DAY 5

After breakfast we boarded the buses bound for Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral day tours.

 

What they didn’t tell me when I paid the £40 ($70) for the tour is that Stonehenge is a good 2hr drive from Imperial College! However, part of the reason I wanted this trip was to experience the renowned English countryside outside of London. So I got comfortable with those in my row: Victor, Leticia, and someone who’s name I can’t remember from Spain, Brazil and Pakistan respectively.

And see the countryside I did!

After about 2:15hr into this particularly long journey, two iconic features of the English countryside came almost simultaneously into view: pigs…

… and, oh is that it?!

Stonehenge, jolly good! At last as we climbed off the bus I met the other two Canadians from Newfoundland: Sonya and Josh. We actually arrived earlier than we booked at Stonehenge so we set out to kill time at Woodhenge – the next best thing I figure?

Although I’ve never heard of Woodhenge, we actually had a jolly good time there jumping around on 2400 year old stumps. Well, actually they've replaced the stumps with concrete piles, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.

If you’re happy and you know it, go planking!

The purpose behind the structure may never be known, but it was most likely built by the same peoples and possibly for a similar reason as Stonehenge. After a packed lunch and lots of laughs, we were on our way to the real destination:

We took in the scenery, but were running now a little late and needed to get on to Salisbury Cathedral. After a 40min trip, we arrived at England’s tallest spire and the home of the Magna Carta:

Wait… that can’t be it! Ah, that’s better:

Construction of this 123m masterpiece started in 1220 – unbelievable!

While we were carried by the sound of the choir practicing, we were pressed by time to get back on the bus. As one by one everyone in the bus nodded off due to chronic sleep deprivation at LIYSF, I resisted by sorting through my many photos of today but eventually succumbed.

The night ended with an informal debate on the topic: “Will Women Only Progress in Science if We Have Quotas?” – an obviously hot topic. Regardless of my position on this matter, I was delighted to see eager participation from so many students with both respectful and thoughtful insights.

The night ended as usual in the common room and a Brazillian named Marina treated me with a delightful cultural snack made of fried bananas. Victor from Spain and I wanted to “jam” with his clarinet and my guitar, but we were apparently too noisy for the guests above! Perhaps that was my queue to go to bed myself…

Etienne