Bath/Stonehenge/A Plethora of Papers

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this travel blog entry for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

Well, I haven't written in awhile because as of late, there has not been much to say. I spent most of the past three weeks trying to work on a 12 page paper that was finally finished this past Thursday morning. This paper was for my history of magic and superstition course, and it was assessed, so I had to actually try and write a decent essay. I wrote mine on who was usually accused of witchcraft and why this was. It took me FOREVER to find good sources to back up my opinions, but I think I did alright. Because the internet was out at my place, I had to spend hours on campus in the computer lab. I normally do not mind being in a computer lab writing a paper, but because I live about 30 minutes away by bus from campus, it was hell. However, it is over and done with now. All I have left for this term are two more papers due this Thursday and Friday. One is on Marthin Luther's persecution of the Jewish people due Thursday, and the other is on Family life in England during the 16th century due Friday. Neither of them are assessed, so I am not too worried. Also another reason I have not written much lately is because I also had a presentation in my magic and superstition course this past Tuesday. I could not get a hold of my partner for this for weeks on end, and the one time he decides to not come to lecture is the day before the presentation. So, of course, I ended up having to do the presentation all on my own. The professor, however, was very nice and said that I was very coherent and did an excellent job. It's always nice to get recognized for your hard work.

Other than school stuff, I haven't really been doing a whole lot. I haven't had much money, so I have been trying to not go out as much. Plus, I'm going to Portugal next week, so I need to save up. The times I did go out, however, were really fun. A week or so ago, Juliet decided that I needed to "blonde" my hair up, so we spent an entire afternoon putting blonde streaks in my hair. And since I was looking really cute, she and I decided we had to go out for cocktails that night. Thus, me, Greg, Dean, Katie, Marja, Ramsie, Lauren, Kirk, and Martyn went out to the bar Santa Fe for their two-for-one cocktails. I had a really great night. It was nice just going out for cocktails and not to a pub or a nightclub. We, of course, ended the night with some Casba Kebabs, which was amazing as always.

Then, last Saturday, Greg's girlfriend came into town from Denmark for the weekend, so he and his girlfriend Alison came to Holland House to hang out. We ended up drinking in my kitchen, and then eventually we played beer pong in my kitchen with Ryan, Lauren S., Lauren E., Ramsie, and some other people. I somehow was given the nicknames 'the hulk' and 'the whoosh.' I was wearing a green shirt that night, and when I play beer pong I get fun-aggressive, so they called me the Hulk. I was called the whoosh because everytime the other team was trying to throw a ball, I would put my hands over the cups and say 'whoosh' to distract them. Essentially, I am a drunken fool, :-P. The rest of the night was kind of a blur because I had drank so much, but it was all good fun.

Yesterday, I went to Bath/Stonehenge with the international crew. It was probably one of the best days I've had in a long while. I had to get up at 5:30am because we had to be on campus by 7:30. In a way, I like getting up early because I feel like I've done something with my day when I do that. Anyways, the bus ride to Stonehenge was about 2 and a half hours. I slept most of the way, which was nice. We got to Stonehenge, and it was as we cynics like to say "just a bunch of rocks." This was my third time seeing Stonehenge in my life, so I didn't really like that we had an HOUR to spend there because that's just too much time. However, being with my friends made it awesome. Chris was in a REALLY goofy mood, so I spent most of the time laughing at his foolishness. He even tried to tackle Juliet at one point when we were walking around Stonehenge. Also, we saw some guys in kilts, and of course, being an awesome tourist, I took a picture.

After Stonehenge, it was another hour to Bath. We drove through some really beautiful countryside and villages. I have to say that outside of Brighton, the scenery gets even more gorgeous. It is exactly as you'd expect--rolling hills, tiny villages situated amongst the hills, the greenest grass you've ever seen, cows, horses, sheep grazing in the valleys. It's really amazing. I spent the entire bus ride to Bath staring out at the amazing scenery.

When we got to Bath, we went straight to the Roman Bath Museum. It is exactly what it sounds like. 2,000 years ago, the romans came to Bath and built these beautiful structures purely for luxurious bathing, etc. The Museum is built around these structures and houses exhibits with all the artifacts found during archaeology digs as well as allowing you to walk through the baths themselves and "go back in time." It was really really cool. We kinda breezed through the exhibit portion of it because no one I was with really likes that stuff like I do. It was still fun, though. I really really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I currently can't find my memory card with all the photos on it because I am a dunderhead. When I find it, I'll post pictures. Anyways, after the museum, we were all in dire need of food and water. We walked to the info center, got some brochures, and then walked around until we found this tiny pub called The Raven. It had THE best English food that I've ever smelled/tasted. I had already brought a lunch with me, so I just tasted everyone's food, but it was truly amazing. The atmosphere was excellent as well. A mixture of an old English pub with a jazzy feel to it. After gorging ourselves, we walked around looking for this place called Microworld. Chris and I had seen it on the map we were given, and we just knew we HAD to see it. However, after walking around in circles trying to find it, Juliet and I decided to make a detour in TGI Friday's to pick up some oreo milkshakes while the boys kept looking.

While we were at TGI Friday's, the bartender decided he wanted to hit on Juliet HARDCORE. We were trying to ignore him, but he kept juggling stuff the entire time we were there (we were the only ones at the bar), and then when we didn't say anything about his "skills," he decided to do magic tricks for us. It was weird and creepy, so we left to meet Chris, Greg, and Christian. They hadn't found the elusive Microworld, so we decided to do a pub crawl for the rest of the time we were there. We ended up hiting up three pubs. It was a beautiful day out, so walking around and drinking beer was a really great way to spend the day. Plus, Juliet and I got a nice buzz going which made us giddy and silly, but in a good way.

What I loved most about Bath was the mixture of architectural styles. It was a pleasant mix of Italian (obviously), French, and British. I really loved Bath. It was situated right next to a river in a valley, and it had windy streets that led you to all kinds of places. It was incredibly adorable.

The 3 and a half hour bus ride back, however, was NOT adorable. I tried to sleep some of the way, and the buzz I had definitely helped with that. We got back around 9pm, and I ended up spending the rest of the night with Rich because he had had a rough day and needed a friend. We watched Billy Elliot, and then I passed out from exhaustion.

Today, I hung out around my room because it was pretty nasty out today--rainy, windy, and cold. I watched the German film Das Boot (one of my absolute favorite movies), and then headed to my aunts for dinner, which was excellent as always. I hadn't seen Celia and Ray in a week, so it was good catching up with them. Tonight I don't have plans to really do anything but relax until I'm back to writing papers tomorrow.

The rest of my week will be spent writing papers, and then next week, I'm off to Portugal, then to Ann Arbor for three weeks. I might write another entry before then, but that depends on if something interesting happens. Till then, safe travels, everyone! :)