Happy Spring Equinox! And what better way to celebrate than a trip to Stonehenge! (So as not to give a false impression, we went the weekend before the Equinox, and ended up with good weather unlike yesterday.) I’ve of course heard about Stonehenge and fell in love with it’s mysterious history and the stories that surround it.

My favourite fantasy reference about Stonehenge comes from Michael Scott’s Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel is that it lies on the convergence of ley lines (lines on the Earth marked by landmarks) and that by harnessing the magical energies along these lines, one can warp along them and land at another convergence point.

It’s astonishing that thousands of years ago, people knew about the patterns of the sun and the seasons and were able to construct a henge along the axes of the solstices without modern building technology. As a maths student, I really appreciate it’s geometry, so I took pictures along the various solstice axes:

   
Summer (left: from behind, facing the point of sunrise; right: from the Heel Stone, facing the Slaughter Stone)

Winter (from the point of sunset, facing the Heel Stone)

Fun fact: Stonehenge has a front and a back. The front heads to the northeast along the axis of the summer solstice and there is a 2-mile approach from the river Avon.

I was surprised by the abundance of burial mounds surrounding the site. They were built atop neighbouring hills overlooking Stonehenge. From Stonehenge, one can’t turn without seeing several on the horizon:

Following Stonehenge, we visited Old Sarum, a man-made hilltop upon which a medieval city once sat. Though the hill and earthwork remain, very little remains of the buildings. Only the foundations of the castle remain, and all that is left of the cathedral is a blueprint of the walls.

   

The view from the top was gorgeous; here’s Salisbury, and one can see the spire of Salisbury Cathedral tower over the city:

Salisbury itself is, as we came to agree, quintessentially English, primarily because of the English style of architecture that pervades each of the buildings. We had time to walk around the city and go through the market as well as tour the inside of the cathedral.

   

Location: Salisbury, UK

You’re just a street artist!

A week after a hoax news story floated around claiming well-known, but elusive, street artist Banksy had been arrested and his identity revealed, a couple friends and I took a trip to Bristol and, among other things, saw some of the city’s famous street art.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was familiar with murals, like our Penn State mural, and graffiti, like the words and names one sees sprayed indiscriminantly under bridges and in alleyways, but street art was mostly new for me. Here are some examples of street art, both large and small, commercial and purely artistic, of unknown degrees of legality:

    

    

   
    

Location: Bristol, UK

This comes a bit late because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about. Since I’ve been wrapped up in studies recently, I’d like to take the time to list some little (or not-so-little) differences between the US and the UK. And comment on how well I think I’m handling it.

Things I’ve had to get used to:

• Greeting people. Instead of “Hi!” the British say “All right?” which inevitably makes wonder I’m not injured or sick, why am I being asked this? Just something that after being greeted for the thousandth time, one gets used to it.
• Crossing streets: So when I first came to Bath, I remembered well to look right then left. And then realised that half the streets in Bath are one way, which made it infinitely more confusing. Fortunately, I’m getting adapted to the traffic patterns, but I’m not used to just walking across busy streets, which locals here do all the time. You can pretty much cross the road anywhere as long as no cars are coming.
• 24-hour clock, which wouldn’t have been so difficult if they didn’t use it interchangeably with the 12-hour clock.
• Crisps are chips and chips are fries. And I’ve ordered both successfully, so check this one off the list.
• The rain. I will come back to State College thinking Penn State lies in a desert.
• Talking about the weather and the length of time it takes the bus to arrive. This is the essence of British small talk.
• Saying “Cheers” a hundred times a day. And since one doesn’t hear it often
• Spelling. A couple weeks ago, a lecturer of mine wrote the “-ize” ending on a word and I thought it looked weird because it should be “-ise”. And my topology unit has taught me the correct spelling of “neighbourhood”.
• The money. �1 notes don’t exist. They are coins. Also, there are �2, 1p (though I’ve never actually had one), 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, and 50p coins but no 25p coin. The 20p and 50p are 7-sided instead of round, and the 2p coin is larger than the �1 coin. Go figure!
• Units. I was under the impression the British used the metric system until I noticed those bridge clearance signs are in feet and inches and I bought 2 pints of milk. So, mostly everything is metric, but there are a few Imperial units that have endured, just to make life all the more confusing.
• Traffic lights. Just before turning green, the yellow light turns on with the red.
• Coursework. In most of my units, it’s not graded, but the professor will mark it. So why bother? These units are graded entirely on the final, which uses material from the coursework.

