Monday, September 1, 2008

Wonderland

So... I finally finished Orientation here at Harlaxton and am starting my first day of classes, having finished my 8:30 lecture hour a few moments ago. This place is so amazing and astounding it is almost impossible to put into words.... but I'm going to try.

I'm living in England. And the countryside out here is gorgeous. Now, to give you an idea of where I am, the name of the town is Grantham, where Sir Isaac Newton received his education. We are in South Lincolnshire close to Nottingham. And the bus ride out from London was gorgeous, even though I saw rather little of it due to my lack of sleep during my previous 16.5 hours of travelling (trust me--7.5 hour layovers are not fun :P).

But the manor house is absolutely amazing. I am going to carefully document the entire place with pictures just to give you an idea.... but let's see of I can begin to describe it to you all. I have my lectures for British Studies in the Long Gallery. And if you want a fairly good picture of it, just think Beauty in the Beast. It's a beautiful gold filigreed room shaped in a long rectangle. I then have my British Studies seminar in the Gold room (same sort of decoration but just about a fourth the length of the great hall and a little less wide) which has a beautiful painting and appears to have angels holding the chandelier in the middle of it. I still don't quite know where my Structures class meets, but we are finding each other at the Cedar Staircase (a magnificently filigreed room that I can't begin to describe--I'll just have to post pictures of it) and my fourth class is in the Gold Room again.

I can't begin to emphasize how much of a fairytale this place is. We have a bell that rings every quarter hour and also chimes the hour, there are multiple hidden passageways (though, unfortunately, most of them have been made into emergency exits only). In fact, I can't disagree with the assessment that living here and studying here is almost like living and studying at Hogwarts. You can't get much closer here on earth. Look for the pictures I'll soon be posting. I haven't taken many yet, but I've just been absorbing where I am in the little time I've had to relax so far. But don't worry--they're coming.

Cheerio!

1 comment:

Kindall said...

I'm proud of you for blogging. Keep it up!

And this place sounds amazing. If any of the art starts talking to you, call me. I'll quit school and be on a plane immediately to have a conversation with a painting.

Asking for time to decipher the signs...

What is there to know? I'm just another guy trying to figure out what it means to truly love, to truly live, to embrace life to the fullest. If I ever get some answers, I'll let you know. "So live on, / Breathing in every sigh / Hurt and joy / Truly living life to its fullness / Leaving no dream unturned / Or unfulfilled / Live on / Life awaits" -excerpt from "Nostalgia" by me.