Stratford-upon-Avon

I'm nerdy enough to LOVE Shakespeare-- although I'm not nerdy enough to fully understand the plots and literary devices without the help of sparknotes and no-fear-shakespeare. So far, we've read Macbeth, Hamlet, Cymbeline, and King Lear in my Shakespeare literature class (and I have an essay due Monday if anyone wants to help~) and with the help of my professor and classmates, I've thoroughly enjoyed the plays!

Last Saturday, Harlaxton booked tickets for the Shakespeare Literature class to go to Stratford-upon-Avon and visit Shakespeare's birthplace and watch Cymbeline performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. The whole experience was amazing.

In the Shakespeare gardens with friends

 We took a bus and arrived around noon. We toured his birth home, and visited the site of where his house once stood (it's been torn down, but now the site is a museum of sorts). The town was lovely, with tacky gift shops and pubs all using Shakespeare puns to entice tourists.

 After visiting those sites, we still had plenty of time before our show that evening, so we headed across town to Holy Trinity, which is the church where Shakespeare was buried. Like all churches in England, it looked ancient and very intimidating.

Holy Trinity Church

THE GRAVE

 Inside however, the people were very kind and had loads of Shakespeare information. His body was up front by the alter, next to his wife and daughters. The plaque says "Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear, to dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, and cursed be he that moves my bones." It's a creepy curse that they are pretty sure Shakespeare wrote for himself before he died. At Westminster Abbey there is a whole section dedicated to poets and artists, and while Shakespeare has a huge section of it in his honor, they didn't move his body to West Minster. (Although a recent scan of the tomb shows that his skull is missing???? Freaky!)

the church from the inside

After the pub

After exploring the city for the afternoon, we grabbed dinner at a local pub. This pub was recommended to us by our professor and the food was delicious! I am becoming very bitter about how bland the cafeteria food is at Harlaxton, so this was a great change of pace.

our seats for the performance

 Right after dinner, we headed towards our theater to see Cymbeline.

Reading Shakespeare and actually seeing Shakespeare performed are two completely different things. The show was hilarious, and rather dark at some points, but it was one of his comedies, which meant the good guys won in the end. It was a fantastic way to finish up our day trip in Stratford.

friends at the performance

Our bus didn't get back to Harlaxton until 1am. Luckily, I have the natural talent for falling asleep anywhere at any time, so I wasn't too sleep deprived for the upcoming week of classes!


However, tomorrow we leave at 8:30 for a weekend in Northumberland and we won't be returning until Sunday evening. Wish me luck for my quiz in British Studies on Monday morning!!!

xoxo-- Annie

Harlaxton House Competition

The student community at Harlaxton is shaping up to be really great. With roughly 140-ish students milling about the Manor, it's not hard to get to know everyone. It's nice to have other students to around to share these new and sometimes challenging experiences with.

Exactly like the Hogwarts houses in Harry Potter, Harlaxton's student body has been split up into four different groups of students to compete for "House Keys" at the end of the semester. The four houses are; Gregory (named after the original owner of the manor and known for it's leaders), Mercia (apparently they've won the competition many semesters in a row), Newton (the super competitive smart ones, named after Sir Issac Newton who was born sort of close to here), and Pegasus (has only won once in the past few years).

The houses are based on personality types and interests. Every student was emailed an online quiz to fill out before they arrived so they could be sorted into their proper house. I was hoping to get into Gregory, but Mercia and Newton sounded pretty cool too, but in the end, I was placed in Pegasus. I was slightly bitter at first, just because Pegasus has such a lame reputation compared to how fierce the other three houses seemed. However, as we've started our house competitions and such, I've realized I've been sorted into the proper house. We're all kind of lame, not really competitive, and would much rather make jokes about losing instead of actively trying to beat the other houses.We elected a captain for our house, and in his acceptance speech he promised to "make Pegasus great again" and he promised to build us all wall (making the other houses pay for it of course). I think it's going to be a fun semester.

The problem is, the competitions so far have been things like trivia nights, and dodge ball tournaments, and scavenger hunts. All actives that sound fun in theory, but are actually very intimidating when you're up against other houses who are taking it all very very seriously.

Luckily, my time to shine has come. The nurse, secretary, and a few other women in the manor have come together and started a knitting and crocheting club! They've purchased yarn in the color of our houses and are providing instructions and needles for little 4"x4" squares which they plan to stitch together into blankets to donate to a local charity. The house that manages to make the most squares by the end of the semester wins! And while everyone else is just learning how to make chains and basic stitches, I've already completed two squares. I finally found a way to contribute to Pegasus!

 There are other ways to win (and lose) house points as well, such as grades, athletic tournaments, weekend sign outs, participating in college events, and more. So far, Pegasus is in second place! I'll keep you updated on the points as the semester progresses!

xoxo Annie

LONDON WEEKEND

Thursday evening the students of Harlaxton loaded onto the buses and drove to London. We departed right after dinner, and got to the hotels just in time to enjoy the hotel's steamy showers.

