Bowling Balls, English Landscapes and Noodles

Well, since I'm heading to London tomorrow, I figure I'd better get a post out of the way to cover what I've done since my last post. Otherwise I will have a MASSIVE post to do when I get back to Preston.

Last week, a few us went bowling together. It was a fun, low-key night. It is, in fact, possible to have a good time without going to a club. I haven't been to a club in weeks and I'm not complaining.

I tried out some new bowling techniques. Needless to say, I lost.

Another significant even last week was the discovery of Avenham Park, a gem located in the south end of the city. My photos don't quite capture how huge the park is. There are many different areas to explore, and I'll certainly have to go back a few times to see more of it.

Last weekend, I was itching to travel once again. And I realized something. Every trip I had taken so far was wonderful, but there was something missing: landscape. I had visited a few different cities, but I had not yet seen any English countryside. I started planning a trip that involved spending the morning in the city of Chester, and then, in the afternoon, taking a trip to Beeston Castle, which is close to the city. I encountered quite a few problems in the planning process. Beeston Castle is difficult to get to without a car. According to the website, we would have to take a bus to a nearby town called Tarporley and then walk for an hour to get to the castle. I was willing to do it, but it would require an early morning. There were about four of us who were originally planning on going, but a few more people got invited here and there, and all of a sudden there were 10 people coming on this little outing I had planning. This was slightly stressful for me, as I wasn't even sure if it would work. What if the walk turned out to be more strenuous than I had thought it would be? What if the castle wasn't worth all that effort? What if it won't be fun? These were my thoughts the day before the trip. But I figured it was worth a shot. So, Saturday morning, we met up at the library at 7:40 AM and trundled off to the train station. We all fell in love with Chester immediately. It's full of Medieval and Victorian buildings, and it's quite visually appealing. You can almost feel the city's history.

Chester City Centre

We walked around the city centre for a bit, and then headed to Chester Cathedral, which is unbelievably gorgeous.

Chester Cathedral

I didn't realize it till now, but I didn't get a shot of the front of the cathedral from the back. So instead, here's a shot of the back of the front section.

This arch dates back to the Anglo-Saxons.

I didn't get any great shots of the cloisters, but they were one of my favourite parts of the cathedral. The stained glass offers a lovely view into the gardens.

Chester Cathedral Cloisters

Cloister Garden - very beautiful

Statue in the Garden

Obviously I need to go back and take some more photos. The tower was closed for renovations, so I have that excuse to go back as well.

Next, we headed across the street to the tourist information centre to inquire about any easier routes to Beeston Castle. Everyone was feeling a bit hesitant about the hour long walk. We were told that we could take the bus to Tarporley and, from there, take a taxi to the castle. We were very encouraged by this, and decided to go for it. So we caught the bus and arrived in Tarporley about a half hour later. But upon calling the taxi companies, we found that none were willing to drive us that far. But since we were already in Tarporley, we figured we might as well try out the hour-long walk. Luckily, one member of our group had gotten directions from a lady on the bus. So although we weren't completely confident, we had some idea about where we were going. It helped that, before long, we could actually see the castle sitting atop a rocky crag in the distance.

We spotted Beeston Castle!

The weather was beautiful, the walk was lovely, and we made it there in no time at all. Were we ever glad we did. Beeston Castle is quite the sight to behold. The crag on which it is situated was used for metalworking in the Bronze Age. Construction on the castle itself began in the 1220s under Earl Ranulf of Chester. It was passed to the Crown in the 1240s, which is when most of the rest of it was built. Historians believe they never actually finished building it. In the 17th century it was refortified for use in the Civil War in 1644 and 1645. So, the castle has quite an interesting and multifaceted history.

Beeston Castle's Outer Curtain

After a bit of hiking, we reached the Inner Gatehouse, where we were rewarded with stunning views of the Chesire plain. On a clear day, one can see 8 different counties! Everything in sight is green and lush. At that point, it really hit me that I'm in Britain viewing an unfamiliar landscape. And what a satisfying feeling that was.

