The Pig and Fiddle, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Just kidding about the Narnia thing...but I did go to a pub called the Pig and Fiddle.  Also a quick plug for my roomie, I've just linked her blog in the sidebar of mine...so if you feel like hearing all about this again but from her perspective...check it out. Haha but seriously go read it. So without any further ado:

FRIDAY

I went on my first (and so far only) jog in Bath this morning. There is a really beautiful path along the canal, which of course I got completely turned around on, but it was so cold that I couldn't even really tell what was going on in my body. I guess it was a workout? I ended up having to ask directions to get back home, but hey, I got home! Anyway, I don't think I'll be going on any more jogs until it warms up.

Today I went on an Tower Tour at Bath Abbey, where you climb alllll 212 steps up the tower, and get to walk along the ceiling, and look out on the beautiful city of Bath. We also got to learn about the bells, and a few of my friends and I got to ring them! It was quite exciting. I definitely giggled, and I might have clapped my hands and jumped up and down.

After that we had a 'smart dress' aka fancy dress* reception at the Victoria Art Gallery, where we got to meet all our tutors aka professors. Mine all seem really cool. I'm afraid I scared away my British Detective Fiction tutor with my enthusiasm...oh well. My Tudor and Stuart history teacher is an old man with a fluffy gray beard and spectacles. He is every inch the classic British professor, and that...well it made me happy. He found out that he was the only professor who still uses a projector, and his response was literally "oh dear oh dear oh dear." Is that not the most British and adorable thing? (or maybe a thing Anna would say)

AFTER After that some of us went to a pub called the Pig and Fiddle for a pint, and just hung out there for a while. We were heading home when we ran into a tourist taking pictures of the Abbey at night. It turns out he had gotten separated from his friends, so we found out where he was going, and very generously badgered him until he would let us help him find it! It didn't hurt that his name was Ryan, and he was from blueeyesImeanBristol. Ahem. So we helped him find his friends, and then we ended up hanging out with them for a while at this place called Circo which was really fun. Oddly enough, they were all married or in relationships, but we all just had a good time talking about Americans and British people. We made them do American accents and laughed at how terrible they were, and they did the same with our British accents. All in all, it was a really awesome night, and I've been really happy about how easy it has been to make British friends so far! Fell asleep as soon as I got back of course, around 1am, and that was the end of Friday!

SATURDAY

Definitely the laziest day so far. Went to the farmer's market in the morning, which was fun, but the freezing cold was really discouraging, and made me vastly prefer California farmer's markets. I did buy a Bath bun for breakfast, which was yummy, and Kaylee and I shared a Bakewell tart as well, which was Marzipan-y and delicious. Apparently they don't really do cinnamon rolls here which made me really sad. Took a two hour nap upon returning home, because lets face it the past week was more activity than I have had in the past two months combined and I was exhausted. I'm pretty sure at one point, around 2 or 3, everyone in my house was napping. We made delicious farmer's market mushroom-y pasta for dinner, and stayed in because we were all still tired (some of use more than others). We watched Little Red Riding Hood, a terrible movie, just to laugh at it, and then we watched The Eagle, which was a little more credible, although for some reason I can never take Americans seriously as Romans...they just seem so...bro-ish...expeshally Channing Tatum.

So there you have it! You are all caught up until today, which was a long day and I should probably include in this post anyway because classes start tomorrow uuuurgh. Okay. Here goes.

SUNDAY (aka today)

Today was our big field trip to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Lacock. You may find my detail in this post lackluster as I am feeling rather tired at this point, but my day is nowhere near over.
First of all, we were scared that our field trip would be cancelled or postponed because it actually snowed yesterday (another reason none of us left the house after the farmer's market). Luckily, it stopped snowing in time, and the bus picked us up on schedule. First we went to Stonehenge which was...well...Stonehenge. There honestly aren't words to describe it. It is just in a completely different category. Despite the freezing temperatures, we were still able to appreciate it. We seriously contemplated buying a blanket in the gift shop, but decided against it on grounds of it being too bulky.

I had this really deep moment as the bus drove us through the beautiful English countryside, with the Avett Brothers pumping through my ears.  There were sheep grazing out the window, and birds flying alongside us, and green grassy hills as far as the eye could roam. I just felt every fiber of my being longing to be out there in the grass and meadows.  It was like this aching comfort, knowing that I was right here where I needed to be, and yet I needed to be everywhere here.

A strange side effect to this profound feeling was the desire to throw myself into the ground and burrow into it until I was literally part of the English soil. I don't know why, but at the moment I felt like that was the only way to be everywhere in England, where I would be absolutely and forever at home. Thankfully I did not indulge this particular temptation.

Anyway...moving on...Salisbury was great, I'd been there in junior year of high school, so I'd already seen the cathedral, but hearing Andrew Butterworth's commentary on it was pretty awesome. Then Lacock was really pretty as well, a very quintessential British medieval town, without painted lines on the roads or telephone wires in the sky. They film a lot of movies there actually, including but not limited to HARRY POTTER...ahem...so I posed for a picture in front of what I think (fingers crossed) is Slughorn's house! The Abbey there was home to a Potions classroom, a corridor that was walked through a few times, and the original location of the Mirror of Erised. Unfortunately the Abbey was closed for the season. But the book Liza gave me (three shout outs in three posts!) called Harry Potter on Location, was very helpful. We had a traditional English dinner at a pub called the George, and I had my first taste of sticky toffee pudding, which was delicious! On the bus ride home we sang traditional Disney songs such as Zero to Hero, I Won't Say I'm in Love, and Be Prepared. I learned that after the line "You won't get a sniff without me!" Jeremy Irons really hurt his vocal chords, and couldn't finish the song, so the rest of the song is sung by the voice of Ed the Hyena! Crazy, right?

So now I'm back in my room, and I'm about to embark on what will probably be a very dumb but very fun adventure. The super bowl is tonight, and as we are Americans, some of us feel obligated to watch. We found out that some British people do indeed watch the super bowl, and we're pretty sure they're showing it at a pub called Belushi's. The upside: we know where the pub is, and it will probably be really fun to watch the super bowl with British people. The downside: It probably doesn't start until like 11pm and we have our first day of classes tomorrow morning. Oh well, who said I came here to learn, right?\

UPDATE: It was Slughorn's house! Check this kid out!  And then check this wizard out!














* In Britain, "fancy dress" means in costume, so if you go to a fancy dress party, it is not actually fancy. "smart" on the other hand, does mean fancy-ish.