Northern Excursion Part 2: The Lake District

View of Windmere from the Fell!

After our night in Durham, we piled onto the coach to reach our final destination for the next three days: The Lake District.  Once we reached the outskirts, our entire landscape changed: everywhere there were mountains (called fells here) and lakes.  It was a combination of Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and Colorado. 

            Upon reaching our hostel that was on the shores of Lake Windermere, a majority of us immediately went out to the lake.  My friend Laura and I rented a kayak for two hours.  We paddled all around the Lake and stopped at one shore to see Wray Castle, which is where Beatrix Potter once lived.  After a lovely afternoon on the lake, we all huddled around the TV to enjoy the Olympics, which became our patter for the next couple days: play outside all day and enjoy the games at night.  Since we were watching on the BBC we mostly heard about England’s standings in the games.  I have no idea how America is doing in the games on than the fact that Michael Phelps broke a record for the most medals. 

Wray Castle

            Our second day was dedicated to the man who made the Lake District famous: the romantic poet William Wordsworth.  We first visited Dove Cottage, which is where he lived for eight and half years and had his period of most productivity.  The cottage was a pub before Wordsworth moved in, so it was very dark and cramped.  The garden was beautiful as was the view of Lake Grasmere, where Wordsworth liked to ramble.  We saw the churchyard where all the Wordsworths are buried and we enjoyed the small quaint town of Grasmere. 

Dove Cottage

Then we drove to Rydal Mount which was Wordsworth’s second home.  It was much bigger and lighter than the Cottage.  Wordsworth moved there to accommodate his growing family.  The garden was gorgeous as was the view of the Lake.  Wordsworth spent 35 years making the garden look like wilderness.  I’m not sure why it took that long to make it look natural, but his efforts paid off into a beautiful garden.  We ended our visit with a water meadow walk back.  A few of us broke off from the group on the way back and hiked up on of the fells.  The view was absolutely stunning.  We could see for miles around and see all of the town and most of the Lake.  That night we took a cruise on the lake and got to enjoy the view of the sun setting behind the fells.

Rydal Mount

Beatrix Potter's Garden! 

            Tuesday was our last full day in the Lake District, and it was free for us to do whatever we wanted.  I went with two other girls to Hawkshead and Hilltop Farm to visit the Beatrix Potter sites.  Hilltop Farm was Potter’s country retreat and studio.  It was filled with her possessions.  The garden was full of food that Peter Rabbit would have enjoyed: radishes, beans, and cabbage.  There are still sheep on the property.  Potter had several animals on her farm and breed sheep.  Throughout her lifetime she worked tirelessly to conserve the land of the Lake District.  Every time she sold a book, she bought a farm.  Without her efforts, the Lake District would look very different today.  We saw a gallery in Hawkshead that had her original pen and ink drawings for Peter Rabbit.  The idea came from a letter she wrote to the son of her old governess.  The boy was sick and Potter sent him a letter with the story of a naughty rabbit who got into a garden with accompanying drawings.  She decided to turn the story into a book for children.  When no one would publish her book, she self-published 250 copies, and then the publishers came knocking on her door.  It was a fun time to relive one of my favorite stories from childhood and to learn more about the author’s life.

Beatrix Potter's Cottage

Ambleside Waterfall

            After the visit, I enjoyed the town of Ambleside near our hostel.  I hiked up the top of beautiful waterfall and then meandered around town.  The town is full of mountaineering stores; apparently the Lake District is mecca for the outdoorsy types of England.  That night we had our final party in England, but it wasn’t just any party, it was an engagement party.  Caroline Ryan and Peter Cunningham got engaged that day! It was exciting to celebrate with them.

            Wednesday morning we again boarded the coach for our final long journey back to Oxford.  Besides some rest stops and a lunch break we only stopped once in Coventry to see Coventry Cathedral.  This cathedral is unique for having an ancient half and a modern half.  The ancient medieval cathedral was bombed during WWII causing much destruction and loss of life.  Coventry responded with forgiveness and rebuilt their church with the emphasis on being a church about reconciliation and justice.  It was amazing to see a church respond to Christ’s call to love our enemies and turn a destructive event into a powerful message that changes lives.  In addition, the church has a small connection to Wheaton: alumni John Piper designed the beautiful baptistery window. 

