Hiya!! Some exchange students and I visited Bath this weekend. I finally went! I've been there accidentally as I didn't get off the bus at my stop and just went from Bristol all the way to Bath in my first week here.
The snow is completely gone now, but while traveling to Bath, we could still see some snow-covered hills.
This time, we actually got to see quite a lot, not just the bus station.
First we went to Bath Abbey, which was founded in the 7th century. It was absolutely beautiful.
That's the square right in front of the Abbey.
and there's a fudge shop right there as well:)
That's Pulteney Bridge crossing Avon. It's the only bridge, except for one in Florence, which has got shops throughout it - one of the girls was quite informed;). It's a Grade 1 listed bridge.
That's the Royal Crescent, built between 1767 and1774. It's one of the greatest examples of Georgian architecture in the UK and is a Grade 1 listed building.
Here's a picture from the web, so you might see the crescent..
The Grade 1 listing means the building has been placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, in the UK. Grade 1: buildings of exceptional interest.
I had never seen a grey telephone box before...
We also went to the Bath market:).
We then went to the Victoria Art Gallery , which was free. I loved Roger Mayne's photographs, but they're a bit too dear for me. We also planned to go to the Fashion Museum, but didn't have enough time. We'll be back!
And then we went home:).
I really want to go back soon, it was lovely. There are quite a lot shopping opportunities in the centre, so it's perfect. I hope the picture overload and the historical facts don't bother you, I like it.
Hello. Winter has finally arrived here in Bristol! People have been waiting for snow for a long time. An older man started talking to me at the bus stop while waiting for our bus. They had the most snow here in 1963 apparently - back when he was still a bus conductor:).
It's been in the forecast for weeks, but it actually came true on Friday! It's been snowing all through last week throughout the whole country, but only now we've got snow. It was only about four inches on Friday night, but the people have gone crazy. We had school off on Friday - most school's have been closed. The bus service has been unbelievably unstable as well. My friend and I wanted to visit the Roman baths in Bath on Saturday as we didn't have tennis, but there was no way going to Bath. We'll have to reschedule it - it sounds so good! Everyone was snowed in and I couldn't get to anyone else's, so I went for a walk. I visited Willsbridge Mill, which was lovely:).
my host mum lent me her Wellies:) (and jacket and hat.. I'm not prepared whatsoever)
It's beautiful and you could walk for miles. It's right next to the main road in Willsbridge but you can't hear anything except the stream anyway.
I might have school off tomorrow as well. They said it should snow even more tonight... but probably not.
I think I've caught a cold while walking along the stream.. But I'm watching Nanny McPhee on the telly now and my host brother just brought me some apple crumble with Custard, so I could be worse;).
I hope you all had a wonderful new year's eve! One of my British friends invited s bunch of us and we stayed at hers on new year's eve.
In the second week of the holidays I went to Cribbs Causeway with two friends. I love it and already want to go back!! We've only seen a very small part of the whole mall. It takes about 45mins to get there by bus from Kingswood, but it's worth it:).
It does look a bit American I reckon.. oh well.
And I had my first Nando's in the food hall. Loved it (as well)! If you don't know Nando's (there isn't one in Switzerland, as far as I know), it's a restaurant chain originating from South Africa although the food is Portuguese. It took a while for my food to arrive, so I even got a voucher for a free meal, which is always nice:D. So now I have to go again.
There was a Winter Wonderland at Cribbs Causeway during the Twelve Days of Christmas (26.12. - 6.01.) and we went ice skating. It was on a temporary ice rink, I don't think there are any permanent ones nearby. It was labelled as the biggest rink in the Southwest, but was actually really, really small. Still lovely though - there was fake snow everywhere:).
I was a bit shaky, sorry.
I went to a piercing parlour in town with some girls from Hanham. It seems as though disinfectant isn't a thing here. They gave me some oils... I have to boil water and mix it with salt and oils.
After the holidays, we had exams week. There generally used to be two exams per subjects a year - one in January and the second one in May/June. My school said, the students didn't care enough for the January exams and only concentrated on the summer exams, to make up for the first test. As the students mostly failed the winter exams, we only had mock exams (the grade doesn't actually count). There were only actual exams held in psychology and health and social care - and I'm taking Psychology. I had mocks in French (reading, listening and oral) and maths. For English literature I had to do two essays - one on The Handmaid's Tale and one on The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. The better one of them is going to be sent in to be marked by professional people and will count 30% of my English final grade. The mocks were fine but my psychology exam went absolutely horrible. I had absolutely no idea about the test conditions in this country. Some of my friends informed me about an hour before the exam and made me rather nervous. Before the exam, we all were lead into a room, in which we had to leave our bags and jackets and everything. We were only allowed to have our black pens with us, and only in a see-through case. Then we were allowed to go into the hall. We all had a number - I was E8. There were letters on one wall and numbers on the other and I had to find my place (like on a chess board..). Oh, and any mobiles brought into the room were sealed into plastic bags:P. I was really nervous and freezing as I couldn't bring my coat. The girls said our test conditions are crazy when I told them about them, as you can easily cheat. I think it's nicer... at least our school system trusts us a bit! And I messed up my test... it wasn't very difficult, really, just very stressful. Oh well.
Traning (Hit Fit) has been really cool lately. I'm with a different partner every week now, but all the men are nice and funny.
I went to see Life Of Pi this week with two friends at the cinema in Cabot Circus - brilliant film!
they sell Belgium waffles and Ben&Jerry's ice cream at the cinema!!:D
Oh, and here's another Ben Howard video, as the last one was blocked in some countries. That's one problem that I've never had since coming over here..
And here's a video which went viral this week throughout England... It's a Mcfly one again, sorry.
