Irritating Italy

Italy has been rather disappointing. Maybe it's because it's too hyped up, maybe it's just Oct. 30, maybe both.

Many of you will be wondering what happened on October 30. I'll try to tell you, but it's just one of those things, you had to be there.

My friend Erin and I were staying at a B&B in San Giovanni Lupatoto, about half an hour bus ride outside of Verona, Italy. We had a train to Venice at 9:30, so we left for the bus stop at 8. We proceeded to wait there for over two hours for the buses that failed to come, even though the locals told us the bus ran on Sunday mornings. Needless to say we missed our train.

As we were walking back to the B&B to have them call a taxi for us, a taxi pulls up next to us and drops someone off. In Verona, taxis aren't driving everywhere for you to hail; there are stations where you can get a taxi or you can call one to pick you up. God sent us this taxi and we thought "everything is going to be good now, we'll just get a ticket for the next train to Venice and have an hour or so before our train to Rome."

That's not how it worked.

We did get tickets for the next train to Venice, only to find out it was delayed an hour and a half. If it were that simple we still would have made our connection in Venice. However, somehow things got even more delayed and we would have missed the train to Rome even if we did make it to Venice. We don't know what was going down on the tracks from Verona to Venice that day, but apparently God did not want us there.

We decided to buy tickets from Verona to Rome - just skip Venice entirely -we already had hostel reservations in Rome. Again, if only things were the simple.

We had run out of cash buying the second tickets to Venice, so we tried to use our cards to get the tickets to Rome. No go for either of us. Since cards work differently in Europe we weren't overly anxious yet - we just had no cash or phones in the middle of Italy.

At an ATM, Erin's card was denied. Again. (Her card being blocked is the story of England Term. Wells Fargo keeps ignoring its notes that she will be using her card abroad. It's only been three times that she's had to remind them. No big deal.)

Thank goodness my card worked! We had cash! And thus over-priced tickets! Wait a second, we have more waiting to do? We've only been waiting around since 8 this morning and now it's noon. The train is at 1:26. Food would probably be a good idea... But wait, there's only McDonalds at the Verona train station. That's exactly what you think of eating when in Italy.

Eventually we made it to Rome. Half an hour before we orginally would have gotten there too. We found our hostel easily enough - five flights up -only to find a sign directing us to a building across the street.

Oh Italy! You are over-rated and beautiful all at the same time.

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Location:Via Volturno,Rome,Italy

Paris

I don't know what to say. Paris and London. I love them.

In Paris we only had one thing scheduled as a group. So we're free to run around Paris.




Today I went to the Nortre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Conciergerie, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower by day, and Musee de L'Armee to see Napoleon's tomb. I bought lunch at a metro station and ate it on a bench near the Arc de Triomphe. It was so peaceful.


At the top of the Arc, the view was amazing. There was mist still covering everything, making everything picture perfect.










The first night in Paris we went to the Eiffel Tower as a group.










On Tuesday free travel begins. That will be interesting.

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Location:Rue du Sommerard,Paris,France

York

Since I last posted I've been to Dingle, Galway, Sligo, Belfast, London, Stratford, Shropshire, and Caernarfon (Wales!). At the moment I'm in York. Next is London, France, and free travel.

In Belfast we had homestays. I ended up with the pastor of the church we did the homestays through. Fisherwick Church has been hosting Bethel students on England Term for around 30 years. I was one of two students who had their own family, every other family had two students.




In Stratford, we saw Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream preformed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Just outside the theater was a river that swans like to hang out on.
















For those of you who know me well, I have wanted to go to Wales since middle school, maybe even elementary school. What go me interested in Wales was a book that I read - surprise surprise. We went to the amazing Bodnant Gardens to start off Wales. Unfortunately we only had around two hours in the gardens, so I wasn't able to see everything.



















I abosutely loved Wales and Stratford!

