Medieval England

Medieval England

There and Back Again

York (The Old Version)

When I had first read about this study abroad trip, my first thought was, “Why can’t we just spend every day in London?” I am so glad we didn’t. York was the city that we were in on the 2nd and 3rd day, allowing the other students that were on this trip and I to become better friends. York was nothing I had expected, but became everything I wished for. As someone who has grown up spending days in New York City and living in a town that is anything but small, visiting the city of York was the perfect speed. Although it is called a city, York felt like a small town that I could spend the rest of my life in and be content.

One of the first things that we had done in York was visit the York Minster and never in my life have I felt so taken aback by the architecture of a building. When standing at the entrance and looking to the back wall, stained glass and perfectly sculptured stone is all that you can focus on. I found myself entranced by the stained glass windows, and didn’t think that I would ever be able to walk away from the sight. The outside of the building made me feel like I was standing outside of a priceless castle. I have never found myself to be a person that is captivated by cathedrals, but this one allowed my eyes to open to the fact that a building can be as breathtaking as anything else. The York Minster was nothing less than grand.

We got to experience something that you can only get the full effect of when you are in England, which was having high tea at Betty’s Tea Room. This meal was one that we all got to share together and allowed us to pretend we were posh for an evening. The choices of tea were lovely, and the tea that I had could make a tea-hater like myself turn to the dark side. No really, I drink it everyday now and my Mom is starting to question what happened over there. We enjoyed delicious sandwiches that would laugh at my peanut butter & jelly ones, and scones that made Caroline ask if they had more (They did an we somehow got an entire plate of them). The desserts were very interesting but delicious in their own ways. I had never thought I would be trying a macaroon for the first time at a high tea.

Besides for the things that we did as a class, we were so busy finding things to do in York, the only time we were in our hotel rooms were to sleep and bathe. While walking the streets of York, we found one big open area that had a girl singing on the sidewalk for hours. I did stop when I heard her singing “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey and noticed that she created a sort of crowd at times. Other than her singing, there was even a DJ on the side of the road and other people playing different instruments. As a Harry Potter nerd, being in York made me feel like I was walking the streets of Hogsmeade and even Diagon Alley at some points, giving this city extra points in my book.

York was absolutely one of my favorite parts of this trip. I did not expect myself to be comparing every city I visited after this to York, but I did. York brought such a comforting feeling and had such charm that I did not think that a city could have. Hats off to the original version of New York. While it is a city and not actually a small town, old York is a place that will blow your expectations out of the water if you find yourself partial to the vibe that small towns give off.

– Shannan Raynor <3

Just Touched Down In…

Dr. Bender, I dedicate this blog post to you because we’re the only true London fans of this group. I am a big city girl; NYC is basically second home with how often my parents and I drive the hour to see a Broadway show or just to walk around and grab a bite to eat in Little Italy. So, I guess it makes sense that I felt like my true self when walking around the streets of London. Even though it felt as though I was deathly ill for the first few days, I put together all of my energy to be able to attend all events in London. Now, do not get me wrong, I was very excited to see London for its history and literature, but I am a true One Direction fan at heart. So, when I saw the bridge where One Direction filmed one of their music videos I may or may not have peed my pants a tiny bit. 

Sorry for getting side tracked, let’s talk about again, the whole reason while I was in London- academics! As I said in my post about York, I am not a huge fan of churches and the whole concept of religion, but I was utterly shocked as I walked into the Westminster Abbey. This building felt barely like a church and more like a famous cemetery with icons like Charles Darwin and Sir Issac Newton being buried under the floors we were walking on. Although she was not buried there, I spent about twenty minutes just staring at Emily Bronte’s memorial; can you tell I’m a huge Wuthering Heights fan? 

I feel as though since I am an English Education major it is necessary that I have my fangirl moment for the best part of the trip- seeing Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe. My fellow literature nerds and I floated through the building with starry eyes and hearts circling our heads. I first read this play in my junior year Shakespeare elective class and I was assigned the role of playing Hero (who, in my opinion, is such a boring character). I immediately fell in love with this classic comedy and when I got to watch it AT THE GLOBE I almost passed away. I may or may not have spent over $100 at the gift shop, but I used the excuse that it will all go towards my future classroom. My little feminist heart grew three times when I saw that Leonato was made into a female character; it made the play a thousand times better for me because instead of the male characters being the saviors we got to see another strong female character. Okay, that’s all I’ll say about the play for now. 

