Harlaxton 2016: Class and Second Essays Due

By:  Veronica Johnson

Today was day 15 of our 23 day trip. We began class this morning at 9:00 AM (3:00 AM Central Time) with a quiz on John Bunyan and excerpts from “The Pilgrim’s Process.” Alexa and Chloe presented to us what they learned about Brexit and Social Differences between different countries in the UK. We then discussed Bunyan’s story and The Puritan Era, the time period in which Bunyan wrote. We concluded our class with a discussion on how social differences appear in “The Wind in the Willows” and some lively banter about how we personally perceived the main characters when reading the novel.

After class we had the day to ourselves, so you would think that everyone would be relaxing and exploring Harlaxton and Grantham, but this was not quite the case. For many of us, today was stressful because our second essays were due today. I spent my afternoon having my essay critiqued and critiquing the essays of my peers. I found the process to be very enlightening because I got to see what other people thought about the books we read for class. Because we got to choose our essay prompts from a long list, everyone wrote about something they thought they knew a lot about or were interested in. Although this was a positive experience, I am relieved that I am done writing essays, at least until our final.

I explored the grounds after submitting my essay, and I have yet to be disappointed with anything here at Harlaxton. I continue to find beautiful scenery and perfect places to lay out and take a nap or relax and read a book. Today was a long day, but it has been a very good one!