Writer's Retreat Reflections

Hello Internet!

Before I get into the heart of today's post, I'd first like to share one of my favorite pictures from over in the UK, both because I'm feeling nostalgic and because I find long, picture-less blog posts boring: 

Sunrise in Stratford-Upon-Avon (Shakespeare's Birthplace)

Now that that's out of the way, to business. This week, my classmates and I embarked on a Writer's Retreat, where our tutor provided us with a host of writing and creativity resources and encouraged us to explore whatever caught our fancy. I experimented with several different techniques and tools, some of which worked really well for me and some of which didn't. Below, I've created a list of the activities that I tried this week from least helpful to most helpful. Please note that this list is entirely subjective, and is only meant as a commentary on how useful these activities were to me, not an assessment of their overall quality. 

7. Google Earth: In order to get inspiration for a future story setting, I spent some time playing around with the Google Earth app. Unfortunately, I found the program to be clunky and relatively unhelpful. 

6. World Anvil: For those who have interacted with wikis before, World Anvil is essentially a site where writers and roleplayers can create wikis for their own worlds. In other words, it allows worldbuilders to write and share articles about their worlds' characters, settings, important historical moments, and much more. For the Writer's Retreat, I created a World Anvil page for the fantasy world from the novel I'm working on. I haven't added any articles to it yet--in part because I'm wary about sharing my characters and settings on the internet. However, the website seems promising, and I hope to explore the possibilities it offers more thoroughly in the upcoming weeks. 

5. Meditation: After reading an article about how meditation can enhance creativity, I decided to start meditating daily. At around 2pm on each of the past two days, I have blocked out time to listen to a four-minute-long guided meditation video. I'm not sure if this has directly impacted my creativity, but each meditation session has significantly reduced my stress levels. Therefore, as I write much better when I am not stressed, I can concretely say that meditation has helped me as a writer. Accordingly, I plan to keep doing it!

4. Pinterest Boards: As I may have mentioned in previous posts, during my fall Creative Writing tutorial, my tutor helped me create Pinterest mood boards for the characters and settings from my novel. This was extremely helpful for me, as it enabled me to better picture my characters and their settings. Therefore, this week I decided to create Pinterest mood boards for another story idea that I have. As expected, this helped me to better picture my characters and provided me with a great deal of inspiration for my future story. 

3. Character Questionnaire: During our first class, my tutor provided my classmates and I with a questionnaire we could use to explore characters' appearances, backgrounds, hopes, and fears. The original purpose of this questionnaire was to help us create characters for a short assignment, but this week, I decided to use it to chronicle important facts about the characters from my novel. Although I have only filled it out for my main character thus far, it has already been incredibly helpful, as it has allowed me to arrange my thoughts about the character in a clear and organized fashion. 

2. Character Walk: When I first read through the list of activities that I could try for the Writer's Retreat, one particularly stood out to me: going for a walk with a character and having a conversation with them (much like one would with an imaginary friend). Although this activity sounds a bit bizarre, it called to me, and I knew that I had to try it. So, yesterday, I went for a walk with one of the side characters from my novel. Not only did I learn more about him than I'd ever hoped to, but I also learned a great deal about my story's world. This was, hands down, my favorite activity from the Writer's Retreat. 

1. How to Write Every Day Video: Although the Character Walk was my favorite Writer's Retreat activity, watching this video was by far the most useful one because it actively inspired me to write. I have always struggled to write regularly, so at the start of the Writer's Retreat, I decided to watch this video by Quotidian in hopes that it would help me develop better writing habits. It offered several excellent tips and tricks one can use to write daily, but the one that stood out most to me was the Pomodoro Technique: writing for four 25-minute intervals with five-minute breaks in between. On Wednesday, I decided to use an abbreviated form of this technique and ended up writing for 45 minutes; the day after, I wrote for a full 50 minutes. Given that I have done minimal "fun" writing since the start of the spring semester, this was huge for me. The Pomodoro Technique worked wonders for my writing productivity and I hope to keep using it daily. 

All in all, the Writer's Retreat was extremely beneficial for me. That being said, the activities described above are only a small portion of the resources that my tutor shared with me. I suspect that there are many more tools out there that I can use to improve my writing, and I greatly look forward to discovering them. 

Thanks for reading!

Abby

Writing Advice: Go for Character Walks with all of your characters. You'll learn more about your characters, setting, and story than you ever expected to. 

I'm Back!

Hello Internet!

Thanks to a series of rather fortunate events, I am once again taking part in the Advanced Studies in England program, which means I will once again be updating this blog regularly. However, both my ASE experience and this blog are going to look a little different this time around. More specifically, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this summer I am taking an ASE online course from the comfort of my own home. This course is called Writing Character-Driven Prose and is being taught by my tutor from last fall, whom I am extremely excited to be working with again. To make sure that we gain as much as possible from this class, my classmates and I are expected to blog about our thoughts, opinions, and experiences surrounding our coursework. Therefore, my blog posts from here on out will be very text-heavy, though I might throw in the occasional picture from my time in England to spice things up. Additionally, I plan to include concrete writing goals or advice at the end of each post, as I feel that doing so will be beneficial for me.

