Our group is now on its first excursion, taking in Avebury, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Bath, Glastonbury, Wells, (so far) Stow-on-the-Wold, Blenheim and Coventry (tomorrow). Based on the war stories from previous program directors we had prepared for the worst, but we have been more than pleasantly surprised. These kids don’t complain about anything, seem to be game for everything, and take every glitch in stride.
We bought a professional tour at Avebury and the guide was pretty good. He was straightforward and clear about the limits of knowledge about the site, and refused to speculate on any of the “new age” ideas that some wish to associate. He demonstrated divining rods, but was fairly dismissive of the ley lines and the gendering of stones.
As expected, Stonehenge was a bit of a disappointment for them compared to Avebury, but it is such an iconic site that they were glad for the photo-op nevertheless. On to Salisbury, where we spent our first night in a place that isn’t exactly the world’s best hostel, but nary a complaint.
We walked to Salisbury Cathedral, only five or six blocks away, where they suffered through the Mark Johns tour. It was a basic introduction to the fundamental shape of this, their first cathedral. I’m sure that a resident guide could have done better at pointing out the details, but unless one has a basic idea of what a cathedral is all about, the details matter little. I expected they might all head for the nearest pub for the evening, but they all came back to the hostel to play cards.
On Saturday we were up and off to Bath. It was a very short day for our bus driver, who dropped us off at our hostel near the city center and was done for the day. We happened to hit the weekend of the annual Jane Austen festival, so immediately encountered several hundred Austen fans in period costumes. During our city walking tour (good guide!) we saw them all marching in procession as part of the annual promenade. It certainly added to the ambiance.
Mary and I have always found the Roman Baths to be pretty phenomenal, and especially so since they have been recently expanded (see below). We were rather shocked that our students found them to be merely interesting, and not totally astounding. We had expected them to be blown away, as we were.
We had also built a required second museum experience into the day for them. We wouldn’t have had to require anything. They were most eager to see and experience every cultural activity Bath had to offer. A couple of them even showed up for a free organ concert we attended at the Abbey in the afternoon.
But we were further shocked when we offered them the opportunity to spend £6 of their own money to sit in the nose-bleed section of the Bath Theatre Royal to see a rather serious play, Three Days in May (fresh off the West End), about the British war cabinet in the dawning days of World War II. All twelve of them lined up for the rush tickets! We expected maybe a couple English majors to be up for that. Again, they preferred culture to the pub.
Today was a less hectic and packed day. We drove down to Glastonbury for a tour of the Abbey ruins (in the rain). The guide was quite English (tweed suit, hat, scarf), and very entertaining, but the tour was short, and a little light on hard facts. So we continued with the Mark Johns version, which they actually seemed to welcome.
From the Abbey, the bus dropped us at a spot part way up the Glastonbury Tor (see below). It was unfortunate that we climbed in the rain and a nasty gale-force wind. But the students seemed to think it added to the experience! No complaints. They made the wind part of the fun. We were so wet and cold at the bottom that I marched the whole lot of them into a very traditional little pub and ordered hot tea all around. This amused the barman, who said that most people come in to drink beer. But I don’t think I could have gotten that receipt through the college audit process.
On to Wells, where we spent quite a lot of time in the cathedral and attended a rather long evensong service. The students were quite taken with the boy choristers. The choir was quite good, and several of the boys were extremely talented. But the amazing thing is that the students did not mind a bit sitting in a church service all that time.
Mary & Group with famous former Nottingham resident
In short, we couldn’t be more pleased with our group of students. I’m sure that in the course of a year among 12 personalities there will be some clashes. But we are off to the smoothest imaginable start.
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