wandering the UK

Hello everyone! Lots of love to you from across the world ;)

The last time you heard from me I was sitting in a McDonalds in Dublin, Ireland NOT SO ANY LONGER! Ha ha but we have had a lot of adventures in between then and now.

So why don’t I tell you a few of them. :)

FRIDAY

On our first Friday we woke up early ate breakfast all together and headed off to Glenandough (pronounced Glen.da.low) we hopped in our bus driven by an excellently accented Irishman. (I now have a new favorite accent)

It was a windy road, a lot of sheep and rolling hills, but so BEAUTIFUL AND SO GREEN!

We arrived at Glenadough and the highlights of the stop were the over 1,000-year-old Celtic cross in the middle of the medieval grave yard and the building called St Kevin’s Kitchen…yes St. Kevin. The only thing I can picture is Kevin as Cookie Monster from the Office. Sigh.

After a ton of pictures we hopped back onto the bus and headed for Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone, but not before a stop at Subway. Yes came all the way to Ireland to eat a Subway sandwich.

Blarney Castle was excellent. And I was so proud of our group because we all (well most of us) risked our lives to kiss the Blarney Stone! And if you kiss the Blarney stone you are given the gift of blab or the gift of blarney.

Hopped back onto the bus and headed for the small city of Cork. We stopped and had a traditional Irish meal(s) ranging from steak (ha ha) to chicken salad.

SATURDAY

Woke up and headed off to explore a little more of Dublin before we left that afternoon. Stephanie and I explored and looked for wifi…we were unsuccessful in finding wifi but we were successful in making an Irish friend.

A random Irish man, whom we are pretty sure was homeless, came up and talked to us while we were waiting to get back into our hotel. He asked where we were from and we said, “America.” And he said, “What nationally are you?” and we said, “American.” He replied, “I know that, but what is your ancestry?” He looked at me and said, “Are you Israeli……………”

Never heard that before. Ha ha

Lauren walked by soon after and asked us to come “help her” so we were saved. Ha ha

Got all of our bags, met our driver, and headed for the ferry.

After we lugged our bags and checked them we all GOT ON THE FERRY! So exciting. It reminded me of the scene in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade when Jones and his dad get on the blimp. We all had our little seats and there was food…there were no Nazis though so not exactly the same thing.

The ride from Dublin to Holy Head was longer than I thought about 2 and half hours. But there was free wifi, coffee, and the British news so we kept ourselves entertained.

Arrived in Holy Head and met our driver ROBBIE! He drove us around the UK for the entire week! He was excellent.

But any-who we hopped on (which we seem to be doing a lot) our bus for a 3ish hour drive to Ambielside, English in the Lake District. We had a group dinner at a great Italian restaurant attached to our hotel. The rooms we stayed in were all decorated so great and there was a free coffee/tea machine in our building. Yes please.

Sunday

We woke up and had breakfast at a great placed called The Apple Pie Bakery. :) And yes you can have pie for breakfast.

Headed off to Beatrix Potter’s house. It was a bit rainy but still great. The house was so cute and fun really reminded me of the type of place Louisa May would have lived.

After the author of Peter Rabbit’s home we headed to Dove Cottage, which was the early home of William Wordsworth.

A quaint lunch at a local restaurant, a quick look at Wordsworth’s grave and we were off to our hotel.

After a private church service in the Organs’ room we decided what to do for dinner. It was a free night for dinner so Courtney, Lauren, Lyndsey and I got dinner from a little grocery store and had AN OFFICE MARATHON! Yes please. Ha ha

MONDAY

We had a drive a head of us on Monday. After a quick breakfast at the Apple Pie bakery, we drove or Robbie drove us to Scotland! Specifically to see Hadrian’s Wall!

We had the cutest tour guide who reminded me of the historian in Monty Python and the Holy Grail who gets killed….ha ha ha yeah that one. But he was so cute with his little hat and glasses and then his pants were tucked into his socks! And his name you ask?...Dr. Bryan!


Hadrian’s Wall was awesome. Beautiful scenery! The wall/fortress is on the top of a hill so you can see for miles! It was not raining so the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and there were sheep everywhere. A classic English or Scottish rather countryside.

