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| Totnes, 2011 |
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Totnes 1998
A few months ago, I decided on a whim to go to England. Dartington College of Arts was having a reunion for the theatre class I was a part of for a semester in 1998. I did not have the $900 for a last minute ticket but I HAD to go. I just had to. I had to go back. Had to see it again. Refresh some memories to remind me of how different I am now. |
Lucky for me, I have a ton of miles from all of my travels. (Miles...a different blog post entirely....easier to get than you think) My American Airlines miles made my ticket $150.00. Stoked!!!
Soooo, even though I have been to England since I lived there, I had not been back to my school. Recently the school moved its campus and I realized this might be the last time to see the campus as it was when I lived there.
I had a hard time at first at Dartington. It was my first time out of the country and I really didn't understand what I was getting myself into. The school is in Totnes, Devon. A two hour train ride away from London. It's in the countryside and kind of isolated. Totnes is beautiful, but for me at the time, it was oppressive. It rained constantly. Dreary. Gray. I was a 40 minute walk to "town", a very tiny town with one main or "high" street. I didn't really know anyone and my tiny room was like a cell. I didn't yet know how to cook. The people I lived in the house with weren't very friendly. The theatre course was totally unlike anything I had ever studied; movement based theatre, more rooted in performance art than what I knew. In my studies, we read a script, broke it down, developed a character....not here. We were encouraged to scream and run and that was art. I found it pretentious. Maybe my mind was just not open. Now, I see it helped make me a less inhibited person but then....then I was like, "What the hell is this crap? I don't need this, I'm going to Paris for the weekend." So, I didn't pay much attention to my classes or studies. I did the minimum to get by. I wanted out. I was in Europe so I might as well see it. And I'm so happy I did.
Being in England in 1998, a junior in college, 20 years old.....wow. I see now that this is when I really realized I loved to travel. NEEDED to travel. Seeing Paris for the first time was indescribable, the bread, OH the BREAD, the buildings, the romance of it all! Going to Amsterdam and walking along the canals with a church on one side and a brothel on the other blew my 20 year old mind. The ruins dominating everything in Rome made me feel so small, like I had much more to see, that up until now, my world had been so very limited. These trips were what I needed. They gave me perspective. I would come back to my school after my little trips and see just how beautiful it was where I lived and how lucky I was to be in that place.
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| Me, 1998 on campus |
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| Me, 2011 Campus |
I eventually met amazing people who I am still friends with & I hold them very dear to my heart. They helped bring me out of my gloom. Helped me see where I was and how special it is. My biggest reason for going back was that I just felt like for most of my time there, I wasn't present enough. I spent two months waiting out my time, wanting to go home.....now, of course, I wish I had taken more advantage of it. Fortunately, I did get to. My last two months at the school were amazing and I needed to go back. So I went on a whim and some airline miles.....
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| London |
The town of Totnes is ridiculously cute. It's a typical English village with pubs everywhere. Everything is old. Really old. A pub from the 1400s? Crazy. The high street is filled with shops and restaurants....it looked exactly the same and a surge of old feeling and memories came back. The same pubs were there, some of the same restaurants and shops.....like nothing had changed in that tiny town. Waiting for me to come back......I was present. I think I cried everyday I was there ;) I hate that I took it for granted but glad I realized it while I still had time. Walking the gorgeous campus was overwhelmingly emotional for me. Everything that felt gloomy then made me so happy now. Without that period in my life, as cliche as it sounds, I wouldn't be me. I just wouldn't. I am such a different person now, a stronger, more educated, more worldly, grateful person who is living an amazing life. I'm so thankful I got to go back.
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Gerry 2011 High Street
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| John & Gerry, the friends that brought me outta the gloom. Forever thankful. |
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| Great Hall 2011 |
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| Campus Grounds |
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Totnes, 2011
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| Path to my classes |
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| Campus 2011 |
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| Me, 1998 Campus |
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Dorms
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| What used to be our campus pub, The Rat & the Emu. So sad the inside is gutted. |
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| Me, Gerry, our campus 2011 |
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| Totnes 2011 |
For the mussels, rinse them well. Dump into a pot with a lid. Add white wine, chicken stock, a buncha taragon, and sauteed shallots, garlic and leeks. Steam until the shells open about 7-9 minutes.Make sure to season the broth with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley and serve in a bowl with grilled bread. So easy. So good.
My mom's crabcakes. No filler. Just lump crabmeat and spices. So good I almost moved home. Almost.
My scallop dish from the previous post. However, I added the cream this time. Tis the season to add calories. Even my sister was impressed.
