Welcome back to your virtual tour of England and beyond! (You’re in for a bit of a longer read this time, sorry not sorry!)
I’m sitting here writing this on the Italo train from Rome to Florence, but before I tell you about that, let’s backtrack to some things that have happened over the last couple of weeks.
My life is in shambles…
Ok, not really, but I did visit the shambles while on a trip to York!
York was another day trip, similar to Cambridge, with transportation organized by the UoN travel society. So as per usual, I pre-ordered my ticket and hopped on a bus with my travel buddy, Elizabeth, at 8:00AM and we headed off to York. After a bit of a delay, and a fear that we wouldn’t make our tour we had scheduled for 11:00AM, we made it to the York Chocolate Story (yeaaaa we were around 15 minutes late but let’s just choose to ignore that cause we still were allowed on the tour by some very wonderful chocolatiers). The tour of the history was fascinating and we even got to experiment with making a chocolate lollipop as a part of the tour!
After that, we went on to York Minster. We didn’t go inside because we didn’t have tickets for that, but even the outside was gorgeous, and the church bells chiming was very interesting. I’ve never heard a church bell that chimed consistently or with as many different tones as this one.
Then we refueled at a very bougie Starbucks
And then we headed out to the shambles. It’s said that the setting for Harry Potter was inspired by the shambles, and as such, there are a lot of Harry Potter themed shops in the narrow walkways within the shambles. Though it was very cool to pass through, the streets are very crowded and Elizabeth and I opted for the shambles market instead.
Something that I’ve decided to do on this study abroad is, for every city I visit, I’m going to try to find a ring at a vintage store or a vendors market. (No I promise I’m not gollum), but as rings are my favorite kind of jewelry, and I want things that I collect on this trip to be able to be used for a long time and not just be postcards that I keep in a box and take out once in awhile, I figured this would be a good way to remember my trip while getting some use out of the product, and trying my best to support local shops/artisans. All that being said, at the shambles market, we found a jewelry vendor and I picked up 2 rings!
Our last stop on the York trip was the oldest pub in England, the Golden Fleece. There is a lot of history in that pub, but we didn’t really have time to stop and fully experience it because we were on a time crunch to return to the coach to take us back to Nottingham.
The next week of classes was a lot of prep work for our end of term essays coming up in December, and I did a lot of brainstorming on the topics I want to write about. Some of the highlights include the intersecting identities between class and gender associated with a song, as well as the contributions costume design has for film. I also had a debate tournament which was an internal debate competition between members of the debaters union at UoN and my partner and I took 2nd in the whole tournament! The trophy was so tiny and cute.
Now, we arrive at this weekend.
Elizabeth and I woke ourselves up at 4:45AM on Saturday the 4th of November to get to the East Midlands airport and fly to Rome.
We arrived at the hotel at around 3pm and immediately turned around and went into the city for dinner and dessert. And what else are you gonna get in Rome but pasta and gelatos? Elizabeth had found this place in the heart of Rome called Nannarella which was famous for its fresh pasta, and I can confirm, it was absolutely delicious. The gelato we got was just down the street and was such a cute little shop. We then found a small vintage store where I added another ring to my collection.
Then yesterday, we did a 2-hour walking tour of some of the Piazzas in Rome which was a great way to knock out a lot of the tourist spots quickly and with someone who has the historical knowledge that our tour guide has.
We also made a quick trip to the Vatican as well as the gardens at the villa Borghese, which have some beautiful walking/running trails and a gorgeous lake. We then circled back for dinner near the colosseum, and lastly, went back for the Spanish steps and some more gelato.
This all brings us to right now; me, having woken up at 4:15AM, sitting on a train to Florence, where Elizabeth and I will be for around 13-14 hours before we hop on another train to Milan, stay about 5 hours at a hotel, and get up at around the same time tomorrow where she will fly to London and head back to Nottingham, and I will fly to meet up with some family in Paris for a couple of days before going back to Nottingham. But that’s for next time. Until then, I’ll just be here balancing work with some of the most amazing travel experiences of a lifetime.
Cheers!
-Clara