Friday, December 12, 2008

Reflections

So, this is the end. I cannot believe that three months in England have come and gone, but what a great adventure it has turned into. Obviously I knew I was going to have a great time, meet lots of new people and see lots of new things, but I could have never imagined all of the wonderful experiences I’ve had here. Looking back on all I have done, I just am totally amazed by the magnitude of it all. In September I left my sleepy little town of 1800 people and went to a new country, to a city where I really knew no one and had to be completely independent. Although the first few days…ok, the first week was a bit rough, I got through it at just lived. I meet so many great people, both British & American and I learned so much from them. I visited eight countries in about two of the three months I was here and travelled around southern England and London during that time. I took loads of pictures, ate a ton of PB & Js, got very little sleep at some points and rode on very stinky buses. I had middle-aged Norwegian customs officers flirt with me, had a Scottish bus driver yell at me and Dave to get off if we wanted to see the Wallace monument in Stirling, and I cringed every time I rode in a coach, thinking we were going to hit every car we passed. I’ve eaten a baguette in France, wonderful pastries in Germany, had Guiness in Dublin and drank tea in a tea room in the Cotswolds of England. I’ve walked the beaches of Normandy, hiked with my dad in the Austrian Alps, admired the harbours of Oslo, traipsed around the UK & Ireland with the one I love and lit a candle in the quite serenity of Thomas Becket’s shrine at Canterbury Cathedral. In all of these things, I have felt blessed. Blessed for the opportunity, blessed by the people, and blessed by the experiences. I could not have asked for more than what I was given in coming here and I know that I will never, ever forget my time here. Thank all of you for your prayers, encouragement and comments. I’m more than happy to recount any of my adventures at any time so feel free to ask!
One last time, Cheers from across the Pond!
e

Farewell Canterbury














































Well, before I end my time here, thought I should update with what has gone on in my last week. I ended the last post with some of my really unique experiences in my last weekend, but Monday was a continuation of a great weekend in Canterbury. Monday night was Canterbury Christ Church University’s Candlelight Carol service at the Cathedral. My friends Gracie and Nikita when with me to the service at 8pm that night, what a wonderful night it was. It was pretty cold, but we made the walk from Parham in good time. We took the back way into the cathedral grounds since we have student i.d.s…yep, we’re special! :) I can’t even describe how beautiful the Cathedral is a night all lit up, the pictures just don’t do it justice. There was a long queue to get in, but it moved quickly and gave us time to take pictures of the outside. Inside the Nave was very festive and absolutely beautiful. Since there was so many people we had to sit off to the side of the Nave, but it was still lovely. When the service started they turned off the lights and started to light the candles, I could hardly believe I was there and when the choir started to sing from the back of the Nave I could have just about died with how thrilled I was to be there. It was so incredibly beautiful! I loved being able to sing along to the carols even though there were some that I didn’t know. We left the service so incredibly glad that we decided to get tickets. After, they had mince pies and mulled wine at the university for everyone. Mince pies are really big here, especially the little mini ones. I had yet to try one, but we all did and they were delicious (but we passed on the wine)! :) Tuesday, was spent writing my last paper and Wednesday was my two finals for British History and Modern Britain. My hand felt like it could fall off, but overall I think they went well. Wednesday night I got to have dinner with my British friend Karen and we ate and talked for quite a while. I’m really going to miss her, but hopefully she will come visit me soon! Earlier in the week, Nikita and I decided that we were going to go to London for a few hours on Thursday so she could say goodbye to her love, Big Ben and I could go to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum-yes I am a nerd, you don’t have to remind me. We took the bus at 9am from Canterbury and got to London a little after 11. We parted ways so I could get to the museum. I really enjoyed the tour of the War Rooms and the museum. I loved that they had the rooms just as they were left when the war ended. I spent an hour there and then decided to wander up Whitehall to Downing St. before I met Nikita at 1pm. I also went partway across Westminster Bridge so I could get a good look of Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. I found a bagpiper on the bridge who wasn’t terribly good, but I enjoyed listening to him anyway. Nikita and I met back up and walked back down to the bus station…by way of Starbucks for tea and soy lattes. It was a short trip, but a very enjoyable one. Best story ever!- Once Nikita and I had gotten up to Big Ben/Parliament/Westminster area, we had to decided when we were going to meet up. I asked Nikita what time it was and she looked at her watch and said, “11:30.” I thought that we should meet back up at 1, then I realized. Here we are, right in front of the most famous clock in the world and I asked Nikita what the time it was, which she obliged and checked HER WATCH! We had a good laugh about that…epic fail! :) Thursday night I started packing and think that I’m going to get all of my crap in my bags, could be overweight, but I’ll deal with that when the time comes. Today has been a day of goodbyes. Karen stopped by to say goodbye and pick up the air bed that she had loaned me. Then I went to the university to say goodbye to one of my favorite tutors, Ken and we talked for a good hour. Then I had to go get a baguette at my favorite little shop and say goodbye to the American owners that I’ve come to know well. After strolling around Canterbury with my baguette I had to say one of the hardest goodbyes, I had to take my last walk around the Cathedral. I’ve really fallen in love with it, everything about it from the history to the architecture. I decided to light a candle at the Becket shrine, in a way as a symbol of thanks to the place for giving me such fond memories of my time there. I started to walk back to my house, but saw Beth, Laura and Katie in The Corner Café and decided to sit and talk with them for a while. We left there after they finished their lunch and we went to The Chambers Café and Coffee Bar for some warm drinks, dessert and reminiscing of our adventures here. They went to go do some last minute shopping and I took my last walk back to my house from High St. Tonight is the Christmas party and farewell to the Americans at The Jolly Sailor which most people are going to, so I will be going to say goodbye to all of my friends. I’m not going to be able to stay to long because I have to get up really early to head to the airport. The taxi is coming at 6:45 to collect us and my fight leaves at 11am. I will be back in Chicago by 2pm tomorrow. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone, but I know I’ve enjoyed it all.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Wonderful experiences in my last week...
















