Goodbyes, New Features, and a Hodgepodge of Other Things

Let’s start with the easiest item first:  You can now follow my blog by email!  A few of you are already gmail followers, but this requires a gmail account, and if you don’t have one, you can’t be a follower.  Now, however, you can submit your email address on the upper right side of the page, and you will automatically get an email notification when I post something new.  Pretty cool!

Springtime at Uni

Some friends at a barbecue in Castle Irwell

Next, I’d like to note that England is not holding up to its reputation as being a gloomy, cold, rainy nation with no good weather.  The England of this semester has been stunningly beautiful.  It has been sunny almost everyday with temperatures around 20°C (70°F) since mid-March.  This has been great for me, because it has allowed me to train outside for the 20km (12.4mi) race that I’ll be running in Brussels at the end of May.  I run through Manchester’s city centre 3-4 times a week, and I’ve gradually been building my endurance in preparation.  I love seeing the city by running through it, and I’m learning a lot of cool things about it!

Another cool thing:  I went to a football (soccer) game.  Yes.  I attended a sporting event.  And I liked it!  The atmosphere at football matches is really powerful.  The crowd cheers and chants and sings the whole way through the match, and it really makes the whole experience so exciting, a lot like an American high school or college football game.  Anyone could get swept up in the momentum of it.  Plus, I was incredibly lucky to see this game because it turned out to be uncommonly exciting and ended with a satisfying 1-0 score in favor of the team we supported.  

Finally, I had to say my first goodbye last week.  My friend Charlotte, one of the closest I’ve made here, finished her module and her exchange period last Friday and she flew home on Saturday.  In classic Castle Irwell fashion, we celebrated her time here with a party (the fabulous weather allowed us to make it a barbecue), a chocolate cake, and one last night out.  We all stayed up with Charlotte to catch her 5am taxi to the airport, and standing by the gate was the moment the goodbye became very, very real.   These are really good friends of mine, and really wonderful people, but once we all go back to our respective countries, it will be insanely difficult for me to see any of them again.  It’s not like the end of the school year, where you know you’ll all be back come September.  No, once everyone leaves, it’s never the same again.

German Chocolate Cake for Charlotte's last night

So this was an important lesson, one I’m trying to take into account in everything I do.  Every moment is a last moment, every moment is precious.  And that’s not to say that I’m gripping onto the time I have here in a fearful apprehension of what’s coming; it just means that everyday I take a second to appreciate the moment I’m in, fully and deeply.  Stop and smell the roses and that sort of stuff.  Really I’m just taking a second to remember that I’m glad I’m here.  So goodbyes are sad, but everyday here I remember that there are far more things to be incredibly, terrifically happy about.

Me and Charlotte out for her last night in Manchester

Traveling the UK: Edinburgh

Just like yesterday’s, this post is more pictures than words, but feel free to leave a comment if you have a question.  Again, to see a larger version of any picture, just click on it.

'We're going for a trip - anybody
want a cookie?'

A few weeks ago, a friend in Castle Irwell planned a marathon weekend of sightseeing in Edinburgh, and my friends and I all jumped on board.  The schedule was rough: leave Manchester at Friday night and arrive super late in Edinburgh and stay in a hostel, then sightsee all day Saturday before going out at night and staying up to catch a 5:00am bus back to Manchester on Sunday morning.  We went this past weekend, and it was a marathon and it was fantastic.  

Edinburgh is a picturesque city.  Seriously, it’s absolutely gorgeous.  It’s all grey or golden stone set on a maze of hills and valleys with the sea as a far-off backdrop.  The streets are curvy and twisty with numerous stone passageways between the buildings connecting one place to another.  Old Town¹ is ancient -- it’s centuries old, and yet it still stands, just as crowded and busy as it was hundreds of years ago.  And New Town (another district of Edinburgh) is gorgeous, too, and so old that the name ‘new’ hardly seems apt.  

A typical residential street near the city centre

The Royal Mile, seen from Edinburgh Castle

Two friends at the entrance to Edinburgh Castle

All the hills make for striking views of the city, assuming you’re adventurous enough to climb all the way up.  We didn’t visit Arthur’s Seat, the biggest hill in Edinburgh, due to time constraints, but the view from Calton Hill (the next best thing) is spectacular enough as it is.

