Edinburgh, Scotland: The Best City EVER!

Lunch Spot at Calton Hill!

Ok, I know I am really late on this, but here we go! Last weekend, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland for three days, and it was absolutely AMAZING and will be a very hard trip to top.  I remember telling my travel buddies in the train station before we left that I just had a really good feeling about the weekend.  Little did I know how great the trip would really be.  During the meet a family program the night before, our “dad” told us to look at the windows about an hour from Scotland because the view would be beautiful.  The train ran along the shore, and we could see light houses and waves in the ocean!  And, of course, lots of sheep.  Upon our arrival in Edinburgh (pronounced by the Scots as Edinburuh), we checked into the hostel and then headed off to find a place to eat our packed pb&j lunch.  We walked to the top of Calton Hill, which overlooks most of the city, and found a great place for our picnic!  That afternoon, we met up with several friends and hiked to the top of Arthur’s Seat, which essentially is a steep climb to overlook the city.  We took lots of pictures at the top, and then hiked down to a pond we saw below where we skipped some stones and had swans eat right out of our hands!!  After the hike, we wandered down the Royal Mile and walked into many of the little souvenir shops and boutiques.  For dinner, we found a pub called “The Tron” that was fairly reasonably priced.  I had my first Belgian waffle there for dessert, and it was so good that I went back and got another one on Saturday! It had chocolate, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream on top.  Delicious.  After dinner, we went to bed at eight because we were all exhausted! 

Me on Top of Arthur's Seat

Group Shot from the Castle

Sunset Run

Day two began with a sunrise run in attempts to see the harbor; however, we ended up near the water in a very industrial area that wasn’t exactly picturesque, but we got a good run in and saw the pretty colours in the sky!  We then showered, ate breakfast/ lunch, and went on a three hour tour of the city!  We heard all sorts of historical, cultural, and as our tour guide phrased it, “just plain weird” stories about Edinburgh.  My favorite story was how the stone of destiny (a giant stone used as a throne for coronation of all Scottish kings) was reacquired.  It had been moved by the English king to Westminster Abbey when it rightfully still belonged in Scotland.  A group of college students from Glasgow University (around thirty minutes from Edinburgh) heard the story of the stone and decided to steal it back one night.  When they were on their way back, they heard on the radio that there were extra inspections at the England-Scotland border because the stone had been stolen.  The students decided to bury the stone in a field and come back for it later.  Then, realizing that in the cold and under the weight of the ground the stone could crumble, the group leader Ian went back for the stone.  Bad luck continued to strike when there was an Irishman’s caravan on top of the exact spot where the stone was.  Ian politely asked the man to move the caravan, but the man slammed the door in his face.  So Ian went back to Scotland and came back later the next day with some whiskey.  He then told the Irishman what he had done and if he would move his caravan so that he could get the stone.  The Irishman loved the story and since the Irish are not a fan of the Brits, he was overjoyed to move the caravan.  Bad luck continued again when Ian dropped the stone and cracked it in two; however, he managed to hide it under the front passenger seat of the car and drive it back to Scotland with the Irishman.  They then celebrated with it before finally telling the government what had been done.  The stone now is in its rightful place in Edinburgh castle.  This is just one example of the several stories we heard.  It was a very cold day, but really enjoyed the tour and warmed up with some tea afterwards.  After the tour, I went to the castle and was able to actually see the stone, which has been pieced back together.  The castle tour was wonderful too!  The view on top of the castle was one of the best views of the entire city.  We got to see various different parts of the castle including the prison, chapel, great hall, and dungeons.  After exploring the castle, we again went to Calton Hill after to watch the sunset.  Later that night, we had dinner and then partook in a “pub crawl.”  Basically, the pub crawl was a guided group that took us to various different local pubs and allowed us to get to know different people that we may not have met otherwise.  Within the first thirty minutes, I had met Scots, a guy from Australia, a girl from Argentina, and another girl from Chile.  We had a lot of fun talking to them, seeing the different cultural differences that we all had, and coming together over a common love for traveling in Europe. 

