This Post Comes To You In Five Parts

Part 1: Fun times!

When my Shakespeare class went on a study trip to Stratford a while back, we found a spot set up for Nine Men’s Morris, which is referenced in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We obviously had to take a group photo.

 Here are my roommate Chelsea and I at Glastonbury!

Here I am with a bunch of friends on the 5^th of November, bundled against the cold English air and ready to watch the fireworks. The idea of celebrating the defeat of the Gunpowder Plot by exploding things into the air seems bizarre to me (can anyone explain that one?). We went home and watched QI and V for Vendetta (which I was kind of disappointed with, unfortunately).

A lot of my friends here are just as obsessed with Downton Abbey as I am, so for the series 2 finale we decided to have a party involving tea and lots of delicious food!

Part 2: Movies and things!

I have been lucky enough to have seen several movies in the past month or so. Here are some very brief reviews:

The Three Musketeers in 3D (starring Matthew McFadyen, Orlando Bloom, and other less important people): not terribly faithful, kind of running with the weird style of Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes (bleh), but surprisingly funny, enjoyable, and entertaining.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (starring Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, and a lot of Harry Potter cast members) (scene with Dobby, Aberforth, Sirius, and Olivander all in the same room!): Bleak, unpleasant, and confusing. But, some of the best shots I have ever seen (a tiny clip of the best is in this trailer from around 1:32-1:34, with Benedict Cumberbatch).

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in 3D (Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, and Daniel Craig): I never read the originals, but it was wonderful, funny, and utterly entertaining. The best opening credits since The Incredibles.

Part 3: Class registration!

I got all of the classes I wanted for the spring! I was definitely worried about registering abroad, especially since Peoplesoft (the system through which we register) tends to crash whenever my class tries to register. But everything went perfectly! I’m taking

Tibetan Mandala Painting

Feminism Ethics and Knowledge

Experience of War in Literature

Bible as Literature (after much debate between that, Milton, and Intro to Lesbian and Gay Studies)

My schedule is unfortunately lacking in the super interesting social sciences, but all of these classes look really cool (and I’ll be finishing my goals and almost done with my major after that semester)!

Part 4: The relatives!

From the 30^th to the 9^th two of my lovely grandparents came to visit! My aunt Jenny also visited for part of that time. It was great to get to visit with them! I finally got to visit the Royal Crescent (this is one of the big tourist attractions. It’s also where Anne Elliot chases after Captain Wentworth after his re-proposal in the 2008 Persuasion)

and the Assembly Rooms (significant to Northanger Abbey) and the Fashion Museum, where I tried on a corset and hoop skirt.

Part 5: Jane Austen study trip!

On Friday, my Jane Austen class went on our study trip to Steventon, Chawton, and Winchester. It was a really fun trip—I love our tutor and my classmates and it was really cool to get to see where Jane Austen spent time! Here is a mini photo tour.

First we visited St Nicholas church in Steventon, which is the church that Jane Austen's father was reverend of. Both Steventon in general and the church itself were super tiny! 

Then we went to Chawton House Library, which has been turned into a library for women's writing. The house was fantastic, with lots of dark wood paneling and cushy seating and portraits on the walls.

This is what used to be the stables. Now it's where visiting scholars stay. I think I know what my life goal should be.

This is Chawton Cottage, where Jane Austen did a lot of her writing and revising. 

Finally we went to Winchester Cathedral, where Austen was buried. There were several boxes in the cathedral which apparently have the bones of kings, queens, and other important people in them. One of them is said to have the bones of Cnut, the viking warrior who became king of Denmark, Norway, England, and parts of Sweden.

And then we finally saw where Jane Austen was buried. 

It was great to be able to have a touring experience that went so full circle--where she grew up, where she did most of her writing, and where her life ended.

Fictional characters and fall break

Hello wonderful blog readers!

After getting back in the swing of classes, I finally have a moment to update you about my fall break. This will mostly consist of pictures (this seems to be becoming a tradition), except for a few sadly undocumented occasions, since not only does paper-writing time approach again, but we’re starting new books for all three of my classes (Northanger Abbey, Measure for Measure, and Northern Lights!) and the Bath Film Festival starts on Thursday. Anyway, here is my break in pictures. I hope you enjoy! (P.S. Two important notes. First, just for clarification, I spent the first 5 1/2 days with my dad in London, Bath, and Glastonbury, and the last 2 1/2 days with my friend Emma in Edinburgh. Second, I am apparently unable to keep my eyes open in any photograph ever taken of me. I think it might be an illness of some kind.)

