Student Stories

The Lake District is in the northwestern part of England, surprisingly close to Scotland and not surprisingly far away from European civilization. It is the much beloved home of William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Beatrix Potter. It is also my favorite place that I went to on British Isles Quarter in 2006, during my junior year at SPU.

Thinking back on my ethereal experience there, I have a hard time convincing myself that my recollections are, in fact, those of an actual place and an actual time; of actual things and actual people.

I miss the Lake District like I miss the house I grew up in. It surprised me then and it surprises me now how much I loved Keswick, Derwentwater, even the hostel (which, I should mention, is actually a renovated 18th century mansion — a far cry from backpacker hostels crammed into city buildings above sports bars named “Belushi’s”). I don’t know if it was the water, the food, the daffodils, the lambs, the poetry peeking around every corner and sprouting out of tree branches; but whatever it was, it heightened my ability to feel, observe and appreciate. It gave me the lens through which to view life: fresh, vivid, new and alive. Most of all, it holds captive my dreamer’s heart and I hope it will capture yours as well.

Sara Congdon, Alumna