To end our Spain and Italy tour, we needed to stop in Barcelona! We spent two full days exploring the city. As agreed upon by the entire group, the bike tour of the city was our favorite part!
Barcelona – bike tour
Barcelona – bike tour
Barcelona – bike tour
Sarah and the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean
The Mediterranean
The Iberian Coast
Oxford Castle
Yesterday, six of us travelled by train to see Oxford. For those that are keeping tabs, Cambridge is the number one university in the world, with Harvard and Oxford taking up the next two positions. Those positions change quite frequently, but right now, we brag about the fact that we live in the same town as the number one university in the world. But we’d also heard good things about the town of Oxford, so we decided to see what another college town was like.
Christ Church
To start off, it was a perfect day to go to Oxford, because it was sunny and nearly 60 degrees outside, so walking around the town was pleasant. Most of our day was spent walking around and taking pictures of buildings and seeing the outside of colleges. We saw the outside of Christ Church, which is one of the largest churches in Cambridge. We also saw remnants of Oxford Castle and the Bridge of Sighs in Oxford.
For lunch, we went inside this little indoor village with all these little shops and cafes. I had THE BEST sandwich, with brie, onions in balsamic vinegar, and spinach on a baguette. It was DIVINE. And, even better, we got really good cookies at the end of lunch that were still warm from the oven and so good.
Balliol College
Our last stop of the day was to see Balliol College, which is arguably the oldest college in Oxford. It was established in 1263. We got to walk around the grounds for a little while, and see the inside of their dining hall. There was also a really small garden that looked like the Secret Garden. It was also late afternoon by this time, and we got some really good pictures of the college in the fading light.
Overall, it was a very relaxing day, and we enjoyed spending time walking around together on a leisurely day off. We had a great time visiting the second best university in the world, but I think it’s safe to say that we all love Cambridge, and wouldn’t trade living here for anything.
What a capital!! Two days were not nearly enough to explore this gigantic city. To name a few, we saw the Colosseum, the Royal Forum, and the Vatican.
The Colosseum – Roma
The Colosseum – Roma
(Matt) The Colosseum – Roma (photo credit: Brendan Johnson)
The Colosseum – Roma
Roman Forum – Roma
Roman Forum – Roma
(Left to Right: Emily M. Aislynn, Brendan)
Roma
Roma
The Pope at the Vatican – Vatican City
The next stop in C-95’s Italian and Spanish adventure was nestled in the mountains of Tuscany: FLORENCE!!! This city was built and supported by the Romans because it was a fertile area along the trade routes to the Alps. The basilica was gigantic and we loved strolling through the Roman plazas and seeing the impressive Classical architecture and sculptures.
Michelangelo’s Plazza: C-95 Left to Right: Brendan, Aislynn, Emily M., Sarah
Florence Hospital: Excellent Classical Architecture
Fiume Arno flowing through Firenza
Florence
Fiume Arno flowing through Firenza
Last remaining bridge after the Nazi bombings
Firenza
Florence
From February 12-14 six of us Cambridge students began an adventure through Italy and Spain. We stopped in Venice first which was great because Carnevale was going on and people dress up in fantastic costumes and masks! The city itself was gorgeous too. Nothing like floating on a gondola during Valentine’s Day weekend. The gondola man does not make too bad of a date!
While everyone has been off galavanting over Spain and Italy during first break, Jessica and I have been taking several small trips around England. Our first stop was last week in Dover, and our next trip was to Windsor and Eton to see Windsor Castle.
Before we left, we checked online ahead of time just to make sure that it was open, because we didn’t want to have a repeat of our Dover trip where we arrived and found the castle closed. Luckily for us, the castle was open and we hopped onto four different trains to Windsor. The castle is very cool because on the outside, it looks old and very medieval, but on the inside, it has been renovated and decorated.
During the winter months, the State Rooms are often open to the public. We got to wander through all of the State rooms, which were very interesting. St. George’s Hall had hundreds of family crests covering in the walls and the ceiling. The stairway entering into the rooms was covered in a great display of antiquated swords, guns and other weapons, showing off the power of England to all who come to visit. My favorite room was one decorated in red (my favorite color) and gold, with an entire wall of windows that overlooked the gardens outside.
We also got to see Queen Mary’s dollhouse. This dollhouse is absolutely amazing. It was built to reflect the culture and fashion of the times, and was incredibly elaborate. They said that all of the golden plates in the dining room were made of real gold, and the Crown Jewels were actually small jewels. If I had a dollhouse like that, I could have played with that dollhouse for hours.
Because we went on a Sunday, St. George’s Chapel was not opened to the public, as they were holding services all day. We did get to see the outside of it, and the rest of the outside of the castle as the sun was going down. It was very pretty.
