In My Mind I'm Going to Carolina....

Well folks, we’re sitting in the Heathrow Airport about to board our flight home to Atlanta, and we’re not sure where the time has gone.  It seems like yesterday we were in the Atlanta Airport writing our first blog post, getting ready to start the adventure of a lifetime! Three months later, we can’t quite put into words the experience we’ve had, but we’ll do our best to share it with you through stories and pictures.

Over the past two weeks, we’ve been travelling independently around Europe, getting a small taste of the continental life. I explored Munich and Salzburg with Olivia, then travelled to Rome and Florence with my sister Allison (YAY!), and ended my journey in Brussels where Mary Grace and Olivia surprised me with a day trip to Paris!! The highlights of my trip were definitely the Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg (a dream come true!), eating lots of pretzels in Germany and gelato in Italy, spending wonderful time with my sister, and watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle at night with wonderful friends!!! I was fortunate enough to travel through parts of Switzerland and Italy, with stops in Geneva, Zermatt, Milan, Florence, and Rome! Although the Continent has its treasures, we were still relieved to come “home” to London, a place that we have both come to know well and love. 

We spent our last few days in London getting into the Christmas spirit, exploring the Southbank Christmas Markets, visiting Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland, riding our first double decker bus together, and attending the Annual Norwegian Christmas Concert last night! While it is bittersweet to leave this place, we are incredibly excited to see all of you, our friends and family, and to spend the Christmas holidays in the warmth of our homes!  We know that someday we will be back to London because there is so much more to be seen and explored here; perhaps next time, we will even bring some of you with us! 

Thank you so much to all of you who have kept up with our travels, endured our often lengthy blog posts, and shared this experience with us! It has been a great deal of fun keeping you informed, and it is with great sadness that we write this final post. So for the last time…

Your Truly,

Thomas and Julie

Riding a double-decker bus on our last day!!!

 

at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland!

warm Christmas punch from the Southbank Christmas Market!

Well, it is has been a few weeks since our last post, and we wanted to give y’all a few highlights from our weeks in London. A few days following Halloween, the English have another exciting holiday on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day or Bonfire Night. Many of you are doubtlessly familiar with the day from the film, V for Vendetta. Although it is an excellent film, it does fail to capture the English attitude towards the holiday. In many ways, Guy Fawkes Day is a celebration of England’s history and the preservation of its government. On the evening of November 5, I made the trip out to a small town in the English countryside, Lewes. Lewes is one of the centers of celebration for Bonfire Night, and every year, thousands of people come out to the town! The celebrations were really intense. Many groups marched through the streets with torches and burning signs. The train ride back into London was fairly jam packed, but overall, it was an enjoyable night!

In other news, I had one of my favorite days of the trip last week when Olivia and I (both aspiring teachers) took a day trip to Surrey to visit the Holy Trinity elementary school, where Dr. Aiesi’s good friend Richard is the headmaster.  Richard gave us a tour of the school, we spent some time talking to teachers about their experiences at the school, and then we spent most of the day in Level 6 classrooms (our equivalent of 5^th /6^th grade) helping students with the day’s project, which just so happened to be “design-your-own Rainforest Cereal Box"! Now most of you are aware of how much I LOVE cereal, so this was an absolutely perfect day for me to visit! Needless to say, Olivia and I both loved our time with these kids and it was so difficult to leave at the end of the day, but we learned so much about the differences between the American and British school systems and had a wonderful experience. Favorite student quotes of the day:

“Do you study English in America too? Or do you call it American-glish?”

“I’ve only met four Americans in my whole life! Your friend was the third, and you were the fourth!”

“How old are you? Are you a mum (mom)? Well if you’re not a mum, then what are you?”

This past week, all of the United Kingdom observed Armistice Day on November 11. We all donned our red poppies and joined in the commemoration of the fallen. Other highlights from this week include Dr. Aiesi’s legal tour of London, yet another visit to Parliament, and several exciting performances. Three final performances this week will finish off our epic semester of theater-going…as our professor has told us, we can now be considered “theater mavens” because of the ridiculous number of shows we have seen these past few months!

We are now entering our final week in London, and we really don’t know where the time has gone. By Saturday, all of us will be off to different parts of Europe. It will definitely be a bittersweet end to our time in London because it has been an incredible past seven weeks in this city, but we are all definitely looking forward to independent travel (and being done with classes of course J)!

Seeing as this is our last week here, we thought we would make a few short video clips to give you a little glimpse into our daily London lives! We hope you enjoy them! J

Yours Truly,

Thomas and Julie

                                                                      On the way to class....

After class....

