Cheese Rolling

So cheese rolling. It's a bit of a strange tradition, and it was probably one of the most bizarre days I've ever experienced. However it was lovely to get out of the city and into the countryside for awhile. 

Here's the view from part of the way up the hill. We didn't get to do the cheese run for insurance reasons but I don't think I would have liked to do it anyway. It's a bit dangerous.

I should probably explain what cheese rolling is. Essentially people race to the top of this really steep hill seen below. Then someone tosses a roll of cheese down the hill. As soon as the cheese starts to roll down people race to the bottom of the hill and whoever gets down there first wins the cheese. The only problem is that the hill is so steep that running down the hill is more like throwing yourself down a cliff. It was violent looking.

When we arrived at the town the sort of guide guy literally said "I'm sorry but you guys can't participate because our insurance doesn't cover you launching yourself down a hill after a wheel of cheese". 

So let's recap. In order to get up to a decent vantage point to watch the cheese rolling we had to hike up a hill nearly as steep as the cheese rolling hill itself for 3/4 of a mile to watch groups of people who were often in strangely clad costumes (imagine the Turkey Trot) throw themselves down a giant hill after a wheel of cheese.

I missed the cheese rolling down but here are the people. This is just the end of the hill, I didn't get a chance to see them come down the entire hill. I feel like it's brutal enough anyway.

Weird day. But I loved it.

My First Weekend in London Part 2

I realized that my previous post was getting too long so I thought I would split it up into two different posts. This one will be mostly pictures anyway.

Sunday:

This day was spent entirely at Hyde Park. It was a rare 70 degrees with clear blue skies in London and we took advantage of every minute of it. We headed to the park with the best of intentions to get some reading done, but that of course didn't happen. Instead we played frisbee, walked around the park, and generally enjoyed the sunshine and good spirits. 

My day at Hyde Park was honestly probably the best day of my trip thus far. Everyone was in a fantastic mood, and I'm not just referring to my lit london group. There were happy families, friends, couples, and even dogs everywhere in the park. The atmosphere in general seemed almost unreal it was so wonderful and positive.

Here's a shot of part of the park from where we were sitting. I couldn't believe how big the park was. we tried to walk around the lake-type thing in the distance but it was too long so we had to cross a foot bridge.

Me attempting to self-take a photo of myself and Allie.

People LOVE to roller blade in the park. This is a shot of people dancing to music on roller blades. It was quite impressive.

And of course the token phone booth picture.

Me at Hyde Park. Cheers! I love you all!

My First London Weekend

Lucky for us we have four day weekends in our class schedules. And I have to say it was quite a lovely weekend.

Friday:

We slept in after an exhausting week of adjusting time zones and going on crazy packed days of tours. It was fantastic. Then after lunch we decided to head over to the Tower of London since it's right across the bridge from us (for those just tuning in I live on Tower Bridge road as in the road that goes over the bridge and literally just a couple of blocks from the bridge. In some ways a very nice location and in others a bit far from things). Anyway, Tower of London was fascinating and we easily spent the entire afternoon there. We began with a tour with a Beefeater - somewhat of a guard for the tower - and then wandered throughout the towers on our own. It was fascinating to see the messages prisoners inscribed on the walls from hundreds of years ago. I didn't get to see Hitler's lou which was the cell we expected to hold Hitler in if he was captured, which of course didn't happen. Overall it was a great day, but I unfortunately forgot my camera.

Saturday:

Saturday was our day trip to Oxford (the real Oxford not Ohio Oxford) and it was gorgeous. A beautiful day and beautiful architecture meant me taken a lot of self-indulgent pictures that have no memory purpose except that they are pretty.

Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires. I thought that was a lovely description. And it's true. There are spires everywhere. It's such a beautiful town. I wish I went to school in THAT Oxford. Although Ohio Oxford is pretty as well.... just not quite the same.

Oxford is the oldest university in England. So there is some incredibly interesting and historical things in Oxford. But I found myself just enjoying the beautiful scenery and the amazingly beautiful day, so unfortunately I don't have much in the way of historical anecdotes to put up here.