Reconciliation Statue at Coventry

Altar at Coventry

            The Lake District was the perfect ending to the program.  I’ve had a wonderful summer, and I am sad to see the program come to a close.  

Windmere

Northern Excursion Part 1: Brontes and Castles

The Moors

After writing our last papers and taking our final tests, we were finally done with classes for Wheaton in England!  We celebrated Friday night with a party, and Saturday we woke up ready for the Northern Excursion.

            The first stop we made was at Haworth in Yorkshire to see the Bronte’s cottage.  As we drove in the landscape drastically changed.  We were surrounded by the wild moors, which were barren and dotted with sheep.  Appropriately, the weather shifted from bright sunshine to gray skies that spouted drizzle on us.  We only had an hour there, but we were able to see the cottage where the Brontes lived all of their lives and wrote their novels.  I’ve read a novel from all three of the sisters, so it was exciting to see the landscape that inspired their genius.  Outside their cottage was a graveyard with a cat wandering around and the moors loomed in the distance.  The house was preserved to look as it did during their day and contained many of their possessions.  It also had costumes from the newest Jane Eyre movie.

The Bronte Parsonage

The Durham Cathedral

            After Haworth, we drove to Durham to spend the night in a castle.  My room was in the keep, which is the strongest part of the castle, and where everyone would hide out if there were an attack.  It was awesome.  That night we wandered around town and took in the spectacular view on the river walk.  We learned that Saturday night is the night to party in Durham.  Everywhere we went people were milling about clubbing.  It was disjointing to see a historic looking town filled with modern-day clubbers. 

            We spent the night in Durham relaxing.  The Northern Excursion has been nice in giving us all time to unwind from intense schoolwork and have some fun before we return to classes in a couple weeks.

The Durham Castle we stayed in!

C.S. Lewis Day

Magdalen College

Last Thursday (the 19^th), we spent a day devoted to the C.S. Lewis sites in Oxford.  We first went to Magdalen College where he taught.  We saw the beautiful chapel where a plaque denoting his “chapel seat” was and heard anecdotes from the wonderful tour guide.  We learned Lewis was popular among students for giving them beer during tutorial sessions.  Many students were often nervous about first going to these sessions, but they soon relaxed as Lewis would be smoking and offer them a drink.  He liked to have “Beer and Beowulf” nights with students.  My other favorite anecdote was that another professor was doing animal research, which Lewis strongly disagreed with.  To show his disapproval, he would meow at the other professor whenever he passed him.  In addition, we learned Lewis didn’t always get along with his other colleagues.  He struggled with their disregard for his Christian faith.  Since Oxford never made him a chair, Lewis eventually went to Cambridge’s Magdalen College to become a chair of English.  He said he felt more accepted there as a Christian.  He still kept his house in Oxford though and would come back on the weekends.

Addison's Walk

            After the tour we went on the famous Addison’s Walk where Lewis and Tolkien would have long talks about God.  On one of these walks Lewis’ perspective changed, and he began to believe that there was a God, but he did not become a Christian until much later.

            Later in the afternoon, we went to the Kilns, which is where Lewis lived.  We first explored the back wooded part that surrounded a pond Lewis liked to swim in (Lewis loved to swim, and he was even caught as a student skinny-dipping in University Park.  All the other male students he was with covered themselves, but Lewis covered his face.  Wise move). The woods were beautiful and contained an old brick bench that Lewis and Tolkien used to sit on to talk whenever Tolkien would visit.

The Kilns

            The house itself has been refurbished to look as it did during Lewis’ time.  That is a good thing as Lewis and his brother Warnie who also lived there, were terrible housekeepers.  They both smoke and drank quite a bit, and they were known to grind the ash from their cigarettes into the carpet to “keep the moths away.”  They smoked so much they turned the walls of the house yellow.  

