Tales of a Traveling Teacher

Today we embarked on the long drive (6-7 hours) north to Scotland. We broke our trip, however at a very enjoyable stop: Alnwick Castle. Alnwick Castle has been in the same family for seven hundred years,-the current Duke of Northumberland still lives there. The castle has been renovated and added onto for centuries, but it is a true spectacle with gorgeous views and incredible blockades at the entrance. It is a true fortress, built to withstand the fighting between the Brits and the Scots that happened just miles alway. Famous films such as Harry Potter and Robin Hood (Prince of Thieves) were filmed here and it's no wonder since the setting of the castle is so truly medieval!

Today, we took a driving tour of the South West, including Stonehenge and Stratford upon Avon and despite the rain, we had a great day! This evening, we walked past Shakespeare's birthplace, just paces away from a great theater where his timeless works are still performed over 400 years later.  What a legacy! Tonight, we saw "As You Like It" at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.  We all decided it was something that we should do and that our high school English teachers would be very proud of us.  I think we all admitted that we were looking forward to it because of what it was, but worried that it would be sort of like high school all over again where we could just barely follow the plot line.  We were all very pleasantly surprised! The play was fantastic!  It was funny and updated in some clever ways such as music and costumes while still keeping true to the script.  The actors were wonderful and because of the old theater design, several stories tall ...

Amanda, Emily and I went to the midnight opening of the final Harry Potter a few years ago in special t-shirts, capes, hats and wands.  So, when they decided to come visit, going to Harry Potter Studios was something that had to be on our list.  Despite the fact that I went a few months ago, I was beyond excited to go again.  It was just as magical the second time and so much fun to share the experience with fellow Potter enthusiasts! I had no idea until our arrival that this week was actually a special week.  Some of the stars were on hand to visit with we muggle visitors.  No, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson were not there, but the slimy, furry and feathery actors were there!  Harry Potter movies included many animal actors with hours worth of training and today, a few of those actors were there, posing for photos as their trainers told us more about them and how they were trained. This is one of the actors that played Trevor, Neville's toad, ...

Like proper tourists, we hit the day running, hitting some important areas of London like posing on Abbey Road, singing "Feed the Birds" at St. Paul's, splashing through puddles of rain, touring the Tower of London, crossing over the London Bridge (no it did not fall down), and enjoying some true pub time with the locals as we participated in a pub quiz. We failed miserably, but we had a great time rounding out our touristy day!

I am reveling in the fact that I have been in this country long enough that I can sort of act like a London tour guide! My friends and I arrived in London today by way of train, and after making a quick stop by platform 9 and 3/4, we checked into our hotel then headed off! I took my friends to some of my favorite places today like Covent Gardens, Big Ben, West Minster, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square! We road the London Eye today which I had not yet done. I thoroughly enjoyed the views on this crystal clear blue day!  Tonight, we did an entertaining Jack the Ripper tour then met up with one of my fellow Fulbrighters, Jessica, and some of her friends that are visiting as well. It's so much fun to feel so comfortable in such a amazing city!

There are certain things that we all enjoy showing off about our hometowns, and Woburn Abbey is certainly mine!  I have now visited Woburn Abbey four times, each time I've been honored to welcome visitors at my home for the year.  Today, I took my guests back to this majestic park and home, just a few miles from my home.  We toured the historic home then headed into the gardens to soak up the lovely spring day. After three previous trips to the gardens, I had not yet been into the maze; it had always been closed.  Thankfully, the maze was open today which led to quite a long while of entertainment as we got lost several times along the way.  Emily, the aerospace engineer, made it to the center first. Champion! Blair and Turtle lost in the maze One of my very favorite English traditions is afternoon tea and I wanted to make sure that my friends also enjoyed the tradition.  We treated ourselves to a whole lot of food at afternoon tea, enj...

