March 21, 2012

A day out in beautiful nature!  We escaped the more scholarly interests of the previous day to explore the countryside.  We took a beautiful walk outside of the town that led us to millions of sheep and beautiful views.  Really, sheep enthusiasts or weirdoes with a sheep-fetish (I’m sure there are some out there) should move to the Lake District.  Along the way we stopped at a waterfall with a tiny little shack built at the base of the waterfall.  It was built by people from Wordsworth’s time who felt that the best way to experience nature was to “frame” it.  Inside the shack was a huge paned window that literally “framed” the waterfall.  A very interesting idea.  Some people from the group felt that by trying to frame the waterfall they were actually spoiling the natural beauty with a man-made building.  But I liked the idea and thought it was an interesting addition to the view.

SHEEP

The waterfall and the shack

Framing the waterfall

I have NO idea what this thing was...

Heading over to the waterfall

At the base of the waterfall

                Along the walk we stopped at a beautifully manicured mansion, another house Wordsworth lived in for a while, the church he attended, and his grave.  It was a relaxing jaunt about the countryside and just what we needed after a previous day of stressing out our eyes trying to read chicken scratch.  Oh, and in England (and especially in the Lake District) daffodils grow like, well, wildflowers.  They are EVERYWHERE.  Luckily they are really beautiful flowers and you see yellow everywhere you turn and in the corner of your eyes.

At the mansion

At Wordsworth's other house

Wordsworth's church

"BEWARE OF THE CHICKENS"
I don't need to be told twice

Wordsworth's grave (with his wife and daughter)

                We then took a short bus ride to Beatrix Potter’s country home.  Beatrix Potter was well recognized in her day and was wealthy enough to own several houses that she could escape to to write her books.  Her house was adorable and had her drawings all over the place.  It looked exactly like one of the cottages out of her books.  Her gardens, however, did not look like they had inspired her books.  That was probably because it was winter and everything was dead though.  So, understandable I guess. 

Beatrix's (dead) garden

Beatrix's house

Beatrix's rabbit

                 Then it was back to the countryside and another walk.  But this one was more of a hike.  It started off leading us up almost vertical stairs up the side of a mountain.  Then it plateaued off for a bit and slowly increased the incline.  Some girls decided to end the hike about halfway up the mountain, but not me.  My friends and I literally climbed to the top of a mountain.  It was just about the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done.  The mountain was semi-muddy from rain and there wasn’t a real path for us to follow.  It was rocky in some parts and steep the whole way up.  To make it even scarier, there were random sheep really close to us all the way up.  I was so exhausted from climbing that if one of those sheep had decided to attack me I would have been helpless and he would have found an easy meal.  

Taking a quick break halfway up the mountain

You can barely make out my friends making their way up

Luckily we made it to the top in one piece and were rewarded with a clear view of the entire town.  It was pretty chilly up at the top, with the wind blowing and being about 2 light-years away from where we had started our hike.  Getting back down luckily wasn’t bad at all – it was just a matter of knowing which mud patches to slide down in and which demon sheep to keep clear of.  You never know when one of those things is going to charge you.  What I really wanted was to sneak up on one, latch onto its back, and ride it all the way down the mountain.  But those sheep were too smart and starting backing up when they saw me approaching wearing a cowboy hat and swinging a lasso around.  Sheep aren't as dumb as they look.

At the very top!  It doesn't look like it's super high up, but trust me,
it was.

View from the top

See how close we were to the sheep?  Scary.

March 20, 2012

This was a day filled with ancient manuscripts and scholarly work.  We got the amazing experience of being able to go into the Wordsworth Trust Library and handle artifacts that are usually kept behind glass in museums.  We passed around first editions of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads (a 1798 edition published in Bristol), several other of Wordsworth’s books, Keat’s 1^st edition book of poems published in 1820, books by Shelly, an 1818 1^st edition version of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, Miltion’s Paradise Lost (Wordsworth’s own personal copy), and many other famous works.  It was great to be able to handle these old books, to smell their ancient fumes (books smell the BEST!), and to look at some of the notes Byron and Wordsworth wrote in their copies of their books.  We didn’t have to use gloves or anything to handle them, as the curator told us that when you wear gloves you are harsher with the books, as you can’t directly feel the pages and don’t know how sensitive you’re being with them.

My home for the next 8 hours

                Books were a status symbol and very expensive in Wordsworth’s time because everything had to be made by hand.  One really cool thing I leaned was how books were originally sold – the words were printed on huge sheets of paper that were folded to form the book (customers had to get a knife and cut apart the pages after the purchased the book).  Only the actual pages of the book were sold and then clients would then purchase their own book covers to match their library.