Well it’s now less than a week until I’m home and I can hardly believe that my time here is almost done! Sometimes it seems as though I’ve hardly been here and at other times I look back on some of the pictures that I took at the beginning and some of my first trips and it feels like it’s been ages. I am ready to come home, but I’m really having fun and trying to make the most of my time here. This past week I spent a lot of time getting papers finished up and studying for my exams this Wednesday. Thursday night was a nice break from work and a wonderful night with friends. Shanna invited me to come with her, Nikita, Gracie and Caroline to dinner at their professor’s flat. Sanders and his wife Bahar are vegetarian and vegan respectively and were going to be making a vegan dinner for us. Nikita and I are pretty much vegan and Caroline and Gracie are both vegetarian. Shanna is the only carnivore in the group, but still enjoys some veg-friendly food now and again. The meal was absolutely delish! We had toasties with garlic for starters and then a wonderful soup Sanders made from Jerusalem artichokes and leeks. I have to get the recipe for the soup because it was fantastic. Our main course had a Scottish flair to it since we had vegan haggis. I know, I know sounds disgusting right? Wrong! It was really good, once you understood that it was nothing like really haggis…ick! We also had mashed neeps (turnips) and colcannon, a Irish mashed potato and kale creation that was wonderful, especially Bahar’s addition of garlic to the mix. We finished off the night with great discussions and dessert of deep fried Mars bars and Oreos! Totally cancelled out all of the healthy veggie food we had just eaten, but the Oreos were amazing! Overall a wonderful night with some great friends and I realized how much I’m going to miss those girls when I’m home. Why does New York have to be so far away?
Friday was an all day paper writing marathon, with some procrastination…ok a lot of procrastination thrown in for good measure. Saturday I decided was going to be my shopping day to get some gifts for people back home that I had yet buy for. I ended up meeting Beth downtown and we just happened to find ourselves in the midst of Canterbury’s annual St. Nicholas parade! It was really neat to see all of the kids that were a part of this parade and we finally saw the big cheese himself, the Archbishop of Canterbury. I got to take some video of the parade, so people can get a sense of what it was like. I found some good stuff downtown and went home to find my kitchen taken over by Nikita, Gracie and Christina-a good thing for sure! After I ate some lunch (it was 3pm and I was starving!), we all went for a quick ASDA run and came back for a night of food and movies. We ended up watching Boonedock Saints, a movie I had never seen, but was definitely high on my list. I loved it, even though it was quite violent. Gracie made the point that I really had to be in order to get the moral of the movie across so well.
Today was exciting for me because I got to see my first real Scottish pipe band perform in Canterbury. The Argyll and Sutherland Highland regiment is a Royal Scottish regiment that is based in Canterbury…I’m still trying to figure out that one, and they just came back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. They were being awarded the “Freedom of the City,” an honour given by the Lord Mayor of Canterbury. To celebrate the regiment they paraded through the streets, with their pipe band and the regimental mascot Cruachan, a Shetland pony. I loved seeing and hearing the bagpipes! I was absolutely bursting with excitement when I heard them strike in. It was also really cool to be a part of a celebration like that, everyone supporting their troops. Even though they are not soldiers of my country, I felt a since of gratitude to them for serving none the less. Gracie and Nikita who had come down with me also really enjoyed it. Who doesn’t like to see dozens of military guys in uniform…some even in kilts! :) Well, I guess that better be all for now. Finished up one paper and some crib notes for my exams, so now all I have is one last short paper to write and another set of notes for Modern Britain and I’m done for the term! I’ll be home now less than six days! Can’t wait to see everybody!
Take care!
e

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanksgiving in England and London trip 2
















