Proof that I'm Actually Studying Abroad at Hogwarts. Volume II: Lacock Edition.

8 March, 2014

I’m not sure I could possibly describe how great this day was. I also don’t think I could possibly describe how nerdy this day was. But seeing as that both suit me just fine, I’m fairly convinced I would be happy retiring to the little village of Lacock.

I woke up at 6:30 so I would have plenty of time to get ready and be at the station for my 10:00 train. Unfortunately, the ticket machine and I apparently didn’t get along very well. I had purchased my tickets online so I was really only using the machine to collect them. Little did I know that, in my hurry, the two pieces of paper I collected were one ticket for the trip back and one receipt. (This bit still irks me a little. Anna - another of the friends I was travelling with - told me later that she waited a whole minute for her tickets to be finished dispensing but apparently still didn't get all of hers because another of our friends – Christine – used the machine after her, and received one of Anna’s tickets mixed in with her own. High five if you followed along to any of that! Basically, the whole system was just messed up.) I didn’t realise I was missing a ticket until I was at the barrier, unable to get through. I tried to sort it out with the ticketing people but there was apparently nothing to be done. They did what they could but eventually said they were sorry, sold me another ticket, and gave me a complaint form to mail in. At this point, I had already missed my train and had to wait for the next one which was due in a half hour.

My amazing friends were super understanding (especially since I was the one organising the trip and therefore should have my stuff together) and just got tea at the Chippenham station café while they waited for me to arrive. In the end, it was decided that you weren’t on an adventure if there weren't any travelling mishaps.

After some more minor setbacks – this time taking the form of incorrect online bus information – we followed (poorly) the information desk worker’s directions to the bus stop. Before long, we were finally on our way to Lacock!

Because I know that there will be no way to conceal the true motives of this trip through the entire blog, and because I know it will simply be easier if I can explain why we kept wandering around this town, I think now is the best time to come clean. The village of Lacock and its abbey were used as filming locations for several of the Harry Potter movies. (I know, I’m sure you’re all shocked. There’s no reoccurring theme to these trips at all, is there?) Regardless, I was ridiculously excited at this point and we were all nearly skipping as we got off the bus.

First impression on the bus ride and upon first arrival: this place is just beautiful.

First look at the village off the bus.
Honestly, this picture does not do it justice at all.

It’s not beautiful in the traditional grand building sort of way, but in the charming old countryside village sort of way. Even if the style of the buildings wasn’t proof enough, the fact that I would literally have had to bend down to fit through the doors was ample testament of how old this village truly was.

The bus dropped us out of George’s Inn and, immediately struck by the subtle beauty of this town but eager to find our destinations, we headed off down the street towards the Red Lion. We wandered along as I tried to identify streets for the central point, and finally stumbled upon Lacock Abbey. Although this was our main destination for the day, we decided that for maximum efficiency, we would explore the village then come back.

We headed down one of the side roads and came across the Lacock Cathedral.

 

We ventured towards the countryside houses where we passed a creek with children playing, a tiny dirt/mud footpath along people’s front gardens, and eventually reached a huge green countryside field.

Yupp, so this happened... We were keeping with the theme of the day...

As beautiful as it was and though we wished we could stay there forever, we realised that following our little path had not lead us to the Potters' house as we had hoped and there were far more important things to find, so we grudgingly ventured on.

Eventually, we reached our starting point and realising we had found neither the central location, nor the Potters’ house in the countryside area, we decided to head in the opposite direction towards the nicer looking houses that seemed a similar style to Slughorn’s. Though we didn’t find it there, we did finally recognise the central apparition location, from which I knew the directions to everywhere else :D 

Standing in the middle of the street for this picture proved to be quite the challenge,
but there was simply no way I was taking this picture half-way.

To explain some of our misguided wanderings and failed locative attempts previously; apparently there's this thing called privacy that means people don't want their address on the internet! I know, right?! I was shocked too. After all, how are us Potterheads supposed to stalk your house and take pictures in front of it?! (This is sarcasm, of course :) I completely understand why such measures are in place, little though I like them :P) Long story short, though I did countless hours of research before making this trip, the exact locations of many places were simply nowhere to be found. Hence our wanderings around random neighborhoods and countrysides as seen above. Luckily however, I was able to piece together enough information from different sources to determine the general location of the rest of our sites from this central spot. So, once I had found this street, the rest came with fairly little difficulty. 