On the October 22nd I met my dad in London, where we promptly visited Kensington Garden and (most importantly) the Peter Pan statue. This was one of the places that was top on my list to visit, so you can imagine how excited I was. Also, it was so lovely to be around so much green! The area of Bath that I live in is pretty close to the city center, and since everything is made of Bath stone and there are very few gaps between buildings, I've become accustomed to how little green there is. It's definitely a change from New England, but walking through Kensington Garden was a perfect reminder of fall.

That same afternoon, in an attempt to keep away Dad's jet lag, we decided to go to the Doctor Who Experience. Oh. My. God. There was a lot of nerdy fangirl squealing that went on in my brain during break, but this was indescribably fantastic. I could talk about it for hours and hours, but to attempt to sum up my Experience:

David Tennat's suit!! David Tennant's suit!!

And here I am, standing on the 9th Doctor's tardis!

                                   

The next day, we visited 221B Baker Street. Definitely the best museum about a fictional character that I have ever been to. 

In our many wandering walks attempting to navigate around London, we stumbled upon one of my favorite publishing companies! We also walked past the ITV building, which (as a Downton Abbey fan) I was pretty excited about. Unfortunately it just looked like a tall building.

We then went to the British Library. Definitely the best birthday ever. We went to the exhibit of the 'Treasures of the British Library' and saw a Gutenberg Bible and an edition of Aesop's Fables printed by William Caxton and one of Jane Austen's notebooks and a handwritten Jane Eyre and Beethoven's tuning fork and handwritten Beatles' lyrics and the Lindisfarne Gospels and so much more. We could have literally stayed there until we died.

There was also that really cool doorway, and there was also a model printing press in the basement.

We also briefly stopped at the British Museum, but we were tired from walking so much and so impressed by the Library that nothing could compare. We did see the Rosetta Stone, which was interesting (it was smaller than I thought it would be!), but unfortunately the artifacts in the 300-110 CE room (all of the Anglo-Saxon/Viking/Sutton Hoo things) were out for conservation.

The next day, we waited in line for 45 minutes in an attempt to get tickets to see Ralph Fiennes in The Tempest. Once we failed at that, we attempted to get tickets to see War Horse. Once we failed at that, we attempted to get tickets for The Woman in Black. We were successful! We ended up getting seats in the fourth row for that night's performance. It was completely terrifying (other audience members actually screamed out loud--it was nice to know I wasn't being overly sensitive) and fantastic.

After we got our tickets, we went to Westminster Abbey. It was beautiful and moving and I won't lie, our two English major hearts broke a little bit when we got to Poet's Corner.

Then we headed towards the Globe, and practically next door is the Millennium Bridge! This is briefly featured in the 6th Harry Potter film, when death eaters attack muggles on this bridge, twisting it and making it collapse. We walked over it on the way back and as someone who is not a fan of heights or death eater attacks, I was a little nervous. Suffice it to say that we survived. 

Anyway, we went to the Globe, which was incredible! The tour of the theatre was definitely one of the highlights of our time in London.

We also briefly stopped by Dr. Johnson's house, which my dad thought was excited about.

And then it was back to Bath! I finally made it to the Roman Baths, which were cool although a little hard to navigate since it was half term for a lot of school kids and there were lots of families wandering about.

The next day, we went to Glastonbury with my lovely roommate Chelsea. It was so incredibly beautiful! 

Here we are at the site of King Arthur's tomb. This is the real reason we went to Glastonbury. 

 We also climbed up the Tor. Be impressed with us. I was pretty positive we would die, but I was proved wrong.

Then sadly it was time for my dad to depart, and on to Edinburgh I went. My friend Emma and I took the train from King's Cross (I know!!) four hours north to Edinburgh (so close to Hogwarts! Only an hour more to go... Sigh). It was doubly exciting to visit King's Cross because not only is it so important to the wizarding world, but it's also a main location in one of my other favorite books, The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson. Anyway, in Edinburgh we saw lots of cool things, like a banned books exhibit at the National Library of Scotland and Robert Louis Stevenson's riding boots at the Writer's Museum and Edinburgh Castle. 

And of course we went  to the Elephant House Cafe. Despite their inaccurate nickname, it was still super cool! 

  

The table we were sitting at had drawers stuffed with notes from people who had visited previously. I particularly liked this one.

And here is Edinburgh bright and early on the morning we left.

I obviously couldn't go to King's Cross and without taking the awesome/awkward photo! We did have a bit of trouble finding it, but we felt like that was appropriate.