The World in Britain

I should probably introduce myself before I launch off into a huge long paragraph about England, my experiences, and the traveling we’ve done thus far.

 So, hello. My name is Leanne and I am a Junior at Randolph College, studying abroad (obviously) in Reading, England. In Reading, we’re known as 3rd Years, which to them is the final year of university.  I’m majoring in Biology and minoring in Latin for my degree in persuing Veterinary Medicine.

So why did I come to England? After perusing through the course selections, I discovered they offered a class about Cancer and I knew I absolutely had to take it. I also wanted to experience a new and different culture  and had heard nothing but good things about England. So, I thought, why not go there? And voila! Here I am.

 I’ll keep this short since it’s only an introduction, but I plan on writing more, and often. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep it semi-entertaining. One interesting thing thus far: Americans have the stereotype for being sarcastic–and I’m no exception.

This year, the Fall 2009 Readingites are lucky enough to be going on four group trips around England this term. Our first one was three weeks ago when we traveled to Portsmouth, a city on England’s south coast. Our main destination in Portsmouth was the Historic Dockyard, which houses (among other things) the HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s ship at the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Mary Rose, a Tudor warship that sank in 1545 and that has only recently been raised to the surface. The Mary Rose went off display for further preservation the day after we visited, so we were very lucky indeed to have seen her when we did! After a tour of the Historic Dockyard, we had some free time to explore Portsmouth on our own. Fellow Readingite Annie and I managed, after a few wrong turns, to find Portsmouth’s Anglican Cathedral. A moderate-sized building, the most impressive part of it (besides the amazing white stonework inside), was the fact that half of it was less than 20 years old while the other half was hundreds of years old, yet the two sides had been fitted together almost seamlessly!

The group’s second trip was last Friday, when we headed into London to visit Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for a production of the Bard’s As You Like It. The week preceding the visit, we had studied the text of As You Like It in our World in Britain seminar so the group was well versed in what to expect on stage, or so we thought. The show, at least for me, exceeded every expectation I had after reading the play and broke many stereotypes that I had about Shakespeare’s work. The show was truly comedic and, in many ways, unexpectedly modern. The Readingites experienced the show the “true” Elizabethan way, standing in front of the stage as groundlings, with many of us directly in front of the stage!

Classes at the University started for most of the group today and, with still two more trips in front us, plus undoubtedly more papers to write, the rest of the term is no doubt bound to get busier and more exciting very soon!

One of the biggest pluses about living in England has to be that it is a small country. This is an especially great thing when one considers the traveling that can be done in such a small country. I have managed to take full advantage of travel in England over the past three days. With The World in Britain Seminar starting yesterday and the intensive courses (in my case, Music and Ideas) last week, a lot of us figured that this was the best time to do day trips to various locales around Reading. In the past three days, I have managed to visit three separate spots in England.

My first day trip out of Reading was on Sunday. Gill, the Residence Manger for the Reading program, had to go to Henley for the day and she made the extra spots in her car available to anyone who wanted to visit Henley. Rhiannon, Annie, Anna, and I (all of 141) decided to go with Gill to Henley. It was a short drive of about 15 minutes, and well worth it. Henley is a town on the River Thames so there were plenty of wonderful views of the river with many other things to explore within the city. One highlight from Sunday’s adventure was making it inside “The Tudor House”, a building originally built in the 1580s that is now an antique shop – definitely the oldest building I’ve ever been in! After spending the afternoon in Henley, we meet Gill at a cute little teashop on the banks of the Thames before heading back to Reading.