Things I’ve come to appreciate:

• Georgian architecture. The stone archicture of Bath is quite stately, and really adds something to the character of the city.
• Trains. By far the fastest ground transport between cities. And I equally love the 30% discount a railcard gives one.
• 50/40 MB (upload/download) internet speeds. Unless Penn State upgrades, this will be hard to say goodbye to.
• No sales tax. Ok, this needs a disclaimer. There is an equivalent called a VAT (value-added tax) but it’s included in the price, not added on at the till.
• It’s fun using British words like jumper, washing up liquid, circus, plimsoll, full stop, crisps, cheerio, revising, Uni, flat, lift, etc.
• An abundance of tea, tea rooms, and cafes.
• The British sense of humour.

Things I miss:

• Peanut butter. In the meantime, Nutella. (I’ve tried Marmite… but it’s not the same…)
• A �1 cup of tea is actually $1.60.
• Mexican food. I’m sorry, but rocket does not belong in tacos.

Location: Bath, UK

I think there have been 1 or 2 days in which it did not rain since I arrived. So I am exceptionally grateful that campus is small, and most of the walkways are covered. That turns a 15-minute walk/run in the elements at Penn State into a mostly sheltered 5-minute walk between neighbouring buildings. Also, having to spend no more than 10 minutes outside to get on the bus helps incredibly. Apparently, Bath has been receiving more rainfall than usual, and it definitely shows in the River Avon, which is currently over its banks. We haven’t had any flooding, though, which I is a relief, although I hear reports daily of the severe flooding in nearby parts of the country. You (hopefully) can read about the unseasonal weather and its impact on the BBC.

Enough complaining about the weather. I have been up to quite a bit since my last post. Last Friday, we had an exchange student party at Molloy’s Pub and the Second Bridge (a nightclub). I’ve been getting a taste of what the British listen to- pretty much the same music as Americans. We danced to “We Can’t Stop”, “Macarena”, and “Gangnam Style” (I got to teach a few friends from continental Europe to do the Gangnam Style dance!), just to name a few.

Saturday, a friend and I toured the Roman Baths, which are built over the only hot springs in England. I was surpirised by how heavily the baths have been redesigned throughout the ages. The Great Bath (pictured below) originally consisted of just the pool and arcade. The Pump Room, seen in the back and partly covered by scaffolding, was added much later; it was designed in the 1700s by Thomas Baldwin.

The Romans believed the water from the hot spring was blessed with the healing power of the gods. The Romans named this spring after Sulis Minerva, a hybrid between the Celtic goddess Sulis and the Roman goddess Minerva. They built a temple for the goddess; however, the temple no longer stands. Fortunately, the gilt head of the statue of Sulis Minerva survived and is on display in the museum adjoining the baths.

Location: Bath, United Kingdom

At long last, I’ve arrived. After my last car ride on the right side of the road, a 5-and-a-half-hour flight, a 2-hour train ride, and a 30-minute walk, I traveled from my home in PA to Bath, UK. At orientation, the woman from the mobility office joked that if it’s quite a feat to book the correct train ticket – especially with transfers, so as I managed to get here without any fines, I am quite proud of myself. I’m not so proud of pulling out my map outside the Bath Spa train station only to get lost on the way to my flat. But I got to meet a few locals as I asked for directions. (Thank goodness I speak English!)

All the exchange students live off-campus, and since the Uni is a 45-minute walk uphill, 99% (approx.) of students use the bus. I have to say, the bus is quite an experience. First, like all other vehicles, it drives on the left side of the road, which is more disconcerting than you might expect. Also, the roads are much narrower. The road going up to the Uni would make a decent 2-lane road in the US if it weren’t for the cars parked on the side! Whenever the road curves, the bus has to wait for oncoming traffic to pass because there’s not enough space for it to turn!

One thing I have to say is despite all the complaints I hear from British locals, their busses and trains run more reliably and much more regularly than ours. If I miss the bus to the Uni, another will come in 10 minutes!

I think I’ve said more than enough on transit, so… Bath is awesome. Full stop. (The British say “full stop” instead of period.) The city is absolutely gorgeous (when it’s not being battered by the incessent rain). I’ve done a fair bit of wandering around, and so far I’ve stumbled upon the Royal Crescent, Queen’s Square and the obelisk, “high street” (downtown) and South Mall, Thermae Bath Spa, and some nooks and crannies of the city along the way. Here are a few pictures:

Queen’s Square Obelisk:
The Royal Crescent:

outside Queen Victoria Park:
I need to get down to see the ancient Roman baths and the abbey… there’s a museum at the baths, so that might just be for this coming weekend…

As for my classes, I started yesterday, and I’m quite excited for the semester. My professors and the Computer Science Department are very personable and accessible, and the courses should be stimulating. The University of Bath has quite a compact campus, much smaller than Penn State’s! Also, there’s a bar and nightclub on campus in their Students’ Union building! Here’s the library and about half of campus:
I’ll be sure to tell you more about Uni as classes get going.

Cheers!

Location: Bath, UK