On Friday, we had our first official field trip for the British Landscapes course. We went to Stonehenge, Old Sarum, and Salisbury Cathedral.

Ever since I can remember I have wanted to go to Stonehenge. Not because it is a circle of large rocks. Not because it has been around since practically the dawn of time (although that was sort of the reason). But because the curiosity draw is so strong. The need to figure out why it is there, and who built it, has always been at the back of my mind. Unfortunately we may never know. But there are some rather nice theories, and some of the science around it is cool. The rocks are blue stone from Wales. They honestly have no idea how the indigenous people would have gotten rocks from Wales all the way to Britain that were that huge. They had 56 columns around Stonehenge itself made of Sarsen stone which came from different parts around England. They have found evidence of a pathway leading to a town they have named Dorrington. They have also found evidence of people’s ashes (from cremation, not burning them alive or anything), and  pigs teeth which are all dated to 9 months old. This has led some to believe that there was a winter festival of sorts up there, but no one is sure. The Cursus is a long ditch that has two fire pits on either end. On the summer solstice and the winter solstice, the sun would rise and set over each of the fire pits but never touch the Cursus. It would also line up with the pathway and “entrance” of Stonehenge on the heel stone. All around the place there are hundreds of barrows. Also, Druids have only recently been associated with Stonehenge, and every once in a while, you will spot one all dressed up.

Old Sarum was a town built before the Norman Invaders in 1066. It was built with 3 baileys or levels with a huge ditch around so that the area itself was taller than on the other side of the ditch. Now it is a bunch of really old cool ruins and hills with beautiful trees and crests that remind me of Rohan. It was especially windy when we were there too! When the Normans conquered it, they tried to build a church. But five days after completing it, it burnt to the ground. So they decided to move out a bit (after building one but it wasn’t quite as good) to the surrounding area to build an even bigger one. This became Salisbury Cathedral. The only thing is, they built this cathedral only 4 feet above water because it is a swamp area. So they have this massive beautiful cathedral held up by 4 feet of earth and a thin sheet of shale until it gets to water. Oops. At Salisbury, we got to climb to the top of the bell tower (not all the way to the spire which is the tallest in Europe). It was a little scary climbing up some of the steps but quite honestly when I got to the top, it was absolutely breathtaking. You could see for miles. At Salisbury, they also have a copy of the Magna Carta because that is the cathedral where King John signed it. That was so cool to see, and it was very impressive because somehow or another, whoever drew it up had some of the best handwriting I’ve ever seen. It was so tiny and in straight lines like they had had lined paper.

I can’t write everything I learned in this one post, but hopefully you learned something as well.

I only have time for a quick post because I have to finish a book tonight, but I needed to post about today!

Jonathan Kirkpatrick took a small group of us on a tour around Oxford particularly, the first girl’s college, University park, Magdellan, Merton, and Christ Church colleges (although, do not call Christ Church, Christ Church college). We also went into University church. We saw some places where Tolkien, Lewis, Carroll, and Sayers lived/worked/frequented. Magellan particularly is where Lewis went to school. I will go into depth more on this later.

The other thing we did today was punting. Punting is where you are in a long boat, and someone at the back has a large heavy metal pole (very long). They use this pole to push the boat through the water and to move it in the right direction (if they can, that is). It is very hard to do. I tried it and loved it!

Also, I made dinner tonight by myself with only asking someone for a teeny bit of encouragement/help. I put a lot of nice spices on it, some olives and sun dried tomatoes from the community food and created something VERY good!! 🙂

Now onto studying!

So, basically, every day is an adventure with Elizabeth. Thursday afternoon, I packed my bags into the car and headed to the airport in Columbus. I went through TSA for the first time and didn’t die. In fact, the TSA agent who was standing by the scanner starting “cursing me” with Harry Potter spells. It was quite hilarious especially because he had to explain to his co-worker what he was doing. I got on plane, and everything was good…until the lightening storm hit. It was so bad with no sign of stopping that eventually the pilot just had us all get off. An hour and a half later, we were finally off the ground.

However, because of the delay, I missed my flight to London by about 10 minutes. I cried a little, and then waited an hour and a half rebooking it because United was having a lot of rescheduling due to storms. They tried rerouting me, finding me a seat on any United plane but because of the weekend, they were all full. So they switched me to American. Just as a side note, if you ever fly, put duct tape on your luggage or a colored string because that way if they ask you to describe it, you have something very different on your bags. I did not lose my bags because of this; they were able to transfer them fine!

Luckily thanks to our family friends, I had a place to stay in Chicago, and I found a flight leaving the next day at 4:30 pm. I had a small break but was still really nervous and exhausted. I made it through TSA again (this time the scanner showed I had metal in my arm…no idea where that came from. Even the TSA agent laughed and we both shrugged. (Yes, he laughed)). And I successfully navigated Terminal 3 of O’Hare. I loved watching the planes take off and land because that is one of my earliest memories of childhood before 9/11. I got to see my plane come in. It was a huge plane (I forget the number, 777 something).

I made it on, and it made it in the air and suddenly, I found myself on the way to London Heathrow! The flight it took was cool because we ended up flying over Canada and Greenland. The guy who sat next to me was from Kent England, but had lived in Columbus for 7 years. He was able to answer some of my questions which was nice. 🙂 I watched Tomorrowland (which was pretty good) and sort of fell asleep during Inside Out. I didn’t properly sleep mostly, I just sort of dozed, which I hated. I was woken up about 5:30 am London time and felt miserable, and questioned why on earth I was here. Then I had 2 cups of tea which helped immensely. So, basically the British are right: tea helps everything. I got in at 6:30 am London time.

I made it through passport check very very quickly because I was a student and didn’t have to wait in a line! Bought my coach ticket, and talked the whole way with a university student named Lewis who goes to Magdellan College (Mauh-da-lyn). Finally found the Vines and Ali made me coffee. 🙂

Now, I am all settled, not as jet legged as I was yesterday, and feeling so surreal about this experience. I’ve had the chance to walk around downtown Oxford and Headington (which is right next to it…strictly speaking they are the same thing but called different names for the different parts). I’ve biked a bit, and enjoyed the rare beautiful sunny and high 60s F weather today!

Although fun fact, British WIFI takes over your electronics. Spotify is now playing commercials with British Accents, and my texting app says that my mother is: Michelle – Mum or Mom to U. I think that’s so funny. 🙂