  The Thames in Henley

 The day after Henley, I took the train into London. Brandon, Caleb, Annie, Rhiannon, and I left after Seminar on Monday and made it into London around 3 PM. We arrived at Paddington Station and emerged into a great throng of people. We eventually found a place for lunch (Shakespeares Head, a place I highly recommend) but not before witnessing a line of Hare Krishna make their way through London’s incredibly crowded streets. After lunch, Annie and I split off to find the Tate Modern. After managing to not get lost on the Underground (a feat, considering neither of us had used it before), Annie and I emerged onto the banks of the Thames, surprised by the views of the Palace of Westminster and the London Eye we had. Then the search for the Tate Modern began. We spent nearly an hour looking for the Tate Modern only to find it at 6:10 PM, 10 minutes after closing time. We then decided to have a look at St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is immediately across from the Tate Modern on the opposite bank of the Thames. Following much picture taking of St. Paul’s, Annie and I decided to take the Underground to Tower Hill and took in the sights there, including the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and part of the original Roman wall that surrounded Roman London. Hungry from such a full day, Annie and I found a delightful Indian place (next door to the curiously named “Hanged, Drawn and Quartered”) near the Tower. Then we made our way back to Paddington for the 9:30 train back to Reading.

St. Paul’s Cathedral in London

Today, after such a busy day in London, Rhiannon and I decided to take a day trip to much lower-key Winchester. A great cathedral city, Winchester was the capital of the kingdom before the Norman Conquest of 1066. With the cathedral as our main reason for visiting, we quickly made our way to it after disembarking the train. After many wrong turns, we eventually found our destination. After a quick side trip to the gift store, we entered the cathedral. It is a very grand piece of Norman architecture with tons of stained glass in the windows. We took the (free!) tour of the cathedral and even managed to make it into the crypt of the cathedral! After the Cathedral, we stopped for tea in a wonderful little tea place off one of the many side streets in Winchester. We quickly realized it was closing in on 5 o’clock, when most things in Winchester were closing. We scraped plans to see the City Museum and the Great Hall and decided to just take a walk along the River Itchen. We found a wonderful park that cut through much of Winchester and provided a nice little “green” break. After this walk, we found “The Royal Oak”, a partially underground pub that claims to be the oldest pub in England, and had dinner and drinks. We then made our way back to the train station and caught the train back to Reading.

Winchester Cathedral in Winchester

Hi! My name is Nick Marshall and I am a junior and a history major at Randolph College. I will be a resident of 141 Whiteknights (the college’s main house in Reading) all year. I am really excited about my year abroad and, even though I’ve only been here 5 days, I already know it’s going to be an amazing experience. I hope the chronicling of my adventures on here will give you a taste of how my year is going and what it could be like for you, if you are interested in applying for the program!

