Snow is falling steadily in my little Stonehenge snowglobe, and I am content.

My nose has been firmly fixed to the grindstone lately, (luckily) with a few reprieves. Last Sunday I traveled southward with NYUL to Stonehenge and Bath. If only the number of souvenirs I purchased could begin to convey my enthusiasm for the two historical sites.

Stonehenge was impressive, I don't care what anybody says otherwise. The surrounding sheep, rolling hills, and...freeway... really completed the scene. And Bath was a quaint little town; I was thrilled to see the Roman baths there! The water in the baths was a murky green--so murky that it was beautiful--and the stone the baths were composed of was stunning, especially in the grey light coming from the sky. I also had the opportunity to visit the Jane Austen tea room, which was just darling.

To further my week of English heritage experiences, I went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre to see "Love's Labour's Lost. " It was light and funny, but lasted three hours and it was very cold in the open-air theatre. We stuck it out though and had a great time. My favorite part of the play was a Latin joke which I shall relate for all those Latinists out there reading this: "Hercules defeated the three headed canus and strangled a snake in his...manus." The scenery was beautiful and the stage reminded me of what the ancient Roman stage would have looked like.

I've just booked my trains and planes for fall break. My friends and I are going to Madrid, Barcelona, Florence, and Rome. It should be a busy but fun trip. I've also just booked a flight to Scotland for the end of October to visit some friends there. AND I ordered an air mattress for the people who will be staying with me in November. All this planning has made me realize how little time I really have left here. I'm so excited to be here, but I also can't wait to be home for the holidays.

Well, for now it's back to the routine of classes. I just handed in my first set of papers and have more deadlines coming in the next few weeks. I also finally started my SOAS classes. I've made SOAS friends too! I even went shopping with some SOAS girls last week. So I'm well on my way to a full experience of London university life. Right now I'm reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe for my Contemporary African Literature class. In my other SOAS class, I'm learning about language in Africa. It's hard to count, but it seems that there are almost 2000 languages in Africa! These range from spoken languages to sign languages to click languages. Neat, right? Pictured at right is my Intro to Pan-Africanism classroom, with my friends Monet and Sylvia looking studious.

Saturday I'm spending the day in Cambridge, the land of Alice and her adventures. More to come after that.