Three Seasons in One Day

Today we woke to clear skies and almost warm sunshine.  By the time of our OUTDOOR tour of the Castle grounds, it was raining, complete with thunder and lightning.  The tour guide seemed unconcerned with the possibility of a lightning strike and continued on!!  Many of us also toured the inside of the Castle, where we especially enjoyed the library with all of the personal mementoes of the Percy family, and the newly restored state dining room which was being set up for a gala dinner tonight.  (No, we are not the invited guests.)

The afternoon brought a tour of  the Alnwick Garden, which I think the students found amazing. Even beaten by the recent wind and rain, the rose garden was still fabulous, with the Alnwick Rose developed by rose specialists David Austin a real standout.

The water features seemed to bring out the child in everyone (see the water graffiti above), and the Poison Garden provided a real exclamation point to the tour.

The Garden tour was  the first organized tour not accompanied by rain.  The sun actually shone for an hour or so, but it was paired with a brisk wind. Between the thundershower, the wind, and the sunshine, it felt like we experienced spring, summer, and autumn all in one day today..

Off to Bellshill Farm and Holy Island tomorrow, fish and chips tomorrow night!!

The First Day of School Castle Style

Today dawned cool and rainy, but after being in the hot, stuffy airplane, it was a refreshing change.  After  breakfast, we gathered for a guest speaker.  Philip Deakin lectured on the history of the Percy family, Alnwick Castle, and the town of Alnwick.  He showed visuals of the town of the Alnwick "as it used to be."  We found that it actually has not changed all that much, in spite of my concern over the appearance of a Subway.

We also spent time talking about the final project which everyone will be working on as they read, journal and photograph over the next three weeks.  In preparation for Friday's field trip to a local farm, we talked about Northumberland author/illustrator Kim Lewis.  After a lunch we'd all like to forget foodwise (we've found the Dining Hall food somewhat less than stellar), more classroom time, then out and about for photo taking.

As we passed along one of the narrow streets, we attracted the attention of more than one resident!

Kyloe is the name of the house, not the dog. Many homes in Alnwick are named as well as numbered.

Tonight after dinner, we gathered for an open air bus tour of the town of Alnwick.  As you can see, it was a rainy evening to be up top.  At the end of the hour, only a few hardy folks remained above. Alnwick Castle can be seen in the background of the picture, through the mist.  A typically wet British finish to our first full day of the program.

The Adventure Begins for Real!!

We assembled Monday afternoon (July 12) at the Minneapolis airport and anxiously checked in as a group..  During the group check in, we were lucky that Michelle's parents agreed to act as the keepers of all of the carry on luggage while we trudged to the group check in area with the rest of the luggage. 

 There was a bit of anxiety about the weight of the bags, but everyone's was under the 50 pound limit.

And now we have arrived after an overnight, somewhat turbulent Atlantic crossing and a seemingly endless 4 hour layover in Amsterdam. (One bonus of the flight was a beautiful sunset over the eastern edge of the Atlantic Ocean.)Another beautiful sight was the Travelsure coach waiting for us outside of the Newcastle Airport! The drive only took about 30 minutes, so we pulled into the Alnwick Castle parking lot just after 5 pm tonight (Tuesday, July 13). We just had time to drag our suitcases up the steep stairs in Hunter’s Block, then run to the Dining Hall for dinner. We join 27 undergraduate students who have been in Alnwick since the end of May on the summer semester program. They will be leaving on July 26th, so we will have the place to ourselves for a few days at the end of our program.

After dinner, we had a quick orientation to all things Alnwick Castle, including proper behavior when the Duke and Duchess are in residence, which they are tonight!! Most important to everyone was the issue of cell phones, the numbers of which I am sure many students have already shared. Some of us went downtown after the orientation to get cash from the ATMs. Everything looked like my beloved Alnwick, with the exception of a Subway which has sprung up in the two years since we were last here. Boo hiss-- I hate to see any evidence of American fast food making inroads in this lovely rural British town. At least it wasn’t the Golden Arches.
Busy day tomorrow. Guest speaker, classes, and an open air bus tour around town.

Too Excited

People ask me silly questions like, "are you excited". Nope I just act like this all the time.

On another note, in my not so excited state, I was asked if we were practicing our English? So inquiring minds want to know have you been practicing your English?

Wait - we leave in four days?!

Suddenly three weeks seems like a really really long time to be away from my family! Don't get me wrong, I'm really geeked about going but you all will have to bear with me when I have my "mom" moments and have an uncontrollable urge to cut someone's meat for them or put someone in Time Out. I'm thinking the first Time Out will be for Mert. Can't wait for MONDAY!!
Janelle

Fun in Alnwick

Hi Everyone!

I just looked at the Alnwick Playhouse link and I noticed that Robin Hood (the Russell Crowe version, not the Kevin Costner one) will be playing on July 14 at 7:30. I don't have my itinerary in front of me to know if that will be possible or not, but it might be fun to do one night while we're there!

Here's the countdown...

36 days until we leave!