Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (Or so I Hope)

Hello there world. Sorry, I've been a bit out of touch lately. Hopefully it just made you miss my stories and look forward to my next tale. No worries. I've cooked up a whole lot of fun for you to delve into. But before we get into the fun stuff, I've received a request to let you all know how to pronounce the name of Aberystwyth, the town I'm studying in this semester. Well, it's pretty easy...if you know the basic phonetics of the Welsh language. So here is your quick welsh lesson...Y is similar to a short I in English. So, to pronounce it you would say Aaa(as in Apple)-Brr(as in "brrr, it's cold")-Wrist(like a wrist watch)-With(like "I'm with her"). Aaa-brrr-wrist-with. Aberystwyth. Not to shabby. Aber actually means the "mouth of" in Welsh and the Ystwyth is a river that meets the Irish Sea here. So literally, it means the "mouth of the Ystwyth river". You learned something new today. Now, onto my life abroad.

It's been a whirlwind since my last post so let's start with the first week of my Easter Break....which lasted 3 weeks. I left Aberystwyth and took the 3 hour train ride to Birmingham. I met up with my friend Helen, who I met in Montana when she was studying abroad. She and her parents had a whole week of English adventures planned for me so we looked over our agenda and had an early night. I woke up the next morning and we started our journey to Bath. Helen's dad gave me a book about Bath so during the car ride I read about the history of the town and was excited to see the city made mostly of limestone and home to the only naturally occurring hot springs in the UK. Our first stop was the Bath Abbey. Then we walked over the Roman Baths, which are thousands of years old and known for the supposed healing power of the mineral water. You could sample the water from the Baths for a small fee so Helen and I decided to give it a go. It wasn't the most tasty water I've ever had, in fact I was kind of afraid that I was going to get some kind of parasite from the bitter tasting water, but I survived. And the sore throat I'd been fighting of miraculously disappeared two days later...call it a coincidence or maybe the water really is healing. We toured the rest of Bath taking in the amazing Georgian architecture, stopping by the Royal Crescent and crossing Pulteney Bridge. Bath was a beautiful town and a great way to start out my break.

The next day was an exciting one for me. Why you may ask? Well, the next day we made our way to Stratford-Upon-Avon. "Why does that sound familiar?" you may be thinking. It sounds familiar silly because that is where my good buddy Bill was born, lived, and died. Now how do you know Bill? Well, you may know him by his pen name, William Shakespeare, but those of us close to him just call him Bill. Alright, so this was exciting for me because I've kind of been a bit of a closet Shakespeare fan since high school. There, it's out in the open now. I like Shakespeare. I think his sonnets are beautiful and his plays are amazing. I especially enjoy Much Ado About Nothing which is hilarious. And, he manages to insult people in the most brilliant manner ever. Make fun of me, laugh at me, call me what you want, but don't diss on my Shakespeare. Anyways, now that everyone knows that if I had been alive in the late 1500s Shakespeare would have married me instead of Anne Hathaway, let's move on. Stratford was a beautiful town. We started out at Mary Arden's House. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mother. Her house is outside of Stratford but there is still a working farm there and they even have characters dressed in period clothing working, cooking and gardening. It was pretty cool. Our next stop was at Anne Hathaway's cottage. Then on into town to Shakespeare's birthplace where we saw the room the Bard was born in and grew up in. Down the street from that house were Nash's house and Hall's Croft where Shakespeare's daughter and granddaughter lived. And lastly, we went to the church where Shakespeare is buried, however, they had already closed so I didn't actually get to see his grave. Oh well, I got to see the rest of his life. And I bought an amazing Shakespearean insult mug so that when I have my coffee or tea I can read insults such as "I do desire we may be better strangers" or "Not so much brain as ear wax". I also purchased a Shakespeare cookie, which I found to be hilarious. I then decided that I might as well get a picture with Shakespeare (the cookie, that is) in front of his birthplace. Don't we look happy to be there. Alright, now that I officially sound like a loon I'll move on to the more sane portion of my break.

The following day we went to Litchfield to visit the Litchfield Cathedral. I love old cathedrals so we spent some time exploring the church and taking pictures of the cool gothic style architecture. We then went into Birmingham. Helen's mom owns a costume shop which makes costumes for theater and television throughout the UK and the world. They let me sift through the thousands of pieces of clothing and then I had a little fun trying on hats. Here's one of me being a pirate. Aaarrrrgh!

After playing dressup it was time for our next adventure. Off we went to Blenheim Palace where the Duke of Marlborough currently resides. Blenheim Palace is famous for being the birthplace of former Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. The palace was gorgeous and the grounds and gardens were breath taking. We took a tour of the palace, which is sometimes said to be the nicest palace in England...even compared to Buckingham Palace. Then we had lunch out in the gardens amongst some statues and fountains, then walked along the lake and made our way around the grounds. This particular palace is open to the public because it is the only way the Duke of Marlborough and his family can afford to live there. They only use one wing of the residence for private living and use the main dining hall for Christmas dinner only. There is also a private chapel at the Palace. What a life.

After four days of non-stop adventure and sight-seeing, we needed a break. So, we had a quiet day with evening plans. I took Helen to her first proper Rock Concert. We went into Birmingham that evening for a Hinder concert. You may know them because of their big hit "Lips of an Angel". The show opened with Black Stone Cherry, a great band from Edmonton, Kentucky. They came out after their set and signed autographs and talked with people during the Hinder set. Then, once Hinder was done playing they came out to the merchandise booth, too. They stood there until every last person had a chance to go through the line. It was interesting to me because Hinder is pretty big in the states, but they just released their album last month in the UK. They're still fairly unknown so the show was small and the band isn't too famous over here. Puts a new perspective on fame, it's all relative to the area you're in. I got to meet the guys who were all very nice. Even had a chance to get a picture with Austin Winkler, the lead singer. They all seemed a bit shocked to be hearing an American accent in Birmingham, England. It was a good night in all.

Our last day of adventure was spent at Warwick Castle. We spent the entire day there exploring and I don't think we even got to see half of the stuff the castle had to offer. In the castle courtyard there were activities going on all day for big and little kids alike. There was an archer showing how to shoot a bow. A birds of prey show, a trebuchet, courtyard performers, knights in shining armor, and basically everything you would expect to see at a castle. It made me feel like a kid for the day, not wanting to leave and get excited for storytime. Definitely a worthwhile tourist destination. After a long day of castle exploration it was time to make our trek towards London.

Once in London, Helen and I met up with some of her friend's who she went to University with in Aberystwyth. We went into London and visited the Tate Britain art museum then spent the day walking along the Thames River and walking through the city. We even managed to find Scotland Yard and wouldn't you know it, just down the street we found the Sherlock Holmes Pub. It was too busy for us to go in but I still got a picture of it.

And that was my first week of break in a nutshell, a somewhat large nutshell. Next up, my 2nd two weeks with my sister and two friends from home. We travelled through England, Wales, and Ireland...so many more stories. Coming soon...