In the movie, they make it seem as though Slughorn is residing down the street above, when in reality the house is actually a little to the left. In fact, the Potters' house was down the previous street. This lead me to wonder what would have happened if the actual locations concurred with the movie locations. Would Dumbledore have just casually mentioned, "Oh and Harry, just so you know, that's Godric's Hollow back there. You know, where your parents were murdered. Okay, so let's go see my old colleague now, come along!"

Anyways... we did actually go visit the Potters' house next :D 

When we did find the house, I felt pretty dumb to say the least. It was quite literally right next to the cathedral I mentioned earlier. See that little house in the corner of the picture below? Yupp, that was it. We saw that before wandering into the middle of nowhere. I blame the pottery class sign that was in front of it for distracting me. I definitely saw that sign, meaning I was looking right at the house. But honestly, pottery is the wrong kind of 'potter' people!!!

Regardless, we did eventually find it. Notice the 'private' sign on the gate? It seems likely they had issues with that previously... can't imagine why...

Honestly though, if I lived in that house, I would play it up so much. I would definitely put up a memorial similar to the one that is supposed to be outside this house. Heck, I would probably start selling tickets to a nightly show where a mysterious hooded figure approaches the house and laughs diabolically as green lights flash from the windows... how long before that house will be up for sale, do you think?

But I digress :) Since we had finally found everything we wanted to in the village, we headed over to the abbey where the real fun was sure to be had!

At that point, there was nothing left but to take a nice walk through the Abbey grounds.

That's totally the Potters' backyard.

I don't think there's any other way to sum this up other than to say; if you didn't think I was completely obsessed before, I'm sure you have been thoroughly convinced now :D 

Also, sorry for the increasingly ramble-y, list-y, documentative and boring type blogs. I try to throw in as much fun stuff as possible but hey, my life ain't all that exciting to anyone but me :/ and I really am trying to just capture my life in England. It's purpose is for my own reminiscence later in life more than anything else. I'm basically just keeping a virtual journal. I know it can be boring so, if you are still reading at this point, I solemnly salute you; you must be a true friend :)

P.S. Because she's awesome and because this awesome-ness is just too great not to share... here's Rachel's video for the day!

If she seems as great as I think she is, and you simply must see/read more of here, here's the link to her blog of the day :D

Adventures in Bristoland

1 March, 2014

What do you do when you’re in England, have an unquenchable thirst for sightseeing, and a travel budget that’s stretched to the breaking point? A staycation!!! (Get it? Like vacation… but… staycation :D)

I am so incredibly blessed to be living in Bristol, a city rich not only with its fair share of grand architecture, but also with a unique English atmosphere that I truly believe can only be found here. (Do I sound like a travel advert yet?) But really, it’s pretty great.

However – as I am sure many of you can relate – the hometown is always the one least travelled. Whether it’s because we feel there will always be time to go visit those hidden beauties later, or because we feel dignified that we – as residents –are above following the camera-clad, Hawaiian shirt wearing, fanny pack armed, crowd of tourists into the overpriced but equally beautiful parts of our respective cities, those stones remain unturned by us.

In spite of – or perhaps because of – this, I decided it was time to cast aside my pride (and also salvage my poor wallet) and march happily along the path of tourists, camera and all. I am now happy to report that it was totally worth it. Who needs their pride, anyway? I have pictures. Totally better.

When aiming for the touristy-est of touristy, where better than the zoo? Especially the Bristol Zoo, which is known to be the second best in Britain, following London.

Driving on the right side like a pro.

Master of Yoga

Where to next on this thrilling quest? Where else but the Clifton Suspension Bridge, queen of the Bristol tourist locations.

