Fountains Abbey, Hadrian’s Wall, and Edinburgh!!!

On our way to Edinburgh we made some pretty neat stops! We headed to Fountains Abbey; monks who were kicked out of the region around Tintern Abbey started this abbey up North. They had a few different ideals and viewpoints; of course it was destroyed during Henry VIII’s reign, yet the ruins are still standing. This abbey is about 3x as big as Tintern! And it’s LOVELY!

Just a section of Fountains Abbey! It's huge! And gorgeous!

We then headed to Hadrian’s Wall at Housesteads Fort. This is a preserved Roman fort next to Hadrian’s Wall (the Roman barrier separating Scotland and England). It was so gorgeous!

Standing in England, over the wall is Scotland! Cool huh!

Scotland’s landscape was different than I pictured. True, there are rolling green hills, but there is also a fair amount of trees, an evergreen forest even. I loved being right on the border of Scotland and England and getting the chance to be in “two places at once”! I was really excited to be in Scotland because the Burnett surname originates from Scotland! While walking around the town I saw street names with my last name, and saw a lot of my family crest around the shops. It was neat J It was fun to see where my family perhaps lived, and to walk the streets that they might have walked themselves.

Finally arrived!!!

I'm in two places at once!

We arrived in Edinburgh in time for dinner and to walk around the city, and oriented ourselves.

Edinburgh got ready for the Olympics as well!

So this is a crappy picture... but everyone was in line and it's the only one I could get in front of The Elephant House! This is where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter on a napkin! (It's sad that I include a HP reference in almost every blog post....but I'm obsessed.)

Cheers! I love Scotland!

The Day I found Marks & Spencer in York

We unfortunately had to leave the Lake District (an excellent place to retire, in my personal opinion) and we headed to York for the night! York, or Jorvik, was settled by the Vikings; my people! We headed to the Jorvik Viking Center… it was a scary place. Why was it scary you ask? It was scary because they had this “It’s a Small World” type ride, Viking style. They had wax figures. Never a good idea. I did see some fossilized Viking feces… which was unfortunately the highlight of that Center. Pretty grim I know.

Walking down the streets of York

After being scarred by the wax Vikings, we headed down some tiny fun streets to York Minster (their Cathedral) and had a cool tour!

The street that inspire J.K. Rowling for Diagon Alley. Yes folks, that was another HP reference.

We then had free time in York! Aaaannnnddd commence my Marks & Spencer experience. This. Is. My. New. Favorite. Store. It is similar to Target, but classier, and 1000 times better. Heaven knows I adore Target. It’s Heaven in version of a store. Well. I think Marks & Spencer is the best thing that could have ever happened to this Earth. (I may be being a little dramatic, but it’s freaking awesome!)

They have everything! Food, furniture, clothes, truly everything! I want to register there for my wedding (I’m getting a little ahead of myself…). But if they ever got one in the U.S., I would most likely shed tears of joy! Anyways… It was an awesome place. If you ever get the chance to visit, make a day of it.

FAVORITE PLACE!

That was a quick version of my day in York! Cheers!

The Day I Became a Museum Curator!

Today I had one of my favorite experiences while on this study abroad. I got to be a museum curator for the afternoon! Since we were in the Lake District, we were able to talk our way into seeing and handling Wordsworth’s journals, letters, and pieces. You usually have to be a professor, with an extremely good reason to see his original documents! And I was lucky enough to see them! Not only that, but they filmed our group because they are redoing their museum and wanted ideas from the public. So basically we got to come up with an exhibit that they are considering using! I loved every minute of it! It was such a great way to apply our readings from class, and experience what we had only read copies of.

Actual manuscript!!!

We then went on a hike through the countryside of the Lake District (Ambleside to Skelwith Bridge and Loughrigg Tarn)! We explored caves…. reenacted scenes from HP with Dumbledore and Harry and the Horcrux (don’t judge me), and just had a grand old time! We hung around the lake and sat on the beach, skipping rocks, playing in the water, etc. Of course, this is England and we eventually got rained out and headed home to the hostel.

The Lake District!

Wouldn't that be a great place to live??

I think I saw Gollum from Lord of the Rings in there, and Dumbledore with the Horcrux, and Peeta waiting for Katniss to come back from the cornucopia. Yeah, I'm a nerd! Whatcha gonna do about it?!?

Cheers!

Cambridge and the Lake District

Today was the beginning of my NORTH TRIP!!!! We started it off with a bang by visiting Cambridge and then heading out to the Lake District.

When we arrived at Cambridge we visited one of the colleges and had a short lecture from one of the professors that teaches there. Let's just say I don't think I'll be transferring over anytime soon... they have a rigorous schedule! After a short while my brain started to hurt so I thought it would be fun to go Punting down the river.

"What in the world is Punting??"

