Its been HOW long!?

So its been 3 weeks since I departed Bath.  For some reason, however, it seems so much longer than that! There are parts of Bath I miss, such as the beautiful Georgian architecture, the Brits, my friends (obviously), walking everywhere, and the TEA. Oh do I miss the tea.  But while I miss Bath, its been great being home.  Heres a little update for what I have been doing since I've been home.

I started my job at South Shore Country Club again, and let me tell you, it feels great to be back.  What do I do there, you might ask? Well, a lot of people assume I work in the restaurant, but I do not.  I teach golf clinics to both kids and adults, usually Monday-Wednesday, I work in the pro shop on occasion, usually just filling in for people taking some time off, and I am a starter. Whats a starter? Pretty much, I sit down on the first tee, check people in, make sure each time is exactly nine minutes apart to ensure that the course doesn't get jammed, and clean and put away golf carts at the end of the night.  Its a great job and I get to interact and meet a lot of really interesting and nice people.  They definitely treat me well at SSCC.

Also, I have been going to the gym a lot, which feels great.  Yes, it is dreaded beach season, and since I live 10 minutes from the Atlantic ocean, I tend to go to the beach a lot.  When I was abroad, I got out of shape pretty fast. Yes, we walked everywhere, but when it came to cooking, I did what was fast and easy, not really caring about the carb or calorie count.  But now that I am home, I have been trying to exercise more often and eat a lot healthier. I feel great already!

I have been seeing a lot of my hometown friends, but I have only gotten to see two of my close friends from Saint Michael's.  Many of them are living up in Burlington on campus so I will have to get up there for a visit!

Getting back into Boston sports.  It was so hard to keep up when I was abroad, and I would usually get all my information from my Twitter and FaceBook feeds.  But now I have been watching a lot of games, mostly the Celtics because they are in the playoffs (big game tonight!)

Reading more! I try and read throughout the school year as well to keep myself sane (history primary sources are not my idea of light reading) , but in the summer I usually crush one or two books a week.  I started utilizing my hometown library a lot last summer, so I am keeping with that trend and saving up money instead of buying them at Barnes and Noble.

Finally, probably the worst part of being home, studying.  Yes classes are over, all my papers are handed in, but I am taking the GRE and the Praxis II this summer.  For those who don't know, the GRE is a standard exam for getting into Graduate school, which I am planning on attending right after graduation.  Its a lot like the SAT's, but involves deeper thinking and has two essays. The Praxis II is required for my teaching licensure.  I took the Praxis I last summer, which again is similar to the SATs, but the Praxis II is content specific, meaning I will take the Social Studies: Content Knowledge exam, and that takes a lot more preparation and studying. FUN.

Well, theres a little update into my life post-Bath! I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Keep Calm and Bleed Green (go Celtics!!)

A Week of Finals

And no, not the exams. The last week of my "Bath time" was spent trying to see everyone, doing our list of "lasts" and maybe cramming in some studying. It me it was crazy to think about never seeing my professors again.  At Saint Mikes, you can usually always drop into their office or run into them in the academic quad. But with my ASE/Oxford professors, this was probably our last meeting, which made me really sad. They were all so wonderful and amazing, and I know I will definitely miss them.

Wednesday night we had an Education Programme pub crawl with Andrew, which was so fun! We went to a few pubs I hadn't been to which was really nice.

The Education girls with Andrew at The Raven 

We also had our last Thursday night at Beau Nash with their delicious burgers, cheap cocktails, and open mic night.  A lot of ASE was there, which was so nice!
Friday was a blur of packing, final tea, and our 'Last Supper' at Salathai. Final tea was held at a hotel right around the corner, and at the end Jonathon showed a slideshow of pictures submitted by us, the students, throughout the semester.  It was great to see pictures from the very beginning up until the very end.  We definitely came full circle. I, personally, hate goodbyes and it didn't hit me that I wouldn't see these people who I shared an unforgettable semester with for a very long time, or maybe never end up seeing them again.  I don't like thinking about it. Later that night we had dinner at Salathai, mirroring our first night in Bath.  We all ordered pretty much the same thing we did then and discussed our life changing semester.
The night ended with cleaning Linley and creating a list for the new Linley girls.
In order to earn the title of "Linley Girl", you must do the following:

• Go to Salathai.
• Become best friends with Andrew Butterworth.
• Go to Po Na Na's EVERY Thursday. Be careful of the sharkbuckets...they'll bite ya!
• Vodka Rev and 1pound shots.
• Burger night at Beau Nash
• Throw an "America" Party
• Befriend other houses early in the program
• make a quote wall
• befriend all of the starbucks baristas, especially Tom, Dan, and Ginger Johnny Depp
• Spend sunny days in the park
• Make a pump up pregame CD
• Listen to "love on top" on repeat

And the list goes on.  It is unimaginable not doing all of these again, but its time for some new girls to have these experiences.