            This is the house where children stayed during the War to be safe from the bombs of London.  They inspired the Pevensie children of the Narnia series. 

            In addition, we got to hear stories about Lewis’ marriage to Joy Davidson.  Lewis married later in life, and he first married Joy only so she wouldn’t be deported back to America.  He wouldn’t even let her live with him (he seemed to be set in his ways) until after she was diagnosed with cancer.  This diagnosis woke Lewis up to the fact that he did love her.  Joy was a very fiery American woman from the Bronx.  My favorite story about her is when their were trespassers on their property she bought a rifle to scare them off.  One day, she and Lewis were out walking and they caught some one trespassing and shooting arrows.  He turned the arrows on them when Lewis asked him to leave.  Lewis gallantly stepped in front of Joy to protect her, and she said, “Dammit Jack! You’re in my line of fire!”  There was a picture in the house of her with this rifle and she looked terrifying.  The tour guide said she was one of the few women who could have stood up to Lewis and kept him in line.  

            After the tour of the Kilns we visited Lewis’ grave and church.  Lewis was known for sneaking into church late and leaving early, as socializing was not his forte.  The church honors him with a plaque on his pew and a Narnia themed stained glass window.

Lewis' grave

The Narnia Window

            All in all, this was one of my favorite trips.  I’ve read Lewis all my life, and I always had a view of him as this paragon of Evangelical Christianity who was almost perfect.  This trip showed me that Lewis was a very human man who was very kind and charitable, but he also loved to drink, smoke, and was kind of crotchety.  It was refreshing to seem him as a fellow human who was saved by grace as we all are, which I realized is what his books are at their core all about.  

The Pilgrimage To Downton Abbey

Highclare Caste, also known as Downton Abbey!

One rainy Friday night in Oxford after a long, hard week of classes, some of us girls were looking for something to do that required little energy.  Ideally, we wanted to watch a BBC miniseries (keep in mind we are all English majors, so yes sometimes we do spend our Friday nights watching British television).  After fruitlessly trying to stream both Netflix and Hulu, which apparently only work in America, Chelsea remembered she had Downton Abbey season two on her computer.  Instantly, a group assembled in Torunns’ room, crowded around the computer screen.  We had both long time viewers and new converts, but we were all soon sucked into the magical world of early 20^th century England. 

If you haven’t watched the show, it is one of the most popular dramas in England and has substantial following in the US via PBS.  It is hard to explain the show (really you should just watch it), but it focuses on an upper-class family and their servants in the era before, during, and after WWI and how class changes are starting to affect them.  Classic elements of storytelling are involved: romance, suspense, thwarted love, misunderstandings, war, etc.  Really the show has something that will appeal to everyone and British accents to boot.  The shining gem of the show is Maggie Smith’s sassy Dowager who steals the show with hilarious one-liners. 

After we marched nightly through the season’s eight episodes, we decided it would be fitting to visit the location of Downton Abbey.  This would be Highclare Castle, which was only a little over an hour away via train.  In a pilgrimage that would make Chaucer proud, (can you tell I am reading The Canterbury Tales right now?)  seven of us went this past Sunday to visit the site of our show. 

lining up like the servants

Upon arrival, we first had tea and scones to get in the spirit of things, as the characters constantly drink tea on the show like all good Brits.  Then we toured the gardens, both the ones shown in the show and the others that are ignored.  We learned they have sheep on the grounds that are never featured in the show.  We saw the Greek inspired structure where Edith and Scar-Face man have their pivotal conversation in Season 2.  We then were shown in the house.  The family still lives there, and to sustain the hefty cost (11 million pounds) of keeping up the house and grounds, they rent out the house to BBC and give tours in the summer.  You can also have your wedding there.  Downton Abbey is probably the best thing that has ever happened to Highclare Castle financially. 

The interior of the house pretty much resembles the show.  Interestingly, the servants’ quarters are not filmed there as the kitchen is modernized.  They had signs up that indicated what rooms were used in the show, but they didn’t emphasize it as much as I thought they would.  They also tried to push the family history, which was less appealing to the many Downton pilgrims.  One correlation between the real family history and the show is that the house was used as a hospital in WWI just as it is on the show.

