Day 27—And That's A Wrap!

And before we knew it, it was over. I lugged 90 pounds of luggage through a train station, boarded a plane, and was home in the scorching heat by noon.

So now that the experience is over, what will I take from it?

This has been 27 days of wonder, adventure, excitement, and castles. (In my interview with the University of Westminster, they asked me to describe my experience in three words. The first thing that came to mind was "castles, castles, castles," and though I didn't say it, one of my friends told me that was the best way to describe what I've done on my trip. So here we are!)

I'll start with castles, then, shall I? I've been interested in history since I was a five year old listening to my dad read Story of the World, and for much of my sophomore year of high school, I developed tunnel vision pertaining to medieval English history. It was all I read and all I wanted to learn. That interest continued, and last year, I started a book set in my science fiction series based on the English Anarchy. I could probably recite most of the events by heart, and I remember the names of the various strongholds and castles. But I never expected to get to see the castles, let alone walk inside them where the medieval figures I've studied once set foot!

This trip really broadened my historical horizons, because when I teach history, I'll be able to describe in detail the places I've been. The history I've learned from this trip spans from prehistoric items in museums, to Roman ruins from 47 AD, to Edinburgh Castle (which was once home to a fort in the 600s), to lessons on King Alfred the Great in the 800s, to a tour of Oxford Castle (built in the 1100s) to Shakespeare's Globe and more modern palaces from the 1600s, all the way to Buckingham Palace and Queen Elizabeth II in the present day. In four weeks, I've absorbed as much as I could from over 2,000 years of history. It's inspired me with a new passion that will make my teaching more immersive and engaging, and I'm now a firm believer that in order to truly be able to teach history, you have to experience it. And if I ever retire and decide I want more spending money, I can see a second act for myself as a tour guide at a castle.

What else did this trip do for me? Well, six hours in Hyde Park led to a new personal record for the most writing I've done in one day: 21 pages (nearly 7,000 words). Though this trip has made me a more inspired educator, it's also firmly established in my mind that first and foremost, I will always be a writer. Writing is what drags me out of bed each morning and what I think of before I go to sleep each night, but it couldn't happen without the chance to experience the world and see what inspiration it sends my way.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to John Parrott and London Bridge Rotary Club for making my dream come true. This month was one of the best of my life, and I'm already planning a future trip to London to see more of the history (and castles) it has to offer. This was truly a lifechanging experience and I'm so thankful I got to experience it!