Updates

It's funny how long it takes to get closure on an event like going abroad. There are so many things that you experience: some good and some bad. I have learned that the bad do not define the experience, but neither do the good. How your experience is is what you choose to remember. This does not mean the bad or good didn't happen, it just means that they are tempered by either other, and in the end, you choose which one is more prominent.

I often wake from dreaming about being abroad, just as I dream about home, or Roanoke sometimes. But the dreams -- and daydreams -- from abroad are more vivid. I can almost taste them sometimes. They are magical, upsetting, and wonderful. They sweep you up and then they let you down -- sometimes, with a crash. Other times, with a soft touchdown.

There is news that I wanted to update here -- firstly, that I am proud to be a global ambassador for my university, a high honor, and secondly, that I will be going to Jamaica in the Spring semester of my senior year .I will be updating then, after I return.

Be sure to tune in there.

Best always,

~ Emery

Update

So, firstly I wanted to apologize for not writing sooner. Mind, I don't know that I have very many readers, so it might be that I am just apologizing to myself for not actively honoring the side of myself that needs to write.

But be that as it may, I think I'll give my readers the benefit of the doubt and begin with an explanation. I try only to write when I feel I have something to say, and lately I have not felt at all like I have anything to say, let alone anything positive to say -- which is the state in which I try and keep this blog -- but on further exploration, I suspect that I may be suffering from homesickness, so I shall talk a little about that.

Homesickness while abroad is something colleges tend to acknowledge but don't tend to be very helpful about, unless it is to help you to a therapist . . . now, don't get me wrong, therapists are very valuable BUT those records are kept for 7 years and there's not much they can do to help with homesickness anyways.
In my experience, there are two types of homesickness, one feels something like the flu, in my experence. You feel like you're going to throw up because your stomach aches so badly. You can't think of anything else and there is this grand physical pain that you feel. You cry -- and then you laugh at how stupid you're being -- you cry again, and you feel a panic spread throughout your body.

I don't get that kind of homesickness now, but I did as a kid. This sort of homesickness is really easy to spot. But there's a different sort as well, the kind that only now am I realizing may be more prevalent than we may realize.
I used to sort of think of it as missing home -- aching for the place and being filled with nostalgia, but none of that weepy, panic-y stuff. I've now realized that this home-missing can be a sort of homesickness too -- only, you pine away.

If you only sometimes find yourself thinking wistfully of home, that's healthy. But if you find yourself retreating away from the present? That's homesickness. If you find yourself depressed, with a lack of luster of life? Homesickness. If you are fault-finding and just generally down? Homesickness. With Facebook and Skype it is really easy to keep living your old life -- but without physically being there. And this is an issue for you, because it means that you aren't living in the here and the now.

Speaking for myself, I know I am guilty of this. I am so afraid that if I lose even some connection with my family and friends, I will freeze, go into "real" homesickness. So I stay, living two lives.

Is this the best way of doing things? I don't know. I love my connections back home. But is it too much? Likely.

I think we are given the message homesickness is for babies, that adults (or the college equivalent) aren't supposed to miss their families.

We are given the message that if we were strong enough, we would deal with this and how dare we complain since we are in London/Paris or wherever? Is there some specific person giving us this message? No. I believe we give it to ourselves. And it is something reinforced by society.

When we get this feeling of withdrawal, we get depressed and, at least for me, my creativity gets stuck and I start watching endless runs of cartoons.

So, there is my brief explanation because I think it's important to acknowledge that depression hits all of us, even against our best efforts. And all you can do is acknowledge it, deal with it (to the best of your individual ability), and try to keep moving.

Best,
~ Emery

P.S. Hopefully, will upload Photos and more traditional blog-ness soon.

Tintagel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiWvmq4rgNw

Stonehenge

Hello all!

