Category: Semester Abroad 2018-19

There are only four weeks left of classes before our month long winter break begins. This last month means essays and test prep and preparing to live out of a backpack for a month while I travel Europe. It also means that we are running out of time to explore the UK and after this weekend we have some big trips planned in order to take advantage of our last remaining weekends here.

While we haven’t traveled much the past few weeks because, well, we are still poor college students trying to save money for our month long adventure, we are still exploring new parts of Nottingham, and oh yes- studying too.

This week is also the beginning of Thanksgiving break back in the States. It is weird to be away from home and without the means of making any sort of thanksgiving meal in our dorms.

The best way to avoid thinking about homesickness is shopping. Friday, after tracking down a post office so I could send home some postcards, Carmen and I spent the afternoon wandering Old Market Square and the mall. And since there’s no Thanksgiving here, Christmas has already arrived everywhere. The town square, which normally has a fountain and some local vendors, is now an ice rick, an ice bar, vendors and amusement rides.

To get our minds off of the holiday we were about to miss we headed to Liverpool Saturday morning. Leaving Nottingham railway station at 7:45 in the morning meant being up by 6 am and leaving campus by 6:45. We knew we were in for a day of exhaustion and excitement.

Our first stop was The Museum of Liverpool. With three floors of exhibits about Liverpool and one dedicated to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the museum had a lot to offer. Although, by far our favorite was ‘Double Fantasy- John and Yoko’ which chronological broke down the two performers relationship and impact on the world.

Since most of the museums in Liverpool are free, we decided to take in as many as we could in one day. Our next stop was the Tate art museum.

Then we stop for lunch before heading to the Merseyside Maritime Museum. We only went to the International Slavery exhibit here before heading out to find the World Museum. 

We made a quick pit stop at the Beatles statue on our way to the World Museum.

Finally, our last stop was the World Museum, with 5 floors and a planetarium, we were convinced that in our last 40 minutes we could make it to each exhibit. From a small aquarium, to a room full of real mummies, to a dinosaur exhibit and finally the space and time floor we saw something on every floor and even made it to the last (and free) planetarium showing.

From there we headed back to the train station, grabbed a quick dinner and got on the next train headed to Nottingham. We didn’t make it back to campus until 9:30 pm but, the sleep deprivation was worth it.

To curb our appetite for better food, we went to the Nottingham vegan market Sunday. From cosmetics to doughnuts to ‘chicken’ and ‘hot dogs’, Carmen, Haylee, and I spent the morning indulging in good food and looking at booths for local vegan stores.

Later that day we headed to Mansfield for their tree lighting ceremony. Although it was a significant journey there (we didn’t know that there was a train from Nottingham to Mansfield) we made it just in time for the stage show to wind down, a Christmas music laser show to begin and Santa to be ushered on stage. As soon as it was dark enough the countdown began, and the tree in the city centre and all the lights that lined the streets turned on. This was followed by fireworks and even more Christmas music.

Before break I have two essays due. While one of these is only 25% of my grade (the other 75% is the multiple choice test in January) the other is 100% of my grade. It is intimidating and nerve wracking to have my entire grade decided by one essay. We were warned at orientation back in March that our grades would be solely based on one final exam or essay, but now that I am here and nearing finals I’m realizing just how much pressure that is. With both deadlines approaching and trips to Scotland and Ireland coming up, it’s definite that this last month will be chocked full of stress and excitement. 

Cheers,

Rilee

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the lingering homesickness and realization that we still have a while before seeing our families caused Carmen and I to seek an adventure to Scotland for the weekend.

A 15 hour journey, 3 trains and a bus later we arrived Saturday afternoon in Inverness, Scotland. The Scottish Highlands are quite the trek from the English Midlands, so why did we feel the need to go that far north when Glasgow and Edinburgh are much closer? There’s only one word to best describe our thought process: Nessie. That’s right we did all of this to spend a few hours at Loch Ness.

Unfortunately, as it is nowhere near peak tourist season there was only one cruise on the Loch that bused us from the city center to the docks. Luckily, with our handy Britrail passes meant that we weren’t paying for trains, and taking night trains meant we weren’t paying for lodging so we splurged for a tour that includes a ferry ride on the loch and a tour of Urquhart Castle.

When we arrived around one in the afternoon Saturday we headed straight for the bus station, ensuring that we knew where we had to be an hour later. For that hour in between being dropped off and the beginning of the Jacobite tour we wandered around the city centre and found lunch.

Finally, it was time for the tour. Like I said, it’s not tourist season, and we weren’t expecting our tour to be packed, but surprisingly the only other person on the tour with us was an exchange student from Germany who was studying in Scotland for the term and also decided to spend the weekend in Inverness.