I left Linley at 5:30am on Saturday morning to depart from Bristol to Dublin to Boston. It was a smooth travel and I am so happy to be home.  I definitely missed it and my parents and I am having all of the things I missed, such as my Dunks (which I got in Logan International Airport..it was fine), my mom's home cooking, MaryLous, goldfish, etc. And I have been going to the gym and beach! It has been a nice homecoming and I will be hopefully be starting work next week.

I know it will hit that Linley is no longer my home and I do not live in Bath anymore, but for now its not reality.

Keep Calm and Drink Dunkin

Stratford: Shakespeare Land

Between the last week of classes and finals week, ASE took us to Stratford upon Avon for 3 days to see 3 different Shakespeare plays, all performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.  Stratford is about a two hour bus ride from Bath, so we got there around noon on Tuesday.  Two of the Shakespeare professors for ASE came with us, Ruth and Brian Hazel (yes, they are married and adorable) and gave us a briefing before each show and a "talk back" the morning after.  The first show we saw on Tuesday night was "The Comedy of Errors", one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, written in the 1590's.  Now, I am not well versed in Shakespeare (see what I did there?) but I will try and give the best overview of each of the plays.

"The Comedy of Errors" is a comedy about two sets of twins, all separated at birth.  Antipholous of Syracuse and his servent, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus (yes they have the same names, which I was confused about.) So the Dromio's are twins and the Antipholus' are twins. Confusing, I know.  They ended up getting mixed up and mistaken as the other throughout the play, providing comedy because their friends and families think them to be the other one. This was probably the most entertaining of the three plays we saw, and the acting was fabulous.


The second play we saw was "Twelfth Night", again based on twins and supposed to be, in a way, in conjunction with "The Comedy of Errors".  Also, one of my favorite movies, "She's the Man" is a popular, recent adaptation of "Twelfth Night", so I was familiar with the story.  It was performed by the same cast as "Comedy" so we were familiar with the actors, which was nice.  So the story of "Twelfth Night" follows Viola and Sebastian, twins, who were forced from their homeland and separated.  Viola pretends to be a man named Cesario and befriends the Duke Orsino, who she falls in love with, but she is in drag so she is supposed to be a man.  The Duke wants her to befriend Olivia, his love, and try and get her to be with the Duke, so its this big love triangle.  Then Sebastian comes along and things get even more confusing.  I was not as convinced by these actors, and the actress who played Viola was not convincing at all.  I was more interested in the subplot with Toby, Olivia's drunk cousin, Sir Andrew, a silly knight, and Malvolio, who was also trying to woo Olivia. I think this might have been my least favorite play, but just because I wasn't invested in the characters. 



The last play we saw was "Richard III", which was more of a drama and tragedy rather than a comedy like the others were. It was also the longest of the plays, running 3 hours and 15 minutes.  I was very apprehensive when I saw that, thinking to myself "how in the world will I survive a 3 hour Shakespeare play??" I did survive, however, and I loved it.  I liked it the most because it was based on King Richard III who murdered his way to the crown and was eventually defeated by Henry Tudor.  I am a history major and I took a class on the Tudors so I knew the background of the story much better than the other plays. 

 The Stage for Comedy of Errors. There is a fish tank in the center and open water in the left hand corner!

 Outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre 

The Stage for 12th night (its the same as comedy of errors) you can see the open water on the right hand part of the photograph 

Keep Calm and be Cultured 

Barcelona: Viva Espana!

So the next major event in my abroad experience was going to Barcelona, Catalonia! It was one of the best experiences of my life, mostly because it was so different.  England is definitely a foreign country and there are cultural differences, but going to Spain was a major cultural difference and it was so amazing.  I went with 4 other friends and we met up with some other girls from ASE who were also in Barca.
We had to take a taxi from Linley at 430am to Bristol airport, so we were all pretty sleepy.  Our flight was at 645 which was good in a way because we had a full day to explore.  We did not fly into Barcelona, however.  We flew into Girona, which is about an hour bus ride from Barca.  I had no idea Spain was so mountainous! Flying in looked like when I flew into Geneva; there were snow covered mountains surrounding Girona which were beautiful and reminded me of the Alps.  We took a bus from Girona to Barcelona, and then the metro to our hostel, Kabul Backpackers.  

