Happy Fourth!

Today a few of my friends and I went to Bath for a day trip. It was a really beautiful place... all the buildings are made of this beige brick from the area that looks goregous when it's new but gets so dirty and gross when it ages. I guess it adds character. The big rolling hills (or "downs" as they say... not ups, oddly) are amazing to take pictures of. Interestingly enough we were there the night of a Meatloaf concert. I had no idea the guy was still around.

Anyways, we saw Bath Abbey, a really big church with beautiful stained glass windows. Then we went to the Roman Baths where you tour what used to be a communal bath during the Roman Empire. You can even touch the water! They have an audio tour to go along with the whole museum to explain everything they've excavated. It's crazy to think the stone carvings I was looking at were incredibly older than the old church I had just been in.

Just to further the definition of the Lazy American, we paid for a 2-for-1 bus tour so we could sit and sight see at the same time. One tour took us all around the town and the other took us into the hills and up to Bath University. We were really looking forward to the hills tour for great pictures... but all the trees were in the way! It was so sad. By the end of the second tour we were pretty tired, so we headed back on the train for Oxford.

We went to a place called Old Orleans for dinner. The longest and most ridiculous dinner I've ever had. I ordered the chicken fajitas just to see what they would be like, since this place was supposed to be the all American food. It was actually pretty decent. However, the beverages in this country are insane. You're lucky if they have Coke at most restaurants and if they do, you get a small glass, no refill, and very little ice. It drives me crazy because I want a soda but I know I'm not getting my money's worth. Then when we ask her to split the bill, everything went haywire. In this country, I don't know why, but separating checks is unheard of. Us college kids aren't rich and we're only going to pay for what we ate, so you should accomodate us! Our waitress seemed to believe splitting the check was the hardest thing she's ever done. It took over an hour to get everything sorted out. I still don't get this country!

At least they gave us little American flags to celebrate the fourth. However, I think it's just made me more sad to know I won't be seeing any fireworks this year :( It's making me really homesick!

No plans for the rest of the weekend. I plan on reading the four books I have to read for class by Thursday... woops. Class is a whole other story. I had my first tutorial yesterday and it wasn't as bad as I thought, but I was definitely unprepared. My teacher just wants us to have an opinion and be able to persuade him to agree with it. I think it should be a very interesting class.

I'll write again soon!
-Megan