The Shakespearience.doc

Tuesday is now officially 'excursion day' during my time at Warwick. As opposed to the schedules at Queen's and UofT, where I could have counted on two days a week off or at the very least my Fridays free, Tuesday is my ONLY day of the week with no class aside from weekends. This schedule had been hard to get use to at first but I'm slowly coming around. It means that the 'academic week proper' flies by and the lectures are all crunched into five weeks of instruction.   

This past Tuesday I accompanied Bec, the Australian, and Lotte, the resident Brit, to Stratford-upon-Avon, home of one Mr. William Shakespeare.  The trip was kind of a spur of the moment type deal as we decided the night previous around 11.  The selling factor with Stratford was that we could grab a bus just after 9am from campus directly to the historic site.  Always hard to get up that early for lectures but for a travel excursion it was no problem!  Lotte, ever the optimist, had been to Stratford to see shows at the RSC but looked forward to playing travel guide to green Euro travelers. This relatively small jaunt to Stratford, it took about 40 mins, is to be the start of a host of local UK day trips to surrounding places of note (Bristol, Warwick Castle, Cardiff, Birmingham, etc.)  If I've learned one thing about traveling in the UK it's that everything is accessible and really cheap if you travel at the right time of day.

I want to avoid using the word 'quaint' as much as possible because it's a cop-out adjective that could be applied to any small English town. So, they're all quaint - we can get that out of the way.  Stratford is situated right on the water and is home to the Royal Shakespeare Company which is going through major renovations at the moment.  It was actually a bit eerie how much the original Stratford has the same feeling as Stratford, Ontario. Both towns embrace applying the Shakespeare name to their streets and shops - we saw a Shakespeare Fish and Chips as well as Shakespeare Variety Store - and the small town on the water feel is similar. Unfortunately it was a really dreary day, go figure, but the outing proved to be the perfect break from the academic intensity of the first two weeks.

Being our first time in Stratford, Bec and I wanted to make sure we visited Shakespeare's grave in the Holy Trinity Church.  As opposed to the other historic houses in the town which charged over 7 pounds entry per head, Shake's birthplace among others, the church where he is buried asks for a contribution of 1.50 for adults and 50p for students which goes towards upkeep and renovation.  We were greeted at the entry by a retiree who devotes his hours to working at the church and chatting with tourists from all over the world (those making the trek to the Thespian Mecca so to speak).  After giving us a brief introduction to the history of the church he let us wander into the main portion and encouraged us to take as many photos as we wanted.  It was really freeing to be given the chance to just wander in the church Shakespeare once attended - the experience is made a personal one. Having now played four of his characters, two young lovers and two young hotheads, it felt fitting to make this one of the first stops in the UK.

We felt like our trip to the church was the most appropriate 'Shakespearience' so instead of visiting the other 'more commercialized' sites, which were charging ridiculous entry fees, we decided instead to spend our money on eating hearty English meals.  We had a big breakfast at Anne Hathaway's Tea Shop - I'm happy to learn that breakfasts here include tomatoes (TOM-OUGHT-Os) and mushrooms as part of the plate.  We finished breakfast off with a lemon bun which we took on our walk down cobblestone streets. No visit to Stratford would be complete without a visit to the local H&M (yes....in Stratford of all places)  It made me wonder what Shakes would have looked like in a striped jumper and fall jacket.  The funny thing with a store like H&M is that once you're inside you feel like you could be anywhere - Yonge and Bloor for instance - instead of the birthplace of the "Man of the Millennium".  After a bit of window shopping we walked through a really old antique market which housed over 50 stalls of really interesting knick-knacks.  

The majority of the afternoon was spent wandering up and down streets soaking in the local culture.  A group of Stratford kids interviewed us to "get a glimpse into why tourists come to Stratford".  They were excited when I told them a) I was from Canada and b) I studied theatre. We didn't get to see much of the RSC buildings (there were no tours offered that day) but I was impressed by the calibre of actors featured on the posters and books chronicling the company's history. At the moment David Tennant and Patrick Stewart are starring in Hamlet but the run is sold out. To get one of the 10 tickets offered each day people are sleeping overnight - don't know if that's in the cards.  We are, however, returning to Stratford in just under two weeks time to see Romeo and Juliet.  R&J in Stratford in December - could it get much better than that?

We finished the afternoon off with a late lunch at a traditional English pub.  The decision to avoid spending money at tourist traps and instead indulging in great eats was the perfect choice! I had a really great chicken sandwich with cranberry mayo as well as a mound of chips (I hope I'm not patronizing here but chips = fries) Bec and I were taking photos ALL day, much to the amusement of our British companion.  Tuesday excursions will hopefully be able to continue this term.  The plan is to hit up as many UK spots as possible before jetsetting to somewhere TBD for Christmas. 

Wednesday I met my 'Personal Tutor' who is like an academic advisor while I am at Warwick. His name is Milija and he is one of the professors on the MAIPR course.  Oddly enough, he completed his PhD at the University of Toronto so we spent the first 15 minutes chatting about mutual professors we've had.  I also was introduced to my very own PIGEON HOLE in the department.  For those of you who frequent Emily's blog you will know that the pigeon hole is the Euro equivalent of a mailbox.  Like the other American girl in the course, I can't help but smile, or think of carrier pigeons delivering notes, whenever I hear the term.  I hope my pigeon 'ole gets filled with lots of important documents.

Doc's Prescription for the Day: A cup of Earl Grey tea. Before coming to England I thought it was a pretty boring option, but I've grown to like the distinct flavour. Maybe it's the new connection of E.G tea to brisk mornings, but it has become the tea of the month.  Tea-bomb?