Rotary District Conference

Well, it's Sunday night and I just returned home from Rotary District Conference in Southport, England (right next to Liverpool). My host counselor, Mike Taylor, and his wife, Judy, picked me up Friday morning and we headed to Southport. Southport looks different from other English towns I've seen because it's not very old. Most of the buildings and houses are Victorian style, instead of 400+ years old like every other town in England. :) When we first arrived, I went to a tea dance with Mike and Judy. We had cream tea (scones, jam, and tea), and many of the Rotarians were doing some old school dancing (and by old school, I mean the Charleston). All of the Rotarians stayed at the Prince of Wales Hotel, and the ambassadorial scholars and youth exchange scholars stayed at the Carleton House Hotel. My roommate for the weekend was Bianca Reis from Brazil, and she was wonderful! She's a Youth Exchange Scholar who has been living in Coventry since last December. She lives with different families in Coventry, and is going back to Brazil in 6 weeks. Bianca and I got along really well! The other scholars included: Jessica from Texas (her husband, Hector, is from Venezuela and also getting his ph.D. at the University of Birmingham, Rebecca from Utah, Rinko and Yoshi from Japan, Amber from Taiwan, Vilma from Lithuania, Clement from Malawi (in Africa), and Gustav from Sweden. Gustav speaks flawless English...I was very impressed! He barely has an accent! The scholars pretty much stuck together the whole weekend. On Friday and Saturday night we ate at a DELICIOUS and very posh restaurant, compliments of Rotary, that served very beautifully arranged gourmet food. On Friday night, we watched the Smackees perform, which is a group of four singers (one guy and three girls) who sing selections from different musicals. It was really great, and many people sang along. On Saturday morning, we ate a full English breakfast, which consists of hash browns, baked beans, poached, fried, or scrambled eggs, boiled tomatoes, boiled mushrooms, and bacon. I just ate scrambled eggs and a croissant...I'm not quite ready to go all out! We listened to speakers until 1 p.m., and had the afternoon free to shop and roam about the town. One group that spoke on Saturday was a Group Exchange from England that spent a month in New York. I was excited about hearing them speak, because I love hearing what the English think of the U.S. Well, some people in the group didn't have the best things to say. In fact, me and the other two Americans got very offended. At first I thought we were just being sensitive because they were talking about our home country, but after they finished, Bianca turned around and said, "Are you ok? They were really rude!" One man said that all Americans ever think about is the Revolutionary War, and that he enjoyed telling the Americans what REALLY happened...that the English didn't care about the U.S., and how we think it's some big victory but the English didn't care if they lost the American colonies or not. He continued talking about the negative aspects of our school systems, and all of the crime. Throughout all of this, he would make jokes about Americans, and the whole audience laughed. Jessica, Rebecca, and I just sat there like, "Is this really happening?" Another guy who spoke is a journalist in Birmingham, England, and heard about a group of kids in New York who electrocuted a dog just to be mean, so he wrote an article that said all Americans electrocute their dogs. Afterwards, Rebecca and I talked to the journalist and told him that we hope he doesn't really think Americans are like that, because neither Rebecca nor I electrocute our dogs. We told him that it hurt our feelings that he would be so negative and generalize a whole country based on what a few people do. His only response was, "Well, Americans are much nicer than the English." We said, "Well, return the favor!" He apologized twice and was much nicer the rest of the day. We even joked about it later! Honestly, though, I couldn't imagine returning to my host club in Mississippi and speaking negatively about England. I'm sure the Rotary Club in New York that hosted this group would be very hurt if they had heard how their hospitality was repaid. Saturday night was the Fancy Dress (costume) party, and the theme was Musicals. The Rotarians went all out! One club went as Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, another went as Singing in The Rain, and there were many more. The funniest and most disturbing was the group that went as the Rocky Horror Picture Show...one man came dressed in a bustier and garters...nothing else! Wow! The party was a lot of fun! The ambassadorial scholars dressed as Cats, and we showed those older people how to break it down. :) The band played fun oldies music and we got in a circle and danced. Clement showed us some funny African dance, and Gustav lip synced to ABBA. Even Mike and Judy got out there with us! On Sunday morning, we listened to more speakers, and the last one was Angela Baker, who started the Calender Girls. Remember the movie "Calender Girls," about the older women who pose nude to raise money for charity? Angela Baker came up with the idea to raise money for leukemia research after her husband died. She was a great speaker, and had some interesting photos! After the conference, we packed up and headed out. On the way home, I explained to Mike and Judy what jack o'lanterns and sororities are (they had never heard of either of those things!), and they told me that "back yard" is a derogatory term in England...what we call back yards, they refer to as gardens. The English think of back yards as old, dirty, stone areas in the back of houses. So don't tell the English that you like their back yard, or they just might get offended! :) Mike and Judy were wonderful and fun to be around, as usual, and I really liked getting to meet other scholars my age. Overall, the conference was a success and lots of fun.

