Ok, so this is going to be a quick (and probably horribly written) post considering I have to catch a bus for Stratford in 3o minutes...but as I will be gone all day, I thought I might seize the opportunity to reflect on the weekend:
Friday night: Deep Hall Pub Quiz=Fantastic. Our stellar bartender, Simon, spent 15 hours gathering random trivia questions for us, and almost everyone here participated, so it got a little rowdy at times. Five rounds of 15 questions and several ciders later, our team came in 6th out of 12. Not bad.
Saturday: The Cotswolds! Terry, Ali, and Jessie and I took a train to Moreton-in-Marsh and then a bus to Chipping Norton, which was charming. We took a little walk along the Cotswold Way (where we saw the sheep in the pictures) and after getting rained on (story of our lives over here), the sun came out and Jessie and I ran down a road leaping for joy (hence that picture). Yay for us being in England! Yay for us being seniors! Yay for sunshine! But then...yes, the clouds rolled back in and we managed to find ourselves at Butty's for lunch right before the downpour. Nice. Had some yummy tomato basil and thyme soup (warm foods taste so good over here!) and then we walked around the cute, historic city centre before catching a bus back to Moreton-in-Marsh. Our bus arrived 5 minutes before the next train left for Oxford (and the next train after that would have been another 2.5 hours), so we sprinted through the rain across the town to the train station, where we jumped in the cars before it pulled away. Someone was definitely looking down on us that day--too many instances of perfect timing and good fortune (including the train ticket lady giving us four tickets for the price of 2--score!)
Saturday night and Sunday: My date with the Lincoln Library. I finished editing my Midsummer paper Sunday morning and then prepped all day for my Lear one. 9:30 p.m. rolled around last night and I had tons of notes and quotes, but no paper, and I really wanted to get a draft done before Clay gets here so that we aren't spending what little time he has over here in the stacks. Okay, Sara Jenney, power up. 5 hours later my draft was complete and I was thrilled. Imagine me doing a little dance in my room in the middle of the night. It still needs some work, but its a working draft, which for me is the hardest part. One advantage of being an English teacher is that I can edit rough drafts until the cows come home.
Today: Stratford. We leave at 10 this morning so we can have some time at the Shakespeare museum, where we get a private tour and even get to see a First Folio (are we all dorks for being so frickin' excited over this?). We have class (and tea--so civilized) at our professor's house and we might even get to visit Shakespeare's birthplace and Anne Hathaway's home before seeing Taming of the Shrew at the Courtyard tonight. It will be a full day, but a GREAT one, and if I can stay awake through it all, even better :-). And then...Clay comes tomorrow around lunch time. Ah, can life get any better than this?
P.S. LOTS more pictures from the Cotswolds--I promise to post those and a collection of Week 2's pictures when I get back! Cheers! (Love how much they use this word here!)
No comments:
Post a Comment