The City of Bath
I had never been to Bath before I went in January of 2016. Once, in high school, I’d spent a few days in London and loved it, but hadn’t known when I’d be able to go back. So, being able to go to Bath, just a few hours outside of the city, was an amazing opportunity.
Getting there was a little difficult; my plane was scheduled to fly out the day of the worst snowstorm of 2016. Pennsylvania was blanketed in a few feet of snow, the day before my scheduled departure out of the Philadelphia airport. I was leaving at the same time as three of my friends, and of course our planes were all delayed until the next day. While the situation could have been much worse, our orientation was supposed to start that Tuesday, but we’d be getting in after the beginning. Thankfully, I was with my friends.
Settling in for the plane ride was comfortable and not too stressful, especially considering it was only the second time I’ve ever flown. The first had been my trip to Europe a few years earlier. Baptism by fire, I guess. After hours and hours of traveling, by plane, train, and bus, my four friends and I gathered together and arrived in Bath. It was cold and rainy that day. We were overwhelmed by the city. The architecture was beautiful. All of the buildings were stone and there were hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years of history constantly surrounding us. We took a taxi to our apartment with all of our luggage, after a full day of orientation. Meeting the rest of our housemates was cool and everyone seemed nice. We settled in.
In the following weeks, I became more and more comfortable in the city. I’d walk twenty minutes to class every day, down the steep hills of Bath from Northampton. Then, I’d have to hike back up. Even though that walk was pretty killer in the beginning, it was one of my favorite parts of Bath. I loved walking through the city, especially down the main avenue of stones, where cars couldn’t drive and there were people everywhere. The sun would shine down and I’d listen to my heels click across the pavement, passing beautiful displays in the various store windows. The center of Bath is one of the greatest places. Live street performers spend all day singing or playing instruments, while vendors sometimes line the sides of the path. Such a feeling of community and movement exists there, that I’ve only felt so purely in a couple other cities. There was so much to see in Bath and I never saw all of it.
Bath is one of the most stunning cities. It’s small, so it’s comfortable and it’s walkable, even though it sits on outrageous hills. There’s great food everywhere and cool bars and beautiful views. The Bath Guildhall Market had great stands, one with custom leather journals, another with elaborate tea mixtures. There were used bookshops spread throughout the city. On my last weekend there, I walked along the side of the Avon River, that ran next to the city. I was with the people I’d grown to love so intensely during my in Bath. We walked alongside the river in the dark and looked at the beautiful lights shining from Pulteney Bridge and the Abbey. It was one of the most bittersweet moments of my life; leaving this city I’d come to consider home, but also looking forward to going back to my real home.