Stratford-upon-Avon

Took the trip to Stratford a couple weeks ago. Apparently, it is a big thing to do for English Lit programs such as the one I'm in. We spent three days in bed and breakfasts and were bored basically the whole time.
I'm sure someone would use the words "cute" or "charming" to describe Stratford, but I couldn't tell. It reminded me a lot of the other boring English towns I have encountered, except Shakespeare was born and died in this one. Spent most of the trip being insanely bored with others from the program, discussing how bored we were, and doing Shakespeare-related stuff. This stuff included:


Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Company's main theatre. What can I say? It was Macbeth alright. There were some cool technical effects, but this performance was pretty lackluster. No one really felt too great about it. The witches were little kids, which was kind of cool, but Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were very uninspired.

Looking at other Shakespeare stuff: Anne Hathaway's cottage. Shakespeare's birthplace. Shakespeare's grave. Whatever. Shakespeare was in London when he was making things happen.

The City Madam at the RSC's Swan Theatre. I have never heard of this play, and I don't think it's ever been produced. If it has, not for hundreds of years. It's a comedy. Look it up. The performance was great. Really funny, well played. Everyone in the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves and it was a superb play.

Honestly, I didn't even take any pictures in Stratford. After a few months of being abroad, I'm generally not interested in where so-and-so was born or where so-and-so is buried. The whole town had this weird, Shakespearian cult sort of thing going on.

Went to Kenilworth Castle. I DID take pictures of this castle, because it was very neat. A lot of the remains were from the 13th and 14th centuries. There are a bunch of stories revolving around it too concerning Queen Elizabeth or something, but I figure you can look it up if it interests you.

Wales

Went to Wales a few weekends ago with my roommate for a daytrip. Didn't really plan. Jumped on train to Swansea, which is about two hours away from Bath on the southern coast of Wales. Apparently, southern Wales isn't doing too well, and it showed in the country's second largest city. Swansea was pretty depressing, all in all, but it was just a short busride away from some famous and picturesque coastal areas. So, we walked around three-cliff bay and through various parts of Wales countryside. Not too much to say about it really. Bought some beers, sat in a field, and waited for a bus back to the train station. In some way or another, it "felt" different from England. The people seemed a little more laid back and were harder to understand. All the signs around Wales were in both English and Welsh. Welsh is a ridiculous language. All in all, a success.

remains of some castle

Royal Wedding

Well, as all probably know, the Royal Wedding was last Friday. After watching the event on the tele, I'm really glad I didn't even consider going to London for it. Instead, I had a great day in Bath.

After watching the wedding, a few of my friends and I headed to Royal Victoria Park, which is one of the big parks in Bath. Basically, people sat around on the grass and partied to live music. Most of the people in the program were actually in Ireland for a study trip, but those of us in remaining in Bath had a lot of fun. There wasn't much too it really. Everyone around town seemed to be in a good mood (and intoxicated). There are no open container laws here so people have no problem sitting down for a drink outside. It didn't seem like the locals really cared too much, per say, about the wedding one way or another, but it was a nice, warm bank holiday.

noah(flatmate), andrew(roommate), me, jess, katie, julie

weekend in Amsterdam

I spent my Easter weekend in Amsterdam. We stayed at my friend's friend's apartment. I had to sleep on the floor, which wasn't too great, but the apartment was quite centrally located, which was really convenient. We didn't use a single form of public transit the whole time we were in the city. Now, I'll apologize ahead of time because there weren't too many pictures taken. I had to finish a paper the morning before we flew out, and I forgot my camera. My friend wasn't too interested in taking pictures, so I won't be able to visually convey the "essence" of the city.

