An Ever Fixed Mark

O no!  It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. -- Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 

I meant to include a quote from Macbeth, but they all seemed too dark and depressing...so I decided on Marianne Dashwood's favorite sonnet, according to the Ang Lee adaptation of Sense & Sensibility! :)

Shakespeare's Birthplace

These past three days, our entire programme has been touring Shakespeare's birthplace and later residence, Stratford-Upon-Avon.  I had already seen much of the town on my previous class day trip, so I admit I was not super thrilled to be spending three entire days there.  Stratford is a very small town, and of course the main attractions are all Shakespeare-related.  There are a grant total of 5 Tudor properties that tourists can visit, but other than that, there just isn't much to do.  Our days were broken up by lectures from our Shakespeare tutors, and then we usually ended each evening with some kind of group activity.

Outside Anne Hathaway's Cottage

The highlight of the trip was definitely the two performances we went to see.  Our first night we saw Shakespeare's Macbeth, and then our last night we saw The City Madam by Philip Massinger.  I thoroughly enjoyed both plays - and it was nice to end the trip with a comedy, especially after the intensity of Macbeth.  On our last day in Stratford, we also toured the ruins of Kenilworth Castle, which was a nice break from the Shakespeare-filled Stratford proper.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about the trip.  I think we could have done Stratford in one day, and so having 2.5ish days to see the town was definitely too much.  It would have been nice to explore the surrounding area more, and maybe to have seen another show on our middle day (the programme usually sees 3 performances).

Shakespeare's Grave

Only 2 weeks left now!  We have one week of classes, and then one week of exams and the semester is over!  It's hard to believe that I'm going home so soon, but I definitely think that I'm ready to go back to Ashburn and Williamsburg.  It feels like the semester should be ending at this point, and that we should all be going back home for summer break.  However, it's weird thinking that I'm not really going to see the other students in my programme again.  We are all scattered across the country, and so it's going to take a lot of coordination to keep in touch with everyone!