I wish my life were more continuous, but it is far from it.  It is made up of moments, all differing and seemingly disconnected.  Yesterday I was annoyed with my family, missing Winchester (because it snowed TWO FEET recently…argh), and thinking about how I miss traveling on the weekends to places like Sicily and the Lake District.  But today, I am comforted by the familiar sluggishness of my hometown on a Sunday afternoon, lazily drinking coffee and thinking about all the things I learned while I was abroad – the good and the bad, the bitter and the sweet. That’s what I feel like writing about, so here goes.

I learned that not everything is permanent.  I hold on to things, tangible or intangible, thinking that they will always be mine to own.  The fact is, we never really own anything permanently. When we try to, it seems to me that it slips away even more rapidly.  Two of my dogs from childhood deteriorated in health while I was gone, and they died within a week of my return.  They were always there, and now they are not, and this happened within just a few moments’ time.  

I learned that traveling is something I will and need to do for the rest of my life. I need to keep experiencing newness, and also to keep learning that we all, despite our cultural differences, are pretty much the same.

I learned that open-mindedness is painful.  I think we’re lying to ourselves most of the time when we say we accept others’ differences.  Often I befriend people and learn from them, but I still retain my own identity.  Accepting takes a lot longer – years of living, laughing, eating (and even drinking, in England’s case…) with its people for a person to really get to know a culture well enough to say they’ve accepted it. 

Finally, I learned that home, well, it’s just home.  There’s no other place like the town you grew up in and the people you grew up around.  I adapted to England while I was there, I learned from their culture, and I mostly felt at ease. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t home.  That feeling of solidarity, of the security that you know every little quirk and rhythm of the place you’re in, for me, that only belongs to Greenwood, SC.

So concludes this blog…thanks for reading!

-Kelley

Everyone has left today, or they are leaving tomorrow – it’s so sad!  I am more attached than I thought…

Dillon and I went to a Kate Rusby concert (one of my favorite folk singers ever) up in Barnsley yesterday…it was the perfect ending to the trip.  I have videos on Facebook if you have an account; for some reason they won’t load on here.  She was amazing – just like her CDs, which is rare.  It was a Christmas concert, too, so everything was really happy and festive looking.  

I come back in 3 days, basically…and Logan is leaving tomorrow.  It’s insane.  None of us can really process it, and we’re all very mixed emotionally, because we are all homesick, but we realize that this is the last time we’ll see some of these people, and that’s weird, at the least.  Two or three people are planning to visit us in Greenwood though, and we want to take a road trip next summer around America.

See you all soon! I probably won’t write anymore, between packing and goodbyes and everything…and so concludes this blog!  

All the best,

Kelley

I’ll write more later; I have to write basically nonstop before the end of this week…ugh.

It has ended up that it is only Dillon and I who will be going to Edinburgh this weekend.  I’m excited.  We’re staying in a hostel in a room with 14 other people in it…should be interesting.  Haha.  We will probably be meeting up with Ju-Ju and P-pa’s (my grandparents, for those confused) friends one night, who live in Edinburgh. By bus, it’s only 3.2 miles away from the hostel we’re staying at, which is quite convenient.  We are planning to go ice skating on the outdoor rink one night while we’re there, and other than that try to find as much free stuff to do as possible – museums and the like.  Oh, we’ll get there Thursday night and leave Sunday late afternoon.

Yesterday, Natalie and Matt (a couple from here) and Dillon and I went to Southampton for the day and saw some interesting stuff, like the port where Titanic sailed from, and also the Mayflower!  It was really nice.  There was a museum as well, rather small but interesting, and we talked to the curators for a little bit-I think they were glad to have some people be interested.  Here are some pictures…

See you in 2 weeks and a day!

I got one of my essays back and did well, so I’m not too worried about grades (maybe I should be!).  Off to writing…

Here is an album of miscellaneous pictures around Winchester during November.

-Kelley

Thursday:  Mom and Dad and Gran-momma and Boogie-daddy (my grandparents, for those that are confused…) arrive in Winchester.  We had a very nice dinner at a gourmet pizza place on High Street in Winchester.

Friday:  Gran-momma and Boogie-daddy go to Portsmouth, I believe, and then up to Oakham.  Mom, Dad, Dillon, and me go to Stonehenge.  That was really awesome…it was sort of smaller than i expected, but also a lot older than I thought, too.  It was assembled around the time that the Egyptians were building the pyramids.

We then drove from Stonehenge to Bath, which I found to be a charming city.  It is nestled in a valley between two very large hills, and contains a lot of history — there are natural hot springs there where Romans used to bathe, and you can still see much of their structure/temple that they built around the springs.  They basically had a spa…it was pretty cool.  We also saw a lovely abbey from the 15th century; it had really pretty windows (apparently they made up 60% of the entire structure).  Here are pictures from Stonehenge and Bath.

Saturday:  We left at 9:15 to go to Paris — Mom and I almost became ill on the flight.  It was a fun memory…haha.  We got there around 10:30/11:00.  Minus the crazy traffic, Paris really did ‘leave this troubled world behind,’ I think.  It is one of those few places that lives up to and even exceeds your expectations, and it deserves every bit of romanticization it’s gotten over the years.  Something happened inside me, and I was happy in Paris.  It just looks and feels exactly how I imagined it to be.  Yes, we saw the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and all the gorgeous and wonderful things you’re supposed to see in Paris, but the feeling of being in Paris would have been enough for me.  There is the sense that it is unique, because it hasn’t been influenced by the rest of the world, really. Every other big city, like London, has a sort of metropolitan feeling to it, but Paris didn’t to me.  The French value their culture very much, and I think it’s paid off.

It sounds cheesy and touristy and all, but my absolute favorite moment was when Dillon and I went up in the Eiffel Tower.  It was something we’ll always remember, I think, as being the moment we realized where we were, and how amazing it was to be there with each other.  The view was obviously amazing, and we went up at night, so Paris was lit up with magic….heehee.  

The next day we took a 3 hour tour of Paris; there was no one else that had signed up for Sunday morning, so it really was like a private tour!  It was so nice.  You’ll see the pictures, so I won’t go into everything.  Here is Album 1 and Album 2 of the trip to Paris.

Mom and Dad are in Oakham with my grandparents now, and I will see them again on Wednesday, when they will get to see more of Winchester.

See you soon!

looking behind you...

Anyway, if you’ve never heard a boys’ choir, you really should in your lifetime.  They sound so pure…and in a cathedral such as Winchester’s, you can’t help but feel inspired.

Album 1

Album 2

Album 3

And a sampling…

Hope you enjoy!

(Left to right) Jerry, our hilarious German friend (those of you who know Nikola, he reminds me of him); Steve, and Dillon

(L to R) Laura, Natalie, me, Ruth, April, and Amy

Dillon and I with Martin in London...

We love Amyy..:)

Dillon, Logan, and I have made more friends here than we have in Greenwood at Lander…it will be so sad to come back.  I think everyone here is so laid back, plus we basically live with all these people, so we all just get along and go everywhere together.  

Dillon and I are going to see Jerry (the guy in the first photo) play rugby today; it should be really fun.  Afterwards we are going to eat with him and his girlfriend…I’m excited.

See you…

“I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host of golden daffodils…..”

-William Wordsworth

Here is the hostel we will be staying at:

I am so excited!!!  

See you soon,

Kelley