*In the voice of a game show host announcing prizes*

This beautiful, architectural ground-breaker is a must-see for any Bristolian traveller. Complete with historical significance, a beautiful view, a background of rolling countryside hills, and its very own suicide helpline, this beauty is the Golden Gate Bridge of England and isn’t to be missed!

*Throws cheesy voice into the corner with every intention of leaving it there to rot… or maybe to make a reappearance in a later blog.* Guess you’ll just have to wait and see! Muhahaha!

*Cough*

After the suspension bridge, we made what I thought would be a casual trip back to the university side of town. How wrong I was.

We stopped at Anna’s hall so she could change into a new jacket and soon came to realise that we had all been jipped on the whole housing situation.

Anna just casually lives where a scene from Sherlock was filmed... nbd.

After that, we got some dinner before meeting up with more people for the Apple and a great ending to a great day.

5 March, 2014

Needless to say, we didn’t come close to seeing all there is to see in Bristol. Therefore, here comes Installation II: A return to Bristoland!!

This time, our adventures were had in the form of a hike. Trust me when I say, just the walk to the bridge was a hike in and of itself! We headed across the Suspension Bridge, through the other side of Bristol (or was it even Bristol) I didn’t even know existed, and eventually to the trails where our journey was to begin.

After carefully and strategically mapping out our journey (aka pointing at a black line through the forest and declaring it to be the bridge, realising bridges go over water, really finding the bridge, then choosing a trail at random) we set off! If our expert trail-finding skills weren’t omen enough, as we began the descent on our chosen path, a man with his two dogs passed us in the opposite direction. He kindly offered a, “Careful, it’s quite muddy along here”. As was wise – I am sure – we shrugged it off and thanked him before blindly skipping along our merry way. At some point, three things became very clear to us:

1. The explanation for that jogger we had seen on our way over here with mud up to his knees.
2.  That nice man could be the last person on earth to ever see us and we probably should have given him a message for our families.
3. When you live in a country that rains quite literally every day, walking trails are muddy. (How we didn’t anticipate this one, I don’t know.)

We were told this path would take us under the bridge. At this point, we were a little disappointed :P

Though eventually we found the real bridge!

Yeah... nice try, Bristol! Us Californians have seen the real thing...

Overall, it was just another in a series of great days.

The Baths of Bath

22 February, 2014

Once upon a time (or last Saturday), in a land far far away, a girl named Christy joined her adventurous friends on a trip to Bath. Misleading though the city name may be, I’m not talking about a giant city inside of a bath tub. Though I must admit, that would be awesome.

But wipe away those disappointed tears because there will be baths in this tale. Swimming pool sized baths used by old Roman guys, no less.

Our journey began at the Bath Abbey, preferable for its lack of admission fee – if you don’t count the aggressive donation collector – and it certainly did not disappoint. The inside was absolutely gorgeous and I again found myself wondering what kind of withdrawal symptoms I’ll have when I come back home to find I’ve been taking all the beautiful buildings for granted.

We left the abbey to fuel up and explore the city a little more. Recognize the picture below, anyone? I somehow always find the filming locations whenever they exist to be found, but I swear this time it was a total accident! (Other times, I must admit, it was the furthest thing from an accident).

"I'll escape now from that world, from the world of Jean Valjean.
There is nowhere I can turn, there is no way to go on!!!"

After our exploration, we returned to the Roman Baths. Let me just say, after this trip, I think I would have quite liked being a Roman. Apparently the ancient Romans used bath houses as we use our golf courses; to relax, enjoy some recreational fun and do business.

From what I could gather, this is the life of a Bathian Roman:

•  Wake up
• Spend hours relaxing and doing business in the public, natural hot spring baths - where they swam naked and coed. (scandelousss!)
• Have a supposedly more productive business day after enjoying a fresh and relaxing start in the morning.
• Go back to the baths.
• Go home to sleep and do it all over again!

Like I said, not too shabby of an existence, if you ask me!

After we finished longing for the days of the Romans, we decided to do some more exploration by foot. This turned out to be a very good idea as we soon stumbled upon the Jane Austin Centre which was well worth a visit. Plus, we got to meet Mr. Bingley!!! (Or at least a random publicity guy outside, dressed up as Mr. Bingley… I say it counts!)

