I'm a little medieval.

British History Major • 20 • Anglophile • Advanced Studies in England •

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Dorset Coast Hike & Corfe Castle

On Friday morning, ASE treated the students who volunteered to a hike in Dorset. We met the bus at 7:50 am and drove about an hour out to Dorset, stopped in a little town, then continued on to where the hike was. The hike itself was a little over 8.5 miles. We wandered from the car park, along the cliffy coast line, where we saw some beautiful views. But there was a risk of slipping and falling down the cliff, hence why Jonathan would yell at anyone who would get near the edge.

After the end of the hike we had lunch at a pub about a mile away from the hiking trail. ASE covered our veggie/meat pies and one soft drink (non alcoholic). But, a few people did end up buying a pint. I did not, I was way too hot and way too exhausted to be able to consume a pint.

After lunch we walked a little further to the bus, then hopped on to the bus and drove to Corfe Castle. The castle itself is pre-Norman, and is believed to be the place where Edward the Martyr was murdered. When William the Conqueror came to England, he had refortified the castle in the 1080s. It has since fallen in to disrepair, with many of the walls and towers now on the ground from crumbling. But the castle sits on top of a hill above a little village.

It was a beautiful day, the weather was fantastic (even though I got a little bit sunburned), but it was all well worth it.

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Spring Break: the only time Amelia and I really left England....we went to Scotland.

We got to Glasgow at around 5 in the evening. After nearly missing our flight from Bristol and having to sprint from security to our gate (which felt like was on the other side of the airport through our run). Once in Glasgow, we dropped our big luggage off at our Hostel before setting out to wander along Buchanan Street.

We knew that there were a few other ASE students in Glasgow at the time, so we got in touch with them (Maddie and Holly) and decided to grab a couple of pints with them after dinner. Even though there is a picture of me outside of the Hard Rock Café Glasgow, we actually ate at the T.G.I. Fridays. The Glasgow Hard Rock is just an inside joke between my mother and I, when we we last in Glasgow that has to do with Stella Artois.

After dinner we met with Maddie and Holly, then wandered to a pub and had a few very cheap pints then we went our separate ways (as Holly and Maddie were off to Nottingham in the morning). Then Amelia and I headed back to our hostel, charged our phones and went to bed. 

The next morning got up at 9 and started out on our adventures in Glasgow.  We walked through the Kelvingrove Gardens to the Kelvingrove Museum. There was a cool fountain (pictured), it was completely empty but it was still pretty. Then we walked on to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. There was a cool exhibit on the history of art, then a sculpture gallery, an exhibit on ancient Egypt and a room on Natural History. 

We left the Kelvingrove and headed toward the Riverside/Transport Museum. Which was absolutely beautiful. The exhibits were put together both artfully and educationally, they were engaging for all ages and they even had put together a fake street with shops and a horse drawn funeral carriage. Outside there were these big grass-covered chairs (pictured above). 

Then we walked the 3 mile walk back in to city centre to grab some lunch before walking further to the Glasgow Necropolis. The necropolis is a victorian graveyard that is situated on this terraced hill. From the top of the necropolis you can see all of Glasgow. I said at one point that the necropolis is very similar to St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans. After looking at the necropolis we took a walk through the cathedral (vaguely plain compared to most of the Cathedrals I’ve seen around England so far), then we meandered back to the Hostel.

That night, I was invited to go out with other people in the hostel. So we went out to a bar down the street from the Hostel and just danced until we got back at around 3. 

Amelia and I woke up at 10 or so (meaning Amelia got up at 9, and I woke up at 10:15), then just wandered around Glasgow before we caught a cab to the airport at 7. We ended up getting lost in the Debenhams and trying on prom dresses for the whole 9 hours. It was a good, calm day to say the least.

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An unseen gif of me at New College in Oxford. I was a little to excited.

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Museum of Bath at Work: Part IX

Today was a bit of a slow day, I was sat down with one assignment that took me the full day to complete.

A patron of the museum, Mr. Colin Emmins, recently passed away and he had bequeathed most of his collection to the Museum of Bath at Work. The collection itself all pertains to a research based book on the soft drinks industry. 

A lot of it was more just clippings of newspapers articles and recipes and other notes on companies who brewed soft drinks at that time. My job was to just flip through all of the materials and notes and books and try and organize them so Stuart can sort through them and put them in their proper place at a later time.

It’s just a little surprising how much information one can have on a super specific subject such as “soft drinks in England.” And how you can cram so many different theories and studies in to that one subject.

