So sorry to leave you all hanging on my British adventures...I know you were hitting 'reset' every five minutes just waiting for this post to pop up... you don't even have to hide it. This week has been non-stop work. But, I've made it through the worst, and now I'm off to Ireland!
While obviously nothing can beat a hay ride and bonfire in Lincoln, Alabama, my Thanksgiving weekend came pretty darn close. First let me say that it was absolutely splendid being in a place where English is spoken - and with such a lovely accent to top it off! For the record, people in England really do use words like "jolly", "'twas", "inkling", and "bril." (short for "brilliant") in their everyday speech. And there really are bright red double-decker busses and phone booths. And university students live exactly like Harry Potter. I always thought it was just in the movies...
I arrived in Cambridge late Wednesday afternoon and was greeted by the lovely Miss Ellen. She was too kind to let me take her bed for 2 nights while she slept on the couch! Ellen and I then went to Christ's College to have tea with her friend Alice (who reminded me of Corinne, so obviously I loved her.) and then to dinner with a few of her other friends. We then went to Christ College's Christian Union meeting, which Ellen has been going to all semester, and which was so wonderful! It was really only about 15 students, but it was so refreshing to be with other Christians. AND I met a girl who lived in Huntsville when she was in Elementary school... that was bizarre. After CU we walked around a good bit, went to the grocery store and bought about 10 boxes of what turned out to be cornstarch instead of cornmeal, and went back to the house to start cooking for our feast.
The next morning Ellen gave me a quick tour so I could get my bearings and then she went to class and I went off exploring. Cambridge is amazing. I would totally live there. I know I've said that about other cities, but I really mean it about this one. The colleges are all absolutely beautiful, and there's lots of grass (that is protected by law...), and the city just has a really wonderful scholarly feel (which I loved...that might make me a dork.) That afternoon we cooked... and by that I mean Ellen cooked and I tried not to get in the way of the master. I did contribute by doing things I'm good at like snapping beans, cracking eggs, etc. I still can't really believe that we cooked a Thanksgiving meal for over 20 people by ourselves... quite a feat. We cooked right up until dinner time, when Ellen's housemates and some Cambridge friends (and later her professor and his wife) all joined us for our meal. We told our Thanksgiving traditions (the lake/hayride/bonfire totally won, by the way.), said what we are thankful for, and tried to explain Thanksgiving to the Brits. It was wonderfully cheasy.
The next morning, Ellen and I woke up early to go punting (punt=England's version of a gondola), and then headed to London! The train ride was beautiful, and it made me want to live there more. We arrived at our friends Andrew and Andy's house to drop our stuff and headed out to meet Kendra. We went to Westminster Abbey and saw lots of famous people's graves or something like that. It was cool. When we got out it was dark, because apparently England thinks it's ok to get dark at 3:30. Then we sped through the National Gallery and then to a nice dinner and the Queen's Theater to see Les Miserables! It was absolutely fabulous!! The next day we did a few more touristy things like go to Herrod's and Burough Market (free gourmet food is such a wonderful idea.) and then back to the house to help cook for Thanksgiving feast #2. That afternoon i heard "Sweet Home Alabama" in a grocery store and may or may not have shed a tear. A bunch of different London people came over that night and we feasted and watched football. It was great. Andrew and Ellen walked me to the bus stop at 3:00 am in the cold rain. They are really good friends.
Overall, fabulous weekend - good friends, good food, great language. I love Cambridge. The end.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment