York, Richard III's favorite "fair citie"

I've wanted to visit York ever since I became interested in (well, some might say obsessed with) Richard III, the last Yorkist and Plantagenet king. I've always believed Richard has been treated unfairly by the Tudors and by history. But as they say, "Truth is the daughter of time..." Now more historians have gone "Ricardian" and are revising their opinions of him. But...

York has always been on the right side! After Richard's death at the Battle of Bosworth, when it was extremely dangerous to speak out in Richard's favor, the people of York had this to say: "This day was our good King Richard piteously slain and murdered, to the great heaviness of this city."

So I couldn't wait to see the city that, to this day, defends Richard's good name. And I wasn't disappointed! So much of York's medieval past has been preserved, I felt as if I had stepped back into the fifteenth century. Best of all was walking the old city walls (built by the Romans, then expanded by the Danes and English during the Middle Ages). York has the best preserved city walls in all England, as well as several cool gatehouses. Strangely, in York streets are called "gates" and gates are called "bars." Go figure. So, to translate: Micklegate Bar is the Mickle Street gatehouse.


But, first things first. After rolling out on the bus obscenely early, Diep, Lana, and I arrived at York and managed not to get lost once! First we saw York Minster, one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe. It reminded us quite a bit of Notre Dame!



Then we headed over to Monk Bar so that I could see the Richard III Museum. It's in Monk Bar, appropriately enough, because Richard donated money to have extra rooms built there. The museum itself was cute, more entertaining than serious. It presented a "trial" and gave visitors the chance to decide if Richard was guilty or innocent of the murder of his nephews, the Princes in the Tower. I signed the guestbook--not guilty, of course--and was amused to read the comments (one person wrote to never trust the Tudors, and I heartily agree). The museum also contained a portcullis and two small cells where Catholics were imprisoned during Tudor rule.



This picture shows Richard's standard (the white boar) and motto ("Loyalty binds me").


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Next we saw Clifford's Tower, situated atop a steep hill, and got to climb to the top to see great views of the city! The Tower was once connected to a larger York Castle. Crossing the River Ouse, we then walked the city walls until reaching Micklegate Bar, infamously known as "Traitor's Gate" because severed heads used to be displayed there on spikes as warnings to other would-be rebels.



Finally, we finished the day with dinner and tea in one of York's many lovely tea rooms--perfect! I had Yorkshire pudding (what better place for it?) and apple cinnamon tea.

I love the North of England! I love the accents, the friendly people, everything!

Visiting Hogwarts---er, Oxford

Ok, so I'm procrastinating working on my essay by writing about my trip to Oxford this past Saturday instead.

Visiting Oxford was great and made me incredibly jealous that it's too expensive for me to go there! At the same time, it was a bit different than I expected. It really had no "campus," so to speak. Instead, all of the colleges of the university were spread out over the city. It reminded me a lot of Yale, actually. Although Oxford is right in the middle of a bustling, lively university town, the inside of each college is beautiful and peaceful.

Christ Church College:


We only went in a few of the colleges, because most of them charged entry fees (what's that about, it's a college!) Christ Church College we had to see, even though it was the most expensive, because it's where they filmed the Harry Potter movies! And it's, you know, one of the oldest, most famous and prestigious institutes of higher learning in the world. Whatever! ;)


It was beautiful inside, from the courtyard to the stairway leading up to the dining hall (the model of the Great Hall at Hogwarts). Christ Church Cathedral was also amazing--it's one of the smallest cathedrals in England, and it doesn't look like a traditional church inside. The pews are in long vertical rows along the sides of the church and have desks with them.


We also got to go inside Exeter College, where we listened to an impromptu concert--a choir and orchestra rehearsal inside their church. The acoustics were perfect, and they sounded wonderful. Finally, we visited Balliol College, which had special significance to me. One of my favorite novels, To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, begins at Oxford and the main characters go to Balliol. So it was absolutely cool and surreal to get to see it for real. And I have to say, as old and lovely as the colleges look from the outside, they're even better on the inside. I walked around the Balliol courtyard marveling that this was actually a dorm that kids lived in.

In some ways, as wonderful as Oxford is, I'm glad I don't go there. I like to have a rural campus (as much as I complain about the Warwick and UConn bubble). And I don't know how I'd feel about seeing tourists wandering around my dorm and classes day after day. The students I saw seemed used to it---they were enjoying the beautiful day on the lawn and never even glanced up at the tourists taking pictures of them. Still, I think I'd find it weird...