                We also got to read through some of Wordsworth’s letters (some written by him and some written to him) and did some exercises in transcribing them.  It was veeeeery difficult to read some of the letters, especially when they wrote small to try to conserve space (postage was expensive, and it was actually the recipient that had to pay for postage).  We took a look at his notes when he was creating one of his poems and had to try to pick out the parts of the poem he used in the final version.  It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done!  His handwriting was terrible, he had notes written in the margins everywhere, and it was very difficult to follow his chain of thought.  It was an exhausting and frustrating exercise.  Remind me never to be a curator because this is what they do for hours every day.

Basking in the ancient book's glory

In between sessions of studying in the archives (we were in there from 9-5:30) we got tasty little snack breaks and a tour of Dove’s Cottage (which we could now actually see because the sun was out).  The cottage was tiny and had originally been built for and used as a bar.  We wandered out in the gardens for a bit and got a small taste for why Wordsworth made such a point to get out in nature to write his poetry. 

Outside Dove Cottage

Outside Dove Cottage

Outside in Wordsworth's gardens

Overall it was a great day and the experience of a lifetime.  I probably won’t have another chance like that to handle the antiques museums keep behind glass.  The curator was very enthusiastic and loved our interest.  He was a bit anal though, and hovered around us as we turned over letters and handled his beloved books.

This was around hour 6, so forgive the crazy eyes and exhaustion.

After spending over 8 hours hunched over moldy papers we were released into the wild and went to get dinner.  We found a cute little Italian restaurant and discussed lighter topics, such as the ethical difficulties of allowing the public to enjoy and handle historical documents or if they should be completely preserved and locked up.  What can I say?  I guess you can take the girl away from the manuscripts but you can’t really take the manuscripts out of the girl (that is, if she’s spent a whole day with them.  But don’t worry, eventually it wore off).

March 19, 2012

                So begins the last big trip of my study abroad.  It started off with a bang and a 3-hour bus ride to Iron Bridge, the most boring site in London.  Basically it’s this big…iron bridge.  It’s supposed to be cool or something because of the historical significance and view into the industrial era, but it was just a big boring steel bridge.  We spent one loooong hour there, and to entertain myself I took about a billion pictures of this dumb bridge.  The whole time I was wondering, why am I taking so many pictures?  I hate this bridge.  I’m going to delete about half of these stupid pictures right when I get back on the bus.  And lo and behold, my prediction was correct.  

So...it's a bridge

Don't be fooled by that smile on my face.  It should be replaced by a bored scowl.

                After another 3-hour bus drive we found ourselves in Preston at the British MTC.  Imagine the surprise on the missionary’s faces when a bus-full of 35 girls pulls up in front of their classrooms.  The missionaries literally got up out of their seats (where they had previously been dutifully studying) and pressed their faces against the windows.  It was just about the most entertaining thing I’ve ever seen.  Here were all these fresh little missionaries, who were embarking on a 2-year fast from women, coming face-to-face with a group of 35 girls who were currently on a 4-month man fast (we have been explicitly forbidden to date at all while on the program.  In our interviews we had to promise we’d abstain from dating during the program.  True story).  So here were two groups of lonely desperate souls, forbidden to love one another.  I, being much older than many of those missionaries (3 great years their senior), was spared from the overwhelming lusting and desire that was oozing out of all the girls.  

You can see them smiling out of the windows at the glorious bus full of sweet spirits.
Danger, boys.  Stay away. 

We stopped off at the MTC to use the bathrooms (much needed) and to pick up the mission president and his wife.  The mission president is the uncle of one of the girls on my program and he was going to give us a church tour of the area.  Oh, and his wife is President Hinckley’s daughter!  So awesome!

                We started the tour off at the “Cock Pit” where people used to have cock fights in Preston.  It was taken over by the Temperance Society who turned the area into a respectable area and held alcohol recovery programs and promoted abstinence.  The Society allowed the early missionaries to use their church building as a meeting house.  Next up was the Obelisk in the town square where missionaries would come to preach and sing.  Preston is not a tourist spot at all and our group got lots of funny looks by all the passers-by and many actually meandered into our group until they found out we were a religious group and then quickly departed.  British people are not a religious people and I’ve found talking with them about religion is highly taboo.

