Sheep, Rain and Ruins

   
      Today was our first day of class and touring the countryside around Durham! We woke and had breakfast, ready for our "briefing" at 8:30 before boarding the bus to make our way to Vindolanda, Hadrian's wall, a Mithras Temple, and Chesters (another Roman fort.)
      The weather was pure misery today and the rain was continuous on a day almost solely devoted to outdoor activities with the occasional blessed museum.  It was, however, a perfect opportunity to premier my brand-new raincoat! It was a 100% success and I stayed warm and dry (not to mention trench-tastic) the whole day! Might I add that I had all my own clothes on today? Never going to take that for granted again!

Everyone was feeling bogged down by the deluge

      I will admit that I have some trouble with Roman ruins (sorry Amy <3). The piles of rocks all blend together after a while, and I have trouble visualizing what they were without reconstructions and models. However, I put a good face on it and tried to take as much away from it as I could, given the cold and the wet. The Museums were the best part, with real artifacts and even the famous Vindolanda tablets which are personal and official letters written on papyrus by the Roman soldiers. Professor Lomas is a really great, enthusiastic teacher and that helped a lot, though morale was fairly low today. On the positive, we had another delicious packed lunch, saw lots of sheep and learned a thing or two about living on the Roman frontier! Very excited for Holy Island (Lindisfarne) tomorrow!