Weekend in London

Hello everyone! It's that time of the week again where I share with you my beautiful experiences abroad at Harlaxton.  Last week was a whirlwind of exploring the manor, meeting new people, and starting classes (yes, unfortunately, you have to do actual work here).  My classes went great last week, and even though it's the first week, I feel confident about this semester.  Yes, it will be a lot of reading and work in general, but I feel like I can get on top of things (Don't hold me to this because in the middle of the semester I might regret saying this).  I'm taking the British Studies course that everyone has to take here at Harlaxton.  It does make sense to study the history of the country you're living in.  It lets you understand their culture much better.  I'm taking the Honors version of that course, so I'll have to do a longer paper than the other students, but the tests are weighted less in the final grades. If any future or prospective Harlaxton students have questions about that, you can contact me through email here.  I'm also taking a psychology course and a religious studies course.

Monday night, everyone going on the London trip was called into the Long Gallery for our trip briefing. That talk about things to do in London really got me excited, and it made me realize that this moment that I've been waiting for for so long was finally here. The next two days progressed with my classes and actual.  I've decided that the only way I can stay on top of this work and keep travel and school separated, is to have the week days strictly for school work, where I mainly focus on studying and keeping my GPA the way I want it.  Similiarly, the weekends will be strictly for traveling and exploring without the stress of homework and grades.

On Wednesday morning, Lauren and I went to town after our classes (which ends around noon for everyone on Wednesdays) and pick up some things.  We decided to go to ASDA (the British Walmart), which was a mistake because it was so far away from the bus station, and it was more expensive than Morrison's and Poundland that we went to last week.  On our way back to the bus station, however, we had a bit of a scary adventure.  We stopped at a crosswalk and waited until it was safe to cross (there wasn't one of those buttons that you push to cross).  A black car stopped to let us cross, so we started to walk to the other side.  When we were half way to the other side, a guy around our age on a bicycle ran right into the back corner of the car and flipped over the handlebars and the car and landed on the street in front of us.  We asked if he was alright, and he said he was, hopped back onto his bike, and rode off.  It was scary at the moment, but when I look back on the look on our faces, I find it kind of funnny (only because he was okay though).

Wednesday night, we had the Meet-A-Family reception to finally meet our paired, local family face to face.  Harlaxton pairs students who apply for the experience with a local family to better understand the culture and see how British families live.  Our family was super nice, and we are going to their house on Sunday.

 Thursday, I had a couple of classes,and then it was time to depart for the London trip.  We got on our bus around 6:15 and left the manor around 6:30. 

The drive was about two hours because we got there quicker than expected.  It was so great to see north London when we were driving to our hotel.  We got to the hotel, got our room keys, and checked out our room.  I was rooming with my Harlaxton roommate, Rachel.  The room was small, but it was nice for just the two of us.  The beds were also like sleeping on the pavement outside, but we didn't mind because we were mainly excited about having our own, private bathroom (I miss that so much).

Thursday night, we wanted to explore the area around our hotel.  We walked around a little park called Russell Square, and Rachel got a great candid shot of me walking.

Friday was a day of stress, adventure, and finally, some good food.  We got up that morning around eight, got dressed, and went to breakfast. That hotel's breakfast was the most unappetizing thing for me.  The big pile of toast they had out was soggy and had been sitting for a while.  They had mushy fruit, and tea that tasted really weird.  After trying to stomach that breakfast, we left to walk to the subway (tube) station just down the street from the hotel. We were all really nervous to ride the tube for the first time, but luckily, one of our British Studies professors, Dr. Baker, was there when we got there.  We asked if we could follow him, so we would know what to do the first time. 

By the time, we got off the tube to change to another line to get to Westminster, we were pros. When we walked out of the tube station, we were standing right in front of Big Ben (it's actually called Elizabeth Tower now.  The bell inside is Big Ben). 

The five of us, me, Rachel, Lauren, Sara, and Brittney walked around the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey to take pictures. We then walked down a beautiful street with the London flat buildings and found a park that was behind Westminster Abbey. 

From the park, there was an amazing view of the Thames river and the London Eye.  We walked across Lamberth Bridge and got even more London-y pictures. 

Walking along southbank to see Big Ben across the river was my favorite place (until I went to Hampstead the next day, more on that later). 

Then, we saw Trafalgar Square.

We decided to take the tube to Oxford Street, a big shopping street.  We found a Nando's restaurant and had the best lunch.

Later that day, Lauren, Rachel, and I decided to take our first black taxi to a Mexican restaurant called Wahaca.  The food was really good. 