The Cheshire Plain

We spent some time taking in the views, and eventually it was time to head back to Chester. My eyes enjoyed the way back, but my feet certainly didn't. I did less walking and more hobbling. But I couldn't resist taking a few more shots.

This is somebody's backyard…. So jealous

And finally we made it back to Tarporley, and then back to Chester. A few of my friends told me this had been their favourite trip since arriving in Preston, which was the best feedback I could have gotten considering how stressful it was to plan. Most of the group decided to head back to Preston, but a few of us wanted to stick around and eat a meal. We chose a pub called the Square Bottle, a site on which many ancient Roman artefacts have been found. After a delicious meal, we were ready to go. When we arrived in Preston, we got off the train, and lo and behold, there was the rest of our group! They had had to wait for an hour for their first train, and another hour for the next one. The three of us were so glad we had decide to stay for a meal.

Monday night, our Turkish friend Tugçe offered to cook a meal for everyone. It was a lovely night, filled with pasta, chocolate, and lots of laughs. Poor Numan had to endure quite a bit of girl talk. We were so grateful to Tugçe for cooking for all of us! Yum.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy with school. I read Treasure Island and now I've just started To Kill a Mockingbird. As well, my history group visited the Lancashire County Archives to do some research using old maps and documents. Am I allowed to enjoy school this much?

I also took in some Olympic hockey at the local pubs, meeting a few Canadians in the process. It was actually strange taking to people with Canadian accents face to face. Although I didn't come to Britain to meet Canadians, it was a comforting reminder of home. Nevertheless, I love having friends from different countries. We never run out of things to talk about. And if I ever come back to Europe, I will have so many people and places I will have to visit.

Tomorrow, I leave for London. Our travel group somehow expanded to include 24 people! After the success of the Chester trip, I have taken it upon myself to do some planning for the group. We will be hitting up most of London's biggest sights. To a smallish city girl such as myself, three nights may seem like a lot of time to spend in one city, but I think it would take years and years to see everything there is to see in London. To be quite honest, London was never my top destination in Britain. I'm more interested in old cities and landscapes. But the more I plan this trip, the more I realize that there is so much that I want to see and do! I certainly won't have time to do it all. But I'm thrilled to be going. I got my fill of English countryside at Beeston Castle. Now I'm ready for the ultimate big city experience. London, here I come.

xx from Flat 52,
London-bound Anna

As it turns out, I'm terrible at actually writing in this thing.

It has been nearly a month since I've written a post. I think a week or so after I wrote the last one, I realized how much I had to write about, and I've been putting it off since then because I know it will take ages for me to record all of my adventures and experiences of the past while. Classes commenced the day after my last post, so I will begin with that.

As it turns out, there are 2 linguistics classes offered at UCLan this semester: One is about the history of the English language, but I've already taken the exact same class in Regina. The other is called Computer Text Analysis….. I lost interest at "computer." So I decided to pursue studies in something I feel very passionate about: English literature. I have two English modules: Gothic Literature and Literature into Film. They're not necessary for my degree, but I'm here to have fun, aren't I? Besides, I think I might have accidentally obtained an English minor after this semester. The other module I chose was Community History, in which we take on a real research project in the community that we work on all semester. Also very cool. I so excited about all three modules. To illustrate: here at UCLan, I have the most enjoyable homework I've ever had. This is what I have done so far:

Read Pride & Prejudice (a favourite of mine). Watch both film adaptions.
Read Little Women (another favourite). Watch the film adaption (one of my favourite movies when I was young).
Do a presentation on the music in Little Women (so beautiful).
Read some Gothic novels (which is really cool when you get to live in the country where the Gothic novel became so popular and where just down the street you see a church that feels like it belongs right in the novels).
Go to a cute little town called Accrington, visit an old house that has been converted into an art gallery, and do some research there.

So, if you know me well enough, you probably understand how much I have relished doing my homework so far. Next week: Treasure Island and The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.

