English hospitality

Today was a beautifully relaxing day spent with our meet-a-family.  Norry picked us up in the morning and drove us to their house in Rauceby.  It had snowed a couple inches during the night and we decided to have some fun with hand brake slides in a parking lot on the way! haha We got to walk on an actual piece of the Ermine Road (built by Romans in the 100s connecting London to York I think).  When we got to their house the first thing we did was meet their dog Bracken is a golden retriever who loves to eat carrots and paper napkins.  They are also caring for a black lab right now so I was really excited!!  Our afternoon consisted of building a snowman in their backyard, drinking coffee and eating an excellent meal Marilynne cooked for us.  We took the dogs for a walk in the evening and it was brilliantly quiet and clear…  Past the sheep and snowdrops, down empty lanes under blue skies with Scottish crosses  (Norry is Scottish and pointed out the patterns made by plane tracks)  When we got back to their house we chatted for a bit and then showed them some pictures from our travels… during which both Sam and I passed out in our recliners.  Norry and Marilynne took pictures of us passed out on the couch! haha We woke up to sandwiches and cakes  On the way home I learned his son in London has a Ninja- very cool!  However, he took his girlfriend on a trip of about 300 miles on it… can you imagine riding on the back of my bike for 300 miles??!!!!!- ouch!! haha

Now I’m back at Harlaxton, working on homework and checking out the next trip to book

I believe in memories

I get really excited when I think about where my life is going.  I have an amazing set of opportunities laid before me that most people would die for.  And believe me, I am going to take advantage of them.  But even as I think about how beautiful my future will be I can’t help but look back.  There’s a lot to be said for memories.  The human mind is curious, it changes things you’ve experienced into something worth remembering.  Or maybe you just didn’t take in the full greatness of the event when it happened, who knows.  But I am glad for my past, for everyone I’ve met and everything I’ve done so far.  (The good and the bad)  Reflection is an essential part of knowing yourself and knowing what you want.  I’m a bit sad, because I thought I would have more time for reflection here.  As a college student I get easily sucked into the here and now (because its FUN and I don’t want miss out!!).  But I need to take more time for the retrospect.  I will never live in the past, I’m not afraid of that… but I am afraid of not learning from my past.  Lessons in life are found every where, but you have to be attuned to them.  And unfortunately it seems a lot of school work gets in the way of the true lessons out there.  Doing my British Studies homework isn’t quite as inspiring as taking a walk and being able to talk about everything on my mind… so we need to take the time out of school to experience life.  And not in the pubs in Grantham, but within ourselves.  Sharing moments and memories with another person is one of the great opportunities of life.  People are put into our lives for a reason.  Learn from those around you… and in the process you’ll learn from yourself.  I hope everyone at home is taking time out for themselves sometimes… getting behind on your responsibilities isn’t so scary.  You may find yourself better able to complete things when you’ve settled your mind and found some peace.  It’s a constant struggle for me, but a balance does exist.  And sometimes it’s just fun to remember things you’ve forgotten in the routine of your busy life.  Moments should be cherished and reflected upon often.   Don’t get sucked into the present.  There’s a big, beautiful life out there- “within you and without you.”

some favorite memories (this turned into an anthology of memories, enjoy!):

“we’re just moments. we’re clever, but we’re clueless. we’re just human, amusing, confusing. but the truth is, all we got are questions, we’ll never know…”

-Jack Johnson

a new…

A new adventure.  A new experience.  Or just starting anew.  Any of those statements describe my semester this spring.  I needed this break from “reality.”  Maybe I have high expectations for this trip, but I don’t think it’s anything Harlaxton can’t deliver.

I’m studying at Harlaxton College in England… in a (almost) castle.  It’s legit.  We have four day school weeks and a bistro in the basement.  I’m a little late on starting this blog but I will recount my past adventures later… probably.  :)  So far I’ve been to London, Manchester and Scotland.  I’m getting ready to go to Ireland next weekend and can’t wait!  It seems like a long way off, though.  I have a quiz, a paper and a test in between now and then.  I stayed in Grantham this weekend to get some sleep and relax.  Unfortunately, sleep still evades me.  This blog posting bit isn’t helping anything… so I’m going to stop now.  But I promise to keep up an account of my time here and even add some pictures and (I hope) video!  Stay tuned.

(I know the last time I said that I never wrote any else… but this time I mean it. )

Ciao Rome!

We’re leaving today! In like an hour actually   Lee and I stayed up all night packing.  Now we’re sitting in the dining room at the hotel eating breakfast and sipping cappuccinos.   I’m going to miss this… like a lot.  Our entire day yesterday (besides the last group dinner) was spent in the hotel room editing.  BLAH!  If you know me you know procrastination is my biggest talent, so it figures.  But I’m not tired at all and we didn’t sleep a wink (that kind of also figures).  I think I rigged my bags to where I won’t get charged for extra weight— fingers crossed!  And I just learned that it is actually not legal for me to bring wine back into the country.  When I did it last year I thought it was okay… I’m doing it again.  I lived in Rome for two weeks and I still didn’t get to see/do everything I wanted.  I just keep telling myself I’ll be back next year so it’s okay

 

And don’t worry, the blogs aren’t stopping.  I have many more stories to share.  I’ll be putting up more posts about my Roman adventures soon!

the day i found olives in my breakfast pastry…

… was also the day we went to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius.  Pompeii blew my mind… it is one place I have always wanted to see.  We only got 2 hours to explore inside, though and that was just not enough.  The entire city is about the size of Frankfort so there was a lot I didn’t get to see.  But what I did get to see was impressive.  I kind of feel guilty thinking a tragedy is so cool… I can’t imagine the terror of dying that way.  But the catastrophe is part of what makes it intriguing.  It was appropriate that we climbed Mt. Vesuvius first. 