When we left, we forgot which way the taxi driver had brought us to the restaurant, so we got lost.  But we got lost in a really nice part of London.  Marylebone and Paddington are the rich houses of central London, and it was really cool to see.  However, the exhaustion and the stress from the day had taken its toll on me, so I got really dizzy when we were lost.  We gave up trying to find our hotel and caught a taxi back.  We were pretty far away from our hotel. 

On Saturday morning, I was feeling a lot better.  I had to get up early to meet my Psychology class in the lobby to travel to the Freud museum.  The tube ride was longer than usual, but it was pretty because it actually went outside at some points.  The Freud museum was on a quiet suburban street in a neighborhood called Hampstead.  This is where my obsession with Hampstead began.

The street was so pretty and quiet, and I absolutely loved it.  I wanted to show Rachel and Brittany Hampstead since they are not in my Psychology class.  We met back at the hotel around noon and decided to travel to Hampstead, which is in Northwest London.  We took the tube to Camden Town to switch, but the tube lines beyond that point were closed for refurbishing.  We had to take the Rail Replacement Service that the London transportation was providing.  So, we got to ride on a famous double decker bus to Hampstead. When we got to Hampstead High Street, we got sidetracked at the Starbucks. 

We then found a old pub online that we wanted to eat at.  It was about mile away, but the walk was beautiful.  It was along Hampstead Heath, which is a park surrounded by a wooded area.  When we got to the pub, called The Spaniards, we were so surprised.  It wasn't a typical pub, it was in a fancy neighborhood and was quite sophisticated.  We sat outside and made plans to come back when we're in London in November, so they will have all of the fairy lights turned on around the table.  The neighborhood was so pretty, and my dream is honestly to live there someday. I loved it! You're still in London, but it's quieter than central London.  It was great.

That night we went to Primark, a clothing store, and it was huge.  It had three stories.  We then went into a French restaurant across the street.  The waiter was weird, but the food was so good.  I had the French onion soup, and it was delicious.  Rachel and I also split a chocolate and banana crepe, which was awesome.

The next morning, we overslept and had an about forty minutes to get ready to meet in the lobby to get on the bus back to Grantham.  We stopped at Hampton Court Palace, where King Henry VIII lived.

In the small community beside the palace, we found this amazing Italian place to eat lunch.  They also played great music, and I think that was the best cappuccino I've ever had.

We then stopped off at Runnymede, where Magna Carta was signed. It was beautiful as well.

After a terribly long ride back to the manor, made that way by the horrible traffic, we were finally back to settle in for classes on Monday.

London was so amazing and surreal, and I can't wait to go back in November and December.  I just want to take a quick second to thank all of my family, especially mom and dad for making this all possible for me.  My dreams that I've had for a long time finally came true this weekend!

Thank you so much mom, dad, and Catherine! I can't wait to show you around in December!

Bye for now.

Love,
Alexandria 

The First Weekend at Harlaxton

The time has finally come that I start my adventure abroad at Harlaxton.  It’s been a long weekend, but it’s been totally worth it.  It is really exciting to see someplace that you’ve seen in pictures or on the internet in real life.  I like to share with all of you the highlights of this weekend because they’ve been so fun!

            On Wednesday, August 27, I arrived at Nashville International Airport around 1:00 p.m. for my flight to Chicago. I met my friends Lauren and Sara, with their families, at the airport.  We checked our bags, said tearful goodbyes to our families, and went through security (pretty quickly actually).  When we got to our gate, we went to get some coffee at the Starbucks nearby and met a girl from WKU that we had never met before.  At little while after that, we met a guy and girl from Martin College in Tennessee. (If you go to Harlaxton, be prepared to meets lots of people very quickly).  Our flight to Chicago boarded at 3:15 p.m.  The plane was small and the seats were a little uncomfortable.   

When we arrived at Chicago O’Hare Airport around 4:30 p.m., we had to wait for the plane to get situated at the gate, and then we had to wait to get our over carry-on suitcase that had to be valeted for that flight.  A group of us walked to the gate on the other end of the terminal at the Chicago airport to wait for departure.  

            When they started calling for departure for the flight to London, my nerves that I had had all day came back.  We boarded the plane, and Lauren and I were sat a few rows behind the wing (which made for some great pictures and videos).   

Sara was seated beside us in the aisle seat of the middle row of seats.  The flight to London was supposed to leave Chicago at 7:00 a.m., but we were taxied on the runway for an hour; this begins our long day of waiting.  When we finally got in the air at eight, everyone was relieved, and my nerves had calmed down a bit.  An hour and half into the flight, the flight attendants served dinner.  I was nervous to have airplane food, but it was actually pretty good.   