We made it! I finally had a second to chill and take the time to blog a little bit about my adventures over the past four days! Everyone (well all but 3?) are taking a class right now; further making me feel like a dropout. My first class is tomorrow, a music class which I am very excited about. I can’t believe so much has happened already! After a 4ish hour hour delay, our flight took off from Dulles Friday. Flying terrifies me, but everyone else seemed to agree that it was a good and very fast flight (thanks hurricane). Special thanks to a the very patient Alex for listening to my panicked rant about Marie Antoinette which got faster, filled with increased amounts of terror, and higher pitched as the plane took off. We landed in Heathrow where we all managed to enter the country successfully (well, Trey almost didn’t make it). Then we met Dr. Lars Franke, who is extremely “nice” meaning kind, helpful, and a good guy overall (we’ve been having some minor translation issues). After a little bus ride we showed up in front of our houses –––141 and 153 Whiteknights––– and set up house. We met Gill, who is absolutely fantastic! I’m living in 153 with Alex, Leanne, and Trey. Such a cute little place! Three bedrooms upstairs, a computer room; downstairs is the living room, conservatory, and kitchen. We have an large garden dotted with apple trees and very fat birds (from time to time). That noise, that I thought was Trey drying his hair several times a day, actually turned out to be a vacuum at the BP station next-door. Apparently, the car blokes (guys with souped up cars with big exhausts) hang out there late at night…and vacuum their cars.Enough about the house, Trey and I decided to slog through the jet lag and hop on the bus to central Reading to search for a cell phone and other adventures. Central Reading and The Oracle (the big downtown mall thing) are full of well known shops and stores (oh no) so we basically have everything we need (or don’t need) relatively close by. We decided to walk around and explore a little bit more, so we walked around the shops passing by many of our very interestingly dressed peers who were taking breaks from the Reading Festival. A three day music festival with headliners such as Radiohead, Vampire Weekend, Kaiser Chiefs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Kings of Leon, Brand New, Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, to name a few. Too bad the tickets were sold out, too expensive, and I had no idea that was happening the day we got here. However, being able to see everyone in their concert get up was worth it to me. Girls wearing face paint, headbands galore, floral dresses, tights, and guys wearing bathrobes with fedoras; well worth it. Trey and I got back on the bus that we believed would take us home, and ended up driving all over Reading. Not regrettable because we were put on the right bus and our tickets were reimbursed for being dumb and lost Americans, but we also were able to explore more of our new home and rest our tired feet.Once we reached home we were treated to a barbeque where we met many of the people who will be assisting us with our living arrangements throughout the year. We sort of roasted marshmallows (which taste a little fruity here) over the grill on forks and played with Gill’s sweet little dog Bella (when she wasn’t wrestling sausages). Then, after being up nearly 24 plus hours (correct me if I’m wrong…although, it’s too painful to think about) we all went home for long anticipated meetings with our new beds. Sunday morning Liz, Trey, and I took the bus into central Reading for supplies. We hit the Marks and Spencer,  then we headed to Boots for toiletries. We then headed back for a very yummy English roast were we consumed Yorkshire pudding, two kinds of gravy, beef roast, chicken, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, rolls, and I am possibly forgetting something…oh yes…stuffing balls! Stuffing balls are kind of the best invention ever. It’s basically stuffing, rolled up into little balls. Okay, that sounds really stupid but, trust me, they aren’t. After supper, Gill brought out this delicious chocolate cake with berries and to add to the decadence we poured cream on top. After all that, we took a walk exploring a little bit of the area around which we live as well as a tour of the Reading Whiteknights campus. It was rather chilly that day, and as I am coming down with some kind of weird illness, I think was a bit of a whiny baby about being cold. But, I am serious, this is not normal cold, my bones are literally cold. Lots of layers. After our much needed walk we settled in for some supper after which the 141 kids picked us up and we headed to the Three Tuns our nearby (across the street) pub. Good fun was had by all, but I think we sat on the Indian curry buffet side instead of the actual pub side (next time).   After watching Labyrinth and the always fabulous Bowie steal a baby for about and hour the doorbell rang. Trey answered to find that two English blokes had come knocking to see if we wanted to go out. Apparently, they knew “the Americans” the two previous years, so Trey and I voyaged out with them and what a night! We saw what the young crowd does in Reading (I guess a smaller group because the students aren’t back yet) and goodness can they party. At an unmentionable hour we returned and I fell straight asleep. Waking up with no voice and exhausted was well worth the adventure. Leanne finally showed up after having her visa sorted out, it’s very nice to have her as it felt absurd only having three people in this big house. Our little family is complete! We all met up at 141 to sort out class stuff and we went for bike rides around campus for a while. After my meeting with Dr. Franke, my intrepid friends Trey and Liz invited me to go to London, a suggestion I greeted with surprise but off we went!We left for London around 5 and returned at 9something! We walked around Hyde Park a bit, down Oxford Street (I didn’t go in one shop… impossible? Believe it!), then we took the tube to Covent Garden to search for Liz’s dance studio. After a pleasant meander around the maze-like streets, we found it: closed. Oh well, just around the corner was our tube stop and we tubed it back to Paddington and caught a very nice train to Reading (suspiciously nice for our cheap tickets). After some scrambling and bus chasing we arrived, half-starved and blistered at 141 for some pasta. Back at 153, Alex and I finished Labyrinth and ate yummy Polish cookies she shared with me (yum). I hopped into bed, woke up, and that is the play-by-play of the last couple days. I will try to keep this more regular or at least not be so detailed next time (sorry). You’re brave to have read all that. Today, I think Oxford is on the menu for the afternoon. Can’t wait to go back! Aching for more adventures! Having a blast! Cheers!

Hi everyone! I’m Katie McKinney, student of James Madison University where I usually major in art history. As we all know, things are about to be a little different this semester. Words can’t really express how lucky/happy/excited I feel to be studying in England this semester. Right now I am in the car on the way to Dulles, nothing really feels real right now. Then again I still don’t feel packed since I have to do some suitcase shuffling in the parking lot…oh dear. Anyway, when I have an actual keyboard I will divulge more of my innermost hopes and fears for our adventure! Tata for now US of A!

