Finally Caught Up!

Although it is a regular occurrence for me to return home from a trip shortly before the quarter begins, it is not a regular occurrence for me to return AFTER the quarter began. But as you know, the best laid plans....

I am finally able to take a few minutes to share some more thoughts about the trip to England.

Today, I would like to share my home stay with you.

Being a non-traditional student, I was a little apprehensive about staying with one of the Bridgwater students. I am, after all, the mother of three kids who are the ages of the typical student at Bridgwater.

Our hosts, Alistair and Rachel, were kind enough to arrange for me to stay with one of the instructors at Bridgwater, Marina.

Before we arrived, Marina and I had corresponded via email. I learned she was originally from Russia. She let me know that she considered herself to be British but with the Russian hospitality flair. As I didn't know what the English hospitality flair was, I knew I would be in for a real treat.

Marina lives alone in an adorable townhouse. She loves to garden and has done a lot of work renovating the two story house she purchased. As I got a chance to look around my first thoughts were that I was staying in "The house Ikea built" but I didn't dare say that, as I didn't know if it would be offensive.

On my first evening in Bridgwater, Marina asked if I was hungry. We arrived at about 8:30 pm and even though I don't eat heavy when I travel, I really wasn't hungry after a late lunch. Marina let me know that I really was hungry and she served me a salad and some chinese wontons. I thought the amount was absolutely perfect and the flavors wonderful (Marina has a great fresh herb garden). I figured that amount of food wasn't so bad. Then she brought out the main dish of pasta and mushrooms! Yes, I ate it! Yes, it was tasty!

The other travelers soon began to call me the spoiled one. Marina made sure I was well fed and taken care of. Breakfast was not an option! I chose between flakes (like cornflakes but organic grains) or porridge and, of course, tea. Even though we might have lunch plans, she packed me a snack each morning before we set off for the day. I learned to really appreciate the cheese sandwiches she packed. Wonderful cheese in England!

I learned during my stay that her furnishings are from Ikea so my thoughts were offensive at all. I love her style and the simplicity of her home. It was inviting and refreshing.

I really didn't want Marina to make a fuss over me but I have to admit I'm ready to go back and continue to be spoiled by her.

A Quick Note: We Are HOME!

Just to let our faithful readers know...we are HOME finally! We arrived at approximately 12:30 a.m. last night. Unfortunately, due to the long travel home, we were all a little grumpy and quiet on late night drive back from Seattle, but we still love and appreciate each other! The students really were amazing. They handled the air travel delays with poise and positivity. I am so proud of them.

On the down side, I did contract a cold in NYC, so my body is hating me this morning. It doesn't quite know what time it is...and it with my sore throat is pleading with me to go back to bed. I think I may listen.

Thanks again for reading. The students may continue to blog for another week or so. Therefore, keep checking back.

Cheers! And it is good to be home!

Still in New York

Just a quick update. We are still in NYC at a JFK airport hotel. We are anxious to fly out on our 5:00 p.m. flight (that is NYC time). We are scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 8:36 p.m. (Pacific time) and rent a car to get us home. Please, please NO MORE DELAYS! It is raining here, but I am hoping for the best! Send us good thoughts. By 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, we hope to be asleep in our own beds.

One good note, however, is that the students and I were able to see my best friend and old college roommate, Michelle. She lives in NYC. I treated the students to a pay per view movie last night in my room (Bride Wars), and Michelle came and watched it with us. We were all so tired, but we had a good girls night. I was able to get to know the students a little better, and they got some insight into New York living from Michelle. So at least, there was a bright spot in our delay.

Send us your good thoughts for a safe journey home tonight! Thanks for reading.

Airport Frustrations and Wonderful Students

No, we are not home yet. We are having a very frustrating travel experience. After a 6 hour delay at Heathrow in London yesterday, sitting on the runway for 45 minutes after boarding, and circling JFK for an hour before landing, we missed our Seattle connection (big surpise, right?). I thought a six hour layover in NYC would be plenty of time to clear customs and have a possible delay...I guess I was wrong! Anywho, after a lot of standing in line and hassle, we are in the Holiday Inn airport hotel at JFK. And to give my students credit, they have all been WONDERFUL! They have been helpful, patient, courteous, and flexible. I see each of their strengths (I guess that is the positive in this situation). Tiffany is "taking charge." She is running ahead to hold shuttles; she is not afraid to ask directions; she also did a great job pushing through her frustration and tiredness to stay positive. Angela is my "problem solver." She has traveled internationally before and is a Delta sky miles member. Therefore, she has been on the phone non-stop trying to get us into Pasco ASAP. Since I have been dealing with cancelations and college issues, she is my "golden woman." And Cori is so kind and considerate...she has been fighting a cold almost the whole trip, and she continues to be so pleasant and helpful. It is really wonderful to have such strong students around me.

Right now, we can't fly out until tomorrow...but we continue to troubleshoot and try. We will keep you updated!

Tired Smiles - ALICE

Been Awhile Now!

