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.

This is the week that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends

Hello again! I am going to take up the tale of orientation week where we left off, which was Wednesday, Feb 1st, I believe.

WEDNESDAY

Today we had more orientation of the being talked at variety, and got our syllabi for classes! I am so excited. The syllabus for my British Detective Fiction class looks awesome. Two Agatha Christies, P.D. James, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, and so much more!  I'm a little intimidated by the 5 plays I have to read for my Shakespeare class, four of which I have never read (the other being Hamlet).

We also started 'diagnostics' today, which are these tests that every student has to take for every class she has. They are supposed to give the professors an idea of where their students are in their knowledge of the subject and their writing ability, but it doesn't count towards your final grade. They were a pain, but not very stressful or anything. My first one was Shakespeare, which was not so bad, and then when everyone else was taking their second diagnostic, I went to go meet with Footprint Publishing, who I have my internship with! Fiona is the other student who is interning there, so I met her today as well.  Andrew Butterworth (and the award for best name goes to...) walked us to the office to meet Alan, the head of the company, who is Scottish by the way.  He was really cool, and we decided that my schedule would be 9-5 every Tuesday, and I would work on an editorial project, which is great because that is really where my passion is. Further good news: I do not have to dress up to go to work. Hooray for small businesses!

Later we had a welcome reception at Bath Abbey, where they put out tea and cakes for us, and gave us a quick tour. Below is a picture of some of the beautiful stained glass in the Abbey.

After the tour, or before, I'm not sure, but the when is not important, the point is we discovered the absolute best hot chocolate ever. It is at this cute little cafe thing next to the Abbey, and it does not even have a name, it just has signs on the windows that say "chocolate," "ice cream," and "champagne." It is a wonderful world we live in, ladies and gentlemen. (edit: I have discovered that it is in fact called Minerva's)

That night we went out to a pub called the Porter. Right around the corner we met this man who was looking for the Porter as well, so we walked together, and it turned out that he was in the British military, and he was meeting a group of friends who were all also in the military! Umm, yes please? So we spent about an hour in the pub just talking to a whole bunch of awesome military guys! The one we talked to the most, we realized after we had no idea what his name was, but we thought maybe Nigel was a good fit. So we talked to Nigel anyway for a really long time about American politics, and it was absolutely fascinating to hear an outsider's point of view! I found I actually agreed with mostly everything he said. For example, we were talking about how the USA tends to just bomb other countries willy-nilly, and it makes everyone hate us. His metaphor was that "the USA is the big kid on the playground just flailing his arms around and hitting other kids at random," and nobody really likes that kid, do they? One thing I did not really agree with was that he said it was weird that we call our soldiers "heroes" all of the time. I mean, they pretty much are. I guess in England they don't say that about their military. He was probably just jealous that nobody ever called him a hero!

Well after about an hour we decided to leave, since we had to be up early, so we said goodbye to our new friends, and went back home. It was a great night though, and I was so exhausted when I got home that I slept all the way through the night for the first time! Yay!

THURSDAY

Today, for any of you who were in high school band with me, a very exciting thing happened. This is what it was:

Now ThisWater doesn't mean anything to most of you, but for a few of my readers it was our drink of choice throughout our entire England trip junior year of high school. We were absolutely obsessed with it, and couldn't stop talking about it when we got home. Years later, I have to admit it is not as good as I remember, and definitely was not worth all of the giggles and obsession. But it is still yummy, and a very fond memory.

Anyway, besides that exciting thing, we had our two remaining diagnostics, and book collection. Getting my books was the most exciting thing, especially for my detective fiction class! I absolutely cannot wait to get started! I can't believe I am actually taking a class that requires me to read Hound of the Baskervilles and Murder on the Orient Express. Guys....this is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I had soup at Jacob's for lunch (Liza you were right again), and we made grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. We decided to stay in, since we'd gone out the last two nights, and we watched Leap Year and the first two hours of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. Colin Firth IS Mr. Darcy. I LOVE MY LIFE, and everything and everyone in it!

Okay so I think that will be it for this post. I hope you are enjoying following my adventures as much as I am enjoying living them! (I doubt it though)

The Lamb and Lion, The Porter, The Huntsman

...are all names of pubs I have been to this week.