So, now that I've clarified what exactly I'm doing here, let's get into the meat of things, shall we? For class this week, my peers and I were instructed to watch two TED Talks: "Tales of Creativity and Play" by Tim Brown and "Your Elusive Creative Genius" by Elizabeth Gilbert. In "Tales of Creativity and Play," Brown discussed how his design company, IDEO, uses several techniques to facilitate worker creativity. These techniques include encouraging employees to make prototypes of their ideas, asking for quantity instead of quality during brainstorming sessions, and allowing space for play. Ultimately, although this video was enjoyable to watch, it mostly rehashed lessons that I learned from a Psychology of Creativity course that I took two years ago. Therefore, it didn't particularly catch my attention.

In contrast, "Your Elusive Creative Genius" caught my attention in a big way. To explain why, I first need to reveal a somewhat embarrassing secret about myself: I often let fear prevent me from writing. This fear can take several different forms; sometimes it appears as anxiety that my writing will never be published, other times it materializes as the worry that even if my work is published, no one will enjoy it. Most often, however, it takes the form of the fear that I've lost my creative spark. Regardless of the shape this fear takes, it frequently paralyzes my hands and my mind, blocking my ability to write. In turn, this inability to write makes me feel guilty and fearful that I've lost my touch, which paralyzes me even further. It's a vicious cycle, but fortunately, Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk offered me advice on how to break out of it. Gilbert argues that a lot of creativity comes from an outside source--a muse, of sorts. In order to create, you have to show up and put in the effort, but you also have to trust the muse to do its part. But if the muse doesn't visit you for a while, don't worry; it's simply off inspiring someone else, and will visit when the time is right. This may seem like a nonsensical, fantastical idea, but as someone who engages with fantastical ideas on a daily basis, I quite enjoy it. Regardless of whether or not it is objectively true, the idea that creativity is a sprite that visits on its own terms is reassuring to me, as it means that I am not to blame when my creativity disappears for a while. Therefore, I don't have to feel guilty or fearful when I'm feeling uninspired, so long as I show up and do my part--i.e. put words on the page.

So, that was rather long and rambling, but hopefully it made at least some semblance of sense. If not, or if you have any suggestions or thoughts about writing for me, please feel free to comment down below.

Thanks for reading!

Abby

Writing Advice: Challenge the muse. If creativity strikes at a moment when you physically cannot write (e.g. when you're driving, when you're in class, etc.), tell it to come back later. Similarly, if it refuses to appear when you want to write, invite it in. In short, acknowledge that some aspects of creativity are external and engage with those external aspects when you're struggling with your writing. 

Week Sixteen: Saying Goodbye

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It's the last few hours of 2019 and I've been back in the US for 17 days, so I figure now is as good a time as any to reflect on my final week in Bath, England.

On Monday, December 9th, I took my final exam for Gender Identities in Medieval Literature. I felt more than a little unprepared for this final, but ultimately, I think it went well. Then again, I haven't gotten my grades back yet, so I guess we'll see. Once I was finished with the exam, I took one last stroll around Henrietta Park, which was lovely as always.

One Last Shot of Henrietta Park

Later that night, I attended the final meeting for the CCE. Though I haven't mentioned it before, I took part in ASE's Certificate of Cultural Enrichment, or CCE, program throughout the semester. Basically, I kept track of all of the crazy mishaps I've written about here, then submitted a short reflective piece about my experiences in exchange for a certificate. The final meeting of the program was rather interesting--it was neat to hear my peers' reflections about the semester, and I enjoyed receiving acknowledgment for all the times I stepped out of my comfort zone while abroad.

The next day was slightly less stressful; after a Doctor Who marathon, I went out for dinner with my fellow ASE housing representatives. Again, I haven't mentioned it before because there were more pressing things to write about, but throughout the semester I served as my flat's housing representative. This basically meant I was in charge of ensuring the flat was neat and tidy, especially when my roommates and I left for Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon. In exchange for our hard work, ASE treated me and the other housing representatives to Nepalese food. I wasn't a huge fan of the meal-- it turns out that I much prefer Indian curry to Nepalese curry--but the company was nice and the vanilla ice cream was excellent.

On Wednesday, I woke up bright and early to take my Fantasies of Youth final exam. Again, I think it went pretty well, though I had to write like a madwoman to get all of my ideas down. During the afternoon, I hiked up to Alexandra Park on a hill just outside of Bath. The walk was exhausting thanks to the steep incline, but the view from the top was worth it. After slipping and stumbling back down the muddy slope, I went to the Christmas Market and treated myself to sticky toffee pudding, aka the absolute best dessert ever.

