Scott's "A Tale of Two Cities" - Chapter One: A Flight of Fancy
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way ... "
While I planned to start this blog entry with the famous opening from the first "A Tale of Two Cities" simply as an artistic homage, it really suits the first part of my story quite well. For you see it truly was both the best and worst of times. The excitement of coming to Europe mingled gingerly with the stress and pressure of writing exams and preparing to come to Europe. We begin on April 28th, the day before my flight...
I wrote my Business Law exam from 2-5pm. From there I dashed home and began frantically packing up my life in Kingston. After stopping in to say goodbye to Claire and helping to get her bag out of the attic (which was a far more ridiculous process than it should have been), I was finally on the road. I arrived home in Ancaster around 11pm, at which time I began unpacking my stuff from Kingston and re-packing my stuff for England, assisted heavily by my mother. I got to bed around 2am, I think, and awoke at 5.30 to shower and do a final check before leaving for the airport.
Arriving at the airport wasn't particularly special, although that new terminal at Pearson is quite spectacular. My flight was at 9am, and while waiting to board I ran into my friend Colin who is also studying at the castle this spring. I also met several other students, including Kate, who I ended up sitting beside on the plane. It turns out that she lives with my second cousin once-removed (or something like that) Allison (Dad & David, you'll recognize her as Uncle Bill's granddaughter from Vancouver), and a guy I know from residence. Small world.
The flight was long, but fairly uneventful. We arrived at Heathrow around 8pm local time, I think... the flight was actually shorter than I expected. After clearing customs and collecting our bags, we met up with some people from the castle who eventually herded us onto a bus. When we finally left Heathrow, it took us about two hours to arrive at Herstmonceux, and we were dropped off in front of the residence (which is about a 5-minute walk from the castle itself). During this period I had my first unpleasant experiences with the British roundabout, as the constant rolling back and forth they caused frustrated my attempts to sleep. I won't go on this rant now (as I need to get to bed soon) but I cannot figure out for the life of me how they are in any way preferable to a normal intersection.
Anyway, I think we arrived around 11pm. When I got to my room, I met my roommate, Jim. Thankfully, he seems to speak English and respect the conventions of human decency. Everyone was hanging out in the hallways, so I mingled and unpacked until about 1 in the morning, at which point I collapsed, exhausted, in my bed.
Classes started the next morning (Monday, May 1), promptly, at 8.30. That was incredibly painful, but a good English breakfast of baked beans, toast, and the thickest bacon you can imagine helped me make it through. They serve that almost every day. Yes, I'm in heaven. Since the classes are so condensed here, my schedule is rather hectic: 6 hours of International Marketing on Mondays and Tuesdays, and 3 hours of British Studies on Wednesday and Thursday. Keep in mind that I finish marketing halfway through, and will then start International Finance in its place.
Monday afternoon we were given a tour of the residence facilities, as well as a tour of the castle itself. We also had a series of orientation speeches from various important people, followed by an opening ceremony with wine and cheese.
Tuesday morning I once again had classes at 8.30, but had the afternoon off. The castle staff organizes mini-bus trips to various areas nearby, and I took one in to the Asda (the British Wal-Mart subsidiary) in Eastbourne to do some shopping for various essentials, including my beloved All-Bran bars. Fascinatingly enough, British All-Bran bars are different from both their Canadian and American counterparts... although I suppose they're more similar to the latter. They're a little bit smaller, and a little bit sweeter, and appear to be comprised of different bran-type materials. The box also opens in a peculiar manner, allowing me to display the All-Bran bars as if I were selling them. Tuesday I had night class, and then went to bed early since I was still exhausted and my sleeping patterns still hadn't adjusted properly.
Wednesday I slept in very late - dozing until around 2pm, I think - as I didn't have class until after dinner. That night just about everybody from the castle went back to Eastbourne to hit up a nightclub called "Atlantis." We had a ridiculous time trying to organize cabs for everybody, but it was cool. According to my cabbie, Eastbourne is a beautiful coastal resort town that they're building up from practically nothing; the club itself is actually located on the end of a pier sticking out into the ocean. It wasn't really that different from a Canadian club except for a lot of smoking and a large number of guys sporting grotesque euromullets. One strange thing did happen, however: towards the end of the night the DJ played the themesong from Baywatch and the entire crowd went crazy. It was the most peculiar thing I think I've ever encountered.
Thursday I had classes in the late morning/early afternoon, after which Maureen and I decided to walk to the village of Herstmonceux, about 45 minutes or so away from the castle. On the way we stopped at a fantastically old church (the 'new' church was constructed in 1180) . It was a lovely walk through the countryside before we finally arrived in town. It's quite small - a mere hamlet, really - and is the quintessential English country town complete with rows of small red brick houses with fenced gardens and all that. After wandering up and down the street (yes, THE street) we walked back and had dinner. I went to bed fairly early again, I think, in anticipation of our first 'field study' which took place the next morning.
That's as good a place to stop as any, I suppose. I'll try to write the next installment tomorrow, detailing my first visit to London.
While I planned to start this blog entry with the famous opening from the first "A Tale of Two Cities" simply as an artistic homage, it really suits the first part of my story quite well. For you see it truly was both the best and worst of times. The excitement of coming to Europe mingled gingerly with the stress and pressure of writing exams and preparing to come to Europe. We begin on April 28th, the day before my flight...