The beginning of the Lord Mayor's Parade in front of St. Paul's Cathedral!

The view of London from Waterloo Bridge!

Happy Halloween from London!!!


Wow, I absolutely cannot believe that tomorrow is the first day of November…time seems to be going by faster and faster now, especially since we just got back from our three-day long weekend and now only have three weeks left in London! It is going to be a pretty full three weeks, so get ready for some exciting updates! I am starting to make my final to-do list of everything that must happen in the next three weeks, on top of the usual class time and nightly trips to the theater, and I’m slowly beginning to realize that there is just no way it’s all going to happen. The only solution is to come back again next year, assuming that my plan of finding free tickets to the Olympics works out as planned! :-) 


This past weekend we were allowed to make short 3-day trips to anywhere on the continent (our first time out of the UK on the trip so far!), and so we all dispersed in our many directions-a few went to Amsterdam, several went to Paris, one went to Barcelona, and three of us chose the lovely city of Prague in the Czech Republic as our weekend destination! Knowing very little what to expect from this eastern European capital, Olivia, Hannah and I decided to venture to the “Golden City” to see if it was just as beautiful and charming as we had heard it was…we just wanted to “Czech” it out!  And we were certainly not disappointed! Prague is an absolutely wonderful city with lots of deep-rooted medieval history, cobble-stone roads, lots of beautiful bridges, ancient churches, and a charming culture of music and theater. Much of the city reminded me of my time spent on church mission trips to Romania, because the Czech language is very similar to Romanian, and both countries share similar historical experiences with the rise and fall of communism, as well as the harsh realities of the Holocaust that affected the Jewish and Romany populations in each country.  We visited the oldest ancient castle in the world, Prague Castle, which is still used as its main center of government, and we climbed to the top of the Astronomical Clock Tower to see some incredible views of the city! One of my favorite parts of the trip was climbing the beautiful Petrin Hill, seeing Prague’s version of the Eiffel tower at the top, and just enjoying the beautiful fall colors and playing in the leaves, all while overlooking one of the most beautiful cities in Europe! Other highlights of the weekend included seeing Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni performed at the National Marionette Theater (think a bigger version of the Von Trapp family’s puppet show! So cool!), eating lots and lots of yummy bread (a Czech specialty), perusing through lots of local bookstores, and spending thousands and thousands of Czech crowns (their currency is ridiculous, a dollar was worth about 18 crowns so we felt like we spent SO much money this weekend!) All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and it made me even more excited for our 10-day free travel period at the end of the month (and especially getting to travel around Italy with my sister!!! YAY!)

Prague's famous Astronomical Clock!

the view from the top of the clock tower!

Over the long weekend, I joined the crew heading to Paris. I woke up at the delightfully early hour of three o’clock on Friday, and I was soon on a five thirty train bound for the city of light! Our first day in Paris was fairly jam packed, as Brian, Justin, and I made our way to Versailles and the Louvre. Although Versailles is outside of the city of Paris, it is fairy easily accessible by train. Versailles itself was really interesting! As perhaps the most famous symbol of absolutism, the palace really illustrates the former grandeur of the French monarchy. To be honest, I found the gardens surrounding the complex to be far more interesting than the palace itself! In fact, I think Blenheim Palace in England may have been a bit more impressive. The Louvre was also terrific! If any of y’all have ever been, you know that it is impossibly overwhelming. You could quite literally spend days in it at a time. Perhaps the most famous object in the Louvre, is the Mona Lisa, although I did see a variety of Roman and Egyptian antiquities. Saturday was an interesting day in which we saw Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc de Triomphe. We also enjoyed taking a nice leisurely stroll along the Seine! To be honest, our visit to Paris was a bit superficial, as we only got to see the major tourist highlights. I also have a bit of a confession to make. While in Paris, I gained a newfound appreciation for the British. Not to say that all of my encounters with the French were unpleasant, but I did find a highly disproportionate number of rude people! Perhaps it was our age, accent, and nationality, but we always managed to find some rather grumpy people. I will say that, as expected, the food in Paris was spectacular! I had some delicious entrees and desserts over my few days there, and I am happy to report that Paris continues to maintain its status as the culinary capital of the world. Although I am happy I made the trip to this great European city, I have come to the conclusion that I am a Londoner and Anglophile at heart. 


