Today I accomplished what may be my greatest achievement to date. More on that later.

Spending the day in Stratford-Upon-Avon was far more eventful and exciting than I would’ve ever thought. To be honest, other than Macbeth I’ve found Shakespeare rather boring when forced to read it in school and I didn’t think my take on his birth place would be much different. Then came Tim.

I whole-heartedly believe our tour guide Tim made the experience 5x better. His enthusiasm about Shakespeare, his zest for life, and ability to recite monologues for us made me so engaged and interested. 

While on the actual tour, it was incredible to see how much history has been preserved to this day. In the U.S., it feels like we never see historical structures and artifacts like that. It’s worth mentioning that the US is far younger than GB, but it still seems hard to find towns so full of history.

The Holy Trinity church was one of my favorite spots of the tour, which shocked me. Typically, cemeteries make me uneasy thinking of all the deceased people we’re walking around on top of. After walking into the area, I was instead filled with a sense of peace as I saw the wind blowing in the trees and the church in the background.

It made me reflect on the grave yards back home and why they freak me out so much. And I realized there are a lot that are unkempt with headstones almost falling over. While I could easily assume the U.S. just loves disrespecting the dead, I have to remember that we were in a tourist town and we were quite literally seeing the best Stratford had to offer. Throughout this trip I have to remind myself that we’re usually only seeing the good for the sake of our safety, and the grass always seems greener.

The main meat of this trip was seeing Shakespeare’s birthplace. When we were allotted 2 hours to tour it I was extremely confused but I quickly realized it’s more like a museum or a memorial rather than walking through some old house. Even just walking in the cottage felt surreal. Knowing I was standing not only where Shakespeare had been, but Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Christopher Dickens, and so many other famous figures had before me made it so surreal.

The part of the day I enjoyed the most was the chance to just explore. I feel like today our group got significantly closer today and we all began to crack inside jokes and grew so comfortable. I also got to finally spend pounds at this part of the day and got gifts for family and friends, as well as souvenirs for myself.

To wrap up the day we sat through a Shakespeare quiz with Tim, which brings me back to my first sentence. I got not one, not two, but THREE prizes for answering questions, and I tied for first in my group. Being someone who knows so little about Shakespeare, I am impressed with myself, and I’m sure my former English teachers would be too. 

I hope our other day trips are like this and I will be looking forward to Oxford and London with great optimism!