Taveler at Heart

Not many people get the chance to live in an 11th century castle in a 20th century world, but I did. At 20 years old I found myself in northern England living in a town of 8,000 people and thirty pubs in a little town called Alnwick, inside a big castle.

My second year of college I needed a change. Before I ever left for college I had a very last minute change of heart and I switched schools to be closer to home. I really tried to like the school I chose, but we just didn’t go together. I couldn’t get happy there. At the end of my sophomore year I found out that my school offered some great study abroad program in England the next year highlighting my major! I found my answer. But could I really do it? The girl who uprooted everything to be closer to home? Yes. And it’s the best decision I’ve made.

That fall, 74 classmates and myself traveled across the pond, to live and go to school in a castle and travel. Alnwick Castle is the home of the Duke of Northumberland and in order to pay modern day bills, half of the castle is rented out to my college for an exchange program.

We arrived at the castle after a full day of exhausting travel at 9pm. Too dark to see anything. We were shown to the kitchen for some warmed up soup. Dinner turned out to be horrible, but the surroundings were amazing. The dinning hall was enormous with curved archways and high ceilings and smelled like a combination of stale bread and rain. It was as if there had been water dripping for centuries. Shortly after we were escorted to our tiny rooms and passed out.

The next morning I was able to take in the entire castle and explore the grounds. It was like waking up in a dream. And like nothing this mid-western girl had seen before. Stepping outside in the daylight and being inside the castle grounds was surreal. The old bricks continued up forever and the green grass that surrounded the castle seemed like it went on for miles. It was beautiful. I was surrounded by gargoyles and cannons and felt like I had just transformed back in time.

For six months I explored every nook, cranny and secret at the castle I could find. I found hidden doors, a mysterious little library and the legend of a ghost called “The Grey Lady”. During my time in England I learned about the world and saw some amazing cities, but the best thing I discovered was about myself. I learned that I loved absorbing other cultures and being away from home. If I could do that, I could do anything.