheila were very impressed but they typically work with primary students students so perhaps that is not saying much. The activity helped us understand that communicating can change as it is passed from person to person which connected to what we had learned from Julian.
We entered the Harry M Weinrebe Learning Centre to answer the essential question, “What is writing?” To write you need a writing tool, a writing support, someone to write, something to write about and someone to read it. There were a variety writing tools and writing supports displayed on the front table such as a wax tablet, parchment paper, quill pens, sticks and paint brushes.
While tools and supports are important pieces of the writing process there are also containers for writing, which include scrolls, envelopes, books and other devices that hold text such as a kindle or a book on tape.
I was pretty excited to see some objects I remembered learning about while I was making the History of Writing work during my Montessori training. I had never heard of a wax tablet though so I will make sure to add that to my History of Writing pictures. There is a picture of the wax tablet above.
We visited the Centre for Conservation which is an exhibit that explains the process of conserving a book including the do’s and don’t of conservation. We were also able to see a very large container of writing, the 2nd largest atlas in the world located on the third floor of the British library.
With the promise of coloring we returned to the Learning Center to try our hand at copying decorative Victorian, Old English, German and Roman letters just to name a few. Amy, Curtis and Lisa used our letters to form a 1- line poem:
Men be juicy to Kevin
Ruie, true to form, made Kevin uncomfortable by saying, “You should switch it around to say, ‘Men be juicy to Kevin.”
We left the museum to explore the surrounding area until 6:45…or was it 7:00, before loading onto our Beeline buses to return home to Guildford.
We entered the Harry M Weinrebe Learning Centre to answer the essential question, “What is writing?” To write you need a writing tool, a writing support, someone to write, something to write about and someone to read it. There were a variety writing tools and writing supports displayed on the front table such as a wax tablet, parchment paper, quill pens, sticks and paint brushes.
While tools and supports are important pieces of the writing process there are also containers for writing, which include scrolls, envelopes, books and other devices that hold text such as a kindle or a book on tape.
I was pretty excited to see some objects I remembered learning about while I was making the History of Writing work during my Montessori training. I had never heard of a wax tablet though so I will make sure to add that to my History of Writing pictures. There is a picture of the wax tablet above.
We visited the Centre for Conservation which is an exhibit that explains the process of conserving a book including the do’s and don’t of conservation. We were also able to see a very large container of writing, the 2nd largest atlas in the world located on the third floor of the British library.
With the promise of coloring we returned to the Learning Center to try our hand at copying decorative Victorian, Old English, German and Roman letters just to name a few. Amy, Curtis and Lisa used our letters to form a 1- line poem:
Men be juicy to Kevin
Ruie, true to form, made Kevin uncomfortable by saying, “You should switch it around to say, ‘Men be juicy to Kevin.”
We left the museum to explore the surrounding area until 6:45…or was it 7:00, before loading onto our Beeline buses to return home to Guildford.
Day 12: Jane Austen's House, Chawton July 30th 2013
Absolutely magical day! As you can see from the photo I had a fun time dressing up. After watching a short video about the history of Jane Austen's life we began exploring the grounds of the modest cottage that Jane shared with her mother and sister Cassandra. The first place we went was the kitchen, a seperate house, where some activities were set up such as Make Your Own Lavender Satchel and write with a quill pen. We also dressed up in Austen dresses and had a short photo shoot. Chelsea and Elizabeth were just as excited as I was and I have to admit we looked adorable in our dresses and bonnets.
We toured the rooms at Jane Austen's house and saw many items that were owned and used by her such as her writing desk and a lock of her hair! Those were my two favorite things that I saw. Feelings of awe and interest overwhelmed me as I walked throughout the house. Curtis asked, "Is this your Graceland?" Yep, Jane Austen's house was the place I was most excited about visiting just so I could feel like I was near the spirit of an amazing author.
After stopping by the gift shop I participated in one more photo shoot, this time with a different dress and bonnet because it was just so much fun, plus everyone else was doing it :)
Check the link below if you want more info. I also have about 100 pictures that I may make you sit through when I get home.
http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk
We took a very short bus ride down the road to Chawton House to enjoy a catered lunch and tea. The lemon cake that was served with the tea is still being talked about, it was that good. Below is a picture of my adorable tea cup and the delicious cake.
We toured the rooms at Jane Austen's house and saw many items that were owned and used by her such as her writing desk and a lock of her hair! Those were my two favorite things that I saw. Feelings of awe and interest overwhelmed me as I walked throughout the house. Curtis asked, "Is this your Graceland?" Yep, Jane Austen's house was the place I was most excited about visiting just so I could feel like I was near the spirit of an amazing author.
After stopping by the gift shop I participated in one more photo shoot, this time with a different dress and bonnet because it was just so much fun, plus everyone else was doing it :)
Check the link below if you want more info. I also have about 100 pictures that I may make you sit through when I get home.
http://www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk
We took a very short bus ride down the road to Chawton House to enjoy a catered lunch and tea. The lemon cake that was served with the tea is still being talked about, it was that good. Below is a picture of my adorable tea cup and the delicious cake.