This is the stairwell where Professor McGona-something (I forget how to spell it) greets the students in the first Harry Potter film - "Welcome to Hogwarts" and all that jazz. It was fun to see, but some girl in our group literally shrieked when our tour guide mentioned this. It was a bit obnoxious.

We had lunch here. This is the pub where CS Lewis, JRR Tolkein, and several other slighlty less famous members of "Inklings" would meet up and share each other's writings.

And here's a random picture of people doing what is called "punting". Kinda like a gondola but a little less classy and a little more likely that someone will fall in. We unfortunately didn't have enough time to give it a go.

One of the only group shots I took all day. Some fellow Lit Londoners. From left to right Carrie, Alice, Kelsey, myself, Brittany, and Hannah. 

The Globe and The National Gallery

Thursday.

I know I haven't put up entries for the other days this week, bu

t I just don't have the energy right now. I'm hoping to sort through everything this weekend, so until then things will be a bit out of order.

Our first scheduled tour today was of the Globe Theatre. Or at least the replication of the Globe. It is amazing how much they've been able to put together based on the history they've uncovered. Always a fascinating tour. 

This shot shows the open roof.

They were setting up the set for Romeo and Juliet during our tour.

And this is the outside of the theatre.

After the play we had a two hour break to eat and do whatever so we just relaxed out in the sun on the Thames.

 

After our break we walked over to Trafalgar Square and had a Blue Badge tour of the National Gallery. After a couple of hours of that we went over to the National Portrait Gallery where my group in my Shakespeare class gave a presentation of a portrait of Henry VIII. Our group was the first to present - the other groups will be staggered throughout the trip - and it wasn't fantastic but I'm glad we have it out of the way.

Now begins the series of Trafalgar Square photos. Apparently there are these big lions that rest at the foot of the iconic statue of Trafalgar Square that people always climb all over. The boys attempted this....

The lions turned out to be a little more awkward than they expected to climb. This is Alex flinging himself up the lion's bum. They tried it several times, nearly all of the attempts ending with them slowly sliding back down the lion's butt. A twelve year old kid eventually had to show them how to get up there. It was the epitome of the word dignity let me tell you. 

They eventually made it. I thought Alex (on top of the lion's head) looked especially triumphant. Erin, Amanda and I were laughing hysterically the whole time. They were actually so ridiculous that a guy making a tourist film came up and asked them to be in their film. 

And here's a bonus pics for the parents. Here we are sitting on the lawn in front of the national gallery. The girl in the red is part of our group and taking a nap. So I just wanted you to know I'm doing well and having a great time!

Site currently under construction.

Or perhaps a makeover.

...Or none of the above. Basically I wanted to let my followers ::ahem, Kelsey:: know that this will soon become my travel blog. I'm debating if I should advertise it to those wanting to know about my travels or selfishly keep it to myself...... and kelsey. Because after this is all said and done I do kind of want to go back to using it as a sort of personal journal. 

Who am I kidding? I'll probably cave and sell out. What are travels for except to share them with the people I wish more than anything could be there with me? Plus, let's face it. I like the attention.

But yeah, future travel blog. End.

"Oh effulgent relativity!"

effulgent |iˈfoŏljənt; iˈfəl-|adjective poetic/literary shining brightly; radiant.• (of a person or their expression) emanating joy or goodness.

Just one of my new favorite words. I rock at blogging I must say.

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These are the quotes I had to choose from to write my take home portion of my final for post-modernism. The prompt was to write  about how one of these quotes either does or does not reflect literature after 1945.

1. ... the past runs like water through my hands

2. Does not everything depend on our interpretation of the silence around us?

3. I don't know if this is a happy ending but here we are let loose in open fields.

4. I would try to return home.

I thought they were all lovely. Although I have no idea what I would write about with the last one. I suppose it leaves a little more room for interpretation than the others but they're all wildly open so it doesn't really matter. All of these quotes are the very last sentence - or at least part of the very last sentence - of a book we have read in class. I find that interesting looking at question 3. Either way, they remind me of how much I loved the books I read this semester and just how beautiful they all are. 