Me in Front of the Castle

Sunrise at Arthur's Seat

In the morning, I again rose early for a sunrise run, this time the destination being the top of Arthur’s Seat.  It was quite a climb, but we watched the most beautiful sunrise I have ever witnessed.  The rest of the day was spent wondering around town and doing some shopping.  We went to the Scottish national museum (home to Dolly the sheep), the museum of childhood (full of old toys!), and walked around the beautiful campus of the University of Edinburgh.  I even at the end of the day decided to buy myself a Scotland shirt as an early birthday present.  Before heading to the train station, we walked all the way to Papa John’s (a little farther than we remembered it being) and got pizza for dinner.  Because of how long of a walk it was, we literally had to run all the way back in order to get back to the hostel, get our luggage, and to the train station on time!  It was a close call, but we made it and were finally able to eat the pizza!  On the way home, we all enjoyed talking about the trip, but then got the thrill of reading our Shakespeare piece, Henry IV, on the way home.

So far, Scotland has been my favorite trip and it will be hard to beat.  I loved the beauty of the outdoors, the castle, the strong Scottish pride, and just the overall feel of the town.  Edinburgh was a fairly large city, but small enough to have the unity of a small town.  I actually felt like I could live there, not just like a tourist.  This trip is one I will forever remember and have truly enjoyed.

Top of Arthur's Seat with the XC girls

Meeting my New Family!

Last Thursday, I was able to meet my host family for the semester at the “Meet-A-Family” dinner.  I have been paired with John and Jenny Twycross for the semester and will share them with Shelby Cron, one of the cross country girls.  The school put on a very nice dinner (that is apparently always some sort of chicken according to my parents) with some AWESOME cheesecake for dessert (and I don’t even like cheesecake)!  The dinner allowed us to meet, talk with, and get to know our host families.  We also pulled out our “diaries” (English word for planner) and scheduled the first actual visit with our family.  This Tuesday, Shelby and I went to our host family’s home for dinner.  Our host family lives in a lovely home in Grantham.  They prepared chili for us, which I thought was 203248203482039843 times better than the American version of chili.  It was served over rice with soy sauce and had vegetable chunks such as pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms in it!  After being entirely stuffed with chili and bread, we were then served apple crumble with custard for dessert.  It was one of the best desserts I have ever eaten, or at least it seemed that way after not having ate any good desserts in a while (minus my Belgian waffle in Scotland)!  After dinner, Shelby and I stayed and played a game called "Farkle" that I had given as a gift to my host family.  It was a whole lot of fun, and we are looking forward to going back to their house this Sunday for a mid afternoon barbecue!

Our Family! :)

Life in England, Week 3

After a fun week in Amsterdam, I have come back to another tough week of school.  My first round of quizzes was this week, and I think I did pretty well!  However, with another British Studies quiz, British Studies test, and my individual presentation for British Studies being within eight days of each other, and having to keep up on current events to write my weekly paper for Sociology of Crime and Deviance, I truly have my work cut out for me.  I have been working hard, and I have become a regular at the library, which fortunately is the warmest place in the chilly manor.  While I have been busy with my studies, I have also begun planning a couple more trips (one to Ireland and one to Barcelona) and have partaken in a few school activities.

First Poem Read by a Local in Scottish Attire

This Tuesday, we had our first SGA (Student Government Association) activity.  It was called “Burns Night” and was a traditional commemorative night for a Scottish poet named Robert Burns.  We were all allowed to have a small sample of “whiskey punch” and haggis, which essentially tastes like stuffing, but has minced lamb parts in it.  It was actually very tasty (especially since it had onions in it)!  During choir, we had learned a few songs written by Burns and sang them, and many people went up, attempted a Scottish accent, and read some of his poems.  Later that same evening, Justin and I also lead our first organized Christian Fellowship session that we are now calling “BASIC” (Brothers and Sisters in Christ).  We had a guitarist who led us in the music, and Ellyn and I led the singing (which was interesting for me because I didn’t know any of the songs)!  Justin was our speaker for the night, and we read some scripture and set the tone of the semester of “getting back to the basics” in our faith. 

