Hey Janice, Where Have You Been? A Long-Anticipated Post

As an amateur blogger, I don’t know what’s more appropriate for a blogger to do when she hasn’t posted in a while — to apologize for the delay or to just post another blog as though there had never been a delay in the first place. Maybe it doesn’t even matter, because either way, you’re happy to finally read an update. But maybe it does matter, because you might be wondering what on earth happened to me.

Since the latter scenario is more likely (just because asking “Where were you?” can be such a natural tendency — especially when inquiring after those who have a public face), I’ll tell you what on earth happened to me since the last time I posted just a little over a month ago.

First, I’ve had a lot more homework than usual. I think within the last month I’ve written five or six papers. They’re not long papers, but if you want a good grade on them, you’ve got give them some thought.

Second, I’ve had a lot more class than usual. Earlier in the trip, we’ve had class maybe once or twice a week, the exceptions being when we were in more remote locations, which was two. Then we would have class every day. But more recently in this trip, we’ve been in more remote locations, which means a lot more class.

Third, while trying to write all those papers and going to all those classes,  I’ve been cramming in a lot of sight-seeing. Sight-seeing has either been an all-day venture (i.e. our class day trip to Portsmouth), or a way to take a break from academia (i.e. my solo explorations of Salisbury). While studying abroad, of course you have to study. But you’ve also got to explore. That’s what you do when you travel, especially to a place you’ve never been to before,and especially to a place you’re not sure you’re ever coming back to. You’ve got to get to know the place.

Fourth, most of the places we’ve stayed at recently have had spotty Wi-Fi. Two of our locations had such spotty Wi-Fi that we had to take turns using the Internet, or else some of us would not be able to access the Internet at all.

So that’s what happened to me. I hope you will forgive me (should a blogger say that?)

I’m also not sure if a blogger should put anything else in a long-anticipated post like this besides the list of reasons why the post was long-anticipated. Regardless, I have a feeling you will want more than just a list of reasons of why I haven’t posted in a while. Perhaps you will want an update on my travels! It’s something fun for me to write about and fun for you to read. Not to mention it might put your faith in me as a blogger again, if you can once again read fun posts from me.

Here then is what I have been doing since I wrote since meeting Mr. Cumberbatch. (Could anything top meeting Mr. Cumberbatch? You can decide for yourself:

**The day after I met Mr. Cumberbatch, we flew to Dublin. Due to the heavy fog, our flight was delayed by five-and-a-half hours and we didn’t arrive at our apartments in Dublin until two in the morning. It was unfortunate that the next day, a bus tour, a lecture, and a walking tour had all been planned out for us. Thank goodness the bus tour was exciting, thanks to a remarkably sassy bus driver who couldn’t help but make a snide comment as we passed by a wedding party standing outside the gates of the Guiness factory.

The next few days we fortunately had a lot more free time to explore the city for its rich beauty and history.

**A visit to Derry. After learning about some key events in Derry’s violent history (King James’ 105 day siege, “Bloody Sunday”), I walked along the city wall and definitely felt pressing against my heart the enormously heavy burden of the violent legacy that the people have had to carry. It was a good thing that my eyes drifted to something hopeful and uplifting.

I’m not sure why exactly the rose was laid, but the symbolism is obvious.

**A visit to the ruins of the monastery at Glendalough. The monastery was built and inhabited in a time in Ireland when monastic communities were as numerous as wildflowers in a field. Glendalough particuarly is surrounded by gorgeous landscape, which probably proved to be a great source of inspiration for the monks’ meditations and faith.

 

**Speaking of gorgeous landscape – Giant’s Causeway and the Morne Mountains.

**A home stay in Belfast. Our host was an elderly couple who treated us not just as guests but as friends. Every night at dinner they prayed and thanked God for new friends. I will forever be touched.

**Our stay in Sligo (pronounced SLAY-go). Here we learned a lot about Yeats, as he lived in this city for quite some time. We had classes about him, wrote a paper about him, went to a lecture about him, and even visited some Yeats-related locations – including his grave – on a tour led by the secretary of the local Yeats Society. The following day we took a boat on Lake Innisfree, which inspired Yeats’ arguably most famous poem, “Lake Isle of Innisfree.” (“I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree…”)

 

**After our two week stay in Ireland, we returned to England and stayed at a place called the Eaton Dorney Center. It was basically a big guesthouse. While we stayed here we took two day-trips, one to Windsor, where we had an entrance to the castle and also saw the changing of the guard, and Bletchley Park, where the Nazi Enigma codes and several other codes were cracked during World War Two. Bletchley Park had an exhibit on The Imitation Game film which included authentic film costumes and props, footage of interviews with the actors, director, and screenwriter, and an actual set – the film’s pub scenes were filmed in the ballroom at the Mansion. Not to mention Bletchley Park also featured an actual working Bombe machine, Alan Turing’s office in Hut 8, and allowed you to walk through the huts where the codes were cracked. Perhaps you can tell from this long description that I really really liked Bletchley Park.

 

  

**While we stayed in Salisbury, we visited the Cathedral, which was just across the street from where we stayed, and Porstmouth, where we toured some warships (including the HMS Victory, which famously sailed during the Battle of Trafalgar, and the HMS Warrior 1860) and attended a football match. As someone who loves visiting old and elaborate churches, I found it very fitting that we toured the Cathedral and climbed its tour on my birthday.

 

**An afternoon visit to Bath, where some of us played dress-up with Victorian attire at the Fashion Museum and some of us ate lunch at an American sports bar that played American football. Yes, this was in England.

**Our week-long stay at Battisborough House. This house was incredibly difficult to find, as it was in the middle of no where. There was also very little to do, as it was in the middle of no where. On the plus side, walking on the cliffs by the ocean, acting out scenes from various Shakespeare plays, taking a taxi to Plymouth one afternoon, indulging in a murder mystery game, and just having a place to relax all made Battisborough a place I came to truly cherish.

So that’s what I’ve been up to for the last month. Calling it “busy” would be an understatement.