Hadrian's Wall

During the bus trip between Edinburgh and Liverpool on the midterm trip, we stopped at Housesteads Roman Fort and Hadrian's Wall. This wall was built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, begun in 122 CE. It represents the "end of the world" of the Roman empire in Britain; this was the furthest line they were able to semi-permanently control. It stretched 120 km, from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, and was heavily fortified, since beyond it were the wild northern/Scottish "barbarians" that were often attacking the Romans.

Periodically along the wall were forts to house Roman army defensive units for the wall. We went to one of these forts, named Housesteads. The foundations of the fort are still visible, as is the wall itself; however, the wall would have looked much more impressive in the past, being several feet taller and thicker than it is today, and reinforced with a wooden palisade on top.

It was a 10-minute walk through some gorgeous countryside to get to the wall and fort. I thought the landscape in this area was so beautiful! I had trouble being selective with my photos of this place, so that's why I've included so many below!

part of the fort

part of the fort

Hadrian's Wall

view from the wall, north to the "end of the world"

Chisato on Hadrian's wall

Hadrian's Wall, looking northeast

part of the fort

looking south from the fort

remains of the fort

remains of the fort

remains of the fort

this and the following picture do not do it justice,
but these are shots of the landscape while we were still
in Scotland, on the bus en route to Hadrian's Wall. It was
so gorgeous I wanted to try to capture it, with not-so-
great results unfortunately!

Food in England

I've gotten a few questions about the food here in the UK, and have also accumulated a few food-related photos, so I thought it was time to do a brief 'food' post!

Britain has a reputation for terrible food, but so far it's definitely been much better than I anticipated. There's a surprisingly high number of vegetarians at the castle, so there are usually plenty of vegetarian options in the dining hall. Some people hate it, but I (and most others) think the dining hall food is delicious, for the most part. They do a great job of changing up the menu and providing lots of favourites (there's a board where we can write requests). 

The runaway favourite dessert here is "Banoffee Pie", which is an East Sussex creation. It's banana and toffee combined to make a pie, and it's so delicious! Also in high demand is peanut butter- ordinary staple in North America, but NOT so common here! Of course, the students here are mostly from North America, so we always want it, but we get funny looks from the dining hall staff about the amount we go through :) It's not at all popular here, and so it only comes in these tiny little jars. So the dining hall can't buy peanut butter in bulk for us, meaning that we usually go through multiple tiny jars of peanut putter in a day! The supply in the dining hall is pretty erratic- often they run out and are waiting for new shipments- so everyone actually gets quite excited when a new jar appears. Yes, I do realize we are in our late teens/twenties but no, I'm not making this up! :)

Here's some food-related photos I've taken over the last few weeks:

Dinner at the Lamb Inn for the double-birthday dinner
with friends in late October. I got the middle eastern plate:
falafel, tzatziki with cucumber, hummus, pita, olives,
and red pepper dressing. 

Dessert at the Lamb Inn: sticky toffee pudding
with vanilla ice cream.

Dinner at Pizza Express (widespread UK pizza chain)
with 4 friends in St. Andrews during the midterm trip. 

7 of us went to this fantastic pub in the Grassmarket district
of Edinburgh for dinner during the midterm trip. It was
recommended by our prof so we were not the only
'castle people' there! I got a cheese and coleslaw baguette
and salad.

Mom and I discovered this chain during our trip this summer,
and I hadn't been near one of their stores until Liverpool
during the midterm trip. It was great to have another opportunity to grab lunch here!
 It's sort of "on-the-go healthy food", I guess you'd
call it? I got a red pepper and falafel wrap and a fruit salad. 

More of Edinburgh

I had several photos that didn't fit in with my other posts. So here's a few assorted photos from around Edinburgh that I wanted to throw in!

Edinburgh: Greyfriars Churchyard

Greyfriars Church

This churchyard is right across from the National Museum of Scotland, so I walked through it briefly on my way back from the museum. It was almost dusk and the leaves and the view were so pretty!

churchyard entrance

view of the city

Edinburgh: National Museum of Scotland

Mom and I went to the National Museum of Scotland in August, but didn't have enough time there, so I was really hoping to be able to come back during the midterm trip. Thankfully I got the chance to come back for a few hours during a free afternoon in Edinburgh!!

I stayed until closing and again was not even close to having enough time. I cannot adequately describe how big and amazing this museum is. Really innovative layout in the world culture galleries, with multiple floors connected vertically in themed galleries. This visit I went to a different wing of the museum I hadn't seen before- the history of Scotland, from prehistory to the Industrial Revolution. Again, so well presented and the information is interesting and in-depth without being overwhelming. This visit cemented my opinion that this is my all-time favourite museum, hands down. I definitely recommend it if you're ever in Edinburgh!

These photos really don't do it justice, but oh well: