1 Month in the City and Family Home-stay Weekend!

Hellooooo all,

It's been a little over a week since my last post, and believe me, I have lots and lots to share, so bare with me with all of the stories I'm about to throw your way. Last week was a great week back in Edinburgh recuperating from my last adventure and this past weekend was an incredible experience in northern England (although very different from spending a few days in London!). So here goes...my life over the last week and a half:

Last week was spent basically recovering from my whirlwind weekend in London. I was still getting over my cold, and had to do a lot of research for a paper in my Scottish History class, so most of my days were spent in the Elephant House, curled up with tea, and reading books. Not bad, but slightly stressful because there is absolutely no way I can keep up in this class...I mean, I'm not Scottish, and therefore no very little about the UK current and past state of affairs. It is extremely difficult to keep up in a class that is dominated by UK history majors that know much much more about the subject matter, but the material is really interesting, so I'm doing my best. As always, studying in the Elephant House isn't really something I can complain about either, and my friend Emily is in the class with me, so at least we got to stress out together. Even with the relative work stress, I still managed to socialize with everyone and relive our past weekend many many times over in conversation. In fact, in hopes of continuing our show-biz experience, the girls and I decided to check out a local production of the Beauty and the Beast on Thursday night that was showing in a really cool theater near our campus. We got all dressed up, went out to a cute dinner, and then headed to the theater for the show. Maybe it was the fact that we had just come off of the most amazing show production I'd ever seen with Wicked, or maybe the fact that it was realllyyyyy an amateur production, but the show was a slight dissapointment. Not the best costumes, actors, sets, ect and there was actually a near disaster when the boy playing chip fell over in the middle of the show and broke the table and huge tea cup he was hiding under. However, it was still so much fun to be out with all the girls again, and we decided to chalk up the experience to yet another funny night in our lives in Edinburgh.

Friday, me and half of the IFSA Butler students left on our home-stay weekends to a town called Shap, located in the lakes district of Northern England. We took a bus down there, and after about 3 hours of riding in complete darkness, we arrived at a McDonald's pit stop in the middle of nowhere to be picked up by our families that we would be staying with for the rest of the weekend. Luckily, my host mom arrived shortly after us, and picked up me and the other two girls I was staying with. My host family was a farming family, we quickly found out on the drive to her house. After another 30 min drive, we pulled into her house and met her husband and three kids (age 9, 8, and 3). None of us had eaten dinner so our mother laid out the most incredible spread of cheese (that was made by the milk their cows produced) and meats. SO GOOD! We stayed up after that and drank tea and talked to the parents for a while about their lives on the farm, our lives in the states, and stuff like that.

The next day, we woke up early so that we could drive around the lakes district before we met the entire group for a fish and chips lunch. Waking up at the house was beautiful! It was so exciting to see where the house was located, because the night before everything had been dark. It was a quaint farming house set on a hill above the actual farm. The father's parents and brother lived on the property as well, so the farm was definitely a family business. It felt like we were in a scene from Pride and Prejudice though....surrounded by sheep, farms, and rolling green hills. So, the drive was incredible. We drove to the town of Windermeere and then over the mountains to Keswick to have our lunch. The entire time, I was just wishing I could capture how beautiful the scenery was. I was not expecting to see mountains that big in England, nor was I expecting to see stone walls going straight up to the tops of those mountains. The rolling green fields and hills were so expansive, and there was something so peaceful about the entire region. Of course, each bit of land was scattered with sheep and horses, stone houses and walls, which just made me love the whole place that much more. After driving around though, we made it to Keswick and found our chippery (the place where we had fish and chips). Keswick was an adorable town, set in, you guessed it, the middle of nowhere. It was like a fake town...there was a farmers market set up outside and no cars were allowed to drive down the city center, so everyone was walking around. It was sooo pretty but very sureal. Also, my first fish and chips experience was a success! After the drive home though, we were ready for some fresh air, and so me and the two other girls that were there decided to explore the area around our little cottage. We walked down the road for a while right as the sun was setting, and it was amazing. Again, straight out of Pride and Prejudice. Our walk was even complete with a tractor driving past us as we returned to the house. I realized that I could be totally happy on a farm somewhere in the countryside of Scotland...I love love love Edinburgh, but I think I'm more of a countryside or wilderness person. Also, needless to say, when I was walking down this narrow road in the countryside of northern England, it was really hard for me to imagine that I'd been in London just the last weekend! It's like my life is a whirlwind of traveling and new experiences. Anyway, we got back to the house just in time for the first Six Nations Rugby game England vs. Wales to start, and since my host father and I had both bonded the night before over our love for rugby, we sat down to watch the entire game in the den before dinner. England ended up winning...hopefully an occurrence not to be repeated when I see them play against Scotland in March! Watching the game with my host father was so fun...he knows so much about the game just from playing as he was growing up and watching it all the time...and he was definitely into it! Not a bad place to watch a game. Then, after the game, came dinner. Our host mom made the most incredible mintz meat pie (from scratch) and then an incredible apple crumble. I don't know how she did all of that cooking when she had three little kids running around, but she did, and it was delicious. We had to clear our plates before we could be done for the night, so needless to say, we were all stuffed. All and all, it was a fabulous day on the farm!