The Plaza! 

We were staying in the Placa Reial (Plaza Royale) right off of Las Ramblas, one of the busiest streets in Barcelona. We could not have asked for a better location.  We were a 5 minute walk from the ocean, and I saw the Mediterranean for the first time! It was very exciting. 

 The best sangria we had all weekend! and we had a lot of sangria...

Patatas Bravas. So. Amazing. 

 Emily, Me, and Cassie sitting on the Mediterranean 

Me and Fiona!

We walked down by the water for a while and then found a cute market! They had a lot of antiques and vintage things which was really cool to look at.  By this time it was around 4 so we were getting tired so we went back to the hostel to Siesta.  After, we met up with Maya and Valerie, 2 girls from ASE that were in Barca for the weekend as well! We got sangria and tapas and just enjoyed the warm Spanish evening. 

The next day, we woke up and went to a huge market right off Las Ramblas. They had everything, and I mean everything: fresh fruit, veggies, meat, fish, baked goods, nuts, the list goes on.  We ended up getting fresh squeezed juice, which this market was famous for. 

 literally so many choices!!

 They even had Sangria and Mojitos! 

After wandering the market, we headed back to the plaza and found another market in the center while we were waiting for Claire, another good friend from ASE.  This market was more of entrepreneurs than antiques or food and it was really cool to see all the different jewelry and clothing.  When we finally met up with Claire, we ate lunch at a restaurant in the Plaza and I got tomato bread and pesto with zucchini for the pasta! It was delicious. 

 Some of the Market

My lunch! So good. 

The afternoon included the Picasso Museum and the Gaudi Cathedral, both were absolutely stunning. The Picasso museum was about a 10 or 15 minute walk from the plaza and we got distracted the entire walk, either looking at the stunning Barcelona architecture, little cafes, or tiendas(shops in spanish). 

 One of the side streets we walked down to get to the Picasso

Fiona and Claire examining the art :) 

 Gaudi Cathedral 

 It was massive!! 

Some of the inside

The Gaudi was so spectacular, grand, and impressive, but I am unsure as to whether or not i could ever attend church there because it is so modern and untraditional. It was definitely something we had to see, though. 

That night, our hostel was doing a reduced ticket deal to the second largest club in Europe, which was definitely an interesting experience. If we go out in Bath, we usually head to the club around 11:30, 12 at the latest.  In Barcelona, we did not leave with our hostel until 2am and didn't get to the club until 2:30. It was a really cool and interesting experience, but I could never live there and do that regularly! The club was called Razzmatazz and had 5 separate floors and rooms and held 5,000 people on a regular basis. It wasn't crowded or claustrophobic, though, because of all of the different rooms you could go into. 

Barcelona was such amazing in so many different ways.  Just wandering down Las Ramblas and seeing all the different artists and markets and culture was spectacular. It was an experience not most can have and I felt so lucky to be there! 

Keep Calm and Drink Sangria

Twin Time in Bath!

So I'm really sorry for the lack of posts these past few weeks, but they have been super busy! I will fill you in through a series of posts relating to each major event rather than one big post, because those can get tedious both reading and writing.

So the title of this post may be confusing, seeing as I do not have a twin (well blood related.) I have a friend from home named Jenna, coincidentally, who I have known forever and when we were younger we were the 'twins' because we had the same name :) Anyways, Jenna (twin..I'm not talking in the 3rd person I promise) is studying in London for the semester, which is only 90 minutes away from Bath so obviously we had to meet up at some point in the semester. She ended up coming to Bath for just a day, but we did a lot of touristy things which were really nice.  We went to lunch at this hole in the wall pub that is really, really good and cheap! It is called the Porter, and really close to the Royal Crescent which was nice because that was one of our stops! After lunch and the Crescent, we went to the Roman Baths, which I had been waiting to do until she came to visit so it was a new experience for both of us! The only problem of the day was that it was raining and pretty cold, so being outside was pretty miserable but there is a museum inside that took up most of the time anyways and gave a really good history of Roman Bath. It was so wonderful having a friendly face from home, especially since the end is drawing near and I think everyone is a little homesick.

