And I know I'll never lose affection for people and things that went before

Yesterday we started off our second week in England by taking a day trip to learn the history of people and things that went before as we traveled to Stonehenge and Bath! Sean, our Blue-Badge Tour Guide,was with us again and we were all very happy to see him. I was especially excited to see him, because I came close to not being able to make it to our field trip!

I woke up on Saturday to find that my left cheek had become extremely swollen. (I had had my wisdom teeth taken out just before Christmas and thought everything was healed, but apparently it got irritated and well, I was stuck with a painful and swollen face again!) After a fantastic trip to the emergency room on Saturday, I was unable to get any help because there were no dentists on duty at the hospital. And even though I had spoken with my oral surgeon from home and had instructions to get penicillin as soon as possible, a regular doctor here would not prescribe me anything! Ironically, my presentation for this course is on public health differences in the UK and US...I figured I'd consider this experience to be first hand research and lo and behold, my first lesson was that pharmacies here will not accept prescriptions by phone from the US. Luckily, due to my past travel experiences, I had some leftover antibiotics with me and my doctor from home said that it should help treat or keep away any infections. So now that I knew I would live until today without seeing a doctor, I was allowed to go to Stonehenge and Bath and postpone my trip to the dentist :)


So after leaving our hotel bright and early, our first stop was Stonehenge. All bundled up, our class trekked out into the field to see the very unique prehistoric monument. It was extra unique when we visited because it was covered in snow! (I have a theory that the frigid weather helped to keep the swelling down on my face.) It was truly an incredible sight to see this construction, especially because it is a mystery as to how exactly Stonehenge was built. It dates back thousands of years ago, and historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists can only guess how the gigantic sandstones were moved miles to be placed in Wiltshire county

The second stop on our itinerary for the day was the city of Bath. What a cool

place!We visited the old Roman baths. It was exciting to see what was left of this ancient oasis and to imagine what life might have been like back in Roman times. Sean also guided us

around the city to teach us more about how the city was years and years ago. I even ate lunch with Katina and Meghan at the oldest restaurant in Bath (by recommendation of Sean.) It is called Sally Lunn's and it was the most quaint restaurant I have ever been in. We were shown upstairs to our table and enjoyed delicious soup and sandwiches. It was appropriate that we ate here because Sally Lunn was a refugee from France, and we learned all about refugees and immigrants in our classes and agencies

last week!

Overall we enjoyed our time in Bath and I think most of us had a pretty relaxing night after a long day.

This morning we had class and Margaux, Amy, and Stephanie gave a great presentation on the

oppression of women. I did have to leave class early because Professor Patch (who along with Dr. Sullivan, has been so helpful in the midst of my odd and unexpected situation) and I took a quick trip down to the London Clinic dentist office where I continued my first-hand research of the UK public health system and tried to figure out what was wrong with me! I had an appointment with Dr. Davies and after a few x-rays and some poking at my teeth and gums, I am still not exactly sure what was wrong with my mouth, but I was prescribed some more anti-biotics and told that everything should be better from here out. The entire experience was surprisingly simple! We waited in the waiting room, decorated like a formal living room with sofas and classical art, no longer than we would have waited at any dentist's office in the U.S. I went upstairs and sat in the most high-tech dentist chair I have ever seen, with sleek-looking equipment in a room that was half-dentist office and half-living room all at the same time. (There was a couch, table, and desk in the room as well as large windows.) After my visit and a quick picture, I was on my way to the pharmacy to pick up my medication. Through thi unique learning experience I think I have learned how easy the health system here can be to navigate if you have the right resources and connections. The dentist I went to was a private agency- I somehow think that I would have had a very different experience had I been to a government agency.

I am loving London and I'm looking forward to learning even more about the public health system in the UK as we visit our agencies next week.