So I have had this conversation with others and myself so often I decided to put it in a public place I can just point to rather than rinse and repeat for the unth time.
First of all, for all you ereader haters out there, I understand. I so totally understand. I am a flat out crazy bibliophile. I am 22 and there is no hope for me. I buy books like most women buy shoes. I fought (and won) the battle to get the bedroom with built in bookshelves and despite double rows of books (which I hate doing) and my bookshelf from college, I am out of room. The first thing I do when I pick up a book is smell it. I go to Barnes & Noble just to smell the intoxicating smell of ink on paper and gaze admiringly at books. I visit old friends and explore for potential new future friends. I look on those that bend pages, crease spines, and dent covers with utter loathing and horror. Despite knowing the benefits of underlining and writing in books, I still cannot bring myself to write in my books.
I could go on, but hopefully we have established that I am probably certifiably insane when it comes to books.
Then ereaders came out which caused a reaction of both delight, trepidation, and incredulity. Thoughts swirled through my head.
"Ooooo. Books."
"But there aren't pages to turn. And the smell...."
"Finally, the bookstore you can bring with you ANYWHERE!"
"It's totally not the same."
Continue that argument on. By a lot.
Anyways, after that I mostly ignored ereaders and just stuck with my beautiful paper and ink lovelies. But it was still there, in the back of my mind, and finally I caved and purchased my first ereader, the Barnes & Noble Simple Touch, after a considerable amount of research and debate.
I purchased it slightly before my fall break for that school year. I was going back to Honey Rock Camp for the break, and thought of all the ways it could help improve the quality of my stay there. I have spent a considerable amount of time at HRC in my life, and it affords more time for reading than most places. However, despite this delight, this fact also raised problems. For as long as I can remember, my standard amount of books to bring up with me was roughly a backpack full. However, a backpack filled to the brim with books is both heavy an unwieldy. I also more often than not read several books at one time, switching to whatever struck my fancy at the time. Despite my variety, I would often run out of books before the allotted time had elapsed. Worse than all this, is lugging a backpack of books around is not good for the books. Despite my best efforts, pages would get creased, covers dented, heaven forbid, even occasionally a tear. An ereader could hold all those books and more and being made of plastic is much less easy to damage than mere paper.
So there. I had caved. I had gone to the dark side, if you will. And as I became more familiar with my new toy, I found new features that only made me love it more. For one thing, PUBLIC DOMAIN BABY! There are so many books that aren't under copyright anymore, and if you look in the right places, you can easily get those on the ereader for free. Related to that, you can borrow ereaders from your library WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR HOUSE. But I will get to that later.
Another benefit that helped with my OCD inability to write in books is you can highlight and take notes in the Nook. Now, it's not the easiest typing ever, but it's a lot better than trying to bring yourself to defile the pure page before you with a pencil or *gasp* even a pen. Especially nice for class when your professors make those brilliant comments you want to remember.
But back to the library. Last summer, as some of you may know, I went to England. And I bought a ridiculous amount of books. And I read a ridiculous amount of books. And with only the help of my computer, I downloaded a ton of books from my hometown library. From England. For free. No late fees because you've lost the book and don't have time to make it to the library yet. Also, I have since upgraded to a Nook HD and you can download AUDIOBOOKS straight onto the device and listen to them wherever you are.
All that to say, I've been converted. I still spend entirely too much money on "flesh and blood" books, but my Nooks have benefitted my reading experiences far more than they have detracted from them. Before I sign off this probably already too long post though I have one more word to put in on the ereader front.
Don't get a Kindle. Just don't. Part of this is straight up prejudice. I can't forgive Amazon for it's continued efforts to make bookstores obsolete. Not okay. I would say my number one reason for this statement is because of technical reasons however. Most ereaders use the ePub format. It's not universal, but it's as good as, and means that even though I decided to go with a Nook, if Barnes & Noble goes the way of Borders (heaven forbid) I can continue to happily buy books from one of many other sources. Kindles have a very special Kindle format that only works with Kindles. (By the way, this argument is hilarious coming from a huge Apple fan. But still.) I purchased my Nook because even though it was an ereader, I would be supporting a bookstore. A REAL LIVE YOU CAN ACTUALLY GO THERE BOOKSTORE. The format of the ebooks available for download however also leave for a great deal more flexibility and diversity. I'm not saying GO BUY A NOOK. I'm just saying DON'T GO BUY A KINDLE.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
My goodness it has been awhile
So it has been almost a full year since I have written a post. It has been a crazy year. Many things have happened...
Many things....
The first event I have to announce is I HAVE OFFICIALLY GRADUATED! I even got my official shiny diploma the other day with four impressive squiggles on the bottom that says I graduated. Wow, that is an accomplishment. After four hard years at Wheaton, I'm ready to take that pretty piece of paper and run. Another big accomplishment was that I earned my black belt in TaeKwonDo. Wow, do both of those accomplishments feel good.
So I'm cruising through summer, working at several different jobs and trying to get a hold of the new change in my life again. Even though I did just graduate, I'm already back in class at our community college taking a web design class. I'm hoping to be able to update this blog sometime soon to demonstrate my new skills. Stay tuned. :)
So this isn't a very long update, but I really needed to post SOMETHING to get me going again. Stayed tuned for updates. I have many ideas and occurrences that I'm excited about.
Stay classy internet.
Many things....
The first event I have to announce is I HAVE OFFICIALLY GRADUATED! I even got my official shiny diploma the other day with four impressive squiggles on the bottom that says I graduated. Wow, that is an accomplishment. After four hard years at Wheaton, I'm ready to take that pretty piece of paper and run. Another big accomplishment was that I earned my black belt in TaeKwonDo. Wow, do both of those accomplishments feel good.
So I'm cruising through summer, working at several different jobs and trying to get a hold of the new change in my life again. Even though I did just graduate, I'm already back in class at our community college taking a web design class. I'm hoping to be able to update this blog sometime soon to demonstrate my new skills. Stay tuned. :)
So this isn't a very long update, but I really needed to post SOMETHING to get me going again. Stayed tuned for updates. I have many ideas and occurrences that I'm excited about.