Top Ten to get to the end... :) July 30th -August 2nd 2013
I'm quite tired and my blog posts have been kind of long haven't then? I decided to wrap it all up in a Top Ten list from the last couple of days to end my blog. Enjoy and thanks for reading my other long posts. I'm new to this whole blog thing so I may have overdone it.
10. Viewing the work of George Frederick Watts and learning that one of his pieces titled, Hope inspired Obama to write, The Audacity of Hope
10. Viewing the work of George Frederick Watts and learning that one of his pieces titled, Hope inspired Obama to write, The Audacity of Hope
9. Watts was a hustler. At the young age of 13 he
was supporting his family by selling his portrait drawings. What an
awesome kid!
8. We saw a really cool statue in Kensington Park called Physical Energy and guess who we later found out sculpted it? George F. Watts!
8. We saw a really cool statue in Kensington Park called Physical Energy and guess who we later found out sculpted it? George F. Watts!
8. Lovely catered lunch at Loseley followed by a guided tour. On the tour I learned a fun fact about the term getting plastered. Rumor has it that in order to make plaster more pliable the plaster workers (plasterers? Seems like the double –er sound doesn’t work) would add alcohol to the plaster. Well, who doesn’t like to drink while they work eh? So the plasterers would enjoy some refreshment while plastering…hence getting plastered! (Yes, I realize I did 8 twice, because 8 is so great I had to do 2 things for it)
7. Also on our guided tour of Loseley I also learned about the origin of the term, “it costs an arm and a leg.” When artists were commissioned to draw portraits, either of one person or of a family, they charged more money to draw arms and legs. Therefore portraits that contained arms and legs were very expensive.
For more info. check out the link below, sadly the link does not offer any more Fun Facts by Lauren, but I’m sure there is other good stuff
http://www.loseleypark.co.uk
6. I got to sit next to our awesome Beeline Bus driver Colin who told me the good brands of tea in England are Twinings, Tetley and the oldest brand is PG. He prefers the English breakfast tea flavor.
5. Eating and drinking at the Jamie Oliver restaurant in Guildford. The grapefruit and basil martini was AMAZING probably because of the Elderflower.
More about Elderflower
http://uktv.co.uk/food/ingredient/aid/507117
Jamie Oliver restaurant
http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/
4. My new friend Jill invited me to dinner with some Chinese students that she had met on own trip to Oxford. They made us Chinese food in their dorm kitchen and we talked about movies and music. We ended up liking lots of the same shows and songs. We had so much fun!
3. Jill and I played Cricket and there is video evidence!
7. Also on our guided tour of Loseley I also learned about the origin of the term, “it costs an arm and a leg.” When artists were commissioned to draw portraits, either of one person or of a family, they charged more money to draw arms and legs. Therefore portraits that contained arms and legs were very expensive.
For more info. check out the link below, sadly the link does not offer any more Fun Facts by Lauren, but I’m sure there is other good stuff
http://www.loseleypark.co.uk
6. I got to sit next to our awesome Beeline Bus driver Colin who told me the good brands of tea in England are Twinings, Tetley and the oldest brand is PG. He prefers the English breakfast tea flavor.
5. Eating and drinking at the Jamie Oliver restaurant in Guildford. The grapefruit and basil martini was AMAZING probably because of the Elderflower.
More about Elderflower
http://uktv.co.uk/food/ingredient/aid/507117
Jamie Oliver restaurant
http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/
4. My new friend Jill invited me to dinner with some Chinese students that she had met on own trip to Oxford. They made us Chinese food in their dorm kitchen and we talked about movies and music. We ended up liking lots of the same shows and songs. We had so much fun!
3. Jill and I played Cricket and there is video evidence!
2. Visiting the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio tour was very fascinating. The amount of meticulous work that went into the scenery, costumes and special effects made me realize that the actors, while important, do have a lot of support to create the world that they work in.
1. Visiting Buckingham Palace today was breathtaking. The sheer size of the rooms and the ornate decorating is mind BLOWING! There are 172 rooms! My favorite part was listening to the guided audio tour and being able to stop and start it whenever I wanted to. While in one of the state rooms my "guide" pointed out a secret door! So intriguing!
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/buckinghampalace
I will be back across the pond on Saturday and fully function by Sunday I hope. My love to all :)
Cheers from London!
1. Visiting Buckingham Palace today was breathtaking. The sheer size of the rooms and the ornate decorating is mind BLOWING! There are 172 rooms! My favorite part was listening to the guided audio tour and being able to stop and start it whenever I wanted to. While in one of the state rooms my "guide" pointed out a secret door! So intriguing!
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/buckinghampalace
I will be back across the pond on Saturday and fully function by Sunday I hope. My love to all :)
Cheers from London!