Sunday, November 1, 2009
Love In Barcelona
Stourhead
Also located in Wiltshire is Stourhead. Not really a big tourist site. That day there were 40 girls from BYU and about a thousand geriatrics.
It was also another place where the most recent Pride and Prejudice was filmed. The wonderful rainy scene where Darcy confesses his love to Elizabeth in the Temple of Apollo on the hill, and just our luck the temple was under refurbishment. What are the odds, I’m sure that temple has been there for hundreds of years and it is not going anywhere.
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is located in Wiltshire, it is a circular set of stones that are believed to have put there around 2500 BC. It is not known who put the stones here, so that is where the fun was, making up our own crazy stories- but it could have happened.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Call me William Wordsworth
Out the window is seen beauty more than flowers and trees
Grass is changed only by the color of the seasons
Long and flowing in the wind
Sheep live long and clip the grass
Trees off in the distance still have their leaves
They are of’t drowned out by other elements
Just waiting to be seen and slept under
Trees that grow so high the clouds seem low
The brook is calm not moved by any rock
Slithers through the scene as a snake
The water brings life to all the earth
Nature around it springs up with life
Beautiful white clouds fill all the air
Draped across the pale blue sky
No sign of rain can be seen for miles
Clouds so low they can be caught with a net
The scene seems so untouched by man
Back in time air it being identical
Just off the road for all to view
Only one could create this vision
Monday, September 28, 2009
Northern England
Monday morning we had to wake up WAY too early to get on the coach and travel to the Lake District. I think because the bus ride was so bad I decided to torture my mother and dread my hair. She gave me prior consent but took it back right after she saw a picture.
Monday we went to York and took a tour through York Minster. It was beautiful, but once you’ve seen one cathedral, you’ve seen them all. We were able to- okay we paid to walk up 5000+ stairs to the top of the tower. Big mistake. Like the 66 stairs to my bedroom aren’t enough. Once we got to the top we decided to take pictures of ourselves because it was cooler than the rooftops.
One thing that I loved about the trip was the long bus rides. Northern England is so pretty that I took hundreds of pictures out the bus window. And I took pictures of everyone sleeping. I can blackmail almost anyone in my program. My favorite part of the scenery was the dry stone walls. Where did all the stones come from? It boggles my mind how they could stack all those stones and they have survived for hundreds of years. And where else in the world do you have to stop your car to let sheep cross the road.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Tower of London
The tour was a mix of fun facts and a history lesson. I saw the Bloody tower where Richard III was in charge of his two kid nephews and he had them killed so he could be king. Almost the entire tour was about Henry VIII because the Tower of London is where he had 2 of his 6 wives put to death at the private scaffold inside the tower walls. Because of this everything there was plastered with Henry VIII’s ugly face. Who wants granny panties with Henrys face on the butt?
The first place we went to was the room with the Crown jewels. When I grow up I want to be a princess. I saw a scepter that had a 530 carat diamond with perfect clarity. My expectations for my husband just went up.
We went to the torture chamber and I was surely disappointed when there were only 3 forms of torture displayed. I was sure that they were more barbaric back then.Caitlin and I walked around and for about a half an hour with this group of 15 year old Swedish boys following us. The only thing they knew in English was “hello girls.” So lame. I was not impressed.
Shakespeare's As You Like It
I am enrolled in an English Literature and a Shakespeare class. Very fitting for my time in London. For both of these classes I read As You Like It one of Shakespeare’s most famous Romantic Comedies. After studying this play we were able to go and see it performed in the Globe Theatre. I have heard of this theatre since the beginning of time and in every English class since high school. It was an amazing experience to actually be there.
The seats were hard and there was a pole obstructing my view. The first half was really hard to get into. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the play and the actors. Luckily a bunch of people in the front row left at intermission (Thanks Soper) and then I had an awesome seat. Since all of the characters fall in love in the second half the play was awesome. I giggled and ran holding Caitlin’s hand the whole way home. Oh and we had to lay on the stage.
Personally I do not think British guys are attractive- only because I have been looking the whole time I have been here and have yet to find any that beat American boys. But under the circumstances I had a massive crush on the actor who played Orlando. The crush developed in the second half and I think it was because of his character. Caitlin and I may or may not have stayed late and looked for him after the play. And just in case you were wondering- he does not have a facebook. I think this creepy stalker has come out of me because I have not talked to a boy in a long time- except for the 40 year old man who asked me to be his girlfriend last night to go to a club.
In Humanities this week we created our own Shakespeare play. I was Claudius in the fifth act of Hamlet and had a splendid performance. I had 3 lines and then I died. But the mustache was totally worth it.