We headed out on our 30 minute bus towards Loch Ness. The tour included a “guided bus tour” where the driver pointed out buildings and other landmarks as we drove by them.

This was followed by a 30 minute cruise on the Loch. On the boat, another tour guide told us the history of the Loch as we sailed toward Urquhart Castle.

The last part of the tour was an hour to wander the ruins of Urquhart Castle. Once a castle to many great Scottish families, the castle was blown up in 1692 after having been under attack repeatedly. Now all that remains are the ruins of the castle.

Once we were back in Inverness City Centre we grabbed dinner, and then went to the train station to wait for our bus to Glasgow.

From Glasgow, we were planning on catching a morning train that would get us back to Nottingham. Like we had Friday night, we planned to spend the night in the waiting rooms at the train station, likely another 6 hour stay.

Little did we know, that some train stations close overnight, and on Sundays they don’t open until 6 am.

After catching a bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh (which took an hour) and finding our way to that train station, we ultimately ended up going to the airport. Piece of advice, instead of deciding to spend hours waiting around in train stations from midnight to 7am just pay for a hostel.

We finally made it back to campus, about 40 hours after we had left Friday night, exhausted and hungry, but with another place crossed off our bucket list.

Rilee

A little over a month into our time here, and it feels like the semester is flying by. With so much that I want to see and so many places to go, we are trying to make the most of our time by exploring whenever possible.

Although classes are well underway, I only have one class each day allowing me plenty of time to go into town and find a new café, wander around the city, or go to a restaurant for some food that’s better than what the dining hall serves.

Unlike at Dillin Hall, we have only one option every night: you either eat the vegetarian entrée or the one with meat. Unfortunately, as a vegetarian, this leaves me with one choice every night. Although the quality of food is comparable to Dillin, the lack of options makes me less than enthusiastic. Like Linfield we have meal card money, aka “daily bites”, that allows us to buy food from the coffee shops, restaurants and bars on campus. This is a life saver when dinner just doesn’t sound that good, but I don’t want to leave campus or spend real money.

Last weekend we “played tourist” in Nottingham. We went to Nottingham Castle, found the Robin Hood statue and visited the oldest inn in England- Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem.

If you don’t know, the legend of Robin Hood takes place in Nottingham and the Sherwood Forest. When I was still in the States and I told people that I would be in Nottingham they always mentioned Robin Hood, so I decided I had to find the statue as photographic proof that I was living where he once did. The statue is right outside the castle, which, unfortunately, is under construction until 2020.

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is the oldest bar in England, established 1189 AD. It is built into the side of a cliff next to the castle and is said to be where King Richard the Lionheart and his men gathered before heading to Jerusalem. The bar has its history splattered on the walls, from swords to paintings.

During the week we also visited the Wollaton Deer Park, which is right across the street from campus. The park is amazing, with expansive grounds, a pond and a private golf course. Wollaton Hall, better known as Wayne Manor to anyone who has seen The Dark Knight Rises, houses a natural history museum. While walking the grounds, you can see herds of deer, you can sit by the pond, or if you were there when we were, you could see animatronic dinosaurs set up around the park as part of an exhibit about the Jurassic Kingdom (see picture). Needless to say, it was an amazing way to spend an afternoon and learn about the city we’re living in!

This weekend we ventured to Wales. We booked an Airbnb in a quaint town, Penperlleni, an hour bus ride from Cardiff. We had a little cottage all to ourselves, and luckily it had heat. So far on this trip, I have never been as cold as I was in Wales. Bone chilling wind and just plain cold weather kept us bundled up the whole weekend.

Friday, we made our way to Wales from Nottingham, arriving at our Airbnb eight hours after our train departed from Nottingham Station. From a three-hour train ride, missing our next train and waiting an hour and a half for the bus that would take us to Penperlleni, we were frozen and ready for a night soaking in the warmth of the cottage.  A whole day of traveling in the brutal cold called for board games and fuzzy socks Friday night, so we would be ready for a day of walking around Cardiff.

Saturday we made it to Cardiff after a much shorter wait for the bus, and a better understanding of the bus system in Wales. We found cute vintage stores and used bookstores at Castle Arcade. Here I found a copy of Moby Dick and a book of poems by the Brontë sister, both of which were printed in the early 1900s.

We also went to Cardiff Castle. Located in the middle of the city, the castle has massive stone walls stretching around a large courtyard. The actual castle sits on a small hill in the center of the courtyard. You can pay to walk through the castle and around the courtyard, but we chose to just walk in as far as they let you without a ticket and then wandered around the gift shop. All weekend we marveled at the signs in Welsh trying to understand the language, but never actually figuring it out.  Luckily the signs are also in English.

For now, it’s back to the books for me. Fortunately, I don’t really have homework – just reading for classes- which means more time planning my next trip.

Cheers,
Rilee