In late September Japan takes a day off to celebrate the changing season, which left me to explore my new home a bit. Hikone is surrounded by mountains so I looked up the closest one and set off on bicycles with my housemate Daiki to climb it.

At it's foot there was a big, busy park but no mention of a trail head. We began circling the foot of the mountain until we found what looked like a shrine entrance which maybe would lead to the top, or maybe just to a shrine. Either way we wanted to check it out. A few minutes of hiking later we found the trail didn't lead to the summit or a shrine. Instead it lead away from the summit and towards a temple. Not a bad find. Grave sites dotted the mountain around the temple so we wandered around those marveling at their age and fixing one knocked down by a tree. 


When we came back through the temple grounds we sat down and talked for a while, catching the attention of a monk living in the temple. He came outside and, instead of asking us to leave, he invited us in for tea. Feeling mystified, I followed him into what was literally a thousand year old temple (rebuilt 400 years ago). We sat down with him for tea while looking out over his garden before getting a tour of the temple. I didn't get any pictures of the inside but it was like a museum without glass around the artifacts. 


I couldn't follow any of the conversation but learned from Daiki that the monk takes care of the temple completely by himself. He said its a lot of work so Daiki offered to send international students interested in Japanese history to help occasionally. The monk invited us to come back anytime and gave us umbrellas to go home with.

About a week later Daiki wanted to head back to the temple and work out some kind of schedule with the monk. I tagged along hoping to get pictures of some of the artifacts this time. We arrived back at the temple only to find nobody was home. Because we had biked all the way out to the mountain I suggested we explore a bit and maybe find the trail head this time. We started up a road going in the right general direction until we found an older couple coming down. Daiki asked which way to the top and they told the road we're on goes all the way up. We continued following the road up where we found a shrine and a take-off platform for hang gliding, presumably so you can say a little prayer before jumping off a mountain. From here we could see our whole town and all the way across lake Biwa to the next town. Looking down the mountain we saw hang gliders sitting in a field so I guess we just missed the show.

To summarize, during my first week in Japan I set off to climb a mountain and found a temple. In my second week I went to visit a temple and instead climbed a mountain. I'm learning that sometimes the lack of a plan is the best plan. 

I spent 4 weeks in Japan, a country that I have always loved and was faced with doing something that I had abandoned once I reached middle school and that was riding a bike. Even before going, I knew that a bike would be provided for me and I had originally planned to reject it and utilize the bus like I do in America.
The first night, I rejected the bike with a good excuse of being uneasy and unsettled upon just getting into the country. This decision left me and a few others walking in the light
rain watching others head home quickly on their bikes. The next day, I got on my bike and took it out making me realize that my initial rejection was kind of silly.
Over the 4 weeks that I spent in Shiga, I rode my bike almost everyday. It was convenient, fun and gave me the feeling that I was fitting more into the culture around me with such a simple act. I also felt free and safe which is a bit odd if you're in a foreign country. I wanted to keep that feeling and bring it home, I didn't realize that there was another factor playing a part.
Fast forward to my first week back home and I am planning to try and recreate the bike experience I had in Japan. It seemed well at first until I stood outside in my neighborhood and remembered the feeling it caused. I tried to imagine myself doing the things I did in Japan and the kind of places I went. It wouldn't be the same. The place I live is more spread out and has a slightly volatile atmosphere. It is more practical and safe to be in a car or bus. For now, I have put the idea of biking in Orlando away and plan to wait until I can get back to Japan to enjoy biking again.

I have never flown first-class and this is a real treat.  Who would have known there is a free breakfast buffet in the airline lounge?  Now, I am ready for my long flight to Seoul, South Korea. My advise at this point is to make sure you have a travel-size personal care kit!  I really thought I didn't need one but I BARELY woke up in time to catch my flight out of LAX.  I am really wishing right now I didn't have to buy a $4 USD travel-size toothpaste, a $3 USD travel-size toothbrush, or a $5 USD travel-size deodorant!

I can't believe that the day has finally come: I am on my way to South Korea!

This will be my first time traveling overseas and my first time writing blogs...so bare with me, please.  I am used to being in a foreign country since I have traveled often to Mexico since I was a child but South Korea will be a completely different experience.  I am looking forward to it!

Today, I took a bus from Apizaco, Tlaxcala, Mexico to Mexico City in order to catch my flight to Los Angeles. I will stay the night in Los Angeles and head to South Korea tomorrow morning (7/1/2016).  Keep reading my posts for pictures of my journey to Konkuk University!!

