Well, I guess there's quite a bit of catching up that I need to do. I've been putting this off but I'm not really sure why. I guess it's just because I'm a bum. There have been a few times when I've thought about updating it, but then I don't. It's the thought that counts, right?
Anyways, on to the good stuff. Two weeks ago, Herman came to visit during his Spring break. It was great!! He got in on Tuesday morning and was here until Sunday morning. As difficult as it was to see him go again, it was so incredibly awesome to have him here. Bethany pointed out that at least now he'll know what I'm talking about when I mention different things in my many stories. I guess she knows that I'll be telling stories for awhile once I get home. Once Herman landed and we made it back to Keele, I took him on a small tour of the campus. I guess he didn't believe me when I told him I lived in "Africa" as I have so lovingly nicknamed it. He was surprised when we just kept walking to get my mail. Luckily it was a nice day so we walked around Keele Hall a bit and I was able to show him that there really are sheep on campus! We went to Curry Night at Sneyd Arms, the pub on campus. I got the feeling that Curry Night may have been one of the highlights of the trip for him. Wednesday, we took the train to London and spent the day with Emily and another friend of ours, Michelle, who were in London with a group from ODU. It was so awesome to be in the city with Herman and Emily! I wish we had more time there because there's so much more I would've loved to show him. However, we got to see the Queen so I think the our time there was well spent. Thursday and Friday were just regular days at Keele. Friday afternoon, I had the tutorial for my Trees in Their Environment class and we went walking around the woods to see examples of some of the stuff we'd talked about in class. Herman tagged along and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed himself. He was a little hesitant at first but then he realized how crazy interesting trees actually are and allowed his inner-nerd to enjoy the educational experience. We made our way to Manchester on Friday night, but not before stopping by Sneyd Arms one more time for curry. On Saturday, Cory, Katie, Bethany and their friend Lindsay joined us in Manchester and we spent the day together. We ate at a yummy Japanese place for dinner, which made the day even better. Sunday morning was a little rough as we said our goodbyes but the week was wonderful. I'm so grateful that he had the chance to come visit!
Last week was pretty uneventful. I was able to talk to mom some about her upcoming visit. I'm really excited to get to take her around in London and to go to Alton Towers with her! It's really going to be nice to have people back at home who know what I'm talking about when I talk about stuff from over here.
This past weekend, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland with a group from Keele. The trip was organized by International Student Services here at Keele. Everyone that I've talked to who has been to Edinburgh said that it's a beautiful city. They weren't lying! It's absolutely gorgeous! The weather was great this weekend too so that made it even better. Once I go through all of the pictures, I'll be sure to post some. We got in Friday evening and had dinner in the city and did a little walking around to see the city lit up. Even at night the city's gorgeous. We stayed in the Holiday Inn, so I definitely got a good nights sleep and a yummy breakfast before hitting the city again. There's so much history and so many beautiful buildings. Calton Hill sits towards one end of the Royal Mile and you can walk up it and see the whole city. It's amazing! I have a small confession to make. The bus picked us up at 5pm on Saturday to take us back to the hotel so we could get cleaned up and ready to go back into the city at 7pm if we wanted to. Everyone was planning on going back into the city and going out since it was St. Patrick's Day. I was going to go in and have dinner but then make my way back to the hotel. I definitely was NOT interested in going to any pubs or anything on St. Patrick's Day. I wouldn't even do that in the States, much less Scotland. I know it's typically an Irish holiday, but I had a feeling Scotland might party it up a bit too. So, to get to the point, I managed to get food and have dinner at the hotel. Therefore, I didn't even go into the city at 7pm. I stayed in the room, took a nice shower in a shower that's bigger than 4 sq. feet and went to bed early. It was grand! Everyone else looked tired and worn out on Sunday morning, but not me. I definitely think I made the right decision. On Sunday morning, the bus took us back into the city and we had until 2pm, when we were supposed to head back to Keele. I wanted to go to the castle and have a look around inside, which required a ticket. No one else really seemed interested. They wanted to go to an art gallery and some other places that I wasn't really interested in. So, I went to the castle by myself. That was another decision that I'm glad I made. It was so cool! The views from the castle were amazing and the castle itself was awesome. There was an exhibit set up about prison(er)s of war. One of the rooms was set up as it would've been when it held American prisoners during the American Revolution. I guess I had just never thought about it, but it was crazy to hear them say they had American prisoners of war. Obviously, during the Revolution, Britain would've taken American soldiers prisoner, but I just figured the British set up prisons in the colonies. I didn't think about the fact that they would've shipped the prisoners all the way back to the UK. It was an interesting revelation to have in the middle of a prison in the Edinburgh Castle. We made our way back to Keele last night and got in around 9pm. It was a great weekend and I'm really glad I had the chance to go.
This weekend is going to be low-key. I found out that, in the library in the city center, there are archives. I think I'm going to try and get there this Saturday and see if I can find out anything about the part of my family that made their way to America back in the 1870s. I knew that my Poppy's side of the family came from England. What I didn't know, until just before I came, is that they actually came from North Staffordshire. Anyone want to guess where Keele University is? That's right, North Staffordshire. I'm excited to see what I can find out about my family's history.
Once again, sorry for being a slacker. I'll do my best to update more often!
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