"You must allow me to tell you..."

The day after Joey and Maddie's whisky adventure, I was woken up at the unGodly hour of 9am with a text from Patrick asking what time we were heading off. I'm not going to lie, I thought I was dying. I was sitting on less than five hours sleep as well as a healthy dose of hangover, and I seriously considered not going to Chatsworth. I let Patrick know that we definitely were not heading off until closer to 10.30, and I tried to get back to sleep... but that didn't happen. I eventually rolled out of bed and got ready to go. I met Karsten and we walked over to Stephenson and grabbed Patrick and Elizabeth before catching our bus to the interchange, to jump on the one that would take us through the Peak District and to the house of Mr Darcy.

Unfortunately, the buses were not on our side this day, and we ended up missing the one we needed. The weather was miserable - grey and drizzly, and we were all bundled up in our coats so we headed over to the train station to get a coffee while we waited out the hour before our next bus. There was talk of leaving the trip for another time, but Elizabeth and I were adamant that Pride and Prejudice could not wait. Eventually, we jumped on our bus and were all excited when we realised that it was a double decker one, and so naturally we decided to sit up the top, at the front. By this time the weather had cleared up too - it was still cold, but the sun had made an appearance and the sky had turned mostly blue. We headed through Sheffield and then the scenery changed to the pretty Peaks.

Karsten and I all excited on the bus... can you tell?

We all admired the scenery for a while, but it really didn't take long before the rickety bus and the narrow, winding roads began to take their toll... and unfortunately, the bus trip was to last an hour! About halfway through, Patrick warned us that he might not reply to us if we spoke, because he was concentrating on not being sick. He considered moving downstairs, but didn't want to face the stairs while the bus was moving. I was feeling really queasy myself, and Karsten's face had changed colour. We must have looked really interesting as a group! Finally, Chatsworth came into view. It was magical. I was happy too, because as soon as I got off the bus and got used to still ground again, my hangover disappeared with my motion sickness. Like Charlie Sheen, I was bi-winning.

We decided that we wanted to see the house and gardens, so headed in to the house first. After paying the admission, we took photos on the stairs before we even got into the house proper. Elizabeth and I were super excited... the boys less so, but excited anyway - probably because they hadn't yet learned what P&P fans we are, and because we hadn't gone crazy on the photos.

Yet.

We wandered through the house, taking lots (and I mean lots) of photos - Elizabeth and I spent a lot of time spotting things from the film, including the statue of the veiled lady:

And generally revelling in the splendour of the house. We spent a good couple of hours admiring the rooms, furniture and art. It was so beautiful, but so rich! It's hard to imagine people still living there, but they do. It's really amazing, and I would recommend anyone to visit. By the time we got to the last room - the statue room - we started having fun with the marble. I think they appreciated it.

I commented to Elizabeth that it was a pity that the statue of Mr Darcy wasn't still there (it's really of Matthew McFadyen, and was made for the film. So it's not really surprising that it wasn't sitting there next to the Apollos and Aphrodites). We spent a lot of time in the gift shop - to the point where the boys rolled their eyes and left us to it while we browsed. We stocked up on postcards, mugs with pictures of the house, and I got a magnet with a Mr Darcy quote on it (Patrick pretty much laughed me out of the shop when he saw it!). As I was paying for my goods, Elizabeth turned around and came face to face with the statue we'd mentioned earlier. This was cause for celebration, and defitinely needed to be caught on film. Luckily, we had the boys to take a photo of us with Mr Darcy. Living the dream.

After that, we all went and grabbed a light lunch and sat and ate in the sunshine outside before going for a wander through the gardens. If I'd thought the house was huge, the gardens were beyond comprehension. They're totally amazing and incredibly beautiful - a mix of manicured lawns, fountains and light forest. We went up and looked at the fountain for a while (it was quite cool, and had a waterfall type thing leading towards the house), then decided to meander through the gardens. It was around this time that we realised Karsten's love for nature - he led us down this little path that was really pretty and looked kind of like a fairy path, but ended up leading nowhere. We're pretty sure it was actually a maintenance path. Patrick and Karsten suggested climbing over a wall to get our bearings, but Elizabeth and I pointed out that we were both wearing tights, making this difficult. So we turned around and jumped a small creek instead.