Ballroom during the Fancy Dress Party

Bianca and me - her club was dressed as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Angela Baker, one of the "Calender Girls"

It Sure Is Nice To Have The Internet!

Tooley and I have enjoyed having the internet for the past 24 hours! :) The past few days have been great...the weather has been sunny and 65-70 degrees. On Tuesday night, I went to eat pizza at this little restaurant called A Hole in the Wall with Michelle, Marfo, English Natalie, American Natalie, and American Natalie's boyfriend, Jonathan. Jonathan is a grad student at the University of Alabama, where Natalie is getting her ph.D. He came to England for 10 days to visit, so all of us went out to eat Tuesday night to meet him. Wednesday afternoon, I was walking through town and saw a man painted silver, wearing a Shakespeare mask, and standing on a box. Near the box was a sign that said Shakespeare's Ghost and a hat to put money in. He would stand very still, and when someone put money in his hat, he'd yell BOO and jump off the box. It was so scary but also hilarious! On Wednesday night, Tooley cooked a delicious meal of chilli and nachos. Her sister mailed some chilli mix from the U.S., so it tasted just like home. :) I picked up some yummy chocolate desserts called Fairy Cakes (after the brownie/pudding incident last week, I'm scared to try to bake again), which are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing on the inside. When I was buying the Fairy Cakes at the grocery store, I saw that they were also selling googleberry muffins. Isn't that random? I have no idea what a googleberry is, but the muffins had red icing on them. I asked Michelle and English Natalie, but they had never heard of it, either. I also asked Michelle and Natalie what elderflower and blackcurrant are, because those are popular flavors for tea, dessert, and fruit juice. I had never heard of them until I got to England, but apparently elderflower is like raspberry and blackcurrant looks like a big blueberry but tastes like a cranberry. Another interesting bit of information...on Wednesday night, Tooley and I were talking to our landlord, Jeremy, about how weird it is that Starbucks and other coffee shops close at 6 p.m. in Stratford. We told him that most coffee shops stay open til at least 11 in the U.S. He said, "Well, Starbucks just can't compete with the pubs." He explained that England is a pub society, and people hang out in pubs the same way Americans hang out at coffee shops. The legal drinking age in Europe is 18 (you can buy cigarettes at 16), so everyone under 18 hangs out at McDonald's (no joke!) and once you turn 18, you go to the pubs. People don't always go to the pubs to drink...most people go to eat, watch football (soccer), and socialize. So in a way, a pub is the English version of an American Starbucks or coffee shop. This weekend, I have to go to the Rotary District Conference in Southport, England. Mike and Judy are picking me up Friday morning, and we'll return Sunday afternoon. I'll get to meet some other Ambassadorial Scholars, so that will be nice. I also have to miss class to go to the conference! Below, I've posted pictures of our room and our new "work station" for our computers. :) I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Our beds - mine has the purple comforter and Tooley's has the navy

Our "workstation," which consists of two laptops, a modem, a router, the Vonage phone, and the UK phone

Scotland Pictures and Some Good News

Hallelujah! After 5 hours of blood, sweat, and tears, our phone line and internet is officially connected! Call us at 601-427-0310.


Edinburgh Castle

Street in Edinburgh

Tools and me modeling the Scottish garb...tartan kilts and wraps

Holyrood Castle, where the Queen lives when she comes to Scotland

View of the city

Another view of Edinburgh Castle

A hairy coo aka Highland cow

Me, Catherine, and Tools with a random bagpiper

Glen Coe, home of the McDonald clan

Gorgeous scenery!

Loch Ness

Another picture of Loch Ness - the water is black because of the peat. All of the water in Scotland, even the tap water, comes from fresh springs. Although the water looks dirty, it's actually very clean

Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Scotland. The top part is hidden in the clouds, but it's there!

Scotland...WOW!

