Stonehenge

Oh my goodness. Of all the crazy situations I've been in my short lifetime, Stonehenge takes the cake. While I was there, I seriously would have to take a few minutes to reflect on the fact that I was partying in an ancient ruin. Like, millennia have gone by since the mysterious stone circle was built and I spent last Monday night partying in it until the sun came up.

So I'll start from the top! I caught the 8:20 PM train to Salisbury. The train was full of people just like me and my classmates: young adults dressed for rain/spending a night outside. Towards the end of the ride, this young hippie couple walked along the aisle of the train asking who was going to the Summer Solstice. When we answered in the affirmative, the girl cheered and tried to get the attention of her boyfriend. They had both been drinking and here's how the exchange went down. Imagine it with an English accent: "Hey Sean! They're going to the solstice! Hey! Get that crusty hippie in the back!"

Quote of the night.

the "Illegal Substance Amnesty Bin"

After we arrived at Salisbury, we essentially took a party bus over to the field around 10:30. We made friends with two Spaniards ("Catelan!") sitting near us and they shared their cerveza while Bruno Mars played on the stereo. So much debauchery and we weren't even at Stonehenge yet.

We arrived and had to walk about 20 minutes in the dark. We reached the gate to the stones and I should have known what kind of night I was in for by this "Amnesty Bin" sitting at the entrance where you could ditch your drugs. Actually, I should have known from the old man who offered to sell my group "Stone cheese." I said no thanks, but he still felt like explaining that, "It's got weed! Stone cheese!"

We picked out a spot and then journeyed into the center of the circle. People were standing on the rocks, dancing, singing, chanting, and playing drums. There were laser beams. It was a rave. In Stonehenge. I was so confused but I loved every minute of it. I thought there would be more Druids but I only saw a few people with cloaks and staffs. It rained for about 20 minutes but I embraced the whole pagan/earthy atmosphere and let it fall on me. I was very cold later...

That man on the left was arrested shortly after this photo. No joke. 

I talked to so many people! It was such a friendly and international atmosphere. An Italian took a group picture for us, the Spaniards from the bus ride found us again later in the fields, and Australian was also on the bus, and we met a few Canadians. My American accent was marveled at and I debated the merits of bacon with a local 18 year-old rugby player named Gavin. I told him his bacon was weird because it's not the crispy strips of delight I'm used to and he countered that maybe it's actually my bacon that's weird. I said no because it's American so...yeah. Chew on that. Literally.

More dancing, more drumming. I saw a man get dragged off by security for dealing drugs. That was exciting. Also, just so much pot! The air was thick with it. I watched the sun rise around 4:30 and then my group had to book it out of there to catch a train back to London so we could make it to the tour of the Houses of Parliament by 9AM. That was rough. We caught the 5:45 AM train and the others slept while I wrote crazy sleep-deprived things in my journal such as "I partied in the most ancient puzzling stone structure of the British Isle. Who else can say that?". And my curse continues of not being able to sleep sitting up so I took creepy pictures of my sleeping classmates.

The sun started to rise between the stones

And yes, I wore that flower garland in my hair the whole night and the following morning. It felt appropriate. I was such a hot mess getting off the train, though. My hair was frizzy from the rain, my garland was skewed, and my clothes and shoes were quite muddy. Worth it!

5:45 AM