Au Revoir!

So, I have a l-o-t to catch up on. 

Last Wednesday, the whole center climbed aboard a coach and went for a day trip to Bath, Glastonbury, and Stourhead (around England).  First was Glastonbury.  Glastonbury is basically a gypsy town- full of myths and folklore.  When there, we saw the remains of the Glastonbury Abbey, went through a little museum, and climbed to the top of the Tor (which is basically a really, really big hill with a tower on top of it.  It remains from the Celtic people-- they used to worship on top of the Tor.) Glastonbury was a super cute, fun little town, and I feel like I could've spent all day there! 

In the museum, there was a rack of "monk" clothing.  Nobody was trying the clothes on, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to dress up funny! We weren't sure if I was allowed to, but I started putting the costume on anyway. (It was like a kid's size small.. the sleeves are supposed to be to my wrists haha!) At first everyone just watched and laughed at me, but then...

every one else started to dress up too!

soon we had a whole room full of monks!

These are a few pictures in the ruins of the girls in my room:

we have a room of gangsters...

more in the ruins

King Arthur's grave!

Those were actually the coolest (and biggest) ruins that we've seen, so I am mad I didn't get more pictures of the big buildings!

This is about halfway up the Tor...

It doesn't look that high, but trust me... it was.  Very high.  We were all dead by the time we got to the top!

and at the top (victorious!)

After leaving Glastonbury, we drove a little bit to Stourhead gardens.  This is basically just a really, really pretty garden area.  I took a lot of pictures here.  Here are a few of my favorites...

Have you ever seen Pride and Prejudice? Remember the bridge that Elizabeth runs across and the little building where Darcy proposes? That was all shot there, at Stourhead.  This is the same little building and place where that was flimed...crazy!!!

(The girl who took this picture was supposed to zoom out, so that you could see the building too, but oh well...)

After Stourhead, we jumped back on the coach and drove to Bath.  Bath (pronounced like bawth) is basically the Beverly Hills of England.  It is really nice and really fun there.  After seeing the old Roman baths for which Bath  is named (the only hot springs in England!), they basically just set us free in the city for a few hours, and we were free to explore.  

I definitely wouldn't want to wash in this...

some friends at the baths...

I think this actually stood for Roman Baths, but we'll pretend like its a little tribute to my lovely sister:]

You could buy a little shot glass of the actual water from the spring to try and drink, and let me tell you... it was nasty.

So anyway, it was a ridiculously fun day.  I felt like I could have spent a whole day in any of those three places, and I don't think I've ever taken so many pictures in one day!

Thursday after class, I went with one of the girls to get some fro-yo for lunch.  As I was eating, I felt something hard in one of the brownie chunks.  Thinking it was a frozen chocolate chip, I tried waiting for it to melt and biting it, but no cigar.  After realizing that it was quite large and oddly shaped, I spit it out, only to see that it was a...

screw! Ew! My mouth tasted all metallic-y and I kind of lost my appetite after that.  (Luckily, the people gave me my money back and coupons for two more free fro-yos!)

Why do these kinds of things always happen to me?!

(I kind of love it... they keep life interesting!)

Then, I headed back to the British Museum, which was just as stunning as cool as the first time I saw it! Thursday night, we headed as a whole group to a performance Beethoven's 9th symphony at St. Paul's Cathedral (where my lost Rainbow still lives).  It was really cool, especially to hear the Ode to Joy performed in such a fun setting!

Friday morning, the whole group went to the Tower of London.  This is where the keep the Crown Jewels and where a lot of high-security prisoners used to be kept.  The crown jewels were amazing- one of the staffs holds the worlds biggest diamond (530 carats!).  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures of them.  The rest of the Tower was really interesting too- they had stuff from all through history, especially involving the Royals.  One of the coolest things was in the main imprisonment towers, you could still see the inscriptions from all the prisoners who were kept there (the walls were covered, and many told cool stories.  Some were really elaborate, and some were pretty simple like this one.  It says: "Thomas Miagh which lieth here alone that Fayne would from fence be gone by torture straynge my truth was tried yet of my liberty denied.") 

(I am sad here because there were life-size horses in one of the museum rooms, and I miss my boy. PS: I really liked the random bright yellow horse.)

The original toilet in this castle... (literally a hole in a wooden seat)

I would make a good knight...

I made him laugh!!!!

Tower Bridge is just across from the Tower of London!

Friday night, I went out with one other girl, one of my roommates named Megan.  We started out the night at Trafalgar Square, and ended up going dancing! It was beyond fun.

Yesterday morning, I went to Primark for the first time.  It is officially the world's greatest store.  Everything is super cheap (tops start at 2 pounds and the most expensive is about 10 pounds) and ridiculously cute.  

Saturday afternoon, I went to the National Gallery again for a field assignment.  That night, we just hung out in the city and walked around a lot.  

(Just chilling with my Rolls Royce...)

Today, church was really good.  Everything went a lot smoother (hallelujah!)   It was funny, though, when we walked into our "chapel" and saw that the stage had been transformed for a play the elementary school is putting on, and had a huge American flag backdrop!

Tonight, I also went (family: don't make fun of me!) to a pub to watch the last game of the World Series.  It is so fun to watch the soccer (or football, as it is called here) games here, where everyone is crazy about it.  The pub was crowded (they literally weren't letting any more people in, because no one else could fit) full of crazy people decked out in jerseys and flags, who would break into screaming/song about every 30 seconds. So great!

One last picture: a little piece of home I found while walking down the street.

A saguaro!

It's officially past 3 am here, and I have breakfast at 6... Wonderful! 

I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but we are taking off to France (mostly Paris) for 5 days tomorrow, and I just found out that I am not supposed to bring my laptop! So, my whole resolution of blogging every day is going down the drain already.  But, it should be crazy fun (especially since Wednesday is Bastille Day- France's Independence Day!), and I will blog all about it when I get home.  Love you all!