We had a great time traveling down to Windsor, but were very happy to take a few days for a break before our next day trip adventure. Coming up next is our trip to York!
We’re already at our first week break of the semester! I can’t believe that it’s already been a month since the new group arrived. This week, the majority of the group is headed off to Spain and Italy. Jessica and I, however, decided to stay in England and use up our Britrail passes and travel to a couple of places in England that we really wanted to see.
Dover Castle
Yesterday, the two of us trained down to Dover to see Dover Castle and the White Cliffs. Dover Castle sits on top of one of the cliffs, and the town sits below it. We had to walk all the way up that cliff to get to the castle, only to discover when we reached the top that Dover Castle was closed. Needless to say, we were quite disappointed, and had to settle for taking pictures of the outside of the castle. Luckily, the weather was pretty nice, so the climb up wasn’t too bad.
Our next stop was to try to find a good spot to see all of the White Cliffs. There was a winding road that led from the castle down and toward the cliffs. We thought that the it would take too long to follow that winding road, so we hopped a fence and walked through a lovely English pasture down toward the road. It got a little sketchy when our third fence-hopping experience happened over a barbed wire fence, but we had fun frolicking through grassy fields and seeing the scenic side of Dover.
The first fence we hopped on our trek down to the road
After wandering back to the road, we ran into a very nice couple who kindly suggested that maybe the best place to see the cliffs would be on the waterfront instead of on top of them, which is where we were. So we made our way back into town and walked along the water. We never really got a good look at the cliffs because there were cars and overpasses in the way, and we didn’t have a car. It was a little disappointing, but we did spend some time picking rocks on the beach, and watching the waves coming in and out, which is my favorite thing to do.
Our day ended with a visit to a museum in Dover which houses the oldest seafaring boat that has been found. This boat dates back to the Bronze Age in 1550 BC, and was excavated from Dover in the early 1990s. It had to be the biggest attraction to the museum, because it was pretty much the only thing inside, but it was still pretty cool to see something that old.
Overall, our little misadventure turned out to be pretty fun. I would probably like to go back to Dover and actually see the castle one day, but that was a fun first time. It was also a good reminder that even when things don’t go exactly as planned, they can still turn out to be fun if you go with the flow.
White Cliffs of Dover
Pier in Dover
Bronze Age Boat
It is great to take a break every once in a while and take in the beauty of a city and the landscape. One of the most beautiful places to go in Cambridge is along the Backs (the backside some of the more famous colleges of the University of Cambridge).
Cambridge football practice complex
Part of the reason I wanted to study abroad for an entire year was so that I could completely immerse myself into English culture. One aspect of that culture is the education system. When you study at the Study Center, you take classes at the center with a variety of different professors. There is, however, the option to take an English or History course at the local community college, Anglia Ruskin University. This is something that I have chosen to do both of the semesters that I have studied here, and I am very glad that I have.
Taking classes at Anglia Ruskin gives you the opportunity to see what school is like in a different country. For my English classes, in general, we meet only once a week for two hours. The professors (or tutors, as they call them here) are laid back. Your final grade is determined completely by your final paper, project, or exam. This means that all reading, learning, and writing, is up to the student. It’s a very different style than the ones that I am used to at Valpo, and a welcome change of pace.
Being at the Study Center is great. It’s nice to know everyone, and REALLY nice to only have to walk across the house to go to class. But sometimes, I miss the feeling of being on a college campus. I miss passing people trekking across the lawns and waving to them, and I miss being a part of a larger community. Taking classes at Anglia really has helped me to feel more at home and like I’m still in college. I get to walk to classrooms, and sit behind an actual desk or table, and learn in an actual classroom instead of a room in a house.
Taking a class at Anglia Ruskin also allows you to make new friends, ones that you may not have otherwise made in Cambridge. Being friends with people that are familiar with the English culture is really interesting and enlightening, because they have a lot of different perspectives on life. This can also be said for the professors at Anglia Ruskin. Oftentimes, they have assumptions about America and Americans that you may have never thought of before, and it makes you think a little differently.
I would absolutely recommend taking a class at Anglia Ruskin if you were to stay at the Cambridge Study Center. It is a great way to immerse yourself in a different culture and get to know new people, and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to do so. And, if nothing else, it gives me the chance to walk through the town early in the morning and watch the snow fall on the River Cam, which always makes for a good day.
Snow on the way to class
Snow in the park on the way to Anglia Ruskin
It has been snowing here in Cambridge. On the radio station, the locals are talking about massive travel headaches in this “snow apocalypse.” So far less than an inch has been reported.
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