By:  Sherafghan Khan

Today’s class field trip was dedicated to visiting different sites associated with John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress. We went to locations such as the John Bunyan Museum, the Bunyan Meeting Church, a trip to Elstow, and, finally, the Houghton House. I really enjoyed riding in the double-decker bus as well; it was the full British experience.

It was amazing to see the actual metal violin Bunyan made, the anvil that he carried on his back, Pilgrim’s Progress written in 170 different languages, and life-size models of John Bunyan. The church was truly a work of art. The windows of the church depicted different scenes from Pilgrim’s Progress with great artistic detail; I was in complete awe.

Our next stop was Elstow (only about a 10-minute drive south of Bedford), the birthplace of John Bunyan as well as the location of the third largest abbey in all of Britain – the Elstow Abbey. We stopped in a park in this town and ate our lunches and fed wild geese in a local river. We then arrived at the Houghton House (also located in the Bedfordshire county). Bunyan was a tinker, meaning he would go to mansions such as the Houghton House and fix the resident’s pots and pans. Even though this house was in ruins, it was neat to see what a mansion that John Bunyan would visit looked like.

When we arrived back at Harlaxton Manor, my friends and I decided to rent bicycles and travel to the town of Grantham. Coincidentally, the last time I wrote a blog I talked about how I biked in the streets of London. There is a clear distinction between the setting in which we biked today and that of London. Here, there were mostly wheat fields compared to the tall skyscrapers in London. As we biked to Grantham, there was a soft British mist and subtle rain that fell on our faces. The weather and the scenery was completely picturesque, especially our view on our bike ride back into the manor. My day concluded with a game of basketball in the Harlaxton gym and studying for tomorrow’s quiz in the exquisite library. It is truly amazing how many different places we have visited so far as well as our residency – a marvelous castle in the British countryside.

By: Sherafghan Khan

This trip has been one of the best learning experiences I’ve had, and it has only been a few days since we arrived in England. One thing that I really like about London is the close proximity of different tourist hotspots and the ease of public transportation. To be honest, it feels almost unreal to be in one of the most infamous cities in the world.

Today started off with a quiz on the Taming of the Shrew and the life of William Shakespeare, followed by group discussions and a lecture on British culture. Also, Professor Rutledge discussed literary techniques that Jane Austen uses in her writing. He also told us that today is the 199^th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death. Derick then informed us that it was also Gatton RC Alex Sorrel’s birthday.

Once class concluded, my group of friends and I went to a famous restaurant called Nandos. After eating, we rented bicycles and biked to the massive Hyde Park. Even though we got lost on the way and had to ask multiple people for directions, it was still very fun to ride in the streets of a busy area like downtown London. It was a different experience than riding in my local neighborhood, but I am glad I did it. One challenge associated with this was getting used to cycling on the correct side of the road, since British drivers drive in the opposite lanes as American drivers. After riding bikes, we decided to check out a local department store known as Harrods. Although, we didn’t buy any items, the Wi-Fi there was great, which like most American teenagers is what my friends and I cared deeply about. Once we left Harrods we rode the underground railway system to our dorms and prepared for what we had been waiting for all day- the Taming of the Shrew at the Globe Theater.

The seats were packed and a massive crowd of fans filled up the theater; it was show time. Finally getting to see faces for the characters I had read about was a dream come true. The actors did an excellent job portraying the different characters. Not only did the actors use the entire stage, but they also relied on randomly chosen audience members in many scenes. The crowd roared in a fiasco with applause when the play concluded.

After the play we looked for a place to eat, and since we didn’t have internet access this task became cumbersome. Finally, after searching for one hour, a friend of mine spotted a McDonalds. Even though we wanted to eat local food on this trip, it was good to finally have a little taste of home.