How to Cover a Thousand Years of History in 8 Hours

Today marks the our seventh of nine class meetings on EC soil and the beginning of our month together as world travelers. We can't believe it's finally here!

The day began with a peruse through our syllabus, detailing all of the British trivia that we'll need to know as we experience the United Kingdom, and the itinerary of every day of our trip. We've got a jam-packed schedule, and we wouldn't have it any other way. We won't leave a corner of Ireland or the United Kingdom untouched. It's going to be the experience of a lifetime!

We also began our student facilitated lessons. We covered over a thousand years of history in an 8 hour period, which we'd say is a feat! But also exhausting. Much fun was had as we discussed Roman Briton and the Middle Ages, all the way to the House of Tudor.

Above are today's presenters: From left to right, we have:

Emily W, Liz, Sadie, Allie, and Corissa

To kick off the presentations, Allie and Liz summarized the most important events of each Royal House from the 7th century to the present. It's hard to cover every important part British history in a half hour presentation, but we had fun doing it.

During lunch we finished the documentary that we've been watching throughout the year, highlighting well known monarchs. such as Edward Hammer of the Scots, Robert Bruce, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, King William, King George I, Robert Walpole, Prince Charles, Queen Victoria, and even some modern figures, including Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

The next part of our day included presentations of assigned reading from our textbooks. Sadie discussed the Roman Takeover and the beginning of the Middle Ages, Allie and Liz followed up with the remainder of the Middle Ages and the House of Plantagenet, Emily W wrapped up the Middle Ages and began the House of Tudor, and Corissa tied up any loose ends regarding the Middle Ages and led us through the rest of the House of Tudor.

After our jaunt through the past, Corissa created a window into the life of Elizabeth I and her achievements and how they played into the development of England's culture. Emily addressed the effect of England's people and culture on Henry VIII and how he reigned. Finally, Sadie told the sordid story of Henry II and his treacherous family. Check out the "Links to Other Sites" Page for a YouTube playlist of short bios about these monarchs.

Or Click here

We are all learning, working hard, and getting excited as we work our way through British history and learn about the places that we will be visiting in just a few short days.

Stay tuned to find out what we'll learn tomorrow!