Tooley, Catherine, and I just returned from a wonderful three day trip to Scotland! Wow...Scotland has the most breathtaking scenery I've ever seen! My internet SHOULD be connected tomorrow, so I'll put up pictures soon, b/c I can't wait for everyone to see the Edinburgh, the Highlands, the Loch Ness, and a hairy coo! :) (A hairy coo is a Highland cow, and they're actually really cute.) We arrived in Edinburgh early Saturday afternoon, and settled into our hostel. PK Thomas, one of Tooley's and my friends from MSU, used to work at the Castle Rock Hostel, so he recommended that we stay there. It was really nice, and located right across the street from the beautiful and enormous Edinburgh Castle. The three of us walked along the Royal Mile, which is a street in Edinburgh (pronounced Edinburra) that has a castle on either end. On one end is the Edinburgh Castle, and the other end is Holyrood Castle, which is where the Queen stays when she comes to Scotland. Both of the castles are on top of cliffs, and they have an old, spooky look to them...gray stone, tall towers...but they're both beautiful! We tried some real Scottish food, including pies (not the dessert...meat/cheese baked into a breaded shell), Scotch pancakes (very sweet and delicious), and lentil soup. We just couldn't bring ourselves to eat haggis...sheep intestines. Yuck. We also ate at a cute little Italian restaurant. Almost every souvineer shop in Scotland sells kilts...it's so funny! We actually saw quite a few guys wearing them, too. Kilts are traditional wedding attire for Scottish men, even today! Saturday night, we went on a Ghost and Ghouls tour of Edinburgh, which is rumored to be the most haunted city in Britain. We saw haunted churches, underground vaults, and learned about the ghosts that supposedly haunt the city. Edinburgh actually does look a little spooky at night. The tall, gray, stone buildings, old churches, cobblestone streets, looming castles...put all that together with a cold, windy night, and it's a little scary! :) On Sunday, we took a 12 hour tour of the Highlands...beautiful! We saw where parts of "Braveheart" and "Harry Potter" were filmed, and learned a LOT about Scottish history. The mountains (the Scottish word for mountain is Ben) were incredible...bright green, with a little snow at the top of the tallest ones. We went on a boat cruise on the Loch Ness...home of the Loch Ness monster! Sadly, we didn't see Nessie, but they sell lots of Nessie dolls in gift stops all over Scotland. :) The weather in Scotland was very cold, especially in the Highlands. It got down to 45-50 degrees on Sunday night! Our tour guide, Penny, was great and had a wonderful Scottish accent. I love hearing Scottish people talk - the accent has a soothing cadence, and it's kind of melodious. Some people were hard to understand because they were speaking Scots, which is a strong dialect in Scotland. Some of their words are English, but they pronounce the vowels differently, so it's impossible to understand. And some words are completely different! Penny said that language experts are debating whether or not Scots is a language or a dialect. On Monday, we explored the city a little more and did some shopping. We got a glimpse of the typical Scottish weather...cold, windy, and rainy. By the time we got on our train Monday afternoon, we were completely soaked. Tooley and I observed that the fashion trend of tucking jeans into tall boots isn't so much a trend as just plain practical...it keeps your jeans and socks dry! We were really sad to leave Scotland on Monday - it was beautiful, fun, and an awesome experience! I think anyone would love seeing the Highlands. It's nice to be back in Stratford-upon-Avon, though, where the sun is shining. :) Our internet should be connected tomorrow, so everyone please call us! Don't forget about the time difference...we're six hours ahead of Mississippi. If for some reason the internet or phone aren't working, don't be surprised...I'm sure a few delays will pop up between now and then. :) I miss everyone!

We're off to Bonny Scotland!

Yesterday, our broadband equipment finally arrived...hooray! The telephone repairman also come and fixed our phone line. However, as I predicted, we had a slight problem. To make a long story short and avoid going into computer-talk, I'll sum it up: our internet equipment does not connect to our Vonage phone. The Vonage phone lets us call the U.S. as a local call, and also lets Tooley and me get onlie at the same time. After visiting numerous computer stores yesterday, Tooley and I discovered that we would have to buy a new modem that would work with our phone router. Sad! Our internet will be connected on October 26, so hopefully we'll get a new modem by then! I can't wait! :) Our phone number is 601-427-0310, so everyone please call us on and after October 26...it'll be like calling a cell phone in Mississippi! In other news, the Fair is back in town! It's called the Runaway Mop, and it's a smaller version of the Mop Fair from last week. All the school children come to the fair on their lunchbreak and ride the rides. It's Friday, so that means there is a market in town...I'm about to go check it out! :) Yesterday I found a huge antiques store that has lots of fun costume jewelry - there are so many great shops in Stratford! Early tomorrow morning, Tooley, Catherine, and I are taking a train to Birmingham, and then catching another train to Edinburgh, Scotland. I'm so excited! The train ride is supposed to beautiful, because we go through the northern part of England and southern part of Scotland. Luckily, we don't need our passports because Scotland and part of Ireland make up the United Kingdom, so the government recognizes it as one big country. On Saturday we're going to explore the town and MAYBE go on a haunted tour if we can get tickets. Walt (my friend in Edinburgh) told me that Edinburgh has the reputation of being the most haunted city in the world. All day Sunday we will be on a tour through the Highlands, including Loch Ness and Glen Coe. We're leaving Monday afternoon. The weather is supposed to be COLD in Scotland this weekend...in the 50s (10 degrees Celsius). I won't be able to post again until Tuesday, but I'll be sure to put up lots of pictures when I return! MSU's homecoming is this weekend...Go Dawgs! :)

