May 17, 2012

Goodbye Bath

We're at the end! Finals have been taken, final tea has been had, the last nights to pubs and clubs are done. As I'm saying my final goodbye to Bath, here are some things I will miss:

Andrew Butterworth!
what a wonderful man. I'm going to miss our weekly meetings, his songs in French, and his wonderful stories.

Georgian Architecture
After studying it extensively in my internship at No. 1, I have come to love the 18th-century style, with its cobblestone streets and columned apartments.





Linely House
This wonderful house has been so good to me. I've made so many memories, formed so many friendsips, and had an amazing time at 1 Pierrepont Place.


Pubs
From the Huntsman to the Porter, I will never get tired of the pub atmosphere. Its a great thing that bars in America just can't compete with.





Po Na Na's, Weir, Second Bridge

The clubs in Bath! Just a short walk away, they always provided such a great night. I will miss the sharkbuckets, thirsty thursdays,1.50 jagerbombs, foam, and just the craziest nights out.



Spring days in the Park
Those rare spring days when it didn't rain and wasn't freezing! The park across from our house would be filled with people and animals, all enjoying the sunshine.


Last of all, I will miss my Linely girls. They are the loves of my life, the girls I tell everything to, and the girls I have by my side whenever I go anywhere in Europe. We have been through so much together and have grown and experienced the craziest things together. Here's to Fiona, Elyse, Kate, Emily and Jenna, and to all the amazing times in Bath.


May 12, 2012

Stratford Part Two

The week after classes were finished, The entire program headed over to Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare's birthplace, for three days. We stayed in various bed and breakfasts.
We began with a tour of the city, which lasted about 20 minutes--it's an extremely small town, with not much to do. And EVERYTHING is Shakespeare-themed. These people love Billy.
We then had a lecture about the play that we were seeing, Comedy of Errors. After dinner we got dressed up and went to the theatre and experienced a wonderful performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

comedy-of-errors-programme-243x317
The next day, we did much of the same thing. I toured Shakespeare's birthplace and saw where he was buried.


That night we saw Twelfth Night, one of my favorite Shakespeare plays.

twelfth-night-programme-243x317

"If music be the food of love, play on.
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die."

Jonathan Slinger as Malvolio and Nicholas Day as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night. Photograph by Keith Pattison. 


"Be not afraid of greatness.
Some are born great, 
Some achieve greatness,
And Some have greatness thrust upon 'em"

The next day, after a talk-back session about the play, we headed over to Kenilworth Castle, a very old and ruined castle about 30 minutes outside of Stratford.



Then we headed back to Stratford and watched our final performance, Richard III. We had amazing seats (I could feel the spit from the actors!)

Richard III programme

"Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that low'r'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried."

May 7, 2012

Last Day at No. 1

May 3rd was my last day at my internship at the museum at No. 1 Royal Crescent.
This internship taught me so much, and it has been a wonderful experience getting to know everyone; all the volunteer guides, Louisa, Kate, Victoria and Georgie.
On the last day we all had tea and cake, and Andrew Butterworth came in to collect my dissertation.
It was so hard to say goodbye!! I'm going to miss everyone and the museum so much. Hopefully I can visit again when the museum is completely renovated and the "whole story" project is finished!





Maastricht with Jean

For my birthday weekend, on the last weekend of April, I decided to go visit Jean in Maastricht, Holland.

I woke up early and got a train to Bristol, where I then took a short plane ride over to Amsterdam, then took the train to the central station.He picked me up in Amsterdam and we had a great time just exploring and seeing everything. Such a different world!!



Then we took a 2 hour train ride back to his house. He has to go everywhere by bus, since his house is kind of away from the city. We got to his house and I met his roommates, then we had dinner and went out to the center of town for drinks.

The next day Jean had to work all day, so his roommate Benjamin took me into town and showed me Maastricht. What impressed me the most was all the different cultures and languages everywhere. You couldn't walk around without hearing a medley of French, German, Dutch, Italian, English, Russian, etc.
We met up with one of his friends in the afternoon and had a drink while we waited for Jean to get off of work. That night, Jean had some of his friends over from work for a poker night.

