Oct 2008

My best friend from high school came to visit me this weekend! She is studying over in Dublin, Ireland for the semester. We went up to York which is just a twenty minute train ride North of Leeds. The city is very small but full of history and sights! Guy Fawkes the Catholic who tried to burned down the Protestant ruled Parliament was born in York. It was also ruled by the Romans at one time and there was a Roman celebration/show the day we were there.

OH! and York was definitely the coldest city I have been to yet! The weather is starting to turn on us over here!

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/York/?albumview=grid&fullsize=IMG_1593.jpg

I am taking an art history class on the English Country House. It details the formation and function of the classical country home in history. For one of the classes, we took a field trip to Harewood House which is home to the Earl of Harewood (the Queen's cousin). The house dates back to the mid-18th century. We did not get to spend much time there but it was quite an amazing building considering it was built almost 300 years ago!

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/Harewood%20House/?albumview=grid

This past weekend I took a trip back up to Scotland to go on a Highlands tour of the country. My friend Laura ( from Newcastle) met me up there and we stayed in Edinburgh with my friend Mike (a friend from UCSB) who is studying abroad up there. Laura had never been up to Scotland so on Friday I showed her around the city. Saturday morning we left Edinburgh and headed up to Glencoe (glen in Gaelic means "valley) which is an area of Scotland that was home to the Macdonald clan back in the era of clans. We then headed north to Fort William which was named after William of Orange. Then the most famous stop....LOCH NESS. The water there is really dark because the bottom of the lochs are covered with peat. Loch Ness is not the biggest loch but it is about 24 miles long, 1 mile across and 600 feet deep. Loch in the native tongue of Gaelic means "lake". We continued north and spent the night in Inverness which sits on the river Ness just north of Loch Ness. There we tried some Haggis (a traditional scottish meal made of the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep mushed together with oatmeal and onions...kind of tastes like meatloaf) and we also tried some local Scottish Whiskey. Laura and i could barely get our small glass down..that is some tough stuff! Mike on the other hand is an old pro these days! I think i will be passing on whiskey in the future. The next morning we headed south stopping in Fort Agustus, Drumnadrochit, Pitlochry (which is a small Victorian town) and eventually ending back down in Edinburgh.

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/Scotland/?albumview=grid&fullsize=IMG_1520.jpg

So my friend Laura is studying abroad just north of me in Sunderland, which is just outside of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I went to visit her for the weekend. Newcastle is a pretty old city that was named because in 1168 Henry II founded the castle and dubbed it the "new castle" and the name stuck to both the castle and the city. The city sits between the river Tyne and the river Wear. Sunderland is about a 30 minute metro ride outside of Newcastle and it sits right on the North Sea.

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/Scotland/Newcastle/?albumview=grid

So I am all settled here in the beautiful (but industrialized city) of Leeds, England. The first few weeks were pretty hectic getting adjusted and all that, but I am starting to get use to the British way of life now.

When I first got here, my dad came over with me and we spent a day down in Molesworth. It was nice to go back to where I grew up and see some old familiar faces. We then started our journey up to Liverpool, Glasgow and then onto Edinburgh where I had my orientation. Edinburgh is my favorite city so far! We saw Edinburgh Castle where the Scottish crowned jewels are kept and hiked up Arthur's Seat which is a huge mountain/ hill and from the top there is the most amazing view of the city. While we were hiking up we heard bagpipes! So we look up the mountain and sure enough there was a bagpiper up there playing. When we got to the top, we talked to the kid and here he is an American kid who is studying abroad in Scotland and just likes to play bagpipes in random places! It was a nice treat. Then after Dad and I left Edinburgh we headed south down to Alnwick. Here we had to make a pit stop and see Alnwick Castle which is where the Quidditch scene from the first Harry Potter movie was filmed. Dad then spent a few days in Leeds with me getting me everything I needed and then he left me to begin my adventures!

http://s494.photobucket.com/albums/rr304/stacey_conrad/First%20Few%20Days/?albumview=grid&fullsize=IMG_1248-1.jpg