It was when we were wandering down a slope (and Patrick lost his footing and nearly ran all the way back to the house, while using some colourful language) that we decided that Karsten was half mountain goat. He was just totally in his element in the gardens, and seemed to be able to climb anything! We kept on going, taking lots (and lots and lots) of photos, including one where it appears that homage is being paid to Patrick's crotch, that was taken purely by accident! The weather had well and truly warmed up by this point as well, and we were all down to tshirts for one of the first times since we'd arrived in the UK - it was about as close to idyllic as you can get in Derbyshire!

We ended up at the iconic view of Chatsworth, but unfortunately our view was obscured by inconsiderate scaffolding. Still, it was Pemberley!! We went and watched some sheep for a while... they were all heading off to get their evening meal, and they're just funny to watch, really. After that, we decided that it was time for some jumping photos in front of the Chatsworth lake.

The thing with jumping photos is that they're a lot of fun, but can also be a bit annoying to try and take. We had Patrick's and Elizabeth's cameras going, and Patrick was trying to capture the moment. Elizabeth and I were jumping so much that we were getting really tired! Karsten came out of left field and caught it at the right moment... clearly, he has a gift. The final product I think reflects the excitement of the day:

It wasn't over for Elizabeth though, and it took me another couple of goes to get one of her and Patrick jumping. Worth it. After that, we decided that it was probably home time. Typically, it was only as we were leaving that we discovered that there's actually a maze in the gardens - I guess we'll just have to go back to explore it! We headed back to catch our bus home, and thankfully it was a much smaller so motion sickness wasn't an issue! Unfortunately, it was also the Struggle Bus that didn't seem to like going up hills any faster than about 30kms/hr. Fun times.

When we finally got home, Karsten and Patrick bought a pizza and came to my flat to eat it. We filled Elizabeth from my flat and Shannon in on our adventures, and then waited to hear from Massi (from whom we were bumming dinner. He's a really good cook, and I wanted pasta!), and when we eventually got it, Fiona arrived home and joined us and filled us in on her adventures in London. Later on, Elizabeth and I went back up to my room and had popcorn and watched Pride and Prejudice, which was even better now that we'd been to parts of Pemberley! We cursed Jane Austen for writing such a perfect story (that gets both Elizabeth and I every time. Sometimes I wonder if we were separated at birth), and I know I at least went to bed satisfied with my day spent chasing Mr Darcy.

Showing the Guests a Good Time... and us as well!

The day after our adventure in Castleton, two of Patrick's friends were flying out from the States for their Spring Break, which was the full week. This was a little weird for me, because it'd be crazy to get anyone from home to fly out for only a week from home, but the flight from America is only about eight hours, and the jet lag is bearable. His two friends, Courtney and Hillary, arrived on the Sunday and we all had dinner at The Edge to welcome them to Sheffield. Over the rest of the week, we didn't really see Patrick too much because he was off doing the tourist thing - it helps that he only has class two days a week! To go along with Courtney and Hillary, Elizabeth had her friend Katina there for the week (who'd also flown out for Spring Break), and Elizabeth from my flat had her friend Annamarie visiting from The Netherlands. There were so many new people, it was great.

On the Wednesday night, Patrick decided that he wanted to show Courtney and Hillary the wonders of Corp. We tried to rally the troops, but it ended up being a really busy night. There was also a concert on (playing was Does It Offend You, Yeah?, and I'm still a little bit gutted that I missed it) as well as La Fiesta put on a karaoke night, so we thought we'd only have about seven people coming to Corp. But then, we found out that Jeremy would meet us there, and as we were walking out, we also managed to convince Massi to come with us - and he got into his school uniform really quickly!

We got to Corp at around 9.10 to queue up, because we didn't have tickets. It was alright though, because we'd come prepared with a bottle of cider, so the wait wasn't too bad. We got in really easily again, and things escalated. I won't go into detail, but a lot of people hooked up (you know who you are!) and I think we well and truly introduced all the guests to a bit of Sheffield culture.

