It’s been a while since I’ve given an update on my time here in England (the last one was in October! Yikes!). I would have liked to have written a few more posts about it by now, but alas I have been enjoying my time too much to remember to write about it. The tab Traveling Home must feel quite lonely by now, seeing as all the others have seen a post or two in the recent weeks.
Anyway, I thought it was high time I bring all you up to speed on what adventures I’ve been having.
October:
A few of my friends and I went to the aquarium here in our city. I enjoyed seeing the penguins and all the fish. The aquarium has an interesting design. You start in the exhibit on the highest floor and slowly spiral your way down to the ground floor. As you do so, the animals you see represent life at different depths. The deep sea fish, for example, are nearly at the ground floor.
I went out for Halloween with another group of friends. It was a fun experience and one I hadn’t had before. Studying abroad is about expanding your comfort zone, right? Can you guess what my costume was? Let me know your guess in the comments.
November:
I made a solo day trip over to the coast. It ended up being a much colder day than I expected, but in a way it just added to the adventure. I walked along the beach for a while before finding a little cafe for a cup of tea. Along the sea wall I also found an amusing sign.
As well, one of my international friends hosted a Thanksgiving meal. We all helped her out. Three of us making apple pies.
December:
During the holiday break, I had family come visit and we spent nearly two weeks traveling around the United Kingdom. We went to York, Edinburgh, the Lake District and London. My favorite place we visited was Edinburgh. I loved the feeling of the old city, the twisting roads and many hills. We visited the Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter series. My inner fan girl was very excited to be able to sit in the same cafe.
In York, I very much enjoyed walking along the wall. It gave me a nice perspective of the city and I had fun imagining what the view might have been like hundreds of years ago.
The Lake District was beautiful. I hope to go back when it’s a bit warmer out and do some hiking.
We had a lot of fun in London as well. We were lucky enough to go on a sightseeing tour on the Thames. I’m not the biggest fan of boats, but I enjoyed my time on it. I liked seeing the city from a different perspective. Everything seemed much, much bigger from the river. We braved the early January cold for a while, but ended up heading to the enclosed part of the boat about halfway through.
I’ve been in England for roughly three and a half months now. I’m loving my time here. I am learning a lot about my self and who I want to be in this world. Learning about another culture by living in it is an experience I have always wanted to have, but I could never imagine just how special an experience it actually is. While it’s hard to be away from family and friends, I feel as if I am growing into the person I want to be. I’ve had a great time so far and I can’t wait to see what the next six months have in store.
Let me know in the comments of any study abroad and/or England related questions you have and posts you would like to see.
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