Harlaxton Manor

After hours of traveling by car, plane and coach, I have finally arrived at the beautiful Harlaxton Manor. This beautiful castle-like manor will serve as my school and home for the next four months. Once my coach reached the grand entrance of the manor, we were all greeted by the principal of the college. Upon entering this grand mansion, we were shuttled to a beautiful room to pick up our room assignment and orientation packet. I immediately tore into my packet and found that I was assigned a large corner room in the manor. After enjoying a delicious baguette sandwich for lunch, I began the journey to my room. I climbed several flights of stairs, walked through multiple doors and down various hallways to finally end up at my door. When I unlocked my door and walked in I was blown away by the size of my room. After living in close quarters this summer, with five other girls, I could not believe my eyes when I walked into a huge room that I only share with two others. Included in my princess suite is a couch, a large vanity and a beautiful view of the manor. The weather here has been so wonderful thus far. A high of 65 with a sunny sky is close to perfect weather for me! Today I began the day with a welcoming convocation in a beautiful room called the Long Gallery. After convocation, I had to attend two hours of basic orientation and I felt like I was attending freshman orientation all over again. In the afternoon, I made my way to the nearby town of Grantham to buy some necessities. After exploring the town for a few hours, I headed back to the manor to get ready for the Principal's High Table Dinner. This dinner was a fancy occasion and modeled after traditional meals at Oxford and Cambridge. Having been to a real high table dinner at Oxford University, I must say my experience at tonight's meal was a bit different. The differences were not necessarily a bad thing because this dinner was much more comfortable than the Oxford meal. When I ate at Oxford it was very strict and I feared I would mess up. Once dinner had ended and all the faculty had been introduced, all 130 students were free for the evening. Because I have been so blessed to have the large princess sweet, my room has become the hang out. Tonight was fun just hanging out with new friends in my room and even doing a bit more exploring around the manor. So far I have found a few hidden spiral staircases and several moving walls, but the adventure has only just begun! As for now, I am in desperate need of sleep!

More tomorrow!
AM