A few to remember

Thought I would take a walk down memory  lane with some of my favorite moments and places while I have been here... 

Brighton:

The above picture is from Brighton, still on the top of my list for places in England, only being beaten by Bath. Brighton was outstanding, peaceful, and such an ideal image of where I would love to live sometime down the road. 

Using this as my background for my desktop, and love it! 

On the outside looking in :)

Remember back when I posted my day in Brighton, and everyone asked me about the doughnut looking object by the pier? Yea, still don't know what it is, but here I am looking into it. 

London:

Although London has so many memorable locations and events surrounding it, I still think of one my favorite moments was when I got to see Buckingham Palace, and know that the Queen was inside! 

One of my favorite locations in London is the Tower of London. The ravens are a historical part of England, and to actually get to see all 9 of the ravens that are home to the Tower of London was amazing. And of course, my time in the Tower couldn't have been complete without the Yeoman Warders, who protect the tower, and protect the Queen. 

This beefeater, as they are informally referred to as, was hilarious! 

Our time at St. Paul's Cathedral drags along some unpleasant thoughts with me, as that whole entire day I had food poisoning and wasn't feel well at all. However, the view from the top of the cathedral is breathtaking. 

It really was a sight to be on top of the cathedral looking down at London.

Also, they trick you into climbing all the way up. We wanted to climb to the first layer (there are 5) of the cathedral. So, we get there, and what is the first thing I see? 

Yeah... Have to climb all the way to the top if you want to make it down. So, 1,255 steps later, we made it to the top of the cathedral. Was certainly worth it, but do wish my food poisoning wouldn't have tried to ruin my whole day.

Another significant location for me in London would be Shakespeare's Globe! Although I know a lot of you aren't into English as much as I am, I believe anyone can be interested in the history of Shakespeare's Theatre's. He was the first to design a open-roof theatre, so the natural sunlight could pour in. There were three stages to a Shakespeare theatre; the main stage where the poor could buy tickets for cheap and would stand the whole play, the stands where middle class peasants could afford an actual seat, and the boxes, where the rich would seclude themselves into a box seat. Throughout the whole play, merchants would sell their goods throughout the arena, while the play was going. If people didn't like the play, or thought the actors were poorly prepared, tomatoes, apples, and random bits were thrown at them. Actually fights were bound to happen, similar to traditional hockey games. A Shakespeare Play was never a bore, needless to say.

Another awesome fact about most plays written during the Jacobean time is that the plays were highly secretive. It was a normal occurrence for a writer to attend a play, and take notes on the scenes, the re-create the whole entire play for his own profit elsewhere. To avoid this from happening to much, Shakespeare, and other writers, would limit the amount of written work on their plays. If you were an actor, you were only given your lines and the lines that interact with your character. This would help avoid the actors to sell the scripts to other directors. Another key fact about Shakespeare plays is that their is limited setting and stage directions in several of his plays. That is because Shakespeare would create the setting for his own plays, which would limit the amount of people that would copy the setting from the script. That is why a lot of Shakespeare plays are different each place played; it was for a purpose!

Me in front of Shakespeare's Globe

Bath:

Of course, you can't forget my favorite city to date: Bath! 

This is the only remaining hot spring in the UK, and it goes directly through the Roman Baths, and is used to fill the baths that the Romans would cleanse themselves in. 

Oxford:

Oxford was so majestic, and reminded me of how much I love education and want to be involved with education for years to come. This picture isn't of anything in particular, but in my mind, shows a great image of Oxford. :)

All of these lovely goodies were waiting for my arrival back to Dorking after my half-term break. Thanks Grandma for sending me sweets and presents! Love you!

It is a bittersweet feeling to know I only have about 3 more weekends in England before I leave for my 2 week trip to Europe. Some days have been difficult, but overall, I wouldn't change this experience for anything in the world. It has changed my everyday world in so many different ways, and certainly for the better. I am extremely excited to come home, but I will deeply miss my time in England!