Bath from Alexandra Park

The Christmas Market

My last exam, the one for Writing for Children, took place on Thursday morning. It went ok, in my opinion, though I was honestly just glad to be finished with my finals. That night, I went to Write Night, which was basically a big talent show for the ASE program. I got to sing The 12 Days of Christmas with everyone and watch my friends perform on stage, so all in all, it was pretty cool.

Friday was technically my last full day in England, and I went out to lunch with some of my friends to celebrate/reminisce/freak out. We went to Tapas Revolution, a Spanish restaurant in Bath where you order little plates full of food and share them with the table. The food was fantastic and the experience itself was really interesting. Afterwards, we attended ASE's Final Tea, where we said goodbye to our friends and enjoyed traditional English snacks one last time. I managed to make it through without crying, but only just.

What's teatime without a plate of treats?

Saturday morning found me standing alone in the center of Bath at 5am, clutching my luggage close and waiting for the bus. Though it initially didn't show up--which almost sent me into a panic attack-- it finally arrived 10 minutes late and whisked me to the Bristol Airport, where I said a final goodbye to England and boarded my flight to the States.

Bath is Gorgeous at Night

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I've been home for 17 days. To be depressingly truthful, I've thought of England every single day and missed it quite often. My semester abroad fundamentally changed who I am as a person; it made me braver, more confident, happier, and more relaxed. Perhaps most importantly, it showed me who I am when I'm not surrounded by the familiar comforts of my home, family, and childhood friends. Honestly, I'm rather proud of that authentic version of me, and I intend to cling to it as I continue through life.

So I guess the question is, what next? As for me, I'm currently catching up with my loved ones, and in January I'll go back to my college. And as for this blog, well, this is probably my last post for a while. Maybe sometime down the line I'll post writing-related reflections and updates, or I might even go abroad again. I'll certainly look back on this space often as a reminder of my semester abroad and how it changed my life. But regardless of what happens next, I sincerely appreciate the support you all have given me throughout this semester, and I wish you the best as we go forth into 2020.

May you have many wonderful adventures in the new year, and as always, thank you for reading.

Best Regards,

Abby

Artsy Picture of the Day: Farewell, England

Week Fifteen: Adventures Through Space and Time

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Last week was...something else. On Monday, right off the bat, I was struck hard by the realization that I don't have much time left in England. So, in an attempt to stave off the dread, I went for a walk around Sidney Gardens. Unfortunately, this initially served as a reminder of how much I'll be leaving behind when I fly home. But on the bright side, the beauty and tranquility of the gardens gave me time to reflect on and brace myself for the semester's end, and eventually managed to lift my mood.

Sidney Gardens

The next morning, I woke up early to board a bus to Stratford-Upon-Avon with my fellow ASE program participants. Stratford-Upon-Avon (which I will henceforth refer to as Stratford) is known across the world due to its status as Shakespeare's birthplace. Though the town was small and quiet, with a population of only 20,000, it offered some truly unique experiences and opportunities.

Stratford-Upon-Avon in the Morning

After arriving in Stratford, having a quick debriefing session about our schedule, and wrestling our luggage into our hotel rooms, my peers and I were given some time to grab lunch and roam around the town. I decided to go for a wander along the banks of the River Avon, which runs along the edge of the Stratford city center. The river itself was gorgeous, though the waterfowl that lived in it were intimidating, to say the least. Fortunately, I survived the ferocious geese and ducks and made it back to the ASE rendezvous point on time.

Once the entire ASE program had assembled, we were taken on a brief guided tour of Stratford that ended at Shakespeare's birthplace. The building and the grounds were very pretty and it was easy to sense the weight of the history that they held. The house was decorated to look as it would have during Shakespeare's time and even contained the original sign from the pub that Shakespeare's daughter ran. In addition, the grounds had two actors in period costume who acted out a few scenes from Shakespeare's plays, which was super cool to watch.

Shakespeare's Birthplace

Later that night, my peers and I went to the Swan Theatre to see A Museum in Baghdad, a rather unusual play about The Iraq Museum. As a historical fiction piece, A Museum in Baghdad follows the narratives of Gertrude Bell, the woman who opened the museum in 1926, and Ghalia Hussein, a fictional woman attempting to reopen the museum in 2006. These stories overlap each other often, and at times, the two characters were speaking the exact same words at the same time. The play was interesting, especially the parts that focused on Iraqi history, but it was also just a little too out-there for me. Though the ending was visually super neat, it didn't make much sense to me, and it felt like the characters' narratives weren't wrapped up well. That being said, overall it was very fun to watch.

