Wales: Day 27 Like A Stone(henge)

Friday (July 30) I woke up early to go over my notes one more time, catch up on some stuff and get ready. We walked over to Harriet at 10 for Judgement Day. Everyone was kind of giggly and nervous, because we didn't really know how Tom was going to test us, and figured it wasn't going to be easy at all. The sheer number of terms we needed to know was daunting. A bunch of stuff was really Welsh, which was a problem for the non-Welsh students, and all of us felt like we didn't know as much as Tom expected us to when he'd ask us questions at sites we visited. Still, we had studied so much and were kind of just resigned to the fact that we might not pass.

Thankfully, Tom pulled right from the flashcards - which was the main tool I'd been using to study. I passed the quiz, missing 2.5/60, so that was a definite relief. The quiz was much easier than we all worried and anticipated. Most people passed or nearly passed. Those who didn't just had to work with Tom on giving a verbal history, so it wasn't too bad. I fist pumped outta there.

We were all pretty excited afterwards. We went home and got ready for an excellent afternoon. Due to some real estate issues, we hit the road for our sites almost an hour late, but it worked out ok. Our first stop was Stourhead. This is a huge 17th C. estate with the most fantastic garden/grounds I've ever seen in my entire life. The Palladian villa was gorgeous. I'd absolutely love to live here.

The grounds are designed to always keep something from the viewer's eye. No matter where you stand, you can't see everything, and there's always something to keep drawing you further into the grounds. It's pretty amazing.

For anyone who has seen the latest (Keira Knightley) Pride and Prejudice, this place is pretty unbeatable. The scene when she runs across the bridge and is proposed to in the rain by Mr. Darcy was filmed here. Yeah, we re-enacted it several times.




After getting our fill of Stourhead, we rushed to head for the main event of the day - Stonehenge. Yeah, THE Stonehenge. We have all been pretty excited about this for a while. It's not super fun or anything, just one of those awesome buckt list things that you HAVE to do. We were all starving and it was starting to get cold, but we had a timed reservation so we had to drive like mad straight there. WORTH IT.


It was awesome. We had a blast! We had the entire place to ourselves. So what did we do? Donned our brand new matching hoodies (courtesy of the judicious financial wizardry of our director, Tom) and took a bajillion photos.

Of course we did a pyramid. Thanks for asking.

This was another one of those days that I just can't describe adequately. We were all just on. We just have so much fun together. Everything is funny, we're all friends, and nothing can get us down. The friendships I have formed here are quality AND quantity, and they aren't just a result of being stuck together for 6 weeks. We've done and been a lot for one another. I'm so lucky to have the opportunity to make these great friends. Not to mention enough inside jokes to last a lifetime.


Starving and chilled, we drove a short ways to the Sainsbury in Salisbury. I know, right? Sainsbury is a grocery store. Salisbury is the city. We grabbed some "Meal Deals," and headed out to the park outside to finally eat. Grocery stores here generally have some great "Meal Deals," which include a bunch of deli sandwiches, wraps and salads, chips or fruit, and a beverage. For like 2 pounds! We love those. Afterwards we walked down to the Salisbury Cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful at night, but due to the darkness I couldn't get a good picture.

As mentioned above, most people passed the quiz, we were all just on, and we purchased an FM transmitter for iPods, so dancing and singing were pretty prevalent all day. While people were going to the bathroom before we left Salisbury, we pumped up our favorite tune here - The Club is Alive by JLS - and GOT DOWN. It was really awesome. Parking lot dance parties sound so gay when you talk about them later. I know that. But in the moment it was literally the best decision we could have made. This photo is from Stonehenge, but you get the idea of what we did most of the day. Loved it. We didn't get home till about 1 am, but it was so worth it.

Wales: Day 5 Jane

Exhausted. Always. But again, happy. :) We started off the day with ancient Bronze Age landmarks like large stone henges (do not mistake for Stonehenge, which we will be seeing in a few weeks) and burial sites. First was Avebury Stone Circle, which was a religious henge and hill fort. The hill is roughly the size of the Great Pyramids of Egypt and completed around the same time, I guess. Pretty cool!

Off to Winchester, the home of Jane Austen! Now I'm not a Jane Austen freak, but I quite enjoy her work. I haven't read everything, but Pride and Prejudice might just be in my top 10. Who knows. Winchester Cathedral is one of the oldest and largest in the UK. It's pretty cool. Winchester is this strange, interesting mix of the oldest parts of the country with great bits of history (like the Cathedral and Jane Austen's tomb) and the new and urban (the shopping district downtown). We enjoyed shopping and sightseeing at regular intervals throughout the day, without changing course.

The West Gate was an original part of the medieval castle, the Great Hall of which has been refurbished to house "King Arthur's Round Table." This obviously isn't the real thing, but is believed to have been painted by Henry VIII. So cool. The stained glass windows name Arthur and his knights personally. There is also a life-sized carving of Queen Victoria, who I believe came in and protected the castle remains diplomatically.

I don't think I'll ever get sick of all the gorgeous gardens just waiting to be stumbled upon. I like to walk them alone and just feel the romance they inspire, independent of any other human influence.

Evensong was to be spoken, so we didn't want to stay for it, but we did take advantage of the opportunity to get into the Cathedral for free. I saw Jane Austen's grave and plaque. Thank goodness for her and for her talent. I'm forever grateful. This is material that should be saved and elaborated on for another post, but I will say that the Pride and Prejudice-style romance between Elizabeth and Darcy is my personal favorite. I love Jane. And obviously the cathedral was beautiful.



It was a beautiful, hot day, and we were all incredibly goofy, probably due to lack of sleep. Many good inside jokes came out of this day's journey. We also learned the value of swinging by a pastry shop about 20 minutes before they close, because they discount all of their Cornish pasties and delicious desserts. As cheap student tourists, we take advantage of this mercy and enjoyed a tasty dinner. Life is good!