London Calling

Good afternoon from Edinburgh!

Today I am going to share an experience from earlier this month, and I hope you won't mind that it wasn't in Scotland.  See, I may be studying in Edinburgh (and attending classes here daily), but this is my first time in Europe and there's a ton of stuff I have wanted to see on this continent.  So, expect to see posts from even further abroad than I already am - my travels outside Edinburgh, outside Scotland, and eventually outside the UK.

The first of these travels I have to share is London, England.  I spent 3 days there, as a stopover on my way to Edinburgh.  It was my first experience of the UK, and of Europe in general, and though I was jet-lagged and luggage-bound, each day was full of activity.

Some recurring themes of the weekend were getting used to the new currency, having my first stay in a hostel, and enduring what seemed to be constant rain.

I got to do some incredible things, like seeing Shakespeare's As You Like It at the National Theatre, going on a 3 hour walking tour of the city, going on a pub crawl in historic Camden Town, eating some very British food, attending Mass at Westminster Cathedral, and exploring palaces, parks, cafes, monuments, & world famous stores on my own.

Some of these experiences are shown below (sorry for the poor quality - for the moment I can blame that on my phone!), though most are not.  Something about myself: I enjoy photography and I try to use it to capture moments and their respective sensations.  But I often prefer to simply enjoy a moment without taking pictures, either because doing so would lessen my own experience of it, or because a photo just wouldn't do the thing justice.

The last photos below are from my train ride to Edinburgh, which went along the east coast of Great Britain.  It was a chance to see a lot of the country and to rest before adventures started here at university.  Stay tuned to hear about some of those!