Final weeks

I have not done anything really except for writing papers, papers and MORE PAPERS!

I went to Ireland this last weekend and it was incredible. However, I have one more paper to attend to, so I cannot write much about it now. Basically Matt and I flew over to Dublin on Saturday and landed back in Manchester this morning. We did a lot of walking around, Guinness drinking and exploring the beautiful city.
Overall it was incredible, and the accents were simply lovely.

We didn't get outside of Dublin, unfortunately, due to time restraints, but what we did see we enjoyed.

Going to London tomorrow, for the first time, and visiting Jessica Butler who is there for a few days! I am VERY excited! Fortunately, the train will be a perfect place to work on my final essay.

Much love, and see most of you in a week + a day!

Lynette xx

Manchester

Went to Manchester on Saturday for Taco Bell and Christmas shopping with Gaby, and had a lovely time.

I was then in Manchester from Tuesday until today to apply for my Chinese Visa, but, long story short, I cannot apply while in the UK. They didn't inform me of this anywhere on their website, which is exceptionally frustrating, and made for a wasted trip. However, I did have two fun evenings with Nicola (as she lives right outside of Manchester in Cheshire, so we stayed at hers). Both nights we went out dancing.
I was able to do all of this because I don't have class on Thursdays, and because my professor cancelled my Wednesday lecture for a strike.

We were on public transportation a lot. Here is one of the many times. 

Nicola's beautiful family home in Cheshire :) My first home stay in England! Also: Nicola lives in Lancaster, but this is her home-home

MANCHESTER! Picadilly. 

At Nando's after the Visa fiasco. We ate some delicious chicken, and a colored a pretty picture. 

Anyway, nothing too exciting otherwise. I've mainly just been working on papers. Yay.

Love,
Lynette xx

Lacrosse lately

We just finished our last game on Wednesday. We had two since I last posted about it.

We ended up clobbering the first team, being around 16-7 (although Nicola had to hold back). I also had a goal that was absolutely brilliant: I had beaten about three girls, curling around the last and hit the upper left corner.

The team from this week was a lot closer of a game. Although I didn't score, I did play rather well. At one point I had taken my mouth guard out to tell a player to run up, but she instead turned and passed it to me. Caught off guard, I still managed to catch the ball, but my mouth guard didn't make it back in my mouth as I intended to! So, I ran over, the ball still in my stick, and grabbed the mouth guard from the ground, right in front of two of my opponents. While they tried to check me, I still managed to keep the ball and then passed it off to someone who passed it to someone who then scored. To be honest, it was probably one my top plays this season! I mean, I may have looked rather foolish, but I maintained possession, even though I had to run straight into defenders to get it taken care of.

Anyway, I have a mixed lacrosse tournament on Sunday, so I'm sure that I'll get some pictures then. I'll also upload a picture of our team once the camera's owner posts it to Facebook!

Much love,
Lynette

Edinburgh 20/11-21/11

This city in Scotland was absolutely brilliant. I think I'm just going to upload pictures and label them, and you can just assume how good of a time that I had. We were there on the 20th & 21st. Unfortunately, I forgot my memory card in my computer after the first day, so I didn't get any pictures from the tour we took on Sunday.

The other main thing that I didn't get a picture of was me eating haggis. It was quite good, actually!

Okay, enjoy the pictures!

Reception for our hostel was behind the bar!

Gorgeous buildings :)

The city as the night grew in on it

His hat just cracked us up. Haha

View from the castle :)

The castle just sits on the rocky hill. It's incredible!

Matthew and me in front of Edinburgh Castle :)

Its walls

Inside :)

Aaaand this is the city of Edinburgh!

While on the Whiskey Experience: a tour where we learned all about the Scots and their alcoholism...erm...I mean, whiskey making. :P

On the train home--I had a cosmo in a can. It was gross. But I didn't get carded and Matt did, which was pretty much hilarious. Haha

Much love,
Lynette xx

13/11 - Roman Baths!

Just adding a few pictures and captions from my time in the Roman Bath museum/landmark :)

This was the same weekend as Stonehenge, even though I'm just posting about it now

Roman Baths: Est 23AD

The only thermal springs in all of Britain. The bath still has its original lining.

Roman coins dating before 43AD. Still decipherable!

What the baths are known to have looked like

Beautiful gemstones dating back to the later 1st c. AD, discovered in  1878 in the Roman drain

They could have either been given to the gods or have loosened  off of rings whist the owner bathed. The latter is the more assumed

Healing bath for those of all ages and problems

Roman women sitting at the bath. 

The front!

Picture overload! Castle Combe, Avebury, Lacock and STONEHENGE!

