Waking up in a castle in England is quite amazing. Even though the beds aren't very comfortable, they did the job being that we were so tired from the long trip over here. After showering, we met at 8:30am in Hunter's Block for a nice warm breakfast. We all looked refreshed and were ready to go!
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| This is a view looking into Hunter's Block- the building in the background is where we go to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. |
Our first task of the day was to complete more orientation. This orientation was more tours in and around the castle. We were shown where the kitchen, commons, and pottery room (laundry room) were located.
After a nice indoor tour, Wade showed us around the outside of the castle, since the Duke and Duchess were out for the day. We weren't able to actually go into the gardens, but he pointed us in the direction of where they lead to and told us about how beautiful they are once in bloom. He also pointed out the greens that the Duke graciously allowed us to have when it got nicer out. After that, we walked around the grounds and got to see the view of the Aln River. The famous architect who helped plan the castle came in and also contracted the landscape. Everything in the landscape is carefully planned out, from the location of the trees, to the widening of the river to make sure the reflection of the castle can be seen in it. I have no pictures from this area as we are not to take pictures here when the Duke and Duchess are staying here. I did however get plenty of pictures of the Outer Bailey, which we are able to document. (In the movie Harry Potter, the scene where Harry is learning to fly is filmed in the Outer Bailey. )
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| This is a still of the film "Harry Potter and the Sourcerer's Stone" This scene was filmed at Alnwick Castle. |
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| Outer Bailey--in front of this tower was where the scene was filmed in the movie |
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| location where the scene was filmed in "Harry Potter and the Sourcerer's Stone" |
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| Leaving our corridors - looking to the Outer Bailey |
After the tours, we had lunch, and then once again were back in for more orientation. This time it was about Fire Safety. The castle security is very worried of the chance of a fire, because of the fire that hit Windsor Castle. The take this issue extremely serious, and expect us to get out of the castle in less than 2 and a half minutes once the alarm is sounded. They told us to expect a drill in the next week, and if we don't get out in 2 and a half minutes that we would have to redo it till we get it right, and it keeps getting earlier and earlier until we successfully accomplish the goal. I'm hoping I am not in the shower at the time of the alarm!!!After fire safety they gave us the rest of the day to explore and get settled in. A group of us decided we'd to town and explore the shops, and get a few groceries for us. It was so much fun being able to wander around town and explore. It was lots of fun, but kind of nervewrecking because the sidewalks are so close to the roads, and the people drive crazy here! One mistake or forgetting to look both ways and you become a hood ornament!
Once we were done exploring the town we came back to the castle and had a nice dinner with the group once again. I have to say, that although it is food and its better than nothing, it is quite bland here. Not a lot of flavor, but it will suffice. As soon as dinner was completed we met with Amber once again, where we had internet connected to our computers. I have a feeling that this was what everyone was waiting for. I was really excited for this because I wanted to talk with my mom and friends for free using Skype. It really is different to not have internet access as much as I was used to back home. It took some real adapting and I found myself looking at my phone to use the internet, then would realize that the phone I now had did not have that capability.
Now that we had internet and we were pretty much situated in our flats, it was time to go and celebrate! A large group of us went out and relax. We ended up at the local pub Penny Black. Walking in was quite different, everyone seemed to know right away that we were Americans, and were very excited to meet us. They had a dancefloor in which only a few ladies were dancing when we arrived. The music was comparable to that we have in the US, the only thing I did notice, was that there wasn't a really good variety from the DJ, he played the same song several times throughout the evening. The prices for pints of beer were reasonable and it seemed like a good place to hang out. By the time I had come back to the table we were at with my pint, some of the girls with our group were already out on the dance floor dancing. They were having the time of their life! It was a lot of fun. After an hour or so, the pub filled up a little more, and we got a chance to meet some of the locals around the town. Everyone was very polite to us and seemed to like meeting and chatting with us and offer suggestions of where to go around Alnwick.
SATURDAY JANUARY 8, 2011,
Waking up this morning was a little rough! Perhaps we should have gone to bed a little earlier than 3am. After another warm breakfast, we met once again in classroom B for travel planning orientation. At this orientation we learned about cheap ways to travel around England and Europe. It was very helpful. They informed us about flights such as Ryan Air which offered cheaper flights, as well as websites that had discounted fares/rates
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After this orientation we had more free time before lunch. At lunch we were offered the option if we wanted to travel to Newcastle. Heck ya I wanted to go! I am all about getting out and seeing as much as I can while I am here. Only six of us out of the thirteen wanted to go to Newcastle which worked out quite well because it allowed Wade to drive us all to the train station comfortably.
After piling into Wade's car we were off!!! In order to travel to Newcastle you have a take a train, in which the station is in the close town of Alnmouth. Here in Alnmouth we had to sign up for our young person rail card which offers us 1/3 off all tickets! Very helpful! After getting all signed up we had our tickets and were ready to go!
This was my first time on a train. And to be honest I was quite nervous! Once the train got going I realized I had nothing to be nervous about. It was really smooth, easy and fun. Some of the other students who decided to come with got a little motion sickness due to them sitting backwards as the train was in motion. The scenic views we passed on our travel to Newcastle was remarkable. I got to see town on the coast, as well as lots of farms and homes. The countryside here is breathtaking! Everything is so picturesque its almost surreal. It's no wonder why people come here so often to travel.
Only twenty five minutes passed and we were in Newcastle! Talk about a huge difference of the atmosphere of the town. There were so many people around, almost as if in a hurry. The pace that the townies from Newcastle go at is a bit faster than those in Alnwick. There was so much to see, so many shops, and architecture all around me. The streets were filled with people in all directions. Wade showed us around for the first half hour and showed us where good areas and things to do were.
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| View of the coast on the way to Newcastle |
It amazes me how much planning and architecture this town and the shops in the town had. It was completely different than anything I had ever seen. Even McDonalds seemed to be classy and beautiful. (I really wanted to go in and take a picture of the menu--they have the Royale with Cheese instead of a Quarter Pounder) After wandering around the streets for a bit, we were off on our own for an hour. The six of us stayed together, while Wade went and ran some errands. We just went to little shops and stores around Newcastle. It amazes me how much there is to see and how monumental everything was.
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| In Newcastle |
Quickly our hour passed and it was time to meet up with Wade in front of this large monument which is convienently named Monument. We made our way back to the train station and figured out how to read the timetables. After that we waited for a few minutes for our train to show. On the way back everyone was pretty wiped out, and decided to take a quick nap.
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| at the train station in Newcastle |
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| Leah and I at the train station |
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| Newcastle |
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| train station at Newcastle |
Once back at the castle we wanted to go out for dinner for Leah's birthday. We wanted to try something different so we went to an Indian restuarant called Dalchini's. The place itself is very beautiful and it smelled amazing when we walked in. After looking at the menu for quite some time (we couldn't really read it) we finally ordered. The food came and most of us were happy with the meal, however the birthday girl Leah was not a fan of what she had ordered. I felt really bad that she didn't even enjoy her birthday meal. After we finished dinner we had planned to go out on the town,but we were all so exhausted from the long day we had in Newcastle, and just decided to stay in.
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