I also wanted to give y’all a few quick highlights from our last couple of weeks. Last week, we went to the Churchill Museum and War Rooms. I think it was actually my favorite museum from the entire trip! It provided a fascinating glimpse into the life of Churchill, and I am truly awed by the man. In my opinion, he was undoubtedly one of the greatest figures of the 20th century. We continue to see a wide variety of interesting plays. Last week, we saw The Pitmen Painters, The Veil, and The Playboy of the Western World. All three were good plays, and I think most of the group enjoyed them. We have our usual routine of plays this week, and tonight, a few of us are actually hoping to go see Paranormal Activity 3 in honor of Halloween! All in all, life continues to go pretty well at a nice cruising speed! 

 In honor of the fact that we will be home in one short month, we decided to compile a list of the things we are most looking forward to when we return home!!!

1. Seeing our parents!!
2. Seeing my sisters!!! 
3.  Seeing our other family members!
4.  Seeing my dogs
5.  BOJANGLES 
6.  CHICK-FIL-A
7.  Going to church at home with my family 
8.  Returning to the land of Southern Baptists
9.  Going yard-sale-ing on Saturday mornings 
10.  SWEET TEA 
11.  Going for a run and not having to dodge ten million people on the sidewalk 
12.  My Eeyore footie pajamas, which I tragically left at home 
13.  Christmas tree-shaped Reese’s Cups (and any other holiday reese’s cups) 
14.  my real home with my real bed (though I have grown quite attached to room 2233 at the Royal National, it will never be a real home) 
15.  Going back to Furman and seeing our friends!
16.  Republican Primary Season 
17.  The Iron Lady – the new movie about Margaret Thatcher starring Meryl Streep
18.  CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!


Yours Truly,
Thomas and Julie

Well, it’s officially fall here in London…it gets to be about 50 degrees here every day, so I think those days of sunshiny warmth are over! However, it is also the perfect excuse to make detours just to walk through big piles of colorful leaves and to buy colorful new scarves in the street markets (both of which I have been doing quite frequently)! For those of you who don’t know, fall is one of my favorite times of year. To me, fall in the Carolinas is sublime, and it seems to reach its pinnacle of perfection at Furman. For the record, fall in London isn’t quite the same, but it is pretty great! It’s hard to believe that we have been here in London for just over two weeks, because at times it feels like we have lived here forever…we have our “London Legs,” as Dr. Aiesi likes to say, and we’re soaking in so much of the city every day that we have begun to feel like locals! Olivia and I especially enjoyed feeling like locals (or at least pretending to be) this past weekend when two of our best friends, Mary Grace and Sara Beth, came to visit us from their study abroad trip in Brussels! It was such a wonderful reunion....there is nothing quite as refreshing and encouraging as spending time with people you love and getting a little taste of home during this long semester away! We had quite the weekend of London adventures…climbing the lion statues in Trafalgar Square (well, actually we didn’t climb them because our shoes were too slippery and we were scared), sharing a delicious and HUGE bowl of frozen yogurt at Harrods, riding my first double-decker bus, spending hours in Hyde Park eating our picnic lunch, soaking up the sun, lots of people-watching, and just chatting about life, and then came our biggest success of the weekend: finding "standing" tickets to the musical Les Miserables (which was sold out every weekend until Christmas) for only 10 pounds (around 15 dollars) each!!! And though we didn’t have seats, we discovered that standing is actually the BEST way to watch a musical because we could sing, dance, and march along with the actors (or basically just do whatever we wanted to do) while everyone else in front of us just had to sit there the whole 3 hours. Also, Mary Grace taught us the secret of waiting at the stage door behind the theater after the show, so we got to meet two of the leading actors and get their autographs! Basically, it was a perfect night and perfect weekend with some of my best friends…so thankful for the time we spent with them! 

I also had the great pleasure to see a whole host of different Furman folks this weekend! I spent a lot of the weekend with Stephen Tagert, and we had a fantastic time. We went to Evensong at Westminster Abbey on Saturday, and it turned out to be the national day of pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Edward. It was pretty impressive! I also enjoyed the company of several friends this weekend, prominent among them Andrew Mueller, Blake Wood, Seth Johnson, Anna Bower, and Leah Hassler! It almost felt like being at Furman again!
Although we have spent a lot of time talking about our friends, I wanted to give y’all some highlights from our first few weeks in London. As Julie mentioned, we have spent a lot of time exploring the city. In particular, I really enjoyed visiting the House of Commons. The British political system differs from the American model in some rather fascinating ways. An obvious and more superficial difference involves rhetorical style and forms of debate. After spending a few minutes in the House of Commons, any American will instantly notice the eloquence and wit of British MPs (Members of Parliament). In many ways, the House of Commons has more opportunity for meaningful debates and verbal sparring. For political junkies, it is fascinating! I have also really enjoyed going to a variety of art galleries in the city. Thus far, I have been able to go to the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and the Tate Modern. I personally find art history to be incredibly fascinating. Another highlight from our first weeks has to be my visit to the Occupy London protest. The protestors are camped outside St. Paul’s in London and seem to have a decent number of people assembled. I have tried talking to a few people at the protest, and for the most part, I tend to agree with conservative critics who allege that the movement lacks a cohesive vision. In their defense, I was handed a leaflet on my second visit that offered an initial statement. Although I disagree with some of their positions, I think their voice is meaningful in our public forum, and I particularly find their points about economic inequality to be compelling. 