So with three modules, I am in class for about 3 hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Which leaves me lots of spare time for travelling and such. Still though, I joined the Film and Literature class after the first week which meant I had some catching up to do. One reason I haven't written a post is that I've been madly reading, trying to catch up. They study one novel a week per module here and we discuss it in very broad terms, which is strange to me. I'm used to looking at one play for a few weeks, and examining specific details within the text. It is quite intriguing to be exposed to a different way of approaching literature.

The weekend after school started, I participated in two school day trips. The first, on Saturday, was to Old Trafford in Manchester to see the Manchester United Stadium and the Trafford Centre, which rivals our West Edmonton mall back home. Although this trip wasn't my top choice, I had won free entry into a trip of my choice at an orientation event so I used it on the only trip I had not yet signed up for. I am not a big football fan, but it's a huge part of the culture here so I was curious about the stadium.

The Press Room

The Field

The Players' Entrance onto the Field

On Sunday, we went to see Hoghton Tower, which was probably my favourite out of all of the day trips. Charles Dickens spent some time in Hoghton Tower, and wrote about it. As well, Shakespeare is rumoured to have tutored there. There is no definitive evidence, but our tour guide told us researchers were 90% sure about it. How cool is that?! The actual tower of Hoghton Tower no longer exists, so it is actually a huge old house. The feeling of the place made me feel like I had been transported into Jane Eyre. The inside of the house was full of old furniture and fascinating artefacts, but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos of the inside.

This is so Jane Eyre to me.

Last week, I decided out of the blue that I would take an overnight trip to York and spend Wednesday the 12th doing some sightseeing there. What a lovely city. You can see the history everywhere: the buildings, the city walls, the streets. It rained a fair bit that day so I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked to. Despite the gloomy weather, it was wonderful to be reunited with a few York St. John University girls who spend a semester at the University of Regina in 2012.

We visited York Minster, but of course the girls have seen it many times, and understandably they weren't keen on spending 9 pounds on something they've seen before. So, this time, I only saw the front entrance. But I plan on returning to York sometime soon with some other international students, and on that trip I will definitely take the full tour of this Gothic wonder.

York Minster

We visited a winding alley called the Shambles. This little street is over 900 years old! It's full of quaint little shops and Elizabethan buildings.

The Shambles

With the girls in the Shambles

These photos were taken quite early on in the day. As the day wore on, the weather took a turn for the worse. It started to rain a lot (at that point my camera stayed nice and dry in my bag) and it got extremely windy to the point where it nearly knocked us to the ground. Due to the weather I did not see everything I wanted to see, but I am more than happy to take another trip over there.

I was all set to leave at 7:08 PM. My first train took my to Manchester Piccadilly. When I arrived there, I checked the departure boards for the train that would take me to Preston. It was cancelled due to extreme winds. I visited the information desk, and discovered that the next train was cancelled as well, and I would have to wait for an hour and a half for a train that could take me home. So I sat in Starbucks and waited.

When the time came, I went to the platform, only to discover that the train was cancelled. So I went for the next train that would leave a half an hour after that. It was also cancelled. At this point it was 11PM and I was getting tired and stressed. I just wanted to be back in Preston, safe and sound. All the information booths were starting to close down, and I was beginning to worry that I would be stuck in Manchester for the night. That would have been terrifying of me, as Manchester is a big, unfamiliar city and there weren't a lot of people around who could help me. I managed to find someone who could help me, and I asked if there was any chance I could get back to Preston that night. He said that by train it would be highly unlikely but there was a bus leaving at 12:15. My thinking at this point: A, is a bus really that much safer than a train? And B, what do I do if the bus ends up cancelled as well? And C, if the bus isn't cancelled, do I really want to walk back to my dorm so late at night? I was in touch with my friends in York at the time, and they encouraged me to come back to York. I knew it was safe and I knew I would have a place to stay. I could return to Preston in the morning.

I was reluctant at first. We had scheduled our first trip to Accrington for my history class for the next morning, and in an attempt to be proactive, I had already purchased my ticket. But I realized that it was more important for me to be safe, and that if the weather was still bad we might not make it to Accrington anyway. So I decided to return to York.