Stay classy internet.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
So... quick run through
In my last post I mentioned the first castle we went to, and one of the first cathedrals we visted. We have visited many more since, and I will mention all of them, and if anything stood out, but I'm going to try and get through them a little quicker. Cover more ground quicker, if you will.
Thursday (June 28) brought about another field trip. The first stop was to Rochester! This was our first castle RUIN, as Dover was still pretty much in tact. I divided my time between wandering around, admiring the scenery, and wandering around bemoaning the fact I did not have my camera. There was a very exciting moment when I tripped going down a flight of stairs, and grabbed the handle before I wiped out. I happened to do this right in front of my friend Lorraine, who proceeded to FREAK OUT about the fact I could be rolling down the steep flight of stairs. I assured her that despite the fact I am not at all coordinated, I have quick reflexes, and good aim, the combination resulting in my tripping A LOT, but not often actually falling. There were a couple of Dickens related sites here, but as I'm not in the Romantic Literature class and have read very little Dickens, this didn't interest me as much. I also only did a quick tour of the cathedral there. The reason being this: second hand bookstores. There were three that I saw in this town. I sadly only made it to one, but it was a very good stop for me. I got an early edition of The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis for 2 pounds and a copy of Ben Hur for 1.50 pounds. We were a little late getting back to the bus, but I AM UNREPENTANT! Dr. Ryken handled our tardiness with his characteristic maturity.
Next stop was Penshurst. This was a beautiful manor that Dr. Ryken called the archetypal English country house. The house was pretty cool, but the gardens here were amazing! There was a different garden around every corner. There were fountains, and ponds, and trees woven together to make a natural fence. I wanted to be there with my mother. The English REALLY know how to garden. I was excited to head back to London because I was planning on meeting up with my Uncle Harry and Aunty Donna, who were in England for both academic purposes and pleasure purposes, mostly likely with some overlap between those two categories. I don't get to see them very often, so I was excited to catch up with them! So naturally, there was a lot of traffic and we got back over an hour later than I was hoping. Thankfully this was only tenish minutes after I said I would meet up with Aunty Donna and Uncle Harry. They were sitting outside of our hotel when we pulled up. They had eaten dinner, but offered to take me somewhere as I had not. As college professors, they are obviously aware of importance that the majority of college students place on food, due perhaps to a general shortage of funds and time for food preparation. They bought me dinner. I was very grateful for this, and greatly enjoyed their company and catching up a little with them.
Friday we began the day pretty early with an excursion to Westminster Abbey. We managed to be the first group inside! Despite this, there were still some transit difficulties. It happened to be around the time when many Londoners were heading to work. The first train pulls up and it already looks filled to the brim. Despite this, most of the group managed to squeeze on. There were probably about 6 of us that didn't quite fit on, and we waited for the next train. It soon arrived, looking equally full as the last one. We soon found the proper technique was just jump on and pray you can fit everything inside when the doors close. I found myself squeezed next to Ian Campbell (again, not my boyfriend, but my boyfriends roommate.) It had been slightly awkward between the two of us since he had forgotten me for the show on Wednesday night. At this point however, he does the equivalent of leaning over (there really wasn't much room to ACTUALLY lean) and says, "Elizabeth, I've always wanted us to be closer." I laughingly replied that I wasn't sure Ian (Ian my boyfriend Ian) would agree with him, at least in this manner. That pretty effectively broke the ice. When we got to the abbey, it was a pretty impressive to say the least. It was especially nice because it was still relatively quiet inside. Everyone got excited when we got to the poets corner. It was pretty cool to see but what I got excited about was the grave of George Frideric Handel. Of course I will be the first to admit that poetry isn't really my thing. After that we visited the Tower of London. It wasn't the longest or most thorough trip through, as it was raining outside and crowded inside. We did walk through the crown jewels section though. Wow. There are some BIG gemstones in there. Not to mention a golden punch bowl I could probably take a bath in. It was rather dazzling. After a quick romp through the gift shop where I found some gifts for my family, we departed. I couldn't find tickets to any shows that I wished to attend so once again, while the vast majority of my classmates went off to see something, I remained behind at our hotel.
Saturday we made a trip out to Hampton Court. I would say this was one of my favorite stops so far. The inside displays were very well put together regarding the various monarchs they depicted. There were several on Henry VIII, there was also a really interesting display of paintings entitles, "The Wild, The Beautiful, and the Damned" that I really enjoyed. The gardens here were absolutely spectacular as well. I am also pretty sure Henry VIII walked past me when I was exploring the gardens. I have decided at this point my favorite style of English garden is the enclosed sunken gardens, of which Hampton Court had two. I took a panoramic picture of a similar style of garden from Kensington Park, which is in a previous blog post. I also grabbed lunch there and made friends with a dog who was only too willing to let me lavish attention on her.
I had heard of a group who wanted to go to a play version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, so I decided to join them. Possibly half an hour after we got back, we started RUNNING to the Tube station to try and make the matinee. We RAN through several Tube stations, and made the fatal mistake of getting off a stop too early, so we then had to RUN through all of Kensington Park. Kensington Park is HUGE!!! We made it five minutes after the show had started. So we ordered our tickets for the evening show. Four row seats for 25 pounds thanks to our student status is pretty awesome. Especially if you are getting a 15 pound rebate after that. In the meantime, some of us grabbed ice cream, and myself and two of the other girls made a stop at the Sherlock Holmes museum. The three of us took turns taking pictures with the policeman outside while we each work the Sherlock hat and held a pipe. It was seriously fun. The inside was set up as it might have been for the "real" Sherlock and Watson, including props from some of their various adventures from the books. The house being very crowded, I explored quickly and once again wished I had had my camera. We headed back to the Park for the show. It was great! The technical quality of the show alone was fantastic. And it's C.S. Lewis. I have always been more of a Lewis fan over Tolkien.
