This past week was a little crazy time wise, but
everything worked out! On Monday and Tuesday we had classes, though they were
moved around because one of our professors was out of town. I stayed at the
Centre those days so I could focus on getting my readings for classes done as
well as some papers, and so that I could focus on studying for my midterm
Thursday. I also watched some Halloween movies those days, so I did relax some!
Wednesday we had a very full day. We left bright and
early to make the 2.5 hour journey to Wales! Well we were only in Wales for
about two hours… but I can say that it is stunning! There were so many
beautiful fall leaves and there was a mist over the hills that really added to
everything we saw. Our purpose in going to Wales was to visit Tintern Abbey, a
ruined abbey made famous by William Wordsworth’s poem of the same name. The
Abbey was beautiful. There was just something gorgeous to seeing it in ruins,
and being able to walk through it and see the nature around it. We also read
Wordsworth’s poem there, and it was just amazing! The poem is about loss and
recompense, and time allowing people to gain perspective on life, and I just
really enjoyed reading the poem there! After we visited the Abbey, we drove
back into England, and went to Bath! Our main stop was the bath there, and we
were able to listen to an audio guide and tour the structure. The history was
fascinating, and I really loved being able to see it all in person, and even
try some of the “healing” waters. They didn’t taste very good. We then had
several hours to roam in Bath, and my friend and I wandered in and out of
stores for a while, had lunch, and then ended up finding the public library in
the area and going in to read for the last bit of time we had there. J It
took us quite a while to get back to London due to a lot of traffic, but I was
able to study some for my midterm the next day while on the bus.
Thursday was the day we had our one midterm of the
semester in history. I was concerned and stressed about it, but it ended up
being relatively easy, so I was pleased! After classes I just worked on
homework and was able to relax, which was nice.
Friday we were going to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral as
a group, but when we got there we found out that they were understaffed, and as
a result the dome was closed. The professors really want us to be able to see
the dome as well, because it is such a neat experience, but they didn’t want to
make us pay to go back to just see the dome, so we opted to try for another
day. So I went to the Museum of London instead, and it was so neat! I loved it!
I loved that there were bits of London’s history there, from the beginning to
modern day. It was fun to see and learn about, and I liked being able to see
bits of the Olympic Flame that they created for the 2012 Olympics! It was so
neat to learn more about and see a portion of it! After the museum, I did
homework, and then carved a pumpkin with some friends! It was really fun to do!
We carved a cat! That evening at dinner we had a Halloween party, so there was
soup made in a pumpkin and extra decorations to add to the ones put up earlier
in the week, and a lot of candy. It was fun seeing everyone dressed up! I dressed
up as Hogwarts! Not the most original, but I am not the greatest at coming up
with costume ideas. But it was still fun, and Friday was the last day my group
had dinner crew for the semester, so it is nice to be done with that! I Skyped
with a couple of friends that evening, and that was really fun!
On Saturday, I started my day by watching the season
premiere of Grimm. It was excellent! I am curious as to where they will take
this season, and a bit frustrated with how it is already going, but I enjoyed
the episode! I then worked on homework, and was able to get some assignments
taken care of. I watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone with a friend,
which was really fun! And then in the evening we went as a group and saw the
play The Woman in Black. It was really well done, and sufficiently creepy for
Halloween. I jumped a little, but it did not seem too scary overall, maybe
because I was expecting it all to happen. But I enjoyed it! Overall the week
was good, though stressful and a little frustrating, but overall I enjoyed the
things that we saw and did, and I hope to explore more this week! I just can’t believe
I have been in London for two months now! There’s only a little over a month
left of the semester, it is so crazy!
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