Nottingham - a break for the Holidays

The winter travel grant did not require me to visit Robin Hood's tree or photograph castles in the british country side. In fact, it was not even suggested. How and why I got to Nottinghamshire , England has a back-story but what is most surprising is that in a sense it was the most "educational" part of my trip. When I discovered that I had received the grant I immed Nottinghamshire iately began contacting friends and people I knew abroad, tips on where to go and stay and in hopes of meeting up with some. Many fell through, but when it came time to contact Lizzie I knew I would have to make time to visit.

I could create an entire blog to document our friendship and it's peculiar beginning but here I will just give the necesary facts: We met when I decided to move to New Hampshire for the summer to work at an international summer camp called Windsor Mountain International. She, along with a host of other international staff had made the same decision. As the two office employees we lived together in a small open-air cabin in the woods, went supply shopping together, rang the wake-up bell, and did airport pick-ups including of two very memorable Columbian boys. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. In short, we really did eat, sleep, and breathe together for an entire summer.

When I found a plane ticket that allowed me to extend my trip to a 15-day stay in Europe, I was thrilled that I would be able to have a couple days visiting Lizzie and her part of the world. I decided to stay for New Years as everywhere else in Europe was outrageously priced for that night, but looking back I can't think of a better way to have spent it. Adam (the other grant recipient and my travel-partner for the time) came along based on the same financial lines. What I had no way of knowing is that Lizzie, besides having been a great friend and co-worker, would prove to be the best tour-guide of all my time traveling.

I think a good impression of our time with Lizzie's family may be seen in the slideshow of photos. Much of our celebrations for the New Year, general hanging out and catching up have little to do with the Travel Grant itself or education beyond that which results from good times with even better company. But there were aspects which I would like to address, simply because of the irony that on a "independent education" trip, what was supposed to be a little break from the responsibilities of museum visits and more obvious education, I stumbled upon the most relevant educational experiences for my major possible.

As an International Studies major with a focus of Latin America and Global Environment, I spend a lot of my time researching agriculture and farming practices. It just so happened that Lizzie's family lives on a 1,000 acre farm, and her uncle owns and operates a slightly larger, partially organic farm. By complete chance and with the sole intention of catching up with a friend, I had ended up in the most hands-on learning experience of my life. Between personal conversations and delicious meals I could be found reading hunting and farming magazines in the den. I had long conversations with every member of her family regarding their families farms, from what they would do next to what crops were where on the property, to how to correctly butcher a rabbit. I learned about the otherwise goofy dogs' responsibilities of rodent control and hunting and explored a 500 year old working condition water wheel's mechanics and how it had once been used to grind the grain for the farm. It may seem completely silly to anyone else, but walking around Lizzie's uncles farm or cooking pheasant and pigeon were happier moments to me than staring up at the eiffel tower or riding a double-decker bus.

There is so much more to be said of my time in Nottingham, but that is my time spent in Robin Hood (and Lizzie's) neck of the wood in a nutshell. I will always be grateful for her families hospitality, the opportunity to visit a good friend, and the chance to explore my passion for agriculture in such an unlikely circumstance.