We were in fine form in the house and totally geeked out: “That is where the Dowager gave Daisy advice! This is where Richard and Matthew fought!  This is Pamuk’s room! This is where Lavinia stood as she walked down the staircase and saw Mary and Matthew dancing!”  It was fun to experience it with other fans of the show.

Chelsea and Ellie re-enacting the season 2 finale

After touring, we spent the afternoon on the grounds drinking more tea, rambling the grounds, and reading.  It was pleasant to sit outside, book in hand, sheep bleating in the background, and a nice warm cuppa tea.  We had a bit of a scare at the end when we weren’t sure if our taxi driver was going to remember to come get us and take us to the train station.  Luckily, we found some Americans (one from Glen Ellyn, IL. Small world) who let us use their phone.  Overall, it was a wonderful day and a fun adventure to experience with the other Downton fans.  We are all now in withdrawal until season three returns in January.  

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”- Twelfth Night

A week ago we took a day off classes and went on a field trip to Warwick Castle and Stratford upon Avon.  I had been to both of these places before when I visited England four years ago with my family, and it was interesting to see what had changed and what had not.

Warwick Castle

            Our first stop was Warwick Castle, which is a legitimate Medieval Castle.  It is also very touristy and caters to British elementary field trips (British schoolchildren were all over the place).  This was a new development that I do not recall from my first visit.  The castle is fun to visit, but it doesn’t exactly carry a feel of authenticity (think Disney World gone Medieval, except it is a real castle).  The castle is filled with wax figures made by the famed Madame Tussaud.  This gave it a rather creepy feel in the medieval tunnels...you turn the corner and THERE IS A MAN WITH A SPEAR WHO IS GOING TO KILL ME.  Oh wait; it’s just wax figures.  There is also an upstairs portion of the Castle with wax figures to imitate a late Victorian garden party.  This part was very entertaining as it filled us in on Lady Daisy who had once lived there, and all of the affairs she had in her life, including some with royalty. Extremely scandalous.  There was also an exhibit featuring the popular BBC TV show Merlin, which also has fans in the USA.  It was extra money, so we didn’t go in.  Dr. Ryken told us it was of course, “cheap and tawdry”.  There was an archery booth, which I participated in.  It was fun and got me in touch with my inner warrior princess.  There were sword exhibits, a bird of prey exhibit (including a falcon demonstration), and a trebuchet demonstration.  A trebuchet is a large catapult (they were used in Lord of the Rings), and it was the highlight of the exhibits.  They hyped it up with music and an exciting commentary of how the trebuchet worked.  It took a while to wind it up (they had a person in charge yell at the others to walk them through it.  It was like watching a coxswain with his or her boat).  The MC also graphically explained trebuchet sickness, which is where you walk on the wheel so long you become disoriented, throw up, then the wheel turns, and it ends up on you.  (This did not happen during the demonstration.  But the fifth grade British children loved the details).  The cannon ball went very far, and it was cool to see.  Later on, they were going to repeat the show with a fireball, and I was a little disappointed I missed that.

The Trebuchet

            After Warwick, we piled back on the bus to go to Stratford.  This is Shakespeare Mecca.  He was born there, married his wife Anne Hathaway there, and retired and died there. Our first stop was Anne Hathaway’s cottage.  Shakespeare and Anne actually lived there when they first got married because they were dirt poor.  Shakespeare was eighteen when they married and Anne was twenty-six.  She was also three months pregnant.  That’s right: Shakespeare had a shotgun wedding.  Our tour guide called Will “Anne’s boy toy”; she then took a sip of water and made a comment about how she wished it was gin and not water. She was definitely one of the most entertaining tour guides of the trip.  Later that night, when we saw a performance of Twelfth Night, I noticed there is a comment in the play said by Duke Orsino about never marrying a woman older than you.  Makes you wonder about Shakespeare’s marriage. 

