Sara Benedetto

So far we have had a wonderful, exhausting trip--in a good way! I've managed to find Starbucks' easily--in JFK, when we got to Bath, and once we arrived at Oxford today. The Starbucks siren calls out to me!! ;) .

The best parts of the trip for me have been Tintern Abbey, Stourhead and Glastonbury. On Monday we visited Tintern Abbey--the thing I was most excited to see when I saw the tentative itinerary months ago.
I read William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" freshman year at Hiram and it has remained with me since. Wordsworth identifies some things that may be difficult for everyone to put into words. He visits the abbey to escape from the "civilized world." My interpretation of his work is that he not only found in nature a place to escape, but a spiritual experience, as well. I identified with this when I first read his work because I often spend time in nature to escape the world--to think, write, meditate, admire the beauty found in nature and simply be with myself. Being immersed in nature and, in a way, away from the world, allows me to feel like my most complete self, something I think Wordsworth may have been feeling as well when he visited Tintern Abbey.

At Tintern Abbey we talked about the way the grounds are taken care of, how it is not truly "natural." This relates to a text we read for class News from Nowhere. Tintern Abbey is supposed to be picturesque, but is actually partly artificial in its beauty. Is any nature not artifical or man altered in some way? In News from Nowhere Morris writes of a society that doesn't use all of it's land for things, but uses it simply for beauty. However, man still alters it to make it look how he wants, rather than simply letting it be "wild." This ties into a recurring theme that has come up in class discussions: What is wilderness? Does it truly exist? Some of the answers we have come up with is that humans imagine what wilderness is, but since it is something that is untouched by humanity once humans interact with land it is no longer wilderness. Whether or not Tintern Abbey is wild does not take away the elements of sublime found there. Not only the picture of the broken abbey against the fields and trees surrounding it, but the broken parts of the abbey contrasted against the larger part still standing, as well.

Though I enjoyed Tintern Abbey, I didn't have the same experience there that Wordsworth did. I felt more like this when I visited Stourhead and Glastonbury. Stourhead is a 2,000 acre estate of indescribable beauty. It was great walking through the garden, but the best part was when Erin and I climbed to see Apollo Tower. From there we had a great view of the path we'd walked--it was amazing. If only we'd known what was coming...later that day we went on the Glastonbury tour to see the remains of St. Michael's Chapel. I don't even want to tell you about the walk up there. Neverending steps, anyone? Everyone made it up though! A combination of sheer will and coffee (I'm speaking about me, of course ;) ). The view from the top made every step and sore muscle worth it. You could see the whole town from there, and being so high up was a strange feeling. There is something spiritual about being so high up and being able to see so much, and feel so small, and also about being in the presence of something so old with so much history. Many historical figures have allegedly been there in addition to millions of people overall. It's strange to think how many people have been there for different reasons, brought together by one thing, all connected in some small way.

Needless to say, I am enjoying the trip so far! I think everyone is. The group as a whole has been getting to know each other and so far this is a more than worthwhile experience. Still have time in Oxford and then London! AHHH! :)

On a slightly lighter note--Turkish coffee is good. ;) A bunch of us went to a Lebanese restaurant tonight. For those of you who might read this who love food, I have also had wonderful meals at a French restaurant, Indian, Japanese (Wagamama!) and English, of course. And plennntttyyyyy of coffee!

--Sara

Catherine Bigelow

We have arrived in Oxford, and were greeted with some lovely England weather - rain, and lots of it! Since all of the other posts so far have been about the lovely sites, I thought I would add one about our journals. For each day, we have been drawing and writing about our thoughts, the sites, and our journey. I thought I would share a picture of my journal with everyone. It's from the 27th of April - our trek up the Glastonbury Tor - and the 28th of April - visiting the lovely Prior Park. Not everyone's will look the same, which is the beauty of our journals, but they will stand to remind us of all the wonderful things we will do these three weeks!

Catherine Bigelow

It has been a whirlwind these past few days - so many sights in such little time! Stourhead on the 27th was beautiful, but today we visited Prior Park, which is (according to the brochure) a fine example of the English 18th century landscape movement. The most beautiful aspect to me was how hidden everything was, and how around every turn there was a different view. As we would walk along the path, we were surrounded by trees and bushes, but every now and again they would part and give a gorgeous view of the grounds. It's hard to believe that it was all man-made, and even harder to imagine what may have been on the land before.


(Image 1 - the Palladian Bridge in Prior Park from a high up view)
(Image 2 - me, in front of the Cascade at Prior Park)

On the top level of the Roman Baths.

Nicholas Michalenko

Yesterday, we went up over 500 ft to the Glastonbury Tor, the last remaining tower of St. Michael's Church that sat at the top of the hill. The long journey up the hill was more than rewarding as we could see miles upon miles in every direction. This magnificent structure stood on a location considered by Christians and non-Christians alike to be very sacred. The powerful wind nearly toppled us over. You truly become aware of and appreciate the vastness of such a land that was created by a divine power. From below, the scene of the tower ,although impressive, is nothing in comparison to the breathtaking
view from above. Its been one of my favorite visits thus far, and I can't wait to see what else is to come!

