First week in England

It's crazy to think that it's only been a little over a week since arriving in England. And what a whirlwind of a week it has been! We flew out of Minnesota on August 18th. We then flew to Cleveland, Ohio, where we had a short layover, then on the Newark, New Jersey, and then lastly onto to Edinburg, Scotland. Wade, who is in charge of our stay here, met us at the airport, where we took a 2 hour bus ride to Alnwick, England where we reside now. It was about 4am in the states when we arrived, but in England it was 10am on Thursday, therefor we had to stay up to adjust to the time difference. It was a long day, but we made it through. We had a lot of boring orientation, got our international cell phones, etc. We were also greeted by Hagrid and Dumbledore (from Harry Potter). For those of you who don't know, I am living in the castle where Harry Potter was filmed. We later walked around the town and went to a local pub.
The next day (Friday) we had more orientation. Saturday we went downtown to see the unveiling of a statue. The Duke and his son were there for it, which will most likely be the only time we see them. Later on in the day we were able to go to a cricket game. It wasn't that exciting, but it was fun to see part of the culture.
Sunday, we went on a field trip to the Farn Islands, on the North Sea. It is filled with birds and seals. We also were able to get off of the boat and see one of the islands, where we got to explore. There was a little beach as well. It was nice to relax in the sun and the sand for a little while. Since we were right on the shore line, once we returned to land, we went and got fish and chips(french fries). It was delicious.
Monday we started classes, starting at 9am. British History with one of our British professors, Kristine. We have another British professor, David. Two professors from St. Cloud State came along as well to teach us.
Tuesday was my birthday, so a group of us went out for dinner and later to a pub. It was a birthday to remember. I am now 20, and I got to enjoy it in England :) The rest of the week was pretty much the same, classes starting at 9am, ending in the afternoon, and then having a night classes a couple nights.
Friday was our 1st field trip. We traveled first to Hadrian's wall, where we went on a 3 mile hike. It was hard, but totally worth it because it was beautiful! After the hike we went to the Castlerigg Stone Circle. We then made our way to Ambleside (a town) where we were free to roam and check out the lake, which was also beautiful. We ended out day at our youth hostle, on the lakeside. For dinner, we traveled into town, where we had an amazing dinner outside on the porch. Saturday, we woke up to rain, which ended in a rainbow. :) Our first stop of the day was to the museum of Beatrix Potter, who wrote all of the Peter Rabbit stories. We got to see her original drawings and such. William Wordworth, famous poet, was our next stop. We were able to see the home where he did most of his writing and also the classroom where he used to study. Then it was about a 3 hour drive back to Alnwick.

It has only been a little over a week since we've arrived here in England, but it feels like we've been here a lot longer. We have seen so much in such a short period of time. I sometimes catch a moment alone and all I can do is smile, to think that I'm really here. I made this happen :) Tomorrow we are going on our tour of the town and in the afternoon having tea with our "homestay families." A homestay family is someone local who we are free to go and see if we'd like, and they may invite us to do things with their family, etc. I also have to do laundry and homework!!!
I miss home on occasion, but honestly, I am too busy to think about it. There's always something I can be doing! Signing off for today. I will try be more regular at this so it won't be so long!

xoxo from England