Endeavors in the Kitchen

Last night, Tooley and I tried our hands at cooking. She made her mom's potato soup recipe, and I made brownies. Cooking in the UK is quite an experience, mostly because the stores here don't sell many of the same ingredients that we have back home. My plans to make banana pudding were nipped in the bud when I discovered that Jello does not exist in the UK (I found something similar, though), and neither do Nilla wafers. One thing that I like about the grocery stores here is the selection of fresh bread. Each grocery store has a huge bakery that makes all kinds of delicious bread that you won't always find in American grocery stores. Tooley and I bought some delicious bread to go with our soup. Most homes in the UK have gas stoves, which Tooley and I aren't familiar with at all. For supper, we generally boil water and make pasta, or heat up a dinner in the microwave. To make brownies, however, I had to actually use the oven. The recipe said to cook the brownies for 25 minutes, but after 10 minutes, the top was starting to burn but the rest of the mix had not cooked. It was almost like the brownies had been broiled instead of baked! Our landlord was out, so we couldn't ask for help (you can't really tell what you're doing just by looking at the knobs on the oven, unfortunately) so instead of brownies, we had chocolate pudding...made from brownie mix. :) It was actually pretty good! By the time the soup was ready, we looked around the kitchen to observe the damage we had done. I honestly think we used every pot, bowl, cup, knife, spoon, and fork in the whole house! Well, the soup, bread, and pudding were delicious, and it didn't take us TOO long to clean up! :) We had fun. Yesterday, I received a package from my parents full of my favorite magazines (Us Weekly and People), so I feel like I'm up to date on what's going on back home. Jennings sent Tooley and me a Halloween care package, so now our room is all decorated for Halloween! :) Thanks!

Rotary Meeting and Ordering Internet

Yesterday I attended the Stratford-upon-Avon Rotary Club, which meets at a hotel right down the street from my school. My host counselor, Mike, picked me up and we arrived at the hotel at 12:20. This Rotary Club is an all-male club, so it was just me and about 50 old men. Everyone was very polite, and didn't seem bothered that a 22 year old American girl was sitting in the middle of 50 businessmen from the Stratford area. :) I'm really starting to get the hang of the British style of eating...fork turned over backwards, and never setting down the knife. Cooked carrots seem to be a common food in England, because almost every single British meal I've had includes them. After lunch, we gave the royal toast ("To the Queen!") and the meeting began. At the end of the meeting, I gave a ten minute introductory speech. I think everything went well! Afterwards Mike and I walked with Phil Littleford, who was the previous Rotary president, back to his office. Mike was telling me that it doesn't snow as much in England as it used to, thanks to global warming, and then started describing how to make a snowman! I didn't want to be rude and tell him that I know what a snowman is...it's not THAT hot in Mississippi, so I just smiled and listened politely. It was really funny! My next class meeting is the last weekend of October, which I unfortunately have to miss so I can attend the Rotary District Conference in Southport, England. Mike was going over the itinerary of the conference, and mentioned that one night we would be wearing fancy dress. I immediately started thinking, "How long would it take my parents to mail one of my formal dresses to England?" Then Mike went on to explain that the theme of that night would be musicals, and his club was dressing as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Mike noticed the confused look on my face, and explained that "fancy dress" means "costume." He laughed when I told him that it means formal gown or tuxedo in the U.S. Luckily, I don't have to dress in costume on the Fancy Dress night...thank goodness! Today, Tooley and I ordered our Broadband internet service...hooray! It should be here in 7-10 days, but after all the trouble with banks, phone lines, etc, I wouldn't be surprised if we had a few problems getting it connected. Oh, well, what can you do? Since the big news in the papers has been the British political parties, I'll try to give a quick summary of how it works. There are two main political parties, Conservative ( aka Tories) and Labour. Tony Blair, the prime minister, is a MP (member of Parliament) for the Labour party. The Tories are trying to find a candidate to be the leader of their party, and it's between about four men. Two of these men, David Davis and David Cameron, have been in the paper quite a bit lately. The Labour party wants Gordon Brown to be Tony Blair's successor, and many people want Tony Blair to step down early so that Gordon Brown will already be the leader of the Labour party when it's time for the elections. In the election, the people vote for MPs, and whichever party has the most MPs is the leading party (I might be a little off on that, but I think that's close to how it works). The queen actually does have a role in British politics! During the election, when one of the political parties reaches a certain number of votes, they have to ask the queen's permission to form the party and choose a leader. Funny, huh? Tooley and I have learned all of this from the newspapers and her coworkers at Woolworths. Some of it may be a little off, but I think most of the details are pretty accurate. Hopefully that explains a little bit about British politics! :)