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Spring Break stop numero uno: London

31,710 steps, 14.5 miles and 19 floors completed in order for Amelia and I to completely walk around London.

We bought bus tickets to London with National Express, and it took us exactly 3 hours and 10 minutes to get to London Victoria coach station. As soon as we hopped off the bus we picked up some coffee, a pastry and a bap for some food before officially setting out on the trek around London. 

First stop, we hiked the half a mile to Buckingham to be just in time for the changing of the guard. For some reason it was much quieter than normal, and security was extremely high. Roads were closed off, police were everywhere but it wasn't nearly as crowed as the first time I went to London (with my parents). Still crowded, but not super terrible.

Next, we walked about a mile to the London Eye to do...well...the London eye. Amelia was a little nervous, seeing as she’s afraid of heights. But the thing moves so dang slow that it wasn't too bad. I kept getting nauseous because of the curve of the glass in the little glass capsule.  But we could see everything from the top, as expected, and said that the view from the shard would be better, but there’s always a chance for that next time.

After the London Eye we meandered to the Globe, passing the Tate Modern on our way. We paid £12.50 to do a guided tour of the Globe, and our tour guide was amazing. He was very informational and funny. Made the space itself incredibly engaging. I found out that a high school from my hometown donated money to the building of the Globe (THANKS SOUTH LAKES HIGH SCHOOL).

After the Globe we took a small little trot to the Tate Modern, were we looked at extremely existential art work. But there were a few cool Matisse and Picasso pieces. We only spent a little bit of time at the Tate Modern before moving on to our next stop: the Tower.

Amelia and I walked along the Thames Path (the weather was absolutely perfect, and sunny and warm) to the Tower of London where I got to go on a fun spiel about who built the White Tower in 1066 (hint hint). I have a friend who lives in London and works at a bar nearby, so we surprised him at work then walked the 2.2 miles to King’s Cross Station to take a picture at Platform 9 3/4.

Once getting there, we took our picture, took a gander in the shop then walked the near 3 miles from Kings Cross to Victoria Coach Station. On that walk alone we walked past St. Paul's Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, the British Museum and Buckingham Palace. Getting us safely to the coach station 20 minutes before the bus left. Then sitting on the bus for a little under 3 hours, getting us safe and in our beds by 11pm.

Now both of our feet hurt like we've been given massages with sand paper.

Would highly recommend spending a day in London, but if you do it the cheap way and walk everywhere you better have good walking shoes and a knee brace.

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Today was even more walking around and playing tourist than yesterday was, so I’m just going to break it down by photography.

Picture’s #1 and #2: Modern Art Museum

Originally, we wanted to go to the Story Museum but the exhibit is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays so we decided to go check out the Modern Art Museum instead. We get there, and their current exhibit was on Black Identity and being an African-American who’s returning to their roots. 

The ceramic display was the artist, Lubaina Himid, had taken traditional, colonial dishes and painted over them with her cartoons and satires of European colonialism. 

Picture #3: The Museum of Oxford

This museum is situated in Oxford, and covers a very brief history of the city. It started with the Saxon city and the Jewish communities, and goes through the establishment of the college and the importance of the city as an academic area. There was a really fantastic 3D experience that shows the visitor various sites around the city to see (which even showed us some places that we hadn't seen yet). 

Then there was another section in the photo gallery, that played projections about Alice’s Oxford and told the visitor information about various places and sites around Oxford that influenced Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Picture’s #4-#7: Christ Church College

ASE treated any student who signed up, to a free tour of Christ Church College. Which is a selling point since the College was used for a filming location of Harry Potter, and the dining hall of this college was used as the influence and model of the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

The first place we saw was the stairs that all of the Hogwarts first years stood on, in The Sorcerer’s Stone, before getting sorted in to their houses. This location is modeled by my most excellent friend Amelia.

Then after that we wandered in to the dining hall, where the walls were just covered with prestigious alumni and benefactors to the College itself. With a massive and flattering picture of my favorite monarch, Henry VIII. When you’re walking through the massive dining hall, you can see why and how it influenced the look of the Great Hall in Harry Potter. But I was completely 100% unfazed by the Potteresque things and was way more focused on the portraits of all the important people. 

Following the dining hall, we moved on to the Cathedral. Nothing really important to talk about (in my opinion) other than the Abbey Garden, which has a little green door that inspired Lewis Carroll’s thought of the little tiny door that Alice had to shrink to fit through.

Lastly, we were shown the on campus library, which housed a massive collection of old books (THE OLDEST BEING FROM BYZANTIUM AND DATING BACK TO 900 AD). And let me tell you, it smelled DIVINE.

