Day 111- 3 days until I'm back.

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." -Samuel Johnson

Well, as you have probably all figured out by now, my blog attempt has failed. I apologize for this. If you're being kind, you can just take this to mean that I am having so much fun in London that blogging has been put aside. Otherwise, you can just blame my lack of follow-through. (I have kept a journal detailing each day, I just have yet to post online.) Either way, I am sorry. But for what it's worth, with 3 days left in my favorite city on Earth, I will attempt to catch up a bit.

I completely adore London. I have fallen in love and I am so incredibly sad to be leaving this city. I know that when I come back, it will never be the same and this experience has been the best of my life and one I cannot imagine ever being scared of.

My flatmate Elizabeth and I were thinking today about the day we met and how we became friends. It was our first night in London and I couldn't sleep. I went out into the common room and went to sit for a bit. There, I found Elizabeth sitting in the dark too-- also crying. We talked and felt homesick together and it was the start of a friendship, corny as it sounds. Now, today, we laughed at our tears and felt sad again-- but this time about leaving. I honestly don't know what I'll do when I'm home and cannot walk out of my bedroom, find friends, and walk out into London. I know I'll be happy to return and see everyone I've missed, but I know that I will have many days when I desperately long for a Tube ride or a walk across the Hungerford Bridge. Life will be different without London.

I am grateful for so many experiences this semester. I truly feel that my life has been changed because of my time in London. I have learned to become more independent and confident in myself. I have made so many new friends. I have navigated foreign cities and I have stepped outside my comfort zone many times. I feel like my experience here has become a big part of who I am and I can't wait to share everything that I've learned here with you all when I'm back in the States.

See you all soon!

Cheers,

Carrie

Day 39- Blogging Catch-up: 2 weeks in pictures

"Too late for second-guessing. Too late to go back to sleep. It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap!" - 'Defying Gravity,' Wicked

This quote seems pretty perfect for describing my last two weeks, and not just because I got to see Wicked. It seems particularly apt for describing my first trip outside of England. Though I second-guessed myself (and my packing!) many times before I embarked on my trip to Edinburgh, Scotland this past weekend, I wound up having the time of my life, and I have since grown more confident in my abilities to travel. And, as I took the overnight bus to Edinburgh, and the 5:30 am bus from Edinburgh, I continuously felt that it was "too late to go back to sleep," which ended up being a good thing, because I really feel like I made the most of my time in Scotland, seeing so much! And finally, when I was up on top of Arthur's Seat on Saturday, I really felt like I was defying gravity. I was 250.1 meters (822 feet) in the air with 360 degrees of beauty around me. It was the most amazing feeling in the world. 

But now, as I said, a review in pictures, with fewer words.

Here is goes.

Day 24 (forgotten earlier)

Alley full of umbrellas in Borough Market! It's like Mary Poppins come to life. It could only be better if they were bubble umbrellas!

Day 26- Docklands trip for class

Views from the 30th floor of One Canada Square at the Docklands. The Docklands used to be the port area of London, but was made into a ritzy sort of shopping and business area during the Thatcher era. We were given a presentation about the redevelopment of the Docklands by a director of development and this was the view from her office.

Day 27- Trip to the Central London Mosque

Baker Street Tube station. Took Baker Street to get to the Central London Mosque for my class. The tube station here had Sherlock Holmes heads on the wall tiles! :) (See Dad, you would like it here!)

ALSO, BOUGHT MY TICKET TO SEE J.K. ROWLING AT THE BATH LITERATURE FESTIVAL THIS DAY! I CANNOT WAIT. IT'S BASICALLY FULFILLING MY CHILDHOOD DREAM COME TRUE.

 Day 28- Wicked

Wicked in London- So wonderful, as Wicked is. But I have to say, it was odd hearing it with British accents.

Day 29

Brought home the boat I made from my first day at Drumbeat. I'm pretty proud of it. If you look really closely, you can find where I live on the map.

 Day 30

My weekend at home working. I had 3 papers due last week, so I spent most of my time in the flat. That meant that I also had time to make a real meal. I made chili. It actually turned out to be edible.

Day 32- Chinese New Year

The above 3 pictures are from the Chinese New Year celebration at Trafalgar Square. The parade started from Trafalgar at 10 am and moved to Chinatown. I went to the parade myself, but since I was a bit late (and short) I wasn't really able to see much. I did get to see the set up of the stage (which was literally in the middle of the Square) and the lanterns hung throughout. If it hadn't been raining later in the day, I probably would have returned to see the performances, but it poured all afternoon.

Jenny, Elizabeth, and I did go to Chinatown in the afternoon. I wanted to have real Chinese food for lunch. (And TimeOut magazine promised that there would be a dragon snaking through Chinatown wishing all the vendors and restauranteurs good luck. However, due to the rain, there were very few vendors and no dragon. I did get some great fried noodles and a chicken kabob that I eventually ate inside Cafe Nero. So, not quite a Chinese venue at the end, but still, great food. I'm glad I went to the celebration.

Found a recipe for bread pudding. It was pretty good! And a great way to get rid of the bread I have that expires too quickly in London.

 Day 33- Art Walk in South Kensington

Dippy the dinosaur at the Natural History Museum. Pretty cool, but not as cool as Sue.

Natural History Museum. We literally walked in and out. I hope to go back and spend more time there later.

