Hi friends!
I write to you with less than three weeks before I go home. We sailed beyond the halfway point for the program very quickly, yet I feel like this is exactly the pace it should be. I know that there are a thousand more places I could be going and things I could be seeing while I’m here, but I am already more than happy with the experiences I’ve had. I’m grateful for the personal and practical growth I’ll be taking away from this trip.
Aside from a little studying and interning, being a study abroad student is like being a full-time tourist. The attitude seems to be that we are supposed to keep a giant checklist and dedicate all our resources to seeing all the famous sights, eating all the best food, walking through all the historic buildings, and shopping in all the touristy areas before it’s too late. We pick and choose based on what will be the most enjoyable for us. If you take some nice photos and find some amount of temporary happiness as you go through your itinerary for the day, then you’ve done your job. Mission accomplished.
I’m not a tourist at heart. I’ve learned to strategize, to go out on my own, to have a good afternoon at a museum or in a park, but ultimately, this in itself will never be enough for me. I need a higher purpose.
The deepest, truest joy I will ever find in my travels is when I’m able to look out at creation and see a glimpse of the Creator. When I can take the touristing experience and thank God for it, giving my heart to Him in worship. When I’m reminded just how small I am, no matter what life I’m living. When I have a new opportunity to enjoy and love the people God puts around me, and hopefully share a dim reflection of Christ’s deep love for them.
Ok, that was my TedTalk introduction for today! Get ready for a long post… Here’s our agenda.
- The first week on June was probably my roughest one in the trip so far. I’ll share a couple snapshots from the Tuesday and Thursday of that week.
- In light of a rough week, spending that weekend in Edinburgh with a new friend from church was amazing! I will share details and photos.
- The week following had more adventures: The National Galleries, the Queen’s Gardens, 221B Baker Street, Kensington Palace, and Inside Out 2! More photos.
- A summary of other updates.
- A bucket list for my time left here, despite my little TedTalk above about how I’m not a real tourist.
Warnings: Typos and chaos ahead. I don’t take a lot of time to polish up these London update posts as I do with other blog posts!
Previous Posts
This is Post 4 of my London update series! If you’d like to read the other posts, the links are below.
An Enlightening Day of Class (4 June)
This morning, I got down to business planning my Edinburgh trip for this weekend trip. I reached out to my friend, Maggie, who is on a different study abroad program and visited Edinburgh this past weekend. She gave me her entire itinerary and so much good advice! I also worked on sorting logistics with my new friend from church, U*, who will going on the trip with me and hosting me. I booked us both for a free Harry Potter tour and booked myself a ticket for Edinburgh Castle. So excited!
*using initials for some names for privacy
I went to work for a few hours, and then I took the Tube to the academic Center for my Intercultural Communications class. Since we were talking about how culture is a shared identity of values, beliefs, practices, etc. we had a values exercise. The professor shared a list of values, which included information, significant person, group, meaningful role, means of support, source of joy, spiritual dimension, history, and place. We were told to share which was least important to us (i.e. which we would eliminate first if we had to eliminate one) and which was most important to us. I chose history as the least important to me. For the most important, I said that source of joy and spiritual life were one and the same—God is my joy. My professor didn’t seem to understand and said I would have to chose between them, but she was kind and didn’t force me to do so publicly or during class.
Nine out of my fourteen classmates chose spiritual life as their least important value. Four more chose it as their second or third least important value. This made me feel a little depressed that evening. I had already understood that my classmates had different values from me, but I didn’t realize that our priorities were polar opposites.
An Enjoyable Morning & A Fruitless Search (6 June)
I revisited the Science Museum this morning and I got to see some very old and beautiful clocks! I also found the math exhibit surprisingly interesting and enjoyed a funny commercial for an accounting system called Lotus. In the Information Age exhibit, I learned about how Chad Varah started the Samaritans and the first suicide and depression helpline. It was sweet just to read about the great compassion these volunteers had for total strangers.
I had some extra time before I needed to get to the CEA CAPA center, so I stopped by Kensington Gardens to read for a little bit. This giant, fluffy, beautiful Saint Bernard named Canon came right up to my bench and laid down on the ground. His owners told me that sitting by benches was something he loved to do.
