A Little Bit of Home

Hi everyone!

These last two weeks have been filled with more activities and lots and lots of eating! Two weekends ago, we had a homestay with a British family. Myself and 3 other American students were matched with a family of artists living in Carlisle, England. The mother was a homemaker while the father was an illustrator and illustrated for magazines such as Rolling Stones and the Times. He is now retired and has been doing several freelance pieces of Carlisle. I am no expert, but he is extremely talented. They have two children, Lydia and Lawrence, both of whom still live at home and were extremely friendly while we picked their brains about growing up in England. Lydia has become quite successful after designing "sick bags" for the royal wedding. She even made it on the Rachel Ray show at home! She is also planning her first visit to the states and plans on staying in New York City. I was able to draw her a map of everything she should see and am hoping she will have time to come stay at home with me for a day or two! Check out her website at lydialeith.com!

We arrived Friday evening with dinner on the table, Tina was a fantastic cook (or maybe our own poor cooking over the past few weeks made her's seem ten times better!). I feel like the majority of the weekend was spent eating. After each meal we had tea, and of course you can't have tea without any shortbread cookies or chocolate.

On Saturday we went to Hadrian's wall, a 15 foot stone wall that was built in 122 AD by the Romans. The wall runs from coast to coast, separating England and Scotland. Each mile there was a fort built and we were able to see the ruins of one of the largest forts built, with a priory and little community.

Our Homestay group on a piece of the wall

The Priory

On Sunday, we walked into the town of Carlisle and went through the Carlisle Castle and Cathedral and explored the town center, which was filled with gardens and shops!

Carlisle Castle with our Homestay Father, Paul

This weekend Haly and I went to St. Andrews to visit Abby, a friend that I graduated high school with. St. Andrews was a beautiful little university town, with the famous beach, golf course and cute little shops. It was great being able to catch up with Abby and meet some of her friends from the university!

The beach at St. Andrews

Abby and I

This weekend we are headed on a tour of the Highlands in search for the Loch Ness Monster with the whole IFSA Butler group!