stonehenge, bath, and a bus ride revelation

  A few days ago, something in the wind (and boy, has there been a lot of wind lately) was ruffling my feathers, and making it hard to walk without having to push against little annoyances.  Many other people have been expressing their frustrations as well.  It seems like the honeymoon stage is over, and we all need some alone time, which is virtually impossible when you live in a flat with a dozen other people and share rooms.  The only way to escape the crowd is to take a walk around the city, but the city is full of people every which way.  At times it can be comforting (as in, I'm alone, but I'm not alone), but sometimes it's overwhelming.  There is no real personal space, and I have been valuing my shower time even more than usual.
The group had an extremely busy past week of fun shows, concerts, and museums like usual, but this week it just wore us all out.  Even too much of a good thing can take its toll.  You can imagine we were all exhausted.  And then we were put on a bus to Stonehenge and Bath at 8am on Friday.  We were tired, but we did it happily and had a nice, touristy time roaming around the ancient ruins.  I was especially excited about the Roman Baths in Bath.  It was so incredible to be where the Romans once hung out a couple thousand years ago.  I mean, can you even comprehend how long ago that was?  That was so long ago.  I was fascinated.  And tired.  A few of us ended the day, only a little grumpily, at Sally Lunn's with some tea and buttery buns.

On the bus trip home from Bath, something strange happened.  I was listening to my music and leaning my head against the giant window when I remembered the last time I was passing pretty green countryside on a big bus with other students.  It was when I was touring Europe in a group led by my junior high French teacher.  I remember my excitement on the bus one particular day, thinking about the prospect of studying abroad.  I thought of that moment and very suddenly got incredibly sad.  Because as much as we're all annoying each other at the moment, once this trip is over, we will miss these times so much more than we ever were annoyed with eachother.  I almost burst into tears at the thought, which I will blame entirely on my lack of sleep and not on my life as the most sentimental and overly reflective person alive.

It's one month in, and time needs to slow down a bit.