London...again...

Well we are back in London ...again! It's so crazy and hectic, but there are so many things to do. It's nice this time because we have had more planned group events and meals so I actually get to see a lot more of the people in the groups.

We have begun the Politics in Britain and Ireland class that a lot of us were nervous for, but so far it has been great. We toured Parliament and Buckingham Palace, met with US diplomats to the UK, talked with MPs and Whips in the Liberal Democrat party, and that's just in the first week! We also got to tour the Tower of London, though we didn't have near enough time to see everything which was a bummer.

Parliament was really cool as well. Did you know that when the Queen opens Parliament each year she sends a guy called the 'Blackrod' to go bang on the door to the House of Commons. They ignore him twice and then 'reluctantly' follow him to the House of Lords where the Queen opens the session. Also voting is very different, they ring a bell and the MP's have 8 minutes to get on the proper side of the meeting room. Then they are counted and leave. If they are late...no vote.

On Wednesday, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People premiered in London so Allison, Claire, Matt, and Alicia and I went to the premiere to see if anyone famous would show up. Not including Sean Connery, I've never met/seen anyone famous. At the premiere we met Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead), Nick Frost (the same), Anna Popplewell (Susan from Narnia), Andy Serkis (Gollum from LOTR), Alfonso Cuaron, and the British 'Jim' from the Office. It was so neat! Nick Frost talked to us and Anna Popplewell signed my journal. It was pretty fun. We are planning to go to the Quantum of Solace premiere in October and are all quite excited at the prospect of meeting Daniel Craig.

Today we went to Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe which was, as expected, awesome. And cheap! Groundling tickets are only £5. Then I got an awesome dinner of hummus, carrots, yogurt and granola, and pineapple from M&S. The take-out culture here is so much more healthy! These were all in little packs and cost pretty minimally. That's one thing I will miss.

Tomorrow we have a long travel day by train and by ferry to Dublin. We are excited to head to Ireland. I can't wait to be back in Dublin! Then we go to Belfast and then back to England for our last class!

The end of an era

Well Fall Break is almost over and I'm sad to see it go. We've had an absolute blast in Bath. And by blast I mean a mellow time where we got to read and hang out and not deal with drama or anything.

Two days ago we went to Stonehenge through a tour. A lot of people had told me it was really disappointing, but I thought it was actually really neat. There's not a super magical feeling of just being there or anything, but it is beautiful and mysterious. I was very impressed and besides all that, who goes to Britain for four months and doesn't see Stonehenge?!

I have read so much on this break. So far the tally is: The Time Traveler's Wife, The Constant Gardener, Great Expectations, Persuasion (Jane Austen), and a biography of Paula Radcliffe. I miss reading when we are constantly on the move and it was nice to be able to purchase large books and read them while we are here.

Yesterday was intense workout day for me and Calli. To get a one day pass to the gym cost £5 (roughly $10) so we wanted to make it worth it. So we went after breakfast for an hour and a half and after lunch for another hour. Whew we are feeling it today. It was really nice to use weights and machines and all that stuff though. I always feel better physically and emotionally after working out.

Last night Calli and I went out to the pubs in Bath. It was...interesting. There was the prerequisite creeper (though especially creepy and sleepy? I think this time). There was also this huge obnoxious group that Calli thought were Americans. They were dancing on tables (not allowed) and just making a huge commotion. This morning we saw them at breakfast at the Y. They are in fact Americans and they are college students from the states. I felt really embarassed! I guess I understand where a lot of the negative stereotypes come from now. Our group at it's wildest would never ever be so obnoxious!

The other day at breakfast we were also talking about the different priorities that British have over Americans. It's important to them that food be Fairtrade and organic. They really look outside their own country. It is a selling point to have Fairtrade, healthy food. Plus their 'fast food' is yummy sandwiches and salads that you can get at Marks and Spencers (kind of like a Super Target mixed with Macy's) for cheap. They also love McDonald's which are surprisingly nice over here. Not that we have eaten at them. We are not that gross.

There is currently a lot of financial and political turmoil over here as several very large companies have failed (including a travel agency that left thousands stranded in foreign countries) so prayers would be welcome for all the people over here. Silver lining speaking: It will be awesome when we get to sit in on Parliament because exciting stuff will be happening.

Love you!
Devin

Fall Break:Bath

Hey so you poor saps that just started school and were laughing at me while I slaved over homework at Starbucks this summer? Start crying, because we are halfway done with our semester! We took our final on Thursday and Fall Break began on Friday.

Calli and I caught a train to Bath (we're big kids now!) and checked into our hostel. It has a party dungeon. Enough said. Bath however, is gorgeous. It reminds a lot of York. Really beautiful and a little quaint. Yesterday we checked into the 'Rap' room on the highest level of the hostel and explored a little. We read in the bookstore for awhile and found some dinner at Wetherspoons which is an English chain. There are actually a ton of these Yates/Edwards/Wetherspoons/Prince of Wales/whatever places. They all have the same menu and everything. Then we watched a horrible adaptation of Merlin on a VHS player at the hostel. It was BAD.

Today we stopped by the Jane Austen Center (yay!) and saw the Royal Crescent (as seen in the movie The Duchess, which we saw today). Then we spent another three hours in the bookstore around here reading and drinking coffee. It's glorious. Tonight we went to dinner at California Kitchen and I bought some French's mustard and had a frankly glorious burger with real mustard. I felt like such a nerd, but it was REALLY tasty! I missed mustard a lot. The stuff here is so horseradish-y that it makes me cry.