Choir Singing at Burn's Night

This morning, I had another very interesting experience in class.  The history class I am taking is called “The Cultural History of Alcohol” and is commonly referred to as “the beer class” here.  In class today, we actually made beer and cider.  While we did use a kit, making it was a very simplified project, it was still a very interesting experience.  We had to learn how to sanitize all of the equipment and when to add the right ingredients.  It is supposed to take approximately a week to ferment, so next week we will be sampling what we made.  Hopefully it isn’t too horrible.  One of his previous classes won an award with a beer-making competition, so hopefully I guess it should at least be drinkable...  

Tonight, we have the meet a family reception where I will actually meet my host family for the semester.  My friend Shelby and I have been paired with the Twycross family!  We are excited to meet them! I will be spending the rest of the weekend visiting Scotland with the cross country girls and some of the Western Kentucky students.  Look for a post next week on it!

Wait what? This is the wrong way?!....Amsterdam in a nutshell.

Ok! So, I realize that I have quite a bit to blog about!  Since my last post, I have made it to Holland and back, and have gotten through almost another whole half a week here at the manor.  I have been feeling a little under the weather the past few days, so I have done a lot of sleeping and even got talked into drinking tea (yuck) in attempts to feel better quickly.  Today, I am seeing the benefits and am feeling a TON better!  Even went for a short couple mile run last night to the gate and back.  I am continuing to love my time here, and as I am growing closer to my new friends, I am loving the experience more and more.

First Night in Amsterdam- Walking to the Hostel

Canal at Night

So I guess I should begin with my trip to Amsterdam.  This trip was radically different from my trip to London, but I loved it as well.  We had class Friday morning, and raced to East Midlands Airport right after lunch.  BMI baby, a cheap airline, proved to be reliable enough to get us to Amsterdam, although it as a pretty turbulent flight!  The plane seemed a little less durable than any other flight I have experienced before, but I guess we made it! Haha!  Problem number one occurred in the airport when I realized that peanut butter is a paste and that I couldn't take it in my carry on...oops....

Lost in the Train System!

After arriving, we went to the "I amsterdam" store, bought train tickets to the central tram station as well as an Amsterdam pass that for one price got us into most of the attractions the city offers.  We then headed off to the train station.  However, being that everything was written in Dutch, we had to make an educated guess on which train to take.  While we thought we were getting on a train to central station, we realized that this was not the case.  We then decided to hop off and jump on the right train.  However, then things went even more wrong! One of our group members forgot her immigration letter (which works as our visa to get us back into the UK) in the store where we bought our Amsterdam passes.  So, we hopped on a train back to the airport.  Fortunately, we found the letter and there was no one on the trains checking our tickets, so we were able to get the letter and return back on the train free of charge.  This time, we managed to pick the right train, and then got on the right tram that the man at the airport told us to catch! But as things seemed to get better, they again, got worse.  I went to take my first picture and realized I had left my memory card in my laptop and that I would not be able to take any pictures!  So all of the pictures that I have included are ones I have stolen from my group (many of which I actually took myself though)!  A few stops later, we made it to the hostel, checked in, and headed out for the night.  We walked a few blocks, got a decent deal at an Italian restaurant, and were able to get a good meal in for only 10 euros.  We have come to find that in Europe, unless the restaurant is actually inexpensive, that you can easily find places that will cut you a deal and give you a cheaper price than what the menu really says!  Especially when you look like an American tourist.  We later went out to a pub, strolled around the city, and then headed in to get some rest for our early rise in the morning.  Walking around at night was probably my favorite part of Amsterdam.  It is so vibrant at night and has a whole new energy that it doesn't have during the day.  All of the canal bridges are lit with white lights and all of the buildings are light with florescent signs and lights.

