Our travel experience was spectacular today. We took off in
the morning to Blenheim Palace, which is just a bit north of Oxford right
outside of Woodstock. The palace was beautiful! The grandeur is indescribable,
and we didn’t even get to see the gardens. The 11th Duke of Marlborough
currently owns the palace and is of the Spencer-Churchill line, the same
Churchill as Winston. Winston was born and engaged at the palace, even though
he was never really in line to be Duke. The tour was headed by Antonia Keaney,
who was brilliant. She kept calling out, “Huntsman!” to get our attention, and
it caused me great laughs. Like I said, I didn’t have enough time to see
everything I wanted to see, but I loved it and want to go back to finish. The tour impressed me because it represented
a totally different mindset to be raised in. Aristocracy is mostly nonexistent
in the States; arguments can be made for the Bush and Clinton families, but no
family has the generational roots that the Dukes and Royal Family of England has.
The aristocrats have a totally different view on life, as demonstrated by their
significant wealth and fixtures around the palace, like bells for servants. It
reminded me that we are products of our circumstance, and with a simple
juxtaposition of me into some totally other circumstance, I would be a
different person. Because of this perspective, my value for other people and
cultures intensified because I better appreciate that every one else has had
different life experiences than I have. The various experiences shape others’
personality and views, and everybody has different perspectives and thinking
patterns. Maybe this is obvious, but I was just reminded today because of the
thought of growing up in a palace.
After the palace, we ventured to Stratford-upon-Avon, the
home of William Shakespeare. We wandered the town; ate dinner with the Brad
(USU alum) and Vicki Jackman, a couple that is here for a lecture tomorrow;
then attended Love’s Labor’s Lost, a
Shakespeare play that was, for this production, set in the early 1900s because
of WWI. The town was interesting, but we wandered around more than we actually
did anything. Dinner was also great because the Jackman’s sat at my table with
Lisa, Kyle, and Preston, so we carried on all through dinner. I was surprised
at how natural the conversation flowed, especially at how much I had to say.
What I mean is that if I am trying to impress somebody, I get worse at figuring
what to say or talk about. For me, conversation came very easy tonight. I am
more confident, now, in my ability to interact with professionals, a confidence
that I have been working on and want to translate to interviews and networking.
The play was interesting; I had never seen this play, so I had a semi-difficult
time following the plot because of the Shakespearean language barrier. But it
was a great production, and the end was very powerful (they sent the four main
male characters off to war to fight in WWI). I forgot much of my Shakespeare
acumen, at the dismay of Elaine Street, I am sure.
The day was wonderful. I am pretty sold on England now.
Maybe I won’t come back?
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