STUDENT BLOG: ANCIENT HISTORY TRIP TO CAERLEON

Posting by Tom Warden and Aneesa Fernandez, Yr 12 Ancient History students

On the 26th of March, us Ancient History students were pretty excited to spend the day in Wales, marvelling at various Roman things. On top of that, it was the last day of term so we had the chance to feel superior and wear smug looks on our faces while everyone else was stuck in college.

We were supposed to leave college at around 8.15, but that didn't go according to plan, because the coach only showed up about 40 minutes later... Not that any of us really minded. I think on the whole we were just happy to catch a break from all the work. The journey was entertaining, as most are, with bizarre conversations and dramatic (not to mention seriously out-of-tune) singing of ABBA resounding through the coach. When we got there about 2 hours later, we were separated into Column E, who made their way over to the bath house, and column F who went to the legionary museum. By the way, I'd like to make a note here about the weather in Wales. We had received many, many warnings of the temperature being unbearable, as well as the snow being twice as heavy as in Solihull. Lies. After piling on the layers in paranoia, some of us ended up carrying them around with us instead.

Our group was column F, and so visited the legionary museum first, where we saw a LOT of inscriptions and a bunch of other stuff including pottery, utensils and jewellery. We learned important things such as how the army was divided up and how the Roman coinage system was done. We also got to try on Roman armour which was fun (we discovered that they must have had pretty big heads because the helmets wouldn't fit properly on anyone). Our next destination was the Roman Baths, which were fascinating. The place was illuminated in a way that made it look like there was actual water in there, when of course there wasn't. To put it into perspective for you, I recall someone saying that they were even tempted to jump in there although they knew they would just fall flat on their face, but it looked far too refreshing to resist... In reality it was the ruins of the old bath house, but set out in a way you could imagine the original.

 

Our next stop was the Amphitheatre. It was huge, and most of us decided to sit in or around it to have our lunch. A small group found a totally secluded area in the amphitheatre - we contemplated whether it had actually been a toilet because it sure seemed like it... well whatever it was, we had our lunch in it (we later found out this spot was a shrine to the gods) and after a while, we realised that we were the only ones left there. To make things worse, the temperature had finally started to get bad, so we left the amphitheatre and headed towards the coach.

We were met by Duncan who informed us that everyone was now on the coach and waiting only for us. We were horrified! Let me just say, I had always sworn that I would never be one of those students who made everyone else wait on the coach, but it seems these circumstances overpowered that vow... After the awkward walk of shame onto the coach and an explanation to satisfy the people's stares, we finally set off home.