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