When I got to class, I heard that another classmate had a phone stolen. That’s the third in three weeks, if you don’t count orientation week. A group of Purdue guys were out at a pub at 2am in the morning, and it sounds they were surrounded by seven or eight men and there was a wrestle or something.
After class, I took the Tube to Old Street to make my first trip to our nearest Aldi. I bought myself a pasta salad for dinner and found some items for a hostess gift for U this weekend. All I needed to pull it together was some thick, decorative ribbon. However, finding a roll of ribbon turned out to be easier said than done. I asked my flatmates for advice, and I was advised that Waterstones, a bookstore, might be a good place to look. My search for the nearest Waterstones led me into a shopping center near the Liverpool Street Tube. I could not find Waterstones for the life of me, so I checked out some other stores in the process. No ribbon. I found a tiny card store with gift wrap and gift bags and everything—certainly they would have some suitable ribbon there? Nope. I did finally find Waterstones, and STILL no ribbon, so I gave up and bought a small, overpriced giftbag.
Rather than take the Liverpool Street Tube back home, my directions told me that it would be much more direct if I walked over to the Moore Tube. Getting there was a “hangry” adventure of its own. One necessary sidewalk was blocked up by a crowd at a pub. Two women managed to squeeze through coming my direction, but I was completely ignored when I made my own attempt. I was hungry and angry and emotionally exhausted, but I walked around the block and eventually made it to the Moore station and back home.
Friday Train to Edinburgh (7 June)
I caught my train to Edinburgh around 8:30pm Friday night. The train arrived past midnight, and I met up with U when I got off. (She had been in a different carriage on the same train.) As we navigated the train station, got on a bus, and walked up the stairs to the flat, I wished I were able to pack a bag rather than a suitcase! There was no lift, that the stairs up to the flat were sloped with age. U said the building was built in the 1890s or something. This blew me away.
The flat itself was a little tight, but very cozy. U had to clear some things out of her small room to fit in a cot for me, and the bed and the cot took up the entire space. I was so grateful to U for sharing her little space.
As we came in and got ready for bed, we tried very hard not to make noise and wake any flatmates up. One of her flatmates was already up—we learned in a whispered exchange that she had been out to see the Eras tour, since Taylor Swift was in town this weekend. But we still tried to be quiet for the sake of the other flatmates. It was tricky trying to be quiet in an apartment I didn’t know very well. I tapped the pedal for the bathroom trash can and the lid clanged against the toilet like a gong.
I slept really well in my cozy cot under a thick comforter. I didn’t mind the small space—it was oddly peaceful, and a nice break from my busy 7-person flat in London.
Saturday in Edinburgh (8 June)
Since U had a brunch planned with another friend, I took the rest of the morning to do some solo exploration. It was such a cool walk through Edinburgh. The weather was beautiful, it was not as busy as I expected from Taylor Swift weekend, and the atmosphere felt safe, even safer than London. I walked from the Royal Mile, to Sainsbury’s for a quick meal, to the Edinburgh Castle. In that time alone, I passed three men playing bagpipes in full uniform! How Scottish!
The view from Edinburgh Castle was incredible. I enjoyed checking out the Prisons of War exhibit and seeing how talented the prisoners had been, both with their crafts (such as straw jewelry boxes) and their forgery of counterfeit bank notes.
There was a really cool memorial room too. I tried to take pictures and a short video of the architecture and the stained glass, but I was called out by a security guard. Somehow I accidentally missed all the “no photography” signs on the way in—oops! Must have been distracted by the beauty and detail!
Afterward, I went up to Calton Hill to meet up with U. Her bus was delayed, so I had some time there waiting alone, but it might have been the highlight of my whole trip. It was so peaceful and lush and green, with a cool breeze blowing through the grass. Yellow flowers, fluffy clouds, Greek columns, and a tall tower. Incredible views of the city and the sea from every side of the hill.
When U came, I met a couple of her friends, and we hung out for a while before splitting off for a Harry Potter walking tour. A different friend of U’s joined us for that. A tour guide garbed in witch attire showed us the world of Harry Potter through Edinburgh. We saw graves that inspired the names of characters, such as Tom Riddle, and she told us about the meaning that JK Rowling had woven through the names. We heard about the history of a school that inspired Hogwarts, she pointed out all the coffee shops that JK Rowling might have wrote her books in. There was a money museum that inspired Gringotts, and then we saw Diagon Alley itself.