The next day, my birthday, We went into Maastricht again and had a delicious lunch outside. That town is always packed with people! It's like they don't ever eat at home...

Then I said goodbye to Jean and started on a long day of travelling back to Bath.

When I got home that night, my roommates were waiting for me with birthday cake!

Apr 22, 2012

Bath Rugby

on April 21st, we all went to the Bath Rugby match!
The streets of Bath are packed on Rugby days. We all met at the Huntsman, a pub located next to the pitch, and had a drink before going to the game. The rain withheld for the majority of the match. After the British student helpers spent the first half of the match explaining the rules to us, we finally understood what was going on and had a blast!



A Rainy Day in Jane Austen's Hometown

on April 20th, my Jane Austen class has a study trip to Steventon, Jane Austen's hometown, and Chawton, where she dwelled in the latter part of her life. The 2 hour bus ride took us right to the chapel at Steventon, where Jane's dad George was reverend.

The entire town of Steventon has about 12 houses and this chapel, and the village is surrounded by fields. Not much to do for poor Jane.

Then we got back on the bus and drove to Chawton, where Jane lived with her widowed mother and sister and brother. Edward, her brother, was "adopted" by the Knight family when he was about 16. The Knight family was a long-standing rich family, and Thomas Knight did not have any children of his own and so made Edward Austen, who later changed his name to Edward Knight, his heir. Edward inherited two estates, one of which was in Chawton.


As we toured the "great house", I could see where a lot of Austen's inspiration came from. The estate extraordinarily resembles Sotherton in Mansfield Park, with its' "picturesque" (fake) landscape, with strategically placed wilderness to block out the buildings that entail labor, such as barns and chapels. The landscape must be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, with no added purpose.
Jane Austen's sister and mother, both named Cassandra, are buried on the Chawton estate.


A ten minute walk down the road brought us to Chawton Cottage, where Edward allowed his mother and sisters to live. Significantly smaller, the house would have been very crowded with the various Austen nieces and nephews staying with their Aunt Jane. It is here that Austen wrote most of her novels.



Lastly, we went to the Vyne, an estate that the Austen children often went to to play with the children of the Chute family. The estate was significantly larger than Chawton estate. Imagine Rosings estate in Pride and Prejudice. Again, walking through the estate, I saw a lot of references to Austen's novels.

Overall, VERY cool trip, minus all the rain and hail storms we seemed to be caught up in every time we stepped outside!

Apr 16, 2012

Post-Spring Break Vacation Stress Disorder

After spring break, none of else felt like doing anything for a few days. Well, our homework caught up to us, so essentially I've been buried in homework and papers and reading and research since Easter. Needless to say, the month of April is going by extremely quick.

The family (minus dad) came to Bath the week after easter. We went to dinner at a traditional pub, which grandma hated...but she also hated Bath (!!) which is amazing and unheard of. She said the Royal Crescent was ugly. COME ON.

Thursday night I took Jean out with my friends so he could experience a night out in Bath. He said never again.

                                       The results of a night out in Bath.
Saturday morning I took the family to the market, and said goodbye!Only 5 weeks until I see them again. Can't believe time has gone by this quickly.

Spring Break in France

For Spring Break Jenna and I went home to Thonon-Les Bains.
we flew out of Bristol early in the morning and got to Switzerland on a warm Friday morning.
8 days with my family was spent relaxing, reading Hunger Games (!!!), exploring different towns and shops near my house, and trying to get as much sun as possible by the lake.

One day we went and explored Mont Blanc, in Chamonix:



Another day we went on a hike around Evian, but ended up getting super lost and on some highway miles from where we were supposed to be. Good job, dad :)

                                                 we met some friends along the way
                                        The beginning of Dad getting us lost...

                                                 had to do some SERIOUS hiking..

And another day, mom took Jenna and I to Yvoire, a little medieval town not from Thonon.

                                           We found this sweet glass-blowing store. I wanted everything inside it.



                                           This was the highlight of the trip----warm nutella waffles. nom nom
On easter Sunday we got up early and headed back to Bath