Photo Tour: Bath/Stonehenge/Salisbury

Guess what?! It's time for another photo tour. You were missing them, I know.


Lettuce begin. We all got up at 6:00 am and shipped off to Bath, England. There we explored the Roman baths before staying at the YMCA for the night. (Wait, they have the YMCA in England? Yes, yes they do!) 

Doesn't it look inviting?

There's me, about to jump in.

Romans used to write curses and throw them into the baths,

but only when people deserved the wrath of the gods.

Old school heated floors. These Romans knew how to live.

(The wood has rotted away, but a fire was lit near the base of the

stones to warm the floor above.)

So that was cool. Afterwards, we were allowed to explore the shops surrounding the old Roman buildings.

That's right. A store devoted to men. We're so lazy.

Also, because these group trips are supposed to be educational, we are required to visit at least one historical institution. The Girlfriend and I decided to go to the Jane Austen museum near where she used to live.

Who knew Jane had such awesome hats?

That's where Kiera Knightley's script was written.

So after rooming next to Boy Scouts for the evening, we woke up and went to view some delightful Henges. (Stonehenge isn't the only one.) This part of our trip was frustrating for me. People only have theories as to how (and why) Henges were built. Usually large stones, weighing upwards of three tons, were dragged from a valley many miles away. The stones were then erected into the ground. How prehistoric peoples managed to do this is beyond comprehension. It is assumed, though, that tree trunks were used to roll the stones, and deer antlers were used to dig appropriate foundations. Not surprisingly, it took many years to complete these tasks, which are comparable to that of building a Cathedral. At any rate, it proved to be quite an awe-inspiring trip.

We first stopped at Avebury: a bigger Henge than

Stonehenge, though it was built later with smaller stones.

Everything is big near the Henges. Even the checker boards.

Group heading toward the inner circle of Avebury. (There were

once over 400 stones, though few are still standing.)

After goggling at giant rocks which looked like they would topple over, we moved on to a burial ground. There were several of these in the surrounding landscape, supposedly for people who worked on the construction of the Henge.

Everybody in the crypt. Yo.

The mound.

The Girlfriend being all pretty.

In hindsight, it's amazing that I didn't get a lot of sheep in these pictures. Sheep: lawnmowers of the United Kingdom. Sheep poop= land mines of the United Kingdom.

Anyway, THEN WE WENT TO STONEHENGE YAY HERE ARE SOME PICTURES LOOK HOW MYSTERIOUS IT IS!

Our audio tour mentioned that some of the stones point to where

the sun might be at the summer and winter solstices.

So... potential sun-worshiper temple?

Girlfriend and me being touristy.

We stayed at a pretty cool barn for the evening. They had guinea pigs! And trampolines! Unfortunately, I was too sick to enjoy any of it. (But I did take some pictures...)

Some farm landscape.

Guinea pig! He looked kinda cold outside.

Don't worry, I'm almost done! Finally, we visited Salisbury Cathedral. Most people know it because it the oldest medieval cathedral in Europe. Also, the novel Pillars of the Earth, was based of of its construction.

So picturesque.

I barely got the top of that.

There were at least 100 of these statues on the

outside of the church. It kind of made me wish for

an outdoor tour.

Indoors!

Example ceiling and reverse arches.

Purdy blue windows!

And then we came home and ate take-out because we didn't have any food in our refrigerator except for the potato salad I made which was actually really good okay that is all have a good day!

THE END

Yours,

Why Things Are Dumb

I'm afraid there will be a prolonged absence from blogging due to the fact that there is no internet at the flat. We will be calling in a professional soon, but it might take some time to diagnose the problem. For the next week, I'll only be able to access email through my director's wireless or the University's.

Also I am still sick.

Here's a personification of my existence right now:

(In real life, the cup would be full.)

I will upload photos from our group trip to Bath/Stonehenge as soon as I can. (It was pretty amazing.) In the meantime, I hope things are well state-side. I sent some letters/postcards which should arrive soon, just FYI.

Anyway, farewell! I'm off to sleep or something.

Yours,

Also,

The roommates rejoice upon Aaron Rosell's return from the states. Here is their story:

To pillow head...

Or not to pillow head...

This isn't amateur hour.

ANYWAY. (It's always fun and games around here.)

Sick update: Went to health services today. Was told to get some cough drops and suck it up. (No pun intended?) Not really. I did get some cough drops though because they WERE SO CHEAP WOOT.

In other news, I'll be going to Bath and Stonehenge this weekend with the group. Until then, I think I'll send some letters! Just some postcards to my friends at school and the fam, but if you want one, SEND ME YOUR ADDRESS YO. Also, I has a pen pal now and I gotta find some cool paper.

