I have come to realize that I update this in spurts. It's most likely due to the fact that all of us have been forced into hiding to do our 2000 word paper on the Industrial Revolution and seeing as it's bank holiday, nothing is open and we're all dying of boredom and overwork. Luckily I have this trusty blog to kill time.
Last week covered the Industrial Revolution. We were met by two new professors who were as serious and dry as the Sahara Desert (and when I say dry, I do not mean dry humor). They knew their information, but found it was very important to go on tangents about things that we did not need to know. We learned about the "very different" political system of Britain that in actuality is not completely foreign to the American system but that obviously did not matter. By the end of the course, politics seemed to have come out and the professors decided to egg us on about our views. I have to say, as Americans, we were very diplomatic in answering his questions and definitely looked as the winners due to the fact that we were unhappy with having to talk about something so controversial. One thing I have noticed about the Brits - they love to provoke.
Wednesday, the class traveled to just outside of Manchester to go to Quarry Bank Mill. The actual mill was quite long, boring, and repetitive. I think that the English don't realize that we had an industrial revolution ourselves. All of us have realized we need to accept the "dumb American" persona. The village where the mill workers lived, however was absolutely quaint and cosy. I could see Mom loving the town. There is even a primary school for local kids and a Methodist Church (3rd picture) all still in use.
After a week of paper writing, Matt's 21st birthday - complete with Mexican dinner & homemade birthday cake - and lying low, I made a trek down to visit Mike. I learned that British rail transportation is extremely unreliable compared to that of America & the rest of Europe. My first train was stopped for 20 minutes due to a "signal malfunction" which the nice English ladies I was sitting with explained as "They needed to stop all the trains to figure out where everything was". Lovely. This would not have been a problem if I did not have a connecting train 10 mins after I arrived, which the conductor kindly informed us that had left. Luckily, I got a ticket for a train an hour later, and after the nice British ladies made sure I got situated, I was on my way. It was great to see Mike after so long and it definitely made me realize how much I miss home, finally connecting with something that seemed so familiar. That and he brought me a proper grease laden pizza for dinner that I devoured quickly.
Southern England, especially along the coast is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in England. The tiny town where Mike lives is just like Boiling Springs, where everyone knows everyone's business. It's located about 20 minutes from the beach and the drive there seems like it's out of the movies with beautiful homes covered in ivy and wall lined roads that twist and turn through the British countryside. Poole - the nearest beachside town - is set with a harbor on one side and the Channel on the other. With areas called the Millionaire's Playground, it's a popular spot for the British to vacation and go to the beach. When we got on the beach I was comfortable in my long sleeve and jeans but the natives were sunbathing in their tiny swimsuits. I guess they take whatever they can get. However, Mike & Simon (his best friend) along with his mother, showed me what they enjoy doing - hitting golf balls out into see. Probably one of the coolest things to see while staring out at the Isle of Wight (Dad will be proud to know I got quite excited to see the Isle of Wight and kept singing "When I'm Sixty-Four"). I spent the rest of the weekend getting a lesson on British life, food, crazy golf [mini golf], politics, music, television, automobiles, and football. I was sad to go (and a little disappointed I didn't take many pictures) but definitely returned in a better mood and less stressed. I think I actually can do this whole living in a foreign country thing.
The trip has been changed due to lack of funds (we knew we could do better) so I will now be traveling through Amsterdam, Prague, Rome, Florence, Sardinia, and Girona, Spain. Elena has done a brilliant job looking up cheap flights and I'm about to work on the hostel situation. The backpack Europe book has proven to be much more help than the Travel Agency (who knew?). A good $15.99 well spent.
Today was the first day of the English Reformation part of the course, and we are very interested to see how this goes (at the moment it's looking unbearable). Hopefully, I'll be updating much sooner because this weekend we are taking advantage of the Gettysburg students in London and going for a nice weekend visit before our two-week adventure starts next week - Can't believe it!
Love from across the pond!
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