When it Rains it Pours.. Saying Goodbye for now.

Hello my lovelies, Happy Easter! (two days late)

The time has come, I am just two short days away from leaving this beautiful place and I can hardly believe it. This semester has been full of amazing adventures that I will cherish for a life time, and learning experiences that have helped me grow. I am excited for the transition back to the states but will look forward to the day I come back.

The goodbyes have started and many tears have already been shed but I think it all set in on this past Thursday, our last high table dinner. The evening was a lovely celebration of both our time here as a class, the time of our lovely British Studies prof Dr. Magennis, and the last 12 years of our principal Dr. Kingsly. Harlaxton will be quite different next semester with a new British Studies professor and a new principal, but I am so glad I was able to be here for their last semester. At the end of the evening we showed a video that us students put together with the help of our lovely intern to show just a glimpse of our semester here. I'll post the link! After the dinner the whole school went out to celebrate our semester together, even the professors and dean! Not a normal outing for the Harlaxton crew but it was something I will never forget!

http://youtu.be/MC8CtJmaeZw

Also this past week I said goodbye to my host parents, Richard and Ernestine Wells! Although we both wish we had spent more time together this semester I am grateful for their love and support, and for their willingness to teach me some of their traditions. A Full afternoon tea with scones, cakes, and sandwiches was the perfect last outing.

Lastly finals started this weekend.. yes we had finals on Easter. Two down one to go! Wednesday afternoon will be here faster than I am ready for.

To end this post I want to share a few things I will miss the most about being at Harlaxton.

1. Walking to the manor every morning for class even if I was annoyed by it some days I am thankful for the fresh air.
2. The normal conversation being "oh hey, how was France?" "Great, How was Portugal?"
3. Nights in the Bistro
4. Ordering pizzas with my friends
5. Constantly being in awe of the beauty of my home
6. Secret passage ways
7. Nature walks
8. The beauty of the English country side
9. Walking around the beautiful grounds
10. Being just a short walk from the people I love
11. My good night blessings from Grumpy the security guard
12. Sitting in the conservatory on sunny days
13. being just a train ride or short plane ride to the most beautiful places
14. The staff who actually make an effort to make a difference and get to know you
15. My host parents
16. Ziggy the shuttle driver
17. The excitement of Thursdays
18. Sunday evening dinners when everyone shares their weekend travel stories
19. Having a glass of wine with my dinner
20. New friends
And many more things..

Although I have had and amazing semester it wasn't always easy, traveling is stressful at times, people are mean, school is hard, the refectory food is barely edible, you get sick from wearing yourself thin far to often, and when you want to call home it's usually not a reasonable time. The current currency rate is so terrible that my money went much faster than planned and I will be working extremely hard this summer because of it. But if I could do it again I would in a heart beat! I have learned more about myself and grown closer to people I never imagined being close with. I have learned how to book a taxi to the train station, a train to another station, a train to the airport, all to hop on a plane to where we want to be. I have learned how to use the metro and buses in different countries with and without language barriers. I have learned how to get all of my school work done before Thursday so I could travel on the weekends. All of these lessons and experiences are more valuable than anything else, and I can't wait to share stories with everyone. What an amazing experience I have been blessed with!

Now on with the rest of my college career! Long Live the Queen!

The famous apple tree at Isaac Newtons home!

 Costume Ball!

 Loving the Spring weather here!

 Giant chocolate egg from my host parents!

Sharing this experience with my Chi O big sister!

End of the year Valedictory High Table Dinner! 

 Greeks from UE, University of Western Kentucky, Wabash, Texas Women's College, University of Southern Indiana!

 High table dinner!

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth! Keep looking Fab! I'm sure tea time will fit better into my schedule next time! (a day late)

 USA or Bust!

Until we meet again United Kingdom!

All My Love from Across the Pond,

Brooke

Hola Barcelona!

Hola Amigos... or something like that.

I wish I was still soaking up the sun in Barcelona but I am happily back in England preparing for my couple days of class before we are off to our last big adventure! 

Spain was by no means on my "must go" list, and would have preferred to go to Greece, but the bank account said differently in the situation which is more important. ;) BUTTT I can happily say I loved Barcelona and would go back in a heart beat so hopefully we meet again Spain! 

We arrived late in the evening Wednesday, and made our way to our Hostel via bus and metro, but were completely exhausted from traveling so we called it a night. In true hostel fashion we were in a 12 bed dorm, and met some interesting folks. Anywhere from the true whole hearted backpacker from Australia who has pretty rough looking dreads, looking for the next big thing (he found out while we were there the Swiss alps for a month? you go Andrew!) to the med student from NYC on spring break. Anyways the hostel life is always an interesting one and you because you are living so close you might just get the plague from the girl hacking up a lung in the back of the room (Anne Marie and I do not thank you lass ) but more importantly what did we do other than catch this sickness. 