After dinner, they played Captain America 2 on the three small TVs above every few rows (I was a little disappointed that weren’t TVs in the back of the seats, which were also uncomfortable).  I tried to watch the movie, but my eyes were straining so much that I got a headache and shut my eyes for a couple hours, but didn’t sleep.  I maybe got one hour total of sleep on the flight.  In the morning, at 7:00 a.m. England time on Thursday the 28^th (1:00 a.m. my time), breakfast was served and it was also good.  

            When the plane finally approached Heathrow Airport in London, we had to circle to wait our turn to land.  We flew by Wembley Stadium, which was really cool.  

When we landed and got off the plane, we had to go to Immigration and wait in a long line (queue). I was nervous to go through Immigration because I didn’t know what to expect, but the man that interviewed me was very nice.  I then went to retrieve my checked bag in the baggage claim.  Trust me, you will never be so relieved to see a suitcase in your life.  I was scared it was going to get lost.  We found the meeting point in the lobby of terminal three (you have to exit the baggage claim, but that wasn’t specified in the packet).  We checked in and received color coded tags for our suitcases.  We waited for about twenty minutes there.  We were then led outside to wait fifteen minutes for the bus to arrive.  The bus arrived and we put our luggage in the van that accompanied the bus.  We all got on the hot bus and were informed that four people were lost in the airport.  We waited on that hot bus for almost two hours.  Only three people showed up and the fourth person didn’t get to Harlaxton until Friday because of a delay.  After the two hour wait, we had a long two and half hour long bus ride to Harlaxton.  It seems even longer than that.  When we got to Harlaxton village, it was a beautiful drive up to the front of the manor house.  It’s even more beautiful in person. 

   

We were greeted at the door and sent up to the Great Hall for a short introduction.  We were given a packet of more information and our room keys and assignments.  I was sad when I found out I was not in the manor, but in the Carriage House (which turns out to be better actually).  We went to the refectory to eat lunch, and everything that everyone said about the food being awful is true, however, this doesn’t stay true for long.  Lunch the first day was different, and I was starting to regret my decision to fly all the way here for gross food and a room in the Carriage House.  I wanted to go check out my room, still starving. 

My room is on the second floor of the Carriage House, and my day got better when I saw that I only had one roommate.  It turned out to be Rachel, a girl I had contacted on tumblr because I saw a Harlaxton post of hers.  We have similar music taste and get along great, and I am so thankful for that. 

At first, I thought that the Carriage House was going to be awful, but I actually think I am enjoying it better than I would have the manor house.  It is secluded, you get to walk outside and enjoy England’s beautiful weather everyday on your way to the manor house, and the WiFi here is a lot better and faster than the manor house.  I’ve also heard that the laundry facilities and bathrooms in the manor house aren’t as nice as ours.  If you get put in the Carriage House, don’t worry, I love it! 

The next few days were filled with orientations, meetings, and lots of information. Also, the food definitely got better, I think that people don’t like it because it doesn’t have any seasonings on it, but just put salt and pepper, and it’s not too bad.  

Friday morning, Lauren, Sara, and I decided to explore the manor and the gardens.  I also had fish and chips and got some British Money.

Friday night was the Opening Convocation and High Table.  A world renowned bagpipe player played a various times throughout the night, and it was so cool!  The food was good (the chocolate cake was literally the best thing I’ve ever had), and the speeches that the new president and some of staff gave before dinner were also good.

Saturday, we went into Grantham for the first time, and I honestly love that small town so much.  There are cobblestone streets and everything is accessible by walking, and I just thought it was so beautiful. Also, their Farmer's Market was set up on the main street and that was nice to see.  We ate at a local place for lunch called Café Leo, and I definitely recommend it.
Sunday morning the local church in Harlaxton Village, St. Mary and St. Peter, held a welcome ceremony for the Harlaxton students that wanted to attend.  The service was so nice and the church was beautiful.  Some of the headstones in the graveyard were so older, there were no longer words on them.

This weekend has busy and tiring, especially with the jet lag that didn't hit me until Saturday.  If you come to Harlaxton, expect these things on the first weekend:
Meeting lots of new people (good luck remembering all of their names)
Lots of meetings and orientations
Lots of new information
Exploring EVERYTHING! (If you're lucky you'll find some secret passages)
New friendships
Fun!

Also, don't listen to what people say about the food or where your room is before you arrive at Harlaxton.  Give yourself time to form your own opinions.  Don't let other people's actions or opinions dictate your time here (credit to mom for that sentence).  I actually love the Carriage House, and I like most of the food (except lunch the first day, of course).  Have fun at Harlaxton!

Love,

Alexandria


P.S. My vlog from this weekend will be up on YouTube soon.  You can access more up to date pictures and videos on my Instagram.  You can follow this blog by email now, so just put your email into the bar, and you will all of the new posts directly to your email. Our you can get everything in one place at my blog's Tumblr page.