Funnily enough, we ran into people that U knew before and during the tour, either because they lived in the area or they were visiting. We also ran into a couple people that her friend knew from university after the tour. Edinburgh is a small world!
We reunited with U’s other friends and a new friend for dinner at The Doric, a proper Scottish pub. I had haggis bonbons and salad for dinner. The haggis bonbons were good, kind of like soft meatballs. For dessert, I had sticky toffee pudding, which was delicious. Apparently, British people will just call any dessert “pudding.” It was kind of like cake.
It was a colllddd walk home for the fact it was summer. I was glad I brought my thickest sweater, because I was still cold under it. We made plans for Sunday around the fact that I would need to take my luggage to the airport: I will hike Arthur’s Peak in Holyrood Park in the morning, and U will take my luggage to her church. After the hike, I will go straight to church from Holyrood Park. I was concerned about going straight to church all sweaty, but U says it will be fine—it will be cold. I’ll wear jeans and a blouse and allot enough time to take it slow. Then I’ll go straight from church to the train station after the church service… We’ll see how this plan goes!
A Sunday Hike & Scramble in Edinburgh (9 June)
Hiking up Arthur’s Seat was absolutely beautiful and also quite miserable. First of all, I overdressed. It was sunny, so I didn’t actually need two sweaters, and I had to carry them. The hike was steep and long, and it was beautiful but I was not very happy.
Eventually as I got near the top, I experienced some delight at my accomplishment. But then, I witnessed a hiker’s slip. He was fine, but it was a little close to the edge for my comfort. The hike became very steep and unpaved at the very end, and I was a little terrified. It got very cold and windy very suddenly, so I put one of my sweaters back on temporarily.
Eventually I got to the top and I took a few pictures, staying a very safe distance from the edge. Other people laughed and took pictures near the edge and made me nervous. When it was time for me to make my way down, it was even more terrifying. I lost traction 4-5 times and fell in a bush one of those times. The ground was dry, not muddy or anything, but there was all this rubble and these little rocks on the surface that made it hard to walk safely. This doesn’t seem like it has been a problem for anyone else I’ve talked to, so maybe I’m just especially clumsy. I was very relieved and thanking God as I reached the ground in one piece, plus a tiny thorn or two in my fingers. 😅
I got to church late and sweaty, really wanting a shower, and thinking maybe this part of the plan wasn’t a great idea! Mentally, I spent a lot of time obsessing over random regrets about my plan this morning. It was a little hard to enjoy myself because I was just fixated on details I didn’t like. However, the church worship service was really good and helped me get at least a little more reoriented. I always like visiting a new church, and this visit was a reminder that whether I’m all put together for a Sunday morning or a little gross and sweaty, my great God remains worthy of all my heart and worship.
Being late for the train station was not an option, so I left before the service was over. I passed through a Sainsbury’s and grabbed food—a mini pizza pastry thing and pecan pastry and Irn Bru soda! The train station was big, even bigger than King’s Cross, but I found Station 19. I got on Carriage K instead of J, and the lady who was supposedly sitting in my row corrected me. She was ready to give me the seat anyway (it has been for her spouse who had gotten off) but I said, “No, that’s alright, thank you!” and went and found the J carriage. There was also someone in my seat there. This time she realized that she was in the wrong! I felt bad sending her off, but now I had my seat.
A Monday at the National Gallery and Queen’s Gardens (10 June)
This morning was a morning of grocery runs. I needed to shop for myself to restock my sandwich and snack supplies and feed myself this week, and also for a flat dinner night. I took the Tube to Aldi’s and planned to go to Sainsbury’s for anything left on my list on the way back to the flat. However, by the end of the Aldi’s trip, I had two full bags of groceries and still more groceries to get, so I needed to make a stop at the flat first. The elevator key fob was still not working and none of my flatmates were available to call it up for me, so I walked up 13 flights of stairs. It was miserable, though not quite as miserable as Arthur’s Peak, at least. I then made a trip to Sainsbury’s, and this time, a flatmate called up the elevator for me when I came back.
