Sophie Spiers
Birmingham, England
Greetings again students of Keene State College! For my second article for The Equinox, I have decided to talk about how I spent my break, when I flew back to England and spent Christmas with my family. For me, this year Christmas was more than just opening presents and eating obscene amounts of turkey and chocolate—though plenty of that was done.
As much as I love Keene, being away from Birmingham for so long made me realize how much I have missed my family, my friends and of course going to the pub (the drinking age in the UK is 18). I was reunited with my best friend Andy, who has been undergoing intense training in order to become a Royal Marine Corporal.
For those unaware of this, British Royal Marine training is one of the longest and most physically demanding infantry training regimes in the world, so I was looking forward to hearing about how he was getting on with the system.
So, my Christmas Day consisted of Andy and his brother James coming around and making toast after toast with Sambuca shots. However, I also made sure to bring to this gathering an important American custom that I felt would only bring us closer on this festive day…we played three games of beer pong before retiring to the living room for karaoke. Perhaps not the most traditional Christmas, but in the Spiers family household they never are!
The weekend following Christmas Day was my friend’s mother’s engagement party, so I travelled up to Exeter to join in with the celebrations. Exeter is a town located in Devon, which is a seaside vacation resort that is probably most famously associated with the “Devonshire Cream Tea”—a culinary custom that is made up of scones, jelly and clotted cream and is very popular within the UK.
At the engagement party, I met many former marines. Not only does my friend’s mother work at the base, which is situated in Exeter, but her fiancé is also a retired corporal. Meeting them was an experience that was completely different to my expectations. All night, these men in their fifties kept egging me on to knock back tequila and whiskey shots.
On New Year’s Eve, I arose early in order to catch the four-hour-long train to Skegness, where I was to stay with another British girl who was here last semester at Keene State College.
Contributed Photo:
The city of Bath, England, is where international student Sophie Spiers visited her sister during winter break. Spiers is studying in Keene for a second semester this spring 2014.
Skegness is another seaside resort popular with English holiday makers; however the clear blue skies and blazing sun that people flock to see in June was long gone. Instead, we experienced torrential rain and powerful winds that broke our umbrella and sent my friends hat flying down the high street. Nevertheless, the blocked nose and sore throat that I awoke with the next morning was worth it, as I had a great time counting down to 2014 at the Skegness clock tower and dancing at the local clubs.
My last trip outside of Birmingham was to the city of Bath in Somerset, where my sister is undertaking a fashion degree at Bath Spa University. Bath is the home of the Roman Baths—a preserved Roman site for public bathing—though of course, no one bathes there anymore.
Bath is also the hometown of a number of celebrities, including shoe designer Jimmy Choo. Johnny Depp also owns the luxurious townhouse next door to my sister’s university, with some students claiming to have spotted him there during one of his filming breaks. Bath is one of my favorite cities to visit in the UK, as there are lots of unique and quaint little shops, beautiful architecture and many cobbled side roads that you could spend days on end exploring and still not uncover everything. However, there are not many buses so exploring consists of much walking up and down steep hills. After a few hours, I could feel the burn shooting up my legs. I still have no idea how my sister manages to do it every day.
Having a month off to catch up with all my friends and family was much needed after the stress of finals.
However, as the date for my return flight to Keene drew nearer, I began looking forward to seeing my new friends and suitemates again, as well as getting back into schoolwork and my Night Owl Café shifts.
As much as a blessing it was to not have stress about deadlines and portfolios, I feel too much television has turned my brain to mush, and I can’t wait to start learning new information again!
One last semester to go. Let’s hope it doesn’t go by so quickly this time.