Biscuits and British Accents

Today I am truly having to understand the STUDY in study abroad. Yes Mom and Dad I am actually learning something here besides how to travel and speak like a Brit. Although some new phrases I have recently picked up include:

       walk = ramble

      cookie = biscuit

      dip a cookie in milk = dunk a biscuit in tea

By the way- Do not say ma’am because it is equivalent to calling someone an old hag- I did not realize how hard it would be to break my Texas manners and I got some pretty horrified looks.

Every Tuesday I have the privilege of sitting in my Major British Writers class for three hours (with a tea break in the middle of course) and listening to Dr. Kieron Winn laugh and get giddy about poetry. I have to control myself from bursting into laughter at some of the things he says and just his accent in general. I don’t think I ever want to study English again unless it is taught by someone with a British accent and diction. 

Today we studied William Wordsworth and I now declare myself to be a Wordsworthan! He was a lover of the countryside- the land of the country bumpkins where he was from in the Lake District of England. I plan on taking a trip there when it is warmer! It is said to be the most gorgeous part of England! I have learned that nothing excites me quite like the scenery of open countryside. This is exactly why I find so much peace and comfort in Port Meadows. Dr. Winn encouraged us to embrace idleness as Wordsworth did. To go and sit in nature with only our hearts and our eyes and ears and NOT a book to read. It was the first time in my life an English teacher has told me not to read. Advice I plan on enjoying. 

Some great quotes of Wordsworth: 

“in square divisions parceled out and all, with crosses and cyphers scribbled o’er, we schemed and puzzled” = playing a game of tic tac toe

“When we had given our bodies to the wind” = when we let something bigger than ourselves lead us and we become in tune with the inner workings of the world around us. My first thought upon reading it and being asked to interpret it was “Colors of the Wind” by Pocahontas. On second thought, the Greek word pneuma means wind, breath, and spirit. It is the word used when the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit...so when I give my body to the wind, I like to think of letting the spirit move and work in all I do as I breathe in the breath of life.