Chatsworth House... yeah, that's right. Home of Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice-- every girl's fancy. Bethany, if you're reading this, I took this picture especially for you and I. I will be sending you a post card as well... no worries. Also, Viva la Vida is playing on my iTunes right now, which is quite right, don't you think? I bet this makes you wish you lived here. Unfortunately, I was unable to extend my political ties to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire because they were not on the premises today. Their loss. I was touring this place and revelling at the fact that Keira Knightley was privileged enough to film two movies at the Chatsworth House. P&P and The Duchess... lucky wanka. Umm, but a little history for ya... this house is situated on somewhere around 100,000 acres of land, and over the years the Dukes of Devonshire have accumulated over 800,000 total acres of land in the surrounding area. An area that is rich and iron and other serious minerals of the like... basically whichever Duke was lucky enough to live there during Britain's Industrial Revolution was one lucky dude. The woman who convinced her man to build this house came from meager means, but through her insane success with gold digging, pre-nups, and 4 marriages later, she became the richest woman in England, second only to Elizabeth I. That tells you something- Julia could have it made one day. She married her first man at 17 when he was in his 60s, so he didn't last but 2 years, if you know what I mean. At any rate, her kids had it made.


Inside Chatsworth you will find a freaking original copy of a Rembrandt. I can't say that I've ever seen a Rembrandt in my life, let alone an original. Let's just think about how much this one piece of art, out of the thousands within the Chatsworth walls, costs. Enough to feed a small country in Africa, but let's not go there.

I thought these steps in the Chatsworth Gardens were sweet. The architecture at this house was ridiculous... 5 centuries later.

Another view of the Gardens... unfortunately, I couldn't get everything on film because it would've taken all day to walk around the land. But, it was gorgeous.

Yet another view... this time the Hedges. The shades were drawn throughout most of the house, so I turned into a sleuth and SNEAKILY put my camera underneath the shade to take this picture. Yeah, baby.

This is my heaven. No joke. But, it's also the room where Elizabeth Bennett (Keira) was forced to play the piano in front of Lady Catherine, who just wanted an excuse to mock her for not being accomplished enough for her time. Darcy still loved her for it. Every single book in this library is polished twice a year.

This is a mural of my Sweet Jesus painted above the podium in the Chapel conveniently located inside the house just in case they don't feel like driving to church this Sunday.

Just in case the Rembrandt wasn't enough, let's import Egyptian heiroglyphs.

This is the mirror in one of the guest bedrooms back in the day... nice. We weren't allowed to see the current bedrooms.

Lindsay's parents decided that they wanted to be my parents for the day and thus, took me along to Chatsworth House. It was just phenomenal. We had great food and I consumed two hot chocolates all by myself. They are truly a selfless family-- and not to mention that they brought me 2 jars of my favorite Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. It was nice to feel taken care of for the day. The Saladinos rented a car because Lindsay's mom is a pro and can drive on the left side of the road. Lady Catherine would say she's accomplished. Thank you Saladino family for a wonderful day. I both needed and GREATLY appreciated it. Love ya, Linds and fam. :)

This all took place yesterday, aka St. Patty's Day, so when we got back home the girls got ready for a night out on the town. We all got tickets to a club called Embrace, which advertised "REAL LEPRECHAUNS," and planned to go to Bar One, a bar at the Student Union, first. When I got to Bar One and went up to order my drinks with Genna and Alex, I realized that my Embrace ticket was not on my person. I searched in and out of every pocket, but to no avail. Alex's roommate was trying to get rid of her ticket because she was going somewhere else, but she never showed up to Bar One and I wasn't about to pay another 4 pounds to go to the club when I already have no money. So, I swallowed my pride and headed home when the other girls headed out for hours of dancing... they tried to make me feel better today in telling me that it wasn't actually that fun, but I'm not sure if I really believe them. I allowed myself to shed exactly 2 tears (one from each eye) on my way home last night. I was at a low point, but I wasn't about to be completely disgruntled. I just couldn't fathom how I could be Irish and be unlucky to leave my Embrace ticket at home on St. Patty's Day of all days. It turned out alright, though. I ended up hitting the sack pretty early, so that was nice. Everyone told me that week 6 is when you start to feel homesick, but I refused to believe it. And to be honest, I wouldn't say I'm homesick. I don't want to go home at all, but at the same time, it would have been comforting to return to my own familiar bed and sheets of Egyptian cotton after my night of misfortune. I was just super excited to celebrate St. Patty's Day here and when I couldn't, I was sad... oh well. I'll be in Ireland soon enough.:)

Today was a pretty decent day, though. I finished reading Jew of Malta this morning in between my 2 classes. I liked this play, but it wasn't my favorite due to the hate and racism between the Jewish and Christian characters in the play; it was quite unsettling. Plus, Marlowe kept punning on how Catholic priests and nuns were really just sleeping together throughout the play; it was purposefully placed since England was swinging Protestant at the time, but still pretty unnecessary if you ask me. No love for the hatas. We discussed nuns and feminine sexuality during the Renaissance time period in my Shakespeare class, and this was my favorite quote of the day-- I'm really hopeful that I'll be lucky enough to receive a compliment of this caliber from my future husband:

"On thy good lady, then! Who therein reap'd
The just reward of her high huswifry;
To have her linen, plate, and all things nigh,
When she was far; and not a room, but drest,
As if she had expected such a guest!
These, Penshurst, are thy praise, and yet not all.
Thy lady's noble, fruitful, chaste withal."
-Ben Jonson, "To Penshurst"

A woman can dream, can't she? I was getting a kick out of this. Mindy would love it. Here's a shout out to Mindy and Tim-- love and miss you, chickadees. My parents (really, my buddies) are awesome, but I'm kind of mad at them right now. I've decided that publicly venting is the only way to go since my private cries for love and affection are clearly not getting me anywhere. Allow me to paint the two of you a picture... just bare with me for a second. Imagine a girl a couple thousand miles away with no real tie to where she's at save for the good friends that she's made on her own. Studying abroad was her decision, and something she lives for everyday. Now imagine this girl walking to her mailbox everyday, only to find it empty. Furthermore, imagine how this girl envies her friends for being able to see their parents on skype everyday. This girl is making every attempt to maintain communication with her family: from purchasing extensive calling cards and averaging about 10 pounds/week on her pay-as-you-go phone just to make the international calls to get ahold of her parents from time to time. She also takes care to email, send birthday cards, and post cards on top of everything else. Every once in awhile it'd be nice if the communication attempts came from the U.S. Perhaps a short note of affirmation and encouragement to surprise this not-a-girl, not-yet-a-woman, would be nice here and there. Something to think about... just saying. Maybe a care package here and there, though I don't really expect it. All I'm saying is that kids die a little inside whenever that mailbox is empty. Jennifer Marshall, you are my hero by the way. Jennifer Marshall is the only person who has ever sent me anything, she goes to Chapel Hill, and I have never even met her. Remind me to apply for her job when I get back to school because it's truly amazing how good an article from the DTH or a peice of home can make you feel. That's all... I know that you are busy in Maryland and that you are having tons of fun. You'll probably be mad at me for writing this, but that's okay because I still love you more than anyone loves you... and you both know that. I can see pops putting together the crib and taking his time installing crown molding in the baby room. I can see my mom having the time of her life picking out a basinette. It's just an image I have, but I'm pretty sure that it accurately portrays the events of the next few days. I'm just very detail oriented to the point where I know exactly what to expect, that's all.