CALS United Kingdom Spring Break Study Abroad Blog

We thankfully got to sleep in today but only till 8. Then we made our way by foot to the Tower of London. We wandered around the tower grounds for about 2 hours. There was a lot of military apparel and artifacts in the tower. I later found out that it was the training place for soldiers during the wars. Something that I found interesting was that they kept weird animals in the tower. Some animals they kept in the tower included a polar bear, monkeys, a snake, and a spotted leopard. They did not know how to take care of them and their specific diets they needed so many of the animals did not make it past 5 or 6 years. We also saw the crown jewels in the tower, including the biggest diamond in the world. They were beautiful and so majestic. You could spend an hour looking at each crown and you still would not see every detail in them. It amazes me how that much detail could be put into one crown given the tools they had back then. After we finished walking around the tower we headed to a...

Hey readers! We made it safely home. I've got a few more posts to add which will be done in the next few days. It's been a fantastic trip! Can't wait to share more pictures and videos with you all! And if you have any you want to post or share let me know. We're working on getting a site for the that. 

We started our day in Iron Bridge Gorge on the bus by  6:30 . After a 3 hour drive we arrived in Bath, England where we had some time to grab a snack before heading into the Bath exhibit. Inside we followed along with audio guides as we were able to take in the sights and learn the history and culture behind the Baths as well as learning that several years ago the Olympic swim team entered the waters of the Bath and were hospitalized with servere rashes and other problems. Looking at the water it isn't hard to see why. The exhibit itself was pretty informational and interesting. Walking through raised some questions about the authenticity and unusual flow of all the parts of the museum. After leaving Bath the group got back on the bus for a few hour drive to Stonehenge, the mysterious stones. The land around the visitor's center was flat and a vibrant green. To get to the stones we had to take a few minutes bus ride which left us at a path on front of the stones. Following an a...

We got a glimpse of the sunrise as we hopped on the bus to Spitafields Wholesale Market. The market is incredibly busy. It opens at midnight and then closes at 11am so when we arrived at 9am many people were packing up. This allowed the students more of a chance to actually talk to the vendors. It was really incredible to see all of the different types of food at the market. We even found NC sweet potatoes! Next we hopped on the tube to go to Westminster Abbey and walk around Buckingham Palace.  You're actually not supposed to take pictures inside Westminster but I snuck one anyway. This is where Katherine and Prince William walked down the aisle during their wedding! We had quite a walk to the US embassy. However, we were able to see Buckingham Palace on the way there. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the embassy.

Thursday March 12th We had an early start this morning in order to cover two extraordinary cultural sites today: Roman Baths and Stonehenge before heading into London.  Our first stop was Bath England where we had a couple of hours to walk around, shop, and see the Roman Baths.  Students pose in front of Bath Abbey. Bath Abbey is right next to the Roman baths and was built between 1499-1616. There is even some ties to America in this abbey! Inside Bath Abbey. This is the Great Bath. The statues that line the perimeter are famous Roman emperors including Caesar.   Sarah T. and Ana at the Great Bath. This bath also would have been originally covered by a vaulted roof. You're not allowed to go into the pool.  But it's a little green so I don't think that swimming would be a good idea anyway.  Karl and I posing with the "Romans".  We then ventured on to Stonehenge for the afternoon. This was an incredible site to visit. The site is over 5,000 years old.  S...

   Day 7- Harper Adams University and Afternoon in Iron Bridge Gorge  At Harper Adams today we had an opportunity to tour the grounds and the units. The first thing I noticed were the sheep in the front lawn. I thought to myself, wow I sure would love to go to a school that had sheep to welcome you! Harper Adams is a very old university that is settled within the countryside of Newport Shropshire, England. The school was opened in 1901 that had a total of 6 students. Needless to say it had grown rapidly since then in size and technology. We first had a brief introduction from one of the staff Mitch Crooks. We then, toured the dairy unit which housed around 300 milking Holstein cows. I have been to the unit back at NC State but this one is off the bat much larger an seems to be much more advanced than ours. They offer a carousel milking parlor that has been on the grounds since 2005. They also have a lot of research going on at this time. One was that the researchers added...

