Life in Bath

Hello all!

This blog post is going to be dedicated to telling you everything that I have been up to here in my temporary home, starting with the Bath Abbey Tower Tour and brunch at Sally Lunn's! Last Tuesday two of my fellow Education Programme peers and I had the day off since all of our school placements were on their mid-term holiday so we decided to live up the opportunity and make it a touristy day. We started with an 11am brunch date at Sally Lunn's, which is one of the oldest buildings and restaurants in Bath. Their claim to fame rests in their "Sally Lunn Bun"... a delicious cake/bread toasted creation that has it's own secret recipe. I decided on trying both the savory and the sweet buns with a Ham and Cheese toasty and then a bun with cinnamon butter topping. Suffice it to say that I am definitely taking Mackenzie there when she comes to visit and I might have to go back even before that!

Then we were off to the Bath Abbey Tower Tour, which was both amazing because of the view from the top and treacherous because of the 212 itty-bitty ancient stairs that we had to climb! The guides showed us the bell tower and the clock room, but one of the most interesting aspects was standing on wooden structure right above the vaulted ceiling and looking down the seventy-five feet to the Abbey floor.

Waiting with Hadley for our Tower Tour!

The bell room, where all the gadgets and ropes are located for ringing and chiming the bells.

Melanie and I in the Clock Tower... sorry it's a bit dark!

The view of Bath from the top of Bath Abbey.

Cheesing at the top!

Nunes House! I can see my flat from here!

The square in front of Bath Abbey. Normally, when it's not raining, you can find street performers playing in the center of the square.

Looking down on the Roman Baths from the top of Bath Abbey.

Hadley, Melanie, and I at the top!

On our way back down after seeing the top of the Tower.

Other than getting to know the historic aspects of my city, I have been trying hard to get involved in activities that interact with the people who are lucky enough to live here. Perhaps the silliest thing I've done is a dance class that practices the art of Regency dancing... that's right people, all those dances in the Jane Austen novels! Despite many girls' anticipation that they were going to meet their Mr. Darcy at this class, I went into it believing that the entire class would be female. I was actually proven wrong! The class had about thirty people in total with around twelve or thirteen men! I, personally, am not too attracted to white-haired, seventy-year-old men who are barely tall enough to reach my shoulders and wear suspenders... but, I guess if you are into that kind of thing, you could have found your Mr. Darcy :) They were all true gentlemen and I had a blast dancing with them and the other women who came. The dances were actually quite hard to keep straight and all us ASE girls got a crash course in the dancing terminology, but the teacher assured us that the next session would be a bit easier. The harder class was meant to prep the regulars for the ball that was happening over the weekend-- one of the women, who gallantly partnered with me for the first dance when I had no idea what I was doing, told me about the Jane Austen festival in the fall that has a huge Regency ball with the dancing, the music, and the costumes of the Austen world. Too bad I am leaving in May! The class meets every other week so I will try to get some pictures next time!

Classes are going brilliantly; this was the third week of class so after this weekend, I will officially start freaking out about the first set of papers that are due for all my classes in a couple weeks. Three papers all to be turned in within two days of each other... not a problem! :) I am absolutely in love with the Education Programme; it is quite possibly the best opportunity for hands-on experience in a classroom that I have ever been afforded. The kids are all incredibly well-behaved and genuinely excited to come to school, which makes for a giant step in the right direction when fostering a collaborative, productive classroom atmosphere. I am hoping that I will be able to take a couple pictures with my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Ovigne, and with the class, but I will have to ask the Headteacher for permission to be able to post them online. Fingers crossed!

Bonding with the other ASE students has been really fun as well! A bunch of us have gone out to the pubs a couple times--it's cool to be able to legally buy a drink at the bar...the only downside is the price. Eight bucks seems like a pretty steep price for a half pint of cider, but maybe that's just my stingier side coming out. As some of the girls have told me, I need to start getting my flirt on and maybe I wouldn't be buying those drinks myself :) By far the tastiest ASE group activity has been Pudding Club! Pudding apparently refers to all dessert in general, not just the American dessert of pudding. This past week's theme was Chocolate so I made cupcakes while my roommates made brownies and we all stuffed ourselves on at least seven different chocolately desserts! Whoever said you can't have dessert for dinner has obviously not attended Pudding Club on a Sunday evening :) Melanie's brownies even topped them all for a first place win! We had so much left over that we decided to go around and pawn off some of our treats to the other girls in our building; they were more than willing to take some chocolate goodies off our hands! 

My chocolately cupcakes didn't win a prize, but that's okay because my flatmates and I polished them all off in about three days. 

Stay tuned for my adventures to Edinburgh and Dublin this weekend! Lots of pictures to come!

Cheers!