Randolph College is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Lars Franke as Director of the Randolph College Abroad: the World in Britain Program and Assistant Professor of Music effective July 1, 2009.

He will succeed Dr. Randolph Ivy, who is retiring as Director of the Reading Program and Professor of English after serving the College since 1978.

Dr. Franke has taught at the University of Surrey, the University of Reading and as visiting tutor for our World in Britain Program. He specializes in 19^th-century music, aesthetics, and film music. In 2007, the University of Reading honored him with the School Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Franke earned his Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Southampton and holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Surrey. 

Today is absolutely phenomenal! The sun is shining, there’s a nice breeze, and we have a BOUNCY CASTLE.

Since it’s the end of the year, we’re having our blow-out bash with all of the house funds that remained. There are tables of wonderful food - pasta salad, hamburgers, hotdogs, veggie skewers, chips, cookies, cake, pies, and lots of fruit! There are drinks, too, and Robin made us Authentic Southern Sweet Tea!!! We miss it SO much over here, and our British friends were delighted at the discovery - they’d never tasted it!

The backyard of 153 is a playground. There’s a massive bouncy castle that has been the center of our fun for the past five hours (I’m taking a break!)… oh-so fun, whether you want to do flips and bounce off the walls or if you just want to cuddle-puddle for an afternoon nap together! There was also a pinata, and lots of us took a turn swinging madly (blind-folded, of course) at a unicorn that Melissa kept moving just out of reach. It finally exploded in a shower of candy… We’ve also been dancing to music, including a top performance of “Thriller” by our very own Bramhall, Brooke, and Robin, and, to my delight and embarrassment, a very confused performance of “The Bing-Bang Dance” from Lazytown… by yours truly.

I’m not sure how long the festivities will last; I can still hear music and shrieks from my room, but it’s getting a bit chilly… On the other hand, we DO have the bouncy castle overnight…

What a way to celebrate the end of our stay in Britain! There’s a week or less left for most of us here; I’ll go back to France a week from tomorrow to spend the summer with my fiancé (he proposed over Christmas!!!!!!)!! Before then I still have an oral presentation to give, a paper to finish, various other assignments to complete, and the last of my packing to do… but not today. Today is a day just for bouncy castles.

As you’ve heard, it’s Spring Break for us! The University of Reading students have a whole month off, but we only get a week. That’s okay, though - they still have a summer term to complete! I can’t imagine having to go back to campus for May and June in order to take a bunch of stressful exams and to write long papers! While it has been fascinating to learn about the British system, I am SO glad that I have my lovely liberal arts option and no summer term!

At any rate, I was ready for a break, so I planned a trip out of Reading for the first day possible! Two of my friends came as well: Gloria is one of my best friends from the US; by coincidence, she is studying abroad in London this semester, so we’ve been able to see each other! Bethan is one of the (few) British (she’s Welsh) friends that I have made on this trip; she and I both go to the monthly pagan “moots” (meetings) at a pub in town, and we really hit it off! Since Glastonbury is such a spiritual, mystical, pagan-y place, we were both definitely interested in visiting. She even has a car, so we didn’t have to worry about finding trains and buses to get there!

The three of us left on Friday afternoon for Glastonbury; it’s a 2.5 hour drive from Reading. We arrived at our lovely bed and breakfast around 5 and met Amanda, the owner. She was delightful! Like a mother hen, she bustled about the place (really, her own home, with a guest room) making us tea, providing snacks, talking to us about our plans, and even doing some oracle readings for us. Her home was filled with bright colors and paintings and crafts. She and her friend had begun erecting a yurt in the backyard for us to stay in - we helped them finish putting the siding on and setting up the burner so that we’d have heat! We threw pillows and blankets and sheepskins on the floor and a basket of wood next to the burner, and it already felt like home. Amanda went off to an art exhibition in town (a ten-minute walk from her house!) while Gloria, Bethan, and I relaxed for a while before heading off to find dinner in town. We ended up at a very comfortable restaurant with all sorts of food; Beth and I both ordered a spinach cannelloni (I think I’ve remembered the correct word) while Gloria enjoyed an Indian rice dish. During our search for a restaurant and on our way back to Tir Na Nog (what Amanda calls her home, referring to the “Land of Eternal Youth” in Celtic mythology), we peered into all of the closed shops and excitedly planned our next day - shopping!

