If I was Elizabeth Bennet, I would not have been content with just Derbyshire

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

We left the Centre at 7:30 AM and rode the bus for quite a ways, during which most of us slept. I’m getting really good at sleeping on buses…it’s not very easy. There’s lots of bouncing and turning and personal boundaries to avoid crossing in certain situations. Some people come up with some very creative sleeping positions – various forms of cuddling, some people sleeping on the floor underneath seats and in the aisle, etc., which you can kinda see in the picture. I took some pictures of sleepers, most of which I plan on using for blackmail when the time is right. I felt justified in taking pictures of them because I know for a fact that they have taken incriminating sleeping photos of me, so it all comes out okay J Our bus driver’s name is Zoltan. Sweet, huh? Our first day was to be spent in the Lake District – it is absolutely the most gorgeous place. I now feel really bad for Elizabeth Bennet, who was supposed to go to the Lake District but had to content herself with Derbyshire. The Lake District is amazing.

Our first destination was Haworth, where the Bronte sisters lived! So cool! We saw the moors that inspired their novels and we saw their rooms and learned all about their lives. They have a graveyard right outside their front door – literally. It’s kinda creepy. No wonder their books are so dark. And, we learned that the water supply for the town used to filter down through all the bodies in the cemetery…yummy…they have since fixed that problem. Or so they told us. I loved seeing where Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre were written and some of the things that inspired them. Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, and I just finished reading Wuthering Heights for class. I really liked Wuthering Heights – I hated the characters, but I got sucked into the story. It was weird. I really hated Catherine…both Catherines. I just thought they were dumb and ridiculous. And Heathcliff…let’s just say that I’m not a big fan of revenge. I think it’s a big waste of time and effort, and it doesn’t get you any real satisfaction. Since Heathcliff is obsessed with revenge the whole time, naturally I did not like him and was actually so extremely glad to see him die. I don’t care if that sounds bad. He just needed to be released from his torturous existence. Hopefully he found rest in fictional character heaven and finally got to be with Cathy.

After Haworth we hopped on the bus and found that Zoltan had bought us all candy! I ate coconut ice. Normally I don’t like coconut, but this was good! Next we went to Wordsworth’s house, Dove Cottage. This was a site which, once again, I did not fully appreciate because I am not the biggest Wordsworth aficionado. I did learn a lot about him while I was there, but my English professor definitely enjoyed it much more than I did. I’m pretty sure he was in heaven. The gardens behind Dove Cottage were my personal favorite part. They were gorgeous, and they looked out over a bit of the nearby lake.

My friend Jess found a ginormous slug too! We got some ice cream in the nearby village of Ambleside and then we went back to our hostel which was literally right on the edge of the most beautiful lake. We could see the lake perfectly from our room. We ate dinner at the hostel and watched the sunset on the dock right outside. There was many a picture taken.

We also went for a little jaunt along the edge of the lake, into a little park. It was beautiful. I noticed something weird though – it doesn’t get dark here, like really dark, until 11 or 12ish at night. I think it’s the lack of mountains compared with Utah that makes the difference, but it’s so odd to be walking around outside with your friends at 10 pm and have good light. We took sooooo many pictures. Ha ha not surprising. As I fell asleep that night I listened to my rather awesome playlist of all the songs that remind me of London. I think the most played on that list is the “Till I Hear Your Voice” from Love Never Dies. I just love his voice…such a wonderful thing to fall asleep to. (pictures coming soon)