So, we get into the city itself on Friday evening. Crowded and warm. The streets and parks were packed the whole weekend because the weather was so nice and everyone spends the day outside. Amsterdam has a very distinct feel. It's definitely sort of touristy. I think the feel comes from the odd combination of a city that is in many ways very beautiful and a city that is extremely seedy. There are, of course, the canals, lined with trees. Old flower petals are constantly falling off trees in the wind, and tulips are in full bloom. But, there's a lot of garbage and the water in the canals is pretty gross. Apparently, the city had a big problem with public urination, so now there are all these public urinals that basically are just a metal cage with a hole on the ground. Pretty gross, but perhaps the simplest of solutions are also the best. Oh, and EVERYONE rides bikes (some mopeds too). Bicycles line all the streets, and there are bike lanes everywhere. Amsterdam is completely flat, so it's a great city for cycling. It's so simple and so perfect; the city facilitates the cyclists by providing bike lanes, and everyone rides their bike. That's that. All is well. I wish I lived in a bicycle-friendly city.

Friday night: grab some Thai food. Discover that the city is respectably cheap (cheaper than England). Go to the famed red light district. It was pretty interesting to see it in person. Prostitutes standing in red-lit windows. If the window is curtained then the room is occupied. If the light is blue that prostitute was not always a woman. I was amazed at how busy the prostitutes really were. Of course, it's all pretty legitimized in Amsterdam, but it was a form of commerce I'd never seen before. No pictures allowed there anyway. Oh, and lots of sex shops too. Very NYC in the seventies sort of feel. Went to a bar, had to pay to use the bathroom, walked home.

I've noticed that I switch between past and present tenses a lot when I'm writing about my travels. Please forgive me, but I'm not going to revise it.

Saturday: wake up relatively late. Amazing weather outside (sunny in the 70's). Walk to some of the markets. Buy fruit. Buy cheese. Yum. Walk around to see various sights. Relax in one of the main parks, which is very very crowded. For dinner we go to eat traditional Dutch pancakes, which are more thin like crepes. Lots of sweet and savory options. I get chicken, pineapple and veggies on my pancake. More yum. We end the evening with a trip to the Anne Frank house. It's basically a guided tour through the house. None of the furniture is there, so the rooms are empty with just pictures and info on the walls. I honestly expected the rooms to be smaller, but I guess when you take into consideration they could never leave it feels pretty oppressive. I don't know, though; I really didn't connect with the place for some reason.

Sunday: nice outside again. Everyone is out and about for Easter. Lots of people boating on the canals, walking around, etc. Go to the Heineken factory tour, which is basically this cheesy, Dutch, high-tech extravaganza that no one is interested in. Just a lot of Heineken tooting its own horn. Everyone is waiting for the free beer at the end. Get our free beer and head to the Van Gogh museum with our tummies full of Heineken. The Van Gogh museum is the most crowded museum I've ever been to in my life. It was really difficult to stop and look; you sort of just had to walk along with the crowd. But, I guess it's sort of understandable because most of Van Gogh's most famous paintings are on display there. I enjoyed the Van Gogh's, but I really liked the exhibit in the basement, which was called Picasso in Paris. It was a lot of Picasso's earlier, pre-cubist paintings. There were also a lot of pieces by Toulouse-Lautrec, which I really liked. Relaxed for the remainder of the day. Enjoyed a nice Easter dinner at a little Spanish restaurant.

Flew home early Monday morning in time for class. All in all, I really liked Amsterdam. I hardly spent any money, saw the main attractions, and had great weather. I definitely would like to visit again.

daisy

I've never lost anyone too close to me, and for that, I guess, I'm grateful. But, tonight good old Daisy Doozle was put to sleep, and I don't think I've ever been so sad. Really. The royal wedding extravaganza begins in a few hours but it's hard to care. What do dogs care about extinct monarch relevance anyways?

It's late, and this is written on the spot, but I guess it really doesn't matter anyway.

I distinctly remember the evening we got Daisy. Well, distinctly remember for how young I was. We were in the Stewart's backyard (they lived in our neighborhood at the time) and we were playing with little white haired mut puppies. I don't remember the details, and I don't know why my parents picked the little dog named "Rascal" at the time, but I went home that night with a borrowed Nintendo and a little puppy. I remember sitting in bed with my mom discussing potential names for the dog, and somehow (I don't know how), Daisy became her name.