Native Americans in Stratford

I hope everyone had a great weekend! On Saturday, I went to the farmers market in the center of town. Every weekend there is a new market, so you never know what to expect! I love when the farmers market comes, because all of the booths let you sample their food. :) So, I spent a good forty five minutes walking along from booth to booth sampling fish, cheese, marmalade, bread, all kinds of yummy food. One thing I couldn't bring myself to try was the Buffalo Ice Cream. I have no idea what that is, or why it's called Buffalo, but I can only imagine. On Saturday night, I went to a birthday party at my school with Natalie and Michelle for a guy named Andy. It was fun getting to meet more people, and a barbershop quartet even came and sang! On Sunday, Tooley had to work, so I went to the grocery store and also bought my Youth Rail Card, which allows students to get reduced rates on train tickets. Europe has really great deals for students, more so than in the U.S. Almost any tour, train, or museum you go to offers student discounts. Tooley and I are going to cook dinner (as opposed to heating something up in the microwave) on Tuesday, and I was planning on making banana pudding. Unfortunately, England has not yet been introduced to Jello OR Vanilla wafers...how sad! So, any plans I had to make banana pudding are out. Another girl I go to school with said that her boyfriend is bringing over 6 packs of cornbread mix when he comes to visit, because you won't find that in the UK, either! I saw an odd sight on Sunday afternoon...Native Americans, in full headdress, playing pipes and drums across from the Pizza Hut! I was very confused about why Native Americans were performing in England, but I eventually figured out that they were here promoting a clean environment. Still, that's not something you see everyday! On Sunday night, I went to church with Catherine at Renewel Church. I really liked it! The preacher was great, and everyone was really nice. It was a little different than any church I've ever been to (speaking in tongues, annointing with oil...no joke!) but the message and songs were great. Catherine made a good point about church in England...England is such a secular culture, so going to church isn't so much a social event like it can be in the South. Everyone who goes to church in England goes because they really want to be there. After church we went to a housewarming party for three students who just moved into a flat near the school. Everyone brought food, so we feasted on pizza, quiche, stuffed mushrooms, you name it! Today I'm going to the Stratford Rotary Club to give an introductory speech and eat lunch, so everyone wish me luck! :) Have a great Monday!

No Class this Weekend...hooray!

This weekend and next weekend are my break between classes, which means...I have nothing to do! Well, I guess I should start working on my essays, but we'll see. :) On Friday, I ran some errands and discovered my new talent...browsing through stores without buying anything! (Dad, if you're reading this, I'm sure you're very happy to hear this). Although this may not sound like much, it's actually quite a challenge. Since Stratford is a tourist town, it has the cutest stores for clothes, antiques, jewelry, home furnishings, you name it. We also have a market every weekend, which is fun to browse around. Friday night, Tooley, Natalie, and I ate a yummy dinner at the Golden Bee pub, then walked around town for a while. Everything closes early in Stratford (it makes me miss Super Walmart, which never closes), so after six, the only places open are pubs, Tesco grocery store, one convenience store, and the movie theater. We stopped at Bella Italia and split a delicious chocolate dessert, had coffee, and talked for a few hours. It was a nice, fun, low-key night. This time next week, I'll be on my way to Scotland...hooray! Today I'm going to catch up on some reading, and tonight Tooley and I are going to a birthday party for a guy I go to school with named Andy. Good news...my debit card FINALLY came in! But just when I thought my problems with the bank were over, they told me that my PIN number would arrive in the mail in four days. Why in the world they can't give me the PIN number with the card, I have no idea. Poor Walt and Tooley still don't have their debit cards. I also got a check book, but it looks completely different from American check books, so I have no clue how to use it. Hopefully all of my bank problems should be solved once I receive my PIN number...but you never know! :) On Monday, I'm attending the Stratford-upon-Avon Rotary Club meeting, so that should be interesting. The big news in England is the discovery that Sienna Miller has been cheating on Jude Law with one of his close friends. I'm also learning more about the British political system than I ever thought possible! :) It's really fun and interesting, though. I hope everyone back home is having a wonderful weekend!

Fun New Pictures

A friendly carnie let Tooley and me pose on a ride while they set up for the fair

The Elves from the Elfin School :) Aren't they precious?

A street in Chipping Campden, a tiny Cotswold village

Some of the really old houses still have small doors, as Tooley is demonstrating

Beautiful countryside! It was a little foggy...sorry the pictures aren't very clear!

Broadway Tower

This picture and the next are from the Fair

Fun at the Fair

Last night, Tooley and I went to the Fair! Hooray! We went with Natalie (from Alabama), Marfo (from Greece), and Michelle (from England). Those girls are so much fun...we love hanging out with them! About an hour before we left for the fair, the electricity in Stratford-upon-Avon went out. Luckily, the fair brought it's own generators in, so it wasn't affected. However, Tooley and I had to eat dinner by candlelight, and listen to our landlord talk about wearing wooden clogs on a fair ride in the 80s. Haha! He's hilarious! It rained off and on last night, but that didn't seem to bother anyone...the fair was still going in full swing! The five of us rode the Waltzer (it goes around in a circle, and each car also spins), the carousel, and my personal favorite, Bounce. The Bounce ride spins you around, and drops your car up and down the whole time...it was SO fun! And it's one of the few rides that won't make you nauseous. Marfo had never ridden a carousel before, so we rode it with her. As soon as the ride started, however, we realized that all of us were riding on wooden horses, except Marfo! She had somehow gotten on a random wooden chicken...why there was a wooden chicken in the midst of carousel horses, I have no idea. So, I switched with her so she could get the full carousel experience. :) After the rides, we loaded up on food! Michelle shared her hot chestnuts with us, which none of the Americans had ever tasted before. They were pretty good! She also let us try some flying saucers, which are popular fair candy in England. They tasted kind of like SweetTarts. We also got some candy floss (known in the U.S. as cotton candy). We passed a food booth called the American Diner, where one would assume they sell American food. Instead, the menu consisted of food like french fries with curry sauce and green peas with mint sauce...I hope they don't think we really eat that stuff in America! Natalie got the fries and curry sauce, but they weren't really that great. I learned that bumper cars are called Dodge'Ems, and that most of the British fair rides are much faster and higher than American rides (which can be good or bad). We had a lot of fun walking around, eating, and riding the rides. :) The fair leaves today, but it's coming back on Saturday...hooray! The fair on Saturday is called the Runaway Mop, and is a smaller version of this week's fair. It's called the Runaway Mop because the men in town used to run off with the fair! At least that's what a lady told Tooley at Woolworth's. :) Tomorrow, my debit card should arrive...yea! I talked to Walt in Scotland, and he is having a LOT of trouble with banks, too. Walt, Tooley, and I have observed that customer service in the UK is not at all what it is in the U.S. You know the saying, "The customer is always right"? Not always the case in the UK! Somehow, the cute British accents make everyone sound more polite than they actually are. :)

