Nights in Savannah and Days in Bath

Hello All!

Sorry I haven't been more diligent in keeping up with the blog. But I'm done with my first round of tutorials; so I hope to do a better job with it from now on. A lot has happened since I last posted! I'll break everything up into a few posts so that there's not one, overwhelming blob of text and photos.

A few weeks ago, I went to a ball at the Oxford Union. The Union is one of the most prominent societies at Oxford. They host a plethora of speakers, like Supreme Court Justice Scalia, David Hasselhoff (Yes, you read that right.), and various lords and knights. They also hold weekly debates, in which students and scholars participate. Every term, the Union puts on a ball for the members. The theme was Nights in Savannah, and it was really fun!

It's a very fancy affair, at least at first. When my friends and I walked through the door, someone checked our tickets, and then the Union President, Secretary, Treasurer (who looks just like Hugh Grant), and Librarian handed us glasses of champagne! We checked our coats in the library and took some photos with the books.

The ball was so much fun! Keeping with the theme, they served burritos and tropical drinks, and they had a cigar room. They were handing out Cubans for free! A bunch of my American friends were really excited, but I was more excited about the chocolate fountain! My friends and I spent most of the night dancing. First there was live music, and then there was a silent disco, which is really bizarre. Instead of playing music on big speakers, everyone gets headphones. It's a huge trend here! I was skeptical at first, but it's actually quite fun, especially when you take off the headphones. You get to watch people rocking out when there's no music. HILARIOUS! It was a great night!

After my night in Savannah, I spent the day in Bath. It was really cool! We saw the Roman baths, and my friend and I had tea and cake in the Pump Room. Just being in a city that has over 2,000 years of history is quite a humbling experience. It was awesome!

We drove through the Cotswolds on our way to Bath. It was INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL! It would have been easier to marvel at God's creation, however, if we weren't watching Die Hard on the bus. Haha!

The bath from above

There was a gorgeous view of Bath Abbey from one of the corners of the terrace overlooking the bath.

Pretty archway in Bath

Roman sculptures at the baths

Underground at the baths

An altar to the Roman gods

Rachel and I posing in front of the bath

Me at the bath!

This is the Pump Room, where Rachel and I had afternoon tea (so English!). Now it's a restaurant, but a few hundred years ago, it was where people came to "take the waters" for their health. All you Jane Austen fans know what I'm talking about. It would have been here that Catherine Morland met Mr. Tilney and where Anne Elliot would have come while her family was in Bath. Austen's family moved to Bath in 1801 upon her father's retirement; so she probably came here for balls and things like that. I can't explain how awesome it was to be in this room while in the midst of my Jane Austen tutorial at Oxford. How blessed am I!

Though the Pump Room is now a restaurant, you can still "take the waters," like they would have in Austen's time. I had half a glass. It was absolutely gross! It was warm and smelled like sulphur. But how could I be there and not drink it? It was totally worth it!

When we went into Bath Abbey, there was a choir practicing. It was the perfect, stereotypical way to tour a church, with the beautiful choral music and everything! It was a great day!

Ok, so it appears that I failed in my attempt to keep the post from being a huge blob of text and photos. But trust me: it could have been worse! I miss you all, and I want to share my experience with you. I hope it's not too much!

Love and miss you all!