Still--to study at the same university as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, T.S. Eliot, Oscar Wilde, and Dorothy L. Sayers? To walk down the hallowed halls where they once walked?

I could get used to it.

Christ Church College:

Erasmus Dublin Tour 2009, Good Times

I'm soo tired---I got back this morning at 5 AM from a 10 hour ferry and bus ride after spending the weekend in Dublin with the Erasmus Society. It was so worth it, though! We stayed in the best hostel I've been in yet, and I shared a room with three German guys, a Canadian girl, and five other American girls. It was the best room ever!

We traveled all day Friday, which was annoying but at least I got some really good views of the Welsh countryside from the bus. It made me want to go to Wales all the more. Then we took the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. It was slow moving but really fancy inside, although I felt a little light-headed the whole trip. That night when we got into the city we went out to the pub and walked around the Temple Bar area, where all the restaurants, bars, clubs, and pubs are. Dubliners really like to party!

Saturday morning we saw the Guinness Storehouse, where I learned all about making beer and discovered just how delicious Guinness is. I was amused by the cultish slogans all around the factory: "Guinness is good for you," "The essence of Guinness is all around you," and my personal favorite, "There's poetry in a pint of Guinness." Although I wouldn't go that far, I have to admit that Guinness was the best tasting beer I've ever had, and I don't even like beer. There's just something about it's malty foaminess that I loved. At the end of the tour we went up to the "Gravity Bar" at the top of the factory and got a free sample of Guinness, and saw great views of the city.

Later in the day we walked around Phoenix Park, the largest city park in Europe and twice as big as Central Park. Dublin was a city that really grew on me as I saw more of it. At first it was a bit disappointing because we had just come from Paris and we were comparing the two cities, when they're so different that they can't be compared. Also the first day we were in the less affluent part of town, so it wasn't as nice.

Sunday was entirely different, as we went south of the River Liffey and saw tons of cool sights, and by the end of the trip I had come to love how laid-back and friendly Dublin was. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and we wandered through Trinity College (a gorgeous campus), and the Medieval District (where we saw Dublin Castle, St. Audoen's Gate, the old city walls, Christchurch Cathedral, and St. Patrick's Cathedral). St. Patrick's was built on the site where St. Patrick is said to have baptized early Irish Christians. Inside the church was an exhibit dedicated to Jonathan Swift, the famous writer and satirist who was also the Dean of St. Patrick's. He and the love of his life, Stella, are buried inside the church as well. I learned a lot about Swift that I never knew; he not only wrote Gulliver's Travels and "A Modest Proposal" but also advocated for the rights of the oppressed Irish and the mentally ill. His writings helped stop the English from enacting a law that would have devalued Irish currency, and on his death he founded a hospital.


Finally, we ended the trip by exploring the Iveagh Gardens and St. Stephen's Green. I couldn't believe how pretty it was, like spring had come early---there were even flowers and a pond with ducks and swans! Lots of people were relaxing around the green because it was such a great day out. After a bit of shopping, the day was over and we left Ireland for England again. Some interesting things I noticed about Dublin: the accents (or rather, lack thereof). I expected to hear lots of lilting Irish accents, but in fact I heard lots of foreign accents as well. And while Dublin is certainly known for its writers and beer, the food was indistinguishable from English fare. We actually ate a pseudo-American diner for dinner one night, and got Greek kebabs the other night! The diner was called "Eddie's Rockets", aka "Johnny Rockets." I don't know what's wrong with me. Back home I rarely ate there, but in Ireland all I wanted to eat was a greasy hamburger and chocolate milkshake. And I'm still craving American pizza! I never appreciated my own cuisine until I went away!



Still, Dublin was great "craic" (fun). I can't wait to get back to Ireland, next time to the Irish countryside!

J'adore Paris!