Thursday:

Walked our feet off

Hit up the beach

Went to a cool market

had some traditional meals paella and tapas

Sangria of course

walked up and down Las Ramblas 

Had churros con chocolat 

Went out for tapas night with our hostel

Friday:

Went to La Sagrada Familia 

Met some fellow people from Angola 

Went to Parc Guell 

Had a burger for lunch 

Found the Picasso Museum 

Had gelato

Visited Park Cituadella 

The Magic Fountain at night 

And many more things...

So here it goes. 

Who took spanish growing up? 

Who remembers the spanish?

Well now that we have that settled we can put my weekend in to context a bit. 

Although quite touristy most of the locals we ran into did not speak any english and so I was forced to think back to my spanish days (last semester) which surprisingly came much easier than I thought. By no means am I fluent but I was able to order and ask just about everything we needed to and if I couldn't my friends usually remembered or had an idea. The main issue with the language barrier was the fact that when you take spanish in high school and college you learn the Spanish that is spoke in Mexico and spend very little time learning the Spanish spoke in Spain, and to make matters a little more difficult the dialect is Catalan so there are quite a few words that are different, or said differently. But hey I had no problem ordering my chocolate muffin and coffee with milk for breakfast and thats all that matters! :)

As for how we got around Barcelona, we bought a public transportation pass called the T10 which was valid for 10 trips and that just about worked perfectly. The Bus and Metro systems were quite easy to figure out, which was nice because Barcelona is so big. Also A LOT OF WALKING!

How about meals? 

As for meals there are three traditional dishes Paella, Tapas, and Churros con chocolate for dessert! (well they eat them for any and every meal but you know)

Paella a rice based dish with generally seafood or chicken in it. Sounds good right? Well it was, but we w,ere in for a shock when our sea food dish came out with whole sea creatures... heads and all. Us Indiana and Nebraska girls weren't prepared but we managed! 

Tapas! My personal favorite! Tapas are appetizer sized dishes that are meant to be ordered and shared as a meal. My favorite were patatas bravas (potatoes with spicy tomato sauce) best potatoes I've ever had.

Churros Con Chocolate! Deep friend dough, which I'm sure many of had the cinnamon sugar version,  and served with hot chocolate to dip them in!! The best! 

We hit an off week with the weather so it was around 65 all weekend which was still nice for us, just not quite swim suite weather. This resulted in jeans and light weight tops for us and heavy winter coats, thick knitted scarves, and Ugg boots for the locals :)

As for the end of our trip we decided to leave Saturday for the sole reason we could have Sunday for resting and school work. Come to find out it was probably for the best because not only had all of us become sick from the girl in our room, but riots broke out.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Demonstrators-riot-Spain.html

Fortunately everyone traveling was fine just a little concerned as to why people were packed in the streets by their hostels with the police trying to keep them under control.

As for other things I'll post pictures, we visited many beautiful parks and areas just to enjoy the scenery.

Out with Friends!

Met a couple from Angola!

La Sagrada Familia park!

La Sagrada Familia!

A view from up top at Parc Guell

Throwing it

Beach fun with my sisters! I love traveling with them! 

Hair is looking a bit like fire but oh well! 

 Magic Fountain!

Gothic Quarter 

All my love from across the pond!

Brooke

Only One More Month!

Hello my beautiful friends and family!


The last couple weeks have flown by and by the last few weeks I mean the first two and a half months! Where has the time gone? Goodness well we can't seem to catch a break with this school business we are doing here but we try to find the impossible balance.

SPRING HAS ARRIVED!! Yes indeed spring has certainly arrived and it could not have come at a better time. It has reached up to the mid 60's in the last couple weeks, and although we haven't dealt with the polar vortex we sure have had our fair share of depressing raining days and we all needed to get outside and see the sunlight. Seriously though the manor of college kids turned into a manor of elementary aged children at recess.. a little crazy

Spring means many things for us here at the manor
spring equinox bon fire
daffodils (everywhere literally)
hikes
bike rides
enjoying the conservatory
our time here is nearly over
final travels
exams
term papers
Matilda


Another thing that has been going on this semester, which is different than many semesters before us is that we are losing our beloved principal Dr. Kingsley. This sweet man and his wife will be officially retiring after serving the Harlaxton Manor for 12 years! As you can possibly imagine the shoes will not be easily filled, the interview process has been narrowed down to two candidates, which both will be a change for the Harlaxton community. We have been lucky enough to be included in this process but it seems unreal that after 12 years in England they will head back to the states with us.


Guess where I was last weekend?!?!?!

Most likely you already know because I posted it on every social media page possible, but just in case you missed it some how.... I was in...