The Thursday night I just chilled a bit, because the day after Corp is always a bit of a slow one. Friday though, Massi's sister Emma had arrived for the weekend from Holland. Ellie cooked us a Chinese dinner in my flat, and we decided that we wanted to show Emma a good time in Sheffield and try out Propaganda ("The UK's biggest indie night!"), which we'd been wanting to try out for a while. Patrick's girls were still around, as well as Katina, but unfortunately Elizabeth and Annamarie had gone to London. We did manage to talk Fiona into coming with us though, even though she had to catch the train hella early to London the next morning. Classic case of FOMO.

We had the pregame at G4, which most of us hadn't been to before. Those of us from E Block had a severe case of kitchen envy, because they have two ovens - two! - as well as a proper dining table, which is way more than we have. The room soon filled up, and as we drank some cheap cider we soon got into the party spirit. Patrick, Courtney and Hillary got back from Liverpool quite late and Patrick did some power drinking in order to pregame sufficiently - which was fun to watch - and all of us headed off around a quarter past eleven that night.

Propaganda ended up being a really fun night - "Indie" might not be the best descriptor for the night, but they did play The Pixies, The Smiths, Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, Mumford & Sons and a bunch of other bands not often heard in the club circuit, which was a nice change. I did a lot of dancing and had so much fun! We had a fairly big group of people there too, which always makes for a good night. Propaganda is held at the O2 Academy every week, which is a massive venue. When we got there it was mostly empty, but by the end it was packed, and I'm still not sure how many people it can hold! Well worth it though, I think it's one of my favourite nights out in Sheffield. We got home at about 3am, and Fiona made her train, and Courtney, Hillary and Katina all managed to get on their flights back home. Success!

Saturday night, I had dinner in E1 with Massi, Emma, Akash and Felix, and Massi made us amazing pasta and garlic bread, with perry for the drink (!!!) and pannetone for dessert. It was fantastic. After that, Karsten and I headed over to Stephenson to plan for our Sunday adventure. Because both Patrick's and Elizabeth's guests had gone, and a lot of people seemed to have fled Sheffield for the weekend, we'd decided to go somewhere exciting. After a lot of deliberation, we (being mostly Elizabeth and myself) settled on Chatsworth so we could pretend that we were living in Pride and Prejudice... but more on that another time. When we'd decided that, Joey and I headed up to the Select & Save to buy drinks for that nights shenanigans, which was another party in G4. We settled on a bottle of whisky and some Coke, and settled in for a big night.

So it turns out that playing Flipcup while also drinking whisky and Coke is maybe not the best idea. I ended up going for a walk with Patrick at one point, and then Joey and I kind of turned into hot messes and wound up sitting on the stairs in G Block talking for hours. I can't even really remember what we were talking about. At about 2.30 or 3am, I decided to walk Joey home (because I thought I was a lot more sober than him... which was most likely very not true) then we stayed at Stephenson for ages talking, then I decided to wander home just before 4. When I got back to Lawrencefield, I ran into Freddie and Teemu, who were just chilling on one of the benches outside. I chatted to them for a while, and I think we were all pretty past it by that point!! I eventually crawled into bed just after 4.30. When I woke up the next day, I thought I was dying... but that didn't stop me from getting ready for our Chatsworth adventure!!

The Ultimate Adventure Day

Peveril Castle, in Castleton

The two days following Elizabeth's, Teemu's and Floortje's birthdays were pretty quiet - I think that everyone needed some time to recover! I hung out at Stephenson for both nights. The Thursday I mostly distracted Patrick from his studies and had a couple of drinks at the Stephenson Bar, and the Friday I went to the Broomhill Tavern with a few people, then went back and watched the IT Crowd (and met Patrick's mum, Barb, over Skype. I was more excited than Patrick about this).

