The first of many (excursions, that is)

It had been too long since I went on an adventure. I'd been sick all week (with tonsillitis!). For five days, I'd done nothing but lay in bed watching movies. I'd eaten little other than noodles, yogurt and orange juice. It was time to explore England.

My first excursion out of the city was to the towns of Battle and Canterbury. I was really excited to visit both of these great and historic cities, and not just for their tourist appeal. You see, back in high school, when I was supposed to be learning all about the history of the world, I was bored. Dates didn't stick in my head, names of places and people were forgotten instantly. It just wasn't my thing. I was a Math girl, and elected to take Chemistry and Physics rather than History.

Now that I'm older (and oh-so-much wiser), I've seen a little more of the world. I've read a LOT more literature. So I have a few items in my mental toolkit that I lacked back-in-the-days-of-high-school. For one, there is context to what I learn about. In some cases, I've now read some historical fiction that took place in Europe. Traveling to the places where my books took place means that when I see what they really look like, I already have a mental picture frame (made up of a story) to put them in. I will remember new historical facts more readily because I have other information already in my head to tie them to. They become meaningful by their association to other, already significant pieces of information.

For another, there is relevance to the history I learn about. Actually being here, seeing the sights where the battles took place, makes them matter a whole lot more. I will never forget what happened at the Battle of Hastings because I was there. I didn't read about it in a textbook. I walked across the battlefield and my shoes got all muddy.

Once upon a time, I said I wanted to travel the world so that I could bring back a piece of it to my future students. To be honest, I had forgotten about that goal. But I remembered it on this trip. The thing is, I will never be able to take my students with me to these places. But what I will do is show them the pictures from my own trip, and tell them about being there. The way I tell the story of the history of the world will be so much more interesting to them, because it's real to me.

So, what did I actually see? What is this history I learned about so readily and thought about so significantly? Read on, dear Readers, read on. Two more posts are planned for this week, one for each of the cities I visited.