Summer of Shakespeare Part 1/?

Absence makes the heart grow ever fonder, eh? 

These last few months have been a snatch whirl-windy-ish. 

I will not complain nor desire to take back one part of it! 

Last week, I tripped up the road through California to Oregon. 

On the way, my friends and I stopped in San Francisco and explored. 

{Sammamish and me with some sea lions}

{clam chowdaaa is the BEST}

{free chocolate is the beez kneez!}

I am currently in Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival. 

{isn't this a gorgeous place?}

When I found out that I could get six units of upper div. English credit

for reading Shakespeare and traveling north to see awesome plays, 

I simply couldn't resist!

Last week, I spent 24ish hours in class discussions with 

15 other people and one of the greatest professors at all time ((Dr. Kleist)). 

We read and discussed: 

Troilus and Cressida, 

As You Like It,

Romeo and Juliet, 

and Henry V. 

We had to write a paper every day and it was pretty exhausting, 

especially right after finals week, 

but the process was well worth it and I was able to see

so much growth even in such a short time. 

Spending so much time together forced all of us to quickly get to know each other. 

What a pure delight it has been to pursue 

intricate and complicated ideas 

while seeing the ways that God has gifted different people

with specific intellectual abilities. 

I feel so very blessed to be surrounded by these 

minds and wonderful personalities!

We are staying at a beautiful house up in Ashland 

where we cook all of our meals together. 

It is drop dead GORGEOUS out here, 

and it even rained for a snatch this morning!

Although we are still working hard and our days are very full, 

it still feels like I am on vacation! 

How blessed I am!

{this is where I get to live for a week and a half!!}

Our professor brings his family along each year on this trip

and it has been one of my favorite things

 to watch him interact with them

and serve them as a father. 

The first play that we saw was Troilus and Cressida. 

It was a phenomenal production. 

We spent time after the performance discussing the play

together as a group. 

On Friday, we will get to spend time

with some of the actors discussing it with thm.

As I am pushing deeper into Shakespearean texts, 

I am realizing more and more

how very rich these plays are. 

There are so many layers and ideas to be thought about! 

{happy is this Maddy mind}