Picture #8: The Door that inspired...

I didn’t know this at the time, but this door is what inspired The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Which doesn't really make sense, seeing as the plaque on the door looks more like the roman version of a Gorgon and not a lion. But even if it is a rumor, I got to see it and stand in front of it. 

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After Lunch, Amelia and I continued our way through museums. We originally wanted to go to the Botanic Gardens, but Magdalen College, but the entrance fee was a little too expensive. So, instead we walked to the Bodleian Library and did a short 30 minute tour of both the Divinity School and Duke Humphrey’s Library (for £6). I’ve attached a picture of me in the Divinity School, which is on the ground floor of the Bodleian Library, and was used as the filming location of the Hogwarts infirmary and as a classroom (both pictured below).

After the Bodleian, we walked across the street to the Weston Library to see a new exhibit which houses a copy of the Magna Carta, Percy Shelley’s guitar and one of Shakespeare’s first folios. Afterward, we crossed the street again and saw the Museum of the History of Science, which housed a lot of microscopes and astrological instruments. It even houses a preserved piece of chalkboard with Albert Einsteins handwriting, from his lecture at the University of Oxford. 

The Museum of the History of Science, was a little bit unorganized. It didn’t tell a story to the visitors, but instead just acted as a house for a whole bunch of historical objects that had to do with Science. There was no progression to the story whatsoever. It could use a little bit of organization, but I’m not one to tell a museum to do something (since I don't have a degree yet).

Lastly, we made our way to New College to see another Harry Potter filming spot. The cloister at New College has been used many times as a ‘main quad’ of Hogwarts and is best known for the scene where Professor Moody turns Draco Malfoy in to a ferret. The picture of me hugging the cloister is fro the inside, nobody is allowed on the grass right now due to renovations, but if you look realllllly carefully you can see that the arches are the same. (I literally freaked out when I walked in because it looks exactly like the movie). 

After all of that walking, we came back to Univ and then ASE went to dinner at a local Indian restaurant. The restaurant, Chutney’s, was fantastic. Lots of traditional Indian curry. SO good I could have eaten everything on the menu (if only my stomach was big enough).

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Oxford University Museum of Natural History & Pitt Rivers Museum

To start: the Oxford Natural History Museum has an array of exhibits and artifacts that span from ancient history, to current organisms, to rocks/minerals and gems.  It’s built in an absolutely fantastic Victorian building that was meant to house all of these collections.  Some of the artifacts have been in the hands of the University of Oxford since the late 1600s.

With all the cool artifacts in the museum, it’s even cooler to know some of the history behind the museum. Including the fact that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson brought a few young girls to the museum, and later wrote a very famous novel.  Dodgson later adopted the pen name Lewis Carroll, and the three little girls were Alice Liddell and her two sisters. These little girls were told stories by Carroll, and some of the objects (such as the Dodo, Flamingo and Hedgehog) came to be part of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Attached to the backside of the museum is the Pitt Rivers Museum. The museum itself was founded by Augustus Pitt Rivers, an archaeologist and ethnologist. The entire collection is made up of largely eclectic and exotic objects. Everything form shrunken heads from Ecuador, to an Egyptian sarcophagus, to Native American costumes from Canada and the American North West.

The collection goes on, and on. Amelia, Rowan and I walked in to the museum right at 10:00 am and left at 1:30 and it still was not enough time to see the entire collection of the museum. We only got to see 2 out of the 3 floors of the Pitt Rivers before we had to leave.

I’ll (hopefully) make it back to the museum before we head back to Bath, I want to see everything.

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Even though Oxford is the most prestigious college in the world, their showers still clog up very easily.

Me, in the shower.

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Blenheim • Oxford

This morning ASE students had to be up at 7 (no thank you) to get on a bus (double no thank you) and drive an hour and a half to Blenheim Palace (yes please) and then to Oxford (double yes please).

Blenheim Palace is WICKED cool. I heard about it first from my Western Civilization II class, with Dr. Blakemore, then learned about it again with the same professor in his European Diplomacy class. He always talks about Blenheim palace and some of the controversy behind it. I’ve been calling it the ‘Versailles of England’ although I probably shouldn’t seeing as it wasn’t a baroque style royal palace. But it’s a really gorgeous palace in itself. Some of the tapestries are really amazing and paint a clear picture of wealth that the Dukes of Marlborough had to both build their palace and furnish it to the point of opulence.

But, it does kind of point to the Dukes of Marlborough claim to fame: the Battle of Blenheim. That’s about it.

