Well, I had a theory, tested it, and it turned out to be correct. Unfortunately, my theory was that every time I say I’m going to do something, something else happens in an attempt to prevent it from happening.
I considered not writing that I was going to Stonehenge for that exact reason, but decided to go ahead and write it just to see what would happen. I got sick is what happened. I still don’t know what it was, but I think it was a stomach virus or something. Painful stuff.
However, I refused to let it stop me from going to Stonehenge because I really wanted to go. By the weekend I was feeling mostly better, though I still had some sniffles. That didn’t matter though, because I was at Stonehenge!
It was really cold out. We walked around in a circle that goes around the rocks. We couldn’t touch them, which was sad but expected—can you imagine thousands of people leaning on and touching the rocks every year? Bad idea. They could fall and crush someone and that’s just a lawsuit waiting to happen.
I saw a mug in the gift shop that I fell in love with, so I bought it. It has a painting of Stonehenge on it and it says Stonehenge along the inside rim. It’s smaller than average but it’s really cute. I also got another little souvenir: some friend/family member back home will be the lucky recipient of their very own Stonehenge keychain! I’m being slightly sarcastic, but it is a nice keychain.
I’ve tried to stop thinking about money in American terms. That is, I’m trying to stop converting the pounds into dollars in my head and deciding if it’s a good deal, because it usually isn’t, and if I continue my head might explode from realizing how many dollars I’m actually spending. I had this dilemma in the gift shop, but I had to have that mug.
Anyway, we also went to Bath to visit this museum. We saw all the ancient Roman baths and stuff, it was cool. The city was nice too. We were free to wander around for a few hours. I just went shopping, not knowing what else to do.
So! Here’s some random English facts for you non-English people out there. These are things I’ve discovered within the past…wow, it’s nearly been a month. Most of it’s about food, because I have to actually buy food for myself instead of relying on a meal plan.
Prawns=shrimp. I already knew that, but I didn’t realize how popular the shrimp flavor is here. They have shrimp flavored chips (which they call crisps), shrimp sandwiches, shrimp…everything really. I tried a shrimp sandwich. It was okay, nothing special.
Indian food is huge here as well. I’m curious as to why. Maybe there is no reason and I’m just looking too deeply into it.
They have this stuff called squash, which is a highly concentrated fruit drink. You pour a little into a glass and then fill the rest of the glass with water. I guess it’s kind of like those powders you mix into water bottles, except it’s liquid and comes in huge bottles.
The packaging here is smaller. I thought maybe it was just here on campus that the juice cartons and food packages were small. I thought it was because it’s more convenient for college students to fit small things into our shared fridges. Turns out, no. I went to a real grocery store and everything was the same size. I saw a “family size” carton of orange juice that is only slightly bigger than a regular orange juice carton in the U.S. No wonder Americans are so fat: the food is cheaper (compared to the pound), AND you get more of it.
Eggs don’t have to be refrigerated! This blows my mind. They stock them on regular shelves. Turns out refrigerating them makes them last longer (obviously) but it’s okay to keep them out for a few days. Weird.
Sprite tastes sweeter here.
Okay, it turns out all of that was about food. You can see where my mind has been this past month.
Guess I'm done for now. I’ll write again soon when something exciting happens :)
Edit: I didn't mention anything about the history of Stonehenge. That's because I don't know it. So when we were walking toward the stones there were these little audio tour things that you were supposed to pick up (they had them at the Roman Baths too) but our leader/guide person didn't tell us that, so we just walked right on by, which is why I pretty much know nothing of the history. Shame, but I can't do anything about it now.
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