 

The view from the top of the volcano is amazing.  It fascinates me why it is so built up around the base when the volcano is still “active.”  I guess it’s like rebuilding after a flood or hurricane…?  I was a little let down by Vesuvius, though.  In my mind I pictured bubbling lava and smoke like a cauldron of water over a stove.  Instead, as I stared into the crater I got a view of some grass and flowers and rocks.  It caught me off-guard.  I paid a lot of attention to the flowers growing on the sides of the volcano.  I spent a lot of time that day contemplating life and death and destruction and growth.  It fascinated me that something so destructive also gave life to its surroundings.  I guess it’s just another example of me expecting something different.  Instead of an ugly black mountain, Vesuvius held a lot of beauty.  It was still scary, though.  Watching smoke wind its way around rocks in the crater unnerved me and I was honestly relieved when we left.  I liked visiting Pompeii right after Vesuvius because it put the wrath of the volcano into perspective.  The pretty flowers growing on Vesuvius’ slope got pushed to the back of my mind. 

This is one of two bodies I got to see.  Their location threw me off… they were just on display in a case, placed in a random building.  I wanted to see them where they last were, I wanted to see that moment.  Is that morbid?  Some of the buildings and streets were so well preserved it was freaky.  We walked off the beaten path a bit and into a residence where trees were blossoming.  I could imagine living there.  We also saw a bakery with ovens intact and lots of stray dogs wandering around.

 

 

 

Speaking of life and death I like this juxtapostion… two little girls clambering to see the plaster cast of a body.

Buon Appetito!

Friday I learned how to cook an authentic Italian meal!  We made an antipasta of ratatoiulle, first dish of homemade fettucine, second dish of meatballs and chocolate souffle for dessert!  I have even more respect for Italian women now because it was hard work!  As beginners it took us about five hours to prepare the whole meal.  Our teacher, Andrea, was incredible.  He spoke excellent English and made it really fun for us to cook.

The first thing we did was to prepare the sauce for meatballs.  We used extra virgin olive oil, celery, onion, carrots and dry white wine to add some flavor to the tomato sauce.  We let that simmer the entire time we were cooking.  The next thing we did was cut vegetables for the ratatouille dish.  We used seasonal veggies: potatoes, zucchini, carrots, red pepper, onion and eggplant.  The pan looked like a rainbow of colors!  We added olive oil and chicken stock to them and I mixed it all together with my hands!  We baked that for a long time while we did other things. 

We made sauce for the fettucine using chopped prosciutto, butter, bread crumbs and asparagus. (yummy!) To make the meatballs we mixed pork and beef, parmesan cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, leftover bread soaked into milk, salt and pepper.  They were fun to make and reminded me of cookie dough…  haha We rolled them in flour after we formed them and put them into the pan of tomato sauce. 

While all of that was going on we made chocolate souffle!  Andrea had an awesome machine that whipped the eggs for us to make them lift and give rise to the chocolate.  We melted the chocolate and added it to the eggs, then I poured the mixture into little cups… very carefully! haha  We of course used only “real” dark chocolate, Dad

And then we got to the super fun part of the lesson… making homemade pasta!   We made a bowl of flour to crack eggs into.  We then whipped the eggs while slowly adding the flour to make dough.  It was the coolest thing I have ever seen.  I hope it works out when I get home!

You all are in for a treat now that I have these Italian cooking skills!  Maybe I shouldn’t have told you……

                         

 

 

 

Besides cooking I also learned:

you get salmonella from egg Shells, not the actual eggs. (now i can consume raw cookie dough without fear- win!)

barrett looks 25

wine made in this area is from vineyards that grow in volcanic soil

people from michigan can speak Italian without their northern accent

I slept all day Monday

Because of our crazy experience the night before, I literally slept all day on Monday.  So instead of sharing monotonous details about my nap I’ll share a list of things I learned over the weekend. 

How Italy differs from the United States:

• nothing stays open 24 hours a day, no matter how big the city is
• McDonald’s sells beer… and curly fries! and you have to pay for ketchup packages and other sauce on your hamburgers
• there are no laws about cleaning up after your pet, so you have to look down when you walk
• a green walking man at a cross walk means nothing… you can still almost get run over, and yelled at about it! cross at your own risk
• dance partners at a club stay a safe distance from each other- no touching!
• guys fall in love with you after two days
• packing 30 people on a 15 person bus is common, standing on the stairs by the door is the best bet for personal space
• no one shows up on time for anything (my kind of country!)