      *My cat Tipp wanting to travel with me to South Korea!
       *Taking the bus to Mexico City from Apizaco, Tlaxcala!
       *Looking for the Secured Taxi service at the bus terminal

River Avon and Bath

    I couldn't wait to get to Bath, England when I heard we were planning on going there on the Scotland and England Study Tour. I am a big fan of Jane Austen so I looked forward to seeing the setting for two of her books, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey. It was truly a beautiful city and lived up to what I imagined.
    Bath is located on the River Avon so I was able to walk along the streets by the river. The bridges, houses, and buildings are very ornate, old and beautiful. The Circus is a section of buildings that are attached to each other except for three entrances and they form a circle.
    I stopped by the Jane Austen House, had a Cornish pasty (which is synonymous with the city of Bath), Bath Abbey, toured the Roman Baths, and walked along the streets taking in the old buildings and watching street performers.

The Circus

    The city of Bath is known for its Roman Baths that can be toured. The tour is very informative of the the history of how the Roman's built the baths there. The waters, as you can see in the picture, has a green tinge to it. The water is this color now because it remains uncovered but, historically, it would have been covered and the waters would not have been green. The waters were believed to have healing properties in it with all the minerals that are in the water.

The Roman Baths

    The city is very huge and I was unable to see everything I wanted to but I hope that I will be able to return one day and see anything I might have missed.

  If you ever find yourself in Edinburgh (pronounced “Edinbra”) you must visit Calton Hill. This spot is a great place to start your adventure in this city for the view and the historical significance.  There is a lot to see in Edinburgh, in fact, it was my favorite city we visited while on the Scotland and England Study Tour this past May with Columbia College of Missouri. On the east side of the hill you can gaze out over the sea. From the other side you get a wonderful view of the city. From this point you can also see Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, Arthur’s Seat, New Town, and Old Town. There is really no bad view from this hill!

The National Monument of Scotland

Nelson's Monument

Edinburgh Castle

            Some advice for those who have not been abroad or been to Scotland before is that their accents are really hard to understand. I did not have any problem with English accents at all, but Scottish accents, depending on the person, are really thick and they kind of mumble and mush their words together when they are talking. So just know if you go to Scotland you aren’t the only one who has problems understanding their accents.

The study abroad tour I went on we traveled to Scotland and England. I loved the whole tour and everything we saw, but I have to say my favorite part of the trip was England. Now we stayed towards the outskirts of London, but we were within in easy walking distance to a train station. I have always loved London, England, well the idea of London since I had never been there before, because a lot of my favorite shows and actors are from London, England, but let’s be honest I really enjoy English accents too. So when I saw that Columbia was having a tour going to England I had to do it and I was not disappointed.
      I live about an hour north of Chicago, Illinois and I do not like Chicago and rarely go there because I am not a fan of cities I am more of a suburban kid, but I loved London. It is not as crowded, in my opinion, as Chicago, it is a lot cleaner, and I felt it was a lot safer than Chicago too. I really enjoyed using the underground train because I haven’t done that before and they have so many different types of food to try out there. One thing that surprised me was how early shops closed in the UK because in Scotland and England the shops all would close around 6 or 7 at night. So make sure to get up early so you can make it to all the places you want to see that day.
  Also, included in the tour was an excursion to Stonehenge and Bath. It was a great experience to get to see Stonehenge I wish we would have been able to get closer to it, but it was pretty surreal still to actually see Stonehenge. The Roman baths in Bath were really neat to see. Also, if you are a Jane Austen fan they have a Jane Austen museum in Bath because that is where she lived and wrote all her novels. I actually was able to visit the museum really quickly and purchased a copy of Pride and Prejudice while I was there, which I am really enjoying reading right now.  It was a less busy type of city/town and again it was laid back compared to cities in the US. I really enjoyed bath also and had a lot of fun walking around checking out the shops and trying one of the Pasties that they are famous for, which was really good!
Overall, I had an amazing experience and made so many new friendships while on this tour. If I had the chance to do it again I would in a heartbeat. If you are debating doing a study abroad tour you should just go for it because you will meet a lot of great people and it really is an experience of a lifetime if you have never been overseas like I hadn’t been before this trip. I plan on trying to do a semester abroad in Canterbury, England this fall 2016 which is about an hour outside of London. I am really looking forward to going back to England and being able to travel to new places while I am out there.

I have been waiting to visit Strawberry Hill and to see the Gothic influence ever since I learned about it during my sophomore year of high school.

