Catch Up and Robin Hood

Sorry I haven't updated this in a bit.  This weekend Laurel and I didn't go anywhere too far away because we had been traveling every weekend thus far and we had lots of homework (sometime I forget to mention that I actually do go to school here!).  Friday was a great day around the manor.  I work on some British Studies (the class that everyone here must take) homework.  I also worked on gathering lots of information about trips and places to go for next weekend and our second long weekend.  This takes a lot longer than one may think!  Travel information is vast and it can be hard to understand it all especially when traveling to other countries. 

Saturday was also a good day.  Laurel and I went to Nottingham, a town about 40 minutes away on the train.  Nottingham is known for Robin Hood and shopping.  There are over 800 shops in and around Nottingham.  We tried to get to them all, but didn't quite make it :) I did enjoy going to Primark, a British store in the style of the American Forever 21.  They are all over England.  In London we saw one that was a block long, but was closed when we were there.  It is cheap and there is a huge selection of clothes, shoes, and accessories.  I really loved it! While we were around town we did notice that there was huge police force out and visible.  On the way back to the train station the police were pushing big groups of men to the side of the rode and it was chaotic!  Turns out that there was a big football game going on that day and people were really passionate about their teams!  

We also visited the Nottingham Castle, but didn't pay to go in.  The grounds were really beautiful and we did take pictures of the Robin Hood statue outside.  

Sherwood Forest is about 22 km outside of Nottingham and there is lots of folk lore surrounding Robin Hood and the forest.  We didn't go there because it was another train ride away.  When we returned to the manor the sky was a beautiful red and orange.  It was unlike any other day I had seen in England thus far.

Sunday was another day of homework and travel details.  I also made it to the gym and took a walk!  Yeah for exercise :) 

We booked plane tickets and hostels for Prague (Feb 27-March 1) and Munich (March 26-29).  I am very excited about these trips.  I now have every weekend booked from now until the last weekend in March.  Traveling helps me to be focused during the week and the time passes so quickly!  

After this week I will be exactly half way done with class!  This is a big mile stone and I am really happy with myself for experiencing such new and not dwelling on being so far away from home.  I can hardly believe that I have been here 7 weeks!  The next 7 are going to be wonderful too.

Next weekend: Prague, Czech Republic