A Gopher in Norwich

Hmmmm, final exam done, started on packing, sun (occasionally) peeking through…yes, it seems I’ve reached the end of my study abroad! Still two weeks left to get in any final day trips, but it’s a bit odd that in January it felt like I would be here forever and now I have to figure out how best to get back to Heathrow to go home. Don’t get me wrong, I miss my pony and my dog and I’m excited to see my family and friends again, but it feels wrong that I’m leaving without any solid plans for returning. But I know I will return, eventually. Just a matter of making enough money, I suppose - the UK is expensive! Then again, I do have two potential flatmates for London…Lizzie, Kathleen, what do you say?! Perhaps we’ll say “screw it,” move to London, and be poor artists - that’s what twentysomethings are supposed to do, right?

For now I am taking my first truly free day to lounge about in my pjs, read, catch up on TV shows, and watch superhero movies. Because I am now officially a senior, and therefore super motivated to figure out my life. Obviously.

Our last stop was a bit of a journey but totally worth it. The weather finally decided to play nice and, after a train, a bus, and a gorgeous hike along the Welsh coastline, we found ourselves at Barafundle Bay. Barafundle is listed as one of the top UK beaches for good reason. When we arrived, not a soul was there. Granted, it was about 9:30 in the morning, but even at noon there were only a handful of people. It’s not a large beach, but it’s beautiful, and the water is stunningly clear (despite being freezing cold). Our bus driver thought we were crazy to have come to Wales simply to go to this one particular beach, but its playing center stage in one of my (and now my friend’s) favorite films was a major draw. The film, Third Star, is incredible, but the bay is even more amazing in person than on screen. So, if you’re in the mood for a funny, deep, British Indie film that may or may not inspire you to go all the way out to Pembrokeshire, check it out.

While the non-Whovian among us elected to sleep in, two of us were off to the Doctor Who Experience first thing! Giddy fans that we are, we spent hours going through the props, snapping pictures with the Daleks, checking out Nine and Ten’s console room, and generally freaking out over the costumes and Who paraphernalia. The best part was the first few minutes where we got to be the Doctor’s companions and travel in the TARDIS - we even got to drive! Pretty sure we’re applying to work there once we graduate…

This weekend saw us off to Wales! Our first stop, of course, was Cardiff where we immediately visited the castle. We saw some excellent state rooms and a fantastic library that turned up a lot of Dickens and Encyclopedia Britannica copies, but no Austen. Later we went a wee bit north to Caerphilly Castle which was surprisingly large and intact compared to most of the castles we’ve seen. Though it was grey and drizzly, we still had a blast climbing the stairs and running around the huge rooms and tiny hidden spaces. There were tunnels and great halls and windows and secret rooms and it took us a few hours just to see it all!

The lemon is in play! Still kicking myself for not thinking of this sooner, but after watching a rousing game of the Traveling Lemon at the STID premiere, we decided a lemon should definitely be involved in the rest of our travels.

This weekend saw us off to Nottingham where we discovered the lies of the internet in our attempt to visit the house of Lord Byron. Claims were made that the abbey is in Nottingham. It is, in fact, twelve miles away and we didn’t have time to catch the bus out there before it closed. Instead, we spent the day wandering around the city and checking out the castle. We turned in early and watched a bit of TV where we were soon distracted by a ridiculous tropical bird. Pausing to watch, we realized it was Benedict Cumberbatch telling us about said bird, so we proceeded to watch and listen to him talk about birds, birds, more birds, and cannibals. Good stuff. The next day we headed out to Sherwood Forest - the real reason we were there. Sherwood is, of course, home to the legendary Robin Hood (the statues of whom look vaguely like Viggo Mortensen). We spent hours wandering the forest, consuming vast amounts of ice cream, and even tried our hand at longbow archery! I wasn’t Hawkeye, but I did at least hit the target a few times and it was actually really fun (though the Iron Man t-shirt may have impeded my ability to shoot a stick at a target rather than blowing it up).

Star Trek Into Darkness premiere? I think yes. As our last chance to stalk see the stars, we spent another wonderful 10 hours standing/being crushed in order to see the ridiculously attractive cast parade before us on the white carpet. Stuck in the not so friendly autograph hound zone, I stuck with ninja camera moves rather than trying to pass anything up to be signed. We saw almost every single main cast member (no Anton or John) and Stephen Fry! He just appeared out of nowhere and it was amazing.

Starting to realize this blog title is not exactly holding true in the recent weeks, but unless they start filming Sherlock in Norwich, one last trip to London was definitely in order. And now I can say I’ve had a mimed conversation with Benedict Cumberbatch!

Also came back to find these beauties all over the city. Strangely none of the Kirk character posters are up so perhaps Chris is going to get the coveted ‘side of the bus’ spot…the Underground was also sporting some wonderful larger than life advertisements (cleverly placed in the Baker Street stop) which led to the game of counting how many times we could spot Benedict’s face all over England. Brighton and Hove scored bonus points for the billboards, and London has more space to work with, but Norwich is holding its own with a poster on nearly every bus stop! I think I picked a good time to study in England…

Rounding out our trip was a stop in Brighton because, as Lydia Bennet says, “that is the place to get husbands.” Alas, no line up was awaiting us at the train station so we made our way down to the famous Brighton Pier and spent the afternoon on the beach with the quintessential lunch of fish and chips. We wandered the Lanes a bit and stared at more antique jewelry and expensive dresses than we knew what to do with. Later, we stumbled upon the house where Terence Rattigan lived. I would have liked a bit more time there, but the few hours we did have were fantastic and it was quite wonderful to see the ocean again - even if the beach was covered in pebbles and freezing cold.

Winchester brought us back to the end of Jane’s life. We paid our respects at her grave in Winchester Cathedral and stopped by the house where she died. There’s a beautiful memorial to her in the Cathedral and the stained glass above her grave was dedicated to her.

The town of Winchester is lovely and we saw Arthur’s round table before taking a walk along the little river that runs through the city. It was, like Norwich, very idyllic and we were sad to leave but I suspect, one day, we’ll be back.

After Bath we went to Winchester. We got in late but first thing the next day we hopped a bus to Alton to visit Chawton House, where Jane lived with Cassandra, their mother, and family friend Martha Lloyd after Rev. Austen died. This is where Austen revised and wrote most of her work after the stagnant period of living in Bath. We got to see some of the only remaining Austen artifacts - including a necklace from her brother Charles, lace and quilts she worked on, as well as her writing desk in the breakfast room. We also saw the squeaky door that Jane refused to have fixed as she used it to know when others were entering the room so she could hide her manuscripts.