Our Adventure in the Cotswolds

Tuesday morning, Tooley and I woke up and prepared to head to the village Chipping Campden for a fun day of shopping and sightseeing. When we arrived at the center of town to catch the bus, we saw...that the Mops Fair had arrived! Hooray! Stratford looks COMPLETELY different! There are rides, booths, games, and what-not throughout all of the major streets! It reminds me so much of the fair back home: awesome rides, greasy food (fish and chips instead of chicken on a stick), carnies (from East Europe instead of redneck towns), and lots of games. I've been sad about missing the Mississippi State Fair, but what a little blessing to have the fair brought to me! :) We left Stratford and rode the bus to Chipping Campden, which is about 35 minutes away. That town is adorable! All of the building are made out of brown stone, and it looks like the town hasn't changed much since the 1700s. We browsed through little stores and antique shops, and decided to go on the Cotswold Way walk, which leads you around the outskirts of the village and into the beautiful hills of the Cotswolds. We starting walking up a path on a hill, and after about twenty minutes, Tooley and I were like, "Where's the scenery? What's going on here?" All we could see was a farm house at the top of the hill. We stopped for a second, and turned around...there was the most breathtaking view! We started cracking up, because the scenery had been behind us the whole time! We just had to keep climbing higher in order to see it. I took lots of pictures, which I'm going to try to post later today. The farms on the hills look like patchwork quilts, because they're separated by hedges and bushes instead of fences. The grass is SO green! Tooley and I kept walking through fields, and over hills, and finally...realized we had stumbled onto the wrong path! The path we had been on was supposed to be a two hour walk around Chipping Campden. We had made some kind of zigzag detour through a field and ended up closer to the next town, Broadway! I was actually kind of excited, because I visited Broadway on my last trip to England with Jeannie, and we loved it! So we followed what we thought was the path to Broadway, and passed by the Broadway tower, a beautiful stone tower that is the highest point in the Cotswolds. Somehow, we got off THAT path and ended up on some deserted road. It was really kind of funny...what else can you do in a situation like that but laugh? So we walked along the road, and finally flagged over a guy driving by, who pointed us in the direction of Broadway...two and a half miles away (by this time, we had been walking 4 hours)! So we walked through another field, down a hill, past a farm and beautiful farm house, along a narrow road, and made it to Broadway, over five hours after we left Chipping Campden. We were so blessed, though...the whole time we were walking, we saw more and more dark rain clouds moving in, but the rain held off until we reached Broadway! When we arrived in Broadway, we went to a hotel and called a cab. We made it back to Chipping Campden fifteen minutes before the last bus headed back to Stratford...whew! We made it back to Stratford upon Avon around 7:30, and the fair was in full swing. Tooley and I made the rounds, and sampled some delicious chocolate fondue! We're going to go back to the fair tonight with some other people to ride a few rides. I can't wait! **Fun fact: Prince William is working at my bank! I have a bank account at HSBC, which I just found out is the world's second largest bank. Prince William will be interning at the branch in London for a few months. How cool is that? :)

Fun Weekend!

