"Alternative music leads to lesbianism!"

Title of post explanation: We were telling awkward date stories in the back of the bus and someone talked about this kid who said someone reminded him of his sister - first she started listening to alternative music, then she was a little disrespectful to her parents, and then next thing they knew, she was living somewhere random as a lesbian. Good first date story, buddy. Nicely done. But at least we derived a lesson from it.
Anyway, here are my stories for the last couple of days.
Yesterday wasn't terribly exciting in the usual sense (until last night, but we're getting there) but was kind of fun for me. I stayed in after classes to do some T.A. work and booked tours for our group, including a tour of the Houses of Parliament during the summer opening and a tour of the Cabinet War Rooms (confirmed by email by a Beatrice Prosser-Snelling, who told me to let her know if I had any queries. Hehe.) Anyway, I also made approximately a million copies for Dr. Holland's class, and since I don't know how to collate, I did it by hand. Lovely. But fun and productive-feeling.
Last night I finally made it to the National Theatre. Amazing. We saw Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw, and it was beyond fabulous. I don't even know how to begin talking about it. The staging, the acting, the moral dilemmas presented in the play - all invigorating and excellent. I don't think that everyone enjoyed it quite as much as I did (I distinctly overheard someone saying, "What was that? I just want to see Phantom."), but no one can deny that there is beauty in government funding. The best scene was a change from a drawing room to a munitions factory - very ominous and large scale with huge rows of bombs descending from the 'bove. Then, at the end of the play when the moral question had been decided somewhat in favor of the bomb maker, the lights went out to the sound of bombs all around us, with an excellent sound system that really made the room vibrate convincingly. It threw quite a cog in for anyone trying to tie up a nice little message. I love it.
Today was our first day trip. I got up terribly early (and was ready way before I needed to be) and then slept a little on the bus to Stonehenge. It was so nice not having to race in just before closing this time - we had a leisurely 45 minute walk around and took lots of great pictures, as shown below.

Here I'm listening intently to the audioguide (nope) and learning lots of stuff (looking cool).

Erin, Annie, Kristen and I "bringing Gaza to Stonehenge"

reenacting the pivotal (hokey) scene from The Woman in Black

After our druidic experience (including Stephen's encounter with an actual druid who had a sign protesting the "Disneyland" feel of a holy place) we continued on our way to Bahth. (We said it this way every time, but it was more like BAHth, and once one person said it, everyone else said it too. So fun.) We started off at the Roman Bahths, where we mostly listened to the amazing children's audio commentary (Best. Thing. Ever.) and took pictures. After that we were on our own, so we explored with a vengeance.

The Roman Baths with Annie, Lauren, and Mallory

First we went to the pump room and drank the waters o' Bahth, which taste like really hard bathwater because they give it to you warm and mineraly. Not good, but I'm glad I can say I did now. And I'm sure I'll be feeling the benefits soon. Plus, the pump room is a really cool place.

Mmm. Warm nasty water.

We headed from there up to Gay Street (really) to the Jane Austen Centre. Last time I was here I didn't have time to do more than visit the gift shop there, but this time we got to hear the lecture and see the exhibition (plus there was this awesome man in victorian dress who said, "Gave your chaperone the slip, eh? There's nothing for having fun like losing your chaperone!" Delightful.
While we waited for our tour to start we ran up to the Circle and the Royal Crescent - the high end parts of town.

Here's a random cool street with pretty country showing at the end.

We grabbed some Cornish pasties before getting back on the coach - mine was cheese and onion and you should all be proud of me, because I ate almost all of it, even the onions.
When we came back tonight we decided to grab a light dinner - for me that was waffles with chocolate and strawberries, because I wasn't actually that hungry. We went to the park to eat by the pond with the ducks, and Annie and I had this very attractive picture of us taken. I think I'm enjoying it more.
And then I tried to do my homework and dropped my pencil, so Mallory is looking for it. I love this picture. She looks hilarious.
So that's the last two days, and now I'm going to sleep and probably reading Plato tomorrow morning. Huzzah for BAHth.