My train left at about 11:20 PM. Luckily, no ticket checkers came through so I didn't need to buy a ticket. My friends did a wonderful job of taking care of me. They picked me up from the station, provided me with a place to stay yet again, provided me with a hot shower to thaw out my frozen feet, and found a train for me to take the next day. They really came to my rescue.

After a few hours of deep sleep, I returned to Preston the next morning. My history group members informed me that any trains that we could take to Accrington were either extremely delayed or cancelled, and I wouldn't make it back in time besides, so we decided to reschedule. It was unfortunate, but I know now that returning to York was the right choice. The moment when I set foot in the Preston train station was a joyful moment for me.

That Saturday, my community history group and I finally made it out to Accrington. It was drizzly the entire time I was there, so my camera stayed in my bag where it couldn't get wrecked. I will have to go back more than once, so I will be sure to take photos. It really is a cute little city. It was a bit of a him from the train station to the Haworth Art Gallery (formerly Hollins Hill house, the focus of our research), which included a hill that seemed like it was at a 45 degree angle. The walk tired me right out. But the house was quite lovely. We didn't do any exploring as we wanted to meet with the clients who would tell us exactly what we should centre our research around. We started our research right away with a huge box of old letter, photographs, certificates and other documents regarding the house. It was fascinating to delve into the past like that, and learn about a 100-year-old well-to-do family who had both a carriage and a car during the time in which forms of transportation underwent a complete revolution.

After a few hours of this we returned to Preston, where I tried my hand at cooking and successfully made pasta with meat sauce. It was one of my prouder moments, to be sure.

The next day (Sunday), I headed to Carlisle for a day trip with some international students. We travelled north by train for about an hour. Our train passed through part of the Lake District, and I got to see some gorgeous landscape. It makes me so excited to see the Lake District, which will happen as soon as it warms up enough.

Our first stop was Carlisle Cathedral, which has been there since 1122. It's certainly not a big cathedral, but wow, is it ever beautiful.

 Next stop: Carlisle Castle. Over 900 years old, this castle held Mary Queen of Scots captive within its walls. As well, it was used by the Jacobites during the Jacobite uprising of 1745. It was quite empty inside, but that did not detract from the excitement of experiencing this historical building.

After a nice lunch in a French-style café, we were ready to return to Preston. On our way out, we stopped to see the citadel towers. Unfortunately the citadel is closed to the public on weekends, so we did not get to see the inside.

That night I endeavoured on another cooking experiment, resulting in a concoction that somewhat resembles chill. Regardless of what it is, it tastes delicious, if I do say so myself. Coming to Preston has domesticated me more than I ever imagined it would.

Yesterday, I completed my first assignment in Preston. My friend Megan and I presented to our class regarding the music of the 1994 adaptation of Little Women. I talked about the score, and I was a website picked out with which I could play excerpts. It worked out perfectly when I practiced in my flat. Unfortunately, the computer in that classroom was very slow, and when the time came to play the songs it wouldn't work at first. We eventually got the first one to play, but it took a long time for each consecutive song to load. As a result, we would be in the middle of a later slide in our presentation when all of  a sudden the music would come on. We were a bit frustrated with this, but our prof told us not to worry about it. Overall, we were very satisfied with how we did, as the computer issues were out of our control. In the presentation, I pointed out that a few melodies in the film repeat themselves many times, and the prof had never even noticed it. Megan and I were glad to show him something new about the film, and also glad to have the presentation out of the way.

Today after class, my friend Hannah and I took a walk down south to some Winckley Square and Avenham Park, which are beautiful areas in Preston that I've never seen. We left directly from class, so I did not have my camera. But I will certainly be returning there with my camera in hand.

And now here I am. I tried not to be terribly long-winded, but you know how successful that endeavour usually is(n't). Usually I have a quick look over these things before I publish them, but my stomach is impatient. I have two large containers of chili-ish substance that is just begging to be eaten, and I must oblige. So please don't be hard on me if this post is rife with errors.

xx from Lancs,

Anna