After a few wrong turns, we finally found the Royal Crescent. Not only was this a good view, but it was adjacent to a lovely looking park. Unfortunately, it was a gated park for residents only. So we basically just stood at the gate and gazed longingly at the rolling hills and cheerful people running and playing in slow motion. The mental picture in your head is correct, we felt very much like we were at the zoo, observing English people in their natural habitat. It was a rather awkward experience for us, and I would assume a much more awkward experience for them. But we ignored those minor details and proceeded to stand there for literal hours while we talked. Absolutely nothing weird about that. Eventually we left - I am sure to the mass relief of everyone trying to enjoy their Saturday at the park.

The Royal Crescent
aka where I completely failed at fitting this awesome but
extremely long and curvy building into one good picture.

At this point I found myself going into an establishment - for the second time in a few days - with the sole intention of getting my afternoon tea… It’s happening. I’m turning into an English person.

Random aside: Speaking of tea and English-ness, at the pub quiz this week (which brings up the whole other issue that I regularly go to pub quizzes… they’re turning me into one of them!) one of our friends said that he wished there was such thing as a portable kettle hoister so that you could just have your kettle attached to your belt and always have tea ready wherever you go. I have to say, amused as I was, I quite like the idea.

When we had finished our tea, I can safely say we were all feeling very relaxed and were happy to make our way back to the bus stop. On our way back, we saw another few of these beauties. 

Because us poor Americans would look the wrong way and be run over otherwise. I commend those who work tirelessly to prevent groups like us from being the next sad cover story for the dangers of tourism. I take my hat off to you, kind street painting people! (Or I would... if I was wearing a hat. Check back in a few months and I'm sure I will have progressed from afternoon tea and pub quizzes to a full on bowler hat. Maybe, just maybe...)

Another Random Aside (sorry!): I apologize for the steadily decreasing number of pictures (mostly, I mean Facebook). My poor hands get cold when they have to leave the sanctuary of my warm pockets for too long and, though my tired eyes are happy when there are less than a million pictures to sift through at the end of the day, I know thorough documentation is appreciated. I promise to try and talk my hands out of their cave for a little longer next time.

A Wale of a Good Time

15 February, 2014

The adventure continues, this time to a whole new country! Sure, it was Wales, which is still a part of the United Kingdom but… it counts J

Our coach left at 8:30; much too early for most of our liking and resultantly, yet another bus ride was spent in slumber by most of our group. By the time we reached Cardiff, we were in desperate need of some energy. We were therefore happy to find sanctuary in Costa; a nice chain coffee shop that provided us not only with caffeine and breakfast, but access to a hotel lobby and concierge who was very kind in helping us plan out our day.

The first and most obvious stop was made at Cardiff Castle (the first of hopefully many castles to come)! It was a truly spectacular sight and was tons of fun to explore. 

After that, we split into two groups. The three nerdiest of us trekked over to the bay and the Doctor Who Experience, while the others headed to the museum and street shopping area. After a truly cheese-tastic experience that is only to be expected from Doctor Who, we began the trip back to the rest of our group.

We made a slight detour for some more of the bay experience. Unfortunately, this included a bathroom break that resulted in our losing the only member of our group without a UK mobile phone. After Mattie and I searched frantically around the mall, exclaiming all the while that we were horrible parents for our poor baby Rachel, we finally located her wandering around the upper levels.

Setting off again – albeit much later than we had originally intended – we finally reconnected with the rest of our group and retired to a pub nearby while we waited for our time to meet the bus. 4 hours, 2 pizzas, several pints, and some interesting football (soccer) musings later, we eventually made our way indirectly to the bus stop.

When we had finally arrived back in Bristol, we walked home a reluctant Katrina – who couldn’t understand why we didn’t want her to make the 30 minute trek at nearly midnight on Saturday by herself. After another brief detour to meet some of her flatmates and observe (without any understanding) their poker game, we finally made it back to the heart of Bristol where we resigned to our respective houses and understood with full certainty that we were about to get a very good night's sleep.