After all this grocery shopping, I was almost an hour late to the National Gallery from when I had pre-booked my ticket for. However, I got in the pre-booked ticket line anyway, and they didn’t even check my ticket, so being late didn’t matter after all. My favorite part was the Van Gogh paintings—they were incredible!
Then I went to the Queen’s Gardens in Regent Park. It was sprinkling some of the time as I walked but never bad. My socks stayed dry, so that’s pretty good weather in my opinion. The garden was beautiful! Roses and willows and lily pads and statues. I would love to go there again sometime. I’m sure I’ve said this five times before, but I love finding green spaces in the big city. They are my happy places.
On my way back, I started wondering about checking out the home of Sherlock Holmes since I was in the Baker Street area. I looked it up and it was 19 pounds for admission to the museum now in that location, so I was not interested enough to go in. But I was interested enough that I wanted to see the front of it and take a picture. It just so happened that I was walking down Baker Street to the Baker Street Station, and I passed by the 221B Baker Street address! It was such a funny feeling to walk by somewhere so famous just on the way to the Tube station. I got the pictures that I wanted.
I also read this article and apparently “a fictional flat in a real city has been made a reality at a fictional address in the real city near the real address of the fictional flat.” The address is not actually 221B Baker Street. It’s really interesting!
Kensington Palace & Inside Out 2 (15 June)
CEA CAPA gave us free tickets to Kensington Palace, so that’s where a few of my flatmates and I spent our afternoons! I loved returning to Kensington Gardens. It is one of my happy places. And the Palace was really cool… Compared to Brighton’s Pavilion, it’s not quite as pretty on the outside, but the gardens were really cool, and the inside was even cooler than the Pavilion. I’m getting a much better grasp on the history of the Royal Family as I connect dots between what I read in the palaces and in other places. Queen Victoria’s childhood was especially fun to read about, and I’ve gained a curiosity to read some of her diary sometime. (I found that it is available online.) I also listened to a staff member give a presentation on pet dogs in royal history, and it was fascinating! Did you know that a pug named Pompey saved the Prince of Orange by waking him up during an assassination attempt? Or that Queen Victoria had 640 dogs in her lifetime? Or that dogs had rights in Parliament ten years before children were given rights?
I was very tired by the time we got back to the flat, but I mustered up the energy to go out with my flatmates and see Inside Out 2. It was a lot of fun! I expected movie theaters in Great Britain to be a lot like movie theaters in the US. (Or should I say, theatres?) I was very confused that the curtains were drawn until 7:30pm and there weren’t ads playing yet, but then the ads and trailers started playing and everything was like the US. Well, except that the theatre encouraged us to leave our rubbish on our seats. That didn’t seem right! You’ll clean up after us? Wow! This might not be what all British theatres do though.
Other Updates
–> I took a sick day/remote day on Friday because I caught a mild cold. Treated myself to a carton of apple-pear juice and then soup for dinner. I’m still a little congested, but getting over it now.
–> This week is my busiest week so far with assignments: I had an essay due on Sunday, have an exam due tomorrow, a presentation to give for one class, and a group presentation for the other. I binge-watched a ton of TedTalks to find a clip for one presentation though, and now all my assignments are under control at this point!
–> Sunday was really good being back at my normal London church. The pastor and his wife had me over for lunch again, along with some others. I met some wonderful people and ate some amazing food: Ham and chicken and potatoes and carrots and veggies and all the good stuff, plus tiramasu and strawberries for dessert. “A proper feast.”
Bucket List
My bucket list is shrinking as I keep checking things off! There are just a few more things I would like to do in my last few weeks left.
- Despite all my traveling on the Underground, I somehow haven’t been to Paddington Station yet! I want to take a picture there.
- I also need to go back to King’s Cross just to see the famous Platform 9 and 3/4.
- Windsor Castle! I have planned a daytrip for next week.
- I need to plan a day at Richmond Park too—a young man from church recommended it when he heard how much I like finding beautiful green spaces in the city.
- I want to go to Hampstead Heath, the park that inspired CS Lewis to write The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
- I should also go to the Tower of London and see the Crown Jewels before I’m through!
The Tower of London is a must! My day trip to the Cliffs of Dover was also a favorite. Have fun!
The Tower of London was amazing! So glad I went! The cliffs sounds incredible too!
Sounds pretty fabulous, all around!! <3