Old Universities and Shakespeare

Yes, I am currently in Wales, and yes there's only 2 weeks until I come home, but I'm not going to post about that. It's time that I talked about Cambridge, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford!

So, first I went to Cambridge. I took the map the hostel gave me and started wandering around. I was mostly just impressed by how old all the buildings are, and that basically the whole city is the University. It's not this enclosed, sectioned off campus that you normally think of. Cambridge (and Oxford) uses the collegiate system, which means you belong to a college within the University. I don't completely understand it... but it obviously works for them. Also, both Cambridge and Oxford were founded about 800 years ago. My university is celebrating 50 years this year, kind of made me put things into perspective.

One of the highlights of Cambridge was finding the college my great-grandfather graduated from in 1933 - Pembroke College. And luckily, it was one of the colleges that is free to go into and look around! Most of the others, I guess the more famous ones, make you pay a couple pounds to go in.

King's College, known for it's choir broadcasts at Christmas

Queens' College - it always has a Queen as a patron

The river behind the colleges, with punts

Pembroke College

Next, I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's hometown. Somehow I managed to pick a time between shows, so I didn't actually get to go see a play while I was there. I literally missed it by a day. I did go to most of the houses associated with Shakespeare, the ones in town at least. His birthplace obviously, the house his daughter owned, and the house his granddaughter owned. I also went to the church where Shakespeare and many of his family are buried.

Shakespeare's childhood home

The house on the left is where Shakespeare's granddaughter lived, and the space on the right is where Shakespeare's final house was

Shakespeare's Grave

Finally, I went back to Oxford. I did some more looking at colleges, specifically the ones where Lewis Carroll, and JRR Tolkien worked. I did want to go to the one where C.S. Lewis worked, but it was farther out, and pouring rain at the time... I also visited Alice in Wonderland's sweet shop to have a look around. I rounded out my evening by going to an A cappella concert put on by some guys from St. Andrew's University in Scotland, The Other Guys.

Christ Church College - Where Lewis Carroll worked, and where some of Harry Potter was filmed!

I then set off to visit with a bunch of relatives, this time on my Mum's side!

The Countdown is on

I leave Canada for the UK in just 10 days. It's crazy how fast time has gone since I decided to go on this adventure. It really doesn't feel like almost 2 months has passed.
In that two months, however, I successfully finished my second year of university!

I'm getting really excited, but also pretty nervous.
I mean, I have to get to know a new place, and a huge city at that! (And I'm from a pretty small town, there's only one bus..)
I have to try and find a job, and a place to live.
It's a little overwhelming.
I'm sure it'll be fine though, and I've decided that if I can't find a job I'll just visit various relative's and and make my way around England.

In researching England, I've slowly realized how many things there are to do and see are in England. It's ridiculous! And I want to do everything! However, I've also come to the realization that I can't do everything, so I'm going to have to focus on what I want to do most, and then do it thoroughly. That way, I will always have a reason to go back!

Stonehenge

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge

Bath

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath,_Somerset

York

Taken from http://www.york-united-kingdom.co.uk/york-minster/

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Taken from http://wikitravel.org/en/Stratford-upon-Avon

I wouldn't be able to call myself a Shakespeare fan if I skipped Stratford!

Liverpool

Taken from http://www.placesonline.com/europe/united_kingdom/england/liverpool

And what sort of Beatles fan would miss going to Liverpool?!

These are only some of the amazing places Britain has to offer. There are many more cities and towns that I'd love to explore. I've found a website, called Global Goose, that is doing a "Beyond London" Guide, which will be helpful in planning trips I think.

Then of course there are all the things to do and see in London itself! Tower of London anyone? The Globe Theatre? Westminster Abbey? I want to see and do it all!

Another thing that strikes me about the UK is how old everything is. A building that's hundreds of years old is commonplace it seems. Or like, in York, there was a Viking settlement at point, and the Romans built baths there. And of course, Bath is named after the Roman baths!

Yes, Canada has history. But the really old, historic buildings are in Quebec. Here on the west coast, the best you can get is 150 years. That means nothing in England. Try 900 years, or more. It's pretty astounding, to me at least!

Anyways, I've got a busy week coming up. Sorting through all my stuff, deciding what to pack (while leaving everything else neatly in my parents house), buying stuff to bring with me (I want to show my Canadian pride during the Olympics, and have little gifties for relatives who put me up). Also, it's my brother Evan's Prom this coming Friday, and Spencer's 20th Birthday the day after. Definitely an exciting time!

Registered!

I officially registered with SWAP this afternoon to start the process of moving to the UK to work for the summer.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_flags

It hasn't really sunk in yet that I'll be going.
Partly because I still won't be leaving for 2 months, and I have a billion things to do before then.
And partly because I didn't find out about the SWAP program until last Wednesday, and it's only Monday. It all happened really quickly.

SWAP is a Canadian program that helps young people, students and non-students alike, to get visas for a variety of countries, and provides support before leaving and after you arrive. Visit www.swap.ca for more detailed info.

Out of all the countries available, I chose the UK for a variety of reasons:
a) They speak English. For my first long term travel abroad by myself, I figured baby steps are in order.
b) I have a ton of family who live there, who will be willing to help me out, guide me around, or give me a place to crash as I roam around
c) I love history. England is full of history. Queens, Castles, Shakespeare, Oh my!
d) Harry Potter and The Beatles (just kidding! kind of...)

Anyways, I think it will be a good experience and a lot of fun!
My parents have been especially supportive of me in this endeavour, for which I'm extremely grateful. As soon as I brought it up they were all for it. In fact all my family are very encouraging. As is Spencer, which means a lot to me.