2/18

Cheerio!
Hi everybody and happy belated Valentine�s Day! Hope you�re doing well in the states and enjoying life there. J I�m quite content here in England, to say the least.
Well, it�s half-term here, which means that we�ve been in school five weeks already. It�s hard for me to understand that I�ve already been here 7 weeks, approximately 1/3 of my time in England. I don�t want it to go by so quickly!! Hey, I�m making the most of it, so I guess that�s what counts.
Since you haven�t heard from me in two weeks, I figured I would do a quick recap of the week before half-term. Actually, it wasn�t a very exciting week, I spent most of it indoors trying to get work done so I wouldn�t need to do it during break. One of the highlights I do remember is cooking one meal of chicken with kashmiri butter and rice that I managed to eat straight through an entire week for every single dinner. That�s saving money, huh? In anticipation of my trip, I didn�t eat out much. In anticipation of half-term, most of the other students didn�t show up for class. :oP
Oh yeah, there was one other big highlight! I don�t know if you remember back to two weeks ago when I said that I managed to catch the last circle-line tube before the strike hit. Well, the strike lasted straight through Monday and was supposed to be every Monday for four weeks (but that was eventually averted)�there was almost nobody in class on Monday (9 A.M. Japanese/1 P.M. Religion) and our Japanese teacher was forced to postpone our test until Tuesday after half-term�which I�m quite thankful about now! It was exciting nonetheless.
Last Saturday my friend Geera and I hopped on the 9:00 GNER (Great NorthEastern Railway) train from London-King�s Cross to Edinburgh. It was due to arrive at 1:55, but there have been lots of crashes on British railways, so it was slightly delayed. Actually, we were delayed because our train conductor didn�t show up until 9:30�go figure. The train ride itself was quite lovely, we headed up on the Eastern seaboard, passing such cities at Peterborough, York, and Newcastle-on-Tyne before crossing the border into Scotland. In the extreme north of the country, there were snowy pastures and the railroad passed steep cliffs overlooking the extremely cold North Sea. We eventually arrived in Edinburgh only 15 minutes late or so.
My friend Katy told us that the hotel we�d be staying in would be only a 15-minute walk or so from Waverley Station (Edinburgh), but she didn�t bother to tell us that Edinburgh is pure mountains! It was actually built on 7 volcanoes, and trying to get from the station in a valley, up and over the Royal Mile (volcano number one) and back down the valley on the other side was quite a feat with luggage! The B&B was another story, it was run by two older Scottish women with two schizoid chihuahas (sp?), and our room resembled that of a hostel. Hey, we had our own bath as well as six beds, so I guess that�s what matters!?
Edinburgh itself is nice. It�s a typical big city, but done Scottish style: lots of tartan wool, men in kilts, etc. The city is divided into the old and new towns, although the new town dates from the 17th century and is still much older than American towns! We walked on the Royal Mile a lot (Old Town) and did some typical Scottish shopping for shortbread, jumpers (sweaters) and rugs (blankets). On Sunday morning we took a bus tour of the city before visiting the world-famous Edinburgh Castle. We were planning on seeing the 1:00 Cannon, but it doesn�t go off on Sundays, so alas, we did miss it. But the Castle was quite enjoyable�the Royal Jewels, Royal Apartments, and Imperial War Museum are all housed there. After the Castle, we shopped a little bit in the New Town as the skies let loose to pouring rain.
By Monday the skies had returned to their sunny selves and we decided to take a bus tour to Stirling Castle, Loch Lomond, and Braveheart Country. Stirling Castle was even nicer than Edinburgh Castle�it�s on a fortification in the middle of the countryside with beautiful views of mountains. To top it off, Stirling had lots of nice gardens around it (Edinburgh was surrounded more by cement & buildings). We passed through Braveheart Country to Loch Lomond, also passing cute Scottish towns and highland cattle to boot! Loch Lomond is the largest and most famous Loch in Scotland (after Loch Ness, of course), and we stopped in the loch-side village of Luss for a break. It was really really cute, and once again there were gorgeous views of the mountains there. After Luss, we headed back to Edinburgh via Glen Friar and Glasgow�nice, but definitely not worth our time of day!
Tuesday we carted our luggage, which was growing quite heavy, to the train station only to find out that it costs �4/piece/3 hours�rip-off! So we went to two free art galleries in Edinburgh instead�the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland. Thank god for coat checks! We took a Virgin Train from Edinburgh to Oxenholme in the Lake District�.it was an uneventful ride with gorgeous views once again. Probably the saddest part was passing through the town of Lockerbie.
We spent the last part of our journey in Windermere in the Lake District, the Northwest part of England. The town of Windermere is located on the largest lake in England, Lake Windermere, and it is the typical summer tourist destination although clearly off the beaten path for American tourists. Our B&B was great�the people were incredibly friendly and had a lovely springer spaniel to pet...it was also right in the center of town. From Windermere, we took a tour of the Lake District stopping at Tarn Hows (top of a mountain), a glen (waterfall), Lake Coniston for a boat ride, etc. It was absolutely incredible!!! The lakes are very clean and thus have crystal clear reflections, and the scenery was beautiful. It�s just too hard to explain. Our tour guide was nice and showed us lots of places in the area, even Wordsworth�s home in Grasmere. Later on, we climbed up a mountain to gain views of the area and then walked 1.5 miles to the neighbouring town of Bowness-on-Windermere, which was right on the lake. It was Valentine�s Day, so Geera and I were relieved to find ourselves the only patrons in an Indian restaurant for dinner�we probably would have thrown our nan at any couples we had seen. By Thursday morning, the skies were more cloudy than they�d been and we took one last hike up the side of a mountain before resuming our journey to London (another Virgin train, delayed by over an hour). In all honesty the Lake District was one of the most beautiful places I�ve ever been and I would totally recommend it to anyone!
The rest of the weekend I�ve been studying off-and-on. I have a Japanese test Tuesday, so I�ve been attempting to study for it every day, although it�s not been happening. L Yesterday Holly & I did a little shopping in Camden Town where I ran into �15-hiking-boots (what I originally set out to buy), and then went to Regent Park to study. Would you believe it if I told you that I managed to get sunburned�in London�in the middle of February? It�s early Sunday morning, and I think we�re going back there today. It�s nice just to get out of the dorm�even though no one�s here!
Well, talk to you soon, and miss you bunches!
Love,
Kirsten