Christmas Bells

Alright, so it's not close to Christmas. It's not even December yet. But at least in Bath, it feels like it's Christmas. I've started to allow myself to listen to Christmas music (although only in small batches at a time, so I don't grow too sick of it too fast). And considering the week I have ahead of me, I feel like I'm entitled to soaking up any extra joy (holiday related or not) while I can.
This past week was mostly another uneventful, homework focused week. I finished my first paper (for my Jane Austen class) and while it's never really fun to write a paper, I actually had a lot of fun researching this one. Granted, that's because my research consisted of watching scenes from the 1940, 1995, and 2005 adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, as well as listening to I Love You Because. If only all research was like this. The other academic 'highlight' of this week was that we had to be off book for our Late 20th Century British Drama class. (I'm pretty sure I haven't mentioned this yet - we've spent the second half of the semester for this class putting together a night of scenes from some of the plays we read in the first half of the class. So, I'm performing and stuff.) Getting off book is a huge pain, especially when all of your rehearsal time happens during your once-a-week class so you've run everything maybe twice before you have to get off book, but at least it's good practice. Or something.
Thursday was an interesting day. While it was Thanksgiving back home in the States, here in England it was just another Thursday. The morning was a bit rough, since I had to get ready for and head to class instead of lazying around in my pajamas watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. But, it was what I had to do and I tried not to think about it too much. After my classes ended, the day got better as I headed over to the Bath Christmas lighting ceremony. (Obviously, Bath missed the memo that you're supposed to switch on the city's Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving, on actually on Thanksgiving.) The whole celebration started arouond 4:30, but we didn't get there until 5:45 ish. And it was crowded. We had to do a lot of walking and maneuvering to get onto the street, but we made it work. Since we got there later, we were really far from the stage, but they had a screen up so those of us that were farther away could still see. We waited around in the cold while they played music, dancing and jumping on each other's backs, until Father Christmas came onstage to say hello to the people of Bath. Then Nicolas Cage came on. (Yes, that Nicolas Cage. He owns a home in Bath and apparently really loves the city.) A lot of people from other towns had driven into Bath to see him and there was obviously a lot of screaming. (Me, I'm not a fan. But it was still cool.) He switched on the Christmas lights, they played 'All I Want for Chirstmas is You', and everything was happy.
After the lights were switched on, we headed over to City of Bath College for our ASE Thanksgiving Dinner! Because ASE is so fantastic (and consists of entirely American students who all celebrate Thanksgiving), each year ASE hosts a dinner for the ASE family. It really is incredibly sweet and gives us a piece of home while we're still across the ocean. Before dinner started, Barbara (the head of ASE) pardoned a turkey, just like the President does. (Only hers was a stuffed animal. But I still wonder if he got to go to  Disneyland.) So we had turkey and pie and everything (plus free wine and tea). Lots of food babies were made that night. Some other highlights of the dinner were the slideshow of Thanksgiving images that was playing throughout the evening (my favorite was a picture picture of a turkey holding an American flag - only the flag was backwards) and having an extensive conversation with Barbara about the correct way to make English tea. After dinner, Clarendon Villas had a pajama party and watched Clueless with our food babies. Then I got to skype with Anna and Erica together in New York, so I got to have some family on Thanksgiving. It certainly wasn't a traditional Thanksgiving, but it ended up being a really good day.
Friday morning I had to wake up bright and early (which really wasn't fair after the long and food-filled night before) for my Jane Austen 'study trip'. It was a rough start, especially since after waking up way too early we had to wait in the rain for the bus to show up for over twenty minutes. But once we got started, the day got better. We first went to Chawton Village in Hampshire and went to Chawton Manor. It was owned by Austen's brother Edward Knight (he changed his name so he could inherit the estate) and she would come visit the house when he lived there. We got a tour of the house and then went into the library. A couple of years ago, the house was turned into library focusing on women's writing in English from 1600 to 1830 (because of Jane Austen and such). We got to look around and see all of these awesome and gorgeous old books. The next stop was Chawton Cottage - Austen's home (given to her, her mother, and sister by her brother on his estate) where she revised or wrote all of her major works. There was an amazing gift shop, a 'learning centre' with really awesome Austen-related games (like Snakes and Ladders!), and then the house itself. The house was filled with actual items from when Jane lived in the house (including her writing table!!), furniture that would have been in the house, pictures all over the wall, and plenty of Regency costumes (and I lovvee Regency costume). It was soo cool to wander around the house and get a feel (even with all of the extra things around the house) of what life must have been like for Jane. The last stop for our journey was Winchester, the city where Jane lived for the last two months of her life and died. (She moved there from Chawton to get better and more consistent medical attention.) We visited the house where she lived, which has a convenient little plaque, but we couldn't go in because it's privately owned. Then we visited Winchester Cathedral and saw her grave, as well as the plaque added a number of years later to commemorate her literary achievements. We had a little time to wander around before we got back on the bus, so we wandered around Winchester's Christmas Market and I got some delicious hot spiced apple juice. It had a rough start, but it ended up being a really good day. I mean, it was all about Jane Austen.
Saturday was homework day, but not without some distractions. First of all, I got a new British haircut. My boss at the theatre had given me a recommend-a-friend-half-off card and my mom kinda talked me into it, so I figured why not. Plus, I can now offically call my bangs 'fringe', which makes me really happy. (As I was talking with the stylist about what I wanted, I mentioned my bangs and she was like, you mean your fringe? Right - haha.) It was pretty crazy walking to the hair salon and then over to Nelson House (to do more work. wha-wah) because I was walking right through the Christmas market. Apparently it's a very British thing to host a Christmas market downtown with lots of cute little wooden stalls so you can buy all of your Christmas gifts together. Or whatever. And they go all out. There was even a carousel in the middle of the street. The streets were absolutely packed. And a little later in the day I headed over to Bath Abbey (which is right in the middle of all of the Christmas stalls) with some friends for a 'Shopper's Carols Mini-Service' and the church was packed. The Brits really go all out for their Christmas - even though it's not even December yet.
My favourite British Christmas sighting, though, happened inside Marks and Spencers (a department store). As I walked through the store, I saw a guy handing out gift catalogues. And he was dressed like a shiny Christmas turkey. That's right, a turkey. Silly Brits.