In the realm of theatre, we have been to see a wide variety of plays in the past few weeks. A few of my favorites were War Horse and 13. I also went to see Les Miserables on my own with a few people, and it is my favorite play. 
Here are a few things that we are looking forward to in the coming week:
1. Seeing the Tower of London tomorrow as a class!
2. Touring the House of Commons on Saturday morning!
3. Taking a short day trip to Windsor Castle on Saturday...not only are we looking forward to the castle, but we're also just looking forward to getting out of the city for a little peace and quiet!
4.  I just bought a new kite, so I'm looking forward to a windy day so that I can try it out in Hyde Park! (think the last scene of Mary Poppins....)
5. And of course....even more plays!!! We are truly seeing SO much theater and so many different kinds of plays that it can be overwhelming and tiring at times, but it is really neat to see how much our knowledge and perspective of theater has changed and grown since that first week in Stratford...I think every now and then we are going to be wishing for some of these theater nights when we get back to school next semester! 


We look forward to updating you again soon! We hope you're enjoying the fall wherever you may be!
Yours Truly,
Thomas and Julie

Well folks, we have lived in London for exactly one week, and it has already been a whirlwind of new sights, sounds, adventures, struggles, and surprises so we have lots to tell you about!  It has been quite the culture shock for two southerners who are used to the slower pace of life in the Palmetto state! Dr. Aiesi told us that coming to London would be like leaving England, and now I understand what he meant- London is a world all its own. And by world, I mean the WHOLE WORLD. People of all shapes and sizes and ethnicities and languages call this city home, and sometimes I think I could spend an entire semester just sitting on a bench in Hyde Park doing some good ol’ fashioned people-watching.  This racial and religious diversity is actually a fairly well studied problem in London. Assimilation is difficult for a lot of groups. The great racial diversity also raises an interesting question of what it means to be English. Our hotel is like a microcosm of London with its great size and diversity; it is called the Royal National, but do not be deceived- it is neither royal nor national. Some have affectionately called our hotel the Royal Nasty… I think maybe 25% of the guests in this hotel speak English, and everyone else speaks a random mixture of every other language you can imagine.  The breakfast room is somewhat like the Tower of Babel, as Dr. Aiesi describes it, and it’s rather difficult to find a table because it is SO crowded.  For you Furman folks, image the DH at 12:30 lunch except that everyone uses trays (not just clueless prospective students) and everyone is speaking a different language.  Breakfast can also be a stressful experience because the hotel workers circle around the tables like vultures waiting to clear the dishes; as soon as you take your last bite of cereal and put down your spoon, one of them is sure to swoop over and snatch your bowl out from under you.  Too bad if you wanted to get some more cereal, because by then it’s just too late.  You’ve got to be quick on your feet here at the Royal National. 

Now on to more important things….I will let Thomas tell you a little bit about our first week in London and what daily life is like for us here!

As Julie mentioned, our day starts with the world class, Royal National breakfast. To be honest, I often skip the Tower of Babel and opt for a Nutri-Grain bar instead. After breakfast, we have class at the University of London. The University of London is an interesting place. One of its main halls is designed to look like a university in Moscow and the good ole UoL is supposedly rather Marxist. Fortunately for the fans of Adam Smith in the group, Furman professors lead our classes. Contrary to popular belief in South Carolina, all Furman professors are not avowed communists. Our classes usually consist of a class discussion of the previous night’s play and a lecture from Dr. Aiesi. We saw some fascinating plays last week. We were fortunate enough to see the last performance of Doctor Faustus at The Globe. Lifelong dream of going to the Globe Theater=CHECK. I also have a new appreciation for the “groundlings” who had to stand around the stage and watch the play from the ground because it is fun to be that close to the action but it can also get pretty tiring after a while! 

We also saw The Kitchen and Grief. Of the three, I think I enjoyed The Kitchen the most. It was an interesting exploration of the individual’s role in a capitalist economic system. I also was fortunate enough to be sitting in front of the famous American critic, Martin Gottfried, during the performance. A few members of our group were sitting next to him, and they struck up a conversation with him and his lovely wife! In addition to the plays, we spent a large part of our first week just trying to get acclimated to life in a new city. We have been able to buy groceries-YAY!- and finally unpack our suitcases! (This was a tremendous relief to many individuals in our group!) We went to a few museums, and before we knew it, the week was over!