High Street in Glastonbury is absolutely amazing. There are countless bookshops, filled with the most eclectic book collections I’ve ever seen. I suppose the whole town has an “alternative” feeling, which I love! It’s perfect for a pagan hippy’s weekend retreat. The shops sell t-shirts, buttons, patches, mugs, postcards, and other touristy things, of course, but also beautiful medieval-style gowns, enchanting figurines, all sorts of herbs and incense and candles, pagan jewelry, and even broomsticks, athames, and cauldrons! Gloria, Bethan, and I all agreed that we would love to live there. There is such a sense of peace and comfort, of everyone accepting each other for who they are, and of equality. The only problem is that we would probably spend all of our money in the bookstores! I did make a few purchases… among my favorites are a pair of earrings, a dress, a South African bush hat, and some “blessings” coffee mugs!

Our second (and last full) day in Glastonbury was devoted to seeing the sights. We had a wonderful breakfast in the morning, courtesy of Tir Na Nog - porridge with brown sugar and milk - plus some pumpkin seeds sprinkled on top! - and a hot mug of tea for each of us. Full of energy, we set off for the Tor, the famous tower-on-a-hill that is the heart of Glastonbury’s magic! It’s said that Glastonbury is really Avalon, the land of Morgaine and King Arthur, of Viviane and Lancelot. The Tor is supposed to be the heart of the magical island of the Lady of the Lake, although there’s certainly no lake in sight today! Our climb up the hill to the Tor took us quite a while, and it got windier the higher we went. But it was definitely worth it! What a view! The town was laid out below us, and we could see fields and towns in all directions around us. The sun was brilliant, but the wind was gusty! We took out the picnic that we had brought and sat on the hillside with the other clusters of visitors. Many had brought their dogs, and there were lots of young children playing hide-and-seek or tag. It was a wonderful atmosphere, and the three of us sat in the sunshine, leaning against the Tor itself, for a good hour or so. When we eventually made our way back down to the town streets, we stopped by both the Chalice Well and the Glastonbury Abbey, but both charged admission that we hadn’t been expecting, and we satisfied ourselves with a few photos near the entrances, then left.

Gloria had homework to do, so she went back to Tir Na Nog after we had perused the Abbey gift shop (where, predictably, they don’t charge admission!) and Bethan and I went our own way. We had both really wanted to see The Goddess Temple, so that was where we headed!  The Temple is the only one of its kind in the UK, if I remember correctly - an official building devoted specifically to worship of a female deity. Although Beth and I don’t quite adhere completely to the Temple’s beliefs, we found it to be a truly wonderful place of calm. There were throw pillows all over, and beautiful flowers and candles and wall hangings everywhere, even though there were only two (spacious) rooms. The altars were set up to celebrate the Spring Equinox, a time of balance and rebirth; we had only just missed the official ceremony by a day! We sat on cushions and drew pictures and messages in the guestbooks, then just basked in the gentle incense for a while. What a way to relax and de-stress! We each got “smudged” before leaving - cleansed, sort of, with a special incense, and blessed. Both of us wished that we could have stayed longer!

To celebrate such a fantastic afternoon, Bethan and I stopped at The Blue Note Café for some chocolate fudge cake and hot chocolate. Mmmm! We also enjoyed people-watching out the window, loving all of the unique and eccentric people who passed us by… and loving that we felt completely at home and free to be ourselves!

We had to leave the next day, but all three of us would like to return to Glastonbury sometime in our lives! It would be fun to stay at Tir Na Nog again, too - Amanda was very sweet, and her tuxedo cat, Boppy, loved all of the attention that we lavished on him!  Now I’m back in Reading, though, with most of Spring Break left ahead of me. It’s great to be able to relax, but I know I still have assignments to work on! There’s that French paper on Renouart, from “Aliscans;” the numerous sketches and paintings to do for Drawing; a lot more work to do on my story for Creative Writing; not to mention gearing up for the intensive course on Mass Extinctions that begins next week! Wish me luck for my last month spent in England!

