Second Term Starts and York & Whitby Feild Trip...

Second term started the Monday the 12th. I’m enrolled in 5 classes:

Journal and Memoir
Advanced Writing: Arts and Letters
Organizational Behavior and Management
British Short Stories
British Art and Museums

I love my class schedule! I have class everyday from 9-12:30 and its perfect! I’m usually home by a little past one, and then I have the entire day to go to the gym, get work done, and work for MJ. Speaking of MJ Catering….I worked two weeks past at the Darby Football Game and this time I was in charge of a ‘box.’ They asked if I’d ever worked a box before and I was like “sure I have!”….NOT! Anyway, it was a good day’s work and I enjoyed it very much! Now with MJ I can be a Bar Supervisor and in charge of a Box. Nice.

On Wednesday the 29th for my Arts and Museums class we met at the “The Barber Institute of Fine Arts” on the University of Birmingham campus for class. Before our hour tour of the art Institute, we had time to go through the “Jack Kerouac” exhibition. Here we got to see the original manuscript scroll of Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel. “One the Road,” is displayed here in Britain for the first time! I got to see one of the most iconic literary manuscripts in existence. In April 1951, Kerouac taped together eight twenty-foot strips of teletype paper to form a single scroll some 150 feet long. Feeding it into a portable typewriter, he began composing the work that was to become the bible of the post-war Beat Generation. He completed the novel in only twenty days or rapid. Continuous typing, fuelled chiefly by caffeine! It was very cool!

On Friday the 30th we left Tennis Courts at precisely 8am to make our two hour journey to York. We first stopped at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park before dropping out stuff off at the York International Youth Hostel. Naturally I frolicked around the park and imitated the various sculptures. It was rather windy and cold but still a fun time! From the Park we when to the youth hostel to get unloaded and situated. We had about two hours to just relax and hang out or wonder through York till the group would meet at the York Minster at 3pm for a guided tour. The York Minster was absolutely beautiful! York Minster is a Gothic cathedral and one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The Minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York which is the second-highest office of the Church of England. Its formal title is “The Cathedral and Metropolitan Church of St. Peter in York.” It was constructed in 1338 and contains the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In its existence, it’s been through three fires but still stands today as beautiful as ever!

After the tour, we got the option to stay for “Evensong” at 5:15. Evensong is a liturgy in the use in the Anglican Communion and is celebrated in the late afternoon or evening. It’s commonly known as Evensong when the pray is rendered chorally, where most of the service is sung. It was the boys and men’s choir singing this night and it was beautiful! I could listen to them sing the “Lords Prayer” forever!

After evensong we went back to the hostel to make some pasta! We decided to bring pasta, sauce, and food form home and cook in the hostel instead of spending money to go out and eat what a fantastic idea! The next day was a free day! We slept in a bit and then at one met up with the group to go to the “Jorvik Viking Centre.” “Jorvik’ is the Viking name for York, and this museum is actually the site of a number of 10th century Viking buildings which they are still excavating. The ground is very moist and spongy, which has helped reserve wood, leather, and cloth artifacts that would have normally disintegrated by now. It was very interesting! They had this ride that you took through a ‘wax’ set up of how it would look and SMELL (icky) like during that time. From the skeletons discovered in there excavations at this site, they made the wax people from the profile of their skulls and what they would have looked like through the use of amazing technology…..WOW! After the museum a few of use wondered around York for a few hours before going back to the hostel to make another cheap dinner. After dinner, the majority of us were pretty tired from the long day and we watched “Underworld” in the TV lounge. It was fantastic!

This morning we woke up bright and early for some full English breakfast provided by the hostel and got on the coach for a two hour ride to Whitby, in Northern Yorkshire. There was an OPTION to take a 7 mile hike along the coast from Robin Hoods Bay to Whitby…it was snowy, windy, and really really cold…I opted out thank you! About 25 people from the group took the hike and the rest of us wandered around Whitby. From the people on the hike, they said it was a good time and they got some beautiful pictures, BUT it was REALLY REALLY cold. Yup, I made a good decision. Once we dropped of the crew stupid enough to hike, we went to the Whitby Abbey Ruins and it was really cool! Did I mention we kind of jumped the brink fence and snuck in….. A few of us just wondered around Whitby for a few hours before catching the coach to go back to Brum. In Whitby I found a good sized, not too big and not too small, backpacking backpack for Spring Break. WOOT WOOT! Whitby is known for is yummy fish n’ chips, so naturally we just had to get some! Hehehe! They were right, it was delicious! After fish ‘n chips we went to a small café and got some hot coca cause we were really cold! Burrrrr…Then it was time to get on the coach for a four hour trip back home. As I type, a good chunk of my SIE group is at the “Bar One” a mile up the road watching the Super Bowl….no thank you. It’s 12:23am and I’m soooo tired! The game wouldn’t get done till about 4am my time and they aren’t even showing the commercials…well, it makes sense…we are in England and the commercials they play are American commercials, but still!

Well I best bet to bed! I have a long week ahead of me! Oh yeah, this weekend my and Ashley are taking a day trip down to London on Saturday to see a matinee of “Wicked” and evening show of “Three Days of Rain,” which is a NEW play with, yup you guessed it, JAMES MCAVOY!! AHHHHH! I’ll let you know how that goes! I’m getting so excited!

Goodnight!

Kirsten