Andrew Eckert

For the first time in nearly five days, I awoke to the pleasant sounds of silence in the morning. There was no rain, and as I gazed upward, I saw scarcely a single cloud in a broad blue sky. There was no trace of the roommates that had made Oxford such a smelly place that is the consequence of placing so many men into a single room. There was no club blaring music at every possible hour of the night, which made the passage of time run at a much faster pace. Breakfast was simple and light, requiring little work and even less thought. At the leisurely hour of 8:30, we meandered from the London Lodge into the metropolis' sprawling underground that sucked us rapidly down the road to the area of the Cathedral of St. Paul.
A church has stood on those grounds for 1400 years. And though two were destroyed, including a magnificent Gothic glory from the 12th century renaissance, the area was filled with a sense of wonder that connected us to those people, standing alone in an England divided, prepared to construct a timeless memorial to god and to their own grandeur. The present structure was constructed by the famed architect Christopher Wren, and lives on as a testament to his brilliance, and to the universality of his ideas, that echo through buildings such as the American capitol and elsewhere around the world. The interior was filled with monuments to every major British conflict of the past 260 years. The men who defeated Napoleon, defended the Crimea, toppled the Kaiser and battled Hitler all had a place, with the two greatest monuments reserved for Britain's greatest modern warriors: Nelson and Wellington.
Still there was not enough time to look, much less see everything in the impressive church. Thus we moved on to the museum of the city of London, which told the city's story from the Roman foundations until the great fire of 1666. The main focus was on the medieval period, of which precious little remains. Because the city is so full of life it is natural that the older parts that are decaying should disappear, as have most traces of an age that many now summarily dismiss as dark.
Our final destination for the day was the infamous tower, whose history can be summarized in a few great stories that never lose their edge in spite of their age. Mostly they involve Henry the eighth, but my favorites are those that swirl around his father Henry the seventh. Though many blame Richard III for the murder of Edward V, I see Henry as the clear candidate. No one may ever know the truth.
My problem today has been simple: not enough time. Though there were many unique images, there was a constant shortage of time to peacefully sit and draw. Still, perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Matthew Shick

April 23rd is finally here! It seemed like it took forever to get here, but now that it is here I am very excited to see England. The first place we stayed at was Bath. There I had my first encounter with oh so famous fish and chips and English beer. I enjoyed the fish and chips, but I cant see my self eating them all the time because of how much grease is used to make them. As for the beer, it is served differently then back home. The beer is served at room temperature which at first I did not particularly like, but after awhile I enjoyed it very much. After leaving Bath we have moved on to Oxford, which is totally different than Bath in my opinion. Oxford is more of a college town which means the prices are much lower than e prices in Bath. Also I would say Oxford is more urbanized than Bath. After we leave Oxford we head to London for the rest of our trip. I have been anxiously waiting to see London because I think it will be the best part of the trip. Two reasons I cant wait to go to London is because there will be so much to do and see. One thing I hope I get to see while I am in London is a football game.

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!