The Last Day/Night at Harlaxton

Tearing up a little bit right now. After all the craziness of finals and packing, our last day arrived. We had our British Studies final in the morning, and I'm reasonably sure I kicked the crap out of it. I felt like I knew almost too much, it was hard to organize my facts and theories. [later I found out I got an A- . . . bomb.com]. Afterward, Anne and Sam and I wandered around taking pictures and I took a video tour of Harlaxton so my family can see it. I am a poor camera woman, but whatever. I slid down the bannister of the Cedar Staircase. It was fun and challenging.

Then I took a shower (1 of 2 that day, as usual) and packed up the rest of my stuff and just hung out with people. That night the faculty served us a late-night breakfast. Meaning they manned the drink station and wore aprons. Kingsley served me which was a little creepy. And then when Bujak came to take my tray away I dropped butter in my crotch and he was really weirded out. A perfect end to a completely awkward relationship in which he yelled at me for not knowing about the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre or told me that it should take me more than 8 hours to write a good paper. That breakfast/dinner was really fun, it was our last meal together and we crowded about 15 girls at our table. It was sad but hilarious.

Afterward it was a struggle to stay up all night. Sara and I were partners in crime. I signed the pipes 3 times, a signature, a poem, and an interesting conversation. Then we decided to explore and see if we could get anywhere forbidden. Didn't really work. But I wrote a limerick somewhere to leave my mark on Harlaxton even if they decide to be douches and paint the pipes again. At 10pm the first bus left, and it was sad. I cried a little when JR and Ben and Kelsey left. But I hid it manfully. Ben and JR both proposed to me so I will have to start learning how to live with polygamy. Stephanie Bryant was super drunk and sloppy and it was really funny. Victor and Tucker had a broment in which I thought they were going to make out. I ran after the bus like a dog as it was leaving.

Then those of us who were leaving at a later time had an entire night to kill. We said our good byes to the professors, which was devastating. Really.

Dr. Phil will miss me.

Not quite sure if DG will.

So then shenanigans began. Sara and I did gymnastics in the Great Hall. Alex and I laid on the floor under the chandelier with Paula and Katrina and contemplated whether or not the cherubs were going to come to life and kill us. I sat on Facebook. I went on the balcony and got the living shit scared out of me by the bell. We snuck around on tiptoe a lot. We went and visited Walser because he was awake like we were. And then we hung out in Alex and Katie's room until it was time to leave for Italy.

Harlaxton Wrap-Up and on to Italy

The last full week at Harlaxton was super fun but extremely bittersweet. The last three weeks were almost painful, because we didn't travel and just hung out with each other at the Manor, knowing we only had a limited time left to be with each other. The finals stress added to our sense of panic, on top of which we had to pack up our entire lives, throw stuff out, figure out what we were taking to Italy, etc.

Did I mention that I played volleyball? I was also THE BOMB. Not really. But I was a defensive specialist and played quite a bit. We played in a PRISON. Yes. A prison. Best anecdote from England, I think. Anne called it 'Murderball'. I did not get shanked, which was amazing. Anyway we had our first and only home game that week on Monday.

There's me, #4 with the matching blue shorts. I didn't plan that. They were the longest shorts I brought, my shirt was so long. They gave me a large and the boys had mediums. Assholes. We won that game though, so that was cool.

I spent some time studying for finals but I learned a valuable lesson: if you pay attention in class you don't have to study so much. I know, weird. British Studies was easy, for some reason I just retained that information so well. Still do, actually, I was just explaining to someone the other day how Wales managed to preserve their own culture even though Edward I pretty much spit and stomped on them. He built a kickass castle though, so I still respect him even though he shit on my people. I didn't study for politics, rather I used my British Studies knowledge of the Glorious and Industrial Revolutions to pass that. History kicked my ass but I think I still ended up with a B overall.

Hmm, what else? Oh, Katie and I got to go on our date with the professors. It was baller. We crammed into Phil's little hatchback (shocker, a Brit owns a hatchback . . . ) and drove up to The Greg since it was raining. I ordered a beer and cheeseburger and was judged for my poor taste in food, but weird sounding fish and chicken with undistinguishable sauce was not cutting it. Plus I'm the world's pickiest eater. And the burger was awesome, I got a ton of chips and everyone was jealous. So I won. We sat there and talked about the most random stuff, about how I want a castle but they think I would be a dictator, Katie was talking about Ripple and snot and I almost threw up, we asked Phil and DG what they think when they read really stupid essays, Walser told us some crazy stories I can't remember . . . and Kylie McNeil's birthday party was there. Corey got really wasted and was lying on the ground outside even after Heather had told him not to go out that night because he was drunk at about 5:00, so Ed (who was at Kylie's party) came and got my three dates to help him stand Corey up and send him home somehow. Anyway it was a fun night, we walked back to the manor and the moon was full and bright and fog was rolling over the meadows and I was freaking Katie out by telling her how I wanted to be haunted. I feel like I was judged about 5 million times that night but it was hilarious so I didn't care.