Alright -- so the thing I've most been looking forward to writing. Stonehenge. Popular for good reason, I absolutely fell in love with this amazing place. There's just something in the land that feels incredibly powerful. It is the wildness of nature and it makes you want to catch your breath. The fact that the very place exists? Well, that's pretty amazing too. This blog post is going to be pretty short, since we were only there for 1-2 hours. But I thought it was special enough that it warranted its own post. It did, after all, feel somewhat like a pilgrimage. There's just something so incredible -- historically and otherwise -- about a place that has been around for so long. In addition, there has been a great movement to try and allow the landscape around Stonehenge to go back to being as wild as it used to be. Personally, I think that's pretty cool. But then, I'm a big fan of the old ways . . . I think it is easier to see beauty when you are surrounded by the simple, important things in life. I am actually not a fan of technology, ironic as it may seem, but I do think it has great benefits and to not use those would be foolish. Still, places like Stonehenge, that were made without machines do radiate a certain kind of power and even here, where man triumphed over earth, the powers of the earth are still quite visable. When we were there, there was a great wind that rattled through the place. It was quite funny to me actually, when we were trying to take photos, as I felt like Marilyn Monroe, but maybe a bit colder.
Here, you should be able to see why.

I'm very windblown, as you can see.

As you all know what Stonehenge looks like, I'm only including a few photos, even though I took billions.

Approaching. 

Close

Leaving. :(

A few more thoughts before I leave you all -- 

I have, in fact, succeeded in my post week, post card plan. I have been sending out postcards every Thursday. I have made a list! And if I have your address, you will be likely getting one soon. 

I also have been able to cook successfully, a little. I am excited about this, so I am going to post a photo of my level 1 nachos. Because I can. Please don't hate me. 

That's all for now -- 

Until next time!

~ Emery

Bath

Hello again! This time, from the wonderful city of Bath. (well, sort of. I'm in London again, but lets pretend I never left Bath, shall we?) 

Saturday was an absolutely wonderful day, one of my favorites in my life, It was an absolutely flawless, perfect day (except for the fact that I had to wake up early). 

On the 2 1/2 hour bus ride up there, I read and listened to podcasts. It was nice and quiet. And our guide, when she spoke, was absolutely amazing. Kind, smart, and knowledgeable, I would later learn that she had built up the business herself and was the owner*. 

But back to the trip. We arrived soon enough in Bath. 

While we did not, unfortunately, get to eat here, I still like the sign.

 Bath itself, was absolutely gorgeous. It is a city of legends and gods. Magic and antiquity. In other words, exactly my kind of place. Here was the church that was in the center square.

And the same church from the front. It is not a cathedral because there is not a bishop who lives there. 

 The weather was gorgeous.

Then, we went into the museum, to see the ancient baths. They were pretty amazing.

 They also had a museum that was rather large. They had all kinds of ancient artifacts, but my favorite, admittedly, was this display of all the coins that people had thrown in for the goddess over the years. Named Sulis-Minerva, a combination of the previous goddess of healing (Sulis) and the Roman goddess Minerva, (of wisdom), this goddess was the patron goddess of the city, and the baths.

Coins!

 And then we got to see the origins of this hot spring. It was awesome.

 And then we got to see the drain.

And the bath from the bottom level. 

And here I am. 

And here are all the old roman baths. I thought they were super amazing. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I was in a hurry, because we had a walking tour, but I did manage to get photos. 

At the end of the museum, you were allowed to drink a tap which piped water directly from the spring. This was cool, because the waters of Bath were supposed to have healing properties. It was some of the best water I had ever tasted (very pure) and it was still hot!

Then I went on the walking tour. It wasn't terribly amazing, but the day was gorgeous and it was a nice little walk. 

Here were the highlights. 

There was this really pretty pathway we walked through as well, but NONE of the pictures turned out, so I won't show them. 

After this, we headed back to the town center and I had lunch with two of the girls. They were very nice. We ate at this tea place, and they had all kinds of pretty decorations and plates. The food was decent as well. 

And then, after that, we were headed to Stonehenge . . . 

To be continued . . . in part two. 

Until next time, 

~ Emery 

 *(If you're curious, her name is Susannah, Her website can be found here: http://www.prosceniumsa.com/who-we-are/ I'm only including this because I truly enjoyed the experience and would very highly recommend her to ANYONE.)

Cambridge, day 2.

So once again, I am going to be doing a lot of words in pictures kind of thing.

The second day wasn't nearly as interesting or fun as the first, but there were highlights, for certain.

The first thing we really did that morning, other than a nice breakfast, was go and walk around the botanical gardens in the area. There were some picturesque moments.