MONDAY

I arrived thoroughly confused about what day it was, if I should be hungry or tired, and why I was so cold. I found out that it was indeed Monday afternoon, and that I was extremely tired but not allowed to sleep until at least 9pm to avoid jet-lag. I was also informed that having been built in the 19th century will give a house a real disadvantage when it comes to central heating.  We have one bathroom, the one closest to my room unfortunately, that is literally the same temperature as outside, about 30 degrees. We keep the door closed, but that just means that the cold builds up, so that when I go to brush my teeth at night I am greeting by the freezing cold air of death. My roommate and I have independently started brushing our teeth just outside of the bathroom, crossing the dreaded threshold only to spit and rinse.  For those of you wondering, yes, that is my biggest problem here in Bath. Poor Hannah, her house is a little cold.

Anyway, since I was the last to arrive, everyone else was already gathered in our living room.  I introduced myself and met my 7 other housemates, 2 of whom are named Hannah. One of my housemates, Hannah C., was here last semester too, so she has been an invaluable source of information and directions to places. They all seem like amazing and interesting people, and I am really excited for the coming semester!

At 4:30 we met with Jonathan for our housing orientation, and he basically explained why we were so cold, and showed us around the house. It is four stories, with three-ish bathrooms and five bedrooms, and it is really cute and wonderful!  (I say 3-ish because our bathrooms seem to be split up rather strangely. For instance one room just has a bath in it. No shower, no toilet, just a bath.) I have an adorable little room on the first floor with my roommate Liz.  I think we may have the warmest room in the house, which I am extremely pleased about. I don't need to worry about layers in here!

After Jonathan left, we decided we were all exhausted, and went to a nearby Thai place for take-out, or take-away, as they say here. We came back home and watch Stardust as we ate.  Throughout the movie we yelled at each other to stay awake, and counted down the minutes to 9, when we were allowed to sleep. What a supportive group, right? Thankfully we had timed it perfectly, so the movie ended right as 9pm rolled around. Woohoo, sleep! That is, until 5am when I randomly woke up for an hour or so. One of my housemates, Smitty, had told me that this would happen, but I didn't believe her! I guess I didn't want her to be right. It turns out that one reaction to this sudden shift in time zone is randomly waking up in the early hours of the morning. That was fun. But I got back to sleep eventually, to wake up at 8 the next day for our first real day of orientation!

TUUUUESDAAAAAY (you know who you are)

We were supposed to meet Jonathan at 8:45 sharp at the White Hart, a pub just down the street, where he would walk us to Nelson house, our main academic building. Unfortunately, 2 girls' alarms didn't go off, and as we wanted to wait for them, we ended up...well...late. It wasn't too bad though, as Jonathan seemed pleased by our, in his words, "I am Sparticus" attitude about the whole thing.

The whole day would not be a too exciting story, as it was a lot of meeting new people and getting talked at by British people. I did learn a lot though, and it sounds like there are some really cool volunteer opportunities available. There is an organic garden that I can volunteer at! I could get free, fresh, organic produce! I also found out today that my internship is only going to be 8 hours a week...so one full day a week basically. This was a little disappointing, as my internship last summer was 40 hours a week, and I was expecting the full 20 that my visa allows this semester.  I am sure I will still learn a lot, but it seems like I'll be more of a visitor than an intern.

I bought a British pay-as-you-go phone today! I have a British phone number, which is 11 numbers long! I solemnly vow to never memorize mine.

We made a giant bag of pasta for all of us in Clarendon Villas (my house) for dinner, and as we hadn't eaten since lunch about seven hours earlier, we were starving, and ate the entire bag. It was really fun cooking and eating a communal meal, and we have agreed to eat dinner together every Sunday if possible.

After dinner, Liz, Hannah B., Kaylee and I went out in search of our first legal drink! Every pub seemed pretty empty, possibly because it was a Tuesday night...but we eventually went in to a place called The Lamb and Lion. I got a cider & black, which is cider with blackcurrant juice in it, to make it sweeter. It was delicious, just like Liza promised! We just chatted it up for a while, and once we had finished our drinks, we headed home, satisfied with our first pub experience, if not thrilled.   (see facebook for a picture) We were exhausted when we finally got home (that is a theme here), and went to bed pretty much right away. Again I woke up, this time at 4:30am, and stayed up for an hour before falling back asleep.

This blog post is monstrous, so I am going to cut it off here, and resume later. I realize you probably haven't gotten much of an idea of what Bath is like yet, and that is because at this point, I hadn't either. They had kept us so monopolized, we had hardly gotten past the phone store a few blocks form Nelson house!

A rather amusing sidenote about Tuesday was that as we were walking around looking for a pub, two British guys asked us if we knew where the Ram was. That was the pub right down the street from Clarendon, so we were actually able to tell them where it was! We, American girls who had been in Bath less than 3 days, had given British people correct directions to a pub.  NBD