We not only saw the Roman fortress and Hadrian’s Wall BUT we got to walk on top of one of the sections of the wall! The wall is almost 1,000 years old; so it was very surreal to be there and experience a big part of history.

After we saw the wall we headed off to lunch at the cutest little cottage restaurant BUT not before we discovered that our bus would not turn on….so while our excellent driver Robbie tried to solve the mystery of the broken bus the rest of us took public transportation to the restaurant.

We were at the restaurant for quite a while but with a little dessert and a couple of riddles we passed the time in good form! Ha ha

We found another bus company who offered to take us to Stirling BUT as we were about to load our luggage onto the new bus we get a call from Robbie saying HE’D FIXED OUR ORIGINAL BUS! We were excited but also a bit disappointed when Lauren told us that the replacement bus we would have been on had wifi, satellite tv and Playstations….ha ha it is used for some of the national football clubs.

We got into Stirling but not after a lot of napping took place on the bus.

Lauren, Tyler, and I had Thai food then gathered some snacks for the group because we were watching BRAVEHEART!!!

BECAUSE

We had to ready because we were going to see the William Wallace monument the next day!

TUESDAY

Woke up and had a great British breakfast including tea, eggs, meat, cereal, and toast.

Loaded up our luggage and loaded up the bus to go see the Wallace monument! It is a huge tower with a lot of steps to the top…was I a bit scared…. maybe. I do not enjoy heights BUT I MADE IT and it was WORTH IT! Beautiful view of the Scottish hills!

After the monument we headed to St. Andrews—home of the 4th largest university in the UK and site for one of the greatest golf courses in the world.

It was fun. I wandered off by myself and found a great little coffee shop THEN I found Courtney, Brad, and Lauren on the beach making a sand castle so of course I joined them ha ha

Back on to the bus and onto Edinburgh!

I feel asleep every time we got on the bus so I decided to go to bed early…so I got some cereal from a grocery store and turned in!

WEDNESDAY

We had a tour of Edinburgh! Including the castle and the Royal Mile!

It was fun and a bit adventurous because half of the group got the wrong time for the start of the tour so we had to wait for everyone to start the tour. Ha ha

But once we got the whole group together it was great to see the Castle and the Scottish Crown Jewels! Then after we finished our tour….which was long…but good we grabbed some lunch at a really cute placed called Chocolate soup! They had soups, sandwiches, coffee, and a ton of chocolate desserts! Including, yes, chocolate soup! Ha ha

We all wanted to see the palace where the Queen stays when she comes to Scotland so we headed on down the HUGE HILL! And took a look around…we were confused on some of the Royal Family policits/what makes you a queen and not a queen…basically why is Elizabeth queen and her husband Phillip is not the king…so we got a lesson in British-ness… ha ha and the reason is Elizabeth did not have any brothers so she can be the ruling queen but her husband since he is not in the direct blood line cannot be ruling king….

We were all EXHAUSTED! Well some of us were. A few people decided to climb this great big hill called Arthur’s Seat, which looks over the whole town…I opted for a nap before dinner!

AND DINNER WAS AT THE ELEPHANT HOUSE!!!

AKA THE BIRTH PLACE OF HARRY POTTER!!!

The elephant house was one of the coffee shops J.K. Rowling sat and wrote the beginnings of Harry Potter in! It was great BUT not decorated in H.P. stuff so the place felt authentic and not campy.

GREAT FOOD! And so so so good. Mary and I spilt a burger and a club sandwich (it has become our unofficial tradition to spilt meals! Ha ha)

Then after dinner Stephaine, Mindy, and I went wandering around town. We had some bonding time ;) and go to experience the city at night!

THURSDAY

Another wonderfully full English breakfast at the Hotel Ibis! (my France friends will remember this excellent chain hotel establishment) and headed for York!

Yet another long drive…and more napping. Which is probably good because it helped us all get over jetlag.

We arrived in York around lunchtime, and after a quick bite we headed to the York Minister, which is a huge church, for our tour!

Our guide was funny and informative! The perfect combination. The Minster was beautiful! The outside reminded me a lot of the church in Rheims, the city where I lived in France.

We walked the outer wall of the city and got to explore some of the cute little streets.

