Week 2: Pride and Prejudice (and Stonehenge)

Sunday-Saturday

29 September- 05 October

On Sunday I went to church in my new ward. It is over an hour away by tube, plus a fifteen minute walk. Going to church basically takes up my whole entire day, but it is worth it. I can't believe I've been to church in 4 different countries this year, and they've all taught the same things. We had a special talk with a man who grew up here during the end of WWII, and he talked about what a huge impact the war had on the country. 

On Monday we got library cards (I still don't know why.. I'm not going to the library here), and then saw the Tower of London. The highlight was seeing the crown jewels. Again, we couldn't take pictures there, but the jewels were pretty cool. The rest of the buildings there weren't actually that riveting. 

Tower of London. Not an actual tower.

The coolest thing to see was this dragon.

Does this look familiar to anyone?

On Tuesday I decided to go on an optional countryside walk with the man who gave the WWII talk. I just found out that we were in Kent (Pride and Prejudice anyone). It was beautiful! I seriously felt like I was Elizabeth Bennett. The walk was ten miles but it didn't feel like that at all.

The group of us that went. I'm to the left of the taller boy in the back row.

This looks like a scene from Harry Potter.

Beautiful scenery.

Cute British houses.

We got to go inside this old church and sing hymns at the end of our walk. It was a neat experience.

More beautiful countryside.

On Friday we left for a trip to Southeast England. We dropped by Stonehenge on the way there (how crazy is it that I can just stop by Stonehenge?!). I was surprised at how much smaller it looked in person. I wish we could've gotten closer to the rocks, but it was still so cool to see.

Our next stop was Salisbury to see the Salisbury Cathedral. My groups tour guide was so flamboyant, and I kept laughing. The cathedral was interesting, but I have to admit I didn't really learn anything cool about it. Except, I did get to see one of the original copies of the Magna Carta. Pretty cool. 

We made our way to Stourhead gardens next. This was one of the best things I've done so far. They filmed part of the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice at Stourhead (it's the scene when Darcy proposes in the rain), and I was so excited to see it. I somehow got completely separated from the group so I was alone. I actually liked soaking in all the nature by myself. I walked through some grotto's, a temple dedicated to Greek gods and goddesses, and past some rivers. As I was making my way to the Temple of Apollo (the place where the proposal takes place) it started raining. Just like it did in the movie. I was dying. Hands down, just a perfect moment on this trip. I toured the house of the family who owned the gardens right before we left, but after awhile historic houses all start to look the same. 

I was so excited to be standing where Keira Knightley stood and got proposed to!

We finally made it to Bath. Our hostel looked like a fancy pants British house, but we had to walk up a huge hill to get to it. Bath is a cute college town, and I went with a couple friends to this awesome restaurant and just walked around absorbing the atmosphere. 

The next day we went to the Jane Austen center. Not what I thought it would be. It was basically just a house dedicated to how cool Jane Austen is. She only lived in Bath for a couple of years when she was older, and I don't even think the house was the actual house she lived in. But I do know she got inspiration from Bath when she visited as a teenager. 

They had clothes you could dress up in. I didn't, but I took lots of pictures.

A famous Bath bun. They aren't actually that good. There's just a sugar cube baked into the bottom.

We also got to go the Fashion Museum which I loved. There were some really cool and iconic dresses there and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the exhibit. 

Fashion museum.

Our last stop was the Roman Baths (the reason that Bath is called Bath is because of the Romans). They were cool to see, but when I think about what they were actually like when the Romans were using them, I got a little grossed out. Communal bath water is not sanitary.

We had a little bit of time to explore the city and get things to eat before we left to go home. I don't know if I should include this, because it would lower the tone, but I want to document the experience as honestly as I can. While we were eating dinner, there was a homeless teenager sitting across from us, rolling and deconstructing cigarettes. Everyone kept passing him and giving him sad looks. It was obvious he had run away from home, and been gone for a long time. There was definitely something wrong with him and I knew I should've given him my food, or done something but I didn't and I felt so guilty. A lady stopped and sat to talk to him, asked him if he had a house or money or anything and gave him some money. It made me so sad and I couldn't help but be upset the way home while the rest of the people on the bus watched Harry Potter. One thing I've noticed from being in Europe is how many kids smoke and drink and run away from home and it makes me so sad. I wished I could help them.

Anyways, I had such a good week seeing all the Pride and Prejudice things. We read that in our English class that week too, which was so fun. It was my first time reading it and I was surprised by how much better I thought it was than the movie!

(Side-note: Saturday night marked the night that our apartment started our scare competitions. I started it off by hiding in someone's room in the dark. There's been lots of scaring since and it is so funny! I got a good group of roommates!)