We were really cold...

This first night was also my first experience in a hostel.  When we arrived, there was a sign outside that read "hotel", but two of the letters were flickering and went out.  However, as far as I have heard hostels go, I think we ended up at a fairly nice place.  There were ten of us in total.  The first 8 that had registered for the trip were all in one room, but my friend Karen and I had joined the group later, so we were on our own sharing a bunk bed in a room of six.  Fortunately, we only had two other roommates (two guys around our age from Canada) who had come to Amsterdam for the "coffee shops" and pretty much just slept the entire time.  It was almost as if we had our own room.

Me by the Canal

Foam Museum

The next morning, we woke up around 8 to begin the day.  Next problem: We forgot to bring converters. So we had to deal with wet hair all day! Unlike the hustle and bustle of the night, the morning greeted us very dark, overcast, rainy, and the city even seemed somewhat dull.  After a breakfast of bread and cheese, we split in to two groups.  Mine first headed to a photography museum called Foam.  As all good photography does, many of the photos had descriptions that made the display very moving.  We also went to the Vincent Van Gogh museum.  We saw several originals of his famous paintings; however, since I got the song stuck in my head about his painting "Starry Night", I was a little disappointed that that painting wasn't actually there.  It was a very interesting experience to visit this museum, though, and interesting to see how overtime Van Gogh developed as an artist.  For lunch, we went to Burger King for a cheaper option, and they had some sort of chicken wrap that they don't sell in the states.  Turns out, it was delicious! We did, however, have to pay for ketchup to go with our fries.  Being a ketchup lover, I was a bit disappointed, but managed to suffice on one package for all of my fries!  In the afternoon, we went to explore a street market, visited a very interesting Jewish history of Amsterdam museum, and stopped in the infamous Heineken store.  Along the way we got on the wrong tram a couple times, but I guess that is all part of the experience being in a foreign land with a foreign language! We found a nice but cheap pub and pancake house to eat at for dinner, and then went back to the hostel to meet up with the other half of our group.  We played some cards for a bit, then strolled around outside and went to a night club.  Eventually, we went back to the hostel, checked out the bar area in the basement, and decided to get some rest.

The Heineken Brand Store (this sign is made of ice!)

Group shot at the Tram Station

On Sunday, we went off again to explore and take full advantage of our Amsterdam passes.  My two favorite parts of Amsterdam were the canal tour and our visit to the Anne Frank House.  The canal tour was a very fun way to see all of the city highlights in around an hour.  Unfortunately, since it was raining yet again, we didn't get a ton of good pictures from the boat..  The Anne Frank House did not allow us to take photographs, but I think the memory will be forever imprinted in my mind.  We were able to walk through the "Secret Annex" where the Franks lived during World War II, watch several video clips on the Holocaust, viewed many remains, and saw Anne's diary.  The museum was very unique in the fact that it was begun by her father Otto Frank and that it used many of Anne's quotes from her diary to tell the story.  When the Franks had been forced to leave the Secret Annex, all of the contents of the Secret Annex were removed.  When the museum was created, Otto Frank did not want the rooms to be restored, but left empty.  There were models in every room showing how they would have looked furnished, but the rooms were solemnly left empty.  At the end, there was an interactive game we all played and enjoyed, too.  We also took a quick walk through the infamous red light district just to say we had been there, stopped by a diamond museum, visited an old church, and ventured across town with our Amsterdam books attempting to get as many of the "freebies" as we could while getting the opportunity to see more of the city.

