So here we are again, another week down. I can’t believe how fast this semester is going! It has been quite an interesting week–even if I do say so, myself.

Well, I finally made it to Stonehenge and Salisbury! Saturday morning, I woke up at 6.00am and was out of the house by 7.00am. I hopped onto a Coastliner 700 bus that took me to Chichester College where the coach bus was picking us up at promptly 8.30am. I made it there with enough time to get organized and to use the loo one more time before our journey! I made friends with the lecturers who were in charge of the group, and they were really nice. Lin and I had great conversation throughout the entire trip. Once we made it to Stonehenge, we had the option of either paying £7 and going into the actual site or go for free and walk outside of the fence. I chose to walk around the outside of the fence because the view was just as incredible as it would have been inside the exhibit. I found it absurd that it cost that much to go inside, when you could not even touch it! So Lin and I walked along the fence and took some pictures. It was really neat to see such a mysterious and historical landmark! I was blown away. After we finished taking our pictures, we walked to the concession stand and bought hot apple cider–it was delicious! It was definitely worth getting since it was a little chilly outside. It definitely warmed me up that morning!

After we loaded back onto the coach, we made our way to the town of Salisbury. The lecturers gave us maps of the town and set us free. I made some friends with students from Spain and Italy where they are studying in Great Britain to learn English as a second language. They were very friendly and fun to talk to. Even though they are still learning, I was able to understand them and help them out when they needed it. I had a lot of fun exploring the town with them because they were just as amazed as I was at the fabulous city! We had the chance to explore the Salisbury Cathedral, which was pretty incredible! The cathedral was absolutely gorgeous inside! It was so massive that I felt as if I couldn’t take it all in. There were so many details in the architecture that it was breath-taking! My new friends and I found a little café called Boston Tea Party (ironic, right?) for the traditional dish of cream tea. Cream tea is hot tea (of your choice) and a scone with butter and jam. So I had an Earl Grey tea with skim milk and sugar alongside the scone. Everything was very delicious–simple, but delicious. The funniest part was that the three of us each had our own tray, and all of the tables were quite small, so the table looked a little crowded with our trays. We laughed about it and took some pictures. Then we decided to stack the trays to give ourselves a little bit more room.

After we inhaled our cream tea, we explored the town for a few hours. Unfortunately, there was not much of the town that was as breath-taking as the cathedral, but the conversation was great. My new friends asked me questions about America, and I asked them questions about their home countries. I definitely learned a lot in that one afternoon!

After a long day, we loaded back onto the bus to head back to the campus. The lecturer, Lin, gave me a ride home, which I thought was very nice. We had decided to take a trip to Paris, France in a few weeks. She also invited me to join her for a lecture on neuropsychology next Tuesday. It sounded rather interesting, so I told her I wouldn’t mind going.

The rest of the week was pretty interesting, as well. On Tuesday, I went to my first ever spinning class at the Chichester College. Let me tell you, it was pretty intense since I have not been on a bike in probably over a decade! I did enjoy myself and made plans to go again. On Wednesday evening, my host family and I went bowling. Everyone went which made it a lot of fun! Plus, I won both games, which made me pretty happy too! Another friend whom I met when I visited Portsmouth has agreed to join me on a trip to Ireland next week. We are in the process of making that happen–I am so excited that I will finally get my chance to see Ireland! I will have more details about that trip at a later date.

Did you ever have one of those days where you couldn’t catch a break, and all you wanted to do was to just go back to bed? Well, that was my Thursday. Something either backfired or delayed me in every aspect of my plans. It was rather frustrating! As the day progressed, it did get better, but I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to. On a better note, I went to my second Zumba class on Thursday and had a blast! I was pleased that my day ended better than it began. My Friday was just a regular day. I just tried to get as much homework finished as possible so I have less to do next week, since we have no classes, and I am trying to visit Ireland.

The following week where we are off is half term, which means I am halfway done with my semester abroad. I can’t believe it!

Until next time…

Cheers!

Location: Bognor Regis, England, UK; Stonehenge; Salisbury