Today was our first real day of doing things, plus also I wasn't jetlagged anymore so I remember more.
So we started off the morning by going to the Roman baths, which was phenomenal. All the old stone and the water systems that still work and the hot spring that still flows - it was almost like stepping back in time. We had a sketching assignment to fulfill, so I did a corner section of the old main bath area. I think it turned out all right, and one of the professors gave me some tips on how to improve next time.
Lunch was up to us, and my friend Cara and I ended up getting bread things - I got a meatball sub from Subway (ahhh, I know I know! American chain restaurants! But we didn't have a lot of time and I knew I would like something from there) and Cara got a pizza baguette from a small shop around the corner from the Abbey courtyard.
After lunch we met up again as a group and went on a guided walking tour of Jane Austen sites. We went all over Bath and and our guide, Richard, was very friendly and knowledgeable and funny. We got to see where Jane and her family stayed at various times, and where scenes from her novels took place. I need to read more than one Jane Austen novel. The tour ended back at the Jane Austen center, which had a gift shop which was perfect because my friend Kelsey is a huge Jane Austen fan and I was able to get her a little something.
When the tour was over, we did even more walking (not complaining - I love to walk!) and two of my classmates gave their presentations (we're all required to make a presentation at some point), one on the Circus and one on Bath in general. I like my class more and more the more that we interact - soooo many inside jokes and general tomfoolery.
Afterwards we walked back to the YMCA we're staying at and had a class meeting. We had a quiz on Orlando by Virgina Woolf and talked about some of our expectations and perceptions of Bath, as well as some of the other articles we've read on landscaping and architecture and such.
When the meeting was over, we were free for the day. There was an optional free organ concert at Bath Abbey that Cara and I decided to go to - so totally worth it. It's an absolutely gorgeous old cathedral, and the sounds of an organ echoing throughout it were eerily beautiful. We got to wander around afterwards and marvel at everything.
Once they kicked us out of the cathedral (Cara and I were literally the last people there), we went in search of dinner. Yes, another chain. I was hungry for Pizza Hut pizza with no sauce just the way I like it, okay? I'll try to do better next time - I do like the looks of all these little local restaurants, I've just been in too much of a hurry to get brave. Also our waitress was fantastically nice and she looked and sounded exactly like Martha Jones. It was awesome.
So now I'm back at the YMCA updating this and checking my email and getting ready to do a little homework (just reading and a journal entry - nothing bad), and then TOMORROW IS CARDIFF!!!! AHHHH!!! Can't wait - first small group trip using the train by ourselves and this nice Canadian guy told us how to get to the rift and such!!!! It should be great!!
Talk to you all soon!!
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