 Jenna and I infront of the Bath's with the Abbey in the background! 

 Some of the original steps from Roman Bath

Down by the Baths 

Keep Calm and have Twin Time

Bath vs London Wasps

A few Saturday's ago a few friends and I went to a real, live, professional rugby game! We had awesome seats and it was so much fun! Before hand we met at the Huntsman, the pub next to my house. It was 1 o'clock in the afternoon and it was PACKED. And thats what every pub is like on game day.  Its such a fun culture, and there are people of all ages there. We actually saw Andrew, our internship coordinator/mentor there!

Outside of the Huntsman...the inside was just as packed!

We then went to the game..our seats were 3 rows from the field so we had great seats!! I sat with one of the student helpers from Bath University and he helped me with the rules of the game.  I knew some but not all and it was really interesting how they look at it as American football but for real men. 

The Scrum :) 

Marie, Fiona, and I 

Marie, Charlie, and I 

It was so much fun and definitely a cultural experience in England.  They do love their sports, especially 'football' and rugby! 

Keep Calm and Support Bath! 

10 Years

Last night a few friends and I went out for dinner at a local restaurant/pub called Beau Nash for a burger/drink deal.  It was the first night all of us had been out together in a long time and it was so nice to just be out together having a great time.  We got talking, and someone mentioned how 10 years ago we would have never in a million years imagined ourselves in this situation.  Living with people we did not know existed before our program, seeing places so foreign that they seemed worlds away.  Learning and growing in every encounter we have.  Where will we be in 10 years? Will we still be friends? Will all of this be just a distant memory? I would like to hope that this experience will live on with me forever, and the friendships and relationships I make will last a lifetime.  But you never really know do you? In these last 10 years I have grown so much. Heck, in these last 10 days I have grown.  What will the next 10 years bring?

Keep Calm and Think Deep Thoughts

The Dreary and Melancholy Life of Papers...

So its about that time again...paper week.  It always seems to sneak up when you least expect it.  This week I had 3 papers due...two on monday and one tomorrow (thursday).  My two on monday were for my education class and my history of the middle ages class.  I thoroughly enjoyed writing my education paper (I'm not being sarcastic I promise) because it was on the effect of bullying in schools, comparing the UK to the global community and what we can do as teachers to eradicate bullying.  This is an issue I am passionate about, hence why I enjoyed writing it.  My History of the Middle Ages paper, however, was less exciting.  It was on the change in English economy throughout the middle ages.  Riveting, I know.  Those two are done, however, and now it is on to writing about Elizabeth I, which isn't so bad.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I went to Hayesfield, per usual, and first period, I gave a talk to Year 13's (the equivalent of seniors in high school) on Civil Rights in America, from an American perspective.  I talked mostly about how we learn (or don't learn) about civil rights in our school, and the impact in society today. I really think they enjoyed it and I was thankful that they participated in the lesson and asked me questions and it was not just me standing up there lecturing.  I was really nervous, mostly because of our closeness in age and they are quite intimidating, but my cooperating teacher kept telling me how great it was and that the students really quite enjoyed it.

Next Tuesday I will be doing a starter activity with my Year 7's on witchcraft, and my teacher told me I could do anything so I might do Salem witch trials since their curriculum only covers witchcraft in England.  I am also doing a Year 10 history class on Georgian Bath and a timeline activity. I am nervous because that is the class Andrew, our placement coordinator, will be sitting in on! Wish me luck!

Keep Calm and Survive Paper Week

And At Once I Knew I Was Not Magnificent

So it's my spring break and I am spending it in Thonon les Bains, France with my housemate, Marie.  Her parents are French and are living in France for a while, so I am spending break at her house.  We flew into Geneva Friday morning, and the view of the alps was absolutely stunning.  It did not look real. Thonon is 45 minutes from Geneva, and located smack in the middle of Lake Geneva, with the Swiss Alps to the left and the French Alps to the right.