Well, it's the British version of a Gondola. You know those little boats they ride in Italy, with the guys in the striped shirts singing, there are candles, and it's extremely romantic? Well. It's that, but not romantic, difficult, and British. A group of us decided that it sounded like an extremely promising idea, and loaded in our boats. I can't steer to save my life, it was a challenging experience. We got desperate enough that we headed to the shore and pulled our boat along. Yeah. It was grim. People stopped and watched. And yet, I loved every second of it! My new goal is to become an expert punter! Just give me couple years.

I accidentally steered us into a tree...

They made me sit down because I was a failure at punting. But it's okay! I got to sit by Abbie and Karley :)

We all had a rough time punting so we made Karley get out and pull us down the river...

We finally got back to shore. Tough ride folks!

We loaded back into the dreadful Coach/Bus and headed towards the LAKE DISTRICT! Our hostel was about 30 feet from the water, a spectacular view and we got here just in time for the sunset. Did you know that the Lake District was home to William Wordsworth? The famous poet! He resided there with his sister and family at Dove Cottage. And we were lucky enough to go the the cottage and have one of his favorite meals, in his little dining room, while reading his poetry out loud. It was such a cool experience because we all got to see what life would be like at that time and experience it firsthand!

Just a view on my walk to Dove Cottage. Yeah. That's real life.

We settled into our hostel, (as settled as you'll ever be in a hostel) and fell fast asleep after a good, authentic meal! Cheers!

Look what I found! A boat with Matt's last name on it, I'm a nerd I know.

Sitting outside my hostel. This is my view. Didn't photoshop it or steal it off the internet. It was THAT epic!

The Discovery Section: V&A Edition

 "What adventures did you have today Megan??" Well folks! I visited Portebello Road. It's a market with lots of shops, good food, street performers, and antiques! A great way to spend the morning, afterwards I ventured to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Many people recommended this museum to me! And I LOVED IT!!! Perhaps for different reasons though...

At the market with Becca!!!

I'm a kid at heart. Always have been, always will be. I don't know what it is, but I love a good kids "Discovery Area". And guess what! They V&A Museum had a kickin' one! Before my Discovery section however, I started my journey just looking at their time period clothing and some of their exhibits concerning Victorian Era living. I found it all very fascinating!

Then I found the dress up section... and it went downhill from there.

You are NEVER too old for dress ups :)

I also learned how to build a chair. Basically it was a Victorian style glorified version of IKEA. And yet it seemed like much more fun than assembling a desk for school!

Oh, I forgot that I hate assembling things...

Em and I trying to figure the darn thing out!

BOOM! It just took me FOREVER. No big deal.

 
Next they had these AMAZING chairs that supposedly defy gravity. Well. I found a way to prove that was a false statement! They are these spiny chairs, and you can practically be horizontal in them (if that makes any sense) without falling out. Little did they realize I can find a way through any loophole. Aka.... I fell. Everyone stared and looked at me.... a little embarrassing. But I just laughed it off. Here is a pictured tale of my accident. Lucky for me, Jace was documenting all of this.

Rocky start...

Aannnddd she makes contact folks.

Clearly I was bummed about the whole ordeal.

But it's okay! I got back on it with Emilee!

And had a grand ol' time :)

Here's a random picture of me at the museum dancing with Jace Face. It was this huge empty room... it was just asking to be danced in!!!

Those were the highlights of my day! Cheers!

Olympics in London :)

Today was quite the fun filled day! I headed over to Greenwich and checked out the Olympic Park! It was crazy busy and quite the adventure getting over there! There was this ski-lift over the Thames to get to the park! They called it a "gondola"... but that just didn't make any sense to me. It was not a boat from Italy. So go figure.

Riding down the Thames to the Park, look what I ran into!

On the Gondola!!!

After looking around the park for a bit, we headed over to Hyde Park where they were showing the Opening Ceremonies! We hung around there, but it was way too crowded and we didn't have the tickets to get into all of the extra cool stuff... so we headed home and watched the ceremonies as a big group! Eating, laughing, singing, enjoying the Queen jump from a helicopter, and Mr. Beans rock out to Chariot's of Fire! It was such a great night! It's been so great to be here during the Olympics! And it's only just begun!!!

Opening Ceremonies!

Us at the Maritime Museum, we popped in before the Park!

At the Olympic Park!!!

Eating at Nando's on the river!

Cheers!

2 Days of Illness and Midterms!!! Bleh.

All of Tuesday and Wednesday was devoted to class, coughing, doing homework, blowing my nose, and researching Elizabeth I for my midterm paper. It was a grand time. I want to live those two days over... and over... and over again. (Thick with sarcasm)

The one time I went out on Tuesday this is what I saw on my walk. They are EVERYWHERE! I thought it was funny actually! What are the odds that there are Mormon haters in London by some random museum!!! Go figure.

BUT!!! I took an hour break and watched the Olympic Torch go by my house!!! There was a small parade and it was really fun to see!!! The Olympics have officially started! I'm so lucky to see them again!

I look super sick, ignore that part. GO TEAM GB!

I'll post more about the Olympics later :)

Also here as an epic picture. I had front row seats to watch the torch run by.

Yeah. This is real life.

NIGHT!!!!