Hello all! The last time I spoke to you was my first day in London. Since then, I have been to the Queen’s Palace, Shakespeare’s Theater, ancient Roman baths, the British Museum, and much more! However, the trip is not even at its halfway point!

Currently, we are residing in the Harlaxton Manor located near Grantham, England. The manor, which is almost two-hundred years old, is an enormous structure. When we arrived yesterday, I had no idea as to how I would navigate the building. Once you step inside, you can immediately feel the delicacy of the architecture, with each room and furnishing giving off an air of thoughtful design. Last night we received a tour of the manor, which helped me to find the room where we had class this morning.

Located in a beautiful hall, our classroom was unlike any other. The ceiling was painted with beautiful hues of blue and white. The resemblance to a cloudy day was very apparent and was captured beautifully. During our class today, we discussed “Wuthering Heights,” the famous novel by Emily Brontë. This included dissecting the motives of each character, reviewing their actions within the novel, and more. Our class also took a quiz over the novel to solidify our knowledge on this piece of literature along with accompanying terms crucial to the understanding of English 200 curriculum.

After our three-hour class concluded, we took a thirty-minute break to prepare for our late night excursion to see the play Blithe Spirit and a visit to a park for a picnic.  Once our break ended, we all met on the coach at four to head to the local grocery store for picnic supplies.

Finding supplies in a foreign supermarket is harder than you think, even if everything is in English. My friends and I had trouble finding the oddest things from pickles to grape jelly. We eventually found this to be due to the fact that jelly is called jam in the United States and that grape jelly is not typically sold in the UK. As for the pickles, they were amongst a large number of other pickled items rather than actual pickled cucumbers, which made them hard to find. By the end of the supply trip though we had everything we needed to enjoy a nice picnic.

At the park, we laid out our various supplies which included lunch meat, cheese, loaves of bread, juices, peanut butter, strawberry jam, “crisps” or chips as we like to call them, and cutlery. I would have to say after the picnic I was very full and was ready to watch the play we had scheduled for later that night. By eight we were all in our seats for the show. Blithe Spirit was very funny and consisted of a man being haunted by his dead wife while being yelled at by his current, living wife. The play showed our class some different ways a play can be performed/constructed. Once the play had ended though we were ready for sleep as it was already ten at night. I would have to say that this day concluded another wonderful chapter of an already great trip!

Jackson

The best feeling of any flight is the feeling of the wheels hitting your destination. After eight hours of being on a plane, the Gatton Class of 2020 landed in the London-Heathrow International Airport on July eighteenth. Immediately after arriving, we grabbed our bags, headed through customs, and passed into the United Kingdom. Right from the start of the trip, we had a pure British experience; riding in a double-decker bus. On the way to our accommodations for London, I sat in the front seat on the top level on the bus and watched as we journeyed through the dense streets.

The city felt like a concrete jungle, encapsulating us in a vast array of buildings. There were so many sights that I had not seen in the United States. One of these was that all of the cars in the UK had their driver’s seat on the right side instead of the left. In addition, there were very few fast-food restaurants in the heart of the city. People were also generally very to themselves, more concerned with their day than the city and its tourists. Once we arrived at our accommodations, we stored our luggage and ventured out once more into the city to find a place to eat lunch. London is a very diverse city with multiple cultures calling the city home. After searching for a good restaurant online, my friend friends and I chose a place that served poke. The food was unlike anything I had in America and was full of foreign flavors.

After lunch, we headed back to our home for the week so that we could unpack. Once we had returned, I went to my room to empty my belongings and rest. London is five hours ahead of my home in Kentucky so I was very tired. After eating a British supper at our accommodations, we headed for a screening of a film. The film, which was adapted from the Jane Austen book Persuasion, helped to close our busy day. By the end of the night, we were all ready for bed, and the next adventure on our long journey.

Jack