Another weekend!

On Saturday, we got up at the completely scandalous hour of 7:15AM so we could be on the bus by 9AM so we could go to Lacock Abbey. It was all worth it in the end, though.

The 2 and 1/2 hour bus ride was pretty. I have to admit that sometimes the "rolling hills" of the countryside reminded me of northern PA...except for the sheep.

After going over a sort of flooded bridge (that's when it pays to be a huge bus that just kind of plows through things), we made it to the village/abbey/museum. First we explored the abbey and the surrounding...greenery. The grass is SO GREEN. Think artificial turf green. The abbey and the other buildings (the home of Fox Talbot) were beautiful. The picture above is me sitting in a huge window that opened into a courtyard. I don't know how to describe the style...almost gothic, with some stained glass. Lots of arches, pillars, etc. And the countryside surrounding the abbey could only make me think of a Jane Austen novel (no luck finding Mr. Darcy. Yet.) Overall, it was a great break from the city.
We also visited the Fox Talbot museum, which was kind of the point of the trip. Thank you for photography, Fox Talbot. He was a smart guy. (Obvious statement??)
We had lunch in the village next to the museum...aka HOGSMEADE from the Harry Potter movies. It was the definition of quaint, if you ignored the cars. We also saw a small courtyard-type place that was used in Harry Potter as well.
After exploring the village, we got back on the bus and drove to Avesbury Circle. It's a circle of rocks, to completely simplify it. However, it is an ENORMOUS circle of rocks. So enormous that the town is inside the circle. There are also circles within the circle. It was a great place to walk around, and also a great place to photograph. And, of course, the rocks were put there way back when, and no one can figure out how they got up, etc. I wonder what that sounds like......oh, I'm going to Stonehenge this coming weekend. Hmmmmm. I might be getting ahead of myself, but I think this place might be cooler than Stonehenge. Apparently there's a fence around that...and you could actually touch these mysterious rocks.

Today, Sunday, I didn't do much of note. I decided to walk down to the area where we buy groceries (about 20 minutes away) because I had always noticed that it looked like the surrounding shops continued for a while. So I walked past the grocery store...and walked...and walked. Yeah, those stores go on forever. Essentially, I walked until I saw signs for the tube stop that we usually have to take a train to get to, so I decided to cool it and turn around. At that point the area was getting a little dodgy anyway. I must have heard at least five different languages, though, and it was bustling the entire way. I saw one or two vendors selling whole mixing bowls full of vegetables for only £1, sooo I'll probably return!

I have to say...people get outside here. And they walk around. It's really nice to see. I've also decided that to fully enjoy this experience, I need a dog. I wonder how my host family would feel about a dog...

I'm incredibly apathetic about classes here, which is weird for me, the dork who gets excited about class back at Earlham. They do come with some cool opportunities, though, so I'm not complaining.