Life has been quite hectic and I have not been able to update! Though a bit delayed here’s a brief summary of my week in London between Istanbul and Spain, I’m leading quite a rough life...
The week started off great! Em and I had lunch in the park and recapped our weekends! After a bit of grocery shopping, I met my friend Alex to head over to the University of London student center where we signed up for ULU (The University of London Union). We are lucky that our student coordinator worked out a deal that we are able to join the union and participate in their clubs! Even better is that SU picked up the registration fee!
We didn’t waste any time getting involved! We headed to our first ULMC (University of London Mountaineering Club) meeting on Tuesday night. We took the tube all the way to the Miles End station and met the group at an indoor climbing wall. Though we were not at all dressed for climbing (oops) we signed up, got a belaying refresher course and climbed away! After climbing we followed the pack to the local pub. This pub is very much a “climbers pub” the back room being packed to capacity after the wall closed! I was very much in my element and loved talking with and getting to know all the British students! I am sooo glad we joined and are finally able to be fully immersed in London society!
Wednesday started with babysitting Emma, something I have started looking forward to! It’s a great break from school and she is such a good baby! Afterwards I started on a few of my midterms and then geared up to meet my new friend Ryan for a run. Ryan, I found out as I was panting to keep up with him, is a VERY accomplished runner… Though his less than 5-minute mile pace had to be greatly adjusted to mine, it was a great run! He took me on a pretty cool tour of London, even managing to run by Big Ben as it was ringing!
Thursday I went to a performance for my Performance Live class. It was called Circus Cirkor, and was quite crazy but an overall really cool performance! Afterwards I came home and was able to skype with both my sisters, a very rare occasion! I never realize how much I miss them until I see their faces…
Friday started early as we met at Faraday House (my school) to go on a field trip to Hampton Court Palace, a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London.
We were lucky enough to get a private tour of many of the rooms and then had a few hours to explore the extensive grounds on our own. My favorite part was the extensive English gardens that surround the estate!
It was so interesting to see this palace a week after Istanbul, it was as different as night and day from the palaces we had seen in Turkey. This is a shot of one the main staircases in the Kings Apartments, the mosaics I had fallen in love with in Turkey are replaced by floor to ceiling murals.
I loved these ribbons that were flying from the trees lining the entrance.
Saturday was another early morning. I met Alex at the Marylebone tube stop and we made our way to the train station to meet ULMC and go for a day climb. It was very nice to get out of London and explore the countryside which was only an hour or so away!
The rock was very similar to the sandstone rocks I have climbed in West Virginia and all the students in ULMC were a lot of fun to climb with. Though the rock was quite difficult I was able to climb a bunch of the routes (even if it did take me quite a bit longer than some of the human spiders I was surrounded by). I was quite sore the next day but I am so motivated to improve my climbing, especially if my dream comes true and I am interning in Colorado this summer!
On Sunday I did, or attempted to do, work all morning until my 5 o'clock run with Ryan. What we had planned on being a 45-minute run turned into a two-hour marathon of London. We ran through Holborn, Primrose Hill (thought of you the whole time Kelly!), Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath (where Coldplay goes for inspiration, no big deal), Camden town and my neighborhood of Marble Arch. It was a perfect night for a run and we watched the sunset from some of the highest points of the city! We covered about 11 miles of London, never ever thought I would be able to run that far!
Monday and Tuesday were filled with yet more work and lots of ankle icing, unfortunately my ankles don't enjoy my marathon runs as much as I do!
I started Wednesday off with a great run around Camden Town in the London rain, thankfully it later cleared and was a beautiful night!
Thursday started too early with some last minute studying before my history midterm, I also started getting quite excited for my quickly approaching trip to Spain!
After my midterm I worked more on my paper and created a master itinerary for our trip! After a long night of writing and packing I finally headed to bed and set an alarm to begin our adventure to Spain! I was sooo excited to begin our holiday!
Hope all is well at home! I will update with lots and lots of pictures of my weeklong exploration of Spain in the next few days!
Cheers-
Kel
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