stones and baths

so. i feel like i'm not updating this blog as frequently as i should be but rest assured if there is ever a lull in the blog, it means that i'm just out doing more blog-worthy things and seeking new adventures that i can take obnoxious pictures of and post on here. so it's all good.

this weekend all 43 temple kids plus our professor and her daughter hopped on an early morning bus (8am!) to stonehenge and bath. i slept the entire ride up to stonehenge (despite our tour guide's incessant chatter- this woman literally talked about anything and everything.) and woke up to beautiful blue skies and the gorgeous english countryside. i forgot how much i enjoy seeing all the green and open spaces. london can be kind of gray and blah at times. the weather was absolutely perfect and we took our time walking around the ancient stones. we took plenty of goofy pictures and tried naming the rocks. it's insane to be standing near something that old (even though you can't really stand very close). very cool regardless.

then we got back on the bus and headed to bath. mind you, aunt karen and i had done this whole routine before, back when we came to visit in 2005, but doing it with the college crew added a new spin on things and it was still a lot of fun. of course, we hit up the roman baths that are central to the town (and it's namesake). again- totally insane to think about how old that stuff is! i also love the idea that the city is built upon itself- the ground literally rises a foot every 100 years. so if you were to take a slice out of the city it would be like a layer cake of history. very cool. at the end of the roman bath tour, we tried some water from the hot spring that fills the bath. i was all excited to try real spring water- unnecessarily so though. that stuff was not only really warm, but tasted like weird eggs and awful stuff. definitely didn't finish my class.

we had some free time in bath so we went to lunch at a local pub where we were reminded that london is expensive not because it's british, but because it's a huge city. this pub was so dirt cheap i wanted to cry. i got a steak pie with fries and peas PLUS a pint of guinness all for £5. we ate outside to take advantage of the glorious weather and generally just had a good time talking and eating our super cheap meals.

the bus ride home was a little longer than anticipated but still a lot of fun. full of singing and chatting and my bus buddy beating me at checkers on his ipod touch. saturday night was another bonding night for the program and sunday was spent recovering from our adventures. all the girls in the program went to a really nice 'family dinner' at a mexican place in leicester square and it was a perfect end to the weekend. overall: grade A adventures.