I just got back yesterday from a week in the city of lights, Paris! I had a wonderful time exploring the beautiful city with Lana, Diep, Brendan, and James. And the food---Paris was a dream for a foodie like me. Crepes, pain au chocolat, baguettes, croissants, Camembert and brie...I miss it already. We also got some good deals at restaurants; we ordered from the set menu and ate three course meals for only 10 or 15 Euros! I even tried duck l'orange and beef bourguignon. Oh, and now I'm addicted to Nutella. ;)

Our itinerary:

Day 1-Stayed overnight in London and saw Covent Garden and Hyde Park, which we missed last time around. Covent Garden was a delight, and I'm going to have to get back there sometime to shop. And, being major geeks, I also had to see Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross. Needless to say, I didn't manage to make it through the wall. Then we went to the British Museum and saw cool manuscripts, including the Magna Carta. We lost track of time, raced to St. Pancras Station and barely made our departure time on the Eurostar. Literally we collapsed into our seats and the train took off within minutes! I have to say that the Eurostar is the fastest train I have ever been on. So fast, in fact, that it caused my ears to pop constantly! But we made it into Paris at the Gare du Nord and found our hotel, Hotel Cheap Beds, in the suburbs of Paris. I promise that the hotel was decent and very nice, not at all as sketchy as the name makes it sound! Names in Paris are like that: I passed by shops that were named "Shoe Store" and "Japanese Restaurant." They mean what they say, and this was a hotel with cheap beds. ;) The strange part was that the area we were in looked just like any American suburb, complete with a huge shopping mall and McDonalds. The only difference was that all the signs were in French and McDonalds sold Royales with Cheese instead of Quarter Pounders! And though it was disorienting at first, it was nice to see cars driving on the right side of the road for once!

Day 2-Took the RER train into the city and saw Notre Dame, the most beautiful church and cathedral I have ever seen! It was even bigger and more breathtaking than St. Patrick's in New York. Best of all, we climbed up to the Tower and had some awesome aerial views of the city. We also saw the Emmanuel Bell, which got "The Bells of Notre Dame" from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame stuck in my head. And the gargoyles were pretty awesome too. We ate dinner in my favorite area of the city, the Latin Quarter. It's a great little area near the universities, so it was perfect for cheap students like us. There were cute little shops (I bought a Parisian scarf) and lots of cafes, restaurants, patisseries, boulangeries, brasseries, creperies and street vendors selling delicious food. I am proud to say that our group became "regulars" at this one crepe/waffle stand. I liked the Latin Quarter much better than the more famous, but more commercialized, Champs-Elysees. Later that night, we got even better views of Paris from the one and only Tour Eiffel! The lights of the city were beautiful; my favorite view was looking down at the River Seine and watching all of the lit up tour boats go by. The night was cold and windy, and by the time we got to the top of the Tower it started to snow! I feared for my life going up and down the elevators to get to the top...but it was magical.


Day 3-Spent practically the whole day in the Louvre, which is NOT enough time. Seriously, the place was massive. I could not have imagined a museum that big. With three long wings, each with three floors, it was impossible to see everything, but we tried. Of course we saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, which were predictably amazing, but there was so much else there too. The Egyptian section was great, and it was so much easier to view the mummies there than in the British Museum, where it was cramped for space. That wasn't an issue in the Louvre, where the building itself was a work of art! One of the most surprising things about the Louvre was finding out that its medieval foundations still exist on the lower levels. Or, as I put it when I found out, "There's a castle in the basement of the Louvre?!" It was so cool going down there. The other surprise was that we entered the museum through the glass pyramid! I mean, who knew that it actually had a use? As much as I feel that attractions in Paris are overpriced (and the lunch at the Louvre was most definitely overpriced, 7 Euros for a salad is extortion) the museum itself was worth every penny of the 9 Euros I paid for it.



Day 4-The chateau at Versailles. Or as it should be more appropriately called, the palace. I have never seen a more opulent place. It was beautiful, of course, but a bit excessive! Every room was grander than the last, and the Hall of Mirrors topped them all, as you can see by the picture. My next favorite room was the Queen's bedchamber. Unfortunately, it was too cold and rainy to see much of the gardens, but I could tell that they stretched for miles. Also somewhere on the grounds was a little fake cottage that Marie Antoinette built to get away from court life. She dressed up as a shepherdess and played with perfumed sheep there. No, I can't make this stuff up. Versailles also had amazing artwork, like the Louvre, but to me the real masterpieces were the ceilings. Many of the rooms were dedicated to Roman gods and goddesses and scenes from mythology were painted on every ceiling.