After a busy week of adjustment, we had a wonderful weekend. We went to King Henry VIII’s palace at Hampton Court (it was also home to King William III). Throughout this trip we have become pros at visiting important historical sites, which means we have also become pros at listening to handheld audio guides while touring these sites.  Out of all the audio guides we have experienced thus far, Thomas and I found the Hampton Court audio guides to be the most entertaining because they played wonderful, majestic music as we entered Henry VIII’s Kitchen to set the atmosphere of what it felt like to be the King walking in to his royal feasts.  In fact, we enjoyed the music so much that we played that one part of the audio guide over and over and over and over, marching around the palace like royalty and waving to our imaginary guests…it really is the little things in life. 

The beautiful staircase leading to King William's apartment.  (insert majestic audio guide music here)

On Saturday, we went to the Portobello Road antique market. I can honestly say that it was an incredibly overwhelming excursion. There were so many antique stores filled with curious tourists! I made a few good finds though. I bought my first real fancy British hat, and I’m really excited about it!  Perhaps I will wear it next weekend when I go to High Tea! (Laura, I finally figured out the secret to how those ladies at the Royal Wedding got their hats to stay perfectly perched on the side of their heads…can’t wait to show you!)  

Saturday night, Julie, Olivia, Brian, and I went to see the Gershwin brothers’ musical Crazy for You. It was a great show, and the music was so enjoyable! Dazzling costumes, classic Gershwin music, and lots of time steps and shuffles…needless to say, I was in tap dance heaven. I LOVED IT! And it also reinvigorated my lifelong dream that maybe, just maybe, I will be a Broadway tap dancer one day.

Today, we went to church at All Souls, a “low” Anglican church. It has an evangelical feel to it, and it almost feels as though you are a Baptist church back home! I think it is safe to say I have found my church home for the next few weeks! Oh how I loved church this morning!!! I feel like “All Souls” is a very fitting name for this church, because the pews were filled with people of all ages, races, and ethnicities, and it was wonderful! Singing familiar songs like “Crown Him with Many Crowns” and “You Alone Can Rescue” with a body of Christian believers halfway around the world is such a refresher for the soul and a reminder that no matter how far from home you may go, there are people who worship the same God, and He hears the voices of ALL his children singing his praises around the world! That was definitely one of the highlights of my week, and I can’t wait to go back next Sunday!

We still have so much of the city to explore, and I can’t wait to keep y’all updated!

Yours Truly,

Thomas and Julie


PS- Check the pictures page for some other highlights of our first week!

So long, Seamus!

            Just so y’all know, we have safely made it to London! It is an amazing city, and I have no doubt that we have many adventures in store. Before we tell y’all all about London though, we wanted to give y’all a quick update about the final days of our traveling tour. In the final days of our tour, we visited York, Cambridge, and Bath. All three were really enjoyable! At the end of the tour we also said goodbye to our trusty bus driver, Seamus….he sometimes struggled with directions and finding bus parking lots and knowing the most direct way to get anywhere (as in, we spent lots of time driving in circles) but all in all, he got us where we needed to go safely and we were thankful for that!

            York is a wonderfully charming English city. My favorite part of York was York Minster, a phenomenal Cathedral. We went to Evensong in York, and the service was moving. Although it is a bit more formal than my typical Southern Baptist style of worship, it was nonetheless praiseworthy. The situation of the Anglican Church is interesting. Church attendance continues to fall in the highly rigid, formal services, but attendance is flourishing in the ‘Low” church. I had a wonderful experience at a “Low” Church in London, but I think I will save that for our next post. York was definitely one of my favorite cities we’ve visited so far, AND it was the place where I celebrated my 20^th birthday!!!! Last Monday I entered my third decade of life, and what better way to celebrate than by exploring a beautiful, historic English city!! It was a wonderful birthday for many reasons, but some of the highlights included: seeing my family on skype in the first few minutes of my birthday (they sang Happy Birthday to me at midnight!!),  waking up to amazingly warm weather (it felt like fall, my favorite season, for the first time this whole trip!!), the surprise box of Special K that Olivia gave me at breakfast (it’s the little things in life…), wearing a HUGE pin that said “birthday girl” all day and receiving lots of birthday greetings from random York-ians, and being surprised by Windy and Katherine with a delicious cookie cake at dinner!!! A wonderful day and a wonderful city! J

            Although our stay in Cambridge was relatively brief, the city was spectacular. I personally think I prefer Cambridge to Oxford. Cambridge is far more picturesque, and it has the feel of a university town. A few of the guys went punting together. (Think English version of a gondola).  Olivia, Hannah, Brian and I also went punting together and it was SO MUCH FUN! (Well, Brian did most of the punting and we did most of the relaxing, but we all did try out our punting skills throughout the ride and it was so fun…I would definitely consider going to school in Cambridge just to become a professional punter!)

