"We are such stuff as dreams are made on"...

Stratford-Upon-Avon! Such a cute little town. We first took a tour of William Shakespeare's home:


They had tour guides in each different room, and they were all exceptionally creepy. They made sure to tell us that we were walking on ground that Shakespeare walked on, and that is pretty cool I guess. And I learned that the phrase "sleep tight" originated from trundle beds that were just a mattress atop a rope wound between the wooden structure. After being slept on, the rope would slacken and need to be tightened, so "sleep tight"... Makes sense. I never think about random phrases like that, and it's kind of fun to learn where they come from.

Ryan, Amanda, and I went to dinner at one of the first pubs in Stratford. But beforehand, we went to a little ice cream parlor:

We had been CRAVING ice cream very badly. We tend to crave things quite often. And then hate them after eating them for a week. The parlor was also a candy shop, so I bought some Turkish Delight. I had no idea what it was before I got it, and I don't know what Edmund Pevensie thought was so great about it...

Then to see The Tempest!

I really enjoyed it. They did a great job. But, that's to be assumed. The Royal Shakespeare Company really shouldn't mess up a Shakespearean play in his home town. It was a very African version of the play, complete with bongo drums playing with the orchestra. The costumes were great too. They made huge, brightly colored puppets to represent the spirits. It is a shame that photography was prohibited during the performance because I really can't do everything justice with words. The set was very minimal, which is to expected of a deserted island setting:


The lighting was funky, but you get the idea...
Then on the way back to the bus, we came across this sign:

"Elderly People". What? Greatest sign ever.

I slept entirely too late today, but I guess I needed it. My Egyptology tutorial was at 3.00, and I had not attached my essay when I sent an email to Gareth before leaving for Stratford. I sent it as soon as I got home and read his "I didn't get it" email, but I felt badly for sending it so much later than he prefers. But it didn't really matter. I got to the cafe before Gareth, and when he arrived, he was all excited about my essay. It was about the Hyksos Dynasty. Hyksos means "rulers of foreign countries"; they were from around Palestine and they ruled Egypt for 100 years or so. But there is no written testament of their dynasty by them.. only from later Egyptians. So it is all very interesting because the Egyptians make us believe that the Hyksos were terrible people and they destroyed pretty much everything from the Hyksos period. Anyway, they used the term "Hyksos" in a very negative manner, but I couldn't figure out who used it first. I suggested that maybe the Hyksos used it first, to refer to themselves in their own history, because they were ruling in a foreign land, Egypt, and then later Egyptians twisted it in order to make them look bad. Apparently this is a new idea. Gareth said he had never come across it before, but it was incredibly interesting, and he asked me if he could look into it and perhaps write a research paper about it. So that made me feel pretty good. He always tells me that it's fun to read my papers because I have the outlook of an "outsider", meaning I haven't studied this stuff non-stop, so my opinions haven't been shaped like typical Egyptology students' have. Fun stuff.

We had rowing in the gym tonight. Some of the other girls showed up this time. Yeah! Our tournament is scheduled for the end of next week, but it may be canceled because the river is too high from all the snow that melted. I say "all the" as if there was a lot. Three inches. Maybe four. But it had a significant impact on the river. Plus, it has been raining a bit. I will be very disappointed if it's canceled.

I finally went grocery shopping tonight. One can only eat stuffed baked potatoes so often...