This trumped Junot Diaz

I still haven't posted about Junot Diaz coming to Miami, and I might get around to it eventually. Just a forewarning, it is 2:30 in the morning so this post is very awkwardly written. I'm attempting to embody what this experience meant to me, and I'm always terrible at that. Good thing I'm an English Major right? At least I'm not in creative writing. I'll probably revise the post a million times just because I'm obsessive like that. And this will probably be a long post as well. Anyway, onward.

I went to a new church today. It was the first time I've been to church in Oxford. Luke needed to attend a gospel music event of some sort for a class, and his professor is the music director at the First Baptist Church of Oxford, so we went. I had many misgivings. For starters, I wasn't sure what Baptist meant in the title of the church. I mean, I know it has to do with baptism etc., but I'm not sure how Baptist churches tend to run their congregation. I'm still not sure I do, but it doesn't seem to matter in the end. 

I am also always a little nervous at attending a new church because I'm never sure how everything is run, and I'm just always a little uncomfortable. This turned out to be an unnecessary fear as luke and I met a middle aged woman in the parking lot who guided us through the service. She was so friendly and understanding and sat right behind us giving us guidance on what was going on when without us even asking. If we ever had any questions all we had to do was turn around to look at her and she would whisper a comforting explanation, or smile and say something encouraging. I can't express in words just how thankful I am for her and her warmth. I'm not sure we would have had the same experience if it were not for her. 

Then there is the nervousness in being the only white people in the church when I'm used to attending a predominantly white church. That didn't turn out to matter either. These people were so incredibly welcoming, so...... nice. Genuinely nice. There were no strings attached. I didn't feel as if they were nice to us so we would come back, to save our souls, or anything in between. There have been moments (not just in church but in all kind of different situations) that I've felt like people treated non-christians as potential notches on their Christianity belt. It's as if the whole "I'm taking as many people to heaven with me as I can when I die" idea turned into a personal trophy of self-righteousness rather than being about the people searching for something more. There was no hint of that feeling at this place. It's hard to explain, but it's exactly what I've always wished to find in a congregation. 

I will admit that I was nervous about going to church with Luke. I felt like I was presenting something that I care very deeply about for his interpretation and criticism. And I felt a little vulnerable in doing so. I know he has had some bad experiences with churches and what not. I've always gotten the impression that he's been somewhat afraid of churches. Maybe not fear in the usual sense, but perhaps a fear based on cynicism and a lack of trust. However, when we came out of there he was the first one saying "we're going back there again!". He picked up on the overall human quality that church possessed even more than I did. There was something so genuine in their humanity and in their faith that it moved both of us, although in very different ways.  At this point I'm really glad I never tried very hard to get him to go to Southbrook. I don't think it would have been what he was looking for, and maybe even put him off more just based on the incredible size of the place. 

I do love Charlie's sermons. Whether I agree with him or not, I do tend to come out of church critically thinking about something in my life I would not otherwise had thought to address. However, the sermon at the First Baptist Church was wonderful in its own right. It seemed fairly simple, yet profound. He preached about hope, strength, and having the faith in God that you can cast your burdens on him and everything will be okay. Maybe not immediately, but that's where the hope and strength bit came back in again. This was a very small church. I would guess that no more than 20-30 people were in the church, but that enabled them to focus a great deal on a sense of community. They had a cluster prayer to start where everyone came to the front (only if you wanted to) and prayed silently, but together. This happened again later on in the service. Then, half-way through the sermon everyone came to the front again and waved their palms together (palm sunday) while he continued the service. This intimate sense of community something that I feel like is missing in Southbrook. I'm not saying that this is intentional, but that the number of people attending has grown so large that it's impossible to have that same feeling. I'm actually impressed with the amount of intimacy Southbrook is able to create in spite of its size, but it is still nothing like the church I attended today. It's great that so many people are finding something they are looking for in Southbrook, but it's just a personal preference of mine. 

Then of course we come to the music. I've been telling my dad for a while now how much I wish that Southbrook would do a gospel number or two sometimes. The music at Southbrook never moves me. I feel like we're trying too much to be a rock band rather than helping people connect to God. Again, that's just me and my personal preferences. I love bare vocals in worship. Here was just a piano and singing. It was simple, yet complex, and absolutely beautiful. And alive. I certainly plan on going back for the rest of this year, although I'm not sure I'll continue to attend next year by myself, but I guess we'll see.