First Weekend at the Manor :)

At 11 am, January 5th, I met Nicole at the Indianapolis Airport, and the journey began.  I told her we had to take a dorky photo with our luggage as the first photo for the blog..so here it is!  We flew into Detroit, had some dinner, attempted to look over some British Studies readings, searched for the silly orange Harlaxton tags on other's backpacks and luggage, and then were off to Heathrow.  I sat next to an English gentleman on the way over who was very friendly and told me a lot about the UK, the new nation and culture into which I was about to enter.  We landed in terminal 4 around 6:30 am, made it through the border check and customs.  After catching the Heathrow Express, we were shortly in terminal 3, meeting the Harlaxton staff at the meeting point. Upon arrival, I saw Alex Battiato and Emily Consalvi as well as a few other familiar faces.  We were shortly after sent on a shuttle to the manor, where I was surprised to find it was a 3 hour drive and would not be eating lunch for another 4 hours! Yay! (No food is never on my  mind......).  I was awoken when we entered Grantham and the bus driver told us to look over the hill to see our home.  I was definitely just as in awe as I expected, even after seeing the pictures.  The manor was so large and so beautiful in such a scenic piece of English countryside. We were greeting by Dr. Kingsley at the front door, and he welcomes us to the manner as we were all jet lagged and fairly dazed, then finally sent us off for a much needed lunch, and time to unpack and explore the manor.  We spent a lot of time search for secret passage ways, taking pictures, and meeting new people in order to come together as a Harlaxton community. Late that evening, we had our first orientation session with our British Studies professors, and we all were excited when we arrived and were greeted with a handshake and a glass of wine!  After I left class, I went down to the Bistro,  and spent some time meeting the other students and mingling with old friends before headed off to bed for some much needed sleep.

The Manor

The Conservatory (My favorite!)

Emily Consalvi and I

Ceiling above a stairwell

English Countryside View from the Manor

The first morning at the manor house, we began the day with a Convocation Ceremony that included the faculty being dressed in robes, flagbearers, music, singing of national anthems, and a bagpiper.  We were then spoken to by Principal Kingsley, who became one of my favorite people due to him beginning his talk with my favorite bible verse, Isaiah 40:31, and then by making us sing "The Garden Song" a ridiculous number of times.  We then went to a number of breakout sessions about life and education in the manner, and were free in the afternoon to visit Grantham.  Grantham was very different than what I expected, yet no where near a disappointment.  I love the quaint little town.  I went to the grocery story called Morrison's located in the central shopping center and picked up some groceries, a hair dryer, and a few other essential items.  I then took a nap, and got ready for our formal "high table" dinner.

Emily Consalvi and I before dinner

The Harlaxton XC Girls

For high table dinner, we met in the Great Hall, were served some sort of drink, and socialized with one another until officially being seated.  There were assigned seats so that we could get to know some new people, which was a fun and interesting experience.  Dinner was delicious (definitely way better and im much larger quantity than the normal refectory food), and again, everyone seemed to enjoy the knew concept of being allowed to have a glass of wine with dinner.  After dinner, a group of us went to the Gregory, a restaurant at the end of the mile drive in the town of Harlaxton, with Eric Stoessel's relatives, then we went into Grantham to the Goose, a local pub, and Vibe, a local night club.  It was a fun night, and I really enjoyed getting to enjoy the company of past friends and new ones alike in this new English setting.

The Gregory

Jesse, Heather, and I

The Group at the Goose

Roncalli Meets Harlaxton: Alex Battiato and I

The next morning, I was very excited about attending the local mass in town, but for some reason, my alarm did not want to go off (yes it was correctly set, and yes it refused to work again later in the day)!  I was quite disappointed, especially when I heard how fun it was.  We had few planned activities, but I spent much of the day playing the card game phase 10 with various new friends.  I attended a session on travel planning, had my first serving of English mashed potatoes (amazing!!!), attended a Student Christian Fellowship meeting, where I became the co-leader of the group with a WKU student, Justin Wellum.  I am definitely looking forward to spending some time getting to know some new people on a faith level, and getting to do some service within the local community.  There was a large group of us who watch a show called Sherlock in the Carriage House lounge after.  It seems that in the Carriage House, we are already beginning to have a sense of unity, which has been a very neat experience.  At around 1, I finally decided it was best to head to bed rather than continuing to chat with my new friends all night, and to get some rest for class this morning. Today we are beginning classes, which should be yet another neat experience.  Overall, thus far, I am loving the Harlaxton experience.  There has been so many different ways to engage with so many new people, and grow together in a smaller community than the normal campus bodies we are used to. It has been somewhat easy to maintain contact with family and friends (skype is amazing!), and the main thing I have been homesick from is the good and large quantities of food!  I am looking forward to what the rest of the semester has in store for me!