More soon!

Yours in sickness,

Bleh.

Please note that there is no correlation between being hairy and being sick--I simply lack shaving initiative at the moment. Thank you.

The Drank Culture

I'd like to preface this post by stating--quite accurately--that I am neither an alcoholic nor a drunkard. I have an occasional drink at a pub mostly because it's the normal thing to do. The social equivalent in America is going out for a cup of coffee with friends.

See the similarities?

Indeed, on more than one occasion, I've been asked to go out for a pint after society meetings (or even class!) In fact, after I attended church service, the choir director, who is an older man, invited the Girlfriend and I out to a pub. Don't worry, he just wanted to talk to us about getting involved in music.

Anyway, my point is that drinking *responsibly* is a big part of the culture here in England. People don't drink to get drunk, they drink to socialize and meet new people. And because the English are quite chatty, you can expect them to strike up conversations with you at any time, at a pub or elsewhere.

Also, Nottingham is a beer and ale city. You won't see many *cheap* cocktails around, because that's just unheard of. Not really. But it's why I joined the Flair Society: discounts! Oh, and drink knowledge. You get to learn a lot about the nature of alcohol and what mixes well and what doesn't mix at all. For example, did you know that in order to make a Tornado (1/2 part Peach Schnapps, 1/2 part Black Sambuca), you have to pour the alcohol down the back of a spoon so that it separates appropriately? It's true oh em gee you learn something new every day.

Look at my cool drink recipe posters!

The society meets twice a week. We have one-hour training sessions where we get to practice flipping bottles around. And then there are bi-monthly mixologies, where we get to learn how to mix actual drinks. It's pretty fun and I've met quite a few people.

All this is to say that I applied for a job at a pub today. It's about 10 minutes away if I walk, and it's called The Horse and Groom. I mentioned that I'm in a sort of bar tending society at the Uni, and the lady at the bar seemed pleased. She took down my name and number, so I'll keep you updated! My visa allows me 20 hours per week to work in the U.K., and minimum wage is £6.00-£7.00. Awesomesauce!

P.S. Our director's neighbor, Dave, has been working with the Nottingham program for about 15 years or so. He likes the students, and he answers all of our local questions, such as: "where do we get jobs?" Last night he participated with a few of us in a Pub Quiz (see earlier posts), and we won! Yay! It was probably all of those America related questions. Anyway, he told me about the pub job, so here's hoping it'll work out.

More soon, don't worry.

Yours,

Class

HEY so it's been a while. My apologies: it turns out that though having class twice a week (Monday and Tuesday) does leave room for massive amounts of procrastination, I am still insanely busy.

Here is my finalized schedule for the year:

Autumn Semester
Reasons for Action (Philosophy) Lecture
Reasons for Action (Philosophy) Seminar
American Literature 1: To 1900 Lecture
American Literature 1: To 1900 Seminar
International Studies
Paideia II Capstone

Spring Semester
Introduction to the Study of Religion Lecture
The Twentieth Century: Forms in Transition Lecture
The Twentieth Century: Forms in Transition Seminar
International Studies
Great Britain: An Oral History

Photo tour of campus to come? We'll see.

Each University course (both seminar and lecture) is about an hour long. So far I am required to read a book a week for each class. My International Studies course is year-long, and involves us visiting various places around the UK. My Paideia II course involves interviewing local Nottinghamshire folk (professors, shop owners, government officials) about the ethical implications of their work.

So far my classes have been AWESOME. I was a bit intimidated at first, though. The GIGANTIC campus may have contributed to that a little. Also, British students have been specializing in their field of interest since the age of 14. This means that their knowledge of American Literature and Philosophy far exceeds my own. Okay, maybe that's not true. Joe and I were the only ones to have read The Scarlet Letter previously. (Though why anyone in the entire WORLD would want to read that is beyond me.) I was told that British students know a lot about nothing, as compared to American students who know very little about a lot. I was also told to ask an English major here a mathematical question, and see what happens.

Meh. I haven't made any friends yet. The lectures are quite large (100+ students), and I'm pretty shy in seminar. But we'll see. I did meet a few people in the societies I joined, so that was cool. They like to go out to pubs EVERY DAY and I can't understand it. How does one acquire monies!?

Speaking of monies, that whole viola-church-AMAZING OPPORTUNITY thing didn't work out. I went to a service, where I was informed by the director there that this year is a "quiet year". They have one concert this weekend, and another in the summer after I go home. Oh well. I guess I should start working on my resumé.

Anyway, I'll write another post soon about my first Flair Society experience (bottle flipping and all.) In the meantime, here's a picture of a guy crying because he doesn't have any British monies.

I would hire him.

Yours,