I remember:

picking up Daisy by the stomach in our old back yard and my mom telling me that wasn't how you picked puppies up.
the little cage she slept in in the old pantry.
attaching Daisy to her old red (or was it purple?) leash and having her pull me around on rollerblades.
when one of Daisy's hairy brothers would show up in our back yard.
pretending Daisy was a wolf.
her flea collar. and the shiny metallic choke collar Dad would use when he took her for walks.
the little stocking my parents filled with dog treats that came from santa.
when we'd cross the bridge on our way to Irondequoit with Daisy in the back row of our old blue dodge caravan and she'd start going crazy because she could smell the big backyard miles away that she would play in for days and days.
W-A-L-K
when papa would throw her tennis balls. and when he'd get mad at Daisy for barking too much and pull out the newspaper (which she respected with dogly dignity).
when she'd get mad when dad and I wrestled.
when mom let Daisy run across the reservoir by our house.
when mom and dad walked her with us to the bus stop in the morning (and this one time when Daisy pulled mom too hard on the walk down the hill and mom slipped on the ice).
when she'd sleep under Jessie's bed during thunderstorms or fireworks.
when Daisy would bark daily. DAILY. at the paperboy, mailman, and UPS guy just to keep us safe.
when she'd bark alllllll the time and I'd yell at her to no avail.
petting her tummy, which she loved so much.
mom blowing on her face, which she hated so much.
Daisy sleeping by the fire on the crappy daily editions of the dominion post.
Daisy knowing when the family was all in one room and she'd run in to join.
Daisy dreaming doggy dreams laying on her back and running, running.

the Daisy smile.

and the things between just me and her:

when I would come home in highschool (drunk and sad) and Daisy would run up to my room (there was no food) and let me pet her forever just because she was happy to see me.

the little Doozle going crazy when I came home from Denison.

the week when my parents were in England and my sister was at band camp and Daisy slept in my bed every night. every night.

Rest in peace Daisy Lamb. I'm sorry I yelled at you so much. I hope you didn't mind. And I'm sorry I wasn't there in the end. You were the only real pet I ever had (the gerbils really didn't count). Thanks for protecting the house and thanks for being part of the family.

Love,
Ryder

England Census

Well, after working for the US census last summer, I must say I was a bit disillusioned with the whole thing. So, when our flat received a 2011 UK census form I didn't give it much attention. I figured there was probably a British equivalent of myself somewhere who would be responsible for figuring how many people lived in my flat. wrong. We received an urgent warning from the head of our program saying if we didn't complete our census form immediately we would receive a 1000pound fine. They don't kid around here. We filled it out.

Virginia Woolf

My Virginia Woolf class went on a little field trip a couple weekends ago. We weren't allowed to take too many pictures, but I'll just talk about it a little. So, I think the general area we visited is called Sussex, but I could be completely wrong. The trip from Bath took about 3 hours via bus and we ended up on the south coast past Portsmouth somehow or another. It was a nice, pretty day, and it was cool to look at fields upon fields of blooming rapeseed, which is everywhere. Lots of yellow fields at this time of year.

First place we went was Charleston House, which is where the famous Bloomsbury group would escape to . The Bloomsbury group consisted of people like the Woolfs, Virginia Woolf's sister and artist Vanessa Bell and her family, E.M. Forster sometimes, economist Keynes, and a number of other people. The house was pretty cool because it was decorated everywhere by Vanessa Bell. All the doors, tables, and walls are very cleverly painted. It's a neat sort of artist house. A number of other famous writers and artists have spent time at Charleston House as well.

Second place was Berwick Church. Not too much to say about it really. It was painted by Vanessa Bell, which apparently was a controversial issue within the parish at the time, but ended up happening anyway.

Third place was Monk's House, where Virginia and Leonard Woolf lived for a number of years. It was, in fact, the very house Virginia Woolf lived in when she walked to the River Ouse a few miles away and drowned herself. Only got to see a few rooms and Woolf's writing cabin in the back yard. Not too impressive compared to Charleston House. There was something very historically artificial about the feel of the place, as if the national trust was trying a bit too hard to capture a feeling.

Honestly, my favorite thing about the trip was just getting into the English countryside on a nice weekend day. I'll have my Amsterdam post up in a couple days. And, of course, the royal wedding is this Friday. Though we'll all be staying in Bath, there is still a big celebration apparently.