London was an amazing experience and again, our group continued to grow closer. We spent every night together and were almost brought to tears when it was time to part ways. I could not have asked for a better group to have wandered London and figure out the subway system with. I hope to return one day and have it live up to at least half of this study abroad experience.

York’s Famous Punch Bowl

When a naive American is asked to picture what they believe England looks like I can bet you that nine out of ten times they will picture the little side streets and shops that make up York. I’m a major romance novel nerd and these authors love to have England as their setting; when I was allowed to venture into the actual city it felt as though I was the main character in one of these books. The universe brought us to York at probably the best time: race weekend. While our little group walked around in our jeans and tried to stay as silent as possible to hear our guide, hundreds of natives walked the streets in cocktail dresses with feathery headbands. I felt out of place but in the best way possible; I could not stop smiling at the excitement that surrounded me. 

Now to get into the actual reason we went on this trip and were walking around the city of York: academics. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of churches and all of that religion stuff but the York Minster was the definition of beautiful. When walking into the building I immediately felt as if I was intruding. Being under five foot I understand that I am small, but this building made me feel small on another level. I am happy that I expressed this feeling to our wonderful professor, Dr. Gathagan, because she was able to explain to me that this was the intention of the creators of the York Minster. When looking up to the gigantic stained glass church goers are supposed to feel miniscule but in the way that these holy figures will always be above and what one wants to reach. 

Moving into our second day in York, this day of learning about the Vikings and Barley Hall was far more interactive. As someone who thrives in learning environments when they can get active and move around during the learning process, this day was so much fun for me. My high school is the Valley Central Vikings, so it is obvious that I have learned about the Vikings quite a bit in my day, but I have never been more interested than while in York. Being able to take a silly little ride that really emersed me in the living situations of the Vikings made me understand what was being taught to me. Also, having someone like Dr. Huntington who is so passionate and goofy with her students made my peers and I actually want to stand at the front of the group to hear what she is saying. 

I also have to give many thanks to York because it seems to be the place where our study abroad group really created a strong bond. Having the opportunity to sit in The Punch Bowl around a table and just talk and hear about each other’s lives really brought us all together. For the rest of the trip we wanted to stick together and planned events for the entire group to embark on. I am so incredibly thankful for this trip for bringing me some amazing friends and making my friendship with already established friends even stronger. Also if you go on this trip I highly recommend going to The Punch Bowl with your classmates and who knows, maybe you’ll meet some interesting characters like we did.

Myself at the Shambles
Walking the Walls with a view of York
Exploring York
When in England, you take tea sipping selfies…

Over the course of my 10-day experience in England, each place we explored gave me a new take on the world we live in. It was crazy to take in that I was across an ocean from the only place I’ve ever known, and that there is so much of this world to take in. I look back on this trip and the pictures I took and I think, did I really do that? Yes, I did do that, and I am a new person because of it! So much history taken in, in just 10 days. One of my favorite experiences to look back on from the trip was the two days we spent in the magical city of York. When I think about York I literally feel at home, it was so beautiful and some of the best memories of our trip came from there. From walking the ancient walls, to drinking tea at Betty’s, to walking down Shambles, and to the downright awful realistic smell of the Viking Center, it was all around memorable. We also got to meet and learn from Dr. Joanna Huntington who was a blast to listen to and take in her knowledge from her home. I do not think I could pick a favorite thing we did in York, I just loved being there. York also made me realize how much I enjoyed taking in and touring the gothic cathedrals we saw in every city. The York Minster was breath taking and I realized how much we learn from those ancient buildings. I would post pictures of everything we did in York, and a lot of my friends and family made a point of saying York is now on their bucket list to visit and that’s when I knew how special it really was. The rich history, and the beauty of England was memorizing and this trip gave me a whole new take on experiential learning. As a future teacher, I can look back on this trip as a whole to remind myself how much more special learning can be by physically seeing the things we talk about and how much more you can learn that way. I know not everyone is as fortunate as I was to be able to take on this journey and learn in a whole new way, but I definitely will be encouraging my friends, family, and even future students that there is a big world out there that we need to explore.