I had finally made it to a show! With a group of three girls that I love, and Ian (not boyfriend). It was really great. While my time in London was not over, it began to draw to a close. Only one day remained. However, you shall have to wait to hear about that day another time.
Thursday (June 28) brought about another field trip. The first stop was to Rochester! This was our first castle RUIN, as Dover was still pretty much in tact. I divided my time between wandering around, admiring the scenery, and wandering around bemoaning the fact I did not have my camera. There was a very exciting moment when I tripped going down a flight of stairs, and grabbed the handle before I wiped out. I happened to do this right in front of my friend Lorraine, who proceeded to FREAK OUT about the fact I could be rolling down the steep flight of stairs. I assured her that despite the fact I am not at all coordinated, I have quick reflexes, and good aim, the combination resulting in my tripping A LOT, but not often actually falling. There were a couple of Dickens related sites here, but as I'm not in the Romantic Literature class and have read very little Dickens, this didn't interest me as much. I also only did a quick tour of the cathedral there. The reason being this: second hand bookstores. There were three that I saw in this town. I sadly only made it to one, but it was a very good stop for me. I got an early edition of The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis for 2 pounds and a copy of Ben Hur for 1.50 pounds. We were a little late getting back to the bus, but I AM UNREPENTANT! Dr. Ryken handled our tardiness with his characteristic maturity.
Next stop was Penshurst. This was a beautiful manor that Dr. Ryken called the archetypal English country house. The house was pretty cool, but the gardens here were amazing! There was a different garden around every corner. There were fountains, and ponds, and trees woven together to make a natural fence. I wanted to be there with my mother. The English REALLY know how to garden. I was excited to head back to London because I was planning on meeting up with my Uncle Harry and Aunty Donna, who were in England for both academic purposes and pleasure purposes, mostly likely with some overlap between those two categories. I don't get to see them very often, so I was excited to catch up with them! So naturally, there was a lot of traffic and we got back over an hour later than I was hoping. Thankfully this was only tenish minutes after I said I would meet up with Aunty Donna and Uncle Harry. They were sitting outside of our hotel when we pulled up. They had eaten dinner, but offered to take me somewhere as I had not. As college professors, they are obviously aware of importance that the majority of college students place on food, due perhaps to a general shortage of funds and time for food preparation. They bought me dinner. I was very grateful for this, and greatly enjoyed their company and catching up a little with them.
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| Aunty Donna and I. Photo cred goes to Uncle Harry. :) |
Friday we began the day pretty early with an excursion to Westminster Abbey. We managed to be the first group inside! Despite this, there were still some transit difficulties. It happened to be around the time when many Londoners were heading to work. The first train pulls up and it already looks filled to the brim. Despite this, most of the group managed to squeeze on. There were probably about 6 of us that didn't quite fit on, and we waited for the next train. It soon arrived, looking equally full as the last one. We soon found the proper technique was just jump on and pray you can fit everything inside when the doors close. I found myself squeezed next to Ian Campbell (again, not my boyfriend, but my boyfriends roommate.) It had been slightly awkward between the two of us since he had forgotten me for the show on Wednesday night. At this point however, he does the equivalent of leaning over (there really wasn't much room to ACTUALLY lean) and says, "Elizabeth, I've always wanted us to be closer." I laughingly replied that I wasn't sure Ian (Ian my boyfriend Ian) would agree with him, at least in this manner. That pretty effectively broke the ice. When we got to the abbey, it was a pretty impressive to say the least. It was especially nice because it was still relatively quiet inside. Everyone got excited when we got to the poets corner. It was pretty cool to see but what I got excited about was the grave of George Frideric Handel. Of course I will be the first to admit that poetry isn't really my thing. After that we visited the Tower of London. It wasn't the longest or most thorough trip through, as it was raining outside and crowded inside. We did walk through the crown jewels section though. Wow. There are some BIG gemstones in there. Not to mention a golden punch bowl I could probably take a bath in. It was rather dazzling. After a quick romp through the gift shop where I found some gifts for my family, we departed. I couldn't find tickets to any shows that I wished to attend so once again, while the vast majority of my classmates went off to see something, I remained behind at our hotel.
Saturday we made a trip out to Hampton Court. I would say this was one of my favorite stops so far. The inside displays were very well put together regarding the various monarchs they depicted. There were several on Henry VIII, there was also a really interesting display of paintings entitles, "The Wild, The Beautiful, and the Damned" that I really enjoyed. The gardens here were absolutely spectacular as well. I am also pretty sure Henry VIII walked past me when I was exploring the gardens. I have decided at this point my favorite style of English garden is the enclosed sunken gardens, of which Hampton Court had two. I took a panoramic picture of a similar style of garden from Kensington Park, which is in a previous blog post. I also grabbed lunch there and made friends with a dog who was only too willing to let me lavish attention on her.
I had heard of a group who wanted to go to a play version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, so I decided to join them. Possibly half an hour after we got back, we started RUNNING to the Tube station to try and make the matinee. We RAN through several Tube stations, and made the fatal mistake of getting off a stop too early, so we then had to RUN through all of Kensington Park. Kensington Park is HUGE!!! We made it five minutes after the show had started. So we ordered our tickets for the evening show. Four row seats for 25 pounds thanks to our student status is pretty awesome. Especially if you are getting a 15 pound rebate after that. In the meantime, some of us grabbed ice cream, and myself and two of the other girls made a stop at the Sherlock Holmes museum. The three of us took turns taking pictures with the policeman outside while we each work the Sherlock hat and held a pipe. It was seriously fun. The inside was set up as it might have been for the "real" Sherlock and Watson, including props from some of their various adventures from the books. The house being very crowded, I explored quickly and once again wished I had had my camera. We headed back to the Park for the show. It was great! The technical quality of the show alone was fantastic. And it's C.S. Lewis. I have always been more of a Lewis fan over Tolkien.