This weekend I had my second class, which means I have a break for two weekends...hooray! That also means I need to start working on essays, which is not going to be fun. My teacher this weekend was Dr. Alex Lindsey from Cambridge University. He is a tiny little man, but very nice and intelligent. My classes usually run from 6-9 p.m. on Friday night, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Saturday (with nice long breaks!) and 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Sunday. It's really not bad at all! Saturday night, Tooley and I ate dinner with Natalie (from Alabama) and Michelle (from England) at Natalie's house. Natalie is living in a professor's house who teaches at UCLA during the year. Natalie cooked spaghetti and salad for us, and Michelle brought a chocolate cake. After dinner, we watched a movie and chatted. It was really fun! Michelle picked up Tooley and me and drove us to Natalie's...it's always a treat to ride in a car! haha! On Thursday, I learned that I had to attend a Rotary Club District Welcome Meeting that was being held Sunday in Birmingham. I was nervous that my school would not excuse me from missing class, because I found out about the meeting on such short notice. Luckily, Dr. Lindsey was very understanding and excused me from class on Sunday. Mr. Pearce, the man in charge of Rotary Scholars for England, had arranged for me to be picked up on Sunday morning for the meeting. Well, on Sunday morning, I got up, got dressed, and waited outside for my ride...for 40 minutes. No one ever came! I had given Mr. Pearce my cell phone number, but he had never called, so I figured my ride forgot to pick me up. I went to the internet cafe to send him an email, and saw that he had sent an email to me on Saturday night saying that he couldn't find a ride for me to Birmingham, so I needed to take a train, and then a taxi to some hotel. Since my internet isn't hooked up yet, and my school's library closes at 5 p.m., I had no way of knowing about the change in plan! I called my host counselor, Mike, and told him the situation. He had no idea about the change in plan and felt awful about the mix-up. He was very unhappy with how Mr. Pearce handled the situation. Mike is wonderful, I'm definitely lucky to have a great host counselor! So by the time everything was sorted out, it was too late for me to go to class, so Tooley and I spent the day browsing through shops and taking it easy. :) We had a great weekend. Today, I woke up to the sound of the Elves (that's what Tooley and I call the children who attend the Elfin School next door) playing kazoos and recorders. It was cute! I'm going to try to take a picture of the Elves, b/c they look so adorable in their uniforms! The weather has been wonderful...sunny and 70 degrees! It was nice not having to wear a fleece today. I just booked our trip to Scotland (Tooley, Catherine, and I are going on Oct. 22-24) and I'm so excited! Tomorrow Tooley is off from work, so we're going to visit Chipping Camden, a little village about 30 minutes away. It's supposed to be a very cute village, and we're going on a Cotswold Walk, which is a trail that goes through the beautiful countryside. :) I hope the weather is this nice tomorrow!

Pictures!

Hey everyone! I'm at an internet cafe, and it's the only place I can upload pictures onto my blog, so here are some pictures and I'll update my blog tomorrow. :) Enjoy!

The grass here is SO green...it looks like everyone has a golf course in their yards!

Holy Trinity Church, a beautiful old church where Shakespeare is buried! He wrote a message forbidding anyone to remove his bones.

Scenic shots

Yorkshire Pudding...yum!

Well, last night was my first Rotary Club meeting to attend in England! My host club is the Coventry Phoenix Rotary Club, and they meet in a pub called The Woodhouse in Coventry. My host counselor, Mike, picked me up in Stratford-upon-Avon, and drove me back to his house in Birmingham, where I hung out with him and his wife, Judy. She fixed tea and yummy biscuits (cookies), and it was fun getting to know them better. Mike and I arrived at The Woodhouse around 7:30 p.m. Their club is smaller than the Madison/Ridgeland Rotary Club, and although many Rotary Clubs in England are still male-only, their club has three female members. However, none of the women were at the meeting, so it was just me and 20 men between the ages of 50 and 70! I had a lot of fun, though. Everyone was really nice and had a great sense of humor. The club president was out, and the vice-president was filling in, and everyone kept giving him a hard time, which was funny. We had a meal first, then the meeting started after everyone finished eating. The meal consisted of roast, new potatoes, cooked carrots, and...Yorkshire pudding! I've heard of it, but never had it before. I was envisioning a liquid, pudding-like desert, but in reality, Yorkshire pudding is bread! It looks like a roll, but it's made with something that tastes like pancake batter. No one could believe that I had never tasted it before. For desert, we had a yummy sweet roll with cream called a rumbaba. After the meal, everyone stood up, and toasted the queen ("To the Queen!"), took a sip of their ale or water, and we began the meeting. I just had to give a short introductory speech, so that was a good warm up for future presentations! The meeting lasted about 2 hours (including the meal), but I had a lot of fun. It was nice getting to ride in a car again...it's been awhile! It's a funny feeling riding in the passenger seat...I felt like I should be driving, because the English passenger seat is where the American driver's seat should be. Whenever I come home and start driving again, everyone look out, because I might be all over the place! (Just kidding!) I have class again this weekend, but a small conflict has developed...I'm supposed to attend a Rotary Club Welcome Meeting for all of the clubs in the district on Sunday, but I have class on Sunday. Mike and I talked about it, and decided there was nothing I could do, and I would be excused because of my class. However, the man in charge of the Ambassadorial Scholars just emailed me and said that I HAVE to come to the meeting, class is not an excuse. So, I have to find a way to tell my school! (There's a strict attendance policy). Everyone pray that it gets sorted out!