After our tour a lot of us waited to go to Even Song, or the Evening singing service at the Minster. It was so beautiful. The little boys that sang were precious, but more importantly it was cool to see the sincerity and the heart behind a lot of the people present. I just love experiencing the heart of God and the hearts of his people all over the world and in so many different settings.

I have been abundantly blessed.

A quick dinner at the hotel….and a lot of laughter….(Yeah for a moment I could not breath. I cannot remember what was being said, but all I know is Brad is one of the funniest people on this trip!) we all turned in for the night BUT not before we ALL AT ONCE tried to get on the hotels internet. That was interesting because the signal was not strong enough to take care of all of us….

FRIDAY

OFF TO LONDON!!!!! WHOO HOO

After ANOTHER EXCELLENT full British breakfast we hopped on our bus, greeted our faithful driver, and friend Robbie we headed to the capital city!

Some more napping and ipod listening; a quick stop for lunch at some services (UK speak for a huge rest stop) WE ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!

Got to our apartments WHICH are down the road from the British Museum! Can’t beat that! Met with the Florida State facility managers (we rent a section of flats or apartments from FSU) and headed to the grocery store.

AND

Oh yeah can’t forget this one…we are on the top floor. And there are 4 or 5 (a lot) of windy, close stairs we must scale to get to our flat…not fun…especially with our huge suitcases…boo.

Ok so we went to the grocery store to get a few things to tide us over for the weekend!

Also Jacqueline Dillion the former director of the London program and the director of the French program I went on invited me and the Organs out for coffee!!! It was so great to see her and to have some amazing coffee! And your know being in London was not a drag either. ;)

Then we all unpacked, settled in, enjoyed the wifi!

WHICH I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED BECAUSE I GOT TO SYKPE WITH ANNA B MIELKE ALL THE WAY IN CALI!

☺

SATURDAY

Today. Today!

I slept until 11…not planned.

Had some breakfast, hung out with the girls! We are all in one big apartment. Stephanie and I are roommates! And there are two other rooms, one with 3 girls and one with 2! We have two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room!

Got ready for the day and Stephanie, Mindy, and Mary all decided to come exploring with me and get coffee! A must have at all times!

On our explorations we stopped in a ticket shop to see how much some show tickets for like Wicked or another show would be…the prices were great. Almost half off….and as we are standing there I look at the other girls and was like, “Do you guys want to go see a show today?”

We asked what time the next showing of Chicago was and it was in 40 minutes……SO WE BOUGHT TICKETS (after we found an ATM and got cash) AND WE WENT AND SAW THE SHOW!!!

IT WAS FUN AND SO SPUR OF THE MOMENT (not like me at all ha ha) and wow it was just an amazing show period! And we had GREAT SEATS ON THE FLOOR ALMOST SMACK IN THE MIDDLE! So so great! ;)

Headed back to the apartment and now here I sit.

Ha ha

It has been a busy last week and I am sorry for the lack of details in some areas but I had a lot to tell and I thought an overview was the best! Plus the details have gotten fuzzier as they have gotten farther away.

Thank you for reading! I hope it was fun and I hope that my rambling has been somewhat coherent and grammatically correct.

With much much love please continue to pray for our group and for the Lord to move mightily in the hearts and minds of the students, and all of us, here as they experience and grow this semester!

<>< caroline

heading to ireland!

Ah Dublin we have arrived! :)

Hello dear ones, family and friends, I have arrived with the Harding in England group of students in the wonderful country of Ireland. Whoo hoo

Our flight was about 7 hours and went smoothly, aside from the fact that after riding on the Middle Eastern airline company Emirates this summer I am FOREVER spoiled. Our flight to Dublin did not have two meals and free snacks on request, there were no personal tvs, no hot towels when I arrived and the seats were so small! Bah!!!!! Whew ok now that my rant is finished I will admit that I am being a tad bit of a brat and continue on with what happened after the plane ride. Ha ha

We got into Dublin at 8 a.m., local time, and fyi the time difference is 6 hours different from Central Standard Time.

Our group of 11 (8 students, the Organs (teachers), and me) got off the plane and into the customs line just fine HOWEVER there was only ONE person working at the immigrations and customs desk…for about oh 250ish people. Oh my my my. So we stood standstill in line for almost 45 minutes and the entire process to get through customs took almost 2 hours. They eventually got some more people in help.

