The grass is very green here, it's also very light and springy and lovely to sit on. As you walk by things on your way to class you see all manner of things. The ducks that just hang out all over campus, the pigeons that have no fear of you, the flowers, the trees. Everything is just so colorful. The flowers around campus are so tasteful and beautiful. Anyway, classes were good. We started at 9 and I went straight on through 12, but we had an even more in depth conversation about Americans and their qualities. We also talked about what makes a British person British, and the differences between the British and Americans. In my second class we talked about The Nine Tailors and talked about Dorothy Sayers writing style. We also talked about William Wordsworth and what kind of poetry he wrote and how long he lived for and how he wouldn't die. We didn't really talk much about The Nine Tailors because not very many of us had finished the book by this point.

After classes we went to lunch with Dr. Haavisto. We ate with her and then met up with Hannah, and talked to Kevin for a little while in the Terrace Cafe. Afterwards we went to Ormskirk with Hannah and wandered around. She showed us some of her favorite places to go and introduced us to this wonderful candy called Millions. We walked around Ormskirk enjoying the weather until we met up with Hannah's boyfriend, Craig, at Styles, a local pub. We sat outside of the pub chatting for a little while and then Tori, Emily, and I left Hannah and Craig alone. We met up with Dr. H after this to go down to the train station.

At the train station we had to find out the times and stops and changes and price for a ticket and seat reservations to go to Durham for the Bank Holiday weekend. We all bought tickets to go to Durham. We are going to have a lot of fun! I'm very excited. It's going to be a four hour train ride to get there. Afterwards we stopped at the information center and Tori and I got postcards so we can send them to people. We came back to the school and got a cup of tea at the Terrace. Then we parted ways and went back to our rooms.

Back in our rooms, I tried to finish up The Nine Tailors but ended up taking a little twenty minute power nap, while holding my place in my book. Emily was hanging out in my room doing homework on my computer because she didn't bring her laptop, so I let her borrow mine. She and I worked on homework for a long time until we took a break and just went on to chat with each other and the other British students on the hall. I called my boyfriend, Matthew and talked to him for a good while, that was really nice. Then I stayed up a little later chatting with Emily and then finished up the devolution and other links that Dr. H wanted us to read.

I thought that the idea of devolution was really interesting. I saw that even though Scotland, Wales, and North Ireland demanded this little bit, they really wanted a whole lot more. The whole idea of "Britishness" has slowly become less and less of a staple for the whole UK. Only the English really identify with it, the others want to reestablish their own cultures in the UK again. The whole idea of devolution was that even though the British government gave these small concessions to the other states, they could take it away just as easily, or perhaps easier. All in all, I found it to be a very interesting read.

Loren