Bath Says Goodbye Sometimes

I've left Bath for the last time.

The last few days-- well, the last week really-- have been a whirlwind. First of all, I forgot to mention that last Thursday (before the Dorset Hike) I decided to go exploring. It was gorgeous sunny day so I walked all the way to St. Stephens Church. I could see it from my window in Nunes House but it was so far away and I'd never even thought of going to it before. I wanted to see what I would find on the way there... turns out, Bath is beautiful. I came across lots of little antique stores, some cafes, Georgian houses with beautiful flowers in front and ivy on the walls, two crescents I'd never heard of before, little winding paths, and large public parks. One crescent I went to was called Camden Crescent, and the other was Lansdown Crescent. Both were beautiful, but Lansdown Crescent was like something out of a fairy tale. I would rather live there than the Royal Crescent even. I could see far off into the distance rolling hills with small houses clustered together, and directly in front of the crescent was a field of sheep. In front of each door was a bower; some were covered in flowers.

This last Monday afternoon my friends put on the play they had been working on since Oxford. It was a retelling of Midsummer Night's Dream, except instead of Hippolota and Theseus' wedding it was Beyonce and Jay-Z, if that tells you anything... It was funny though, and nice entertainment. They had worked hard on it. Monday night was fantastic! We all went to Opa after the play because it was warm and sunny and Brooke and I got margaritas, then I got a kiwi martini, and we all had such fun standing around recounting funny stories and praising the play. Except, while there, I suddenly realized that when I get home I have two months before I can go to a bar and order myself a margarita or a martini... which really will be an adjustment, since I'm so used to being able to get whatever I please, whenever I please. Really unhappy about this.

Tuesday I finished up my finals and went to a "re-entry" session for returning to the States. I didn't really think it would be all that difficult, but they brought up some good points that I hadn't thought of before, so now I'm almost a little worried about how it will be to go back. I suppose I'll find out tomorrow afternoon. I guess I hadn't thought of the little ways in which I've changed over the course of the semester: for example, I have become more conscious of what I eat, how much what I eat costs, and how much food I waste. I've gotten used to walking everywhere and being able to walk everywhere. I've gotten used to English grocery stores and the products they sell, and as much as I'll be grateful to have Wheat Thins once more I think I'm really going to miss Waitrose Muesli and Sainsbury's Tikka Masala sauce. There were bigger things, too-- how our friends and families will react to us, for one. And how we will react to our friends and families. Andy pointed out that just because we've been gone for four months doesn't mean that things at home have stayed exactly as they were. Friendships will be different, because while we've been growing and changing our friends have been growing and changing, too... without us and in different ways from us. I think the session helped, though, and hopefully the transition to going home will be a smooth one if I bear in mind some of the lessons of the re-entry session. Afterwards, I went to Cafe Rouge with Brooke for one last bowl of French Onion soup and a Caesar salad, which perked me right up and once again made me anticipate coming home :).

Wednesday and Thursday were spent in a flurry of packing, doing last minute shopping, seeing people, going places... went back to Opa with Alli and Jon, hung out with some Linley girls, stayed around Nunes. Brian made me dinner, which was nice since I had absolutely no food besides oatmeal left in my flat. Then I packed some more. Thursday was similar, except that I had lunch at an Indian place called Rajpoot with Emily H., and then last night we all went out to a restaurant called The Slug and Lettuce (which is a disgusting name) and had a Nunes dinner. The food was actually pretty good. And, of course, the company was excellent. I sat near Brooke, Liz, Jen, and Jon which was quite entertaining. Afterwards we had a mini-party in Nunes then everybody went to the Porter... except me. I still had packing to do, and it's a good thing I did because I realized that I needed another small bag in order to bring everything home. Luckily, Shea was throwing out a very nice large pink handbag, so I took that and made everything fit perfectly :). Shea came home early to talk to Andrew, then Danielle and Alli came home slightly inebriated-- Danielle was talking about how terrible it was that the Mr. D's truck massacred cows for their hamburgers, which was amusing. Around 2:45 or so we finally turned in for bed, so we were up late today.