Chapel used by the early missionaries thanks to the Temperance Society

The Obelisk 

                Then we made our way over to the River Ribble where the first baptisms in London were held.  In the first week of preaching alone the missionaries baptized 15 people.  An estimated 7,000-9,000 people came to watch those 15 baptisms and to see the strange new missionaries and see what these Mormons were about.  Two men held a foot-race over one of the bridges to see who would be the first man to be baptized.  To the side of the river there is a little park with a plaque commemorating the missionaries and all the baptisms that took place in the river.  They even planted a “Missionary Tree” in the park.  I’m not sure exactly what a”Missionary Tree” is, but I’m sure it’s a very religious tree. 

River Ribble  

The little park (more like an Asian garden) with the commemorative plaque

Mormon plaque!!

The area of the river the first baptisms in London took place

Our last area we visited was 15 Wadham Road where Gordon B. Hinckley stayed during his mission in old England.  While living here President Hinckley wrote his father a letter expressing his discouragement and sadness with the lack of investigators.  In his letter President Hinckley asked his father if this mission was just a waste of his time and money.  His father famously wrote back, “Forget yourself and go to work.”  After that President Hinckley fully committed himself to his mission and dedicated his life to the gospel.  This apartment marked a turning point in President Hinckley’s life and it was amazing to hear the story from his daughter and to see how much this place meant to her.  

Our fantastic tour guides

Outside 15 Wadham

                Overall I LOVED this church tour in Preston.  It was definitely one of the main highlights of this trip.  I’ve been feeling lately that I’ve needed to implement some more church-focused things in my life here in London.  So much of what I do here is focused on history and on experiencing new places and peoples.  While this is great, I’ve felt a real lack of church influences lately and this is exactly what I needed.  I’m planning on lots of trips to the temple when I finally get back to the states!

                We got back to the MTC (the little missionaries were safely busy doing other things and were not in the classrooms any more) and quickly took some pictures outside the Preston Temple.  It’s a smaller temple but still so beautiful.  The day was sunny, warm, and beautiful.  I couldn’t have asked for a better tour of Preston.

The beautiful Preston Temple

Outside the MTC

Maybe someday I'll be training here for my mission!
Just kidding though.  Settle down, dad.

But alas, back on the bus for an hour to the LAKE DISTRICT!!!  “What are men to rocks and mountains?”  The Lake District is AMAZING.  It is like a mini little Ireland (except for the fact that Ireland is way better).  It has stunning countryside views and probably has 2 sheep for every 1 person living in the Lake District (no lie – there are miles and miles of sheep, all with pastel numbers painted on their backs).  It had great lake views, huge mountains, and plenty of countryside to satisfy my appetite.  We checked into our hostel (NEVER stay in hostels), where I was lucky enough to only have 3 other roommates (other girls were not as lucky and had 13 roommates).  This was another place where I made sure my feet were covered at all times.  Oh, and a helpful sign on our room wall informed us on how to make our beds properly which consisted of 1 sheet that regularly gets washed (and has a little pillow cover area you slip the pillow into), a comforter, and a pillow (both the comforter and the pillow do not get washed regularly…if at all).  I don’t even want to think about that bed and who its previous occupants are.  So let’s move on.

The Lake Country

Views of the Lake Country...

misty morning

The class was split into two groups for activities in the Lake District, and the first night my group got to have an authentic dinner at Dove Cottage, where Wordsworth lived for some time and composed many of his poems.  This was a really great experience, because they used real recipes from the Wordsworth family recipe book and only used candles to eat by.  These were both really great and really bad things.  Good, because this was a really cool authentic experience.  Some of the food was great and it was interesting to see which spices they used (much of their diet was based on what was cheap and easy to get).  The candle lighting set a great ambiance and made the cottage very cozy.  Bad, because some of the food was not so delicious (a fish spread for the crackers, which I didn’t touch) and the candle lighting made it very difficult to actually see which foods I wanted to eat and which I needed to stay away from.  But overall it was a fantastic experience and this is only the second time they’ve ever done one of these dinners at the cottage.  We felt very honored indeed.  It was really weird to be allowed to eat sitting around real antiques and be surrounded by Wordsworth’s writing desk, his chairs, his table, etc.  I felt like I was eating in a museum.  Because they don’t do this thing often (or ever really) we ate our dinner on plastic folding chairs with plastic plates, forks, and knives.  That was a really interesting experience too, being encircled by dimly-lit priceless artifacts, using dinky little plastic cutlery trying to see our food through the dim candle-light.  An experience I’ll definitely never forget.

Dove Cottage.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside,
so you'll just have to image my candle-lit dinner.