Yesterday Kristen, Simone, and I took advantage of our no-class-Friday and we went downtown and toured the castle in Lancaster! After stopping to ask someone where it was located, we were told that we were headed in the entirely wrong direction. But we managed to find it! The castle is actually a prison and is the oldest one in England (800 years old) that is still used (although they are closing the prison in about two weeks and sending the prisoners elsewhere). Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures inside since it's against the law. It has two courtrooms inside, one of which has its walls covered in shields of the people who were/are deputies dating back to a long long time ago. It was really neat learning about the symbolism within the shields. I wish I knew what mine looked like! But if you don't have one, then you get one made by an artist whose job is to create them! There's actually a name for his job but I'm blanking on what it's called... Anyway, we saw jail cells that were several hundred years old. We actually got locked inside and boy was it ever dark! Entirely pitch black. Prisoners were sent to these cells for up to 24 hours for punishment. We didn't get to see the ones that are actually used now. The one "good" thing about being in prison though was that you got breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday. And the menu wasn't half bad. We also saw actual handcuffs/chains that were used and where people were hanged. Lots of times the people who were sentenced to death still pleaded innocent--so sad. There were several witches in Lancaster who were sent to jail and hanged. Seventeen deaths within the same neighborhood happened in twenty days* (I think it was days, but don't quote me on that). One lady made a clay figurine of a neighbor and she crumbled it and a day later the person died. Many of these "witches" pleaded guilty, so apparently they believed they were magic! There were hundreds of convicts who were sent to Australia as well. I think that's why their accents sound a bit similar. Also, going off on a tangent here, but I think that the New England region's accent in the U.S. (and I'm mainly referring to Boston, Mass) can sound like the English over here since they don't pronounce their "r" and say "ah" instead. Anyway, back to a bit of history.. the majority of convicts who were sent to Australia were thieves. If you stole a silk handkerchief, you were sent to jail. The youngest boy on the ship to Australia was only 9 years old. How little! Some convicts were also sent to America. But enough of our history lesson! After touring the castle we browsed through some shops, such as TKMaxx (their TJMaxx), ate some lunch served with "chips" (Kristen and Simone had the legendary fish and chips), and then we did some grocery shopping. Grocery shopping is definitely a process! I find myself standing in the aisles staring at the shelf, debating what brand to buy and which is cheaper. You can actually grocery shop online and get them delivered here on campus which is what two of the boys on my hall were doing today. It's a $3 service charge, which is about the price of a return bus ticket ("return" is the word used for "round trip") so maybe one day when I'm lazy I'll try it out. After our 6 hour adventure downtown, we dressed up for our college's bar theme: Back to School. I felt like I was getting ready for a mixer! The bar then took a bus of us into town to Sugarhouse which is the university's club. It was a fun time. But enough fun for the weekend. Basically everyone who we were with last night has decided to stay in tonight and lay low to get some work done. We're celebrating 2 girls' birthdays on Monday anyway, so I have to save some energy for that!
aaaand i'm out.
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