Day Trips Around England

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I’ve been on a few day trips to nearby towns and cities in England during my time here. None of them were big enough to write a full blog post, but I thought I’d give you a quick summary of the towns I’ve visited.

• Nottingham is a great little town about 35 minutes away by train. It has fantastic shopping (Primark, I love you forever and ever), good restaurants, good concerts (Florence + the Machine of course!), and wonderful people. For credit for my music class, I went to Nottingham with friends in January to see a symphony. The music was absolutely wonderful, and because it was my first symphony, it was very different from anything I’ve ever seen before. However, the best part of the night was meeting the man who sat next to us, Simon. Before we had even spoken to him, he asked us if we wanted ice cream at intermission. We weren’t quite sure if he was really offering to buy us ice cream so we politely declined. He then continued to offer ice cream to everyone in our row. I will never, ever know why on earth we turned down his offer for free food. After the symphony, Scott, Ryan, and I stayed to talk to Simon and his wife. We were the last 5 in the theatre besides the ushers who looked like they really wanted us to leave. He asked us what we were doing in England and gave us plenty of tips about where to visit and what to do. He was the best local I’ve met, and I so enjoyed talking to him. I wish we could have stayed to talk even longer but we sadly had to make our way back to Harlaxton. (January 20, March 6, March 28)
• York was not the best day. The weather was absolutely horrible. It was cold & rainy, and the wind was stronger than any I’ve ever felt. It really puts a damper on a trip when the weather is awful. The city was nice. It had a wonderful little market and a great museum about trains that my cousin Ethan would have loved. If the weather wasn’t so disgusting, I probably would have more to say about this city, but the weather really overshadowed the good because it made it difficult to walk around. (January 21)
• Cambridge was one of my favorite places. We didn’t have enough time to do everything we wanted in this little city, but it was wonderful. The city had beautiful museums, wonderful cafes and bakeries, and of course, the gorgeous university. I could have spent longer than a day here, but I’m glad we went back because it snowed that night at Harlaxton. We spent 2 hours playing in the snow, having snowball fights, and building snowmen. This entire day was perfect. (February 4)
• London is my favorite city in England and probably my favorite city that I’ve been to in Europe altogether. If not my favorite, it’s definitely in the top 3. Janie and I decided to take a day trip to London on a Wednesday after class to see two shows and walk around this beautiful city. We also took a relaxing weekend trip to London another weekend when everyone was gone. We spent a few hours in the park, enjoyed some theatre, toured the Tower of London, and saw the Crown Jewels. It was nothing too exciting but it was wonderful to have that weekend and that day trip. I love this city, and I will definitely miss being an hour away from it when I return home. (February 17-19, March 7)
• Grantham is the town closest to Harlaxton. It’s only about 3.5 miles away so there’s a shuttle service that takes you into the town for free when you need to run errands. I’ve been in numerous times to pick up food, laundry detergent, and other living necessities, but I spent two recent Saturdays in town while everyone else took trips. It’s not a huge town and there’s not much to do, but it’s great to walk around on a nice day. There’s enough shopping to satisfy a girl and there’s usually a little market on Saturdays. I also particularly enjoy the consignment shops of Grantham. Each one is for a different charity, and the clothes, books, and movies are all in excellent condition. Harlaxton hosts a costume ball for the students towards the end of the semester so I managed to get my awesome costume for about 10 pounds at the consignment stores in Grantham. For someone on a tight budget and for someone who doesn’t want to travel all the time but needs to get away from the manor, it’s perfect. (March 10, March 17 and others)

“THE IRISH JIG GUY?!” And “Wait! This seat is really uncomfortable! Yeah, maybe before we start we should just get another one. Perhaps, like an airplane seat—or a beanbag chair!”

Classes have officially begun here at Harlaxton College. In fact, as I write this, I’m finishing up my third day of classes. Only two more classes tomorrow and a few hours on a coach (bus) separate me from London!

So far, classes are going well. British Studies doesn’t seem too difficult, but it will be a lot of work and will be challenging. Reading, group projects (two already! Luckily, they were short.), and a big research paper are going to take up a lot of time. Astronomy and Intro to Music shouldn’t be too hard, but I’m really going to have to learn time management when it comes to school and travel.

Tuesday of this week was my favorite time at Harlaxton so far. I know I haven’t been on any trips yet so that will probably change, but for now, it’s in the lead. After classes and dinner, a Ceilidhl (pronounced Kaylee) band came to Harlaxton to teach us traditional European dances. I can’t remember every country he mentioned but I know we did dances from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Israel (random).  My friend from WKU, Eli, was my dance partner, and it was so much fun. I wish I had pictures or video to remember the time, but I was too busy having too much fun. It felt like I was Jack & Rose in the third class party scene from Titanic. You know, this one:

It really fit in well with the Titanic-inspired Kaitlynn and Lendee Harlaxton 2012 motto of “To Making It Count.”

Anyway, Eli and I had a wonderful time learning dances with the other couples. Despite being sweaty, thirsty, and just overall disgusting afterwards, I would do it every week if the band wanted to come back. So many stepped-on toes, missed steps, and laughs. It was perfect.

After we cleaned ourselves up a bit, we went out to Grantham to celebrate two WKU 20th birthdays: Janie’s and Anthony’s! I hope you both had a wonderful day.

Today (Wednesday for those reading on a later date), I did something really dumb…rode a bike approximately 3.5 miles to Grantham and 3.5 miles back. It sounded like a great idea in theory. It would be a lovely ride because the countryside views here are spectacular, and it would be fun to spend time with 9 friends. FALSE. WRONG. NOT CORRECT. (That’s for you, Kyle.)

