The day some looked forward to and some dreaded. Today is the longest field trip day of the entire trip. We left Harlaxton Manor at 8 AM and headed to the world-famous moors in Haworth. The destination was 3 hours away, and there was a LOT of sleeping on the coach.

The moors we were visiting are the alleged inspiration for the setting of “Wuthering Heights.” We began the journey at the museum of the Brontë family. Our group then began the expected four mile hike (which ended up being six miles).

The weather was perfect for our adventure. Despite rain earlier in the day, it was now overcast with temperatures in the 60-70 degree range. We stumbled and slipped over rocks while enjoying each other’s company. Throughout the walk, we encountered many livestock along the way, including mountain goats, horses, and cows. We made three stops along the way. The first was at a beautiful waterfall, known as Brontë’s waterfall, and ate our packed lunch. The second stop was at the old ruins of the inspiration for the main location in Wuthering Heights, Wuthering Heights itself. The final stop was at a beautiful, dense forest. We walked around in the forest for a while, amazed at how dark it was underneath the trees despite the sun outside.

After we recovered from our sore feet, we headed back to the Brontë family museum. It was a self-guided tour showcasing the amazing history of the family, primarily the three author daughters.

Once we all had time to enjoy the museum, we had a quick bite to eat and then headed back to the manor. We finally arrived back at around 8 PM. A full 12 hours of fun, laughter, and excitement.

We have officially made it to the halfway point of the trip!

Michael

After a full night’s sleep and a filling breakfast, everyone is back to being wide-eyed tourists. The feeling of waking up in one of the biggest cities in the world was amazing. The possibilities of fun and experiences are endless. Before we could begin exploring the city though, we had to have our first class of the summer semester. 

Each class is three hours long and lasts from 9 AM to 12 PM. During this class time, we started off by reading and analyzing the John Keats poem, “On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer.”  We followed this by discussing the themes of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Our final task was to discuss our upcoming essay regarding a social difference we observe while we travel around London.

Once class let out, my group and I headed to search for lunch. Due to our residence’s central location in London, almost everything you could need, including the tube station, is within about a 20 minute vicinity. We found some great sushi about 10 minutes away and then begin to plan the rest of our day.

We settled on heading to The British Museum. The museum was amazing! It became apparent right away why this was an international monument. A few of the galleries included Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Middle East, and Africa. Some of our favorite sections were the old coins, Vikings, and the famed Rosetta Stone. They even had real mummies in the Ancient Egypt gallery. After three hours of wandering around and admiring the history within those walls, we headed out for dinner.

We took our first tube ride of the day and headed to Leicester Square. We settled on a traditional English pub and had a great dinner. Afterwards, we walked around and looked at shop windows while enjoying some ice cream. We actually stumbled upon the theatre with the production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. 

London is amazing and we have enjoyed every second. Here’s to many more tube rides and great meals!

Michael