We also went into the greenhouses, in which were showcased plants from all over the world. I felt bad for the plants,but they were pretty. 

 They also had an amazon exhibit, which was nice, but just made me miss the real thing, which is 1000 times more beautiful. It was like a wave of nostalgia. I do think too, that of all the people I've met on my journeys, those in Peru were the kindest. There's something so amazing about the wild, free, beauty of the amazon . . . which isn't to say that there isn't weird or sad things too (like tarantulas in the shower and the sheer amount of poverty in the country) but all and all . . . there is no other place that I know of on earth like it. The simplicity makes for better people. When we have no worries, we become shallower and shallower as we forget what it is to suffer and work, and forget it what really matters because we take it for granted. But yeah. Anyways. As you can see, it made me seriously nostalgic.

 Still, England has its own kind of beauty, as you will see now.

After we left the botanical gardens, we went to a museum. It . . . wasn't bad. I'm not a museum person though, with very few exception. Still, I did enjoy the exhibit on swords.  

 And the portrait of Elizabeth I.

After that . . . well, we decided to go to lunch. Lunch was decent. We were in a pub and pub food (from what I've experienced from going on lunches here) is actually really good. I think I had a BLT or something. So you should know, that from about here on out, the trip was pretty much over. After lunch, we were given free time. This part was interesting . . . I think I'll say it without mincing words. . . I wound up alone. It wasn't really what I had in mind, since I had no idea where I was or how to get back or what the name of the place we were staying was, but I decided that I didn't care and I decided to make the best of it. It was rainy, cold and windy. And yet it was still lovely.

After some thought, I decided to stay close to the town. I spent most of the time in the bookshops there, then moved to the stationery shops. I was -- and still am -- searching for the perfect notebook, like the one I had in Paris. So far, no luck, but I had fun trying. There is nothing that as good a pick me up as a bookstore or art store -- well, except maybe a candy store, which is where I went as my final stop before heading back (it took me 40 minutes in the pouring rain to find the hotel). It was incredible, as a little girl noted to her father in awe, THEY HAVE EVER KIND OF CANDY IN THE WORLD! While maybe not that many different types of candy, they did have an impressive assortment that reminded me of something out of Harry Potter. I settled on peanut butter fudge (it was amazing) and went on my way.

And that, more or less, concluded my weekend in Cambridge.

Until next time!

~ Emery

Cambridge, day 1

Well, here it is!
I'm sorry to say I'm not going to describe it much, since there really isn't much to say, but I have a lot of pictures for you all, and I hope you enjoy.

So, here are the streets of Cambridge, very old, very pretty. We wound up walking through them a lot. Cambridge is, essentially, a college town. There is one university -- Cambridge, where, to my understanding, the lectures are held, and then there are a TON of colleges, which is where all of the students live and, if asked, the students will tell you that there is where they study: eg, King's College, St. John's College, etc.

So, here is one of them. I think this was a part of St. John's (the chapel) but I'm not certain. There were some really neat things in the city though.

There were a lot of interesting things though, like the clock above. 

And just because I really love old buildings, here are a couple of photos of some of the cool buildings we saw. 

We had a very nice lunch, after that, We sat in the town square and I had this WONDERFUL Cornish Pasty. This was our view.

There were, as you can see, a lot of birds flying over. 

After that, our director showed us St. John's college, where he had gone to school, and we walked around on the various campuses for a while.

Seeing the fancy dining hall -- here set up for something special -- was one of my favorite things. 

Panorama of the Campus. As you can see, our director likes to gesture wildly. 

Then we walked into the Cambridge Gardens. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

And here, just for fun, is one of me.

And finally, an assortment of photos from the grounds of other colleges.

King's College

The roof of King's College Chapel. Apparently it was the widest of it's sort ever built..

And that was basically it. Afterwards, several of the girls and I went to the evensong, because our director claimed it was one of the most beautiful things we would ever here. It wasn't. But it was still very pretty. After that, a few of the girls and I went and went out to dinner at a pizza place and that was very lovely and fun (they had different flavored 7-ups. Yum!) and afterwards, a small number of us went and hung out for a bit in one of the rooms and talked until nearly midnight. It was, in fact, quite nice. 

All for now, more soon,

~ Emery