Friday morning was an early start for my friends and me. We left the hotel and adventured around the heart of the city (we totally didn't get lost or anything) and eventually made our way onto an iconic doubledecker red bus for a tour of the city. Our tour guide was a very lively older man who knew way too much about the city. We learned so much and got a great taste of the city's history. After the bus tour there was a boat tour down the Thames, which was also very exciting, and offered a completely different view of the city!

There were lions all over the city. Everywhere.

There were also dragons everywhere.

So much history in the streets.

I wasn't kidding about the lions.

Annnnnnnd, Abraham Lincoln. In London.

Kari, Kelsie (my roommate) and me outside of Westminster!

That afternoon we got tickets to explore Westminster Abbey, and WOW. Sadly, you can't take pictures inside, but it was an amazing experience. It was simply stunning. So much history in one place! There were so many dead kings and queens, as well as so much live history. I was standing where the queen's coronation happened, I was walking Kate Middleton was married! It was a really amazing experience.

The really cool part was how much I actually understood about the history! In the British Studies class we've learned so much about the kings and their successors, as well as the battles and bishops their stories. Walking through Westminster allowed me to visualize the history I'd been learning about, and it was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world!

Saturday morning we did the most tourist-y thing we could possibly do in London; we went on the London Eye. The London Eye is a HUGE Ferris wheel right next to the Thames River. The pods can hold about 20 people and still be spacious enough for you to walk around inside and take pictures from all sides.

The tickets were probably overpriced, but it was such a spectacular view!
















After lunch, we saw Macbeth performed at the Globe Theater! That's right, a Shakespeare production performed in Shakespeare's theater!

 

The Globe was set up just like it was in Shakespeare's time, thatched roof and all. Harlaxton provided the Shakespeare students with "groundling" tickets, which meant we were standing in the center of the theater right in front of the stage. Yes, it was tiring to stand for a 3 hour production, but honestly, I didn't even notice how bad my feet ached until after the performance was finished. True to England's nature, it started to spit rain that afternoon, and there isn't a roof over the groundling section of the theater, so we were rained on during the latter half of the play. However, Macbeth is a dark play, and the rain seemed to have been perfectly planned to help set the mood (I had my raincoat with me and wasn't bothered at all). 

After Macbeth, I allowed myself a little fangirl indulgence. I went to King's Cross station.

 

King's Cross station is the train station that Harry Potter goes to at the beginning of the books. He goes through Platform 9 3/4's and rides the Hogwart's Express from London to Hogwarts. I took the Tube for the first time just so I could reach the train station. And of course I wasn't the only one there strictly for the Harry Potter experience. I guess King's Cross is used to people coming to get a glimpse of Platform 9 3/4's because they had a whole gift shop set up next to it. It was really fun to explore, but most of the merchandise was Harry Potter items that you could easily find online. However, I did break down and purchase a Hogwarts Express ticket, just because I can brag about having the ticket from King's Cross. 

Sunday we all loaded back up on the bus and rode out to Hampton Court Palace where we explored for the afternoon. 

 Hampton Court Palace was owned by Henry the Eighth, and it was huge! We had three hours to spend there, and we didn't even come close to exploring the whole place. Everything about it was extravagant and very excessive. My favorite parts were the gardens and the ghost stories, because of course these old palaces had massive gardens and an abundance of old folklore about their deceased tenants.

A velvet toilet??? Really Henry? Really?

Sorry for such a long post! (and a late post, I was exhausted and yesterday my computer decided it was a great time to start updating, so I just put it off until today.) I just had a lot I needed to recover from this weekend! I'm completely exhausted, but in a good way. It's great to be back at Harlaxton. I need a little time to recover before the next trip.

Also, today I received a letter in the mail from all of you <3 I'm having a great time in England, but I am definitely missing everyone back home. Your letter came at a perfect time. I really needed it. Thank you all so much! I love you!

xoxo Annie

First Week of Classes

I've officially been at Harlaxton for a week now! I am still getting lost on my way to the library and the dining hall, but I'm getting the hang of the place. The first weekend was so amazing and overwhelming. Everything is so fancy and ornate, and there's so much to explore. It was easy to forget that Harlaxton wasn't just a vacation-- it's also a school. Monday's 8:30am lecture came as a rude awakening for some of the students.

I'm taking it easy this semester, giving myself some slack and only taking 12 credit hours so I have a chance to breathe and enjoy the experience instead of stress about school. However, being an English major, I still ended up with 9 books. Go figure.

