As the title might suggest, I'm once again travelling and finding myself with an abundance of time to waste. Feeling very thankful to multinational chains right now, as I sit here taking full advantage of Starbucks and its 2 hours of free wifi. So I think the last time I posted I was still in Dundee and feeling rather excited about Christmas....
I have now left Dundee for good. Caught a sleeper train to London with Jo last Wednesday night, which was a fun little adventure. It was bittersweet leaving - while I still have a lot of fun travelling to look forward to, I really enjoyed my time in Dundee and met some lovely people. Will definitely have to try and get back to visit sometime in the near future. Also I realised I never actually climbed the law! I guess I was on crutches when everyone else did it, so kinda forgot about it and had noone else wanting to do it to remind me. But anyway, I definitely really enjoyed my exchange experience and am so blessed I got the opportunity to do it. All thats left from exchange is to await my final marks, and hope I don't have to struggle with the German department too much to get credit when I get home....
So moving on, I have been visiting Dub and Dee for the past few days, at their place near London. That has been nice - I think I definitely crashed a little bit, sleeping in really late two of the mornings I was there. But it was great to see them again, and meet baby Jessica. Even got to go on a tour of the British museum led by Dub, looking at the many artefacts on display there that corroborate events and people described in the Bible. That was really interesting, and a little bit mind-blowing. Its really amazing that stuff from that long ago has been dug up again and we're able to see it. I was also weirdly/nerdily excited that I got to hold a real Roman denarius while I was there - made from real silver. It was only small, but much heavier than I expected. Can't imagine carrying around a bag of them! Also went with the whole family to Cambridge yesterday afternoon, which was nice. Actually had some nice weather - 8 degrees and sunny! Walked around a bit and looked at the beautiful old buildings and the river punters and the markets. Didn't go into King's College, which apparently is the more famous one and has an amazing chapel, cos its like 10 quid just to go in. But I did have quick look in Trinity College - which apparently Isaac Newton had a room at, and Prince Charles stayed at when he went to uni. It also had a little statue of Henry VIII over the entrance, which the history nerd in me loved. I also paid to go in and have a look at St John's College, which was lovely too - like all them really. But it has a replica of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, which is very picturesque.
I have to say, its all the history that really makes Europe and the UK for me. I mean I love the scenery and the sights too, but I think Australia is better for natural wonders, with our great beaches and stuff like the Barrier Reef. But everywhere you go here just has so much history behind it - and a lot of it I have studied too, which makes it even more interesting I guess!
So anyway as I said before, I'm now sitting in a Starbucks wasting time while I wait for Grace to meet me. We will probably just have a quiet day today, as I'm guessing Grace will be a bit jetlagged. But there are Christmas markets to look forward to, and catching up with Jasmina when she gets to Germany too! Looking forward to that, feels like forever since I last saw her. I also need to sort out my luggage situation, as my suitcase has somehow managed to break - one of the wheels is no longer working, making it rather painful as I'm essentially dragging a 20kg bag behind me (that will be closer to 30 once I reclaim the stuff I left behind for the week in the UK :S). But yeah, a week in Germany, then Christmas and New Year in the UK! Can't wait!
And since this will probably be my last post before Christmas, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, celebrating the biggest birthday in the world with family and friends! And if I don't make it on again before New Years either, Happy New Year as well! Look forward to seeing everyone in Australia again in the new year :)
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