Because she truly is awesome, here is Rachel's video of the day! She captures it so much better than I could in my million words :P

If that simply wasn't enough Rachel awesome-ness for you, here's the link to her blog of Cardiff :)

Ye Olde Oxfordshire

8 February, 2014

My little group of American aliens and I were lucky enough to find a group on campus that’s dedicated to foreign students. Often times they will organize trips to commonly frequented areas of the country (or of continental Europe!) and offer them to members of the group at a great price. So naturally, when the opportunity arose to visit Oxford, we jumped at the chance.

Our bus coach departed quite early in the morning, so the ride over there consisted mostly of a mass napping session, punctuated by a few waking minutes in which we saw some of the truly horrible flooding that has been plaguing the UK for the last month. 

When we arrived in Oxfordshire, we had to sort out a few navigational hiccups and therefore got to campus a little later than had originally been planned. But before long, we had met up with our scheduled tour guide and were off to see the sights!

Our tour guide started us off with a great history lesson, ending in quite a factual statement that addressed the real reason almost all of us were (or maybe just I was) actually there, “But in all these years of history, by far the most important events have occurred in the last 15 years… some of the Harry Potter movies were filmed here.” 

I know, we laughed too.

After that she took us around to Divinity Hall, the Radcliffe Camera, Christ’s Church and much, much more.

When we were outside of Divinity Hall, she asked, “Does anyone know what this building was used for in the Harry Potter movies?”

To which I responded immediately and perhaps too excitedly, “The Hospital Wing!”

“Wow… you’re the first person who’s known that right away!”

Yupp… I’m pretty proud of that. I might be making a t-shirt. (joking!)

Another fun fact about Oxford; it was the home of JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis, who were actually friends and discussed their books with each other whilst in the city. 

Back in the day, the two authors made their great friendship official and named it the Inkling’s writers’ group. The club met in the Eagle and Child pub’s private ‘Rabbit Room’ every Tuesday to discuss their work. Apparently there is now a club on the Oxford campus called the Inkling’s writers’ group that still meets in that pub on Tuesdays.

We were fortunate enough to actually go into the pub for a pint and, creepy pub sign aside, it was actually a pretty fun place.

After our quick pit stop, it was back to the bus.

Did I mention flooding? I mean, this was hardly a flood, but it does kinda show how bad it was other places.

On our way back, the bus broke down no less than 4 times and, at one point, we had to wait for another coach to come pick us up. It really wasn’t that bad, but became more of a joke between the exhausted passengers every time we had to pull over. What really matters is that we got home safely and were able to collapse into bed with great memories from a truly amazing day.

The Headquarters of My English Shenanigans

Bristol.

The headquarters of my English experience from this point forward.

The city I now call my temporary home.

The land I love.

… Though, let’s be honest… I’m only here because apparently ‘studying abroad’ includes actual studying… who knew! If it weren't for that minor detail, I would have no headquarters for my European shenanigans, but I am not complaining. I really have come to call this city home and it’s been truly great!

What makes it so great you ask? Let’s just start with the fact that my daily walk to classes, the grocery store, etc. now includes views like this:

 Wills Memorial Building (central campus)

Royal Fort Lodge 

(unfortunately surrounded by construction... sorry for the fence)

… like, no big deal! I just go to school in a castle. It’s whatever. 

I swear I’m just going to get used to gorgeous buildings like these and have withdrawals when I head back to the states.

Okay, so besides the truly amazing view that I can’t believe is now casually apart of my daily life, the people here are great. I live in a shared house with 15 other people. Obviously, coming into this, I was a little worried about how I would be received – barging in halfway through the year and whatnot – but I can honestly say that it has been amazing. Everyone here is so nice and welcoming. I've been here just over a month and we’re already a big family J The house is also super international. So, apart from the amazing Brits I was already expecting, we also represent Venezuela, Romania, Canada, Vietnam, China, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Needless to say, the Winter Olympics were well timed in my life. Fun little rivalries have been running rampant for the last few weeks J

The city is just great overall. I love the buildings, the people, and the fellow Californians from EAP I still hang out with all the time. Need I say more?