We spent the first half of today at Harper Adams University touring their facilities and meeting with their faculty and students. We were able to learn about the way they run their schools, facilities, and operations.  Here students learn a brief history of Harper Adams University from Dr. Catherine Baxter, one of hour hosts for the day. Harper Adams has a unique history in that it was founded in the beginning entirely by a wealth man in the late 19th century. Upon his death, he left his entire estate to set up a trust in order to set up a college whose only purpose was "to teach practical and theoretical agriculture". The college has about 3500 students (roughly the size of CALS population).  Here students listen to a lecturer from Harper Adams discuss her research with Holstein cows. One thing we noticed as toured the facilities at Harper Adams is that most (if not all) of their units (beef, swine, etc) are located on campus, so students are able to walk to their facilities...

 Today was spent in Wales, which is a beautiful country. Today's theme was about sustainability and conservation. The city where we stayed, Machynlleth, is known as one of the most "green" cities in Wales.  This is one of the menu options for breakfast.  Who doesn't like cheese for breakfast? We slept in a little bit (until 9am) before getting on the bus and heading to the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT). CAT was founded in 1974 by a few volunteers from an old quarry. The centre now functions as an education center. It prides itself on having a low impact on the environment. The CAT offers several master's degrees and also offers short courses for students and the public. There are more than 3 hectares of displays and while there was not as much vegetation (because it's still winter), there was still a lot to see and do. Dr. Fisher talks about the impact of agriculture on the environmentand the work that the CAT does.  We hiked up several (58 or so) st...

Today we toured the Center for Alternative Technology and Powis Castle. I thought the presentations were interesting; however, I loved the tour of the grounds we received. The most interesting thing I learned was how they utilized sand as a filter for the water in their reservoir. I never realized how effective sand is to trap unwanted bacteria and minerals found in water. It also makes me question whether or not the acid rain we get in the US could be filtered and utilized the same way. The grounds at Powis Castle were beautiful and I wish we had more time to adventure through them. The castle itself was interesting; it felt much more personal than Edinburgh Castle did in Scotland. It was really cool that the family still lived there. I thought it was really interesting that there are certain staircases we could and could not use. Our group dinner was lovely and it was really nice hanging out with everyone afterwards. Overall, I thought it was a great day. -Sam Harris The day began at...

The Leault sheep farm was the highlight of my day. We watched a presentation on sheep herding in which the border collies were directed by whistling. Each dog had a unique series of whistles as  commands. After the presentation we got to hold a baby lamb as well as some puppies. Everyone took pictures with them. In the afternoon we went to Glenturret distillery and learned about their process of making whiskey. They hold the Guinness Book of World Records for  the largest bottle of whiskey at over 6 feet tall. After which we got to sample 2 different types; I learned whiskey is not for me. After we got back to the hotel we went out and walked around downtown and found a nice restaurant cafe called Maxie's. We got to sit out on the terrace and enjoy the skyline and enjoyed  fish and chips for dinner. -Ashley Mclaughlin 

Today we visited the Abbott Lodge Dairy Farm in Clifton. It was a lot of fun. We were first briefed of the farm's history on how they were hit with foot and mouth disease and then revamped their whole operation by getting jersey cows. Next, we got a tour around the farm, petting the cows and calves and seeing how they milk them. Lastly, they provided lunch and gave us some of their home-made ice cream. I got the flavor "Just Jersey" which was created to focus on just their milk. It was delicious, so creamy and milky! It was definitely obvious why it's their best seller. We are staying the night at the Wynnstay and it is such a cute hotel. We found out it was built in 1780 as a townhouse and then turned into a hotel. The dinner was delicious. They served us a three course meal and for my main course I had the pheasant. -Kasey Anderson Today was pretty cool. We had an early start, leaving around 7:15 on a two and a half hour bus ride to Abott Lodge Dairy. At the dairy, ...

T oday was a long haul as we covered all three countries in one day (Scotland, England, and Wales). We left early (7:30am) to head from Scotland to Abbott Lodge Dairy Farm. We got to see all aspects of the farm. This farm in particular uses Jersey Cows.  It was pretty rainy and windy this day. This dairy farm is also a working farm, but it does provide many visitors a chance to see a first-hand glimpse of the dairy industry.  We first headed to where the adult jersey cows were feeding.  Because Jersey cows have a low fat content (less than 10% of their body is fat), the calves, especially, have to stay indoors with these heating lamps to prevent them from being too cold.  Students were able to pet the calves. Here students are in the milking station.  After the tour, we had lunch and icecream in the conference room. Here students are having a laugh with Alastair, our bus driver.  So many ice cream flavors! There is even a Mississippi Mudpie flavor!  I ...