Week Six Update!

Time has gone by so fast, I'm already in Week 6 of my first term at York, and my seventh week in England. It's crazy! I've finally settled into a pattern of life with my classes and my flatmates. I really do love life here, and it's such a wonderful (and much needed) change of pace from life in Wooster. Since I'm getting towards the end of term (it's 10 weeks), I'm starting to have to think about final papers, which isn't so fun, but all my classes are really interesting, so it's not too bad. It's a strange adjustment to having one or two assignments determine your grade for a class as opposed to 3-4 essays and quizzes, exams, etc. like in American classes. There's a lot less busy work and a lot more independent study (ha see what I did there, Wooster?).

I really love the city of York itself. I'm in city centre at least two times a week for classes, if not more for social excursions, so I'm getting to know my way around pretty well! I still haven't gone to many of the museums, which I need to start working on before they get really busy with tourists in the spring, but I've managed to wander into many other exciting aspects of the city on accident. Like the markets. Half the time when I get off the bus, there is some kind of special market in the main square on my way to King's Manor, usually selling local produce and goods.

On Tuesday, there was an international food market in the main square near my bus stop, which was amazing. There were tons of stands with authentic food from all different culinary traditions, and they were all really tempting. Many of them were stands where you could buy a meal for 4-5, but since I was headed back to campus for dinner, I didn't get any. There was a Mexican food stand as well, which was a shame! I miss my Taco Bell haha. There were some stands with different candies from around the world and a few bakery stands with Italian and Dutch specialties, but most importantly, there was a pancake stand. And since Tuesday was also National Pancake Day, I had to get one! I got a cinnamon and sugar pancake (which are much more like crepes than American pancakes) and it was delicious :-)

Something America could stand to adopt: Pancake Day on Shrove Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras). Seriously, it's wonderful. There were pancakes at dinner, and my flatmates made pancakes later in the evening as well. Traditional toppings include lemon juice and sugar, or golden syrup (something America doesn't have as well, and it's kind of like maple syrup from sugar beets, I think). So I got to try all the various combinations throughout the day haha.

I also found out you can go into the Minster for free with a student card, so I went in on another sunny day last week and got to walk around. My art history side was having a bit of a freak out, especially after my medieval art class. The stained glass was gorgeous, and the way the light was coming through the glass was stunning and I tried to capture it on film, but it really doesn't do it justice. Since I went at an odd time in the morning, everything was open, including the crypts, etc. and there weren't many people around. Someone was playing the organ as well, which was really atmospheric. The structure is so light and airy (wooo Gothic style) and it's just amazing to walk through. It's definitely a lovely building, although I might love the Duomo in Siena a bit more :-p

The Minster from outside

The ceiling/bays of ribbed vaults with pointed arches you want to use art history terminology

The crypt-y thing

This is the interior view of the main facade you see when approaching the Minster (see first image)

The light from the windows

This image comes closest to showing how saturated the colours really are inside when the sun comes through

There was an exhibit in the back of the Minster where they're doing some restoration work with information about the production of the stained glass and sculpture in the Minster, and for a second I thought I was in Chicago/outer space because there was a huge giant silver orb thing just sitting there, but when you went inside, it was a display of window panels with a backlight so you could see the amount of detail in the images, which was pretty cool. It was just odd and striking against the gothic architecture.

Does the Chicago Bean have an English cousin?

I've been to Liverpool and Leeds already, but I'm possibly going to Nottingham, and definitely going to Oxford, in the next few weekends, so I'll get to start exploring more of England soon. Overall everything is going swimmingly and I'm loving everything and I definitely don't want to leave in June haha.