Conwy, Wales!

    I seriously love this country so much!  We have been here two weeks to the day and it has flown by, but at the same time it has felt like we have been here forever.  These past few days have been relatively chill.  On Tuesday we got out of class early to go see Robin Hood in Liverpool, it was awesome!  I cannot wait for the sequel.  I also love that class involves going to the movies!  It was Kelsey's 21st birthday so we kicked off the celebration by having her chug a beer in the movie bathroom (they sell it at the theatre) while two of the professors cheered her on!  After that we went back to Ormskirk and got all dolled up.  It was a black dress themed dinner and so we went out to this cute little restaurant that was decorated in black and pink.  The dinner was delicious, I had duck spring rolls for an appetizer and salmon for the entrée.  After the dinner, and making sure Kelsey had her fair share of drinks, we went to Liquid Bar where they serve drinks called fishbowls.  They are essentially large bowls of fruity alcohol that are shared among multiple people, we then took her to Styles, another bar.  I left early and went back with a few people because I was tired and did not want to relapse, but I made sure to get a few cute pictures of the birthday girl!

   Wednesday I didn't really do much at all.  I did my laundry which was long over due.  How great it feels to have clean clothes!!  What a process it was, you had to practically duel for a washing machine and then the dryers took forever to work!  After that I had a movie night with a couple of girls from the trip, Diana and Dani.  We watched Dear John.  It was nice just to relax and hang out.

   Today was the best day though!  We got to go to Conwy, Wales.  Although it is pronounced "Conway" it is spelled without the "a".  We left Ormskirk at 8a and prepared for a two hour journey.  I basically slept the whole way there which was nice.  As we pulled into Wales we were immediately greeted by a large castle!  It was amazing, way better then Lancaster Castle.  I am very impressed with our bus driver.  Today he had to fit through an arch way that I'm pretty sure my subaru would barely be able to fit through.  We all cheered as we made it through the narrow walls without an accident.  Having departed from the bus we went to the castle and got to roam around as we pleased!  I spent almost two hours exploring with Dani, Diana, and Julia.  We were allowed to go just about anywhere and could take pictures everywhere so we were in heaven.  The castle seemed to stretch on and on and the view was incredible!  My fear of heights definitely kicked in but I tried to ignore it.  

   From the castle we wandered around town trying to find some breakfast/lunch.  We settled on a little cafe (I forget the name) and we wound up being very disappointed.  It was ok though because we decided since we were in Wales it did not matter that we had an insufficient meal!  After lunch we went off in search of another tourist attraction we had been told we  absolutely must see... the smallest house in Great Britain!  My professor was not lying, it was so tiny.  The last person to live in it was a 6'3'' fisherman and before him an elderly couple lived there.  It hasn't been lived in since the beginning of the 1900s when it was ruled unfit for human habitation.  When we went inside it was crazy.  There was an upstairs and a downstairs, despite the fact that it is 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide.  There was a small fireplace, coal box, and place for water downstairs and upstairs a bed and small dresser!  I cannot imagine ever living there, I was feeling cramped after 5 minutes of just looking around inside, and by looking around I mean standing and turn around in a circle.  

   After we visited the Smallest House in Great Britain we still had about an hour and a half to kill so we just wandered around Conwy.  It is a very small town so it did not take very long.  We discovered three statues and being girls we spend a good amount of time making sure we all got our pictures taken in front of them.  Then we went on to the Knight Shop.  Inside there were swords, armor, and information on your Coat of Arms.  For example: the surname Payne is derived from Norman ancestry (French) and it means a rustic countryman.  The motto for our Coat of Arms is "I would rather die then be disgraced."  Now I'm not going to lie... I think I'd rather be disgraced and live, but that's just me. 

   Anyways, after the Knight Shop we just wandered in and out of a few stores.  Three of us (me, Dani, and Diana) even got friendship bracelets.  They're just a beaded bracelet but cute.   

  Now we're back at school and tomorrow is our last day off classes before Bank Holiday!  I am really excited, I am going to York with a few people.  It is supposed to be a great city and last year it was voted best city in the UK.  We're going to spend two nights there and will be back on Monday.  Then we will have our last few classes before heading to London next Saturday!  While I do love Ormskirk, I am really excited for a city... and my birthday!!  I am 21 in 11 days I can't believe it!!  I am really sad I can't celebrate it with my friends and family back home, but I've made great new friends to celebrate it with.  And the theme I have chosen for my birthday is... jungle themed!  Leopard, zebra, or some other funky print is a must!

   I love and miss everybody back home!   Xoxo

Lancaster, England

Today I have been bedridden all day.  It's awful.  I seem to have come down with a stomach bug or food poisoning and I was not able to go to the Lake District.  I'm devastated because that was the place I was looking forward to going the most while in Northern Britain.  Oh well.

