Let's start with Thursday; in class we talked about the media and the phone hacking scandal that has caused a great deal of anger from the public. I found this to be much more interesting than the discussion of British politics the week before, however we did get a bit off topic during my seminar. The rest of the day was spent just hanging out in Vandon. Thursday night our programme was able to go to a concert by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Cadogan Hall. I enjoyed the music as I am a fan of classical music, but would have enjoyed it more if it was choral. The violins were probably the most enjoyable to watch.
Friday was our day trip to Greenwich. We took a boat ride from Westminster Pier which was lovely but quite chilly. Luckily it was warmer on land and turned out to be a quite beautiful fall day. We went to the Royal Observatory where I was able to stand on the Prime Meridian with one foot in each hemisphere! Lots of fun touristy pictures were taken. We then explored the Maritime Museum a bit and ate lunch at Cafe Sol, a delicious Mexican restaurant with great tacos and margaritas! Before headed back to our part of London, we meandered around the Greenwich Market that had a lot of hand crafted clothes, jewelry, and art, as well as a lot of vintage items.
Saturday, Dan, Chelsea, Sarah and I went around to a few small nearby markets for some fruit and veggies. Since we have to join a club for British Experience Seminar, I decided to go to the University of London Sailing Club "fresher's meal" at Bella Italia for supper. I went, and despite the awkwardness of not knowing a single person, ended up having a good time with 23 of the club members. I had some good food and talked with a few Brits as well as a Psychology masters student from Boston. As kind of an initiation, they had us eat our dessert in a race without using silverware or hands! Not trying to win, I stuffed my face in my chocolate cake quite entertained by the situation. After dinner, they were going to head out to a few bars and clubs, but since it was already late, I headed back to Vandon because I was going to have a very early Sunday morning...
Sunday morning at 7:30am, Chelsea, Dan, and I boarded a bus that drove the 2 and a half hours to the English coastal town of Dover, where the White Cliffs are located. It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day, which we started at the rocky beach. Chelsea was like a little kid in a candy store when she saw the ocean. We found some sea glass to take as souvenirs! We had brunch at a pub in town that was so cheap and delicious! We headed to the Western Heights area first, walking up and around the fortification that was built to protect Dover from the French invasion during the 1860's. We were only able to access the moat, but it was still really cool. From the top of the hills, we had great views of the Dover Castle on the other side of town, the port, and part of the cliffs. We were trying to find the ruins of an old church somewhere in the area, but failed and just ended up walking back and forth for a long while. Chelsea and I then went to tour the Castle of Dover which was massive! One would need a full day to see everything there. We focused our tour on the Great Tower, were we got to see rooms in the castle as they would have looked back in King Henry II's time. We were able to climb to the castle rooftop which had spectacular views! Then we went to the Roman lighthouse, built over 2000 years ago, and the church of St. Mary-in-Castro. Much of the time I felt like I was in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Chelsea and I ended up quoting a bit of it. ;) We finally began our hike over to the White Cliffs, where Dan was exploring a bit on his own. We met up with Dan and sat and watched the sunset over the cliffs. The views were breathtaking!! Despite being in much pain from hiking somewhere between 25-30 miles total (yes, really) the trip was well worth it. I would love to go back and just spend more time on the cliffs, and go tour the lighthouse that we didn't quite make the trek to.
Today I was quite tired and sore, and after yoga, spent the day relaxing and working on a religion paper. It is now time for bed as I start another 2 days of my internship, and on Thursday we go to the Cabinet War Rooms for Contemporary Britain. Then Thursday night is the start of fall break!!!!!!! I am excited for more traveling!
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