LIYSF Day 5: Stonehenge, Salisbury, Singing, and Sniping (P)

Hi Everyone,

Today was full. First, we visited Stonehenge. Singing Aussies dominated the bus ride there, although once their bluetooth speaker died, I enjoyed some of the countryside.

English Countryside

Stonehenge looked more or less as I’d expected – a gathering of stones. One of the stones looked somewhat like a winking face. It was impressive to imagine the stones being assembled with nothing but primitive tools, but the stones themselves weren’t particularly impressive. Personally, I found the surrounding countryside just as beautiful and far less crowded.

A slightly winky stonehenge stone

I found the town of Salisbury (near Stonehenge) far more interesting. A massive 123m cathedral (which houses a copy of the Magna Carta) dominates the town’s skyline, but the town itself is just as beautiful – a lovely mix between old and modern society.

Most people were fairly tired by the end of the day, as the following photos show:

However, everyone’s energy quickly returned for the debate night. We were meant to debate whether or not countries should place monetary value on the damages caused by global warming, but it tended to spin wildly off of topic. Personally, I thought that both sides made some good points. However, I suspect that some poorly-worded statements may have caused hurt feelings by the end of the night; there were a couple of back-and-forths between New Zealand and Australia among others.

To add to the political intrigue, a treasure hunt/crossword game will take place tomorrow night. This prompted aggressive negotiations as to who joined which team, as each team of 10 needs at least 5 countries from 3 continents represented. I joined on team built around the principles of determination, smarts, and athleticism, and Tessa has joined a different one of similar calibre and competitiveness. Her team sniped a talented swede who was going to join my team, so my team swore to show them wrong. It is likely that one of us will be disappointed tomorrow night…