On Wednesday, my peers and I went to a debriefing/academic discussion about the play, then hiked out to Anne Hathaway's House. For those of you who don't know, Anne Hathaway was William Shakespeare's husband. When she married him, she left her family's house to live with him and their children in the house where he was born, and I would just like to say that this was a downgrade. Details of William and Anne's personal life aside, Anne's childhood home is much, much prettier than her husband's. The grounds, which were recreated to look like they would have when Anne lived there, were lovely, and the house itself was snug and charming. The surrounding countryside and the path to the Stratford city center were also gorgeous.

Anne Hathaway's House

After exploring Anne Hathaway's House, my roommate and I went to Holy Trinity Church to see Shakespeare's grave. The grave, like most I've seen during my time in England, was relatively humble, as were the graves for Shakespeare's wife and children that were nearby. Still, something about the simplicity of it took my breath away for a moment. Standing inside a medieval church, mere feet away from where Shakespeare is buried, made me realize just how far I've wandered from small-town America and how darn lucky I am to have come that far.

Holy Trinity Church

When we had finished paying our respects, my roommate and I parted ways and I headed up to the city center, where I stopped at Magic Alley. This quirky little niche shop had souvenirs for nearly every fandom imaginable and I had to pull myself away before I spent all my food money for the week. I made a quick detour to check out the Stratford Living Advent Calendar, which featured a harp player and a flutist on that particular evening, then headed back to the Swan Theatre to see Shakespeare's King John.

King John is one of Shakespeare's least performed plays, as many people tend to think of it as a boring, convoluted historical account. The version of the play that I saw, however, was amazing. It began with the king sauntering on stage in his pajamas to drink a Bloody Mary, then escalated to an onstage boxing match and, later, a food fight where my roommate got hit in the chest with a flying roll. Though the second half was much more somber, it culminated in a disgustingly realistic death scene where the king writhed and coughed blood in a bathtub. The play was vibrant, visceral, and honestly, a lot of fun. It had me leaning forward on the edge of my seat, jaw literally hanging open, which not every performance can do. It was an experience that I suspect I will remember for the rest of my life.

Speaking of moments that I will remember forever, the next day my peers and I took a trip to the nearby Warwick Castle. This was, hands-down, the best experience I've had while in England, and I'd even say it makes the top-10 list of Best Experiences in my Entire Life. I'm not exaggerating.

Warwick Castle, All Decked Out for Christmas

My time at the castle was fantastic for several reasons. First of all, last year, my friends and I took part in a 14th century reenactment where we pretended to be soldiers serving under Thomas Beauchamp, the Earl of Warwick. Therefore, visiting the castle felt like stepping directly into a world of make-believe. I was treading paths that I had only pretended to walk before, and that was an insanely cool feeling. Secondly, the castle itself was stunning. Guy's Tower, which was built in 1395, provided a fantastic view of the general castle and the surrounding area, including a field where the Templar Knights used to train. The medieval history exhibit under the battlements was super interesting, and the Great Hall had more weapons and suits of armor than I've ever seen in my life. It was a medieval nerd's dream come true.

The Great Hall's Armor Display

Lastly, and most importantly, the castle was incredibly interactive. For example, my friends and I went through the Time Tower, where we learned about the history of the castle and were startled into bolting up a set of stairs by an animated knight. The most exhilarating part was where I was nearly trapped against a turnstile by a closing door--thankfully, my friends yanked me inside just in time. In addition, I got to try on a helmet in the castle's armory, which helped fix the armor craving I've had since coming to England. But all this paled in comparison to the fact that a castle worker let me hold one of the Great Hall's display swords. I don't really have the words to describe how that experience made me feel, so I'm going to let this picture do the talking:

(Bonus Pic: Me Wearing a 15th Century Helmet)

I could've spent days wandering around the castle, but in a matter of hours, the ASE advisors were herding me onto the bus back to Stratford. Back in Stratford, I went to a pub with my friends and had a delicious dinner of sausages and mash, then headed to the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre to see The Boy in the Dress.

The Boy in the Dress was the first and only musical that we saw in Stratford and, unsurprisingly, it was pretty great. Quite simply, it tells the story of a boy named Dennis who is expelled from his school for wearing a dress but is reinstated after his teammates and father stand up for him. The musical was heartfelt and funny, and the songs had me half out of my seat at times, dancing and clapping along. All in all, it was a wonderfully fun way to end the ASE Stratford residential.

Friday found my friends and me back in Bath, where we decided to get together for a long-awaited game of Dungeons and Dragons. It was an absolute blast, not least because my dice rolled absurdly well for the majority of the session. Good company, good food, and good storytelling made for a truly excellent evening.

On Saturday--because I evidently hadn't had my fill of adventure during the week--I decided to take a trip to Cardiff, the capital of Wales. My first stop of the day was Cardiff Castle, an old Norman keep surrounded by replica Roman walls. The castle was a bit difficult to navigate, but the battlements offered a nice view of the city and the keep itself was cool, especially given that it had a moat. It was no Warwick Castle, but it was definitely a worthwhile stop (since it was, you know, a castle).