This morning I woke up, straightened the house and headed to Heathrow Airport.  As it is a holiday weekend, traffic was VERY slow and I ended up arriving at the arrivals gate soon after my friends arrived, but nevertheless, today, I got to welcome four great friends from my college days.  Emily, Blair, Amanda and I are all sorority sisters, meeting eleven years ago soon after going through recruitment at Auburn University.  Brian, Amanda's husband is a great sport and traveling with the girls this week, too!  I'm so excited that they are here for we always make wonderful memories together and spend much of our time bent over laughing. My goal today was to keep the gang awake until a reasonable time to go to bed, so that they could get a good night sleep and wake up on the right time zone.  I wanted to find something that would keep them entertained, but not be too vigorous nor too informational.  The drive through safari park seemed like the perfect comb...

If you don't know Doctor Who, don't worry, it is a British thing!  Doctor Who is a very popular science fiction TV show that has been around for decades.  Doctor Who travels through space and time to fight evil.  We've used Doctor Who as a basis in all sorts of projects to help the year 6 kids prepare for the recent SATS test. The most evil of his enemies, the ones he fears the most, are the Daleks.  The Daleks are an evil alien race who are protected by small, tank-like structures, and as such they are nearly impossible to kill.  This week, the kids wrote public service announcements warning the public about what to do during a Dalek invasion. These kids are so much fun and so creative!

Today, my classroom had a very special visitor.  This week, my year 5 English class has been studying endangered animals.  We are working on grouping similar information into paragraphs, taking notes and even making some small speeches.  In one of the video clips we watched this week, we learned how tortoises are in trouble of dying out.  Sarah, one of the teaching assistants I'm honored to have in my classroom, said, "I raise tortoises, do you want me to bring one in?"  I never expected that sort of offer, but who could turn that down? Tom was a wonderful visitor with a much livelier personality than I would have imagined!  Tom is nine years old and has grown from the size of silver dollar, and he's not done growing!  His favorite treat is dandelions and he seems to enjoy being held and pet.  I have no idea what the laws say back home about tortoises, but here, as I learned today, it is extremely difficult to become the owner of a tortoise. ...

Last night, I had the opportunity of a lifetime, or at least it was for me!  I know many people get to eat in an Oxford hall on a regular basis, but it was certainly a treat for me! One of my dear friends from high school, Leslie, is currently employed at University College, the oldest college at Oxford.  We've both been busy and jetting off to far off places and been unable to catch up, but we were finally able to make the time and meet up last night!  Leslie has her doctorate in history and is continuing research while also doing a bit of teaching at Oxford. It was about an hour and a half drive to Oxford, in fact, I'm practically centered in between Oxford and Cambridge.  The sun was shining when I arrived, so Leslie gave me a brief tour of some of the well-known colleges, the High Street and some of her favorite spots in town.  It was a treat to have a friend, and a local, show me around.  It's a beautiful campus, older than we could imagine, wit...

When you move to a different country, everything is different.  Even though they speak English here, it often seems like a new language.  Aisles in grocery stores are not organized the same way and many things are called by different names.  Brands of things you are are used to buying are not available, and so simple things like choosing a dishwasher liquid or toilet paper can be challenging. I like to label shop.  No, I don't "buy labels," I mean I buy things because of their creative labels.  I choose the bottles of wine with funny titles or the fabric softener with the snuggly bear or the toilet paper with the adorable puppy.  So, it didn't take me long to find a toilet paper that was perfect for me: the one with brightly colored patterns on it! Yes, I know it is a little silly, but it is those little things in life that make me smile each day.  This week, when I went to pick out my toilet paper, I didn't find just polka dot and butterfly prints...

When my parents visited in January, we picked a spot out of my English Heritage book that was close by and I had wanted to see.  It was well worth the visit.  Wrest Park is a large estate, not nearly as expansive as Versailles in Paris, but it had many qualities I found similar.  The grounds are the best part.  The home, of course, is lovely and stately, but it is the gardens that the park is known for.  The gardens include wooded areas with secret spaces, statues and even small buildings scattered about for the purpose of entertaining.  When we visited in the winter, we all commented on how lovely the place must be in the spring.  For the past week or so, I had been trying to dash out there in the afternoons, but either the weather or the work load just would not cooperate.  On my way home yesterday, from the Isle of Wight, the sun was shining and there was even a hint of warmth in the air, so I decided to make a short detour, and it was well wor...