Breathing is Good, Yes.

Breathing is good. Yes.

And I need to do more of it.

Naturally, I'm not depriving myself of oxygen, but what is indeed happening is we're all here getting far too busy.

I haven't written a blog in an entire month. Whoa. A month.

But anyways...

Since we last spoke, I've been to England's most beautiful national park, I've welcomed and said good-bye to my parents, had another weekend in London, been to Spain, and been to Pemberley. And all the while I've been taking tests, writing papers, trying to have a social life at the manor, and sleeping somewhere in-between all that. But not much.

I can't possibly give you a detailed account of how much I've done, so I'll just cover the high points and what I've learned. Because I've learned a lot this month. And I mean that in a good way.

First, I'll talk about the Lake District.

If you've never heard of it, it's England's most famous national park, receiving more visitors per year than Yellowstone. And it's absolutely gorgeous.

I climbed a mountain, which was beautiful. However, the one looming fact about the Lake District weekend was that it was freezing cold and raining the whole time. At the bottom of the mountain, it was raining. Half-way up, it was sleeting. At the top, it was snowing. What the heck, England? I would love to return to the Lake District, but during the summer. Highly recommend it during the summer. But besides the weather, it was great and so much fun. And maybe the best part was that we were tourists, but didn't feel like it. All the tourists there were British, so I honestly felt like we fit in. We cooked food in the hostel with British people and had the greatest time. They even had some of our food! Here's some lovely pictures of how beautiful it was.

The best hot chocolate I've ever had in my entire life. And probably ever will have.

I also did a little something called "ghyll scrambling." And it was the dumbest, most awesome thing I've ever done. My friend Jake said it's "the most fun you've ever have while being miserable." Very true. Basically I could've easily gotten pneumonia. We climbed waterfalls and navigated through a gorge in freezing cold water. It could so cold we didn't even realize we were cold, and we were basically numb. But I wouldn't trade it. It was so much fun and I'd do it again. But in the summer.

Here's a video of what it's like. Sadly, we couldn't take pictures or videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDKNEllKibM

And then, a couple little troublemakers decided to visit me at the manor:

 

Lord G and Lady Luanne arrived at the manor in great style, and quite liked their stay in the Bridal Suite. Oooh la la.  They stayed with me for a couple o' days and got to see where I study and live. They said they were just amazed by the manor; and I don't blame them. After this, we headed to London for the weekend. We stayed at a very nice hotel (not a hostel, thank goodness) and they were able to get a nice little taste of London. Weather and all (it sadly rained for most of the weekend). But they still enjoyed it, Momma did especially. They even got a hefty dose of the London Underground! Which I personally have become quite fond of. After this weekend, they headed off to their adventure in Rome and I headed back to the manor. I'll see them in just about a month, now! Here's some pictures from the weekend:

Lord G, posting up in the National Gallery

He's like George from Seinfeld, "We had a deal!" Or I can't decide if he's like the Lady from Mary Poppins. Either way, I never thought I'd see my father surrounded by pigeons and Eastern European women in central London. But I did.

They took me to the Churchill War Rooms. Aww dey so sweet. Loved it. My only regret was not staying longer. I even wrote a paper on it when I got back.

So just literally 3 days after I returned from London, I was headed to Spain. I finished a presentation on World War I for British Studies, and literally just an hour later I was on a train to London to catch a flight to Barcelona for 6pm that night. We visited Barcelona (pronounced "Barthelona" there) and Sevilla (pronounced "Seh-vee-yah," also called Seville). And it has been my favorite place yet.

Spain was so amazing and so beautiful. And I want to go back. I didn't want to leave. At all. 

The food was delicious, the weather was Mediterranean, there was a beautiful beach, they had siesta, great shopping, the people were gorgeous, and they spoke Spanish. Yesssssss. It was my first experience in a Spanish-speaking country, and I loved it. It definitely fueled me to go to one at my next opportunity. I wish I hadn't procrastinated writing this blog, so then I could've actually written an entire post about Spain. So for now I just won't be able to do it justice and it'll just have to have a description and a few pictures. But I just have to say one thing: don't pass up Spain. Especially southern Spain. 

Barcelona

Sevilla

This says no parking "On the entire street during Holy Week." Spain is Catholic, guys. Really Catholic.

The hardest part about Spain was coming back to England. Not because I don't love England, but because of the weather and the beauty really. It was so different, and it was nice to have a little vacation, which was what I saw it as. And that's kind of ironic, because almost every weekend here is a vacation, really. But this one was a vacation from the cold. And it came at the perfect time: right before finals and term papers are due.

So I returned from Spain Monday morning at 8 am, just in time for British Studies lecture. I had the lovely experience (NOT) of sleeping in an airport for the first time. Don't recommend it, but you gotta do what you gotta do. 

This week and next week and the next and the next are going to be absolutely bonkers, so I'm really cracking down on school work. I'm actually procrastinating it now to write this blog. So thank you for giving me an excuse. 

However, we decided on a whim on Wednesday to book a trip to Chatsworth House. Which is only about an hour and a half from Harlaxton! It's one of England's most famous country houses, is so rich in history, is revered by many, and is spectacular. And (cough cough) Pride&Prejudicewasfilmedthere. 

Not that it's a big deal or anything. But we sort of went to PEMBERLEY. If you haven't seen or read Pride & Prejudice, that's Darcy's house. And we loved it and freaked out. I can't lie, I was sad we couldn't have more time there and that the weather wasn't as good as I hoped, but I'm so glad I went. Here's a few pictures:

Breathtaking, really. It was so beautiful. I would recommend anyone to go to the Peak District, which is where it is.

It's starting to dawn on me that I only have 2 weeks of classes left, then a trip to Italy, then I'm home. That's so crazy. I keep thinking I have time for things to do, but I really don't. Everything is jam-packed and I honestly don't want to leave. I'll be so excited to come home, but I love this experience and this place so much. I'll never have this lifestyle again, and that scares me. The lifestyle of living in an English manor, taking amazing courses, and traveling around Europe on the weekends. That won't happen to me again. And it's so heart-wrenching. It's easy in the States to look at this blog and say "Oh, life must be amazing everyday over there."

My experience has been amazing, yes. But everyday is lived here. We struggle with the same things we do during the semester back in the US. I was up all Wednesday night finishing a paper for World War II class, which I'm hoping to crank out an A for. We deal with things back home, we study for tests, we miss our trains, we Skype friends. 

And that's why I recommend studying abroad for a long period of time. I remember my friend Sarah Nikolai (if you're reading his, kudos to you) told me that I would experience so much more by living in a foreign country rather than just staying there for 3 weeks or so on a little trip. And she was so right. We really do get an experience of this place. I know I'm supposed to be living in a dream (and there are definitely moments that I do feel that); we sometimes have to pinch ourselves and be reminded of where we are. This won't be real life in just a month's time, and I think that's just mind-blowing.

Cheers,

Shelley