Okay, the view was lovely, and the friends were wonderful, but I have not been on a bike in a few years. It was miserable. I sucked and held everyone else back. I felt awful because they all had to wait on me. I’m really sorry, everyone!

Today was just not my day. The first bike I got from the manor was not cooperating so Scott offered to trade with me (Thanks Scott!!!). Then, that bike was way too tall so the seat hurt, and anytime we had to stop before crossing the street, I couldn’t put my legs down to keep me balanced. I also got a Charlie Horse on the way there and couldn’t move my leg. Like I said, not my day. Luckily, everyone was really helpful and friendly no matter how upset they may have been that I was keeping them behind.

Jennifer’s legs gave up too on the way back. So we walked back together while everyone else rode. We would hop on the bikes anytime we would be going downhill to coast but walked the rest of the way. The sign that read “Harlaxton” as we were returning was the greatest thing I have ever read. And we were only about 10 minutes behind the rest of the group so I’m pretty proud of that. Honestly, I’m thankful to be back and that I didn’t pass out. But I’m trying to look on the bright side of everything while I’m here, and today, I can officially say that I rode a bike in England. How many other people can say that?

Anyway, I need to get my sore body up and packing for London tomorrow! I watched this episode yesterday in preparation (see Daddy, I am watching my DVDs!), so I’ll share a bit with you.

Look for a new post about London when I return on Sunday!

Lots of love,

Kaitlynn

P.S. From now on, I’m going to try to come up with titles for my posts that reference some of my favorite things from popular culture. If you guess it right, you’ll get a lovely hug from me when I return. I’m poor. I can’t really afford real prizes. 🙂

Days 2 and 3

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Yesterday, a group of my friends and I made our way by a Harlaxton coach (bus) to the town that lies 3.5 miles from Harlaxton: Grantham. This town is the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton and Margaret Thatcher so this place is full of history. (We didn’t really get to explore the history though due to a time crunch, but on January 22nd, I’m taking a walking history tour of Grantham with the college so I’ll have pictures and more interesting facts from that.)

We found the Sir Isaac Newton Shopping Center where we found Poundland and Morrison’s. Poundland is a clean, British version of Dollar General. Because we’re all on a super tight budget, we went a little crazy in this store trying to buy all the supplies we couldn’t bring with us. At Morrison’s, I bought peanut butter and crackers to make some snacks for the weekend trips. Like I said, tight budget.

We then made our way to Asda, the British Wal-Mart. There I was finally able to buy a hair dryer and flat iron. My hair has been tucked away in a hat for the past two days due to a lack of good supplies. We also went upstairs to the clothing section where I bought a pair of knitted socks to sleep in. It’s quite cold here. I slept in two pairs of socks last night. The best part, though, was getting upstairs. Instead of taking an elevator with our cart, Asda had an escalator made for carts. It was like the moving sidewalks in airports but at an incline. The carts were designed to lock in place as you went up and down so that they didn’t roll. I was fascinated. My friend Lendee said she’s seen one in America, but I haven’t so it was a fun experience. Also, the car park (parking lot) began literally right next to the building. Instead of having a huge path for cars in front of Asda, the handicap spots were right at the door. It was incredibly convenient.

Things I learned/observed on our trip to Grantham:

• Always have the cashier swipe your card instead of using the card machines. They do not like American credit cards.
• Everything is smaller. I picked up a bag of Skittles (with different packaging too) and it was about half the size of an American bag of Skittles. Lendee and I saw a loaf of bread that was both shorter and had smaller pieces of bread.
• Children with British accents are the cutest children.
• The word cash is still used, but instead of bills, they say “notes.” (Thanks Lendee for helping me figure that out.)
• People in Grantham are VERY proud that Sir Isaac Newton was born there. I mean, they should be because he’s a cool person, but everything is named after him: pubs, shopping centers, etc.
• Escalators for shopping carts exist.
• Peanut butter comes in glass jars.

We returned to the manor and got fancy for the Principal’s High Table Dinner, a tradition started at Oxford and Cambridge. We sat down to dinner at assigned places in order to mingle with other people.  A bagpipe champion, Billy James, marched the faculty and their families into dinner as part of the ceremony. It was quite wonderful, and I met someone who lives two streets away from me back home. The world is a small, small place! Some of my friends decided to go out to a few pubs, but the jet lag was really getting to me so I went back to bed.

Today, I slept in! It was so nice, and for the first time, I felt like my body was used to British time. After going to brunch and getting my picture taken for the yearbook and school ID, I went exploring outside with Lendee.  This place is absolutely beautiful, and I found the perfect reading spot outside for when I need to do schoolwork or want to read my next book, Mockingjay. The pictures are up above in the slideshow (mixed with pictures from our President’s High Table Dinner). Enjoy!

I also Skyped with Mom, Dad, and Kyle tonight. 🙂 It was daylight there so that was super weird, but it was nice to talk to them and see their wonderful faces.

American Word vs. British Word: (This list will be updated throughout the semester.)

• Eraser=rubber
• Pants=trousers
• Highway=dual carriageway
• Bus=coach
• Parking lot=car park
• Truck=lorry (Allison, this is where Traffic Rush gets it!)
• Sidewalk=pavement
• Bills (money)=Notes
• French Fries=chips
• Chips=crisps
• Elevators=lifts
• Cookie=biscuit
• Biscuit=scone
• Windshield=windscreen
• Trunk=boot
• Line=queue (someone was asked if they were “queueing”…this place is awesome)
• And of course…soccer=football

Classes start tomorrow morning at 8:30 am so I’m going to spend the rest of the evening preparing for classes. I won’t post very much until after our London trip.

Until next time,

Kaitlynn