Stonehenge and Bath

Just like back at home, the week after spring break is rough. If you think it's hard to focus after just one week of no classes, try three weeks..... it was horrible! But I did realize that my semester at Kingston Uni is almost done, and therefore I really do need to get my papers done. And I had a lot of them to work on.

For my magazine journalism class I had to fix all of my articles and find pictures to go along with them. We are hoping to get our magazine to the printer this week so I made sure my work for that class was done right away. We also have to make a portfolio as part of our final, so I have to write a reflection piece on what it was like to make the magazine (stressful....) and write one more feature article.

Thankfully, I only have to write one paper for my fashion history class! It had to be 2,000 words all about taste and style. I felt like there was only so much I could write about on that, but I managed to write it all.

British Life and Culture is completely done, except for the final exam. All of my papers and presentation are graded! I've been getting B+'s mostly, which isn't horrible, but an A would be nice every once in a while! Our final for that class is our last class (which is next week!!!) and, if I remember correctly, it is only a 20 question exam with a short essay question. It won't be bad at all! Maybe I'll have a small study session with some friends....

And my last class is Media Industries. I had three essays for this class, and thankfully I wrote one of the papers a while ago. The portfolio for that class is two essays that are 750 and one that is 1,500 words. I finished my last essay for that class last night! 

I just have to go through all the papers I wrote this week and revise them, which won't be bad at all. I also have to write my last feature article for journalism, but I'm planning on doing that this week. I don't know why my work ethic has been good this week, but it's nice to get all of my work done. Kaley even said she is proud of me for doing all of my work. 

This whole week consisted of me going to Uni, with the occasional hanging out with friends.... ok, that is my whole motivation to go to Uni so I can see my friends! On Monday I hung out with Kaley and Maddy again, on Tuesday I went to Uni for a group meeting and then went back home to work on my homework, on Wednesday I had class and then went to the Slug and Lettuce for dinner with Kaley and Maddy after class. The weather was so nice that we had to do something that day! The restaurant is close to Thames River, as well, so we got to sit outside and enjoy the sun. The exhaustion of traveling caught up to me that day and I went straight to bed when got home. I got a solid 12 hours of sleep that night and it felt amazing. On Thursday I went to my only seminar of the day, and my professor didn't show up. Really?? Kaley has class the same time I do, so I waited for her. We also met up with Maddy and just hung around at Uni for a few hours because none of us wanted to go home. Friday was basically the same as every other day... went to Uni and came home to do some homework. Kaley's host family is moving, though, so some people came by to look at the house and she wanted to be out of it when they came. We got some cheeky Nando's for dinner because we each had enough stamps on our cards for free chicken! After dinner we went for a walk by the river for about an hour and literally talked about life. It sounds really deep, but in reality it was probably just plain weird. 

I have been walking to and from Uni to save money on transportation. The weather has been nice, too, so it is good to get some fresh air. Plus, I haven't been able to go for runs here as much as I had hoped and it is about a 2 mile walk to Kingston so it makes me feel better walking there. Also, when I got home on Friday there was a note from my host family saying they would be gone for a few days. Not that they are an inconvenience or anything, but it is kind of nice to be able to take my time in the kitchen and not rush, worrying that they might be wanting to make lunch or dinner soon.

The next day was Stonehenge and Bath! We had to be a Uni by 8:15... so early! But when I got there I found Kaley, Ellyn and Rachel (remember her?? I haven't seen her in FOREVER!). We made our way to the bus and met up with Maddy! Kaley and I sat together on the bus and were singing to all of the song the bus driver was playing.

Stonehenge was our first stop! We had an hour to be there. We though an hour was a long time to look at rocks, but the time went by surprisingly fast! We couldn't get really close to the rocks, but we still got a really good view of them. The weather was amazing, as well. There were also sheep there and they were adorable. I wanted to pet them, but didn't. Kaley and I got ice cream before we left because the cone was made for two flavors..... it was so cool!

And next up was Bath! This city reminded me of a mini Rome (or at least what I picture Rome to be like!). Our tour guide did say that it was built to be like a mini Rome, as well. When we first got there we were free to find lunch, so we went to Wagamamas, which is a tai restaurant. Maddy and Rachel had to help me with what to order because I never eat at places like that. It was good, I just can't use chopsticks so I was struggling. From there we went to meet up with our professor and she put us in small groups for a tour of the city. Bath is a really cute town. It has so many street performers, and they were really good! Our tour guide also loved Maddy because she was the only non-American in our group.

After the tour of the city was done we had a tour of the Roman Baths. It was an audio guide, which would have been interesting to listen to it all but I was too tired to really comprehend what it was telling me! Maddy was the same way, so we just walked around instead and would listen to certain parts. The baths were almost a green color and were warm. Most of us touched the water and then we saw a sign saying that the water is unsafe to drink and touch. Oops! Once the tour was over we got on the bus and headed home. We were all hungry so we stopped at McDonalds for dinner and then went our separate ways. Rachel and I walked home together since she lives so close to me. We mostly caught up on each others lives since we haven't seen each other in such a long time!

Rachel had said that she wanted to get out of her house on Sunday and Kaley and I had already planned on going into town that day, so she tagged along. Rachel and I walked to Kingston and met up with Kaley there. We went to Primark, Sainsburys (my milk always expires so fast here so I have to buy it so much... it's irritating!), and Topshop. We were only in the stores for a short time because certain people were looking for certain things at the stores. We were all limited on what we bought. We went to Pizza Hut for dinner.... it's pretty cheap to split a pizza here! From there we all walked home.... even Kaley!

As if we didn't walk enough the past few days, Rachel and I decided to go for a walk through the area around our neighborhood. Taking walks around my neighborhood at night always makes me excited for summer... it always smells like a bonfire!

I feel like once this week is over I will not be that stressed about school. I should not have any more papers to write, no more group projects to worry about and will only have one exam to study for, but it will be easy. I can finally enjoy London in the spring…. It is absolutely beautiful this time of year.