Bath was a surprisingly beautiful city. The obvious tourist attraction in the city is the Roman Bath, which is well preserved. Our visit was both informative and enjoyable. I spent almost a whole day in Bath reading in various parks. I bought Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and it was a rather interesting read! (I know I am a bit slow to jump on the bandwagon, but it was enjoyable. It was a little scandalous and did not offer the most glowing endorsement of southern society… ) I also spent most of the day soaking up the 80-degree weather (yes, that’s correct, 80 degrees) in the park, people-watching and such; then later that night we went to the Bath Philharmonic Orchestra concert at the Bath Abbey (Allison you would be so proud of me!), and it was wonderful!!!

Well, it’s about time to go explore some more of this crazy big city, but be getting excited. Our first update on life in London….coming soon to a blog post near you.

Yours Truly,

Thomas and Julie

I can’t believe it’s almost the end of September…where has this past month gone? I will say that I am quite excited it is almost October! Halloween happens to be my second favorite holiday, and we are already talking about throwing a Halloween party in London! We have been on such a whirlwind tour of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England that I haven’t even noticed the weeks flying by, but now we are on our last week of travelling and hotel-hopping before finally settling in to London this Friday!! Needless to say, we are very excited to unpack our suitcases for more than 2 or 3 days at a time and have a dependable place to do laundry, rather than simply picking out the clothes that are “less dirty” than others when getting dressed every day. Overall, I think our group has done a commendable job remaining clean and (relatively) odor free. Although we have definitely enjoyed our travels, we are so thankful to finally be settling down! (I am sure many of you are reading this at home, thinking: “What a hard life…traveling around the British Isles, staying in different hotels in each city.”)

This past week started out in England’s beautiful Lake District, and I have to say that might have been my favorite 3 days of the trip thus far.  Small towns with quaint cafes and book shops, miles and miles of quintessential English countryside fields, lots of sheep and cows (as usual!), crystal clear lakes with rowboat rides, majestic mountain ranges….it was perfect. No wonder the 19^th century Romantic poets were inspired to write lines like Wordsworth’s famous “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils” As a side note, it is worth pointing out that this countryside also helped give birth to Beatrix Potter’s world of Peter Rabbit. We spent a great deal of time talking about Wordsworth, Coleridge, and their fellow poets from the Romantic era who were inspired by the beauty of the Lake District to write about nature, emotion, and spirituality; several students gave their poetry recitations, and we visited Wordsworth’s home, Dove Cottage. 

The Romantic Movement itself is a remarkably interesting study! In many ways, the Romantic Movement’s fascination with nature was a reaction to the industrialization of the 19^th century. The industrial revolution not only contributed to the transformation of the world’s economic, political, and class structures but also instigated a literary rebellion. As Americans, we have our own Romantics. You can count among them Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman. (Yes, they were indeed Transcendentalists, but Romanticism influenced Transcendentalism! Nonetheless, I digress…) Even up until his 70s, Wordsworth spent time exploring nature and climbing nearby Mount Hellvelyn to receive inspiration for his writing, so we had the unique opportunity to experience this daunting hike for ourselves last Tuesday.  Mount Hellvelyn is the second highest peak in England, so we knew it was going to be a long day of climbing, but we were not at all prepared for the experience that we actually had that day. (Some folks were in shorts, others in flip flops…)  It is impossible to put into words the majestic beauty of the landscape that we crossed; it was the closest I have ever felt to experiencing the Von Trapp family’s trek in the final scene of The Sound of Music, and the song “Climb Every Mountain” was stuck in my head the whole day.  As we were climbing up the mountain, we ran into various groups in full mountain climbing gear! As one person pointed out, we may have been a wee bit under packed. However, I wasn’t totally prepared for the bitingly cold wind that we found at the top of the mountain, and it was probably the closest I have ever been to losing complete feeling in my hands and feet.  The other four girls and I made the mistake of coming down the mountain ahead of the boys, desperately trying to escape the cold wind, but we ended up following the wrong path down and actually went over another treacherous mountain peak before ending up in a small town, an hour and a half later, only to find that we were on the completely opposite side of the mountain than the rest of our group (and the bus). You can imagine that we were rather concerned about our female friends! There wasn’t too much we could do other than wait for them to come down, but thankfully they made it down safely. So to top off our crazy day, we had to find a taxi to take us back to the hotel, but all in all it was quite an adventurous experience that I will never, ever forget!  It was a day of surreal beauty, and I kept thinking of all the Psalms that say “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains.” We experienced God’s power and love displayed in his beautiful creation, and I am so thankful for that. 