Karen and I on the Canal Tour

I amsterdam sign

After my trip to Amsterdam, I have made a number of conclusions about the city.  First off, Amsterdam is a very biking friendly city.  There are often times more bike lanes than car lanes on the street!  Second, Amsterdam is a very night friendly city.  While there was plenty for us to do during the day, it was incredible how few people were out and about during the day in comparison to how many were out in the evenings and further into the night.  Also, while Amsterdam seemed like an old ordinary town during the day, it became a large beautifully lit city by night.  It was nice to visit Amsterdam as my first city in a foreign language as well because almost everyone there knows at least some English, so we got some good help from people.  One man on the tram who we had questioned about where we were headed even told Karen and I that "boys never listen" and that must be why we kept ending up in the wrong place.  So true! We thought it was pretty funny!  Overall, I loved my experience in Amsterdam, and am glad I was able to visit with such a wonderful group of new friends!

Life in a Manor

English Clog Dancing

So, after coming home to the manor after my trip to London, I am coming to realize that while I may have originally thought mostly on travel coming here, there is so many other special things here.  While at first I was not entirely thrilled about being in the Carriage House due to the short walk in the cold, I have come to really enjoy it.  Every time, the manor looks entirely different, depending on the time of day.  I am stuck every time by its size and beauty.  In the morning, I enjoy the sunrise.  Midday, I enjoy the sun shinning down on the manor or the clouds surrounding.  At night, I see my favorite view of the manor with the night sky and the stars, which are quite beautiful here.  It is something you truly just can't capture on a camera.  Harlaxton is not just a place to stay in between traveling and to take classes, but a place of history and community.  There is always so much to do, and I really do not understand how anyone could ever be bored.  I have become busy with a basketball league, student fellowship, choir, all of the cultural immersing activities, classes, visiting Grantham, and just in general making a lot of new friends and enjoying this experience with approximately 200 different students and faculty.  This week, for instance, we had an exposition of sword dancing and clog dancing and then enjoyed some traditional singing and dancing with them in the bistro afterwards.  It has been fun getting to know the other students, as well as the staff and their families, because many of them are living here in the manor with us.  Yes, this does mean there are a few little kids running around the manor.  One of my favorites always greets me with a high five, is very high strung, and likes to share his Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal with me.  I can't imagine what it would be like living here as such a young child with such a large imagination.  Some of the kids are home schooled by their parents, but others actually attend schools in Harlaxton and Grantham.  But they are just another thing to put a smile on your face here every day.   The people here are wonderful, scholarly, and all just fantastic.  While I am looking forward to my weekend travels, I am also really enjoying being able to call this Harlaxton Manor home. This afternoon, I am going on a historical tour of the manor, so hopefully I will be able to post more about the actual manor soon!

English Sword Dancers

Attempting to understand British Studies...

Please Mind the Gap!

Left: Heather and I our first night in London!
Below: Me in a telephone booth!

Over the past weekend, I have spent my time touring London, England on the first school trip of the semester.  Previously, I had spent around half a day there during a very long lay over, and I was very excited about actually getting to see more of London.  I was surprised by how little of London I had actually covered on my last adventure.  If I had to describe London in three words it would be HUGE, diverse, and beautiful.  We arrived at around 9 pm Thursday night, and we immediately all rushed to put away our bags and go exploring by foot.  A group of us went to a pub called the swan, but were not out long, so shortly after I joined my friend Heather to take some fun nighttime photos and see what all was around our hotel which was located on Russell Square right next to the British Museum.

