5.3 on the Richter Scale

Last night there was an earthquake that hit Lincolnshire England. We are far from the coast here at Wroxton, but many of us felt it all the same. I unfortunately did not. I was in the basement when it happened; I guess I was well enough grounded. Britain usually has around 20 earthquakes a year so this wasn’t that unusual. The only thing that worries some people is that this was one of the biggest quakes in 20 years. Hopefully this won’t be a reoccurring trend. So I am completely alright if any of you were worried.

I am Brandon your British Geologist providing you with tectonic updates. You stay classy America.

The Many Cities of England

Well, a lot has happened these last two weeks. I wish I had time to write about all of it in excruciatingly great detail, but I figure the more details I leave out the more I’ll have to talk about when I return. I will briefly go over my weekend trips and some cool things that have been happening during the week days.

On Saturday the 16^th I went on a class trip into Manchester to view the play Roots at the Royal Exchange theatre. The city of Manchester itself reminded me a lot of New York City, more specifically, like Canal Street. There was one decent town square that I took a few pictures of. The play itself was pretty good. I can’t complain much; keep in mind I had to read the play in class before hand, so it was nice to put some good acting in front of the relatively boring dialogues. The interesting thing is that the performance took place on a theatre-in-the-round, meaning there was an audience 360 degrees around the stage. So it was a new experience for me to say the least, plus the main character got completely naked to take a bath. I heard of plays where there was nudity I was just not expecting to sit through one on that day.

The next day we took a quick day trip to Kenilworth Castle. This was the castle of Robert Dudley, Queen Elizabeth’s one true love. It was a really fun place. The ruins were completely open to explore and I was one of the few to take that as an ‘ok’ to climb around on stuff. British History turned into a fantastic jungle gym. I enjoyed it to say the least.

The following weekend I went to Brighton Rock, the San Francisco of England (large gay community and coastal city). It was exciting to see the Royal Pavilion, built by King George the IV. He had a thing for the Chinese culture, so this place was teeming with it. One of the most impressive views was the dining hall which had a massive chandelier held up by an ornate and equally massive dragon. I liked it a lot; they didn’t allow me to take pictures though. The pier and beach were nice to walk around on. The beach was made of small smooth stones that gave me a foot massage as I walked across them. The Pier reminded me of the Jersey Shore and being me I picked up a bowl of shellfish at a shellfish bar (it was like 5 pounds of seafood). Carrie and I spent most of the day together; we even went into an aquarium after lunch. The most exciting things about that was the glass tunnel we walked through to get up close looks at sharks and other fish and a huge 50 year old sea turtle named Lulu. She was beautiful.

Saturday the 23^rd I went to the city of Bath. The bus came around a bend; we were driving high alongside the side of a valley. As we drove further along the valley, Bath came into view from behind a few hills. The white city was painted across the whole slope of the valley. It was quite the eye-opener (I couldn’t act in time to get a picture sorry). The Roman Baths are arguably the coolest Roman Ruins in the world, yet they sit in England. The museum was built right over the temple ruins and we got to see some of the original architecture and renovated areas of the hot springs and baths. This was so far my favorite city. Even the street performers kicked ass. Have you ever seen two acrobatics do handstands on narrow poles, in man-thongs, while sparklers were whizzing between their butt cheeks? I think not. The city kept its charm and culture. Even commercial buildings and food chains like McDonalds kept quiet as they tried to blend in with the rest of the city.

During the school weeks I think two pretty profound things happened. One, I explored a tiny passageway that led under the Abbey. It was a secret passage of sorts. This other student Mike and I crawled in through a hole in a wall of the courtyard. We even found a bat inside. The Second thing is the Medieval Banquet. I didn’t get dressed up because it was expensive to rent a costume, but there were live musicians playing tunes from the medieval times. Even the dean Dr. Baldwin got really involved in the festivities, grunting and eating as sloppily as possible. We ate with our hands, yelled cheers, sang songs and drank honey mead. It was pretty fun. I also think I will be backpacking through Ireland with Paul Russel. Some of you know him, as that kid that was in my freshman suite who smelt so bad Matt (his previous roommate) moved out of his room in to mine. Well I am confident enough to say that his hygiene has improved.

Happy Birthday Toots!

London Trip

I stayed in London this weekend with Carrie, Steve, Francesca, Josh, and Jen. Yes we are all couples… But before I get into the exciting events of the weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to recap what happened since I last posted.

There is a pub at the top of the Abbey drive way, the North Arms. I met the couple who run it. Their names are Nikki and Gary. They are very friendly people and accepting of us FDU students. They should be considered they bought the pub next to our college just one year ago. The first night I was there, Gary was playing 21 with some locals, one in particular was named Robby, I have seen him every time I go in. Anyway, I ask to see the deck of cards when they finished and I did my patent card trick… some of you have fallen victim to it already. They loved it! Told me it was worth a drink. In fact, when I went back Thursday night, I found out that I had gained a small reputation in town. Gary remembered my name and told many of his friends about my trick. I am a highly anticipated attraction now (sort of)! I did suggest that I can only do the trick well when I am drunk… I just want to see how many drinks the locals will offer to see it.