I was sad to leave the Lake District, but our next stop was Edinburgh, Scotland, which turned out to be my favorite big city visit of the trip thus far! We stayed three nights at a less-than-stellar Travelodge with really stinky towels, but it was in a great location right along the Royal Mile, Edinburgh’s main road of shops and cathedrals and castles and monuments!! Our days were filled with visits to Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood House (where the Queen stays on her royal summer visits to Scotland), a tour of the Scottish National Parliament and sitting in on a live Parliament session, a ghost tour (which was far more entertaining than scary), and of course more hiking! This time we hiked up the small mountain called Arthur’s Seat which forms a majestic backdrop to the city and provides incredibly beautiful views of the city from the top! I have several observations to share with y’all about the Scottish Parliament and some of our hiking endeavors. First of all, I would like to tell y’all a little bit about the Parliament itself. As y’all well know, Scotland is officially a part of the United Kingdom, whose capitol is London. The Parliament of the United Kingdom is in Westminster in London. Westminster still sets major national policies for the UK. However, through a policy of devolution, the Scottish Parliament was reinstated in 1998 and is now able to handle some domestic affairs. It really is a wonderful idea, and it bears some similarities to state government in the United States. It is worth noting that some folks in Scotland actually want full independence from the United Kingdom. In fact, the Nationalist party actually has a majority in the Scottish Parliament at the moment. As for the Parliament building itself, it is rather unique. It is a highly modern style of architecture, and it is designed to look like a branch of a tree from above. While I think the building is doubtlessly interesting, I think I prefer classical style for our government buildings. I also have a final story for y’all about Arthur’s seat. The view from the top of Arthur’s Seat was absolutely phenomenal. I went up to the top with Juan, Miller, and Joey. Juan agreed to guide us since he had been the day before. On the way down, Juan assured us that he knew what he was doing. With full confidence in our friend, we followed him down Arthur’s Seat. As we began to descend, Juan mentioned that he thought we were going the wrong way…We ended up going down a rather steep side of Arthur’s Seat, totally off the path. After crab crawling down the slope, we finally made it down the path. Needless to say, I am not sure that we will trust Juan again as our Sherpa. Parliament and Arthur’s Seat aside, Edinburgh was an amazing city, and I truly enjoyed it!

    

We have one more blog post before you will receive news from London!

Yours Truly,

Thomas and Julie

Galway, Sligo, Donegal, and Belfast....

Well folks, we are currently in the midst of a hurried tour of the British Isles (what some affectionately call the Gypsy tour), making our way through the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Lake District, and Scotland. At the moment, we are in Kendal, England and are enjoying the picturesque countryside in the English Lake District. We will have much to say about the Lake District in a day or two, but we first wanted to offer a recap of the rest of our time in the Republic and Northern Ireland. Oooh I can't wait to tell you all about the Lake District in our next post...I think it may be my favorite place yet! The countryside landscape is straight out of a Jane Austen novel, and it is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. Attention Mama, Daddy, Allison and Laura: I'm already envisioning a family vacation here in the near future, so get excited. 


Our first stop after Dublin was Galway, Ireland. It was a wonderful Irish city with a vibrant atmosphere. We were in Galway for a few days and were able to explore a fair amount of the city. Although Galway was significantly smaller than Dublin, it was very popular with the group. The residents of the city were friendly. I would also like to point out that our group has taken far more of a liking to the Irish than the English. I absolutely loved Galway; in fact, I wish that we had stayed a few extra days to really get to know the city well.  On our first afternoon exploration of the city, we stumbled upon a quaint little street market where friendly vendors were selling crepes and cheese and flowers and jewelry and everything else wonderful that you would imagine at a street market.  Then, some of the other girls and I happened upon this fantastic band playing in the street for money, but they were playing many popular songs and they were REALLY good! Needless to say, we stayed around during their break time to chat with them, take a few pictures, and we all pitched in to buy a few of their CD's just because we are pretty certain that they will become the next big thing. So when  you hear the band Keywest on the radio in a few months, just know that we heard them first in the streets of Galway. :)