Horace Walpole was born Horatio Walpole, the 4th Earl of Orford on September 24th 1717. He is partially responsible for the revival of gothic architecture that dominated Europe in the previous centuries. Horace Walpole was the first author to pen a text in what became known as the gothic style. His name is synonymous with Gothic literature thanks to his greatest work The Castle of Otranto. The Castle of Otranto laid the foundation of what the Gothic style should be for other authors that would follow. This would include famous authors such as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. It was Walpole’s home “Strawberry Hill” which provided him with the inspiration to write his first Gothic novel. “One night Walpole awoke from a dream and imagined he saw a giant armoured fist on the staircase and it was this that inspired the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto.” Horace Walpole was also an art historian, a politician, and an architect. His greatest creation in my opinion was the house that he had built in the old Gothic style, which he named Strawberry Hill.

Walpole constructed Strawberry Hill in several stages throughout his lifetime. Walpole did not have a finished design for his property and instead decided to add to the building as he saw fit. This would make construction for all involved an absolute nightmare, but allowed Walpole to make his dream a reality. It all began in 1747 when Walpole leased a five-acre plot of land in Twickenham, London. In 1748 Walpole purchased the house, which had originally been named “Chopped Straw Hill”. He had purchased the home with the intent of constructing a family castle. Walpole eventually expanded his land to a sum of forty-six acres. Walpole’s friend and amateur architect, John Chute, was trusted with developing the design of the exterior of the home. The exterior of the house featured a style that mixed Gothic designs with the castles of the day. This meant that the home would feature turrets and battlements while also containing arched windows with stained glass, similar to the cathedrals of the original Gothic Age. The interior of the home gained most of its character from Walpole’s extensive collection of antiquarian objects. This would include beautiful pieces of art, artifacts, and objects used for the construction of the house such as Robert Adam’s fireplace. The construction process of Strawberry Hill wasn’t smooth sailing to say the least.

It is a nightmare for anyone tasked with constructing a building to have to build the building in stages. Typically there is a complete blueprint, which allows workers to have a simple plan to follow, which allows for quick and easy construction of a building. While Walpole did have sketches and an overall idea of what he hoped to turn his home into, he did not have an actual blueprint thus complicating the entire construction process. By the end of the first stage of construction Walpole was well on his way to having completed “His little Gothic castle”.

                                 


It's fun when our trips from different years and different countries begin to intersect.  Like when we visited Pergamon in Turkey one year, and more recently, Berlin, where a good chunk of the Pergamon artifacts had been set up on their museum island. Or when we visited the Tomb of Columbus in Seville, but found out that at least some part (parts?) of him still rest in the Dominican Republic. (Alas, I haven't been able to get there yet!)

 A few years ago, CC visited Athens, and of course, in Athens, climbed up the hill of the Parthenon.

To round out the tour, we also glimpsed the Acropolis Museum at the bottom of the hill, a modern structure with much interesting stuff, and a deliberate hole.  The Greeks are still more than a little eager to get back pieces of the Parthenon that are now in England, at the British Museum.  Specifically, the pieces that came to be called The Elgin Marbles.  No, not the marbles that Opie would play with back in Mayberry.  Rather the marble sculptures that once graced the Parthenon itself, before the centuries and various interested parties took parts home with them.

Here's how a Time magazine article spun it:

The Elgin Marbles receive their name from the British lord who craftily spirited them away from Greece. Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and ambassador to the Ottoman Empire — occupiers of Greece in the early 19th century — grew to admire the Parthenon's extensive collection of ancient marble sculptures and began extracting and expatriating them to Britain in 1801. Lord Elgin claimed his imprimatur from an Ottoman sultan, who said he could remove anything from the Parthenon that did not interfere with the ancient citadel's walls. Despite objections that Lord Elgin had "ruined Athens" by the time his work was done in 1805, the British Government purchased the marbles from him in 1816. They've been housed at the British Museum ever since.

This isn't exactly a neutral piece, titled as it is, "Top 10 Plundered Artifacts."  A British paper, The Guardian, takes quite the opposite view, in "Parthenon Marbles: Greece's Claim is Nationalist Rhetoric that Deserves to Fail."  The British Museum gives a bit more history, which takes more account of the disregard that the Ottomans and many others had for all this 'pagan debris.'  

I'm not sure whether our frantic schedule on this current tour will let us see the Elgin Marbles (sadly, the one thing in London I actually want to see...), but they certainly play into the course material for our British Romanticism course (ARTS/ENGL).  Benjamin Robert Haydon, a "big picture" painter, become an enthusiastic champion of the Marbles, and introduced them to his friend, John Keats, the poet. 

Also, while we are in London we will be visiting St. Paul’s Cathedral which has more in common with gothic architecture because it has the vaulted ceilings and pointed arches.