I will try my best describe how perfect this weekend was, but I doubt I will do it justice. This is the trip that Pam and I waiting in line for two hours at the International Student House to make sure we got. On Saturday morning, Pam, Anja, and I, along with a bunch of other international students (from Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, S. Korea, China, and America) took the mandatory trip to Stonehenge, where we took the mandatory photos. The English clouds never cease to amaze me.
After contemplating why there were several-ton rocks in the middle of nowhere, we loaded ourselves back into the ISH minibus and made our way into Salisbury. We grabbed a quick lunch (which entail "pasties" = delicious pot pies of a sort) and then took a tour of the Salisbury Cathedral. The most wonderful old man showed us around this magnificent monument, which boasts the highest spire in all of the UK. It really was one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've been in. We also got to see one of four copies of the Magna Carta; on the way out, two old men were joking about how awful it must have been to have "smudged-up" while making of copy of that. I love old men humor.
The next stop on the agenda was Bath. It quickly became one of my favorite UK cities. The whole town was very orderly and all made of the same cream-colored stone, paralleling Milwaukee in a way. We checked into the White Hart, which is, coincidentally, mentioned in Jane Austen's "Persuasion," then went into the city center to elbow our way through the packed Christmas market. We warmed up with some mulled wine, which was not quite as wonderful as I was expecting, but warmed me nonetheless.
The Bath Christmas market at night was absolutely story-bookish, with Christmas carolers singing in front of the Abbey, stalls selling all sorts of crafts and baked goods jammed into the town square, lights twinkling...you get the picture. After purchasing some Christmas gifts, we went to a local pub for a group meal. The food was delicious, but surpassed by the company; we laughed and joked about all the different British quirks we had encountered, made fun of our own cultures, yet defended them when necessary, and realized how similar people really are, regardless of place of birth.
This morning was the highlight of the trip: a thermal spa session. It was the perfect boost to prepare us for the last few weeks of the semester. There were steam rooms w/ different scents, from mint to lavender to chamomile; a hot minerva bath surrounded by an indoor swimming pool; foot baths, and best of all, an outdoor hot bath on the top floor overlooking the city. As I floated around in the heated, bubbling water, the December sun glittering off the ripples and the town of Bath basking in its ancientness all around us, I was just waiting for someone to wake me from this dream. Perfection.
We finished the trip with a tour of the actual Roman baths, which included "taking the waters" (warm, coppery tasting), then a full English tea at the famous Sally Lunn's Teahouse. As I chatted with some girls about regional accents, an eavesdropping woman on the way to the restroom corrected us on our pinky angle and scone-eating manners...I am now a professional tea-taker.
On the ride home as everyone dozed, a slideshow of my life passed before with each passing song on my iPod and I couldn't believe how good God has been to me. And I daydreamed about what will come after the next two weeks fly by - hopeful, world-changing dreams that only a 22-yr. old can entertain. How much happy is one person allowed to have? B/c I felt like I was hogging it all at that moment...here's me trying to send some back to you all.
But now it is late. And tomorrow Mom comes! Off to bed!
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