I enjoyed the rest my classes and teachers… blah blah, on to London. The weekend started with an early bus ride. As soon as we arrived in the city, my group picked up our stuff and headed to Trafalgar Square in search for an underground (British Subway). But we found the National Gallery and decided to take a look before heading to the Hostel to check in. It was free and a nice little aside on our adventure. I really liked some of the exhibits. Our Hostel was called the Bayswater Royal Hotel. It Costs £46 for the weekend. The Hostel overlooked Hyde’s Park. It was pretty beautiful. Carrie and I walked through it one morning, and watched everybody walk their fancy dogs. She got excited to see bulldogs, I think their ugly. The room was comfortable for the most part and quiet. You can’t ask for much better. There were a lot of young foreigners there as well.

The first night we went to the London Eye, where we took the marvelous ferris wheel for a ride. We went on at night to get awesome views of the lit up city. The pictures I took can portray the images better than I can, but can do little to capture the experience in seeing it first hand—simply awe inspiring. The next day we took a Big Bus Tour and spent the day seeing most of what the city has to offer. At night, we went pub hoping. At the Prince Edward I sat down to enjoy my first dish of fish and chips. It was delicious. I washed it down with a pint of Strongbow Cider. The drink tasted much better than beer and it helped complete the authentic experience of an English pub. That night I discovered a pot dealer near my Hostel. He sold wild opium and other legal psychotropic drugs. But when he saw that I wasn’t interested, he was convinced that I was looking for the real thing. I wasn’t of course, but it was still an interesting encounter. We went to bed early that night. Strangely, everything in the city, except for expensive clubs, shut down at 11:00…

The next day was hectic. We only had until 3:00 to do things before getting back on the bus to return to Wroxton. The majority of the group was tired and didn’t have much money left to do what I thought was the initial plan. We couldn’t get into the Tower of London the previous day because the Big Bus took too long getting there. I had my heart set on taking the boat tour and getting into the tower. Everyone else felt I was rushing them and that it would be too similar to prior day’s bus tour. The thing is, they want to spend more energy and money at night in Pubs and Clubs. I reserved my energy for touring, so we didn’t meet eye-to-eye in this respect. Carrie was tired but willing to do something with me considering she and I had already explored Hyde’s Park (that’s what the others decided to do). They gave me their tickets to see if I could pilfer them.

When Carrie and I got to the pier I sold the tickets in 5 minutes to a couple trying to get to Greenwich. I undercut the normal price by about a pound and made ten pounds in the process. The guide on the boat tour was funny as hell and I enjoyed the tour a lot, I was able to get even more pictures of the city. When we arrived at the Tower Pier we got off to explore the Tower. A ticket was £12 each, but because I sold those boat passes we pretty much got a free pass for the Tower. Inside, we saw exhibits of the Crown Jewels, King Henry VIII Living Quarters, the White Tower of William the Conqueror, and an armory of weapons and armor ranging from medieval warfare up through weapons of modern warfare.

We were carrying our belongings all day since we had to checkout of the hostel by 10:00 am. So we decided to head back to the pickup spot early. When we returned to Trafalgar Square the streets were packed with people. Turns out, there was a huge celebration for the Chinese New Year. We walked around for a bit, enjoying the free concert and live performances. I wish we had more time to kill but we had a bus to catch and Carrie’s shoulders were killing her from carrying her bags.

Quick Fun Facts
Don’t forget to look right first when crossing the streets of London.
Don’t buy tickets from private vendors.
Don’t expect to be welcomed wholeheartedly into pubs or restaurants if you aren’t wearing relatively nice clothes.
Hostel breakfast: toast, tea, butter, jam, and cornflakes… that’s it.
Don’t hesitate to break up from larger groups to do your own thing.
London is the most expensive city in the world.

I know you all want pictures, but the internet here is slow and it takes too long to upload. I will figure something out soon I promise.

