Spring break has officially finished here in Manchester. At the University of Manchester, spring break is three weeks long, two weeks for Easter break, and one week for the non-teaching period. I did quite a bit of exploring during this break and enjoyed every moment of it. I took a break in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I visited Edinburgh Castle, a historic fortress built on an extinct volcano (Castle Rock), making it a formidable stronghold. I also had some friends visit from Mizzou’s Tour Team and got to have a fun reunion.

I then visited Glasgow, where a fun fact: In Glasgow, people often use “How?” instead of “Why?” to ask for something. Week one ended in the great city of Dublin, Ireland, where I got to see the elusive painting “The Meeting on the Turret Stairs” that is only shown for one hour, two times a week, to preserve its integrity as it is made of watercolor and is extremely fragile.

After returning home and taking a small break, I went back out to explore more of the U.K. Cardiff, Wales, was a unique place that is the smallest capital in Europe, but had a beautiful castle and history museums to explore. Bath, England, may have been one of my favorite places as the town was so gorgeous, and looked like it came out of the 1800s. This place is home to many scenes from the show “Bridgerton” and also has the Roman Baths, which the Romans would use as public baths around 70 AD.

We then visited Oxford to see the large Oxford University, home to 36 colleges and lots of history, as it is the second oldest university in the world. Spring break was full of a lot of fun and learning so much history that I took one last trip to Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate Shakespeare’s 462nd birthday! I was able to visit his birthplace, his residence when he was older and his wife Anne Hathaway’s cottage. There was a parade in his honor and a quill ceremony at his grave that I was able to witness. It also wouldn’t be a Shakespeare trip without seeing a show, so I saw “Henry V” at the Royal Shakespeare Company, starring Alfred Enoch (Wes Gibbons from “How to Get Away With Murder”), and I got a picture with him, which was so awesome!

Overall, this was such a fun experience, and I got to learn so much about these different places and gained an even bigger appreciation for learning things at every place you go!

---

Learn more about this blogger’s study abroad program: University of Manchester