The Keep in Cardiff Castle

After touring around the castle for a few hours, I hiked across the city to Roal Dahl Plass. The Plass was what had inspired me to visit Cardiff in the first place because, as all Doctor Who fans know, it's supposedly home to a rift in time and space. Though I hung around the Plass for several long minutes, I saw no sign of the TARDIS, which was rather disappointing. On the bright side, I got some lovely pictures of The Millenium Center, The Water Tower (aka the entrance to Torchwood), and the nearby bay.

The Bay

The Entrance to Torchwood!!

Once I'd had my fill of the Plass, I hiked back to the city center and wandered around the Cardiff Christmas Market before catching a bus to St. Fagan's National Museum of History. The Museum might classify as the most interesting part of my week, and that's saying something. St. Fagan's is a huge living history village in the middle of the Welsh countryside, and it's filled with replicas of buildings ranging from the Iron Age to the 1800s. Though it was too cold and damp for the buildings to be inhabited by reenactors like they usually are, the buildings themselves were still open to the public. I had a great time wandering around the Welsh forest and exploring a 13th century prince's house, a 16th century palace, and an 18th century barn, amongst other things. But all too soon, I had to catch my bus back to Cardiff so I could catch my train back to Bath.

Selfie in the Tree Tunnel

St. Fagan's Castle

So, to sum up: my week had me exploring eras from the Normans to the Victorians and places from central England to the Wales countryside to a fantasy world where friendship is the ultimate solution. In a matter of seven days, I adventured across time and space, and I absolutely loved it.

Thanks for reading!

Abby

Artsy Picture of the Day: The River Avon in Stratford

Week Fourteen: Last Week of Learning

Hello Internet!
I've just gotten back from Stratford-Upon-Avon, but hey, that's a story for later. Until then, it's time for one last academic rant, because last week was my final week of classes.

Gender Identities in Medieval Literature: In this class, we discussed how children were involved with and represented in medieval literature. There's supposedly an argument that children's literature existed in the middle ages, but I'm skeptical about that because the evidence seems thin. Additionally, we compared the lives of medieval women to renaissance women and concluded that neither era was decisively worse. The quality of living for women fluctuated during both eras, which just goes to show that progress is not linear.

Fantasies of Youth: We finished discussing The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge (which, again, is fantastic) and ate way too many cookies. To be completely honest, I'm pretty glad to be done analyzing children's literature for this class. I love children's literature, but literary analysis? Not so much.

Writing for Children: Remember how I mentioned in my last post that I hate writing historical fiction? Well, I hate writing romance even more, and I was asked to write it as part of an in-class exercise. Needless to say, it was extremely awkward and left me feeling very uncomfortable, though thankfully I wasn't asked to read my piece aloud. On the bright side, before the writing exercise, we talked about the process of getting children's novels published, which I suspect will be very useful information later in my career.

Advanced Creative Writing Tutorial: For the final session of this course, my tutor and I went over some of my writing and discussed journal entries that I wrote for a couple of my characters. In addition, we analyzed the short story Two Hearts by Peter Beagle and talked about the next steps I need to take with my novel. This class has fundamentally changed the way I look at my novel and my writing in general and I am going to miss it very, very much. My tutor has been absolutely wonderful and I have truly loved working with her.

Outside of my classes, my week was relatively relaxed. On Wednesday, I went with my friends to the opening night of the Bath Christmas Market, which will be occupying most of central Bath until December 15th. The market is ridiculously huge and incredibly gorgeous. Between the festive lights overhead, the performers on every corner, and the rows upon rows of quirky booths, there's so much to discover. My friends and I only got a glimpse of all the market had to offer, but it was enough to put me firmly in the Christmas spirit.

The Chaotic Beauty of the Christmas Market

Thursday, as my American readers know, was Thanksgiving, and the ASE program was kind enough to put on a  dinner for my peers and me. It was...interesting, to say the least. For one thing, it was in the evening, instead of in the afternoon like I'm used to. For another, the "stuffing" they served was not American stuffing--it was served in slices and tasted a bit like sausage. That being said, the meal was very good overall, and the pumpkin pie was especially delicious. The evening was filled with friendship and laughter, and though it wasn't quite the same as Thanksgiving back home, it was an excellent substitute. It made me realize that I'm really going to miss the friends I've made here.

Waiting for Dinner...

An English Thanksgiving Feast

The realization that I'm going to be leaving England soon put me in a rather mopey mood on Friday, so I went for a solo wander around the Christmas market to cheer myself up. While I was there, I bought and inhaled a burger that was so good, it basically drove away my melancholy on its own. Then, for good measure, I treated myself to a large, cream-filled piece of chocolate and listened to Christmas carolers for a while. Needless to say, I went home that evening in a much better mood.

