Bath

What is this? Two blog posts in one day? Some may think I have turned over a new leaf...more like I realize I'm still horribly behind on blogging and have four papers rapidly approaching. However, I have decided to bask in the glow of my newly arrived completed Jane Austen set of novels from Waterstone's and ignore aforementioned work.

Speaking of Jane Austen, I am pleased to inform you all that my next subject is a trip that I was looking forward to the moment I found out I would be studying abroad in the United Kingdom: Bath! As I'm sure many of you know, this is the famous residency of one of literary's great figures (and a personal favorite), my lovely Jane Austen. For those of you wondering, this is what I was expecting to happen to me during my time there:

But I digress.


First stop on our day trip was actually to Stonehenge, which pretty much speaks for itself. All in all, its basically a pile of rocks built a super long time ago. Definitely cool to see as one of the world's great wonders, but given how cold and windy it was outside (I couldn't feel my toes), I was more than happy to pop in, take a few pictures and hop back on the bus.

In true Arcadia fashion, the bus we took to Stonehenge started STEAMING. Yes, it looked like a miniature hurricane inside of our bus, which seemed about ready to explode at any moment. Just a bit concerning, seeing as this made the last ten or so minutes of our journey pretty impossible for our driver, who was surrounded by steam and couldn't see a thing out the window. So, we all piled on the remaining two buses and carried on our way.

Jillian & I at Stonehenge! Can you see how cold it was?!

Rolling along the countryside to Bath was truly like being in Joe Wright's fantastic cinematic version of P&P (above). The sun came out, beautifully shining through the clouds onto the rolling green hills of British countryside. At this point I was listening to the beautiful piano tunes of the film (click below for the full blog experience) and dying of excitement as we made our way to the city. Ah, what could be better?

Exactly what I pictured countryside England to be before I arrived. Could not be more thrilled that it was reality. Thanks, Joe Wright!

Dreams do come true.

After one further alarm on the bus—it stalled about 3 times in the middle of the road on the way from Stonehenge to Bath, either I can't pick buses to save my life or Arcadia just fails—we finally reached the town of Bath! After Jillian and I grabbed some delicious bacon sandwiches, our first stop was to head to what else? The famous Roman Baths for which the town is named for.









They were truly a fantastic sight to see to say the least. Again, I truly marveled at the immense history this country has to offer. These baths, somehow drawing on natural springs and chemicals and whatnot were used by the Romans over two millennia ago—crazy to think that people just like us were around that long before, using some pretty impressive technology for the age.

We didn't get to enter the baths, obviously, but we were allowed a sip of the water, which was pretty disgusting. But at least it supposedly has magical healing powers.

Casually chillin' with Jane.

Next stop on our list within the limited time frame was of course the Jane Austen Centre! After posing with a lovely statue of Jane outside, we headed into the house a few doors down from one that Jane lived in during her years in Bath. After heading upstairs, we were treated to a presentation on Austen's life and family.

Though I consider myself somewhat of an Austen-phile, one thing I didn't know was that Austen died at the young age of 41 (from unknown causes, perhaps Tuberculosis or some form of cancer). It's pretty tragic to think that in her short life time she published six amazing novels, and given another 41 years she could have written countless more. Sigh.

After the presentation, we made our way through the exhibits, including those on Austen's life (especially in Bath), the society of the early 19th century, and the making of her various films. It was definitely interesting to see how Austen's opinion of Bath changed from her first visit at 18—the naive love of the grandeur in Bath featured in Northanger Abbey—compared her opinion during the five years she lived in Bath as an adult—the stifling society viewed in Persuasion.

We passed on the opportunity to dress up like proper society women of Austen's time (tempting, I know, but too many layers on during a chilly day) and headed to the gift shop, where I promptly preceded to clean it out. Pretty sure I even held up the line.

Darcy, where art thou?

With what little time we had left in Bath, we walked in the footsteps of Jane Austen and explored the city center a bit more. Though I didn't meet Mr. Darcy like I originally planned to, by the time I collapsed on the bus to make it back to London—giant Jane Austen Centre bag in hand—I still felt like I had a pretty successful trip.

For more pictures, explore here.

The Pump Room, featured particularly in Northanger Abbey!

A note from Matthew Macfayden to the JA Centre

An original letter written from Jane to Cassandra, her sister!