Day 5-Our last day in Paris. We said goodbye to the Latin Quarter one last time and headed off to see the Catacombes. It was a shock going from the splendor of Versailles to the quarries underneath the city, filled with thousands of skeletons. By the early 1800's, the graveyards of Paris were becoming overcrowded and unhygienic, so they exhumed the bones and piled them atop one another underground. I had seen pictures before, but it was so creepy to actually be down there. In the afternoon we went to see Montmartre, the Artist's District. Parts of Montmartre are seedy (the Red Light District is nearby) but the part we saw was quaint, un-touristy, and quintessentially Paris. We also climbed up to the top of the hill to see the Sacre Coeur Basilica, which was beautiful. There was a random concert taking place on the church steps and a living statue performing, and it was just the perfect way to spend our last night in Paris.

All in all, I fell in love with Paris, even if I didn't get to practice my French as much as I wanted to. Although I could read a lot of the signs, they spoke so fast that it was hard to understand them, and much easier just to switch to English, which almost everybody knew anyway. Ordering food was easy, though, and I loved getting to say "Bon Soir!" every night. Despite the less than stellar reputation of Parisians, we found almost everyone to be friendly and helpful. I only had one bad experience, with a woman at the train station who was a total . We had two tickets to get to and from Versailles, and when Lana and I accidentally put the wrong ticket in the machine, she wouldn't let us through until we paid for another fare, even though we had paid the full price the first time! Then when we gave her money to cover both of us, she cheated us and only gave us one ticket, forcing us to buy yet another! The people at the Tube in London would have just let us through. I guess you just have to be careful with the Paris Metro; that wasn't the only issue we had with it. We also had issues with hecklers. As we'd walk down the streets, people would aggressively come up to us trying to get us to buy cheap junk, and men would wait outside restaurants yelling at us to come in. As if abusing us would make us want to eat at their place! And it was sad for such a beautiful city, but there were lots of beggars in Paris. We saw them at every major tourist attraction we went to, and people would hear us talking and come up to us asking if we spoke English. American tourists are prime targets for pickpockets in Paris too.

But despite that, most of the people we met in Paris were nice, from funny and friendly waiters and cashiers wanting to know where in America we were from to a man who helped us out at a metro station when one of our tickets didn't work (as usual). And I think they really appreciated that we at least tried to speak their language and didn't butcher it too much. ;)

A bientot, Paris!

Snow!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system---it's snowing here today, which is exciting and rare and I would be enjoying it so much more if I was feeling better. I'm a bit "under the weather" today, partly because my supposedly relaxing weekend turned out to be not so relaxing after all.

I had a lot of fun, though. Saturday I went to Cadbury World with the Cheese and Chocolate Society, where we got lots of free samples and a whole cup of hot liquid chocolate. Mmm...

We got to tour the factory, learn the history of Cadbury's, and take a "ride" (I use the term loosely, considering it consisted of sitting in a slow moving car watching cocoa beans sing---I would have enjoyed it when I was five). I was only disappointed that there were no Ooompa Loompas! ;)

Later that night I went to the One World Party, which is Warwick's version of UConn's I-Nite. So basically, no food and a fully stocked bar. They had all of the cultural and international societies perform, and we got there just in time to see one of our flatmates perform Nigerian dancing, which was great.

Then yesterday I watched the first half of the Super Bowl in the Students Union with some of my American friends and friends from Christian Focus, so that was a lot of fun. It was amazing to see how people actually care about American football. Unfortunately, I missed out on the best part of the Super Bowl, the commercials. The British ones were lame and normal and it made me feel homesick. Of course, I stayed out later than I wanted to, which is probably why I'm so tired today. I've accepted by now that studying abroad is a process of trial and error...mostly error.
So I've decided to hunker down tonight, update my blog, do some laundry, and watch the snow fall with some tea and soup.

And, for my Dad who questions if I'm actually going to class:

English Social History: Just wrote a 2000 word essay on immigration/migration to London during the Tudor and Stuart periods. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and just because I'm juvenile and immature, I deliberately used words with British spellings, eg:
practise, centre, categorised...ha ha.

The European World: I'm discovering just how much I didn't know about early modern European history. It frustrates me that everyone in my seminar sounds so intelligent (it's probably the accent) and then they admit afterwards that they barely did any of the reading! It's much more difficult for me because I'm encountering this material for the first time, while they've grown up with it, so I have no prior knowledge to fall back on.

Religious Change in England: Also an interesting course, especially with me being an evil Catholic and all. I didn't know the Dissolution of the Monasteries was so important until this class!

Georgian Britain: More familiar territory here. My next essay is on British domestic opinion and the American Revolution. Should be fun.

Watch this space for: Paris next week!