Windemere and the Lakes District

View of the Lakes

Our host family's house and HUGE tractor!

View from the house down to the farm

Gorgeous view from our sunset walk

Typical view of the countryside

Ok, so Sunday we woke up early to help our host father with his chores on the farm. First, he took us in this huge tractor down to the barns where cows were kept, and showed us around. They have over 100 cows on their farm, and they are all in these huge barns. Then, he showed us where the milking happens...unlike in the old days, they do not milk all 100 cows by hand anymore, but he did show us how it was done on one cow. And yes, I did try it out too! Holding a cow's utter was not my favorite experience in the whole world, but at least I can say I've done it, I can add it to the list of new things I've tried in Scotland, and I NEVER have to do it again! When they aren't milking cows by hand however, they have these machines that pump thousands of gallons of milk each week into these cooling tanks, where the milk is then taken and sold to cheese farms. It was an incredible production, and listening to our host dad explain all about the machines, the cleanliness of the barn, and all the uptake it requires to keep a milk farm running was really neat. He could have talked for hours! After we left the cows, he took us up to the sheep pasture where we got to feed the sheep! When we entered the pasture, about 50 sheep started running after our open ended modern-day wagon, and they surrounded the farmer the minute he stepped out with food. I was a little scared to be that close to the sheep, but also sooooo excited. THey were all so cute! Again, the dad explained all about the different markings, the wool industry, and the different species of sheep he had. Basically, anything you want to know about sheep or cows, I can now tell you. After farming, we went back to the house for another incredible meal...this time, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy. SO GOOD! I was definitely not excited to go back to my cooking, which still consists of mainly cereal, pb and j and the occasional stir fry if I'm feeling super motivated. Oh well. After lunch, we headed back to Edinburgh. The weekend was amazing--a completely different weekend than the one before, and full of new experiences. It was really nice though to be headed back to Edinburgh and have it feel like home.

The cows!!!!

View from the back of the tractor...all of the sheep chasing us down for food

Sunday night, I was face with the ultimate question--write my paper that had been looming over my head for the past week and was due at 4pm the next day, orrrr watch the Superbowl. Needless to say, I decided to watch the game. We all stayed up late, headed to the sports bar in our student union, and tuned into the game. Unfortunately, we missed all of the good commercials because they weren't broadcast in the UK, but the game was still fun. GO SAINTS! That did mean though that Monday morning came wayyy to early, and I had to lock myself in the library for the rest of the day. The paper got done....it was a close call in the end though. At about 3'45, having just finished my bibliography and emailing it to myself, I rushed around the University library (one of my least favorite places in the city) trying to find a computer to print my paper out from. I ended up begging my way onto this girl's computer, frantically running around to find a printer, and then sprinting to the office where I handed my paper to the secretary at exactly 3:59. I definitely won't be doing that again....but it all got done somehow!

I just also have to say that I'm finishing up this blog post while sitting at my desk and just looked out to see an incredible sunset over the city from my window. I'm loving every part of this city, and I can't believe I've been here a month already! I'm both soooo excited for the next couple of months, and scared they will go by too quickly! Ok, that's it for now....tomorrow I head to Copenhagen by myself (AHH) to meet up with some Bowdoin kids, so get excited to hear all about that next time!

New things I did this week:

--Explored the city with the girls, and went to a theater production

--MILKED A COW!

--fed some sheep

--handed in a paper at the very very very last minute

XO