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| Photo cred to Emily Lorraine Richardson |
Friday, July 6, 2012
Getting caught up to Oxford (Tuesday, June 26 - Wednesday, June 27)
As I write this I am sitting in the window seat of my room at St. Anne's College in Oxford England. I am woefully behind on keeping this blog updated. So much has happened and so quickly that I have not had the time. When I left off we were heading to a performance or A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was.... not what we were expecting. For those who are familiar with the play, the relationship between Theseus and Hippolyta was a clearly abusive one, and the society they and the four lovers inhabited we decided was supposed to imitate a gypsy or traveler culture. The fairies were much darker than I had imagined them as well. There were a couple scenes that... well, let's just say it shocked a large group of Wheaton students. We were NOT expecting them. So that caused much discussion in our group.
Then on Tuesday (June 26), we had our first outing. It was to Canterbury and Dover. After our English breakfast at the hotel (scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and tea for me!), we piled onto the bus, and off we went. Our first stop was Canterbury. We gathered in the square outside of the beautiful cathedral. I noticed across the way a small ceramics store. Naturally, I immediately yearned to go inside. However, it was time to go into Canterbury Cathedral. We filtered in, and split into several groups for our tours. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful large stained glass window at the back of the cathedral. It was one of the few in the entire church that had been spared when the iconoclasm of the Puritans swept through England. Much of what we heard about was the murder of Thomas Becket which took place in the cathedral. His tomb was displayed prominently until again it was destroyed by the Puritans. Now there is simply a candle burning where it used to be.
After we departed from the cathedral, I convinced my lovely friend Irene to accompany me into the ceramics store. There were two floors filled with beautiful vessels. I also chatted with the man who had made all of it. He said he had ELEVEN electric kilns. I was in awe! I bought myself a mug that had the Canterbury cross on it, and promised Irene I would make her a goblet once we were back at Wheaton.
Next stop was Dover Castle. As Caterbury Cathedral was our first cathedral, Dover was our first castle. It was beautiful. As you can possibly guess, as a huge group of English enthusiasts, this place really inspired our imagination. At least, it inspired MY imagination. I explored every inch of the place, spending a long time up on the roof, taking many pictures. I also wandered around outside the walls, admiring the gorgeous color of the sea, and gazing across The Chanel, in hopes of many catching a glimpse of France. Despite the beautiful weather, I don't think I quite managed. We soon headed back to the hotel after this.
Depending on how tired I am after relating the happenings of Wednesday, this might be it for this particular post. Wednesday, June 27 has been the low point of my trip so far. There were good parts, and horrible parts. The morning began with a relatively quick visit to Southwark Cathedral. It is decidedly one of the oldest cathedrals in England, and parts of it are VERY old. I don't have any pictures from inside the church, as it was a couple pounds to do this, and I wasn't really willing to fork over money just to take pictures.
After that we were free to wander around, and grab lunch before we were to attend a play at the Globe Theatre. We were going to see Henry V specifically, but more on that later. A pretty large group of us decided to go to see if we could find relatively inexpensive theater tickets for later in the evening. Now at least for me, this was much easier said than done. There were SO MANY shows I wanted to attend that were currently playing in London. I divided them into three groups: musicals I had seen (Jersey Boys, We Will Rock You, Phantom, and Wicked), musicals I have not seen and wanted too (Le Miserables, The Lion King, Singing in the Rain, Sweeny Todd, and a very new production of one of my favorite childhood books Matilda), and musicals I would not be going to (Shrek the Musical, The Wizard of Oz, etc.) I decided to try and see Le Mis, cause I've heard great things about it, and had not viewed it. However, the seats were VERY expensive and there was a general lack of student deals. I also had no desire to pay money to see Phantom performed again. Once was plenty. Therefore I decided to align myself with the smaller group that wanted to see Sweeny Todd. We got our tickets, and THEN I decided I wanted to go with the group that went back to St. Paul's Cathedral to climb to the top. With my recent breathing problems, I knew this was going to be a challenge for me, but it was one I really wanted to accomplish. With our looming play performance later, maybe I should have waited for when I would be taking up my own time. I didn't though. It was a struggle. I lagged behind the group, and was quickly out of breathe and soaked in sweat. London was extremely humid while we were there. One of the guys in our group was really kind and stayed with me throughout my trial. And I did make it to the top. It was a LOT of stairs. The view was beautiful! Downstairs wasn't quite as hard as upstairs, but it wasn't easy either. I wanted to rush into the gift shop quickly to buy a CD of the boys choir, while the others grabbed food there, but then they decided they were going to go somewhere cheaper. Having been holding them up all afternoon already, I rushed to buy my CD. Having forgotten I had tossed my camera into the top of my backpack after taking pictures at the top of St. Paul's, I quickly unzipped my bag to grab my wallet, and my camera fell out. Holding a CD, an empty bottle from my hasty lunch, and balancing my backpack, I didn't have the hands to grab it. I didn't have time to check on it then. I made my purchase and rushed to join my group. When they paused to grab lunch, I tentatively pulled my camera from my bag. As I opened the case it was in, I couldn't help but notice, my lens was no longer attached to my camera body. My heart sank, until I decided to try and just stick it back on. It went on.... and then came apart again. The plastic grooves that help the lens in place had broken off. Wanting to break into tears there and then, I carefully replaced my camera into it's case, and then into my backpack, and as we walked to the Globe, started brainstorming what to do. We got to the Globe, and took our seats, and I couldn't help but take my camera out to try and fix it somehow. I finally got around to trying to take a picture with it, and I did! This gave me hope that nothing more serious was wrong.