Because two of Patrick's friends were flying out from the States on the Sunday and a lot of people were leaving Sheffield on various weekend trips, we decided that we wanted to have an adventure of our own... on two conditions: one, it wasn't too far so we could do it in a day trip, and two, that it wasn't too expensive. We looked up the UK in our guide books, and did a bit of a Google search, before deciding to go to the Peak District. The Peaks is a massive area that's mostly national park now, and is really hilly and very pretty. It's bordered by Manchester, Chesterfield, Derby and Sheffield, so we thought it would be fun to explore the local area!

We invited a couple of other people, but Elizabeth and Karsten were both away, Astrid and Joey were both sick, and Trista slept in. So it was just Patrick and I, and we definitely made the most of it! We booked a train ticket to a place called Hope, which was used for many pun-like purposes throughout the day, such as "we HOPE this is going to be fun!". Strangely enough, we didn't really get sick of that one joke repeated in different forms.

When we woke up, the weather was cold and foggy bordering on drizzle. Despite that, we thought that it would add to the atmosphere. Or at least, we hoped it would. We headed down to the train station, collected our tickets, and ran to the train. It's a really pretty trip, that goes through places with names like Buxton, Bamford and Grindlewald (which sounds like something from Harry Potter). We'd already decided that if Hope was a bust, we'd head over to the next town called Castleton, which was about a mile and a half away. We got to Hope, and quickly found that the train station (read: platform) is a fair way away from the town itself. Luckily enough, there were a bunch of tourists around, and so we followed them. It was around this time that we realised that we were dressed a bit differently from the other tourists. They were all wearing brightly coloured hiking gear, where Patrick was wearing jeans and trainers, and I was in a skirt and Dr Martens, and we had matching red coats. Definitely a bit more town-friendly than the others!

We walked up and found a pretty church in Hope. I took a couple of pictures, then was itching to go and look at the cemetery. Patrick found it odd that I like cemeteries, but I told him that the dead people didn't mind me checking out their headstones. He agreed, and said he'd never thought about that before. So that's Maddie's weird interest for the day. After looking at the church for a bit, we kept on walking a bit behind the other tourists to see where they were heading. We ended up walking through pretty much the entire area of Hope - which is not as impressive as it sounds because there is really nothing in Hope. It's a bust. Other than that church, which I really liked. It was when we were walking along the road that I learned about Patrick's weird fetish with framing his photographs. If he sees a fence, he has to get a photo featuring the fence in some way to give his pictures some atmosphere. Imagine his excitement when I pointed out a large hole in a wall that he could see through! After that, I think he accepted my cemetery interest a bit more. We continued on, and before we knew it, we'd arrived in Castleton.

Castleton, unlike Hope, was really pretty and really, really old. As soon as we got there, our eyes lit up with the English-ness of the whole place. And, it even has a castle! We wandered through the streets - passing another gorgeous old church that I took a bunch of photos of - and decided to hit up the castle before having lunch. We found the gate, abused the National Trust's free samples of lemon curd, relish, wine and mead, paid our admission fee and headed up to look at it. Turns out that Peveril Castle dates back to 1066 (both Patrick and I acknowledged that this is significantly older than both of our countries) and the Norman invasion. Also, the town is called "Castleton" because it is built underneath the castle. Obvious, but still interesting. The hike from the information centre was pretty much straight up - even though the footpath zigzagged to make it easier to climb, I was still out of breath by about half way! Still, the view was amazing and only got better during the way up.

When we got to the Castle, we walked around the perameters of the walls, admiring the views from all the different angles. We found the ancient toilet the soldiers used to use, and then explored the old guard tower (that's pretty much the only structure left standing other than the walls). We were up there for about an hour, and unfortunately in that time we both forgot to ask a tourist to take a photo of us together! Clearly, we're the worst day trippers ever.

My version of a framed Patrick photo. I kind of get what he was going on about.

After that, we headed back down and wandered through more of the town, and up to Peak Cavern, which we deemed too expensive for a big cave, then walked through a bit of a paddock before realising that our shoes probably weren't up to the job of hiking, visiting the tourist information centre (where I wanted to get a postcard, but had to wait for a crazy postcard-stand hogger to make his decisions before I could get mine!) before succumbing to our hunger. We found a little pub on the corner - Patrick ordered the gnocchi and I ordered a traditional steak and ale stew in a huge Yorkshire pudding. It was delicious.

