Well, if I didn’t feel like I was actually going to school before, I do now! I’ve been slammed with coursework and exam preparations for about 2 weeks. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if study abroad meant traveling as much as you can and then writing a paper on each place about your experiences? If only life were so amazing. Regardless of the intense studying (I should be doing), I’ve traveled a TON lately – which would be the reason I haven’t blogged in almost a month.

So the Saturday after my last blog, I took a trip to Stonehenge. I traveled with one of my friends from the dorms; it was nice having only one other person to travel with. Naturally, a coach to Salisbury was the traveling method of choice. There are no coaches that go directly to Stonehenge, so we took a coach to Salisbury, the surrounding town.  We later found out that the reason there aren’t any buses directly to Stonehenge is because they’re stones in the middle of nowhere! The weather was beautiful; it was sunny and mild when we got there. It was around 10:30am at this point, and we hadn’t slept much so we decided to find a caf� nearby. We walked around the corner from the bus station and saw that there was a market in the city centre and a really cute little caf�/restaurant on the corner called Nuggs. They had the history of the building posted around the restaurant; apparently, Nugg was the last name of the family who owned the property and the building was built in the 13^th century! The floorboards have been replaced and it’s been restored to some extent so that it’s safe to occupy; however, there was definitely a historic atmosphere about the place.

When we were done, we went outside to walk around a bit and find the tourist information. We walked through a part of the market and then into an “Olde Sweet Shoppee”.

After that, we found the tourist information shop and went inside to buy a ticket to get to Stonehenge. We wandered in and out of little shops and walked some streets of Salisbury. There were a lot of locals out and about with their families because of the nice weather, so we really got a feel of local life. When the time came, we got the bus at the station. The way to the stones was really beautiful; we passed pigs, and cows, and sheep!! It was also really interesting to listen to the history of the area and of Stonehenge before getting there.

We arrived at the stones about 30 minutes later. We got our guide and then spent about an hour walking around the stones.

There isn’t that big of a circle to walk in but the audio guides had a lot of information so we walked really slowly and kept taking breaks to take pictures.

 Listening to the history and the theories of how the stones got there was so much more interesting and captivating with the stones right in front of you. We then went to the field across the way and walked in the grass. We saw ancient burial mounds when we were in the field! On the way back to Salisbury, we went a different way than we had come. The streets are so narrow and the bus was going so fast I thought we were going to die! When we got back to town and my feet were firmly on the ground, we realized that it had gotten cloudy and cooler. Good old English weather! Parts of the market were getting ready to close, so we walked through the whole of the market. After the market, we journeyed over to the Cathedral to get a quick look at it before getting some dinner. The architecture was gorgeous – I love the Gothic style!!

Going back to London, the bus smelled pretty awful, but I guess that’s one of the risks you take when you decide to travel by coach. When we got back to London, the bus driver didn’t know where he was going at all; he took a wrong turn but finally found the station. When we stopped, I stood right up because I wanted to get home. The woman sitting in the front just gave me a nasty look and said something to me. I was so confused so I just looked at her and walked past. I left the station with Mary and we walked quickly to the corner to catch the bus. We glanced across the street to the left and saw the bus we take to the dorms was sitting at the bus stop. We looked at each other and RAN across the street without looking and just made it on the bus in time. It was quite the interesting end to our day but a successful day nonetheless!

**More blogs will be posted within the next few days hopefully. I have two essay exams on Monday and Tuesday so if the blogs are late, that’s why! 🙂

Location: Salisbury, England