I got up around 10:30 or so, took a shower, returned some books to the ASE library (not that I ever took any out... shhhhhhh), and then came back to my flat just as it was stormed by Flat 3 girls. We decided we all needed to get dressed to go right away for a last walk around Bath and a final trip to Sainsbury's Local for coca-colas, and smoothies at Smooth Sensations in the Corridor, and in general to bid farewell to the city we have lived in for so long. Really, it was kind of sad. Walking up Milsom Street for the last time, walking into Local for the last time, seeing street performers in front of the Abbey for the last time, passing Retro's to Go for the last time, going into Nelson House for the last time... We got back to Nunes around 1:15 to start getting ready for Final Tea. I wore my new yellow seersucker dress from Jane Norman with a little yellow cardigan. As Nunes Flats 3, 4, and 5 we walked over en masse and took the entire center table for ourselves. Jonathon Hope sat with us since we were right in front of the projector for the Slide Show. It was really a High Tea-- we had little tea sandwiches, followed by scones, followed by little cakes. Then Barbara made a speech, both humorous and poignant, followed by a similar speech from Jonathon. Then Frank, a student, made a speech about how wonderful the staff was-- Andrew Butterworth asked him to say a few words and Frank really lived up to it with well-thought out, funny, touching speech to thank each staff member for looking after us and making us feel always at home. Then the Slide Show itself came on and suddenly we were being handed t-shirts and envelopes and being pushed out the door.

I went back to Nunes, finished packing my bags, and then my flatmates and Brooke walked me to the train station and I bid Bath goodbye forever-- at least as an ASE student. It was a gloomy day, much like the first day that I arrived in England, and I felt rather sad on the train passing the familiar stops that I once passed to go to Oxford. Goodbye towpath, goodbye little lambs in the fields, goodbye S.T.E.A.M Museum of the Western Railroad, goodbye Didcot Parkway with your smokestacks, goodbye goodbye. All the way into London Paddington and to Heathrow.

Currently, I'm sitting in the Yotel at the airport realizing I need to get some sleep before I have to wake up early for my flight tomorrow. I don't think it's hit me yet that I'm actually leaving Bath and actually going home: back to the U.S.A. I can't deny that I'm really excited to be going home-- I've missed my parents, my friends, my cats, my house, my car (guiltily enough), Hershey's syrup, and a land where the dollar is worth something. I feel like living abroad has, if nothing else, made me appreciate the United States of America more. It has made me appreciate my friends, my family, and the life that I have there. Sometimes it takes leaving a place to realize how wonderful it really is... I've learned that if I ever again "go looking for my heart's desire, I won't look any further than my own backyard; if it's not there, then I never really lost it to begin with," as Dorothy says in The Wizard of Oz.

But at the same time, I already miss hanging out with Nunes House and having Nunes family dinners, going to sun myself in the park with Brooke, late nights talking with Alli, Shea, and Danielle, and being able to travel to any locale in Europe cheaply, with the click of a button and at the drop of a pin. Still, there really is no place like home, even though I'll miss my new found friends from Bath immensely and leaving them this afternoon was hard.

So, goodbye Bath. Goodbye England.

Tomorrow I fly home to continue the Many Adventures of Me in a brand new way. See you all on the other side of the pond.

Summer '08

I'm done with finals!!!!!!

I just finished up my Irish Lit final and I took my Tudors/Stuarts final earlier this morning. Now I'm done! I'm not sure how I did on my finals... but at least I managed to write something for every question asked of me. I was thinking about it last night, and I discovered that the reason that it has been so hard for me to study for these is that I haven't had to take an unseen final in a year (except in LCST, but she gave us a very generous study guide). I haven't had to study for a history final since last Spring. Even then he gave us the questions beforehand and said that he would pick a few to be on the test. I haven't had this little guidance in studying for an in-class final ever and I haven't had to take one in so long: I'm fantastic at take-home finals, however. I really do prefer them, especially for history and English. History is less about memorizing dates and regurgitating than it is about analysis, which is much easier to do if you have ample time to really contemplate instead of doing an info-dump. English, too, usually tends to be more thoughtful when there's really time to peruse texts. I can see giving an English in class if the possible essay topics are given first and you have to prepare a few at home. I've done that and like that, but these unseen, entire semester-cumulative exams were killer.

But oh, well. They are done and I managed to write all five essays required of me today, even if they are rather average compared to the work I like to do.