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Location:Toft Green,York,United Kingdom

Cashel

In the little town of Cashel, there is Hore Abbey, named for the color of the monks' robes. Most people go the Cashel to see the Rock of Cashel, not the abbey. I liked the abbey much more. The place we were staying was right next to the abbey. We were able to go explore it when ever we wanted. The nice thing about this ruin is that there are no rules. We can take pictures and climb, all while NOT having staff watch us because there was no staff.

When I first went out there, it was cloudy and started to rain. I stayed out there, but everyone else left. After the rain, the sun came out. It was absolutely beautiful. Peaceful. An odd thing about me is that I find graveyards to be one of the most peaceful places on earth. I don't know why, so don't ask. As you probably guessed, there was a small graveyard. The tombstones with the sun shining down on them was so moving. With the slight breeze blowing on my face, I felt God in the forgotten abbey.















I went back there the next morning before we left. There was a pigeon who would not stop cooing. Some of the others thought it was creepy, but it reminded me of a dove.

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London and Dublin

The Celtic Hotel, which we stay at while we're in London, is such a cute and quirky place. My room was at the very top; on the way up to it, I had to climb several stair cases and once I thought I had reached the top, I open a door to find yet another staircase. Old London buildings... you've got to love them. At breakfast, we had to sit down and order what we wanted from these old little ladies. There was no grab and go which several people in the group were wanting to do.

We saw the Tower of London the afternoon before seeing Richard III at the Old Vic. In the play, Richard imprisons several people in the Tower, two of which "disappeared" in history. Also, it has a big Tudor connection. Henry VIII would imprison his wives there before having them beheaded. I thought the Traitors' Gate and execution site were really interesting. The executioin site has a memorial which is very moving in its simplicity. There was a huge raven hanging out at there which flew straight at me before landing on the bench I was standing in front of. I don't think it liked me. But, of course, the only thing I could think of when I was watching it was of Edgar, Edgar Allen Poe for those of you who didn't know I address Edgar by his first name.






Richard III was an incredible production by Sam Mendes with Kevin Spacey as Richard. I will always read Richard III with Mendes' interpretation because it was perfect. The music was all drumline, awesome by itself, but made a ten times better when the actors formed a drumline during the coronation scene and other later points.

We had a tour of the Globe Theatre the next day and saw Much Ado About Nothing there in the evening. The style of Richard III and Much Ado were so different. Much Ado had period costumes and was slapstick humor, where Richard had clean cut suits and subtle wit. It was very interesting to see the actors interact with the audience at the Globe; the interaction can't be described very well, it's a "you had to be there" type of thing.

We got everywhere in London by the tube (aka subway). There is a station just a couple of blocks from our hotel. One afternoon, the train was empty, a very rare occurance.


On September 12, we flew to Dublin. We left the Celtic at 3:15 in the morning to catch our 6:45 flight. We were anticipating heightened security because of 9/11, but I don't think it was that different from a normal flight. In fact, they didn't even have me empty out my diabetic supplies for screening; all the other airports I've been through have me place every little thing in the trays. At Heathrow: nothing! It made my day at 5 in the morning.

In Dublin, we focused on James Joyce, author of the two hardest novels in the English language. We visited the James Joyce Center and walked the route the character Bloom walked in one of the chapters. Later, we went to James Joyce Museum, which is located in a tower he lived in for 6 days and where the opening chapter of Ulysses is set.

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Cambridge

This morning we were given a walking tour of Cambridge. There are 31 colleges in Cambridge. We're staying at Corpus Christi College. Each of us has our own room and bathroom, which is bigger than my room back home. The space is definately welcome for the two nights we have it.

Unfortunately, Trinity College was closed to visitors. This is the college Henry VIII founded. I did get to see the college gate, which has Henry VIII carved into it; originally he was holding a scepter and orb, but students have stolen the scepter and replaced it with a chair leg. The Wren Library was open and I saw the manuscript of Winnie the Pooh. The shelves of old books were breath-taking; but no pictures were allowed.

After that, I did some wondering and found some gifts. I can't wait to see the faces of those who they're going to belong to!

Next stop is London tomorrow, where we'll see the Tower of London, Richard III, and Much Ado About Nothing. Let the plays begin!