Then the play began! It was great! The only problem was our seats. The main character (Henry) often stood center stage for a good portion of his scenes. There also happened to be a pillar in between where we sat and where he stood. This was particularly sad because King Henry was pretty darn attractive. We did our best to follow the plot and understand the few portions spoken in French, and then I, already emotionally drained, decided to head back to the hotel. I collapsed on my bed, occasionally chatting with one of my roommates, while I waited for one of the people in my group that was heading to Sweeny Todd got a hold of me. And waited. I finally decided to start searching for Ian (not my boyfriend, his roommate. It's not at all confusing) as he had my ticket. He was not in the hotel. Not even a little bit in the hotel. Trying not to panic, I went back to my room and mapped out what the best way to get to the theater, packed up what I thought I might need, and headed for the Tube station, praying I would run into someone in my group on the way. Once I got to the station, I stood around for a couple of moments, and headed back towards the hotel. I wasn't willing to waste money on using the Tube when I wasn't sure I could definitely get where I was going, and I didn't have a clue where my ticket was. At a light, Dr. Coolidge and her husband of all people came up behind me and asked me how my day was. As soon as I started talking, I started crying despite my best efforts. They offered to help me get there, but at this point all I wanted to do was go to sleep. I headed back, hoping my room was empty, and when it was not, took a quick shower for some privacy. Dr. Coolidge came and checked on me, and after I had convinced her I just wanted the day to be over and wasn't interested in trying to make it to the theater still, I went to bed.
As I said, this was without a doubt the worst day I had on my trip so far. And even then, there were good parts. And it gets better!!!! While my camera has still not been repaired, it's a priority for me, now that I'm in Oxford. I would try to get more caught up, but it's getting late, and my freshly laundered pajamas call for me. :) Stay tuned for happier adventures!
Then on Tuesday (June 26), we had our first outing. It was to Canterbury and Dover. After our English breakfast at the hotel (scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and tea for me!), we piled onto the bus, and off we went. Our first stop was Canterbury. We gathered in the square outside of the beautiful cathedral. I noticed across the way a small ceramics store. Naturally, I immediately yearned to go inside. However, it was time to go into Canterbury Cathedral. We filtered in, and split into several groups for our tours. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful large stained glass window at the back of the cathedral. It was one of the few in the entire church that had been spared when the iconoclasm of the Puritans swept through England. Much of what we heard about was the murder of Thomas Becket which took place in the cathedral. His tomb was displayed prominently until again it was destroyed by the Puritans. Now there is simply a candle burning where it used to be.
After we departed from the cathedral, I convinced my lovely friend Irene to accompany me into the ceramics store. There were two floors filled with beautiful vessels. I also chatted with the man who had made all of it. He said he had ELEVEN electric kilns. I was in awe! I bought myself a mug that had the Canterbury cross on it, and promised Irene I would make her a goblet once we were back at Wheaton.
Next stop was Dover Castle. As Caterbury Cathedral was our first cathedral, Dover was our first castle. It was beautiful. As you can possibly guess, as a huge group of English enthusiasts, this place really inspired our imagination. At least, it inspired MY imagination. I explored every inch of the place, spending a long time up on the roof, taking many pictures. I also wandered around outside the walls, admiring the gorgeous color of the sea, and gazing across The Chanel, in hopes of many catching a glimpse of France. Despite the beautiful weather, I don't think I quite managed. We soon headed back to the hotel after this.
After that we were free to wander around, and grab lunch before we were to attend a play at the Globe Theatre. We were going to see Henry V specifically, but more on that later. A pretty large group of us decided to go to see if we could find relatively inexpensive theater tickets for later in the evening. Now at least for me, this was much easier said than done. There were SO MANY shows I wanted to attend that were currently playing in London. I divided them into three groups: musicals I had seen (Jersey Boys, We Will Rock You, Phantom, and Wicked), musicals I have not seen and wanted too (Le Miserables, The Lion King, Singing in the Rain, Sweeny Todd, and a very new production of one of my favorite childhood books Matilda), and musicals I would not be going to (Shrek the Musical, The Wizard of Oz, etc.) I decided to try and see Le Mis, cause I've heard great things about it, and had not viewed it. However, the seats were VERY expensive and there was a general lack of student deals. I also had no desire to pay money to see Phantom performed again. Once was plenty. Therefore I decided to align myself with the smaller group that wanted to see Sweeny Todd. We got our tickets, and THEN I decided I wanted to go with the group that went back to St. Paul's Cathedral to climb to the top. With my recent breathing problems, I knew this was going to be a challenge for me, but it was one I really wanted to accomplish. With our looming play performance later, maybe I should have waited for when I would be taking up my own time. I didn't though. It was a struggle. I lagged behind the group, and was quickly out of breathe and soaked in sweat. London was extremely humid while we were there. One of the guys in our group was really kind and stayed with me throughout my trial. And I did make it to the top. It was a LOT of stairs. The view was beautiful! Downstairs wasn't quite as hard as upstairs, but it wasn't easy either. I wanted to rush into the gift shop quickly to buy a CD of the boys choir, while the others grabbed food there, but then they decided they were going to go somewhere cheaper. Having been holding them up all afternoon already, I rushed to buy my CD. Having forgotten I had tossed my camera into the top of my backpack after taking pictures at the top of St. Paul's, I quickly unzipped my bag to grab my wallet, and my camera fell out. Holding a CD, an empty bottle from my hasty lunch, and balancing my backpack, I didn't have the hands to grab it. I didn't have time to check on it then. I made my purchase and rushed to join my group. When they paused to grab lunch, I tentatively pulled my camera from my bag. As I opened the case it was in, I couldn't help but notice, my lens was no longer attached to my camera body. My heart sank, until I decided to try and just stick it back on. It went on.... and then came apart again. The plastic grooves that help the lens in place had broken off. Wanting to break into tears there and then, I carefully replaced my camera into it's case, and then into my backpack, and as we walked to the Globe, started brainstorming what to do. We got to the Globe, and took our seats, and I couldn't help but take my camera out to try and fix it somehow. I finally got around to trying to take a picture with it, and I did! This gave me hope that nothing more serious was wrong.
