Across the Universe

Friday night, I went out to eat with a couple people. Then we came back, because we had to get up early for Liverpool! On Saturday our train left at 7:25, and we didn’t get there until 11:15ish. We tried to make our way to get on the Fab Four Taxi Tour, but we got a little lost. So we stopped into an information center and booked our 2:30 taxi tour there. During our down time, we decided we would go to the Beatles Museum. It was amazing!! They had rooms set up as clubs/bars that they started out playing in. I also found out more about the inspiration for their songs and the recording process.

After the museum, it was time for the Fab Four Taxi Tour, which was awesome! We went to so many places. We saw all of the Beatles’ childhood homes, though Ringos’ house was in a dodgy place so we weren’t allowed to leave anything in the cab. We also went to Strawberry Fields, which use to be an orphanage run by the Salvation Army. John use to go there when he was younger to play with the children. It was said that since his mom and dad left him in the care of his aunt that he felt more at home there. We also went to Penny Lane, where you can find a bank, fire station and barber shop. We also got to see Eleanor Rigby’s grave. I found out that John told his aunt that he wanted to make his living playing music. His aunt told him he’d never make. She told him the story of Eleanor Rigby who tried to do the same thing, and she died along with her name; though Eleanor died several years before John was even born.

After the tour it was off to catch the train. Sunday was a day of relaxation. On Monday/Tuesday, nothing eventful happened. On Tuesday, I had volleyball practice, and I found out that our first game in on Monday…against a prison! We’ll be locked in with them…scary!! Today, I have plans to go to Newark with my meet-a-family.

Until next time!

In my week of nothingness!

This past weekend, nothing great was planned. On Friday, we didn’t have classes and my roommate left for Germany, so I had the room to myself. It was a nice break! However, I kept thinking that it was Saturday when it really wasn’t. During the day, I went into town to get some groceries. When I came back, I started on homework and began a book called “North and South”. I like the book so far. I’m not finished yet even though it was supposed to be done by Monday.

Saturday, I planned on working on my term paper, but I didn’t get to that. I decided to enjoy the peace and quiet instead. Sunday, I had to get out of my room, so I went to different places in the manor to read, and to study for my mid-term in Marketing. My roommate came back around 3 p.m. and said she had a fun time. Sunday dinner is always the worst! I usually order pizza. At Bethany on Sundays, they make fried food. Here they have some kind of meat and, of course, potatoes smothered in gravy, and it’s usually awful…no kidding!

Mondays seemed to pass by quickly and on Tuesday I worked on my term paper and attended volleyball practice. Today we went to Southwell, a work house. It opened in 1820’s and was intended for poor people who didn’t have jobs, but it was more like a prison. If you’ve ever read “Oliver Twist”, or watched the movie, it was like that. Families were split apart, and could only visit each other on Sundays for one hour. We also visited Belvoir Castle; we went there to look at the romanticism of the architecture.

This weekend, I plan on going to Nottingham on Friday for some shopping, and then, on Saturday, I am off to Liverpool for the day. We will participate in Beatle Mania ALL DAY!

Oxford, Bath and Stonehenge

On Friday, we left for Oxford early in the morning. We reached our destination around noon with only three short hours to see the sights. We visited the Christ Church, where part of Harry Potter was filmed - mostly the great hall scene and unfortunately that part was closed. We still looked inside at the huge church because other parts of Harry Potter were also filmed there. Then we went to Alice’s Shop, a tiny (and I mean tiny!) shop full of Alice In Wonderland themed items. After that, we made our way to Bath.

That evening, we went to a place called Witherspoons. The food was cheap, but it took them almost an hour just to it out to me. Saturday, there was an optional trip that I decided to skip. I went to the Jane Austen Center instead and then we went shopping afterwards.

We made our way back to the hostel, located on top of a HUGE hill! That day was someone in our groups 21st birthday and everyone was going out to celebrate with him. I passed on going out because I wasn’t climbing that hill again! I stayed in and ate at the hostel. On Sunday, we toured the Roman Bath. It’s basically this huge bath or spa that the Romans built and the water that flows into it is from a hot spring. Then, it was on the coach again and off to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge was kind of cool! You get an audio guide, but I wasn’t into really listening to it, so I just walked about it. Then, it was finally back to the manor! By Sunday I am always so tired, so I’m glad to get back as soon as possible.

The beginning of my week was pretty uneventful until Tuesday night… there was karaoke in the Bistro! On Wednesday, I had dinner with my family and then went to a basketball game. Today has been slow, too. I don’t have anything special planned for this weekend, and I’m glad that I get to kind of relax although I do have a lot of homework!

P.S. I Love You

Wednesday was the big day…it was our first British Studies test. No one knew what to expect! Is it going to be difficult or easy? How long will it take? I think I did pretty well, but it did take me an hour and a half to finish three questions! I believe I did well, but it will be two weeks until we get them back. After the test, it was off to Ireland, but before that the fire alarms went off; so that pushed everything back a couple of minutes. We jumped on the coach took the six hour ride to Wales to aboard the ferry at two in the morning! While on the coach we watched P.S. I Love You to gear up for Ireland.

We finally reach our destination at 6 a.m. and ate breakfast at a Best Western. Everyone, including myself, was extremely tired, so most of us not only slept on the ferry, but slept on the three hour ride to Blarney Castle. I attempted to kiss the Blarney Stone, but because I’m not tall enough to reach it, my task was a bit difficult. When attempting to try to kiss it; you have to lie on your back, grab two metal bars, and scoot down a lot to try to reach it. Oh and it’s also on the very top of the castle, and I’m kind of scared of heights, so that made it even more difficult!

After that we went to a few of the shops to look around before getting back on the coach. Our next stop was Killarney. Once we reached Killarney, we went to search for food for a decent price. Every place had meals for over 19 euro and I didn’t really want to pay that much for food, but somehow over four days I probably spent a hundred dollars in food alone because of how expensive it is in Ireland.

After we finally found something to eat, we went to a pub to listen to some live music. While we there, a large group of Italian guys came in and just looked at our table but none of them came over to talk to us. The next day as we traveled to the Ring of Kerry we stopped in a town that is hours from where we were staying and we ran into the same group. And they recognized us! They were like “you from last night” and we were like “yep” - it was a little awkward!

While traveling though the Ring of Kerry, we were able to see a lot but it was a lot of coach time; which wasn’t fun. But Ireland was so beautiful! We stopped someplace to have Irish Coffee, which is coffee with either whisky or baileys. I wasn’t impressed - not only was it 9 a.m., but I also don’t like coffee. After what seemed like all day on the coach, we arrived back into Killarney around 6. We went to a pub that was close to our hotel and had the most amazing food! We stayed most of the night there and listen to live music. While there, a guy and his girlfriend from Australia came up and talked to us. He told us later that he always heard that Americans were mean and rude, but that didn’t fit us at all because we were so nice!

On Saturday, we left for Dublin but didn’t get there until three, so we didn’t have much time to shop for souvenirs. We had to get up early the next morning to leave for Harlaxton, so we decided we would stay in that evening.

On Monday I was so tired, I think I took two naps because of how tired I was! After my last class on Monday, President Ed took all the Bethany students out for dinner, and then later drinks. It was a lot of fun to hang out with Prez Ed and to know more about what was happening not only in Lindsborg, but also at Bethany.

Yesterday, I had volleyball practice and today I got my hair cut really short! I plan on going to a basketball game tonight. This weekend I’m going to Bath, Oxford, and Stonehenge. I just hope it won’t be as tiring as Ireland was!