So I haven't been able to blog everyday cause of access to internet, but I'm going to try and catch y'all up on the busy days I've had this past week. I guess well start with Tuesday, the day started out like any other, early morning with everyone with tea and coffee. Onto interviews to get more information on the Student Union at Bridgwater. After talking to Rhea for a couple hours, we traveled to Kilve where we enjoyed a nice hike and then cream tea for the afternoon. After the cream tea we went to Bridgwaters other campus, Cannington Centre, so that we could also get information on their student life on that campus. My interview with Lucy who is also another Student Liasion was a very different perspective from Steve. Both were informative and formal, just different. It'll be interesting comparing and contrasting and piecing all three together on the guide. Finally that night after a very filling dinner with everyone was a competitive game of bowling where the Americans found it is definitely not their best suit.

Now Wednesday was my busiest day considering I had three different interviews but they involved one to two people in each interview so the day was mind boggling, it was good actually getting program and academy info from actual students, I must say though that my interview with Luke was probably the most exciting seeing all the different equipment and talking about their tour and possibly a world tour with CBC being the last stop. :) After all the interviews we all headed out for an afternoon of touristy activities planned by the wonderful Rachel and Al, and then an actual early evening with the host families where scrumptous meals were prepared. =)

Thursday was Bathe day, no that doesn't mean we only bathed one day, it was the city Bathe, and boy was it beautiful. We were there a whole afternoon but it didn't seem like enough time to explore. But, oh well, we needed to get back to say our farewells to our friends at Bridgwater.
Coming here has been so fun but definitely not long enough, but the good thing is that we know what we want to do next time we come over here. ;)
Now in todays case we left the hostel at 730 AM today and got to the airport for our flight that was at 1005 AM weird thing is......we're still waiting at the airport due to delays!!! OMG sitting at airports is not the funniest thing to do when you know you're going to have to sit on a 9 hour flight anyways and then another one when you finally reach another destination. Though we will make it sooner or later...I'd rather it be sooner....it't not really working out in my favor...but oh well mechanical problems is a big deal. Keep ya posted on the delay.
Tiffany

Farewell England...

On Thursday morning, I got up on time to go to Bath. It was about an hour and a half drive there, and we mostly spent the day shopping and going to the pump room, which is a very formal place to have tea. Tiffany and I tasted some divine eggs benedict for the first time. A traditional way to serve the eggs is on ham and a bisuit with hollandaise sauce, and that is exactly the way we ate it. Yu-umm!

After the pump rooms, we were going to have an open-bus tour. Unfortunately it was pretty chilly and everyone wanted to look around, so we skipped the tour. I mostly just window-shopped. But being the Jane Austen fan that I am, I had to go to the musem devoted exclusively to her novels. I really enjoyed it. I bought an "I love Mr. Darcy." I couldn't resist. Next, we went to a small restaurant called "The Hole in the Wall" where we all had a wonderful meal together. I would have liked to have gone to the Roman Baths, but there just wasn't enough time. Maybe my next visit.

When we returned to Bridgwater, they had a goodbye get together for us. It was really difficult saying bye to all the lovely people we met....they really did make us feel welcome. We are now at Heathrow airport on Saturday morning. I think we are all ready to go home, but England has treated us wonderfully. Except the slight delay for our plane. Hope we get home on time! There is school Monday morning.

Keep checking the blog because we will most likely be posting some more interesting details of our journey. Thanks for reading!

-Cori

A short, sweet entry

Most of the rest of us have updated you as to our travels and sightseeing excursions so I will avoid that, for now. Please continue to check the blog for a few more weeks as I know I will be continuing to blog as I go back over our notes.

I've discovered quite a bit about myself during this trip. Although I am a frequent traveler (so frequent in fact, I've gotten an upgrade to business class for the Heathrow to New York leg of the trip, when we get off the ground. See Alice's post below.) I didn't realize how difficult it can be to be out of touch with those we want to be in touch with. Even with my unlimited data plan, I could only email my family inexpensively. With the 8 hour time difference, there was only about 8 hours of consecutive awake time and that was mostly taken up with excursions for us here. I've missed this contact. Speaking of missing contacts, I lost one of my contacts (for the eyes this time) in London on the way to Somerset. I lost the right (and correct) contact to lose because it was my 'reading' contact and I have reading glasses with me. If I had lost the left contact, I would have been in trouble as this is my distant contact.

So, what I've learned is this: even when things are going all the best, I can still enjoy myself. I didn't let the lack of contact with my family or the loss of the contact keep me from thorougly enjoying myself. I've learned that I really don't want to live in the big city. I think Glastonbury is the place for me. It's quite eclectic and quite funky. I could easily warm up to my granola, hippy side there. I've learned that four people can get along in small quarters (the hostel) and not snip at each other - its a lesson for me to take back to my three children and the much larger quarters we live in. I've learned that I am extremely fortunate to have been selected on this trip. The sightseeing was wonderful but I really enjoyed my time in Somerset and learning about Bridgwater College. I wish to thank those who made it possible for me to be here.

Okay so this wasn't so short and so sweet but I will close now so the others can blog. Keep checking back.