What have I done this week? Hmmm...
On Friday, the rest of the group went to the Tower of London, built by William the Conquerer in about 1068 ( I am fudging that number, so don't quote me on it.) It's since been used by several kings and queens, and is most famous for being a prison for those high class citizens accused of treason-- like Thomas More and Anne Boylen. In fact, it's where most of these high class citizens were also beheaded. No, even in medieval times, the rich and famous did not have to suffer the double blow of being locked up and being locked up with poor people. Heaven forbid.
But today it is a museum where the Crown jewels are kept, which you can view on a convienent moving sidewalk, so you don't have to walk while admiring the best of British pomp and circumstance.
I elected not to go, having been there before with my mom. We saw the jewels, took at tour with a strangely dressed man, and booked through so we could have time to go to the National Gallery. It's all about your priorities, you see. And I'll take Constable, Hogarth, Monet, and Seurat over an over-priced, written for the lowest common denominator version of British history. Not that I'm an elitest. Never.
Instead, I hopped on a bus for Norfolk, which is the county right on the eastern 'bump' of England. It's about two hours away by car, three and half to four by bus. For some strange reason, the bus leaves from the north side of the Thames, but then travels south of the river for wee bit, then comes back north, for no apparent reason. I'm told that it's faster to go on the south side of the river, but given how long it takes to get anywhere, I can't understand why they think that taking a huge detour (about twenty to thirty minutes) is really going to save them much time. But that is the beauty of England, I suppose. They're wonderful at just muddling along. It may have been faster to travel on the south bank of the Thames ten years ago, so they'll stick to it, just because that's what they've always done.
So after four hours and ten minutes on a bus, I arrived in the town of Fakenham, population 8,000. I was half an hour late, at best.
We have family friends in Fakenham, so they were there waiting for me. It's amazing how you can be transported to a whole new world and still be on the same island, yet you've only traveled a few hours. I've been living with college students for the last month and half. I've eaten off of plates, out of tupperwear, haven't even bothered with a plate. I drank from the carton when we had no glasses, I've eaten grilled cheese four days in a row for lunch (I was particularly uninspired that week).
And then bam! I'm in a world where I have to think about which knife to use, where to put my butter, what to do with my hands, remember the proper way to hold a knife and fork (not to mention actually remembering to use both items), remember how many times it's proper to offer to lend a hand, and where to sit, and wonder when should I sit, and what should I do when both of the hosts have left the room, but have declined any and all help in the kitchen, and most importantly, I have to remember not to use phrases like "frankly, we pulled it out of our---" well, I suppose I should remember not to use that phrase in other places, too.
You see now, dear internet, that this was not a totally relaxing time in the country. It's always hard for me to be proper. I confess that Americans really are much more causal, and I often feel large and clumsy when it comes to more formal occasions, even if the occasion is simply spending a weekend with family friends in their Georgian home in the countryside.
I also have to confess that I was supremely grateful for having read Miss Vanderbilt's Guide to Etiquitte in the few days before I left. It remedied most of the problems I described above, though I also wish I could have brought it with me for handy reference. Please pass on my thanks, dear internet, to the appropriate parties.
On Friday night, we had a nice night in, and I got the most sleep I've had in a week. I also caught a cold. Or rather, the cold finally caught up to me. Everyone in the flat has been sick all week, and I had a sore throat on the ride up to Fakenham. I think that a week of no sleep, due to roommates who like to stay up until four in the morning, and until two with the lights on, made my sickness inevitable. But I had a nice little cocoon of warmth and stayed in bed until 9:30. Early for me, late for them.
On Saturday after our leisurely start, we went to Norwich, which was once the second largest city after London. Until the Industrial Revolution when Manchester and Birmingham (I'm guessing on the second one), with their factories, textiles, and coal took over, Norwich remained a booming agricultural town with about 50,000 people. But by the 19th century, industrialisation was the name of the game, and poor old agraian Norwich couldn't keep up.
We walked around for a while, visited the last remaining cobble stone street, had a tasty "apple warmer" (aka apple cider), and then headed up to the castle. It some what after the Tower of London, but it is much the same in that it is rather...cubical. What remains of the castle, the keep, looks like a giant, single colored rubics cube. But when you climb up to it, it offers a great view of the city. Inside, it is a castle museum, but also offers a regular museum housed in an addition. In 1152, King Henry spent Christmas at the castle, and going by the exhibit in the keep, that's the only exciting event to have ever happened, in all Norwich castle's history. It was later turned into a full prision, with different styles of confining prisioners through out the centuries. I was constantly annoyed with the exhibit, from an editor's position. The word choice and sentence sturcture was designed for second-graders, none of whom would want to spend time reading when they could be running around making a racket on the wooden floors. They should have written for about a four grade level, as that seemed to be about the age when kids would even look at the exhibits. It was poorly formatted, which was distracting and there were several sentace fragments, which didn't help my distraction. Not that I'm an elitest. But I do expect a lot from museums, given that there are a lot of talented people without jobs who could create simple, yet engaging exhibits, given half a chance. Also, I expect that any one who is creating a museum exhibit at a major museum, such as this one, to have a college education. And having a college education usually involves knowing that a sentence needs both a subject and a verb, otherwise it doesn't make much sense.
But the rest of the museum was lovely. There were two art galleries, one with a large collection of teapots, and another with several watercolors by the members of the Norfolk school, who were known for their Norfolk skies, and churning waters. There was also a section on Boudicca, the 1st century Icendi warrior queen who led a rebellion against the Romans (and nearly kicked them out of Britain!). The museum also had a large collection of stuff they dug up in and around Norfolk. Now that would be quite the exhibit. "Some Stuff that we Found". There were coins and belt buckles, rings and braclets. Just stuff.
Then for dinner (we had all forgotten it was Valentine's Day), we went to an Italian place, and met up with more friends of the family. It was good. I got pizza with artichoke hearts, black olives, goat's cheese, some other kind of cheese, and rocket (salad). Except the restaurant didn't have the salad in brackets, so I thought it was "rocket and some other kind of cheese" as in...two cheeses. Imagine my shock, when they actually meant lettuce. I know, right? But it was good none the less. And it was good to chat.
Sunday, I caught the 10:25 bus home, and despite my best intentions to do homework and write a letter, I fell asleep for most of it. I was quite sick at this point, and I've never been good at staying awake in the car, as all of my family can attest to.
So this week, we had our first real assignment due, a five-six page paper for our Diaspora studies class. I finished mine last week, so that I could go to Norfolk, but some people were doing it the night before. It's nice to see that somethings don't change a bit. Then in class, we had to go around the room and talk about our papers, not something that's ever done in the states. And now I can see why. We all knew about each other's papers, given that we all live together, and it was boring to listen to other people talking about poorly written papers, and it was boring to talk about our own poorly written papers. Furthermore, the subject of these papers was one which we had beaten until it was dead. several times over. And our papers had little chance for original insight, so why make it worse?
Tuesday was the most trying day of the trip. Combine stressful Monday night, with semi-interesting, but far too long morning class, and a trying afternoon, and it's understandable that everyone in my room was in their pjs by about 7. No joke. I curled up with a cup of tea and Midshipman Hornblower, and had a relaxing evening.
So there you go! That was my weekend. I'll update in the next few days with my three day celebration leading up to my 21st birthday!
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