Another late post! It's so hard to actually do any amount of reflection when there's so much stuff to cover, so I'm going to try and make posts more frequent and more specific from now on. So, here's a rundown on everything's that happened in the past 2 weeks.

Rachel went to Korea. Spud 'n Bud is now just Bud. She actually told me a few weeks ago that she would be leaving, so this wasn't a sudden snap decision, but rather a series of conversations between us for a while. Basically, there are a few reasons for Rachel wanting to stop wwoofing and go to Korea. She wants to do something more religious with her gap year, as her priorities shifted a bit during the summer, and in Korea she can help out with a church that she has been working for remotely. She's also told me that she would like some time to grow individually, figure out her path, and take alone time for herself.

All reasons fair enough, and I support her very much through all her decisions. I don't know how her leaving will impact me or the rest of this trip. We shall see, though! What I can tell you right now is that traveling alone is very, very different. Especially traveling to a country with a different language. So that was kind of like, a double whammy of change. There are moments where it feels like I really want to be making conversation with someone, in which case I just write in my journal because I'm antisocial like that (also, I do not speak French). And it's also moments where I have nobody to watch my bags when I go pee, and small stuff like that feels really quite different. Either way, we planned for me to fly to Korea after Europe and wwoof together there, so I'll still be able to see her then. 

So yeah! That's that. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's rewind a few weeks.

As you know (if you've actually been following the blog hah), before heading to our third farm, we spent another week at our first farm, Pitt Farm. Nothing new to report there, I can only reiterate how lovely it was and how great Kate and Harry and the Benson children are. On the night before we left, Rachel and I stayed up late with the boys chatting and joking and exchanging riddles. Cuh-lassic. 

Also, here's a great selfie with Dottie:

One week later, we left Pitt Farm and spent the weekend in London with our friend Dnam, who was on vacation. Then we took a bus to Canterbury, to our third and final farm in the UK (and together). This farm is called Kingsley House, and it's just 1 acre of land owned by a wonderful woman named Mary. She grows her own vegetables in her garden--a variety of things like artichokes, fennel, leeks, rocket (British for arugula), asparagus, corn, etc. She has a bunch of chickens that she keeps in a very spacious pen which helps keep out the foxes. She lives with her dog Collin (a 8 year-old Border Collie), her lodger Tilly, and any wwoofers that come to stay. 


Mary is really chill, a great cook, and very warm and caring. She lets us decide when to work in the morning, so we start days at 10AM. Her mother's side of the family is Italian, which explains why she makes such yummy food.

We spent the week comfortably, and even though it was our shortest stay so far, we were able to adjust quickly. In our downtime we could watch TV with Mary, or hang out in the privacy of our room (which was the very cozy attic). 

Probably what I was most grateful for was when I found that my impacted wisdom tooth (which means not fully emerged) was swollen and infected, and I got a fever from the infection, Mary let me stop work to rest and even drove me to the dentist. As a wwoofer, it can sometimes feel like you are taking more than you are giving, and I wasn't able to give the one thing I could--my labor/help. But Mary was very understanding and caring, and let me prioritize my health. It's been a week since I've started taking antibiotics and the infection has subsided.

During the weekend, despite my ill-ish condition, we took a bus to Dover Castle. We've pretty much been hitting all the major English heritage sites during our trip.



Dover Castle is freaking huge, totally stunning and it's located next to the sea. It has an interesting medieval history and a very exciting WWII history, serving as an important site of strategy and planning when the allied forces were cornered by the Nazi army in France.


After seeing the castle, we headed back to Canterbury, and spent the next day chilling out and preparing for our separate destinations. 

I said goodbye to Rachel in London. It was really sad to part ways. But it was good knowing that this wasn't the definitive end of Spud 'n Bud, since we would have a reunion in Korea. For now, we will go our separate ways. Next stop for me--Paris!