Jeremy Schaefer

There have been so many amazing landscapes that look like they are straight from a painting with, they probably have been actually painted a few times. One thing that I found interesting is the fences that separate the pasture fields. In America all the fences are wire fences and not visually pleasing, but in England most of the fences are actually just hedges that have grown over a fence. These fences look a lot more neat and pleasing than just fence posts and wire fencing. Going into a coal mine was also very interesting because I really like construction and I found going into a coal mine really fun. It was amazing to see everything that people had to do in order to make the type of life we have today and the incredible conditions that they worked in. And of course it gave me a chance to get this killer picture of Maria in a hard hat and light. She looks so happy in this picture.

The last few days have been really neat, I have seen a ton of amazing landscaping. Its a really interesting change from the pasture fields in Ohio sectioned by wire fences to the hedge fences that separate all the fields in England. I am also amazed at the sheer number of people and houses that are packed into such small places. And most of all the drivers are crazy. And being called random names by drunk Polish men.

Maria Sember

This is me sitting at the top of Glastonbury Hill- I am looking out at the city of Wells.

This is a picture of the Stourhead Estate that we went to see today. It was owned by the Hoare family and is filled with paintings mostly from Italy.

Molly Taylor

This is one of the many views at the Stourhead Gardens. The Palladian Bridge (in front) is not accessible for visitors to walk on but only used for the effect of the water running thought it. The Pantheon is in the background.

This is me sitting in front of one of the Roman Baths. This is part of a natural hot spring that Bath is built upon.

Maria Sember

After our long, and exhausting flight to England we set our bags down and started wandering around the city. All we had was a map in our hands to direct us. Looking at the places we could go we decided to try and find the Sydney Gardens. With one destination in mind it shouldn't take that long....well in our case it took 7 hours to find! Despite the long trek we found some beautiful buildings, shops, museums and parks. Not to mention we also got to see a cricket game- we didn't understand how the game was played but it was interesting to watch. At the end of the day, well London time that is, we were very tired! Even though we had been up for more than 30 hours at this point we didn't regret taking that day to explore the city by ourselves. Within our group of 7 we learned a lot about the city and each other- no one can complain about that. As we headed back to the dormitories we were ready to sleep- everyone else seemed to have the same idea because most of us were asleep by 9pm. I am excited to see what else is in store for us in the coming days!

Molly Taylor

It looks like the birds can sense my fear of them. The first run-in with with a pigeon was while resting my tired feet. I think that they automatically assume you have food when you sit down. They are like dogs begging for food. The pigeon walked over to where I was sitting and just looked at me, like dogs do but with sad eyes. I couldn't tell if it was sad but I knew it was asking for something. This has happened more than once. Although I have learned that if you pretend like you are kicking it they fly away for a little while. The next time was today, after our tour of the Roman Baths. We were taking shelter from the rain under an archway waiting for the group to gather. All of a sudden I turn around and a pigeon, flying towards me, looks like it is about to land on my head, you know, feet out front, wings spread, and flapping wildly. This is when I scream and dodge the pigeon and say "I hate birds." Then I look around me and a group walking by is laughing at me. I guess these people are used to pigeons. MAYBE the last week of this trip I will become used to them. As of right now, it's not looking so good.

Paul Gaffney

After the minor chaos of two flights and two train trips my jet lag caught up to me with a vengeance once we checked into the YMCA at Bath. A short naps forestalled the worst, then our group splintered and scattered to explore central Bath, a very compact, busy maze of streets. Lisa Zamecnik and I speculated about whether we could see Prior Park, a Palladian mansion on a hill overlooking Bath. When the friendly man at reception suggested to Lisa that we could likely see Prior Park from a road up the hill called Camden Circle, seven of us walked the fifteen minutes up the steep Georgian slope through Bath’s parks and streets and it was well worth the effort. Even more memorable was our visit, on the way back down, of a little antique shop. An self-proclaimed “eighty-four-year-old Prussian” woman gave us an engaging, good-humoredly gruff tour of some of their treasures, including waistcoats, dresses, suits, and bonnets from Jane Austen’s time. She lectured us about handicraft and prodded us to move around in the tight space; “now you can say you’ve been poked by a Prussian,” she said. She insisted that Soya, Nicholas, and I each try on a Napoleon III army officer’s hat. She told us about her sister who lives in Carmel, California and her son who lives in New Zealand. Lovely.

Rachael Purta

Today seemed so long. I guess staying up for more than 24 hours does that to you. But I still managed to explore the shops in the area. Apparently Orange is a popular mobile phone brand here, and I got a really cheap phone to call home with. They are also more gluten-intolerant aware here, and I saw gluten-free items here I had never seen before. I look forward to touring through the historic areas tomorrow and trying some characteristically British food. So far the only foreign thing I've tried is a dry-tasting vegetarian milkshake thing. I think this will be a fun trip.

Bryn Wolanski

Today was so interesting! For the first time, I left the country and went somewhere new and exciting! The United Kingdom has been really surprising... there are some things that remind me of home (lots of pastures, etc.) but the buildings here are BEAUTIFUL. There's so much to see and I was overwhelmed by just how magnificent it all seems. I was in awe; we definitely don't have things like that in Cleveland! :) The shops here have been very interesting, too. There are lots of boutiques around and walking on the roads is really interesting... it's hard to get used to traffic driving on the opposite sides of the street! I, like everyone else, am extremely exhausted. I think we're all looking forward to a good night's sleep and a lot of fun new things in the future!

-Bryn