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

            The cottage had wood beams dating back to medieval times and a beautiful garden.  We also learned that they used to clean their chimney by sending down a chicken on a rope…the chicken’s flapping wings would clean it.  PETA would definitely not approve.  Afterwards, we saw the ruins of New Place, which is where Shakespeare retired.  The house is no longer standing, but there was a beautiful garden and an archaeological dig of the house’s foundation to see.  We then saw Shakespeare’s grave, and the famous inscription that demands his bones not be moved.  So far it has worked for him.  We then saw his birthplace, which was a small cottage. 

Shakespeare's Birthplace.  The guy in the window was reciting lines from Romeo and Juliet as Juliet.  

His grave, with the sign asking the bones not be moved.

             To the end the night, we saw a performance of Twelfth Night.  This play has always held a special place in my heart because it is the first Shakespearean comedy I ever read, and in high school I had to act out a scene for my school’s annual Shakespeare festival (I was Feste).  The performance was amazing! So funny and very well acted.  It was in a modern setting, and the set was very cool: it had a pool of water onstage that Violet and Sebastian both swam out of to represent washing ashore.  As it was a modern setting they did take some liberties with the text; most notably Malvolio intentionally mooned the audience (his costume he wears with the yellow stockings left little to the imagination), and Sir Toby accidently mooned us as well.  Poor Dr. Ryken already hates the play and was none too pleased with the liberties taken.  So far I have seen four Shakespeare plays this summer, two modern and two traditional.  I’ve enjoyed both and comparing the two experiences.  All in all, it was a good trip out of Oxford, and hopefully all this new Shakespeare knowledge will help us do well on our upcoming test!

Up at Oxford

Christ Church Cathedral

            We arrived at Oxford weary and wet from the Southern Excursion.  We had enjoyed our experience immensely, but we were all excited to settle into one place for a while and to have some clean clothes.  Upon our arrival, President Ryken paid us a surprise visit.  He welcomed us to Oxford and gave us some tips on being Wheaties in Oxford since he himself once studied here.

Part of the beautiful Boudalin Library

More of the library

            Oxford works very differently than American universities.  Oxford University itself is made up of about 36 colleges.  I am studying at St. Anne’s College, which is a fairly new one.  When you attend Oxford, you attend only one of these colleges, but you have to be admitted by your college and by the university.  You attend school for three years, and you have three terms each year that are each eight weeks long.  The breaks between terms are long, but you are expected to study.  There are no liberal arts here; you pick your subject in high school and you continue to study it throughout college.  You attend one lecture once a week, and the rest of the time you work with your tutor.  You receive no grades until your final exam of college.  You usually take three exams, each three hours long.  How you do on those exams determines your grade and standing for your whole college experience.  This makes my finals weeks at Wheaton look significantly less stressful.

            We all have our own room at St. Anne’s.  It is nice and cozy and has a window seat, which is my favorite part.  Every day a scout comes by and makes our bed and gives us a new towel.  The most fascinating part to me about my dorm is the bathrooms.  They are communal, but they are divided up in very interesting ways.  Two rooms have one toilet and one sink that is the smallest sink known to mankind. Another room contains a tub but no showerhead.  The room next to it has two sinks and one mirror.  After that is a room containing a shower.  We then also have a mirror in the hallway.  This makes for two mirrors for a floor of seven girls.  It is a good way to cut down on vanity.

            One thing Oxford does extremely well is meal times and food.  Meals are served at one set time and we all eat together family style, which is good for building community.  Breakfast is cafeteria style, lunch is buffet, and dinner is served to us.  The food is amazing! I have yet to have anything I don’t like.

            Our days consist of classes and a fair amount of free time for studying and enjoying Oxford.  Downtown Oxford is simply a ten-minute walk away.  It is filled with shops, pubs, coffee and teashops, and the best bookstore known to mankind: Blackwells.  C.S. Lewis once remarked that Oxford is a dangerous place to live as book-lover because of all the bookstores.  He wasn’t kidding.  Blackwells has five floors of books and a café.  I’ve considered moving in there. 