Christmas is on its way, folks!

A few days after that, I went and had a fantastic adventure in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's Birthplace. But like I said earlier, that's a story for another time--so tune in next week if you want to hear about it!

Thanks for reading!

Abby 

Artsy Picture of the Day: The Gorgeous Streets of Bath

Weeks Twelve-Thirteen: In Which I Get an Overdose of Harry Potter and Doctor Who

Hello Internet!
Happy Late Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it! As you may have noticed, I didn't post last week. There's a simple reason for that: I didn't really have much to post about. A few fun things happened, and I had classes, but I didn't get any pictures and I didn't want to subject you all to a boring block of text. So, this post will talk about the past two weeks and hopefully won't drag on too much.

Gender Identities in Medieval Literature: Unsurprisingly, feminine medieval acts of Chrisitan devotion were extreme. Some women volunteered to spend their entire lives locked in anchorholds (tiny rooms near churches), other women starved themselves to gain religious and societal power. Slightly more surprisingly, medieval Jewish women had a good deal more freedom than medieval Christian women. Jewish women could own property, go to court, and even divorce abusive husbands with relatively few consequences.

Fantasies of Youth: Skellig is weird, Harry Potter is iconic but heavily subjected to consumer capitalism, and The Lie Tree is cool no matter what anyone else says.

Writing for Children: Ironically, while I enjoy historical reenactments, I hate writing historical fiction. On an entirely different note, I believe that people should be able to write about places, people and things they haven't experienced firsthand. If writers only stick to what they know, their writing will be boring and unimaginative. That being said, authors should be sure to approach diverse topics with sensitivity and should do extensive research in order to avoid cultural appropriation.

Advanced Creative Writing Tutorial: I've started my novel over and it's actually going pretty alright.  While I'm still facing some of the problems I did before, I've conquered most of the difficulties I'd been having. For example, I'm no longer adding in fluff to pad my word count and I'm much better at writing realistic interactions between my main characters. I'm also genuinely excited about writing my novel again, which is fantastic. I spent my last class session reworking my timeline and trying to flesh out my minor characters a bit more.

As I mentioned before, the past two weeks were relatively uneventful outside of my classes; I was too busy churning out essays and portfolios to go out and party. However, I still managed to have some fun. On Tuesday of Week Twelve, ASE's academic director brought her puppy into the study center and my friends and I got to spend plenty of time adoring him. Then, that evening, the program's alumni association coordinator held a HEMA workshop at a nearby church. It was very rudimentary--geared toward the classmates of mine who've never swung a sword before-- so I didn't learn too much, but I still had a blast. I really enjoyed watching my peers learn about the hobby I love, and I got to swing a boffer sword, which is always a good time. I even managed to land a blow on the instructor's shoulder, which I was pretty darn proud of!

Lawrie is the Best Boy

On Wednesday of that week, I went to the Bath Spa University Doctor Who Society Debate Night (gosh that was a mouthful!). That was an...interesting experience, to say the least. The debate was informal, but it got very heated, especially when we were discussing who the best Doctor in Doctor Who is (it's totally David Tennant, by the way). My introversion kept me from getting too involved in the debate, but the society was very welcoming and it was really cool to hear everyone's opinions about the long-running, highly popular British show.

Speaking of interesting experiences, the Tuesday after that I went to the launch party for Shadow, a picture book by Lucy Christopher. On one hand, this took place at Mr. B's Emporium, which meant I got to spend the entire evening surrounded by books--always a plus. On the other hand, I didn't know anyone else at the launch, so I spent most of my time awkwardly browsing the shelves until they announced that the author was doing her reading. The reading was done by candlelight and the book itself was super cool, so overall, the night ended on a very positive note.

Hiding by the Children's Books at Mr. B's...

On Thursday, I decided to celebrate the end of essay week and unwind by going ice skating with three of my friends. The rink was absolutely gorgeous, decked out in bright lights and festive garlands, and the ice was wonderfully smooth. My friends and I spent nearly an hour there and managed to stay on our feet the entire time, which was quite the success! Once our feet were sore, our cheeks were red and our noses were numb, we ducked into the nearby lodge to warm up with some drinks. All in all, we had a lovely time reveling in the holiday season.

Good Friends, Good Weather, and Good Exercise

The next day, I wound myself back up again by taking a bus to London. My friend Erin, who's spending the semester in Hungary, met me there, and we spent the weekend exploring London together. And let me tell you, London is an insane, beautiful, chaotic city. Erin and I saw so many things, including no fewer than two people dressed up as Yoda. Here are the highlights, listed in order from least cool to coolest:

19. Borough Market: The marketplace was fully decorated for Christmas and was very lovely, but none of the stalls were open. Which is unfortunate, because apparently that's the place to go for good cheese.

