If you can't tell this has been a week full of festivities. It is sort of all blurring together at the moment but I'll try to do the best I can recounting it all.
Halloween was Wednesday and I have to say it is definitely a bigger deal in America. I wanted to get festive so the day of I went to the shops to buy candy (I was going to make Halloween treat bags for the flat-yeah guys, you missed out on that.) but they didn't have enough supplies. I expected to walk into the store and be hit in the face with decorations, jumbo sized bags of candy, and tons of costume stuff. Sadly, there was about 1/30 th of what I was expecting. I managed to find some brownies with sad looking pumpkins on them and then just bought an assortment of chocolate and gummies. Camille and James went to get a pumpkin to carve but they were all gone so they went into a laundromat and asked if they could have the one in the window. Seriously, it is the only way we could get a pumpkin. They did a great job with the carving and then they roasted the seeds which were pretty tasty. I dressed up as a newborn vampire, minus the fangs (they ran out of their low stock before I could buy some) and red contacts because let's face it I've heard enough actors complain about how horrible they are to wear. Linda, Hannah, Lucy and myself went to a Halloween party at the 02 Academy and had to wait in line for a substantial amount of time, they threatened to not let us in, then we somehow managed to get to the dance floor by 12:30. We were having a great time when sadly, someone from the balcony (hopefully it was an accident) spilt their drink and I was drenched in alcohol. Cool. As we were waiting for, you guessed it, the Donnervan chips, we witnessed a fight and people getting arrested. Not so cool. Overall though it was a really nice night but it definitely made me miss the home comforts of a holiday.
Thursday was a sad day because one of my flatmates moved back home. We all went out to eat as a going away shin dig at Zizzi's Ristorante and it was really nice. The food was very, very good and it was nice for all of the flat to be together. Katie, we miss you!
Friday was spent how they always are: wake up, watch Vampire Diaries, attempt to do work, watch Elementary with Josh, hang out/go out, sleep.
Saturday was absolutely fantastic. As a preface to the next bit this has been one of the best weekends I've had in Bristol. Saturday, I woke up quite early to meet Elvyn (the best tour guide/Welsh man ever) for another international students trip. This time we went to Glastonbury and Wells (before anyone corrects me on my spelling, not the country Wales, the town Wells.) We drove about an hour to Glastonbury. (You can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury if you aren't sure where or what Glastonbury is.) I visited a Rural Life Museum...they had a stuffed horse, weird. Then we went to the Glastonbury abbey. I am currently doing a research project on monastic learning in the 12th century so it was pretty amazing to be standing in a ruined abbey. It was absolutely beautiful and the feeling you get when you are in a place like that is something I can't really convey in words. It was said that Jesus visited the Glastonbury Abbey as a boy with his uncle and it is also where King Arthur and his lady Guinevere are said to be buried. As I stood in the middle of the ruins, I could imagine what the actual abbey must have looked like and it is truly amazing that things that grand existed when they did. Coming from America, a place that is so young we don't even really have an extensive history yet, it was amazing to once again be in a place so old and historical. Next we went to climb the Tor which is an incredibly high hill with a tower that overlooks the city and the surrounding areas, you can see to Bristol and to the coast -pretty amazing views and the sheep were adorable. I'd highly recommend a visit to Glastonbury if you're ever in the south of England. Oh, I forgot to mention the great lunch that I had at a Cornish Pasty shop. Pasty shops rock- end of discussion.
Next we went to Wells and went straight to the cathedral. I cannot really tell you how amazing this place was but I'll try. If you've seen Lord of the Rings, the inside looked just like Rivendell. There were knights buried under my feet and a choir singing and the sheer size and age of everything made me realize once again how small and tiny a single person is in the grand scale of time. It was so beautiful that I really don't have words for it. There was a clock in the church that is a one of a kind. It's one of a kind because the maker had his eyes taken out because what he was doing was controversial. The clock tracks the lunar month, the time and tons of other stuff. (It was a bit complicated for me...) An embarrassing moment occurred when I was listening to the beautiful, haunting sounds of the choir while standing between the graves of two knights from the 12th century in a huge cathedral surrounded by beautiful stained glass windows. I was really overcome by how beautiful and old everything was that I got a bit teary-eyed. (The same thing happened to me when I saw the Rocky Mountains for the first time if that gives you any clue to how grand this place was.) After visiting the cathedral and stopping by the bishops palace (it was closed already so we couldn't go in) we headed back home to Bristol.
Glastonbury & Wells Video:
If you can't tell I'm still 100000 percent in love with this place and I feel so lucky to be here. Thanks again to everyone who supported me in this decision and pushed me to do it. I'm literally having the time of my life and I can't thank everyone who has made this possible enough.
Just a preview of what's coming up this month: Trip to Bath, Oxford, Twilight Midnight release madness, London Trip/Harry Potter Studios Tour, and an American Thanksgiving in England.
Hope you enjoyed this post, as always more pictures are on my Facebook if you are interested.
M
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