            Since coming here, we have learned some new lingo: to be “up at Oxford” refers to the geographical location of Oxford since it is set on high ground.  “To go down from Oxford” is to leave town.  “To be sent down from Oxford” is to be kicked out of school for bad behavior. 

            We have also discovered the amazing changeability of British weather.  For most of the weekend it rained consistently.  Today it would pour rain for about twenty minutes, the sun would come out for an hour, then it would pour, then the sun came out, etc.  This cycle has repeated all day.  I’ve learned to always dress prepared for any type of weather.

            My first week has been busy here.  Here is a recap of all I have seen:

-We have gone on a great many walking tours with Dr. Ryken.  We did one at University Park, which is beautiful.  I went back there one day to read on a bench and discovered the bench I had sat down on was dedicated in Tolkien’s honor!

Tolkien's Bench!

-We walked around Port Meadow, which was a favorite haunt of Hopkins.  We saw the small town of Binsey and it’s church which had a well known for healing powers.  Henry VIII himself went there to try the waters in hope of curing infertility.  The walk was beautiful, and we got to see what life was like in a small pastoral English town.  We ended it with homemade strawberry ice cream from a local strawberry patch.

The Well

Church at Binsey

Port Meadow

-Went to a celebration of the 150^th year publication of Alice in Wonderland in Christ Church Park.  Families were there, people were dressed up in crazy outfits, a big band played, free lollipops were given out, and there was dancing.  It was like a British garden party gone absurd. 

With a Dodo Bird at the Alice Celebration

-I saw the Olympic Torch come through Oxford!

The Torch...You can't see it very well because of the flag the little girl is waving

The Torch from behind

-Ate at The Eagle and Child, which is where the Inklings, including Lewis and Tolkien, spent their time discussing their works

-Saw Hamlet performed at one of the University’s theatres.  It was a wonderful performance, but the theatre was outside.  Of course, it rained during Act III.  True to British form, we put up our rain hoods, kept calm, and carried on.  I was amazed at how the rain did not affect the actors at all.  I am surprised by how many outdoor theatres the British have (every theatre in Oxford is outside) give the propensity of rain here.  

Shivering at Hamlet!

It has been a good week so far, but we have a lot of work to do in the next couple weeks!

Lines Composed Inside Tintern Abbey: Day 4 of the Southern Excursion

Thursday we ventured to Wales, to pay homage to one of the most famous sites in literature: Tintern Abbey.  Wordsworth wrote his famous poem: “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” here.  Most other romantic poets eventually pilgrimaged here, as according to Dr. Ryken: “you couldn’t be a card carrying romantic poet without visiting Tintern.” 

            The Abbey is also in ruins (thanks Henry VIII), but it is more intact than Glastonbury.  It was absolutely wonderful.  We thankfully had sunny weather and after viewing the Abbey with sunlight streaming in and doves flying above, I agree with C.S. Lewis’ own sentiment after seeing the Abbey that “all churches should be roofless”.  For a while I sat in an old windowsill (where the stained glass would have been) and took in the beauty of the site. I listened to the cows moo at the cow farm next door, and I watched the birds flit in out of the bare windows and uncovered ceiling. 

            After almost an hour at the Abbey, Dr. Ryken took us on a walk to an old bridge and read the poem aloud to us as we faced the River Wye that Wordsworth “always turned to” in the poem.  Wordworth himself would have been higher up in the hills of Wales as he looked down on the Abbey, but it gave us a general idea as we saw the ruined, yet still stately Abbey rise up out of the lush green grass surrounded by the muddy river and white swans. 

            I have always loved Wordsworth’s poem about the Abbey, and it was wonderful to see the scene that inspired it as an ending to the Excursion.  Our traveling days are over for now, and we must settle down back into classes and schoolwork at Oxford.  Classes begin Monday. Thankfully at Oxford, class will start at 9:00 AM instead of 8:00 AM.  I knew I loved the Brits for a reason.  

Dr. Ryken reading the poem to us

From afar