Edinburgh and the North Sea, seen
from the top of Calton Hill

Edinburgh is set on the east coast of Scotland, and I definitely wasn’t going to miss a chance to see the sea, so we trekked down to the beach for some pictures.  The water was ice cold (think Titanic cold), but the views were great.  We even walked out into the sea on top of a wave barrier to get up close with the water.  And maybe do a few goofy poses.

Being in Scotland for the first time made me realise just how Scottish I really am.  Haggis²?  Of course I know what it is, I eat every year for Burns Night³.  Oh, you don’t know what Burns Night is?  Well everyone wears a kilt…  and so on.  Yes, the men in my family really do wear kilts, and those kilts are made from our family tartan.  And yes, some of them do play the bagpipe and even perform at important events like weddings.  And yes, I am aglow with pride to be part of this culture.  

Full Scottish breakfast.  You see that half-eaten patty in the middle,
sitting on top of everything?  Oh yes, that IS haggis.  Nom.

A Scottish souvenir shop
selling 'fun kilts'.

My only regret is that we only had one day to spend in Scotland.  I would love to go back and see the Scottish Highlands.  I’ve heard they’re absolutely breathtaking.  Sadly, I don’t think I’ll get a chance to go back to Scotland while I’m here, but if I do, I will take it in a heartbeat.  Or as friends keep reminding me, it’s just another good reason to come back⁴.

Arthur's Seat (the biggest hill in Edinburgh), seen from Calton Hill

¹ Old Town is an area of Edinburgh full of buildings still remaining from medieval times.  It starts at Edinburgh Castle and stretches down the Royal Mile, including a few streets on either side of the Royal Mile.  This is where all the stone passageways (called closes or wynds) are.  New Town is right next to Old Town and runs the same length.  It was built in the 18th century as a response to overcrowding in Old Town.

² Haggis is a Scottish dish made from various sheep meat and porridge, onions, and spices, which are all boiled together for a few hours.

³ Burns Night is the celebration of the birth of Robert Burns, the poet laureate of Scotland.  It takes place on or around January 25^th of every year, and is usually celebrated by a formal dinner and dance.  My family and I go every year.

⁴ As if I don’t have enough reasons already, ha ha.  Really, I’m already attached to this place.

Traveling the UK: Snowdonia and Stonehenge

Me in front of Snowdon

WARNING: This post is chock-a-bock full of pictures.  Some of them are small so I can fit more on here, but if you want to see a larger version of any photo I post, just click on it.

So here’s the background:  I’m a long way from home, so I’m spending as much time traveling around the UK as possible.  My first excursion was to Wales, to visit Snowdonia National Park.  This was my first time seeing the English and Welsh countryside, and from everything I’ve seen, I can say that it’s just beautiful.  You could say that it’s just mossy green fields and hills covered by sheep -- and it is.  But the countryside is a rich, golden green color so unlike home, and it’s made of fields and rolling hills that stretch to the horizon in every direction, and the fluffy white sheep are delightful merely for not being the cows in pasture I’ve seen all my life.  The road are narrow and twisty and lined by low stone walls, and the countryside is dotted with small villages that look just like a postcard.  That image you have in your head of a quaint English town is probably spot on.

While in Wales, we visited the Italian resort village, Portmeirion, and we drove around Snowdon, the largest mountain in Snowdonia.  Along the way, we pulled over whenever we saw anything interesting so we could take pictures.  It was freezing that day, but we got some great shots.  All of it was definitely worth seeing.

I really wanted to see Stonehenge while I was here, so we planned a trip down there.  It’s only four hours from Manchester, which to English people seems like a really long way away.  My friends all warned me, ‘It’s just a pile of rocks in the middle of nowhere’ -- and it is.  But it’s so much more than that, too.  Think about how it got there!  How it lines up with the seasons and the movements of the sun!  The practical implications just make it surreal.

Charlotte and me in Stratford-upon-Avon

We also visited Stratford-upon-Avon on the trip down to Stonehenge, which is the town where Shakespeare was born.  Many of you know that I’m not Will’s biggest fan, but it was a cool place to visit.  We also drove through Oxford (I’m a sucker for anything related to Harry Potter, and the Great Hall scenes were filmed at Oxford University), but I sadly don’t have any pictures of it.  I wish I did.  The city was absolutely gorgeous.

The next post will cover my recent trip to Edinburgh, so stay tuned for that one.  It'll be up soon!