18. London Bridge: I know, I know, it's practically blasphemy to say that London Bridge isn't particularly cool. But I have to admit, it was a little underwhelming, especially after seeing Tower Bridge and Millenium Bridge. It was pretty, but not quite as stunning as some of the other sights we saw.

17. Parliament: We didn't go inside, but the outside of the government building was pretty neat--very regal and dignified. It was also awesome to be so close to a central hub of British politics and history.

16. Leadenhall Market: Again, all of the shops were closed, which sucked. But we did get to see the building that served as The Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter movies, which was exceedingly cool.

Leadenhall Market

15. The Globe Theatre: We only saw this attraction in passing, and I am aware that it's merely a reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre, yet the sight of it still made my breath catch in my throat a little. It was a stunning reminder that I was traversing a city that held hundreds of years' worth of history.

14. London Eye: This London monument was very impressive, even from a distance, and seeing it made my Doctor-Who-fan-heart happy.

Two Buds at the London Eye

13. Big Ben: This would've ranked much, much higher had it not been undergoing construction and completely covered by latticework. In any case, it was still awesome.

"Limited Edition" Big Ben

12. The London Tower/Tower Bridge: The plaza between these two attractions was the perfect place to enjoy some traditional fish and chips, and the bridge itself was gorgeous. Also, catching a glimpse of London's medieval history was thrilling for me.

11. National Gallery: I don't like art museums much, but I got to see some paintings by Van Gogh and a room where they filmed a scene in Doctor Who, so I can't complain.

10. 221 Baker Street/Hyde Park: Sorry folks, I'm just not a Sherlock Holmes fan. That being said, visiting a place with such literary relevance left me slightly awestruck. Additionally, the park was breathtakingly gorgeous, though it was also full of very, very aggressive birds.

Braving the hordes at Hyde Park

9. Kensington Gardens: This was the last stop of the weekend for Erin and me, so we didn't get to spend much time there before we had to run and catch our respective busses. Which was a shame, because the gardens' autumn colors were absolutely stunning. The squirrels were also very friendly--one of them almost climbed Erin's leg!

8. Goodwin Court (aka Diagon Alley): Speaking of places with literary relevance that left me awestruck...

Anybody else have the Harry Potter theme song stuck in their head?

7. Trafalgar Square: The square was dazzling, the lions were cool, and the Christmas Market was cozy. What else is there to say?

6. Millenium Bridge: Remember that scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince where Death Eaters tear through London and twist a bridge into a pretzel? That bridge, my dear readers, was Millenium Bridge, a structure that looks like it couldn't stand up to a stiff breeze. Of course, because Erin and I are fearless, we walked straight across it.

5. Westminster Abbey: This building's long, distinguished history was evident in its imposing exterior. Oddly enough, it reminded me a bit of the abbey in Bath, though it was bigger and much more ornate.

Westminster Abbey

4. Buckingham Palace/St. James Park: The palace facade was gorgeous, and since Erin and I saw a group of police cars cruising down the nearby streets, I'm pretty sure we witnessed someone famous arriving at the grounds. The park was equally gorgeous and housed enormous pelicans that could've easily bitten my head clean off if they'd been so inclined.

Buckingham Palace

3. British Museum: I got to see the Rosetta Stone! And authentic fourteenth-century armor! And a sword that's longer than I am tall!

2. Platform 9 3/4: Erin and I have officially lived the dream of all Potterheads everywhere. We had to wait in line forever to get our pictures taken at this iconic Harry Potter site, but it was worth every minute. And the pictures turned out so cool!

Petrificus Totalus is Surprisingly Effective...

1. The British Library: This place had so many things to fangirl over that I don't know where to start. There was the literal wall of books, the oldest written copy of the New Testament, The Gutenberg Bible, The Book of Margery Kempe....oh, and we can't forget the original copy of the Magna Carta (that's the second copy I've seen on this trip!). Visting this library made me the happiest bookworm in the world.

As you can probably tell, my weekend in London was insanely busy. Still, I had a great time catching up with Erin and seeing as much of London as I could. Next week I'll be commenting on ASE's attempt host an American Thanksgiving dinner (spoiler alert: it was spectacular), so stay tuned for that!

Thanks for reading!

Abby

Artsy Picture of the Day: Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery

Week Eleven: I Have No Idea What's Happening Anymore

Hello Internet!
Alright, so I'm clearly not back on my normal posting schedule yet, but I'm getting there! With a bit of luck, my next update will be on time. In other news, essays are making my life extremely chaotic again; let's get on with things so I can get back to studying!