Royal Albert Hall

Leighton House. This is now a museum, but it used to be the home of Leighton, a great painter. It was a remarkable house and I would have more pictures of the inside, but I only took these 3 before I learned you weren't supposed to take pictures.

A poem on the Tube. Sort of sad, but neat because the end part connects really well to what we've been learning in Art and Architecture class about how the names of all the streets and places in London connect to its history.

Day 34

Walked around the National Gallery today after class just because I could. I was great. I spent 45 minutes wandering around on my own time, just taking it all in. I think the Impressionists are my favorite, but I also found a series of paintings by Beuckelaer that I really liked. They were centred around the four elements as seen through a food market context. Each of the four paintings also contains a small image relating to Bible stories. They sound really odd, but are very pretty and cool. Check this out http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/joachim-beuckelaer

 Day 36- Scotland Day 1

Budget Backpackers- The funky, hipster hostel I stayed in. We arrived in Edinburgh at around 6:30 am after an 8 hour overnight bus ride. We dropped our luggage off at the hostel and stayed around until breakfast was served at 7. I had some great french toast and a latte.

It was a very good latte.

We quickly found that nothing was open until about 10 am. So we walked around and saw the castle from the outside. It is actually built on top of an extinct volcano.

After realizing that nothing opened until 10, we decided to settle into a cafe for a while. This is the Deacon's House Cafe, which was named after Deacon Brodie, a construction type worker who used to make clay molds of his employers' locks and rob their homes later. He became the inspiration for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

At the Deacon's Cafe, I got my very own pot of Scottish Breakfast tea. I think this is my favorite part about the UK. I don't think you could ever order a whole pot of tea in the U.S.

Our hostel offered a free walking tour of Edinburgh, so at 11 we walked around with our Australian tour guide. This is the "Creepy Wee Shop in the Graveyard." They really like the word "wee" in Scotland. It was on almost every shop. We toured the graveyard that had many Harry Potter related names.

I thought it looked like the scene in Harry Potter where the Death Eaters meet.

A McGonagall

Tom Riddell (not Riddle)

Greyfriars Bobby. Bobby was a dog who sat on his master's (Greyfriars) grave for 17 years. If you touch the statue's nose, it brings good luck. (Here, Bug, a dog named after you!)

Restaurant named after Bobby.

We had lunch at a place called Spoon. The wallpaper had tomatoes and lettuce on it. This was my vegetarian breakfast. The round pattie-shaped thing was vegetarian haggis (so I really did try haggis!) It sort of tasted like spiced stuffing.

In the evening, we went on the Scotch Whisky Experience (if it's Scottish Whisky, a.k.a. Scotch, whisky is spelled without the "e"!) This board pinpointed where each flavor comes from.

As part of the tasting, we were able to choose which flavour best suited us. I chose the blue, which was supposed to be lighter and fruitier. It was not very light. Or fruity. Just burny.

I got to keep the glass.

The largest whisky bottle in the world. This is also the type of whisky that I tasted.

I had dinner at a restaurant called Tron. I had a "USA Burger," which included onion rings and a hash brown on it. I can't say I've ever experienced that in the US, but it sure was good. I tend to take advantage of every opportunity to have burgers here.

Day 38- Scotland Day 2

On Day 2, many of our friends woke up to climb Arthur's Seat (a giant hill that was once part of a volcano chain) at sunrise. Kelley, Jenny, and I got a bit of a later start and decided to climb at around 9 am. I had an absolute blast. Though I was originally worried about the climb, it was wonderful. It was challenging, but not too terrible. And the weather was surprisingly spring-ish (though windy at the very top).

We took some breaks as we climbed, so you can see here how the city got smaller and smaller as we went up.

The hills continue to amaze me.

We made an ND from the plateau type area just before the top of Arthur's Seat. It looked neat from here, but it was kind of difficult to see from above.

There's the ND if you look closely.

We made it!!!

Our blue dot. At one point, we thought we had climbed the wrong hill. But we did make it!

The view from every direction was absolutely breathtaking. Arthur's Seat was definitely the best part of my trip.

After our long hike, we had lunch at The Elephant House, the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote much of the first Harry Potter book. I had a latte and a beef pie with mashed potatoes.

There were pictures and articles relating to Rowling all over, and the bathroom walls were covered in notes to the author.

 

We went to the National Museum of Scotland after lunch and saw Dolly the Sheep. It was neat, but kind of odd since she is dead.

We ended the day by heading back to Calton Hill (a sort of park), which we had seen on our walking tour earlier. There is a monument resembling the Pantheon there with huge pillars. Our group compared stories from the day, took a few pictures of the city at sunset and then headed to St. Mary's Catholic Church for mass. The older people there especially enjoyed chatting with us. It was neat to be a guest there and it was also pretty cool to see that the Mass wasn't all that different from home (ignoring, of course, the fact that I could close my eyes during the readings and imagine I was in Brave.) We had dinner at Nando's a Portuguese chicken restaurant chain and then headed to the hostel to sleep before our 5:30 am bus back to London. This ride took 10 hours with the stops, but we made it back to the flat by about 4:30 pm. It was certainly a whirlwind of a weekend, but a great first trip! When we were in Calton Park at night, I could spin in any direction and see beauty-- hills, water, grass. It was amazing. I feel extremely blessed with all the opportunities I have right now. My life keeps feeling more and more unreal. 

I love and miss you all.

Slaandjivaa! (Cheers, as they say in Scotland)

Carrie