Old Rocks

Field Studies for the weekend of 28-30 September:

Saturday was Stonehenge.
To be perfectly honest, I've been exposed to lots and lots of old rocks. I happen to enjoy them more when someone is carrying me around on their shoulders, ala Israel, but I like them fine even when I have to walk.
Stonehenge was really no exception.
When it gets right down to it, these are some seriously old rocks. Personally, I like to blame aliens for just about everything, including Stonehenge. But thats just me.
Everything here seems to have "supernatural" explanations. Its pretty cool, actually.

Yesterday we took a field-study to a geological formation called Devil's Dyke. Basically, its a valley with no river in the middle of it.
The supernatural explanation there is this:
The people in the South of England were among the first in the country to adopt Christianity. According the legend, the Devil got mad at them for being Christian, and decided to dig a trench to the ocean, so that the sea would flood the town and drown all the pesky Christians. So he came out from Hell (in the middle of the night, of course, because that is the only time the Devil was allowed to come out of Hell) with his shovel, and started to dig.
An old lady heard him in the middle of the night, and so lit a candle and leaned out of her window to see what was going on. Her rooster saw the candle and thought, as roosters so often do, that this meant that it was daytime, and so began to crow. Upon hearing this, the Devil panicked. He had to be back in Hell by morning! So he went back into Hell, never completed digging his trench, and so the town was saved.

It was my geography class that took the trip, and so we were told all sorts of far less interesting stories about the formation of Devil's Dyke.
After this we hiked into the dyke, back out again, and down to a local pub for lunch. And then we went to the seashore for some more landforms. Also, we saw Ashdown Forest, where Whinnie the Pooh lives. This, of course, was terribly exciting.

The thing about it is that from what I'd heard, you know, from people who had done this program before, was that it was amazing, and completely worthwhile. Way better than going to a regular University. I hadn't gotten that. I mean, it was fine, but so are most colleges. So I got up yesterday (at 7:30 on a Sunday) and complained: some people got to have class in classrooms, and got to sleep in on Sundays. By the time I went to bed it was "can you imagine? Some people have to have class in classrooms!"

So, yes, I am enjoying myself.

Pictures: At Stonehenge (in order: Me, Kerry, Carly, Bronwen, Jen, Lauren), Devil's Dyke, My victory dance after climbing back up the side of Devil's Dyke, which is very steep.