Prepare for the pictures that are now before you. I will do my best to make this organized, perhaps with titles of the places, and then captions with what I learned. Here we go!

NOTE: You can click on the pictures to make them bigger!

Castle Combe

When villages seem to be in a time warp, it is almost certainly because of extreme economic turmoil. There are a few villages like this in England, as cotton was the #1 industry and was shoved out quickly during the industrial period. 

Castle Combe is one of these villages that was hit hard by the  job losses when cotton started slowing down.  However, it has left us such a lovely little village!

There's a little blue circle under the sill: it is how they would know if the house is insured. So, if there were to be a fire, these are the houses that would be saved first

Market cross: although the area around it may look small, it was used as the central market place back in the day!

Gorgeous building #1

Gorgeous building #2

Avebury

• The henge here is older than that of Stonehenge
• People didn't reside in Avebury, but rather came to celebrate and visit.
• Was re-discovered in the 1600's 

SHEEP FIGHT! Ewe fight, to be precise

Originally there were 98 stones within the circles, but the church didn't like them  so they did their best to break them down, bury them and get rid of them by all means!

This was one of the stones that the church attempted to get rid of. They had buried it deep in 1325, but it was later dug up. Underneath it, there was a skeleton that was identified as a barber surgeon. With him was a surgical knife, three coins, and other various surgeon supplies. It is now named as "Barber Surgeon Stone". 

These are a part of the smaller circle of stones. All the stones are sandstone, just like Stonehenge.

Playing around with dousing rods. They acted quite funny for all of us when  we approached the stone. For a few they crossed over, while for others they wanted to keep pointing at the stone even when the carrier turned around.

Today was such a lovely day for looking at the stones and taking pictures!

Devil's Chair. Here, one could make a wish--but careful, as the devil controls it!  The name of this stone  is the reason that the church took interest in the henges, and why they tried to get rid of all of the stones!

A great view of the henge

 Silbury Hill

The largest pre-historic man made structure, although no one knows what its purpose was (I feel like this might be a reoccurring theme!)

 White Horse

Crafted in 1780, this white horse was one of thirteen carved into the countryside across Wiltshire; only eight remain. They were seen as a symbol of power.

Random wedding, where the beautiful bride and groom were about to depart in a horse drawn carriage!

They were married in a thatched-roof church :) When it comes to thatched houses, only the rich own them now, as they are quite expensive to maintain!

 Lacock

Lacock Abbey. Here, there was filming for Harry Potter (Hogwarts scenes), but even more importantly, the first photographic negative was take of its very window.  

The George Inn is one of the oldest pubs in the UK to be able to sell alcohol, being established in 1361.  We ended up having lunch there today.

Cute little telephone booth :)

Before WW2, Lacock was owned by the Tolbert family. Post-WW2, however, they were sold to the National Treasury. The cool thing about them, though, though is that they are not able to be purchased; instead, one most rent. The families that get priority in renting are the ones that have been around in the town the longest. So, there are still families residing in this small town that trace back to the 15th century!

It is because of the renting of houses that this beautiful little town has not been taken over by the rich, retirees, like many others of its nature. Instead, the town is bursting with life, from very young to very old :)

 Stonehenge

Wow.

There are many questions as to why Stonehenge was erected. One of the possible answer is as a status symbol, much like many other buildings are. I mean, can you imagine just stumbling upon this? Even knowing today what I was about to say left me in awe.

The largest stone in the henge weighs 45 tons. 

Myself in front of the most well known henge.

One of the biggest mysteries is how the stones were transported. There  were just so many that weighed such great amounts!

Stonehenge can also be used as a calendar. 

It seemed that a lot of the myths revolving around the creators of Stonehenge had to do with Merlin, the wizard we all know and love. 

I personally thought that this was cute, but I also find it important to note the location of the henge. AKA the middle of nowhere. 

Part of the reason that it is so incomplete is because people used to be able to walk up to it and chip off pieces of the stone to keep as souvenirs. 

Okay, okay, I admit that I took a lot of photos of Stonehenge. It was one of the most fantastic sights I have yet to see!

A very complete side of it, only missing the top parts. Oh! And they had little nobs on top of the standing stones that would perfectly fit into grooved holes in the laying across stones. 

A picture, clouds closing in

The heel stone

What is would have originally looked like

That was basically my day! After we got back from the tour, I grabbed some dinner (crispy duck salad) and headed back to the hostel!

Tomorrow I'll be looking to visit the Roman Baths, then will hop on my train.

Much love,
Lynette

PS: Anyone interested in looking at the uncut version of my photos? I'm talking 100 instead of the 40 I attached here. Warning: A LOT are more angles of Stonehenge. :)