That in and of itself is mind-blowing to me, but made more so by the fact that it's gone by so fast. When I arrived in Newcastle in September it was still vaguely resembling summer, but now it has given up on sun altogether and fall is undoubtedly here. I will admit that this has made me a little homesick for the first time because fall in New England is one of my absolute favorite times of the year, but when I look back on everything that's happened this month I'm wondering when I ever had time to miss home amongst all of the spontaneous adventures October brought with it. Below is a selection of my thoughts, my favorites, and my reasons to never come home.
"This history could have been yours"
This is a direct quote from a tour guide at one of the many historical places that we've visited recently who began his tour by asking for a show of hands from those in the crowd from America. I feel as though my American-ness is obvious enough as it is so I didn't raise my hand, but after several others did he said, "Now I want all of you to keep in mind as we go through the tour, all of this history could have been yours" (well played from the country that doesn't teach about the Revolutionary War). But he had a valid point. There's something magical about being able to visit castles and monuments that have been in place for hundreds and hundreds of years. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of being able to visit three castles- Alnwick, Lindisfarne, and Bamburgh- and it's definitely one of the best trips that we've taken thus far. Alnwick castle is of course famous for more than it's magical historical appeal, it has also been used for real magic in the Harry Potter movies and as a backdrop for Downton Abbey. It's actually still lived in currently by the Duke of Northumberland and his family, but that didn't stop us from shamelessly taking touristy photos and running around on quidditch broomsticks on their lawn. I may not be able to celebrate Thanksgiving and the voyage of the pilgrims this fall, but I think I can happily adopt this history instead. Tonight is my very first Bonfire Night- the commemoration of Guy Fawkes not blowing up the Houses of Parliament (which ironically means lots of fireworks and explosives)- and I can be thankful for that.
Beyond the historical aspects of British culture, we have also been making a very dedicated effort to fully immerse ourselves in everything England has to offer culturally. This month this included a One Direction concert, our very first James Bond movie, and a quest for the best tea house in Newcastle after discovering that the nearest Dunkin Donuts is in Barcelona (plans already made for the spring).
Booking tickets for the former was probably the most spontaneous decision I've made thus far in my travels- and most likely just a consequence of intense procrastination in the library- but what better place to see some of the most popular British artists surrounded by screaming little girls than in the UK? In addition to getting to see Harry, Liam, Niall, and Louis (and receiving several angry glances from the ten year olds in front of us for googling their names) we were pleasantly surprised to also get to see the amazing Jamie Lawson, Ed Sheeran's first artist on his new label (though sadly he wasn't in attendance as we had hoped). The boys had actually just returned from a summer tour in the US and couldn't stop commenting on "how nice it is to be back in the UK", with which I couldn't agree more, Harry Styles. There's something about going to a One Direction concert in the middle of Newcastle on a school night that has made my abroad experience that much more worthwhile.
The next school night excursion was a trip to the cinema to see the new James Bond movie- Spectre- with my flatmates. I brought my American friend Sarah along with me, neither of us having ever seen a James Bond movie in our lives, but we certainly weren't going to let that stop us from following the British crowd. 2.5 hours later of covering each other's eyes and all the adrenaline my heart could handle, we emerged from the theater at 12:30 am both happy to have seen it but probably not needing to ever again. Perhaps we're more suited in crowds of ten year olds with early bedtimes after all. Either way, I can now safely say I've listened to more than Taylor Swift and watched more than Netflix in my culturally-enriching time abroad in England.
Frisbee, the Circus, and Other Completely Unrelated Things
My favorite part about the fall in New England is always the preparation for Halloween and all of the little traditions that come with it. Luckily, my newfound favorite part about Newcastle is playing frisbee and I was able to combine the best of both last weekend, which made up for the lack of candy corn and pumpkin-flavored Dunkin.
This was made possible by the fact that our team played in a mixed regionals tournament in Lancashire against other Northeast university teams from places like Manchester, Liverpool, Durham, and Lancaster. We brought a total of five teams and I was really excited to be chosen to play on the second team as a "fresher" alongside mostly experienced players. Overall, we played seven games throughout the weekend and didn't make nationals ourselves, but our first team qualified which was just as thrilling. Returning to Newcastle, exhausted and sore in just about every way, I couldn't have been more proud of this team or the weekend we spent running back and forth after a frisbee together.
As always, one of the best parts of the tournament was getting to go out with the other teams on the Saturday night, which also happened to be Halloween. Instead of just dressing up, however, the team was given a theme for fancy dress that for whatever reason was "spooky circus". Given the fact that this isn't something that one can just google ideas for, I ended up settling for a tiger with Sarah dressing as my elephant companion. There was a whole range- bearded men, mimes, clowns- but there just aren't words capable of describing the group dynamic accurately so you'll just have to imagine a group of 50 dead-looking, circus-themed, frisbee-playing, uni students taking on the city of Preston. Overall, it was certainly an unforgettable Halloween even if no one outside of the club could make sense of our costumes and we still had to wake up at 8 am to play another full day of frisbee. I really wouldn't have had it any other way.
So in the end, as October has come to a conclusion and I'm now facing my last full month in the UK before traveling home for the holidays, I can officially say that fall in England- for all of its differences- certainly surpassed my expectations. In November I have trips all over the UK planned, including Dublin and Edinburgh in the next few weeks, but at the same time I have no regrets about having mainly stayed in England for the past month. Whether or not I actually understand British history, culture, or the proper way to fancy dress, not a second of the past 50 days has been wasted.
And more importantly, if this was 50, I can't wait to see what crazier, unexpected adventures 7 more months have in store for me.
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