Tooley's First Day of Work

Yesterday, Tooley began her first day as a Woolworth's employee. She's got a great schedule...9-6 on Tuesday through Friday. She gets a three day weekend, which will be great when we travel. I went to see her yesterday afternoon. She looked very professional in her red shirt and nametag that said...Julia! Apparently, there are 5 Sarahs who work for Woolworth's, and they ran out of Sarah nametags. You have to have a nametag to work on the floor, so she had to choose between Julia or Sam. I think she chose wisely. :) While she worked, I went to the library, ran some errands, and went to the gym. Our gym is great...it reminds me of a mix between the Sanderson Center and the Courthouse. On our first visit to the gym (called the Banana Fitness Club), Tools and I realized halfway through our workout that we were on the exact same machine, wearing the exact same outfit! I'm sure we looked super cool (just kidding). It's strange getting used to measuring distance in kilometers, weight in kilograms or stones (1 pound = 14 stones), and temperature in Celsius. Let's just say I've had to do a lot more math than I planned on! Tomorrow night, I have to give my first speech to a Rotary Club! Luckily it's my host club (Coventry Phoenix), and it's just a short introduction speech. My host counselor, Mike, is awesome and is coming to pick me up, drive me to his house in Birmingham to hang out with him and his wife Judy for awhile, drive me to the meeting, and then drive me back to Stratford. It's been over two weeks since I've been in a car...what a strange feeling! Tools and I have gotten used to walking everywhere, though. The distance from my house to my school is the same distance as walking from the Chi O house to the Forestry building (3 minutes). The distance from my house to the gym is the same as walking from the Chi O house to the Sanderson Center (not too bad...about 12 minutes). Our big grocery store (there's a small one nearby) is about a 10 minute walk from our house, and it's right next to the train station. Last night, Tools (Julia?) and I went to a Thai restaurant to celebrate her first day of work. I liked it, but I don't think Tools was a big fan. I really think I can eat just about anything! Yesterday I was getting sad because I remembered that I was going to miss the Fair back home...I don't think I've ever missed it! Strangely enough, Tools and I found out that there is going to be a big fair in Stratford-upon-Avon next week...how awesome is that? It's called the Mops Fair, whatever that means, and it's supposed to be really big. I doubt there will be any taffy or fun rides, so everyone in Jackson needs to eat lots of taffy, frozen bananas, and chicken on a stick for me, and ride lots of rides. :)

I Survived!

Well, I made it through my first weekend of class! Whew! This semester, I'm taking two "modules;" Shakespeare's Theatre (which I had this weekend) and Shakespeare's Legacy (next weekend). I have class two weekends a month, which is awesome because I get the other two weekends off. This weekend, my class was taught by Dr. Catherine Alexander (she told us to call her Cath, which is a common nickname for Catherine in England), and she's great! There were 18 people in my class, and I was one of two Americans. The other American went to Yale! I was also the youngest person in my class...and the youngest person at the Institute. Everyone in my class is super nice, and they're all very smart. On Saturday night, we went to see "As You Like It" at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (which, by the way, Sienna Miller is starring in in London!). It was really neat, but our seats were pretty stiff and close together, so that made it hard to stay still for 3 hours. It's funny taking notes in class over here, because the paper in England is longer than American paper, which I never knew til now. All paper in the U.S. is 8 1/2 by 11, but here it's about 8 by 13, a noticeable difference. Our class was over Sunday afternoon, and boy was it a good feeling! Sunday night, our landlords, Jeremy and Junko, had a party for all of the tenants...me, Tools, Catherine from Texas, and Omarfola (I have no idea how to spell her name, but you pronounce it Marfla) from Greece. Cat and Omarfola are a year older than me, and also go to the Institute. Tools and I have gotten to be good friends with Cat, but Omarfola just moved in. She's so fun, and really nice! Since Junko is from Japan, she made homemade sushi...yum! We also had some Japanese beans (sadly, not edamame) and some pumpkin stuff that only I liked. We ate, talked, and laughed for over two hours! Jeremy is really nice but really quirky and funny, and says the most random things. Junko is the cutest little Japanese lady (they're both in their early 50s), but speaks broken English, so sometimes it's hard to understand her. She says "Herro!" for hello, and "corragen" for collagen (it took awhile to figure that one out!), and the funniest is "lice" for rice! At dinner, we talked about American holidays and British holidays, which was interesting, because they're not all the same. No Thanksgiving over here...sad! In the past five years or so, people in England have started celebrating Halloween. The English know a lot about American culture from watching TV - West Wing, Friends, Will and Grace, etc. Jeremy told us that he hates Halloween, and we were like, "Why? Don't you like to pass out candy?" He gave us a strange look and said, "No." Tools, Cat, and I started talking about how cute it is to see little kids dress up and go trick or treating, then Jeremy said, "Oh, they don't dress up here...they just go around ringing doorbells and asking for money." We started cracking up...it looks like Halloween got lost in translation! Oh, well! Today (Monday), Tooley starts work! She's excited! I'll try to take a picture of her in her Woolworth's shirt and post it. :) I miss everyone...I hope y'all had a great weekend!