So now it's summertime!!! I need to pack, go to the park and sit in the sun, do a little last minute shopping, have a few drinks at Opa, and enjoy my last few days in Bath!!!

Chefs and Sunburns

Thursday night was the long anticipated Nunes Iron Chef competition! We all knew Brian could cook, but what about Jon and Gabe? This was our chance to find out.

We gave each guy 7 pounds and then they could spend up to 5 pounds of their own on food, two hours to run to the grocery store and cook, and they had to incorporate a secret ingredient--apples. At 7:40 the food was presented to six taste-testers (one from each house). I was runner for the Flat 5 kitchen, which was assigned to Gabe. Basically, if he needed anything from any of the other flats, such as cooking wine or tongs, I ran and got it for him during the two hours that he was grocery shopping/cooking. Gabe made an incredible dish of chicken marsala with an apple/lemon flavor over fettuccine.

Meanwhile, Jon was working on a similar dish and Brian made a salmon dish with spinach, tomato, and apple. At 7:40 came the moment of truth. The food was brought before the taste-testers, who then scored each dish, and Jen, Charlotte, and Liz calculated the winner. Everyone came within three points of each other. In third place, with 42.3 repeating points was Brian, then came John with 44.2 points, and then Gabe, with 44.7 points (I think those decimals are correct). Gabe was Nunes Iron Chef 2008! Everyone's food was excellent though-- Brian's salmon was AMAZING, but some of the judges didn't like seafood, so he had taken a risk. Gabe's chicken marsala, the winner, was excellent. The flavor combinations in the marsala were great!!! I didn't really get to try Jon's, but everyone said that it was pretty great, too. So, Iron Chef 2008 was really fun, and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had a huge turn-out from the other houses, too. About 30 people were crammed into the common room to hear the winner announced.
-------------------------
Yesterday was hiking in Dorset. I can't believe we've actually done it. We learned about the Dorset hike at the beginning of the semester-- it was the last 'event' of the semester for us to look forward to... I never really thought we'd get to May 9th. But we did, and yesterday we went hiking.

Dorset is a county on the southern coast of England, pretty much directly south from Somerset (where Bath is). There's a coastal hiking path around the cliffs of Dorset; the path starts in Cornwall, continues through Devon, and into Dorset-- it's one of the longest coastal hikes in the UK. We took a two-hour bus ride to Dorset, were dropped off at a little village church, then began our trek on the path. The coastal hike is along soil cliffs, which apparently have the chance of landsliding into the sea-- a few days ago 100 yards of coast went into the ocean about a hundred miles from where we were walking. We were told also not to go to close to the edge of the cliff because sometimes the ground stretched farther than the landmass to which it was connected, so though it may look like we were on ground it was quite possible we were standing on thin air, and could like Wiley Coyote go crashing down. Someone remarked: "Is it too late to turn back?"

But alas it was, so after the speech about how our hike was certain death, we hiked for 7 1/2 miles along the coast, through fields, through valleys, up huge hills and back down again... at one point we came to a hill with 204 steps up. I felt like I had run a mile once I reached the top, and last night the 63 stairs up to Flat 5 were NOTHING. The walk was gorgeous. When we were by the sea we could smell the saltwater and see all the way out nothing but blue ocean. At the end of the walk we came to a small pub called The Square and Compass where we got pasties and cold drinks (I got a coca cola) and relaxed in the outdoor seating. After we ate, we took the bus to the village of Corfe, where we could visit Corfe Castle and village. I opted to stay in the village part-- once you've seen one castle's ruins you've seen them all, I think. I got ice cream, then went to the Greyhound Inn with Cally, Ashley, and Galina.

We got Pimms! I'd never tried Pimms, and it's such an English drink I felt I needed to-- it was quite good. I'm not sure what it is, but apparently it's the official drink of punting, and everyone has told me to try it before I leave England, so I'm glad I did. We also got seasoned potato wedges, which made me want a swimming pool. For some reason I associate seasoned fries with the swimming pool. Overall, it was an excellent day, except upon returning home I realized my shoulders were badly sunburned and my legs weren't fairing too well either, mostly on the left side of my body for some reason. Oh well...

Overall, a fantastic day with ASE.