Welcome to Shakespeare Country

Been a little bit since I updated, but it's because I have so little time left, and I've been so busy trying to do everything I want to do!  It's hard to believe I've only got a little less than three weeks before I go home, and I'm still not feeling ready to go!  I wish I could stay and see more, and continue hanging out with some of the friends I've made here, and just spend every day exploring parts of London I haven't even come close to seeing.  Honestly, I could have done with six months.
So, what I've been up to...

Last week, our class went on our much-anticipated overnight trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, which we lovingly referred to as Shakespeare Country.  We got to see lots of Shakespeare-related sites, and had lots of fun experiencing some time outside of the hustle and bustle of London.

On Wednesday, we all met bright and early (okay, 8:30 AM) around the corner from Kings Cross Station, where our chartered coach was waiting for us, and we were on the road by 9.  The drive took a couple of hours, but I think most of us spent it getting in some extra sleep.

Our first stop was Mary Arden's (Shakespeare's mother's) farm, which is still a working farm today.  It's still got animals, and people who work there show visitors what it was like to live, work, and cook in that environment back in the day.  The weather was a little crappy, but that didn't stop us from having a good time; we were all especially amused by all the animals.

Spencer and Benji try to make friends with the rabbits.

I, not surprisingly, spent most of my time trying to make friends with the farm's two horses.
 

Didn't really have success with the first one, but....

Aha! Success with the horse we dubbed Shadowfax!

Another reason I belong in England?  This place has horses EVERYWHERE!  My type of place.

Our second stop was...

Anne Hathaway's (Shakespeare's wife) cottage

We had fun exploring the house, and apparently up until fairly recently, descendents of Anne Hathaway's family had lived in the house, so a lot of the artifacts in the house, like plates and stuff, were authentic to their family.  That was pretty cool to learn.

Behind the cottage was a "sculpture garden" and a maze (or, as Peter put it, a "crappy maze").  Teresa and I decided to try out the crappy maze and found that yes, it was indeed crappy.  It took us longer to find the entrance than it took us to get to the middle, partially because people had forged shortcuts through the bushes, and the bushes were shorter than I am, so there wasn't much getting lost involved.  Oh well, we still had fun trying it out.

Teresa in the "crappy maze"

After the cottage, the coach brought us to the main part of the town, where we had the chance to check in at the B&Bs where we'd be spending the night.  Andreina and I shared a room, and 2 other girls from our group were at the same B&B as us.  All of us, though, were on the same road, just a short walk from the center of town.  We had about an hour for lunch (although I squeezed a shower in there, too), and then we continued with the sightseeing.

Stop #3 was Shakespeare's birthplace.


Before entering the actual house, you go through this sort of audio/visual experience of Shakespeare's life, which sort of reminded me of standing in line for a ride at Disneyland.  Being inside the house was cool, too, and a big part of that had to do with the people inside who gave us short talks about different things we'd see in the house.  For example, we saw Shakespeare's father's glovemaking workshop, and the woman there told us about how the gloves were made, and how it's believed that Shakespeare probably helped his dad in the shop, as he often references facts that would only be known by glovemakers.  Interesting stuff.

Stop #4 was the site where Shakespeare's house once stood.  There is now no actual house standing there, but they are currently in the process of an archaeological dig, trying to dig up the foundation of the house to find out more about it.  Also interesting stuff.

Our final stop was, appropriately, Shakespeare's final resting place, the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon.


After leaving Holy Trinity, we had a couple of hours for dinner.  A few other girls and I, in the interest of saving some money, headed to the grocery store and just got sandwiches, then headed to a park by the river to eat.  There we had some dinner-time entertainment, a group of geese harassing two women for their fish and chips.  One of these geese even charged another when he thought it was getting too close to the women who were feeding him these delicious chips.  It was very funny to see.

At 7:00 that night, we headed to the Royal Shakespeare Theater to watch a production of the City Madam.  It was good, but not nearly as good or fun as watching Hamlet at The Globe in London.

After the play, a group of us headed out to a pub for drinks.  It was nice, because some of the people that came were people I haven't spent much time with this trip, so it was really cool getting to spend more time with them and getting to know them a little better.  Late, I know, but better late than never!

The next morning, we had to meet up with the coach at 9:30, so our B&B served us a full English breakfast around 9.  At 9:30, we were all back on the bus and headed for Warwick Castle!



Peter told us lots of really interesting facts about the castle, like there are no records of it ever being taken over due to its good defenses.  Once inside the castle, we were left to our own devices for a few hours, while Peter headed back to the B&B that he owns to make lunch for all of us.

First thing we did was climb the battlements of the castle.  Really fun, and awesome views, but not good to do if you've been having muscle spasms in your leg.  My quads cramped up pretty bad, so I had to take a few stretching breaks along the way.

View from the battlements.

Another view.

Next we wandered to the Peacock Garden and saw, what else... PEACOCKS!  So beautiful... I decided that when I get married, my wedding colors will be inspired by peacock colors (no live peacocks at the wedding, though... they don's sound as pretty as they look).

Me and my peacock buddy... just chillaxin on a bench.

My buddy tried to impress me... it worked.

Dana and me in the garden.

We spent more time exploring different parts of the castle, including a pretty cool exhibit about scandal in high society.  So interesting that, back then, people having affairs was really not that uncommon, and as long as it was kept all "proper" and didn't interfere with anything, no one really paid the subject any attention at all.  Wow, how times have changed.

Later in the afternoon, we boarded the coach again and headed back to the center of Stratford to Peter's B&B, Moss Cottage, where he had a large and delicious buffet late lunch/early dinner set out for us, which included wine AND dessert.  Janet, the homestay coordinator for the program, was there, too, and it was fun catching up with her and talking about how our stays had been going.

After lunch, we boarded the coach one final time to head back to London.  Going back, we got stuck in traffic, the perfect opportunity to work on some homework!  Shortly after arriving back home, I left again to go meet up at a pub with Matt, a friend I've made whilst in London.  We were joined by one of his friends, Ralph, and played pool, had a few drinks, and had a fun time.

The next day, Friday, was the day that my Writing Class group gave our class a tour of Richmond.  I think it went really well, and it was sort of a plus that no one in our class had been to Richmond before, so it was new to everyone.  It was cool, too, because while I was giving my bit on Richmond Park, there was a herd of deer right behind me. (Actually, I had just finished explaining that there are herds of deer in the park, and I said "Now, there's no guarantee that we'll see any deer today..." and one of my classmates points beind me and goes "There are some across the street behind you!")  Hah, I mean, we totally planned that.

Chivaun, Mike, and me: The Richmond Group! Notice the matching outfits... yeah, we did that :)

Wow, what a busy week!  Other than all that, just been having class and trying to make each of these last days in London count.  I've been having so much fun just going out to pubs on weekends (and some during the week), meeting up with classmates and friends we've met who are from the area, and just not really having to worry about anything except for trying to squeeze in all the experiences I want to have before I leave.  Still so much I wanna do, and so little time to do it all!

What's on the adgenda for this week?  Tomorrow, we visit Hampton Court for Peter's class, and then tomorrow night, Andriena and I board an overnight coach to Glasgow, Scotland with Hannah, another one of our classmates.  We'll be there from Thursday morning until Sunday morning.  Hoping to be able to do a day tour up to the Highlands (or at least to Loch Ness), and maybe a day trip to Edinburgh as well, time and budgets permitting.  We found a pretty nice, cheap hotel right in the center of Glasgow, which should make for some fun times.  I'll definitely update you guys with our Scotland adventures next week!

Alright, that's all for now!  Hope everyone back home is doing well, and I'll be seeing you guys real soon!