What can I possibly say about Sligo? To be honest, we were only in Sligo, Ireland for about a day, and we didn’t get much of a feel for the city. Our hotel was actually several miles from Sligo. Although the accommodations were satisfactory, we were mildly concerned that the hotel was haunted. We have several pieces of evidence to confirm our suspicions, and I will let Julie fill you in on the details…Okay, this hotel was seriously SO creepy and I am so very glad that we only stayed for a night. In a nutshell, the hotel was literally out in the middle of nowhere, a good five miles away from any civilization, and I am still trying to figure out why there were actual guests staying there at the same time as us, because there was absolutely NOTHING to do.  The rooms were decorated with lots and lots of red...in fact, some of the bedspreads were red and black striped, and the walls were painted red, so the whole place just made us think of The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland...it was weird.  Anyways, that night some really really creepy things happened.  We were on the second floor, but for some reason the wind would whistle through the hallway doors and they would swing open at random times as you were walking down the hall.  Also, one of the girls went into her room that night to find the shower running and the toilet unflushed....yet her roommate had not even been there.  Mrs. Aeisi heard a baby fall out of bed and start crying during the night....yet there were no babies staying in the hotel.  Jon saw a mysterious shape dart across his bedroom during the middle of the night....Needless to say, we were relieved to leave the next morning. Sligo is a very strange place. 


Our time in Donegal County was particularly enjoyable, and it marked our last few days in the Republic. In terms of the landscape, the area was absolutely beautiful. In fact, the boys in the group decided to climb a mountain near our hotel, and the views from the summit were absolutely astounding. The trip up the mountain was a bit more complicated than we expected, and it involved walking through bogs and fields of Heather. I am sure that all of y’all at home will be happy to know that I completed the journey in loafers and argyle socks (just like they would have done in the 19th century)! Donegal was beautiful, and once again I wish we had had just another day to explore the mountains and surrounding villages...it was such a wonderful break from busy city life, and I had some pretty remarkable morning runs up the mountains during those few days!

  During one of our days in Donegal, we went to Londonderry. Politically, it is a remarkable city. The divide between Protestants and Catholics in the town is incredibly stark. The Protestants, who are typically wealthier, quite literally reside in a walled city on the hill, while the Catholics live in a sprawling community beyond it. As we have come to find in our studies, the Protestants strongly identify with the British, while the Catholics maintain their Irish identity. Londonderry is in Northern Ireland and technically under British rule. We also spent some time with the older couple that helped organize our tour, and they are tremendous individuals! Their daughter was actually the Lord Mayor of Dublin! I also may be distantly related to them! (They are sending a family tree to my home in South Carolina.)


A few other random really cool places we stopped at during our bus travels last week....
1. THE NORTHERN-MOST TIP OF IRELAND! So awesome!!! It was a beautiful view of the ocean, and it was crazy to think that we were at the same latitude as Juneau, Alaska! Also, there were lots of stones on the hill where people had spelled out their names, so some of the boys spelled out the Furman diamond "F" to forever leave our Paladin mark at the very top of Ireland!!

2. THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY- This huge mountain/rock formation along the Irish coast was allegedly built by an Irish giant who was trying to build a bridge to Scotland to fight a Scottish giant...I guess this is the kind of bedtime story that Irish kids hear about when they are growing up :)

Our time in Belfast comprised most of our stay in Northern Ireland. The city itself is fairly interesting, but the Protestant/Catholic divide was again on display. There was another wall in the city that divided the Protestant and Catholic sections of town. Belfast is famous for “The Troubles”, a period of violent unrest in Northern Ireland that lasted for most of the second part of the twentieth century. Things definitely seem to be better after the Good Friday Agreement (Thank you President Clinton), but the tension undoubtedly remains. On a bit of a happier note, I also got to see an old friend, Norma, in Belfast! This city wasn't my favorite, but I did enjoy exploring around on Saturday and I especially enjoyed our trip to the local market (I LOVE MARKETS!) where there were endless booths of local vendors giving free food samples and selling beautiful homemade crafts...it was pretty magical.  We also took a 2-hour bus tour on Saturday with this crazy tour guide lady who kept trying to tell us that there was no real political struggle anymore and that everything was okay in Ireland, and once Brian asked a semi-intelligent question about the political tension in the city and she blatantly told him to "not think so hard." She loved to describe everything as "wee," so instead of real historical or political information she just pointed out all the "wee little coffee shops" where you can get "wee little cups of coffee". It was kind of ridiculous but also very entertaining.  
Whew! Once again, we've rambled on too long. But be looking forward to more stories from our first few days back in England! Cheers!!!


Yours Truly,
Thomas and Julie