Oxford, from what I can tell so far, is a cool city. It’s big. And busy. A lot of people go to school here. It’s an older city, definitely, in the sense of clientele. Though it does house 38 different colleges, most of the people who are here seem to be older but I could be totally wrong.

The architecture is all over the place, some is new, some is victorian, some is Norman. I’m literally so confused. But, I’m going to wait to post my final opinions on Oxford until the end of the week. By then I’ll have digested all of my thoughts and finalized my opinions.

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Caerleon • Caerwent

For our Romans in Britain field trip we made a hoof to Wales and looked at some (REALLY FREAKING COOL) Roman Ruins. We first went to Caerleon and looked through the Roman Baths they had excavated, which were in amazing condition. On some of the stones you could easily see some paw prints from both cats and dogs, as well as the foot print from the studs of a sandal of a Roman soldier. On our way back to the bus, we stopped at the museum which housed all of the artifacts from Caerleon Baths as well as other excavations done around the town.

Then after the Baths we walked to the most excavated Roman amphitheater in Britain. It kind of smelled like horse poop, but that’s a totally separate issue. The really cool thing was the completely excavated shrine, cell and stairs of the original Roman amphitheater. And the fact that it was built to seat about 6,000 people, shows that there are further excavations that could be done to unearth further history. 

After looking at the amphitheater we wandered over to the ancient Roman barracks, where the foundations from the barracks were in absolutely perfect condition.  One could easily see where the soldiers barracks were and where the houses for the legionaries/centurions were. We could even see the ovens on the other side of the ancient Roman street.

After looking at the barracks for a while, we hopped back on to the bus and went to Caerwent, a Welsh town situated among the Roman foundations of the previous Usk town. Though the wind was brutal, and I really should have worn a thicker coat, it was really cool to imagine the full lay out of a roman town rather than seeing various ruins. In Caerwent we saw the remains of a Villa/Shops as well as a Basilica/Forum and a temple. Seeing the temple so close to the Basilica was a little weird, but it makes sense now that I’m physically envisioning the layout.

If anyone wants to see a really good layout of a Roman town in Britain, Caerwent is a good town thats fully settled, whereas Caerleon was a good town for looking at a military town.

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Museum of Bath at Work: Round ???????

Yesterday was a bit of a slow day (in the sense that it wasn't a crazy amount of work and running around all day), but I was working ALL DAY.

At the beginning of the semester, Stuart locked me down with a project concerning the preservation of documents from the late 19th century and early 20th century. I had a meeting with the owner of these documents last week, where he handed me all of the documents as well as a few pieces of background information.

But yesterday, I got to sit down and document the damage on every single document, and then type up a document that includes all of the damages, my advice about the conservation of these documents, as well as a list of items Mr. Wooster could buy to  help his objects.

I started that project as soon as I walked in to the museum, and finished just shortly before 4. It was a hoof of a project, if I’m completely honest. I had to email my museum studies professor (Dr. Turdean) as well as talk to some other museum studies students just to get advice to make sure I was going in the right direction.

Yesterday was a good day, but just a lot of busy work.

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Bath Ghost Tours

Here is a lesson on how to not do a Ghost Tour:

do not go on a Ghost Tour as a first date

do not drink 3 pints before the Ghost Tour starts

do not wear heels

But, all in all the Ghost Tour was great fun. I was asked on a date and he suggested we do the Ghost Tour of Bath, which I wanted to do anyway so it was perfect. The Ghost Tour was pretty good, the tour guide was great and very informative. Although, as a museum studies student I wished that he stayed in character almost like a museum interpreter. It would give a little extra pizzaz to the tour itself.

We walked all over Bath (hence why it is a terrible idea to wear heels, like I did). We started at the Abbey, then walked over to the hanging tree, where my date was hung for being a thief (it’s all part of the gag I promise). And at one point we were standing at the Royal Crescent. By the end of the night my feet were killing (pun intended). 

All in all, I highly suggest doing the Bath Ghost Tours. It’s not overly terrifying. There’s a fun little paranormal experiment on the tour, where I was the guinea pig, and everyone gets to take your picture. 

There is a student discount (£6) compared to the £8 for the full price. But it’s some good, light hearted fun that you can top off with some drinks at the end.

10/10 would recommend.

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Because Stuart went on Holiday this week, I got some free time (and a museum card) so I went wandering around the Fashion Museum and the Assembly Rooms.

One thing I really did enjoy when wandering through the museum was the very thorough and constant connection of fashion to history. Next to each object’s label, there was a label that outlined what was going on in history at the time. For example, there was a dress from the early 1910s that was owned by a British woman who was a survivor of the Titanic.