Saturday, we went to Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe.  It was an hour away from Thonon, and the view on the way to the mountain was absolutely stunning.

a picture I took from the car 

When we got to Mount Blanc, we walked around the city, Chamonix, and found an outdoor market, filled with clothes, jewelry, shoes, and food, especially the cheese.  Before coming to Europe, I liked cheese to an extent, but rarely ate it.  But the cheese in France, oh my the cheese. 

only one of the many, many cheese stands 

We wandered around the market, and then decided to get lunch.  We ate outside at one of the many restaurants since it was so sunny and warm.  Since skiing is an option at any of the many mountains surrounding Mount Blanc, there were people in all their ski wear and then there were other people like us, in shorts and tee shirts.  It was spring skiing at is finest. For lunch, I got French Onion Soup, a choice I deemed appropriate.  

In Chamonix with Mount Blanc behind me 

After lunch, we took a train that took us up to see the glacier that runs in between Mount Blanc.  We were going to such a high altitude the train took 20 minutes.  When we got up there, the view was absolutely spectacular. While we weren't quite on Mount Blanc, the view was still amazing.  In fact, we were only half way to the peak of Mount Blanc. 

By the Glacier 

After we got back from traversing up the mountain, we got a delicacy I like to call Nutella Icecream. Gods gift to the world. 

It was an amazing, unforgettable day. 

Keep Calm and Eat Lots of Cheese

ps. If your curious about the title of this post, its from the song Holocene by Bon Iver. I highly suggest you take a listen. 

Blenheim Palace: My Summer Home

The day we left Oxford we made a pit stop at Blenheim Palace where the Duke and Dutchess of Marlborough take up residence.  How anyone can live in this place is beyond me. It is honestly one of the most magnificent places I've seen; although I have not seen many palaces in my day, this one takes the cake. 

We started off the day by taking a tour of the palace.  It turns out Winston Churchills grandmother was a duchess of Marlborough, so he spent much of his time at Blenheim and they essentially have a shrine to him, including things from his childhood garments to his letters when he was older to a photo timeline.  The rooms were amazing, and its strange to think that people actually live there. I wish I could have taken a picture (cameras were not allowed inside the actual palace) but there was a dining room that was painted in an almost 3d style and the ceiling looked to be domeshaped when it was actually flat.

After our tour of the palace, we took a train to some of the gardens of the palace, including a butterfly garden and a maze!

We got lunch at a deli and took it to sit in the palace gardens.

My friends and I eating lunch on the palace steps

Finally, we ended the day walking the palace grounds and soaking everything in.  We even found a sheep farm (we all know my mild obsession with sheep.) 

 with all the sheep!

In front of the palace 

Keep Calm and Summer in a Palace 

Sometimes I Study at Uni

I thought abroad could not get any better; then we went to Oxford for the week. Something I didn't know about Oxford is the fact that there is no "Oxford University". We studied at University College but there 38 colleges within the university.  We arrived on a wet, cold Saturday morning, departing Bath around 930 and arriving in Oxford at 11:30. We got our room allocations and were able to settle in, followed by a few housekeeping points from the staff in the JCR, which is the student lounge. After a logistical orientation, we ate lunch in their "Buttery", the cafeteria. This was followed by a welcome and introduction by Dr. Mike Nicholson, a Fellow and Praelector in Russian. He was a funny fellow and constantly made jokes about the "ghosts of Oxford", which none of my housemates or I found very funny (we are convinced our house is haunted; it doesn't help we watched paranormal activity).

The ASE staff then split us up into 3 groups based on our houses (back in Bath).  Two groups went on tours of Oxford then, and the other group had to wait an hour and a half; my house plus our good friends in Nunes Flats had to wait an hour and a half until our tour. Since it was Saint Patricks Day, we thought it only appropriate to get an Irish Coffee.  We went to a bar down the street and enjoyed our Bailey's Latte while we waited for our tour. The tour only lasted about half an hour and Lindsay, the sort of director of student life, gave us great pointers of restaurants, cafes, and shops that are popular amongst the Oxford students so we would hopefully mingle with other students.

That night, my friends and I enjoyed a lovely guinness and fish and chips dinner at the Eagle and Child, a famous pub in Oxford where J.R.R Tolkien and C.S Lewis used to dine, drink, and write! It was delicious, and we instantly felt smarter.

Sunday morning, a few friends and I decided to attend mass at Christ Church, another college in Oxford right next to University College.  We enjoyed the mass, however, my favorite part was the chorale.  It was a 50 boys/men choir and they were absolutely amazing.  Some of the boys could not be more than 11 years old (purposefully, so they can get the high notes that soprano women like myself can hit) but their tone and level of ability was stunning.  It was also Mothering Sunday, Englands Mothers Day, so at the end we all got flowers as we proceeded out.

