Hey everyone,

So, what have I been doing for the past week...

1. I went to Stonehenge! A lot of people claim that it's a bit of a let down, but believe me, it was SO extremely cool. Just getting to see the product of such amazing human ingenuity and sheer manpower was so impressive. I listened to the audio history guide, which granted I didn't absorb much of, but it was still pretty interesting. The only thing that I really retained was that they got the stone slabs to the top of the hill by rolling them along logs - pretty clever from the perspective of someone who would have a hard time thinking past throwing them all on the bed of a truck.
2. I went to Salisbury! Little known fact (or at least me and the rest of the group I was with didn't know this), the Salisbury Cathedral has the highest spire in all of England and the 3rd highest in all of the world. The Cathedral was absolutely magnificent, and I enjoyed walking around it with my three new friends from the trip Melissa, Stella, and Radek. It also has the oldest working clock - there are no numbers or hands, but it chimes every hour.
3. I went to New Forest Park! Disclaimer: forest in England does not mean trees. The word is descendant of the time when the forest used to be the land outside of the king's control - today it just means that livestock wanders around it aimlessly, so we got to see a lot of horses, donkeys, pigs, and a few cows. We also stopped in our guide's hometown which was very cute and Melissa, Stella, Radek, and I had some delicious tea in a cute little chocolate shop. I also got some rose-petal jam, which I know sounds strange, but is possibly my new favorite jam. Then we drove back to London.

Tomorrow my Virginia Woolf class is taking a walking tour of Bloomsbury, the area of London where Virginia Woolf lived when she lived in the city. It should be quite interesting and I'm looking forward to it - I love walking around the city more than anything, and a guided tour will be right up my ally.

Friday is my work day (I'm getting ahead on some essays since I'll be traveling for a lot of reading week), though I'm also planning to hit up a few of my destinations on my "Jordyn's Massive List of Things to Do in London" (please send me any recommendations). I figure that by the time I have more visitors, I will be quite the knowledgable tour-guide if I can make it through my list. I've also been getting better at navigating London and don't bother to carry my map most of the time - I actually use the Underground to navigate while above ground since I love it so much that I have the Underground map memorized, so I just find a stop and orient myself from there. Going on runs around London has helped too - I love running along the river on sunny days.

Then Saturday I'm going to Windsor Castle with my study abroad program and on Sunday my group of friends from Fordham and I are going to Bath for the day.

Anyways, more updates to come after my next adventures. In the coming weeks look for posts about Edinburgh, Venice (and Carnival!!), Dublin, and Oxford! I hope you're all healthy, happy, and having fun wherever you are in the world!