Kristin's Blog: Long Study Tour

Long study tour was from Monday March 5 to Saturday March 10, again with my core class. Since the trip was jam-packed with visits, activities, and outings, I will highlight some of my favorite parts of the trip. Much of this trip was centered around the idea of a Transition Town, which is place where there's a community-led process that helps that town/village/city/neighborhood work to build resilience in response to peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability. Read more about it at http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ .
On Monday we spent the day touring the Transition Town Tooting, located right outside London. Monday night was especially fun for me, because I was able to meet up with one of my best friends from Gustavus, Hailey, and we went out to a club.
Tuesday's highlight was a presentation about the non-profit organization Fairfood International (http://www.fairfood.org/ ). They get in contact with large food and beverage corporations and convince them to adopt sustainable practices. Even little changes in business can make a big difference because of the size of the companies.
Next we were off to Totnes for the remainder of the trip, which is a small town in Southwestern UK, about a 3 hour train ride from London. Totnes in general was the favorite place of most of the classmates, and maybe the pictures below can help reveal why that is. We stayed in the Sharpham Estate (http://www.sharpham.com/), which makes wine and cheese on their land that leads right down to the River Dart, which you may imagine as an absolutely gorgeous place. Not only was the scenery unimaginable, but staying in a 1700's Gregorian mansion made us feel like royalty, and the 3 days stay just wasn't enough.
While we were here, we had a special program set up for our class by two people that work closely with Transition Town Totnes (TTT). Some of the activities over the next few days included a walking tour around the town, a tour of the local Conkers Shoes (whose shoes come with a lifetime guarantee), a walk in Dartmoor National Park, a fantastic lunch at Riverford Organic Vegetable Farm, a date with nature, and not to mention many delicious foods and treats along the way.
One of the best things about my line of study is that a day spent in nature is completely acceptable and considered "academic work."
This entry doesn't do justice to our amazing study tour, so I would be happy to give more detail or answer any questions in person.