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Location:Guildhall St,Cambridge,United Kingdom

Whitby

Yesterday I spent 7.5 hours reading Dracula. For those who haven't read it, Dracula bit his first victim in Whitby Abbey's graveyard. When I finished the book, I thought the ending was a bit anticlimatic.






In Whitby, we're staying in a modern castle run by sisters of the Church. We're mainly ploughing through homework. They have flower gardens, donkeys, and cows.


















On our way to Whitby, we stopped at the moors. It was so beautiful! I kept thinking about how Wuthering Heights took place in the moors.



















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Location:Whitby,United Kingdom

Keswick

Today we visited Dove Cottage. It is the place where William Wordsworth wrote the majority of his poetry. We had a "lecture" by a guy who works there. He showed us some of Wordsworth's manuscripts, journals, and first editions of his poetry. He passes around one of the manuscripts after emphasizing that we only touch the cardboard binding and not the paper. Apparently he never passes around the manuscripts. We were all beside ourselves.



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Location:Skiddaw St,Keswick,United Kingdom

Durham

Yesterday our group visited Alnwick Castle, which is where primarily the first and second Harry Potter movies were filmed. We took a tour called Battle Axes to Broomsticks. It mainly showed us where scenes from HP were filmed and told us stories about some of the fiascos the crew had. There were 7 cars used for Mr. Weasley's car; several of them were used once and were destroyed after filming different scenes. Some of those scenes which were not even used in the movie.


When we left the castle, we went to Durham. We had to walk about a mile, dragging our suitcases behind us. This is when I was especially frustrated with my diabetes supplies.

Since it's been chilly here, I bought a nice coat, scarf, and legwarmers. We'll see how much colder it gets. It's only August.


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Location:S Bailey,Durham,United Kingdom

Edinburgh

The past few days have been a whirlwind. I've done and seen so many things. A few of which are seeing the castle, Mary King's Close, the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling would go to write Harry Potter, and the Military Tatoo. I hiked Arthur's seat and have walked who knows how many miles.

Getting around has been fun on all the double decker buses. It's crazy how close cars get to each other and the pedestrians. There are so many times I think a person is going to get hit.



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Location:Edinburgh, Scotland

The Suitcase of a Diabetic

Packing is always an interesting process, especially when the one packing is diabetic. On all the trips I've taken so far, my diabetes supplies haven't been much of an issue. I just pack a box or two of each supply and I'm good to go. However, that was when I was only going to be gone for a max of 10 days. This time I'm leaving for nearly four months...

My doctor told me to bring a six month supply of all my prescriptions, which makes sense. After putting the supplies into the largest suitcase owned by my family, I wondered where I would put my clothes. I fit almost everything into the expanded suitcase and carry-on, but it felt like the suitcase was going to burst.

So, my mom and I went on an adventure to Target to find a larger suitcase that would stay underneath the max of 62 linear inches. In the end, we came home with a suitcase that fit the description and I transferred everything to the new suitcase. With just the diabetic supplies packed I could still see the bottom of the suitcase! Miracle of miracles! And get this, with everything packed, I didn't even need to expand it!

Dreams

In a little over 24 hours I will be leaving on the adventure of a lifetime. I will be headed to England for nearly four months. For those of you who know me well, this is a dream come true; I have wanted to travel to England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales for as long as I can remember. And going to continental Europe briefly is another bonus.

I'm going on this trip with 21 other Bethel students and a Bethel prof and his family. We will be studying literature where it was written and/or where it's set, reading and attending plays, and learning about travel writing. An English Lit and Writing major's dream. And note that all the students on the trip are just as passionate and nerdy about their books as me. We're going to be crazy together.

Throughout my time abroad, I will be posting thoughts and pictures. I cannot guarantee how often because I have no idea how much time I will have.

In case you're wondering about the title of my blog, you should know that I am fascinated with the history of the Tudors, most noteably King Henry VIII and his children. I have not been able to learn as much as I would like to about this family, but that will change with time.

Soon I will be in the Land of the Tudors.


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Location:Rochester, MN, United States