A few friends and I after Mass at Christ Church

That afternoon was surely an interesting one. We went punting to test our skills at maneuvering a flat-bottomed boat along the river with only a long metal pole to assist us.

Let our terrified faces tell the story. 

Monday, one of my classes took us to Oxford Castle, which is now really just a tower, but a historical tower! It was mostly used during the Norman Occupation, but also used as a prison later on, especially during the Civil war in the 17th Century.

On top of Oxford Castle

Monday night, we had a talk by Dr. Leslie Mitchell, a renown historian.  He gave us a talk on "bloody Oxford", and highlighted the rivalry between townie and academia life in Oxford, from the foundation of the university in the 13th century even up until now.  It was a highly humous and informative talk, but right as we were applauding him, the lights went out. We thought it was a gliche, but the power ended up staying off for 5 hours! 

Wednesday, we took a tour of Christ Church, the college, and it turns out that Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone was filmed there! The scene where Professor McGonnagal greets the First Years to take them to sorting takes place on their staircase.  They also got the idea for the Great Hall at Christ Church.

Later that night, we ate dinner at the Turf Tavern, the infamous spot where Bill Clinton "didn't inhale." We got to eat outside on picknick benches because it was so warm out! 

Finally, Thursday, our last full day in Oxford, Fiona and I went to the Bodleian Library to see official manuscripts of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tolkien, Lewis, Shelley...you name it, we probably saw it. It was amazing. The afternoon was filled with a Civil War walk, led by my favorite professor.  After, we went to the Ashmoleon museum, then had drinks on the roof.

 inside the ashmolean

 one of the European Art rooms 

Having a drink on the roof! 

That night, we had a smart dinner with our tutors and staff.  We had to "dress smartly" as they often emphasized, and it was an amazing dinner.  The wooden tables were covered with white table cloths, candle sticks, all the silverware a person could ever need (I finally figured out which fork to start with) and bottles of wine flowing.  Our 1st course was a goat cheese and pesto salad; the main, free range chicken with tomatoes and beens; finally a caramel coffee mousse.  I cannot explain how delicious it was. 

Sorry for the lengthy post but it was an eventful week....and thats not even all of it! Keep your eyes posted for a post on my summer shack, Blenheim Palace. 

Keep Calm and Drink a Cup of Tea (Or Five) 

The Cotswolds!

Last Friday we went to the Cotswolds, sometimes referred to as the Heart of England, and for good reason.  The rolling green hills matched with the stone architecture of the buildings is a perfect combination.  On our trip, our first destination was Broadway Tower, designed in 1794.  We climbed countless stairwells to finally get to the top, but when we did it looked a little something like this

In front of the Tower! 

 So many sheep farms! 

 Me on the top of Broadway Tower

From the top, you can see 4 counties! 

After we finished exploring the top of Broadway Tower, we walked a mile and half to the center of town.  It was overcast and it had rained a few days before so the walk was a bit muddy. We walked all downhill through fields and the terrain was often tricky to maneuver, but we digressed. 

Frolicking through the countryside on the walk down to the village

Once we finally reached the village, we had to walk another 3/4 of a mile to get to the bus, but the walk was amazing. There were so many cottages made of limestone with fences and gardens and it was so picturesque.  Since we had a fairly strict time schedule, we could not wander around the cotswolds but we did walk through the whole village so we got to see all of the beautiful houses. 

After we took a short busride, we arrived in Bourbon-on-Water for an hour of lunch and exploring.  We were very hungry, so we wanted to go to a small cafe that was not too mainstream so we would not have to wait long, and we found a perfect place.  It was called the Windrush Cafe and it was so beautiful we actually got to eat outside. It was honestly one of the nicest days we've had. And people told me I wouldn't see sun for 4 months, psh.

Fiona, Emily, and I at lunch!

After lunch, we went and sat on the river across the street from the cafe. 

Kate, Me and Emily just hanging out in the River 

Our last stop on our Cotswolds trip was to a garden to see the snowdrop flowers. I felt like I was in the secret garden and we got to explore for 2 hours. The latter half of that, however, was spent in a cafe drinking tea and eating cakes, which was fine with me. 

It was a wonderful trip, and I truly can appreciate why the Cotswolds are known as the heart of England.  Everything was so beautiful and rustic and the rolling hills and farms were just amazing. 

Keep Calm and Pet a Sheep