SCOTLAND!!!
I love it there.. remember I mentioned that the first time I was there!

sigh well it was perfect..
You see, I traveled to Scotland all by myself, had to switch trains and all (big stuff I know)..
to spend time with the Prince of Scotland, as Meg and Anne Marie would refer to him as, other wise known as James. Why was James in Scotland you may be wondering (or may not be but oh well) ? Well James flew over to visit his dad, stepmom, and rest of the family on his dads side because you guessed it! They are from Scotland! Anyhow for spring break he spent a week there and I was fortunate enough to be welcomed for a long weekend.  While in Scotland we went to the University of Sterling,  Sterling Castle, Urquhart Castle, boat tour on Loch ness, drove through the highlands, visited the battle grounds from the battle of Culloden, William Wallace monument, and spent a lot of time with family! Never under estimate the company of family even if they aren't your own, spending time in a home and sleeping in a  normal bed was just the kind of break I needed. It was an amazing weekend and was hard to say goodbye when the time came to say goodbye to James and his wonderful family.



This past Tuesday I saw the musical Matilda in London! As you can imagine it was amazing! The set was perfect, and it was the children in this particular shows first Matilda debut! Overall an amazing experience, and well worth seeing on broadway or in London if you're ever able to!

 In other news:

last week was our second British Studies exam, two down one to go!
I'm going to Barcelona, Spain this coming weekend!
I'm going to Ireland the following weekend!
Exactly one month from today we will be leaving the manor! :(

And now a fine selection of photographs

Celebrating a new friends 21st!

 Fun with sisters and Tom?

 A beautiful Cathedral

Reunited!

 Low clouds in the Highlands

 Hunting for Nessie!

 Lochness 

 Battle of Culludon 

 Urquhart Castle

 St Patricks Day Celebration

 Matilda the Musical

 Spring is here

Until Next Time!

All My Love From Across The Pond,

Brooke

William Wallace and Black Stone Cherry!

Hello!!

I have returned from my weekend in Edinburgh Scotland and I am in love! I think I have said that about some other places, but really Edinburgh is by far my favorite trip so far. We took an 8am train from Grantham to Edinburgh and with a short switch in York arrived in Edinburgh by 12 on Friday. After taking a few wrong turns we were on our way to our hostel, passing by some street vendors and bagpipers. We stayed at a fantastic hostel called Castle Rock Hostel, which was literally right by the Edinburgh Castle which was obviously an amazing view!
While in Edinburgh I visited the Elephant House, which is where JK Rowling liked to sit and write the Harry Potter series, and a few places she got ideas from. I also walked around the University of Edinburgh which was really amazing, had lunch with James' Dad, and step mom, visited parliament, hiked up Arthur's Seat to watch the sunrise with some of my best sisters and friends, ate delicious food, went on a ghost tour, enjoyed fudge (a few times), coffee (a few more), and many more wonderful things! I just loved it so much!

Well I am sad this post has to be short but the past two weeks have been so busy with this week possibly being the very worst of them all, but the end is very near!
This week: 3 presentations, first double british studies day, a quiz, and test results...
not my favorite!





...................................................................................................................................................................

Goodness well as I mentioned in the post above I had a very busy week so I was never able to actually post so here is a double dose for this week!


Hello All!

This weekend I was back in London.. yes I know I go there a lot but London never fails, and when you are paying your way over here sometimes you have to go the less expensive route a few weekends so you can go to the bigger places later. With that being said we went to London because my dear friend Megs uncle has connections with a band from Kentucky, and were going to be in London this weekend, Although we weren't sure what we were getting in to we couldn't pass up the opportunity to be on the VIP list and hang out with a group of guys from Kentucky! (closer to home) So we got ready and made our way to the venue in the pouring down rain (why did we get ready?) When we arrived to this southern rock concert we realized it was completely sold out! Southern rock band made it big in the UK I suppose :) kinda funny! Super nice guys and met some new friends in the whole process so what more can you ask for!?

Other than the concert we just relaxed in some of our favorite places of town avoiding as many of the large touristy areas as possible, because it's nice not to feel like a tourist sometimes. Went to the Borough Market, which is one of our favorite places to grab lunch, and everything else you may desire food wise. At the market you can find everything from fresh meats and produce, to family ran stands of delicious food! yay! On Saturday we went to the cinema to see the movie A Winters Tale, which was really good. Across from the cinema was M&M World, now as you can possibly imagine that there are a lot of M&M things, but I don't think you fully understand... at least 4 massive floors of M&M stuff.. pajamas, stuffed animals, bags, dresses, little things.. chapstick.. obviously the M&M crap is endless.. so that was interesting. I went for the M&Ms like the actual chocolate just in case you were wondering. passed on the dress this time.

Unfortunately I came down with a bug Saturday and I'm not sure what it is, but hoping I will feel better for classes tomorrow.

On another note 10 days until I head to Scotland to see my dear James which will be amazing!
 Until then I have plenty to do for school!

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weekends!

The view of the North Sea

Castle Rock Hostel

 Edinburgh

 Arthurs Seat

View at the Top

Watching the Sun rise from the top of Arthurs Seat

 London!

Black Stone Cherry 

 M&M world

Just these two cuties for fun!

Until next time!

All my love from across the Pond,

Brooke