Last week,  my best friend Geri Smits, came to visit me from the home campus! I was so excited, and it was sooooo good to see her. I really had missed her a lot, and once we were together again it was as if we had not spent a minute apart! She was here for a week, and in that week we went shopping in Reading’s the Oracle, went to the Abbey Ruins (which fell into ruins once King Henry VIII disbanded all the monasteries) and Forbury Gardens, which has a giant stone Lion that looks like Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis! It was really nice to get a deeper look into Reading. After all that, we saw the movie He’s Just Not that Into You. Then we went to Wales and stayed with Kyle for a night; he took us to two different castles, one in Caerphilly and one in Mertha. It was really cool! Caerphilly has the nicest castle I have ever seen - even better than Edinburghs! It has a moat that still has water in it, a drawbridge which still works, iron gates which still open and close, and it is massive! It is a castle that has not been commercialized, and it was so cool to see it! The other castle, in Mertha was nice too - and looked like a typical medieval castle, yet it was built in the 18th century by a man who wanted his own castle during the Regency period. The castle was splendid inside, and had displays of modern art as well as a museum downstairs which chronicled Welsh life from the earliest point to modern times! It was completely free to go to as well, which was a bit surprising. Thursday night I had to work at Chili’s but afterwards Geri and I and some of my co-workers and good friends went out on a bit of a pub crawl, and Geri was able to see pub life in Reading. Friday we spent all day in London, and we saw London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Clink Prison Museum, the oldest galleried pub in London: The George Inn, Sir Francis Drake’s Galleon: The Golden Hinde, the Tower of London, and we ended the night with a bottle of pink champagne watching the fabulous play Chicago. At first we were disappointed in the play because the American accents were truly awful and the singing seemed to be hit and miss - but by the end we were huge fans! The choreography was amazing, and the costuming and lighting were truly splendid…the actors who could sing really pulled the play together nicely.

Saturday I had to work a night shift, so during the day we went and saw Shopaholic which was really cute and funny! I felt like it was the story of my life. We then came back home and had nachos and spent some time together just relaxing before I went in to work. I got back late, and after a snack, we knew we had to go to bed since we had to wake up at 6 am to get her to the airport on time. Taking her to the train station to leave was hard but I was so glad to have spent this time with her!

This week is finals week! I have a 3000 word essay due Friday as well as 100 pages left to read of The Old Wives Tale and then a 6 page essay for cognition and a 7 page essay for Victorian Heroines. Luckily I have until the end of April to do the Cognition essay. I feel like my head is going to fall off, especially as I have travelling ahead of me next week, and still have to prep for that! After my last class lets out at 11 am Friday afternoon, I have to book it to the train station - because my train leaves for Cardiff at 12:11! But I still have a lot of homework and writing to do, and it is a bit stressful - especially as St. Patrick’s Day fell in the middle of Finals Week! Last night the celebrations were crazy, and O’Neills Irish Pub was jam-packed! It was so much fun though! Did a lot of reading and errands during the day, and booked all my travel plans so that once night fell, I could enjoy my first legal St. Patricks Day in the UK! Joanna and I started off by putting on as much green as we possibly could, and then headed over to our local pub, The Three Tuns who had a special! For a fiver, you received a pint of guinness, 2 green glowsticks, a shot of guinness and baileys, and either a shirt or a hat! I got both the shirt and the hat, and the shirt is black and celebrates 250 years of Guinness!!!! The hat is a huge hat shaped like a pint of Guinness with a shamrock for the brim, celebrating St Patricks 2009 and 250 years of Guinness - everyone was wearing them! After downing our pints of Guinness, we went in to town to O’Neills, which was very busy - but still a lot of fun! Irish music and the most popular tunes played, and there was shamrocks, irish flags, and leprechauns everywhere!!! It was a good night all in all, and I had a blast! But, I came home reasonably early, because I knew that today I have to finish my 3000 word essay! Tomorrow I have two classes, reading to do, and work at night! So, there will be no time for my essay! It must be done today - and on that note, I’m off to go write it!