My Semester Schedule

Tours and Activities Program

Wroxton

Dates	What’s Up
Saturday 2 February	Stratford Upon Avon
Friday 8-10 February	Weekend Trip to London
Saturday 16 February	Manchester Day Trip (Theatre: Royal Exchange: Roots)
Sunday 17 February	Kenilworth Castle Day Trip
Thursday 21 February	Mediaeval Banquet
Friday 22 February	Brighton (Royal Pavilion)
Saturday 23 February	Bath (Roman Baths)
Sunday 24 February	Cambridge Day Trip
Thursday 28 February	Buttery Quiz Night
Saturday 1 March	Birmingham (football match)
Sunday 2 March	Warwick Castle
Wednesday 5 March	Oxford (Theatre: New Theatre: Shakespeare Suite)
Thursday 6- Sun 9 March	Paris Trip
Saturday 15 March	London Day trip
Sunday 16 March	Ely Day Trip
Friday 21 – Sunday 30 March	Travel Break (Ireland)
Friday 4 April	Tintern Abbey
Saturday 5 April	London ( Theatre: Phoenix Theatre: Blood Brothers)
Sunday 6 April	Sulgrave Manor
Saturday 12 April	Cardiff
Sunday 13 April	Cotswolds Tour
Wednesday 16 April	Stratford Upon Avon (Theatre: Courtyard Theatre: The Merchant of Venice
Friday 18 – Sunday 20 April	Edinburgh Weekend Trip
Monday 21 April	Lord North Lecture and Dinner
Friday 25 April	Stonehenge & Rollright Stones
Saturday 26 April	London Day Trip
Friday 2 May	Oxford Day Trip
Saturday 3 May	Westonbirt Arboretum and Malmesbury Abbey Day Trip
Sunday 4 May	Blenheim Palace
Wednesday 7 May	Birmingham (Theatre: Repertory Theatre: Testing the Echo)
Friday 9 May	Europe Day Theme Dinner
Saturday 17 May	London (Theatre: Spamalot)
Sunday 18 May	End of Semester Dinner Dance
Monday 19 May	Depart for Spain

The Welcome Weekend

I have been in England for the better part of three days now. In the very few hours I have spent in this country I have accepted the fact that I am going to have to adapt to a new way of life as a way of coping with the many differences I will face at Wroxton this semester. Two of my most notable losses were my cell phone and internet. I no longer have the power of these comfortable tools at my fingertips. Without a cell phone I can no longer easily communicate with my distant friends and family—or at least instantly. Secondly, I can’t make simple arrangements such as when to meet with others for meals, class, etc. Now I have to walk around the building to summon them or “knock them up” when, by chance, they might not even be in their rooms.

The internet is readily available but only in certain rooms of this building. Consequently, I no longer have the luxury of accessing the web in the privacy of my own room. Meaning, I need to do most of my work around others who aren’t necessarily quiet or worse, nosy. (And you thought I was going to say I can’t watch porno…) It is amazing how isolated I feel. In fact I woke up from a nap on Saturday unaware of the time… that was my cell phone’s job or that of an alarm clock.

Either way, Saturday I went to Stratford upon Avon—the stomping grounds of Shakespeare himself. It was a fun way to break into the semester. I saw Mary Arden’s House (former home of his mother), Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (original home of his wife), and Nash’s House (the last residency of his descendants), and Shakespeare Birthplace (his birthplace…) I have pictures of many of the locations in order of their visit. At Mary Arden’s house, I flew a hawk. A local Falconer was holding a demonstration and he allowed volunteers to ask a question about Bird Flying for a go at holding the hawk. I really may look into this hobby and pick it up back home in the future. The day was fun, and I got to walk around Stratford and admire the tight layout of all the Victorian buildings and houses. The central streets and walkways were made of stone and crowded with pedestrians. Even the side streets were packed with tourists and locals. Another small thing that I was able to appreciate was the variety of foreigners. I think, on that day alone, I encountered, Asian, German, French, Russian and Swedish tourists. I ate at my first pub is Stratford as well—The Old Thatch Tavern. I could hardly believe that we didn’t have to include a tip when we paid the bill. In fact, in most cases, it is an insult to the establishment if you tip, suggesting that the owners don’t pay their workers sufficiently.

I am learning a lot about British culture during seminars and lectures, but what I find more fulfilling is when I make discoveries on my own. I am finding evidence that Britain is a consciously environmentally friendly nation. When we travel to different locations I can’t help but notice the abundance of saplings growing along side major roads and highways. The young trees suggest that this is indeed a more recent project but a very purposeful one because every tree was being supported by tubing—I’m guessing PVC. Apart from that, every toilet I have encountered is fitted with two flushing mechanisms. One uses less water while the other uses a lot more water. I am guessing one is intended to flush liquids and the other, more powerful jet, is intended to flush, you guessed it, crap. I have only seen fluorescent light bulbs, and I just learned in a lecture that trucks pay severe driving fees when entering London if they are not equipped with “green” engines.

I have sat through my first day of lectures today. I should enjoy my Shakespeare class because there are many planned trips to different theatres throughout England on our agenda. But the course that I find most engaging is the Anatomy of Britain, with Dr. Baldwin, the dean at the College of Wroxton. He is a very intelligent and funny man, and completely passionate about this University and what he teaches.

My last comment pertains to the food. It’s not very good. Another problem is that we eat at very precise times and are not encouraged to get seconds. We eat the food served or starve—there are vegetarian substitutes. The only benefit I foresee by eating like this for fifteen weeks is that it is indeed a form of diet. Maybe I’ll drop a few pounds (weight not money). I intended to take more pictures of the grounds and interior of the Abbey, but as of now, I am waiting for daylight to brighten up the rooms and corridors.

Quick News:

Hell Yah Giants!

Carrie is my girlfriend!