Exploring a village...

Today, to fulfill yet another requirement of our class (International Studies 135: Exploring Great Britain), everyone in the group was assigned a partner and a village outside of Nottingham proper and had to explore and learn everything we could about it. Mary and I were to find Cotgrave, how to get there and well, here's what happened...

Our trip was fine, we learned a great deal, were harrassed by a gaggle of adolescent boys, visited a church that dates back to the domesday book, spoke to several friendly elderly women who shared the history of the area, had a nice lunch at a pub and a lovely afternoon tea at a little shop. Our assignment was completed in plenty of time, so we treated ourselves to an afternoon of shopping near the Lace Market area of Nottingham. When we returned to the flat for the group dinner (with mandatory semi-formal presentations), we soon learned that the rest of the group had not had such an easy time. Kate was unfortunate enough to have bad luck with the bus system again... even though she left the flat at 8:30, she didn't arrive in her village (a mere ten miles away) until 1:30 in the afternoon. Most of the 'quaint' villages that were assigned were bedroom communities, aka, no one was around, at all. The majority of buildings were aparently residential... some locations only had one or two pubs... in two instances, the lone pub was closed. This posed a problem. How the hesitant and awkward American students were to approach complete strangers (who were not keen on talking to silly study abroad students in their home town) was a mystery to most everyone. Regardless of all the obstacles, everyone managed to find a place to grab some lunch, some amongst wedding parties - others with aimiable old men, and learn a bit about the history of the place... or atleast what was going on that night. Brandon, as usual, was exceptionally successful at finding the angle and talking to all sorts of interesting people. In the end, everyone completed the assingment and came home safely.

After a long discussion over dinner, Mark and Carol finally left and we started to settle in for the night. Anna, Em and Ryan went out for the night and the rest of us stayed at home. As we congregated in the common room, huddled over our laptops blogging, Kate finally convinced us to stop and watch a movie, have some chocolate, and best of all, share backrubs. So, before I waste anymore time, I am going to enjoy a relaxed evening...