Then the play began! It was great! The only problem was our seats. The main character (Henry) often stood center stage for a good portion of his scenes. There also happened to be a pillar in between where we sat and where he stood. This was particularly sad because King Henry was pretty darn attractive. We did our best to follow the plot and understand the few portions spoken in French, and then I, already emotionally drained, decided to head back to the hotel. I collapsed on my bed, occasionally chatting with one of my roommates, while I waited for one of the people in my group that was heading to Sweeny Todd got a hold of me. And waited. I finally decided to start searching for Ian (not my boyfriend, his roommate. It's not at all confusing) as he had my ticket. He was not in the hotel. Not even a little bit in the hotel. Trying not to panic, I went back to my room and mapped out what the best way to get to the theater, packed up what I thought I might need, and headed for the Tube station, praying I would run into someone in my group on the way. Once I got to the station, I stood around for a couple of moments, and headed back towards the hotel. I wasn't willing to waste money on using the Tube when I wasn't sure I could definitely get where I was going, and I didn't have a clue where my ticket was. At a light, Dr. Coolidge and her husband of all people came up behind me and asked me how my day was. As soon as I started talking, I started crying despite my best efforts. They offered to help me get there, but at this point all I wanted to do was go to sleep. I headed back, hoping my room was empty, and when it was not, took a quick shower for some privacy. Dr. Coolidge came and checked on me, and after I had convinced her I just wanted the day to be over and wasn't interested in trying to make it to the theater still, I went to bed.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Second and Third Day in London!
So after my relatively sleep deprived night in England and my early breakfast our whole group headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral where we were going to attend church. It was beautiful! I can't give you any images from the inside of the church, because no photography was allowed, but here's an image of the outside.
The service was beautiful. There was a boy's choir and a men's choir that sang together, and it was so gorgeous. Breathtakingly so. The sermon was given by the Bishop of London, and we also received communion from him. After this we had lunch in a different part of the church Dr. Ryken referred to as "the crypt." We had tea despite the fact it was a little early by British standards.
Next on the itinerary was a literary walk. We saw a plaque commemorating William Wallace, A few John Wesley memorials, and ambled through several parks before ended up at the London Museum. This went through the history of London if you could not guess that from the name. I found the most interesting part of this exhibit was the section on the London fire. It was a fire that burned for five days that was only stopped when they started blowing up houses to keep it from spreading farther. It was so intense that the stone St. Paul's Cathedral (yes, the one mentioned previously) was destroyed. After my time in the museum, I headed back to our hotel on the Underground and stopped at a nearby grocery store for foodstuffs.
After I ate an entire box of British strawberries by myself and had prepared myself a nutella sandwich, I met up with my friend Katie and a new acquaintance of the trip named Joanne met up for the relatively long underground trip to Westminster and the London Eye. Despite the fact it had rained in the morning, the sun had come out in the afternoon and it was the perfect evening to go up in the Eye.
Near the Eye was the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben of course.
After that we once again made our way back to the hotel, this time for good (or so I thought.) We probably passed three pubs on our way from the underground station to the hotel (three that I noticed) and every one was full of people! Turns out there was a football game between England and Italy that night. Katie got really excited and asked if I would head back to the closet pub and watch the end with her. Since both of my roommates were asleep even though it was only 9:45, I agreed and we headed out. This was one of the most entertaining events to watch I have seen since I have arrived. Oh, not the game. The English WATCHING the game. There was singing, shouting, smoking, and drinking. When they got excited and started screaming, people were literally running from all parts of the street to see what had happened. Katie was giving me running commentary, which was also very entertaining. Finally we headed back and I got a good nights sleep, despite the rumble of the underground beneath me, and the continued shouting from outside.
This morning I again headed to breakfast, my roommates STILL asleep. I had more tea, which was lovely, then headed back to my room to continue the long process of editing a lot of pictures. Then we headed to the British Museum. The coolest thing here was the Rosetta Stone. I had heard about this for years, but had never expected to see it in person. We also looked at a lot of relics from Medieval Europe. There were also a couple of medals that match the design of the ones that are going to be used in this years Olympics.
After lunch we divided into two groups. I choose the group heading to Kensington Park as I wanted to be able to walk around and take more pictures of the outdoors. It was full of people! There were woman jogging with strollers, people on bikes, and lots and lots of dogs! They were everywhere! Many of them not on leashes. It made me so happy. At one point a huge dog came careening through our group to my delight and many others alarm.
Now once again I am back in my hotel room. I've taken the time in up til now to work on editing a lot more photos and craft this blog post. I'm caught up on this trip! Tonight we are heading to Regent's Park again to see Midsummer's Night's Dream in the open air theater. I'm really excited! Check out my facebook page for lots of my pictures.
Next on the itinerary was a literary walk. We saw a plaque commemorating William Wallace, A few John Wesley memorials, and ambled through several parks before ended up at the London Museum. This went through the history of London if you could not guess that from the name. I found the most interesting part of this exhibit was the section on the London fire. It was a fire that burned for five days that was only stopped when they started blowing up houses to keep it from spreading farther. It was so intense that the stone St. Paul's Cathedral (yes, the one mentioned previously) was destroyed. After my time in the museum, I headed back to our hotel on the Underground and stopped at a nearby grocery store for foodstuffs.
After I ate an entire box of British strawberries by myself and had prepared myself a nutella sandwich, I met up with my friend Katie and a new acquaintance of the trip named Joanne met up for the relatively long underground trip to Westminster and the London Eye. Despite the fact it had rained in the morning, the sun had come out in the afternoon and it was the perfect evening to go up in the Eye.
Near the Eye was the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben of course.
After that we once again made our way back to the hotel, this time for good (or so I thought.) We probably passed three pubs on our way from the underground station to the hotel (three that I noticed) and every one was full of people! Turns out there was a football game between England and Italy that night. Katie got really excited and asked if I would head back to the closet pub and watch the end with her. Since both of my roommates were asleep even though it was only 9:45, I agreed and we headed out. This was one of the most entertaining events to watch I have seen since I have arrived. Oh, not the game. The English WATCHING the game. There was singing, shouting, smoking, and drinking. When they got excited and started screaming, people were literally running from all parts of the street to see what had happened. Katie was giving me running commentary, which was also very entertaining. Finally we headed back and I got a good nights sleep, despite the rumble of the underground beneath me, and the continued shouting from outside.
