Day 12 & 13 - First "offical" day of classes

I didn't post anything yesterday because there wasn't much to say...I had my first Literature class which was not that great for me. Other girls loved it, but literature is their forte. As for me, not so much!

Today I went on a field trip to Hampton Court Palace for my other class and it was probably one of my favorite things I've done here so far. We took a boat along the Thames river to get to the

palace which was cool because that's what the royals would have done in their day! Once we got on the grounds, we had a few hours to look at the gardens, enjoy their cafe and simply take in the grandeousness of this place. The flowers were incredible! Even their trees were all manicured, and even looked like little mushrooms!

Next we started our tour and got a glimpse of what it would have been like to be in the court of Henry VIII. For some reason, Henry really sparked my interest...he was this huge man, he had 6 wives, he lived lavishly, murdered people constantly, and brook off with the Roman Catholic church and made his own Catholic Church of England so he could divorce his first wife because she could not produce a boy. There were these huge tapestries (see on the right) throughout the place that are worth a fortune and so detailed, just filled with stories! So much of this place even has imagery throughout, such as the trees being manicured like triangles and the fruit being piled up like a traingle to show the hierarchical system Henry wanted everyone to understand...the king is on top and the commoners are on the bottom. It amazes me people lived like this!

I'm really enjoying learning these things, it's great to be able to compare the U.S. to England in daily life things such as food, stores and driving but also in ways of their government and rich history.

(This is my hallmate Melissa with Henry VIII! Oh also, I figured out how to put pictures on my blog yay!! I'll update my past posts when I get some more time!)