I have been taught before that fashion can be viewed as a means to look at history. Through looking at fashion one can see the rise in a economy, evidence of world wide trade, and through motifs in embroidery one can see what's important in society at the time. Example: there is a skirt in the museum that has a shipping motif embroidered in to the skirt which shows how important trade and shipping was in high society at the time.

After I walked through the fashion museum, I took a little bit of extra time to look at the Assembly Rooms...and fantasize a little about being the center of a Georgian scandal. Which, you know, I would be if I lived during the 18th century.

But, I think I’m going to enjoy seeing all of the different museums in Bath. Seeing the many ways that Bath’s history is interpreted through fashion or industry, is going to be a little strange. But I could honestly say I’ll have the most rounded understanding of Bath’s history.

Oh, and here’s a gif for you @LindsayOrchard

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MOBAW x4

Today....was...bizzzzzzzay.

It started out with me taking notes for the annual Volunteer Meeting. Stuart joked that I was there to make sure that the volunteers wouldn't get violent, but I was more the note taker for the whole meeting. But, before hand I manned the café and made sure the volunteers had their tea/coffee/water/biscuits. Then we sat down for the meeting and I scribbled away on everything that was being said. Events were discussed for the next year, including the volunteer outing, an event in June celebrating plasticine, and films to be presented over the year.

After the meeting, Stuart had be type up the notes and send them to him so he could edit the notes and send them out to the volunteer team. Then after I had sent him the notes, he had me sit down and do some research on a new accession the museum received. 

It was an early Edwardian camera, but it was missing a few bits and pieces. The camera itself was missing the piece that connected the camera to the tripod. I haven't yet figured out what kind of camera it is, but I know that it was manufactured no earlier than 1890 and no later than 1910.

After that, Stuart had set up a meeting for me with Mr. Philip Wooster, who is busy preserving some old parchment of his family’s work yard in Bath. Philip came to the Museum of Bath at Work to look at and get advice on how to preserve a lot of the parchment that he has in his possession. I already know a little bit on preservation, but I'm looking a lot toward my old museum studies professor for her advice on what i should advise Mr. Wooster.

After my hour long meeting with Mr. Wooster, Stuart let me go and that was around 3:45. I was exhausted but I still had my meeting with Andrew, who was a little shocked at how much work Stuart gave me. But I’d rather be worked to the bone instead of barely doing anything.

King of looking forward to next Wednesday after working all day today, but it’s fine. If Stuart wants me to work all day next week, I’ll work. Get that work experience, jah feel?

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down with the sickness

It is with my luck that I have come down with the worst possible sore throat/common cold ever.

Mononucleosis/Glandular Fever

Basically: it sucks. You’re always tired, your muscles hurt, your throat is on fire, your lymph nodes are so swollen it feels like you have swallowed two ping pong balls and your tonsils are covered in gross white things. Altogether I think I’ve felt sick about a week now, and I’m just now coming out of it.

I didn’t start to feel better until I got checked out at the doctors clinic down the road and they gave me some medications to bring the swelling down. But even then, nothing really helped until a friend of mine told me about Difflam Spray. It is 200% the most disgusting tasting thing you will ever have in your entire your life, but it WORKS. You spray this stuff on the infected area and instantly (though you may gag until you have tears) works. 

But it didn’t do anything to actually remove the disgusting, white, pus-filled volcanoes on my tonsils.

This is where I am eternally thankful that organic fruit & veg isn’t very expensive in the UK. I completely splurged on some things that I had read were good for easing a sore throat: organic limes, organic garlic, organic honey, multi vitamins, cranberry juice and the like.

Because I felt so crappy for missing class, and really didn't want to miss my internship, I read up on some home remedies for curing/alleviating a sore throat from mono. The first one being chewing and consuming raw garlic. My thought process was “this is going to be so ridiculously disgusting, but I’m desperate.”

So there I was, in the kitchen, standing face to face with the raw garlic clove in my hand and i took a big whopping bite of that garlic clove. To be honest, it stung a little bit but i could feel the tonsil stones fall off. With the other half of the garlic clove I made a paste of honey and diced garlic. I had to hold it in my mouth for a while before swallowing.

Then I drank two mugs of hot water with lime juice and half of a lime floating in it. I went to bed shortly there after not expecting to be feeling any different, but I woke up this morning and I felt absolutely golden. All of the gross white stuff on my tonsils were gone, and I was moving and finally getting a good nights sleep.

Thank GOD that medication is cheap here, and for Difflam Spray, and eating raw garlic.