This morning I again headed to breakfast, my roommates STILL asleep. I had more tea, which was lovely, then headed back to my room to continue the long process of editing a lot of pictures. Then we headed to the British Museum. The coolest thing here was the Rosetta Stone. I had heard about this for years, but had never expected to see it in person. We also looked at a lot of relics from Medieval Europe. There were also a couple of medals that match the design of the ones that are going to be used in this years Olympics.
After lunch we divided into two groups. I choose the group heading to Kensington Park as I wanted to be able to walk around and take more pictures of the outdoors. It was full of people! There were woman jogging with strollers, people on bikes, and lots and lots of dogs! They were everywhere! Many of them not on leashes. It made me so happy. At one point a huge dog came careening through our group to my delight and many others alarm.
Now once again I am back in my hotel room. I've taken the time in up til now to work on editing a lot more photos and craft this blog post. I'm caught up on this trip! Tonight we are heading to Regent's Park again to see Midsummer's Night's Dream in the open air theater. I'm really excited! Check out my facebook page for lots of my pictures.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
We are here!
So yesterday I woke up and we were flying over Ireland. Naturally, I was ready to set the plane down there and start exploring, but that was not my end destination (this time!) Our plane landed in Heathrow airport in LONDON ENGLAND!!! Despite the fact it did not feel like I got any sleep on the plane, I feel like I had to have gotten some. It did not feel like an eight hour plane ride. So we disembarked, and made our way through immigration. I was right behind another guy in the WiE program and when I was called up and stated I was doing the same thing as the guy in front of me, the immigration man asked, "Is there anyone left in America?" Well, I certainly hope so, otherwise I'm not sure who would be reading this blog. :)
We gathered up our luggage and climbed onto a coach. I discovered the full extent of my directional difficulties, when I only had a vague feeling that something was different than usual, where my friend Ian was freaking out that we climbed onto the bus on the opposite side from the States. We dumped our stuff at our hotel, and went for a looooong walk in the city. We went all the way to Regents Park which was absolutely filled with beautiful gardens. I only took about 200 pictures my first day here. Hopefully I can get some of those edited and put up soon. Unfortunately I had felt pretty rushed out of the hotel by my roommates and left without a pound on me, which became important when we stopped at a grocery store to buy food. I ended up mooching off of four different people. In a way it was a good thing because I had a good idea of what other people had bought for when I manage to go back. After our walk I was REALLY tired. I took a nap even. This was a very poor idea. I'm never taking a nap ever again (at least on this trip.) Sleep did not come last night until probably 10 at night Illinois time. I did get a lot of reading done. I'm hoping tonight will be better. We dined at the hotel this morning and after some experimenting I discovered how to drink black tea! I had avoided it up to this point as I prefer to drink my tea plain. Black tea is not delicious (to me) by itself. By adding a tiny bit of milk and a small amount of sugar, it was actually quite nice. Good first lesson to learn in England.
Anyways, I'm here in England. It doesn't quite feel real yet. Maybe it's the combination of the sleep deprivation and the newness of everything. I can't believe I have so many weeks to explore this country. I love the people I'm with and I'm excited to get to know them better in England of all places. :)
We gathered up our luggage and climbed onto a coach. I discovered the full extent of my directional difficulties, when I only had a vague feeling that something was different than usual, where my friend Ian was freaking out that we climbed onto the bus on the opposite side from the States. We dumped our stuff at our hotel, and went for a looooong walk in the city. We went all the way to Regents Park which was absolutely filled with beautiful gardens. I only took about 200 pictures my first day here. Hopefully I can get some of those edited and put up soon. Unfortunately I had felt pretty rushed out of the hotel by my roommates and left without a pound on me, which became important when we stopped at a grocery store to buy food. I ended up mooching off of four different people. In a way it was a good thing because I had a good idea of what other people had bought for when I manage to go back. After our walk I was REALLY tired. I took a nap even. This was a very poor idea. I'm never taking a nap ever again (at least on this trip.) Sleep did not come last night until probably 10 at night Illinois time. I did get a lot of reading done. I'm hoping tonight will be better. We dined at the hotel this morning and after some experimenting I discovered how to drink black tea! I had avoided it up to this point as I prefer to drink my tea plain. Black tea is not delicious (to me) by itself. By adding a tiny bit of milk and a small amount of sugar, it was actually quite nice. Good first lesson to learn in England.
Anyways, I'm here in England. It doesn't quite feel real yet. Maybe it's the combination of the sleep deprivation and the newness of everything. I can't believe I have so many weeks to explore this country. I love the people I'm with and I'm excited to get to know them better in England of all places. :)
Thursday, June 14, 2012
So..... England!
Do you know what I should be doing right now? I can tell you it isn't write a blog post. But as I have been on campus for a whole week now and I got a LOT of work done already, I figured I could take a break. Another break. Ahem. Anyways, my last post was an ode to superheros that I wrote whilst at home. I am currently sitting in the apartment I have been sharing with a pretty good percentage of the other Wheaton in England participants. After a week, I've decided I'm very glad none of my off campus options ended up working out. Especially for my poor little awkward shy self who finds it insanely hard to be suddenly thrust into large groups of people I don't know, living at a central location as most of the other students has given me far more opportunities to interact with the people I will be spending LOTS of time with. I have not felt nearly as overwhelmed interacting with these people, which I am so thankful for. There were a couple meals that the group where I went to where I was overlooked, which really was not fun, but I did not starve, and I am sincerely hoping that it won't be repeating.