Yesterday a group of us decided to journey to Lancaster so we could tour a real castle!  Lancaster Castle is currently being used as a prison, but apparently they do not house any dangerous criminals.  Our guide told us a story about the last time prisoners decided to escape.  They found a ladder that had been lying around and used it to reach the top of the walls.  From there one fell and broke his leg, ending his adventure.  The second disappeared for three days before showing up and knocking on the door of the prison, asking to be let back in.  He had just wanted to visit his girlfriend!  

Anyways, the castle also has the oldest working Crown Courtroom.  This room is very beautiful and decorated with various shields.  There is another courtroom in the building that is much less beautiful.  This is where they hold most of the cases including murder trials.  In this room they still have the original branding mechanism that they used to punish people who had committed a crime.  They would brand a "M" on the person's left hand and when people were being accused of a crime they had to raise their hand to show whether or not they had committed a crime in the past.  This is where the phrase "our hands our clean" comes from.  Also, we had the opportunity to be locked in the dungeon!  It was pitch black with no windows and due to overpopulation they would crowd 8-10 people in a room that is 1/3 the size of my bedroom!  I was only locked in for 30 seconds, I can't imagine what it would be like to be in there for 6-8 months waiting for trial.  After trial if you were found guilty it was a possibility to be executed, and if not there was a time when England would merely ship their convicted felons to America!  Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures anywhere in the castle, but we got some great pictures on the outside!

The town of Lancaster is also very nice.  Once again there were a lot of stone buildings and cobblestone streets.  We wandered around for a while, looked in some shops, and ate some ice cream.  We also had lunch at the Sun Hotel and Bar, I honestly had one of the best sandwiches I've ever tasted.  I really hope that isn't what made me sick!  After we toured the castle and wandered around the town a little bit more we headed back to Ormskirk were we had dinner at O'este.  This is where I really began to feel sick and so I left quickly.  Since then I have been lying in bed feeling terrible.  I'm really hoping I'm feeling better, but it's been 24 hours and I only feel a little better.  

I miss everybody back home but I am loving England!!

My first week

I have been in Ormskirk, England now for 8 days and I have loved every moment! When I arrived last Thursday I was absolutely exhausted and spend the first couple of days in a haze, but as I caught up on my sleep and recovered from jet lag I really began to love this country. The first weekend they took us on a couple of excursions, first to Liverpool and then to Chester. Both places were great although very different from one another. Liverpool is an industrial city, but still a great place to just walk around and shop. I went there again today and bought a sundress! Last Saturday I also went to the Beatles Museum and went on the large Ferris wheel that gave me a great view of the city. It feels very safe and not remotely scary. In my Urban Government class last semester we discussed how in Europe the cities are very different from cities in the United States because the more affluent people tend to live in the cities. In Europe the slums are the suburbs. Although we haven't spent anytime in the suburbs you can definitely tell that the cities are well off.

When we went to Chester I could not get over how charming it was. Although there was a downtown with shops, the streets were narrow and very cute. We went to Chester Cathedral which was absolutely gorgeous. I love old architecture and I wish we had it in the US. In Chester I also invested in some herbal sleeping pills which have worked wonders at night. It can get very loud in the dorms and thanks to a pill a night (don't worry I won't get addicted!) my sleep has become quite regulated. I also am feeling completely better after having bronchitis last week and I haven't been coughing at all!

Monday-Wednesday I had class in the morning from 9-12. I'm taking British Cultural Identities and a British Literature course. We have to read The Nine Tailors, either Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, Kidnapped, and Ivanhoe. The classes have been fairly interesting and we've had some really great discussions. However, the most fruitful education we are getting is from the excursions we're taking. After class on Monday I walked into Ormskirk, the little market village the Edge Hill University is located on the outskirts. It's about a 10 minute walk and it's a really nice. The weather has been fantastic, getting up into the 70s! I did the same on Tuesday but on Wednesday I wound up sleeping for a good portion of the afternoon.

Thursday was an amazing day. We got up early and drove 2 hours to Haworth, home of the Brontë sisters. The town was beautiful, with cobblestone streets and old stone houses. The moor was beautiful too, and I had never seen so many sheep! The lambs were so cute and there was one horse, who I named George, who was very friendly and came right up to you. The home of the sisters was quite tiny despite the fact that there were 5 siblings and it was hard to believe they all lived their together. We had a tour of their home that has been turned into a museum, and then went on a brief walking tour. Despite the tiny graveyard we learned that around 42,000 people were buried there, one on top of another. Gross!

I love all the various places we have been fortunate enough to visit. Tomorrow I'm going with a few people to take a tour of Lancaster Castle, we even get locked in a dungeon!   I bought a student rail pass yesterday for 26 pounds and it gives us on all our fares.  The train is so easy around here that it takes no time at all to get places!  On Sunday all of us are going to the Lake District, home of Wordsworth's Dove Cottage. I have googled the location and it looks beautiful!