We are all getting pretty homesick, both for the people and for the conveniences. Like showering barefoot or sleeping in. Ahhh.. Tomorrow we move to our private room (!!!) at the YMCA and our free gym access. We are going to take a walking tour and book our tour of Stonehenge (only £14!) and then workout. Pretty much we are planning on working out, sleeping in, eating good food, reading good books (I need to finish Great Expectations), reading school books, and exploring the wonderful town of Bath.

Starting Friday there is a Children's Book Festival and the Jane Austen Festival going on here so we should have a busy weekend. It looks like we might get to take dancing lessons! It's going to be awesome. We miss you. We love you. Write us.

London...again

We are back in London! Yay! St. Athan's is great now that we have been to the West End and the nasty place in Cardiff. They give us towels, and there are only four of us in a room. A room with a sink in it and that doesn't smell disgusting! Plus we get real eggs for breakfast. Never believe the powdered ones are ok.

The Tube is also wonderful. We still walk a ton, but London is simply too big to just walk around. The Tube makes it wonderful. Yesterday we went to church at a Catholic church (except they had Anglican communion), the service was beautiful and the choir was really awe-inspiring. Then we tried to go to Mamma Mia, but apparently they do not do shows on Sundays. Oops. Tonight we are trying to go to Wicked! Also, the play I was in in high school, 6 Characters in Search of an Author is playing here so I might try to go see that soon.

We are all feeling the stress/wearing-out feeling of travelling. Everyone is pretty much ready for Fall Break. Calli and I are staying at a YMCA in Bath and we get free use of their workout facilities, so we will be working out and working on prep for our Poli-Sci class pretty much the entire time we are there! There's also a Jane Austen festival with a formal ball! It might be expensive, but we still really want to go.

I can't believe I've been here for 5 weeks! By the end of this week we will be half-way through the semester! Mostly I miss Whitworth and home a lot. I really miss people!I can't wait to be at both the places I miss in November. I'm looking forward to hugs, cheesecake chai and Harry Potter a whole lot. Plus RA-ness shirts :)

Love and miss you all.

Glasgow & Aberystwyth

We leftEdinburgh and got on a train to Glasgow. Once known as the armpit of Scotland, we found it to resemble the armpit of Scotland. Nah, it wasn't that bad, but it was no Edinburgh. Mostly we just had free days and hung out. We did go to the Glasgow School of Art which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. You should check his architecture, furniture, and fonts out. They were surprisingly modern looking and actually very cool. The school was really interesting as well. He played with people's conceptions and preconceived notions of where light and dark should be. I also went to the Museum of Modern Art in Glasgow, which was a little small and mostly contemporary art. There were some really interesting photographs having to do with a photographer surviving breast cancer and how she felt about herself afterward. Really really intense though.

We then boarded an epically bad train to Aberystwyth. Scotland to Wales = far. The train was pretty crowded and we all have huge bulky backpacks that won't fit on the overhead racks, we were not a crowd favorite. After 6+ hours of travel, we finally arrived. We are staying at the University of Aberystwyth which is not that far from the train station, but is all uphill. Luckily Rick was kind enough to get us all bus tickets up the hill. Upon arrival we found out that we each had SINGLE ROOMS! This is a luxury beyond luxury when you are used to sharing very small spaces with 4, 8, or 16 girls. I can decide when I want to turn the light off or when I want to go to sleep. It's amazing. Unfortunately, each hall is locked to everyone but those who live there and there is no common lounge. Caleb would not be pleased. :)

Aberystwyth is right on the coast so as soon as possible we went down and explored it. It's cold and rocky and feels almost lonely, but it is beautiful. Rick knows some people from a church here so we went on a "stroll about town" with them. It turns out this meant a 3 hour odyssey over slippery, slanted rocks before the tide came back in over them. My ankle was not so much pleased. Then we rested, got ice cream, and CLIMBED UP A CLIFF to get back! Ridiculous, but it was beautiful so I can't complain that much.

We also got the opportunity to perform as part of their church service on Sunday. I was a reader for this interpretive dance/movement/play thing called "Hands." It was definitely a stretch for me and a lot of the other kids, but we enjoyed it. Afterwards they made us BBQ (hah!) and we went to go see the Kite Feeding (kites are large birds of prey).

Yesterday we went up on this old railway to the Vale of Rheidol. Spectacular views, 30 ft. waterfalls and an open train car in the freezing rain on the way back. A bunch of us also got together and had bleu cheese and apples with spaghetti and meat sauce that we made for dinner! I'm pretty proud.

Today I had to perform a sort of interpretive monologue with Ashley. Basically we were given words and then had to come up with the situation. She was a spoiled ditzy rich girl and I was a real estate agent showing her around a mansion. There were 12 or so groups all doing the same monologue (aka all of us) and all of them were different! One was a psychiatric patient and doctor, one was oddly Lord of the Rings themed, one was two competing housewives, and so on. It was really cool and REALLY funny.

Tomorrow we head to Cardiff where Lindsay and I are making our presentation on Welsh Music. Hopefully it'll be good, we haven't really worked on it yet. After Cardiff it's London and then FALL BREAK! (yeah that's right Whitworthians, we've been in school for a month already!). Calli and I are headed to Bath for the break. Unfortunately we couldn't get a hostel for the entire 9 nights so we are two nights in a "party hostel" and then the rest in a YMCA (free workout facilities and a room for the two of us!!). There's a Jane Austen festival going on and we'll be working hard to prepare for Patrick's class.

Over and out for now,
Devin