I wrote my Business Law exam from 2-5pm. From there I dashed home and began frantically packing up my life in Kingston. After stopping in to say goodbye to Claire and helping to get her bag out of the attic (which was a far more ridiculous process than it should have been), I was finally on the road. I arrived home in Ancaster around 11pm, at which time I began unpacking my stuff from Kingston and re-packing my stuff for England, assisted heavily by my mother. I got to bed around 2am, I think, and awoke at 5.30 to shower and do a final check before leaving for the airport.
Arriving at the airport wasn't particularly special, although that new terminal at Pearson is quite spectacular. My flight was at 9am, and while waiting to board I ran into my friend Colin who is also studying at the castle this spring. I also met several other students, including Kate, who I ended up sitting beside on the plane. It turns out that she lives with my second cousin once-removed (or something like that) Allison (Dad & David, you'll recognize her as Uncle Bill's granddaughter from Vancouver), and a guy I know from residence. Small world.
The flight was long, but fairly uneventful. We arrived at Heathrow around 8pm local time, I think... the flight was actually shorter than I expected. After clearing customs and collecting our bags, we met up with some people from the castle who eventually herded us onto a bus. When we finally left Heathrow, it took us about two hours to arrive at Herstmonceux, and we were dropped off in front of the residence (which is about a 5-minute walk from the castle itself). During this period I had my first unpleasant experiences with the British roundabout, as the constant rolling back and forth they caused frustrated my attempts to sleep. I won't go on this rant now (as I need to get to bed soon) but I cannot figure out for the life of me how they are in any way preferable to a normal intersection.
Anyway, I think we arrived around 11pm. When I got to my room, I met my roommate, Jim. Thankfully, he seems to speak English and respect the conventions of human decency. Everyone was hanging out in the hallways, so I mingled and unpacked until about 1 in the morning, at which point I collapsed, exhausted, in my bed.
Classes started the next morning (Monday, May 1), promptly, at 8.30. That was incredibly painful, but a good English breakfast of baked beans, toast, and the thickest bacon you can imagine helped me make it through. They serve that almost every day. Yes, I'm in heaven. Since the classes are so condensed here, my schedule is rather hectic: 6 hours of International Marketing on Mondays and Tuesdays, and 3 hours of British Studies on Wednesday and Thursday. Keep in mind that I finish marketing halfway through, and will then start International Finance in its place.
Monday afternoon we were given a tour of the residence facilities, as well as a tour of the castle itself. We also had a series of orientation speeches from various important people, followed by an opening ceremony with wine and cheese.
Tuesday morning I once again had classes at 8.30, but had the afternoon off. The castle staff organizes mini-bus trips to various areas nearby, and I took one in to the Asda (the British Wal-Mart subsidiary) in Eastbourne to do some shopping for various essentials, including my beloved All-Bran bars. Fascinatingly enough, British All-Bran bars are different from both their Canadian and American counterparts... although I suppose they're more similar to the latter. They're a little bit smaller, and a little bit sweeter, and appear to be comprised of different bran-type materials. The box also opens in a peculiar manner, allowing me to display the All-Bran bars as if I were selling them. Tuesday I had night class, and then went to bed early since I was still exhausted and my sleeping patterns still hadn't adjusted properly.
Wednesday I slept in very late - dozing until around 2pm, I think - as I didn't have class until after dinner. That night just about everybody from the castle went back to Eastbourne to hit up a nightclub called "Atlantis." We had a ridiculous time trying to organize cabs for everybody, but it was cool. According to my cabbie, Eastbourne is a beautiful coastal resort town that they're building up from practically nothing; the club itself is actually located on the end of a pier sticking out into the ocean. It wasn't really that different from a Canadian club except for a lot of smoking and a large number of guys sporting grotesque euromullets. One strange thing did happen, however: towards the end of the night the DJ played the themesong from Baywatch and the entire crowd went crazy. It was the most peculiar thing I think I've ever encountered.
Thursday I had classes in the late morning/early afternoon, after which Maureen and I decided to walk to the village of Herstmonceux, about 45 minutes or so away from the castle. On the way we stopped at a fantastically old church (the 'new' church was constructed in 1180) . It was a lovely walk through the countryside before we finally arrived in town. It's quite small - a mere hamlet, really - and is the quintessential English country town complete with rows of small red brick houses with fenced gardens and all that. After wandering up and down the street (yes, THE street) we walked back and had dinner. I went to bed fairly early again, I think, in anticipation of our first 'field study' which took place the next morning.
That's as good a place to stop as any, I suppose. I'll try to write the next installment tomorrow, detailing my first visit to London.
posted by Scoops at 7:10 p.m.
3 Comments:
Nice to see you're back online Scott. Strictly speaking the U.K. isn't actually in Europe, is it?
And how is it that you would recognize the theme from Baywatch?
Keep us posted! (and don't forget the pics.)
Sadly (to some), I believe I know of the exact baywatch version you speak of. I'd just die to hear it at a club, but I suppose I'll have to save it for the gym where no one else can hear it. :)
Am I the only one who is concerned about the combination of baked beans and All Bran bars on your delicate digestive system? Poor Jim. Love Mom
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