I don't know if any of you are familiar with the author John Green, or his Youtube channel that he shares with his brother Hank Green called Vlogbrothers. My wonderful cousin Lauren is the one who actually introduced me to the Vlogbrothers over the summer, and I remember that one of the first segments she ever showed me was a "Thoughts From Places" video where John sort of talks about his experiences when he's traveling abroad somewhere. He does an amazing job at connecting different historical and modern concepts together and he always comes off as amusing and thoughtful, which is a hard combination.
Anyway, the reason I'm telling you all of this is because when I was visiting Stratford-Upon Avon yesterday with my friends, I sort of had a "Thoughts From Places" moment where all the pieces of the puzzle came together and I realized what an incredibly huge deal it was to be standing where Shakespeare himself once stood. (Interesting tidbit: did you know that the average height of a man in Shakespeare's time was only 5'2"? I'm starting to think there really are hobbits in England, just hiding out somewhere in their hobbit holes...)
Which got me to thinking about all the other amazingly influential writers that came out of England, everyone from Wordsworth, to Keats, to Byron, to Austen, to C.S. Lewis, to Tolkien, to Chesterton. I am literally milling about in a country where these people lived and breathed and slept and ate and most importantly, where they wrote some of the greatest literature of all time. Literature that I read in school and admired, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be able to come here and maybe catch a glance at what inspired them.
And I don't know why it took me until yesterday to realize that I shouldn't be spending my free time worrying about getting things done for school or missing home- I should be out there traveling, trying to soak in as much culture and history as I possibly can!
I always had this idealized view of England growing up, because it's weather and landscape and funny accents fascinated me. And I think there was an aspect of mystery that also made me want to come here. Because no matter how much I could try to learn about this country or it's famous writers, no matter how many months or years of lifetimes I could spend tracking down and memorizing information, I would never know it all. There's just too much, and there's too much that was forgotten or never recorded.
Even yesterday, when we were walking through the garden's at Nash's House, I overheard a woman saying, "Everywhere you go, it's all speculation. Like, 'Shakespeare might have gone here, or he might have done that.' It's all a bit vague, isn't it?"
But that's what makes it so intriguing! That's what leaves tourists and students and even the most learned of scholars coming back, to solve the mystery and turn a "maybe" into a "definitely."
Right now, my life is full of "maybes." Maybe I'll become a successful writer. Maybe I'll get a job straight out of college, maybe I'll get married and have kids, maybe I'll win the lottery. Maybe I'll end up doing exactly what God has planned for me to do.
Or maybe one day, people will go walking through the house that I grew up in, trying to piece together my life, and what it might have influenced me in the year 2011. Maybe they'll even be surprised to find out that I was a whopping 5'8" tall.
Until next time, my American friends.
Cheers!
P.S. Here's a link to one of John Green's "Thoughts From Places" videos. I highly recommend you watch it, for it's entertainment value if nothing else!
http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers?blend=1&ob=4#p/search/8/tVvAE8ZM24o
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