Gender Identities in Medieval Literature: This week, my classmates discussed magic and gender in the middle ages. Almost everyone has heard of the witchhunts that doomed many medieval women, but did you know that some medieval men practiced magic too? Male magicians, or mages, were mostly college dropouts who recorded spells for protecting their wealth and seducing women. They weren't criminalized like witches were, but the church didn't approve of them for fairly obvious reasons. They also, for whatever reason, had an obsession with acquiring horses.

Fantasies of Youth: Fair warning: I am about to make some relatively controversial points. This week, my classmates and I read and analyzed The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Now, as a child, I was heavily discouraged from reading The Golden Compass due to the rumor that it contained anti-Christian sentiments. Therefore, I went into the book expecting to hate it. I...didn't. Don't get me wrong, I harbor a strong dislike for Philip Pullman; he strikes me as arrogant, hypocritical, and even rather ignorant. However, I enjoyed his story and its characters. In addition, while The Golden Compass is blatantly anti-church, its narrative actually presents a compelling argument for Christianity. And it's worth noting that at some points in history, even the church has been anti-church (that's how Protestantism came about). Overall, what I'm trying to argue is that instead of banning The Golden Compass, Christian families should read the text together and carefully examine how it fits with their faith.

Writing for Children: Fun fact about me: I'm a Type One Diabetic. Additional fun fact about me: for years, I've wanted to write a dystopian novel where children with disabilities are the protagonists. This week, I got to write the first chapter of that novel for in-class workshopping, which was absolutely awesome. I also got to read A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly, which was...interesting. I'll leave it at that.

Advanced Creative Writing Tutorial: So. Last week, my tutor and I were talking about my novel, and we realized that in order for my plot to work, I needed to revise a major worldbuilding detail. This meant that I would basically need to rewrite my entire novel. I'm not going to lie, that realization triggered a minor mental breakdown, and I spent most of my Thursday evening questioning if I even wanted to be a writer. Fortunately, some self-reflection showed me that I truly do want to be an author, even though my path won't be easy. I pulled myself together and came to class this week with a fresh attitude and a character map for my novel. My tutor and I spent the session going over this map and exploring how I can proceed with my novel from here.

As if my classes weren't enough, I decided to also dedicate my Tuesday night to improving my writing. In other words, I attended a workshop on flash fiction, where I learned about a relatively new form of prose and wrote a very brief story based on my experiences working in a cheese plant. All in all, there are worse ways to spend an evening.

On Wednesday, I went back to one of my favorite events in Bath: Jane Austen dancing. As always, I had a wonderful time skipping and twirling across the dance floor. I even managed to stumble through a strange figure-eight maneuver that I learned in the last five minutes of the class, which I consider an accomplishment! I really enjoy regency dancing and I'm hoping to teach it to some friends and family when I get back to the states.

Riverside Walk in Bath (Because even I'm getting bored with all this text)

Thursday night, my friends and I got together to eat pizza and design our characters for our upcoming dnd game. It was an absolute blast, and I look forward to throwing my brand new tiefling bard into battle. That's all there really is to say about that.

Finally, on Friday, my peers and I went on a trip to the Cotswolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty near Bath. The first stop of the day was the Broadway Tower, the Cotswolds' highest castle. After downing a tasty glass of hot chocolate to brace myself against the chill, I climbed the steps to the top of the tower. It was insanely windy at the top, but the stunning view was worth it.

Hot Chocolate: The Best Weapon Against the Chill

Broadway Tower

Looking Out from the Peak of the Cotswolds

Once my friends and I had had our fill of the wind, we set off down the trail from the tower to the town of Broadway. Surprisingly, the public path took us straight through several muddy sheep pastures. I can't imagine an American sheep farmer letting strangers wander through his fields, but the practice is evidently quite common in England. In any case, my friends and I made it into Broadway muddy but mostly unscathed. We took a brief walk through the town, then caught the bus to Bourton-on-the-Water, a tiny town where I bought a delicious bacon and cheese pastie for lunch. My friends and I spent a while wandering around the canal that runs through the town, then boarded the bus to our last stop of the day: Chavenage House.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Chavenage House is an Elizabethan manor packed full of quirky history. During my visit there, I saw several rooms where the show Poldark was filmed, an authentic 17th century tapestry, a medieval fireplace with a secret compartment behind it, and a stuffed warthog. I even got to see the room where Oliver Cromwell stayed when he was traveling the country to gain support for beheading King Charles. I also learned that the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty is actually about a cannon that the Royalists accidentally broke during the English Civil War. My visit ended with cream tea, scones, and some playtime with the spaniels that live the manor--which, as you can probably guess, was an excellent experience. In fact, my entire day in the Cotswolds was an excellent experience, and I highly enjoyed it.

Chavenage House Front...

...And Back

So yeah, that about sums up my week. Stay tuned for more--assuming that my essays don't kill me!

Thanks for reading!

Abby

Artsy Picture of the Day: Henrietta Park (The Perfect Place to Read Harry Potter)