-Lauren Peters

https://wpclassroom.cortland.edu/medieval-england/337-2/

Following the last steps of a Queen by Patrick Snider

Hampton Court Palace
Henry the Eighths portrait in the haunted hallway

Have you ever done something by accident that made you think of the significance that you just did. I am not talking about like calling somebody a name. Or like stepping in gum and not realizing it. I am sort of talking about the feeling of knowing that you aced a test that you did not study for. I had this feeling at the tower of London in England. But before I tell you about this feeling like every great story we need a little precursor to this story. I am not good with English royalties history. Between all the Williams, Georges, Edwards, Richards, Henrys, Elizabeth’s, Mary’s, Catherine’s and Charles it can be confusing. Sure I know like the big ones, like William the Conqueror (also known as William the illiterate) . Or King George the third who lost the revolutionary war. Or Henry the eighth the man who changed the religion of his country so he could have a male heir to the throne that eluded him. My sister and mom are obsessed with Henry the eighth. They know all the wife’s of him and have watched the other Boleyn girl more times than I could count(I can only count to four). I never knew that much about him. Other than his weight and his fondness of cutting off his wife’s heads. When we first got to Hampton Court Place I did not know the significance of where we were at. Sure the building was pretty and Henry the eight lived there but the building was not that interesting to me. Inside the building it was gorgeous. There was one staircase that was gorgeous. It was like a heavens above that was painted throughout the staircase. I was enjoying the palace and all of its sights. Then we got to the haunted hall way. The haunted hallway is where Catherine Howard ran to a door to hope to have her husband Henry the eighth would save her from capture. She just found out that she was going to be going the the tower. Which I believe is the medieval England equivalent of being called to the principal’s office. Once she learned this she ran to the door of the room where Henry the Eighth would be so maybe he would save her life. But Henry the Eighth 
already left and her savior was not there. So apparently now she haunts there replaying her demise every night. I attached a picture of King Henry from that hallway. This picture like looms over the entire room it’s like he is watching . The hallway in general gave me and eerie feeling. But then we had free time to explore. We ended up doing the maze at the palace. Going a little bit of topic here if you ever want to understand why the American felt frustrated with the English during the war. Try to go through the maze at Hampton Court Palace and once you make the wrong term for the fifth time you might feel this frustration.  We then left the palace and had free time. Me Jen and Austin decided to go to back to the tower of London. The Tower is awesome like all the history there and the sights around the tower it is gorgeous. After we were at the tower for about an hour Jen turned to me and Austin and said the following. “Ya know we just like retraced Catherine Howards last steps. Because we went from Hampton Court Palace to the place she was beheaded the tower of London. This put chills down my spine. It was like we had a connection to a person in history who we did not know that much about. We tried to see her grave which is located in the chapel in tower. But the Beefeaters who run the tower like closed it before we could look around and find it. This kind of sucked I felt we needed some sort of closure to following the last steps of Queen Catherine Howard.

My first experience in England.

Going to England was something that I never thought that I would be able to experience. The first day we were there, of course, was rough so I don’t think I was fully able to appreciate Manchester. York was hands down my favorite place that we visited in England! Even the simplest things looked beautiful. York to me, felt cozy and it always lit up at night. It was a place where I began to feel comfortable (walking around enough you began to know your way around). It was fairly small, so everything there seemed to be close together. One thing we did in York that I found try interesting was the Jorvik Viking Center. Although the smell was almost intolerable, the fact that they were able to make the experience so interactive was incredible. 

Going from York to London, there were a lot of differences. London was very fast pace, and it seemed like everything was bigger there. It was also a little more difficult to get around, and it was harder to remember where to go. Although I’m not a big fan of the big city life, there was so much to do and so much to see in London. Seeing everything Harry Potter was so exciting to me that it was almost overwhelming! I didn’t think that I would be so interested in the history aspect but being able to walk around the Tower of London was a great experience. Overall, I had a great first experience in England, and I’m glad I got to experience it with the people I did.

~Imaani Rose~
  • York during the day
  • The shambles in York
  • The Tower of London
  • York at night.