Friday morning, we began very early with breakfast at 8, which was literally just toast and rolls, then we were off.  My group (Alex Battiato, Cody Coomes, Heather Vozzola, and I) took the tube (for those of you unfamiliar, that is what we call the subway here) and were off to see the city!  During our first tube experience, we got a laugh out of the recording telling us to "mind the gap" every time we exited!  We spent most of the morning venturing through the Tower of London.  We had an excellent guided tour and enjoyed learning all about it, especially since we had just begun discussing many of the topics in British Studies.  We enjoyed subway for lunch, and spent the afternoon roaming EVERYWHERE.  To name a few, we visited the tower bridge (often confused with the London bridge), the London bridge, millennium bridge, globe theatre, Buckingham palace, Trafalgar square, big ben, and parliament.  Our feet were very sore after to say the least.  For dinner we stumbled across a pub called The Court.  Dinner was relatively inexpensive in comparison to many of the other pub and restaurant prices we had seen, and it was DELICIOUS.  Granted, not being a seafood eater, while everyone else got fish and chips, I got a cheeseburger!  But, I can tell you, the English know well how to make their chips.  English chips win over American fries in my book ANYDAY. Later that night, a large group of us got together and went out to a night club called ONE together, which for my non-drinking group was fairly inexpensive, and we had a whole lot of fun just dancing and being silly.

Heather and I 

The Friday Group

Big Ben

Night View Near Hotel

Tower of London

Globe Theatre

Heather and I along the Thames

Westminster Abbey

Saturday morning, was again another early 8 am start, which was a little rough after being up so late and from so much walking the previous day! On this day, I toured the city with a different group which included some new friends from WKU as well as my cross country buddies that are here.  We visited some of the same attractions so that we could get some better pictures because a lot of the places we had all been to the previous day when it was dark, watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, saw the Wellington arch, toured various parks including Hyde Park, saw the Princess Diana and Albert memorials, and toured the British Museum.  We were really adventurous and ate Pizza Hut for lunch, and then I took everyone back to The Court for a late dinner because we enjoyed it so much the night before (yes, I did get ANOTHER cheeseburger).  By around ten, we were all ready for bed.

Jenn and I waiting for Changing of the Guard

Saturday Group at Buckingham Palace

Changing of the Guard

Princess Diana Fountain

Sunday morning, we had to rise early to depart from the hotel, and we headed to Hampton Court Palace.  For those of you who don’t know, Hampton Court Palace was the residence of King Henry VIII, who is often remembered because he had six wives, two of which he ordered to be executed.  The residence was quite large and extravagant, and the gardens are still maintained. It brought back many memories from my high school history class with Mrs. Helbing and all of the stories she told us.  I actually got adventurous and ate a soup called a "lamb goush" and it was pretty good!  The palace was amazing, and I wish I had been a little less tired to enjoy it a  bit more!

Cross Country Girls at Hampton Court Palace  

Overall, I had a great London experience.  Dr. Kingsley shared a quote that said something to the extent of those who are tired of London are bored with life.  After my visit there, I must agree.  There is something to do for everyone and has pieces of a big city, but also suburban parts as well.  It is unique in that its history is so intertwined with the rest of the city that has since sprung around it.  This weekend spiked my interest in my studies because I wanted to know everything about what I was seeing.  The connections I am going to make between my trip to London and my studies is something I am actually looking forward to this week. 

Nicole and I slept the whole way home...

Off to London!

So, I just woke up from a mid-afternoon nap to this beautiful sunset out my window.  The sun doesn't shine often here, so the sight is amazing.  I am packing up for my first weekend to London.  Hopefully I don't forget anything important! I was feeling a little bit homesick for the first time yesterday evening.  I think I honestly was just a bit overtired.  A good night of sleep and a nap later, I am feeling a lot better about things!  Yesterday was highly productive academically as I wrote my first paper and read a few articles for my classes, but it was also very productive in trip planning!  I have come up with some good ideas of places where I will be traveling and who with.  I have officially booked trips to London, Amsterdam, and to the Lake District.   A few other tentative plans so far include Barcelona, Ireland, Kandersteg in Switzerland, France, and Italy!  This morning more than anything, I have also begun to see that I truly am starting to develop some good friendships here, and how wonderful so many of the students here are.  Everyone is not only friendly, but academic in a sense that they put that before just about everything else, but seem to find a good way to balance that with meeting new people.  And now...off to London :)