While we were eating, the door to the pub opened - and in walked Sue, one of the teachers from The Elms (where I did my Gap year in 2008). What are the chances? This little town in the Peaks doesn't even have its own train station! Turns out, she was in town with her husband for her brother-in-law's birthday, and was staying at the pub where Patrick and I had decided to have lunch. Crazy. Patrick had the best reaction - when he'd seen me recognise someone walking in, he'd turned, expecting it to be someone from Sheffield, and instead had seen a middle-aged lady, and just got confused after that.

We walked around a bit more after that, stopping at a sweet shop where I stocked up on Flying Saucers and Dolly Mix, and Patrick bought some berry flavoured lollies. We nibbled on them before pouncing on some tourists to take some photos of us together, finally! Then we decided to start walking back towards the train station. On the way, we stopped at a hand-made fudge shop, where we were lucky enough to get offered some free samples, and then both Patrick and I bought some to take home. On the way back to Hope, we found a Public Footpath. Reasoning that we had hours to get back and weren't in any rush, we decided to walk along it, thinking we'd get to see some pretty sights and maybe even make friends with some sheep.

It turns out that the term "public footpath" is used very loosely, and the footpath itself lasted only about 200m before deteriorating into loose gravel, and finishing at a fence. We looked around for a bit, then realised that we had to climb the fence to continue along the path. We did this, and then started following the vague shadow of hiker's footprints. We considered turning back, but realised that we didn't know if we were halfway or not, so there was no point in turning around. It was around this time that we discovered the self timing function on my camera:

Which we used to document the Adventure.

We continued on, climbing over a couple more fences, before beginning to lose faith in the footpath. We strayed once, realising that we could see the road, but after climbing down a bank and through some squidgy grass, we found that our way was hampered by a two and a half metre wide creek. Patrick honestly thought we (he) could make it, but I pointed out that I was wearing a skirt, and not even at the best of times would I really be able to jump over things that are about one and a half times as I am tall. We trudged back up to the gate, where we spotted the horse. Turns out, Patrick's not a massive fan of horses. So we wandered away again, looking for a way to cross the creak or to find a road.

We ended up walking around one of the fields for an hour, looking for an exit and trying to think of something we could say if a farmer with a gun should happen to accuse us of trespassing on his land. We had lost Hope, in more ways than one! I should also point out that other than the horse and a couple of sheep, we hadn't seen anyone else since setting off on the footpath. Luckily, we realised that we still had a few hours of daylight left, so if we did get more hideously lost, at least we could still see. We decided to head back the way we'd come, and then lo and behold, people! Lots of them, coming in different directions!! It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

We asked one of them if we were still on the footpath, and she said yes, and then pointed us in direction we needed to continue. She looked at us a little oddly for wearing a skirt and jeans, but we didn't really care by this point. I'd also stopped caring about the mud that covered my shoes (and tights). We carried on, climbing over another series of fences, and after about another forty-five minutes, climbed over the last fence before the road. At this, we took a couple more photos with the "Public Footpath" sign, showing how happy we were to have conquered it, and others showing disbelief at the "footpath" claim.

We decided to reward ourselves with hot chocolates, because it was f###ing freezing outside and I couldn't feel my hands any more. We had two of the most delightful beverages ever, before wandering back to the train station (and realising that we hadn't checked the return times, so we had a half hour wait before the next train). While we were waiting, we kept on getting whiffs of farm, and panicked that it was us who smelled like that. When the train finally arrived though, we realised that it was in fact a farm that smelled that way, and we just looked like we should.

When we got back, Patrick and I decided to make burgers, because a lot of the ones in the UK don't taste like proper burgers. Great success - I can cook now! After that, we decided to celebrate our successful adventure with Tequila Night. We were joined by Elizabeth and Lise, and we really slammed through a bunch of tequila, alternating between lemon and lime with salt, as well as orange with cinnamon sugar (which was really delightful!). Strangely enough, none of us were that drunk, but we had a good night and it was a great end to a full and exciting day!