So I am taking eight credits this summer. I think I possibly could have taken only six, but I'm feeling pretty good about my decision right now. I'm really enjoying both of my classes, and with only two classes every day I feel like I can commit the time required to learning the class materials and get all the reading done (and it's a lot of reading! That's what I get for taking two lit classes!) This year with be Leland Ryken (or Ryken Sr.)'s last year participating in Wheaton in Englad (so it's said) and I have really been enjoying him in class. Here was the quote of the day in today's class. "On the plane, the exhausted female student leaned over to the boy sitting next to her and rested her head on his shoulder. MARRIAGE!" Now, this in part is funny, because honestly, that is a little bit how marriage at Wheaton starts. Oh dear. Professor Coolidge is also really a fantastic teacher, and I am learning a lot from her. I don't think I'm smart enough for her class though! We have also been doing daily "chapel" services in between my two classes (I'm completely done with everything at noon! It's beautiful and fantastic.) I was singled out the first day of class as a singer, and since then I have been called to the front of the class to assist Dr. Ryken with leading the class. And by assist, I mean he impatiently urges me to start the song already. Thankfully I've known all the hymns so far. I hope that trend continues.
Saga has been a little different, and yet, so much the same! When we first got here, it was full of conferences. Then we got some high school football players, which was actually extremely entertaining, because the herds of them part before a college girl like the Red Sea did for Moses, much to our great amusement. Then came.... THE CHEERLEADERS!!! I kid you not, Saga for the past week has looked like something out of my worst nightmares. Our little group of Wheaton in Englanders have been surrounding ourselves with the dwindling members of the conferencers in the hopes they can provide some protection from the hair spray and glitter. Also, Saga full of people who have no idea how to get a meal swiftly and skillfully is.... really painful.
I've also just now thought of something. So I've been slowly friend requesting people in my program as I figure out their names and most all of them are actually English majors. And when I finish with this post, I'm going to put it on my facebook page. If any of you are actually reading this, please do not judge the poor art major in your ranks for any grammatical travesties I may have unknowingly committed. I probably should have thought of that one BEFORE I decided to blog about my adventure to England with a bunch of English majors. Ah well.
So, tomorrow is Friday! We are all pretty excited about the break we get from everyday classes and hours of studying. But before my temporary freedom is nigh, I have a quiz to take and a paper to turn in. A paper I am currently procrastinating to avoid.... starting. I am honestly having much more fun jamming to my iPod. I'm also hoping my roommates do not peek into my room and see me jamming to my iPod. They probably think I'm weird enough without that. Ah well.
I've had some surprise run-in's with some good friends in the past couple of days. One of them happened to be an actual run in when Doug just happened to bump into me after church on Sunday. That boy makes me smile. So does Lindsey! Especially when she makes me fantastic home made Italian food for lunch. At 3. Does that make it dinner? It sort of served as both of those for me today. Here's hoping (and praying) for more pleasant surprises, a good work ethic, good weather (without sunburns!), and not forgetting anything important when we leave for our travel abroad. Like my passport. Or my camera.
So I am taking eight credits this summer. I think I possibly could have taken only six, but I'm feeling pretty good about my decision right now. I'm really enjoying both of my classes, and with only two classes every day I feel like I can commit the time required to learning the class materials and get all the reading done (and it's a lot of reading! That's what I get for taking two lit classes!) This year with be Leland Ryken (or Ryken Sr.)'s last year participating in Wheaton in Englad (so it's said) and I have really been enjoying him in class. Here was the quote of the day in today's class. "On the plane, the exhausted female student leaned over to the boy sitting next to her and rested her head on his shoulder. MARRIAGE!" Now, this in part is funny, because honestly, that is a little bit how marriage at Wheaton starts. Oh dear. Professor Coolidge is also really a fantastic teacher, and I am learning a lot from her. I don't think I'm smart enough for her class though! We have also been doing daily "chapel" services in between my two classes (I'm completely done with everything at noon! It's beautiful and fantastic.) I was singled out the first day of class as a singer, and since then I have been called to the front of the class to assist Dr. Ryken with leading the class. And by assist, I mean he impatiently urges me to start the song already. Thankfully I've known all the hymns so far. I hope that trend continues.
Saga has been a little different, and yet, so much the same! When we first got here, it was full of conferences. Then we got some high school football players, which was actually extremely entertaining, because the herds of them part before a college girl like the Red Sea did for Moses, much to our great amusement. Then came.... THE CHEERLEADERS!!! I kid you not, Saga for the past week has looked like something out of my worst nightmares. Our little group of Wheaton in Englanders have been surrounding ourselves with the dwindling members of the conferencers in the hopes they can provide some protection from the hair spray and glitter. Also, Saga full of people who have no idea how to get a meal swiftly and skillfully is.... really painful.
I've also just now thought of something. So I've been slowly friend requesting people in my program as I figure out their names and most all of them are actually English majors. And when I finish with this post, I'm going to put it on my facebook page. If any of you are actually reading this, please do not judge the poor art major in your ranks for any grammatical travesties I may have unknowingly committed. I probably should have thought of that one BEFORE I decided to blog about my adventure to England with a bunch of English majors. Ah well.
So, tomorrow is Friday! We are all pretty excited about the break we get from everyday classes and hours of studying. But before my temporary freedom is nigh, I have a quiz to take and a paper to turn in. A paper I am currently procrastinating to avoid.... starting. I am honestly having much more fun jamming to my iPod. I'm also hoping my roommates do not peek into my room and see me jamming to my iPod. They probably think I'm weird enough without that. Ah well.
I've had some surprise run-in's with some good friends in the past couple of days. One of them happened to be an actual run in when Doug just happened to bump into me after church on Sunday. That boy makes me smile. So does Lindsey! Especially when she makes me fantastic home made Italian food for lunch. At 3. Does that make it dinner? It sort of served as both of those for me today. Here's hoping (and praying) for more pleasant surprises, a good work ethic, good weather (without sunburns!), and not forgetting anything important when we leave for our travel abroad. Like my passport. Or my camera.
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