for one thing, i have an american accent. dead giveaway.
but usually people can tell i'm not from here just by looking at me. maybe it's the nike shorts? just kidding! i only brought two pairs and i rarely wear them in public. (if you see me on a regular basis, you'll understand how significant that is.)
english style is very different from american style; they just have a completely different look about them that i'm not sure i can really describe. and i definitely don't have that look.
no matter where i go here, it's clear that i don't belong. not that i'm not welcome, just that i'm a bit of a square peg in a round hole.
yesterday, though, i felt by far the most out of place that i have since arriving here. and it wasn't even because i was american.
tatum, emma, mary, and i decided to use our free afternoon to see warwick castle, about an hour away from oxford by train. it had been highly recommended by everyone we'd asked about it in oxford, and we all really wanted to see a castle, so we were super excited about it.
looks like a regular old castle from the outside, right? well, about that...
warwick castle is no longer just a castle - it's a theme park. primarily aimed at 3 to 10 year olds. surprise!
it was absolutely nothing like what we were expecting. to me, it seemed like a really bizarre mix of medieval times, the wax museum, and six flags (without the rides). it was just... weird. there were a bunch of different "exhibits" i guess you could call them, all filled with wax figures of the people who used to live at and visit the castle. i was not too thrilled with that. there's a reason i haven't been to the wax museum since my first grade field trip where i ran out crying... let's not talk about that. anyway, this wax figure junk takes up almost all of the castle interior; very little of the actual historical castle interior remains. there are a few rooms inside that have been preserved, but it wasn't much.
the castle grounds have all sorts of crazy activities to do. for small children, of course. they did have sword fighting and jousting demonstrations, and we got to see them launch a giant fireball with a massive trebuchet, but aside from that, there wasn't much for us to do. oh! but we did get to climb to the top of one of the castle turrets. that was pretty cool.
like i've said before, i am completely enamored of aerial views. and this was no exception.
overall, the trip to warwick castle made me feel uncomfortably out of place. the four of us were probably the oldest people there who weren't accompanying small children. there just wasn't a whole lot for us to do. and honestly, i was really disappointed in the lack of authentic, historical castle stuff there was to see. i've never been to a castle before - we just don't have any in the US - so i was super pumped to see one, but what i got fell far below my expectations.
it wasn't a day wasted though! we got some delicious scones on our way out of town and we rode through some seriously beautiful countryside on the way there. it definitely wasn't my favorite adventure so far, but it was still an adventure, and i'll take that over a day in a dorm room any time.
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