My British Family!

                                          Hello!

This weekend was a lazy, work on homework, catch up on sleep one and it was excellent! No trips, so not much to talk about surrounding adventuring. 

However, on Wednesday I got to officially meet my British family, Eric and Pat Whittaker! Unfortunately they were not at the initial meet a family program dinner and to make up for that they invited us to dinner at their house. They were so wonderful and had lots of good stories and advice to tell us. They made us a great dinner full of chicken, potatoes, vegetables, and stuffing and a fabulous fruit crumble and custard to follow with after dinner tea! They also showed us around their house which is 400 years old, older than America! Of course, they have changed the home a little bit- added a wall and some built in furnishings. They also have a collection of clocks which are incredibly interesting. 

Anyways, Here are some things I've noticed through my first few weeks in England:

1. They use military time and date is wrote by day, month, year.

2. There is a lot of PDA in London- especially on the Underground.

3. They flawlessly drive through roundabouts. They are everywhere here and I applaud how smoothly everyone seems to drive through them.

4. Streets are narrow and often times cars will drive in the middle if no one is coming from the other direction. 

5. There is a large amount of diversity.

6. Potatoes. Potatoes can go with anything...they are seen at basically every meal. 

7. Everyone dresses quite nicely, overall. It's wonderful.

A Weekend in London

Hello all!

This weekend was quite eventful in so many ways! It started out quite fantastic. On Thursday night we arrived in London to a quite horrible hotel (not that we would be spending much time there anyway) and found a fabulous greek restaurant with amazing staff! 

Friday and Saturday were absolutely spectacular! I went to Sigmund Freud's London home which was incredibly interesting. He lived there during the last year of his life after escaping the Nazis and Anna Freud( his daughter and another psychoanalysist) lived there after him. Anna requested that it be turned into a museum. After that I went to see all the important sights such as Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. They were all so incredibly beautiful and spectacular. No amount of words could give these places justice. I also went to Camden Market, M&M World, and some little stores. In walking to M&M World we got completely lost. We walked around one block and ended up in China town! On Friday night I got to see the fabulous musical of Wicked! It was quite amazing. I've seen it in the Twin Cities and now in London- both performances were spectacular. I highly recommend seeing Wicked. Camden Market is incredibly chaotic but a fun place to explore if you have time for it. On Saturday night, I went to a fabulous pub (O' Neils). Well, what I thought was fabulous at the time. By the end of the weekend I mostly understood the Underground and had completely fallen in love with it over the double decker buses and taxis. One adventure on the underground involved some random man singing to me to inform me he was giving his seat up for me. Another adventure had an elderly man holding my arm to stop me from falling. I learned if you can get a seat do it but otherwise standing wasn't too difficult by the end of the weekend.

Sunday morning at about 4:30 am the two fabulous girls(Mackenzie and Jordyn) staying in my room had to walk 10 minutes to the nearest hospital with me due to food poisoning and the taxis refusing to take us. To help with the dehydration and pain, I was hooked up to an IV of 8 ounces of water and given 3 different medicines- It's a good thing hospitals are free here. Needless to stay, absolutely do not get the Macaroni and Cheese at O' Neils.  At about 8:30Am I was back in the hotel room sneaking in a hour and a half of sleep before having to catch the coach bus to Hampton Court Palace and then back to Harlaxton. Luckily other than exhaustion(Which I'm still recovering from), I was feeling better.  

 

 
 

 

                                 Love to all!

Off to London I Go!

Hello!

Today was rather sunny so I ventured outside with a few friends and took some more pictures around the manor. Unfortunately, there are people pheasant hunting in the woods so we could not go explore the old practice bunkers from the practices held here during World War I and World War II.

This week was our first week of classes! I only have three courses this semester (12 credits) as the faculty here suggests that we only take 12 credits if possible. I'm taking British Studies, Psychology Special Topic: Drugs & Behavior, and Intro to Neuroscience. So far they are quite fantastic and my two professors are wonderful! I start at 8:30 everyday and usually end up taking a nap after. Intro to Neuroscience is at 4:10-5:00 on Mondays, Tuesday, and Thursdays so I have quite a long break on those days. Tonight we are leaving to adventure in London this weekend! I am planning on going to the Freud Museum for sure but other than that I will see what I end up doing as I am positive there will be at least 1 or 2 more weekend in London.

Love to all!

Erin

Firsts: Convocation, The Bistro, and Grantham.

Ello!


Yesterday was my first full day at Harlaxton and it was exhausting as I am still adjusting to the new time zone. I have walked in many circles, found two passageways out of roughly ten, bought a sweatshirt from Harlaxton's Boutique, bought my textbooks, and met some fantastic people. After a day of adventuring and finding my way around, we had our opening convocation and high table dinner. 
We were informed to come in "smart dress" meaning formal apparel and preferably black. The students are divided into four houses similar to those in the Harry Potter series.  Instead of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin, the house names are Gregory, Pegasus, Newton, and Mercia.  At the High Table Dinner, we found out what house we were in and what students were in it. I am in Pegasus- the equivalent to Hufflepuff! The meal included salad, biscuits, steamed broccoli and carrots, pasta noodles, and parmesan crusted chicken breast. There was also two wine bottles (one white and one red), apple juice, hot tea, and water. My first legal drink in the   United Kingdom was at dinner and then off to The Bistro afterwards. After dinner the faculty were released to a speaker and the students either to The Bistro which is on campus, to ta pub in town, or off to bed. No one here has really completely registered how long we will actually be here- so far we have referred to it as feeling like a week long camp.

This morning I went into the town of Grantham and visited Poundland to get some supplies that was left at home. I also bought some chocolates for my room. My room is on the top floor of the manor (fifth floor) So I walk up tons of stairs. Also, I am really fascinated by all the chandeliers and details of Harlaxton. We learned a brief history yesterday about Harlaxton Manor as well. I had not known that both in World War I and World War II harlaxton was used for training. It also was used for emergency plane landings during World War II. There are old bunkers out in the woods and trenches that I plan to eventually take some pictures of. 












 Love to all,

      Erin

The Adventure Begins

Hello!

I had written this post already but it rambled on about the free things and random excitement and shock of the first four hours of my flight along with navigating the Minneapolis airport. I hadn't focused on the feelings and the amazing opportunity ahead.

My attempt at photographing the northern lights

Four and a half hours into the flight, half asleep and half terrified for my new journey and of heights, Mackenzie catches my full attention. The beautiful northern lights are lighting up the night sky outside of our tiny airplane window. It is so incredibly beautiful and captured in my mind. Our cameras could not get clear pictures. This incredibly irreplaceable moment has completely relaxed me..along with Gavin Degraw's beautiful voice. This is really happening. I was really on a flight to London. I will be staying in a castle. I will be in Europe for four months. It's real and I am so blessed to have this wonderful opportunity. I have now safely made it to Harlaxton Manor where I was lucky enough to receive a room with a view(sorta) and three other roommates- it's a pretty big room though.

Departing from MSP 

Arriving at LHR

 

 

Love to all,

Erin