BUT

We made it out and everyone got ALL of their luggage. Praise! Then we headed off to meet Lauren Knight and her husband Tyler. Tyler is in school at Oxford and so Lauren has been hired to be the hands and feet of HUE! She is amazing and has done an awesome job coordinating and directing us so far…. I expect to see many more great things ;)

Headed out of the airport and into the crisp 50 degree Ireland air! Very refreshing, especially after only 3ish hours of sleep, which I was grateful for, but still coffee was a must. Loaded all of our bags and selves onto a “coach” which dropped us off at Trinity College where we are staying.

Got our rooms, well most of us got our rooms, several others had to wait for keys, but the room situation was eventually sorted out.

After we dropped our bags off and stared at each other (jet lag) we headed off (yes we hit the ground running) to get a bit of breakfast and meet our first tour guide!

The place we got breakfast had gluten free AND organic options! Needless to say I was very pleased and so was my tummy. We grabbed our cappuccinos and oat bars and headed down to meet our tour guide Lorcan. Lauren described him like this, “Look for the guy who is kind of dressed like a preacher, but cooler…” ha ha so we found Lorcan and he in fact did look like he was wearing a collar, but he also had some sweet glasses that rounded out his look. Ha ha.

We all sat down and got ready for the 1916 Rebellion tour, which goes through the history and significant sights around Dublin that led up to the Irish revolt/rebellion of 1916, which eventually led to the creation of a separate nation state from Britain in 1922.

Lorcan was hilarious. Entertaining but so knowledgeable! He has been leading this tour for 14 years and has co-written a book called Easter Rebellion: 1916 with another one of the tour guides. He said his mother has told him it’s the best book she’s ever read…so I guess we are to judge for ourselves ; )

After the tour we were all a little tired and hungry so we received some cash for lunch and were released upon the city. Sort of we only had an hour before we had to meet up again. Ha ha So I went off with a couple of girls, Lauren and Lyndsey, to find a bathroom, which can be an adventure of its own in Europe BUT we were successful.

And I was also successful in ordering a ham and cheese sandwich from a local vendor…but I had to repeat what I wanted a couple of times because I guess my “thick southern American” accent threw him off. Ha ha It was fun standing in line (messing with/ trying to figure out my UK phone that I am using for the program) and listening to some local high school kids on a lunch break. It feels good to be back in Europe, or rather back in a historically saturated environment. Not that there is no history in American, or even Arkansas, BUT the type of history and the type of essence that rests in most of Europe’s large cities in indescribable and energizing. Like Louisa May Alcott said being in Europe is like walking into a novel.

After lunch we met back up to go and see The Book of Kells…which is one of the oldest and most beautiful illuminated manuscripts! And I was excited because my mom was pumped for me to see it! She saw it on our itinerary and got very excited! Ha ha It was interesting but my favorite part was not the Book of Kells BUT the huge massive awesome library of classic works, letters, and different culturally iconic works of literary. Sigh. It was amazing. I just stood there. It was somewhat like when the Beast, in Beauty and the Beast, lets Belle into his library! Except this place was made of wood and had ropes blocking me from the books…otherwise exactly like Beauty and the Beast ;)

After we sampled the Book of Kells museum which is on the Trinity campus, right down from our rooms, we were let go for the evening…it was only about 4 o’clock and most of us did not want to go to bed yet (even though we are exhausted) in an effort to get our bodies on schedule with this time zone.

So here I sit…in a McDonalds down the road from Trinity with two of the girls, Mindy and Stephanie. We hoped to find free wifi to occupy ourselves with until it was time to go to sleep…however free wifi was not available…so we will see where we find some internet SO I CAN POST THIS and tweet and stay socially connected etc….or as an arrogant former youngest VP and current temp would suggest I should just “Woof”…because it connects ALL social networks : ) if you can tell me the reference you will get a prize and I will be extremely impressed.

Please pray for the transition and meshing of the group; pray for safe travels and a spirit of encouragement and support to flood through our group. : ) God is moving all the time.

Also just a disclaimer I probably, well who knows, but probably will not be blogging every day. I hope to blog every week AT THE MINIMUM and maybe more depending on what the schedule looks like for the week.

Love and prayers to you all. Kisses.