more than a week...

More than a week since I last posted. Just over a week until I leave for Christmas break. This week, I have a final exam, two papers, and hours of other work to do. Am I stressed, only mildly, I feel as though it will not be too difficult (until about 4am on any given morning) and on the bright side, I got my Eurail pass today! But onto other news...

They boys started decorating for Christmas...

This past weekend, the group traveled to Stratford-Upon-Avon. Instead of all piling into our trusty coach with our speedy coach driver Roger, Mark and Carol rented a car. Carol drove the program car and Mark drove the stick-shift rental. We were ordered to pack light for the weekend, so we all fit everything we needed into the typical bookbag/backpack size bag. Plenty of room to spare in the cars. I found this extremely ironic as we all took our huge hiking packs on the first couple trips and couldn't fit everything we wanted to take in... hmmm... atleast we are getting better at packing more efficiently. Anyway, after an almost uneventful ride there on Friday morning (yeah, we missed classes, again. I wonder if that will be reflected in our Islamic Tradition grades?) we checked into our guest house and received our itineraries. Unlike other trips which had our every moment planned out, we had a list of places to visit and a ticket to get into all of them and two days to do it in. A quick take-away pasty lunch (a convenient way for Mark and Carol to save money... afterall, "It's December and we're low on money in the budget" as Carol said. Funny, they will pay for us to go into a costume Museum in Bath that was a complete waste of time and they have to scrimp later. No worries though, we all had plenty of food and I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed their pasty (from Thai chicken to Bacon, Cheese, and Leek to Apple, Rhubarb, Custard... it was good all around).

Stratford-Upon-Avon (which is getting annoying to type... I'll just call it Stratford from now on... OK? good :) ) is a nice small town. Small in comparison to Nottingham, approximately 25,000, so about the size of Freeport. As it was the first weekend of December, the Christmas decorations were out in full force and it was quite pretty, especially at night. Obviously, the town is best known for its link to Master William Shakespeare. I'm not sure if it is a good thing or not, but any and every house that could possibly be tied to the Shakespeare name ... has been tied to it. We saw his birthplace, the ruins of the great house he bought later in life, the house that was next door to that, Anne Hathaway's cottage (which he never lived in and probably spend little if anytime in...), his daughter's husband's house, his grand daughter's husband's house, the church his dad attended and his grave. Needless to say, I know a LOT about life in England around Shakespeare's life time. Once again, I learned that modern amenities are a wonderful thing. Aside from visiting Shakespeare related places, during the day, we walked through markets, cute little shops and one of the days I had lunch at a cute tea shop with Mary and Emily. It was a nice roomie bonding session.


On both Friday and Saturday night, the group attended a play performed at the SWAN theatre. Of course, before we came to Stratford, Mark and Carol prepared us for the plays by having us read the first couple acts and discussing both at length. We prepared ourself for the spoken Shakespearian word by watching "Shakespeare in Love" and a recent production of "Hamlet" with Bill Murray and many other popular actors/actresses that I should know. The first night, we saw Pericles performed with somewhat present day African influences. I know that sounds slightly odd, but it was phenomenal. I was completely engrossed in everyword after the first three lines and although it was nearly a four hour ordeal (including the half hour intermission), the time flew. To complete the night, we went out to the oldest pub in town afterwards and had a drink with Mark and Carol. The next night, we met for dinner at a great pasta place and then headed back to the SWAN for a performance of The Winter's Tale. This performance had influences of Europe in the 1940's, again it was an excellent performance. Although I was not as engrossed in this story, the acting was quite good.


On Sunday morning, the group attended church at the Cathedral in Stratford (communion was served ten feet away from Shakespear's grave... I found that awkward... anyway...). It was a cheerful service with a great deal of congregational participation. From Stratford, we journied to Chipping Campden. We had a great lunch of soup and bread and tea at a little tea shop (Mark and Carol even sprung for a slice of our choice of cake at the end...). We walked around the town and took in the surroundings and then spent some time in the cathedral. The oldest parts of the church dated back to the 11th century, but most of it was 16th century. A quick trip home with no major navigational errors and we were welcomed back to Nottingham by a cold, dark flat. The power was out. After lighting nearly fifty candles, the power came back on. We were happy to have heat and light, and perhaps most importantly... computers. (There are a few new pics on Picasa) This week will be interesting. I hope all is well back in the States and that everyone is enjoying the winter weather (Illinois has at least 8 inches of snow!). xoxo Hil