The Valedictory ceremony was weird. Kingsley said "Welcome, students, faculty, and staff of William Jewell College." Hey bud, you haven't worked there in about 15 years. Plus, it was held in the Harlaxton Village Church, which is pretty but since it was built in about 1172 it's absolutely frigid. I could see my breath. I wore a coat and scarf the whole time. We all got our writs of achievement and then headed back to our house for a grand celebratory dinner. Anne, Sara and I got stuck at an . . . interesting table. Kingsley kept yelling at us to shut up, but they gave a bunch of college kids wine. Honestly, what were you expecting? I didn't win the fricking essay award even though mine was awesome. SHS won. Bleh. I held a plate of cheesecake in front of my chest for about 10 minutes to stave off wandering eyes. I'm all for people checking out my goodies, but not creepers. I high fived all the faculty but Ed blew me off. Bitch. Then we had to file out into the Great Hall and Anne, Sara and I walked out first all by ourselves and then all the faculty had lined up and were applauding for us . . . only we were by ourselves for an awkward 10 seconds. I felt so special and loved.

That night we went out for Kelsey's birthday, which was great. A homeless guy at the club was flipping us off and talking to an imaginary friend. He grabbed Kelsey's ass but she didn't even freak out. We danced (on a pole) and drank a lot because Anne had a 50GBP gift certificate.

Umm can you say classy? At least I'm pretty sure the homeless schizo liked it. Tequila, jager bombs, beer, fruity girl drink, you name it, I drank it. I wasn't wearing heels though, so I was good. And the sugary girl drink didn't make me sick. WIN.

A Harlaxton Family Christmas

Bear with me while I try to remember the details.

The tree trimming was on a Saturday, fairly certain I was hung over and only dragged myself out of bed for the cookies and hot chocolate. I know this blog makes me sound like I drank like a fish over here, but in all honestly I partied way less in Europe than I did in the states, it was just a bit more intense in Europe. Anyway - end of November and we got to trim the tree. I didn't actually trim the tree, I don't even really know why. But a bunch of us ended up sitting in a circle in the Great Hall and talking, and then Dr. K himself decided to be super creepy and, while wearing a light-up Santa hat, come up to Danielle and put his arm around her and say, "Have you been a good girl this year?" We were all completely in awe/shock/crazy uncomfortableness. I couldn't stop laughing, naturally. Waner tried to take a picture of him but ended up taking a sideways video, which I will now post.

Then the group trickled down to about 7-8 people, and we sat there and played 'Would You Rather?' and it got dirty, like it always does, and we discussed such horrifying scenarios as sitting on Kingsley's lap while you are both naked in a vibrating chair while he's wearing the Santa hat. I squirmed a lot. It was AWESOME.

Then we had a fancy dinner the next week - or, rather, a meat feast. MEAT FEAST. I can't stop laughing at that name. I want to scream it from the rooftops. I may make it my Facebook status in a few minutes. All the staff and meet-a-families came and at the MEAT FEAST with us, and then there was caroling in the hall. I'm clearly WAY too cool to carol, so I sat on the Cedar Staircase and talked to Heather, Blair, Anne, and DG for like 3 hours. It was funny. I was supposed to go out with JR and Kitten but I was pretty tired and was running low on money.

I have a Ph.D. in HORRIBLENESS. peace.

Costume Ball

I'm on a marathon of blogging! Keep it up! (Just motivating myself a little).

Costume Ball was on November 21st. For the longest time I was going to go as Amy Winehouse, but I ended up digging through the old costume stuff and finding the best hat ever. So I decided to go as a suffragette. I went into town and found this ridiculously authentic-looking skirt for £4 and a blouse for 8, and then as we were driving back on the shuttle Anne and I decided that I would go as the crazy suffragette that threw herself in front of a horse and died. So, the end result:

Don't know if you can tell, but I have a black eye and bloody lip and horseshoes pinned on my back, and the other side of my sign says 'Free Bob'. I looked awesome, I can't lie to you. I wish I could have brought it all home with me. I would wear it every day.

Bad ideas turned into bad but fun decisions. We drank boxed wine in Alex's room before dinner, we had a ton of wine at dinner, then we went down to the Bistro and I had like 2 Newcastles . . . yeah. BAD IDEA. But fun. The next thing I knew I was smoking hookah at the smoking bench with about 12 random people. Then, I ended up going and hanging out in SDO until about 4am. 'Would You Rather' is way more fun when everyone is drunk.

Paris and Versailles

Bear with me, I don't remember exactly what we did each day. But I'll give it the old college try.

We left after seminar on the 11th of November. We took a train down to London and hopped on the Eurostar. I do NOT envy Phil Taylor, he had to lead us all over the place and make sure he didn't lose anyone. Poor guy. Anyway, we got to Paris pretty late in the day, so that night we just went to a restaurant, had a great meal and wine, and went to bed fairly early so we would be energized for the morning.