Hope everyone is enjoying the snow back home! I know I wish we had just a little bit of snow here, would make it seem more like Christmas time. It’s been hard to be away during this time, especially with Thanksgiving celebrations last week. I’ve been reminding myself though that “I’ll be home for Christmas” in no time at all. 11 days to be exact and as fun as it has been here for the past few months, I am ready to be home. Last week my friend Jordan came to visit for about a week and we had a good time. I picked her up last Saturday from the Canterbury bus station. On my way to get her I walked down High St. browse through the Saturday market. People were out in force Christmas shopping and it was really fun to see all of the Christmas stuff out. This coming Saturday I’m planning on going to the market again to take pictures so you can see all of the wonderful things I love about Canterbury’s market day and the Christmas season in England. Once I got Jordan we walked back down so she could see all the bustle of the town. I ended up making a cake that afternoon for one of my housemates whose birthday was on Sunday. I made a double layer chocolate cake called, “Dead Good Chocolate Cake,” and I got good reviews on it. :) It was really fun to make, so I might just have to make another cake before I leave, sort of a going away cake. Anyway, Jordan recovered from some wicked jetlag on Sunday and we did some exploring of the city in the next few days. I had a paper to write, which was unfortunate, but I did get it done. Thursday, we were both missing being home for Thanksgiving and after my morning class we made a mini feast of mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce…yes I know this sounds pitiful, but it helped us cope…that and listening to Adam Sandler’s “Turkey Day” song on YouTube. Later on in the evening we went to my neighbor’s house were they had a feast, with turkey even and lots of alcohol. We then followed this by a trip down to a local pub called The Jolly Sailor. I had heard a lot about this place from many of the other American students, but had never been myself, not being the type to spend my nights drinking in pubs. We did go and I had a great time talking to people and they even had apple pie there for us. The owner even dressed up like a pilgrim and had American flags put up inside and outside the pub. The big telly was tuned into the Seahawks-Cowboys game which made it feel a little more like home (although the other t.v. in the pub was playing “real” football for the locals). Overall it was a great night with friends and a good way to be distracted from missing home for the holiday. The next day Jordan and I had planned to catch a bus up to London for the day, but needless to say the festivities the night before had taken a toll on us and we decided to postpone our day out in London until Saturday. Friday was spent lounging around and then some more shopping on High St. We had a nice supper at Prezzo, my favorite little Italian place, turned in early in preparation for London.
We got on the bus at 9:30am and we were in London by 11:30am. I had only been to London once before, but that was on the east end, by the Tower, so I had never actually seen Big Ben, Parliament, etc. I was so excited to see it as we crossed Lambeth Bridge before getting to Victoria coach station. It really is a beautiful sight. When we got our bearings, we walked to Buckingham Palace just in time to see the Changing of the Guard ceremony. It was a neat thing to see, but no spectacular…sort of like Stonehenge. A quick stroll down Birdcage Walk, brought us right to Parliament Square where we got our first opportunity take some good pictures of Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster. Leicester Square was where we eventually wanted to go to get tickets to see a show on the West End and we got there by way of Whitehall and Trafalgar Square. We could see Downing St. but we were on the other side of Whitehall so we couldn’t see #10. Trafalgar was interesting, very crowded and made me really feel like I was in London for some reason. Don’t ask me why Big Ben didn’t do that to me and I had to walk all the way up to Trafalgar to feel that, but oh well. :) Leicester Square was packed with people and we stood in line for quite a while trying to get tickets to a musical. A lot of things were sold out and we ended up walking to the theatre on Shaftsbury Ave. where Josh Hartnett was in the play version of “Rain Man.” Jordan and I were both really excited to see Josh Hartnett (for those of you who don’t know who he is, he’s a pretty famous actor that was in Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down…yes…now you can understand our excitement! :)). The play was amazing and we were in the 5th row, which added so much more to the whole experience. After the play was over we walked to Piccadilly Circus, which is sort of like London’s Time’s Square of sorts. Loads of people everywhere and it was a bit overwhelming. We ended up walking back down to the Thames and crossed a footbridge to the other side, just down from the London Eye. I was snapping pictures like crazy because everything was just so cool! London is spectacular at night with things lit so beautifully! I fell in love with Big Ben, just like my housemate Nikita did on her trips to London. We were really exhausted by about 6:30pm, got some food in Victoria Station then waited for the bus back to Canterbury. I didn’t really enjoy the ride, back because I was tired, hungry and generally uncomfortable. Took a taxi back to Parham because we weren’t too keen on walking the ½ hour back to my house. Got some pasta and got Jordan checked in online for her flight the next day. She had to leave at 5am the next morning and I got up to see her off to her taxi. We had a good time and I was glad for someone from home being around, especially for Thanksgiving. Now it’s literally the home stretch, and most of that full of writing papers and studying for exams. I’ve got two papers down and two more to go, then next Wednesday I have two essay exams. I’ll probably update at least one more time before I’m back, but I can hardly believe that the end of my time here is so near! I have had an amazing experience here and even though there are a lot of things I will miss here, I’ll be glad to be back in good ol’ central Illinois. :)