The British Experiences class is 8:30-10:40am on Mondays and Wednesdays. The lectures are set up to go in chronological order of England's history, beginning with ancient Britain, then the Roman invasions, and then the Angles, Saxons, vikings, so on and so forth. In just two lectures I've learned so much! I've also realized that I only have a very basic and very poor understanding of how complicated the UK's history really is. I know I'm going to learn a lot in this class (if I can stay awake! It's a good thing the cafeteria has coffee).

I'm also taking a class that focuses on Shakespeare, and I'm nerdy enough to be really excited for it. We're reading a total of 12 plays this semester (WOW) starting with Macbeth. This weekend is our London weekend, and in our first class of Shakespeare, the professor handed out tickets to see Macbeth in the Globe Theater while we're in the city! Later in the semester, we're also going to see a production of Cymbeline when we visit Stratford.

My last class is called "Masterpieces of British Literature" which will include more Shakespeare, Beowulf, the Canterbury Tales, Robinson Crusoe, and more. I have the same professor for both English classes, and I know it's going to be a great semester. He really knows what he's talking about! Our classroom also doubles as a great hall of sorts, so there's huge vaulted ceilings, amazing fireplaces, paintings, and huge windows. There's also a grand piano in the room, so the professor has decided to play us music before class, and it is incredible what this man can do!

I've always been lame enough to really enjoy school, but this takes my love of learning to a whole new level. I can't wait to get further into my classes.

Sorry there wasn't any pictures in this post, but I'm sure my last post made up for the deficit in this one. In a few hours I'll be heading down to London for the weekend, and I just can't tell you how excited I am! I'll report back on Monday to tell you how it went.

xoxo-- Annie

Picture Post

Harlaxton Manor!

This weekend was a whirlwind of orientations and explorations. We explored the manor and tried to get used to our new home (I'm still getting lost though!). The past few days have been overwhelming as we've settled into the Harlaxton Manor life, so this post is just going to be pictures of the manor and grounds with short captions to go along with them. I hope this helps to give you a glimpse of what it's like to be here at Harlaxton! (be sure to click the picture to view it better!)

The fielded hills surrounding the manor.

 

The carriage house.

 

A view of the gates from Harlaxton's front windows.

The carriage house (at night) (everything is spooky here at night).

Part of the conservatory.

Statue in pond area of conservatory.

Deceit column archway.

Envy column archway.

Idk, it's some statue that is just chilling on the staircase banister?? Looks cool though.

creepy spider pit my roommate found under a staircase.

SECRET PASSAGEWAY! (It used to be the servants staircase)

There are so many baby statues everywhere. It's a little alarming.

Giant fireplace in the state room.

Giant fireplace with an Annie for size comparison.

Another mossy bust in the conservatory.

Koi pond in the conservatory.

Back garden lazy sleepy lion.

Other back garden lion.

Beautiful sunset! This is part of the front circle drive.

Okay, sit down and prepare yourself. This is the best thing that's ever happened. This is Cadbury milk chocolate filled with oreo cream filling and huge chunks of oreo pieces. I'm going to be honest with you, the food is okay at Harlaxton. It's not the best, but it's totally fine! You know? But this chocolate. THIS CHOCOLATE. This is amazing. (I bought it in Grantham at "PoundLand" which is like their Dollar Store.)

This is the great hall!

This is the fireplace in the great hall. Again. It's HUGE.

This is the back part of the garden area. I just explored it this morning. They are growing lavender and the whole area smells amazing! The gardens are huge and so green and lovely, and the views are spectacular.

It looks like just a grassy area, but that statue is actually in front of a huge pond! So much algae!

View of Harlaxton (that part is the conservatory) from the gardens. It was a cloudy morning, and rain was sprinkling just a bit, but it was amazing!

Another path in the garden. Seriously. Mom. These gardens are amazing and huge and beautiful. I wish you were here to see it!

So these statues of the headache guys are all over the manor. They are put under archways and columns, and I think they're supposed to represent Atlas straining under the weight of the world, but don't quote me on that. I'm not sure which statues I relate more to; the lazy sleepy lions out back, or these constantly confused and overwhelmed guys.

(Be sure to click the photo for a bigger image) MORE garden picture! There were so many levels and pathways and stone arches. I'm still not sure I explored it all! I'll have to head back out soon!

MORE garden pics! (And a rain cloud and Harlaxton in the background)

Pretty flowers.

Satyr bust in the back of the garden. I think he's might be Pan?

I took a selfie with Harlaxton once I made it to the top of the gardens.

I found this behind one of the fountains. I'm pretty sure it's where they keep the students who fail the British Studies class.

Inside view of the previous picture.

 

My home for the semester <3

So those are my adventures around the grounds so far. I'm sorry this post was very informal, I just had a lot to share!

Today was also my first day of classes and I am so excited about it. I especially can't wait for my Shakespeare class tomorrow! Check back Thursday to see how my first week of classes went!

(Hi mom! Hi dad! Hi Jake! Love you all! Please give Romeo a kiss for me <3)

xoxo-- Annie