[SIDE NOTE: WE DID NOT HAVE A SHOWER. We had a bathtub with one of those spray things, so in order to bathe I had to squat in the tub and awkwardly spray myself clean. Needless to say, it was a chore. But kind of funny in retrospect, especially when I tried to do it drunk and sprayed the floor.]

The next day we just did a walking tour to see the sights. It was awesome! I mean, seeing the Eiffel Tower in real life and not in a Pepe LePew cartoon was surreal.

We kept walking and saw Arc du Triomph, went to the Rodin Museum, and Notre Dame, and just admired the general splendor. It was awesome! That night we went out to get pizza, and it was delicious, although everyone in the restaurant knew we were American and kept staring us down. Oh well.

The next day, we took a train to Versailles to see the palace. It was gorgeous and insane. I've seen some pretty ridiculous houses/castles/palaces, but nothing could rival this. I can't believe anyone actually lived there. The only thing at Versailles is the palace, so after we saw it we ate lunch and got back on the train. We stopped back at Notre Dame to climb to the top -- like I mentioned before, my ass is in wonderful shape from all the cathedrals/basilicas/castles I've climbed to the top of. The view of Paris was unbelievable.

After Notre Dame we headed over to the Louvre. It was awesome seeing the Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, Venus de Milo, etc. but all the explanations were in French and we didn't feel like paying for the audio guide. I think we were more excited about the glass pyramid and its connection to the Da Vinci Code. Ahh, twentysomethings.

That night we watched the Eiffel Tower light show in the park with bread, cheese and bottles of wine. It was fantastic!

The next day, we just did some shopping around, more general sightseeing. We ate dinner at the BEST crepe place, the guys absolutely loved us and talked to us for about a half hour.

All in all Paris was amazing and I'm so glad I got the chance to go there!

Retroactive Blogging is Hard - Guy Fawkes Day and London Field Trip

Once again I'm going to start this post off with I SUCK AT BLOGGING! But now that I'm back in the States I'll probably keep it up a little bit better while I'm procrastinating my dumb LTU work.

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night in Britain - if you don't know what it is, look here. Anyway, you burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes and read the poem and all that jazz. Our bonfire was the night before. I don't know why.

That's JR with our massive bonfire and Sara's beautiful Guy Fawkes effigy. Anyway, it was miserable outside, raining and being just generally crappy. After braving the elements for about an hour, most people just migrated to the Bistro. I had a lot to drink that night - I think we counted seven Newcastles. Heather walked me back to my room. Good form, right?

That Friday, we had a British Studies field trip to London. We were supposed to go to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and St. Paul's Cathedral. We were split into two big groups by alphabet, and my group went to the galleries first and then St. Paul's. We spent about 20 minutes in the Portrait Gallery before we decided to hit the National Gallery. Sam had to go to the bathroom but Chris and I thought that everyone was behind us -- anyway we got separated and Chris and I were by ourselves, which was kind of cool because we actually looked at paintings. There was this group of school kids who were getting a tour so we followed them around so we could learn stuff, and this little 8 year old girl told the history of the Tudors from Henry VII until Elizabeth!! We were wishing we could bring her home with us so she could take our British Studies test. She knew way more than we did. We felt stupid.

So after we learned about 'The Ambassadors' and all that fun stuff, we ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Trafalgar Square and photobombed some Asians. Then of course we realized that we had a half hour to walk the Strand and Fleet Street before our tours. So we pretty much ran to St. Paul's -- remember the scene in Home Alone in the airport, when they're playing 'Run Run Rudolph?' That was Chris and I. He was way faster than me, I was in a dress and boots. We made it just as the bells of St. Paul's struck 2pm.

I went with DG's group because there was no way in hell I was going with Kingsley. The first thing he said when I got there was, 'Now, we are group A. I'm sure you alllllll got A's on your British Studies exam.' So I did the little sneaky slidey move I'm so good at and slid over to group C. We wandered around St. Paul's and learned stuff. It was interesting, it's a church but it's all military-oriented. Then we climbed up to the top, walked around the dome and got a great view of London. I've climbed so many stairs in Europe - my butt is definitely in its best shape ever.

After that Jessica and I had to walk back to Trafalgar Square to meet up with Kelsey, Anne and Alex, but it started raining. So, yes, I walked from St. Paul's to Trafalgar Square in the rain. It sucked. A lot. And my feet were soggy. But whatever. We met up with them, went to dinner at which Kelsey got drunk off of ONE glass of wine (it was awesome!) and then we split up. Kelsey and Jessica went to see We Will Rock You, and Anne and Alex and I went to see Dirty Dancing.

It was the best/worst thing I have ever seen. The acting was terrible, but the music and the end scene totally made up for it! My mom would have been crying. I tried to call her but she wouldn't answer - bishophead.

After the show we went and caught the 11:30 coach back to Harlaxton. We didn't get back till about 2am, but it was a pretty kickass field trip all in all.