A Year at St Andrews...

I'm back in London now and counting down the days till I'm back in California (I almost wrote "till I'm back in St Andrews", I miss it so much).

I spent the first half of this week visiting a friend in Wales. I hadn't seen her in over five years so it was great to meet her again. We had a really nice time. The first couple days were really warm and we went to Barry Island Beach on one of those days. The weather was perfect for it. There was a theme park there as well and

My Easter Break has been going well so far. I had a 4 day retreat in the North of Scotland. It was held at this Benedictine Monks' Abbey in Pluscarden and was organised by the St Andrews Catholic Society. The place is lovely with a serene and prayerful atmosphere.

The boys got to stay in the abbey and eat with the monks. Us girls had rooms in a place about a five minute walk away from the abbey, and we got to cook our own meals. There were tons of pheasants all over the place and a few of us were eager to catch and eat them ;). Daffodils were springing up all over the fields and the sides of the roads, making everything look quite pretty.

The retreat was very helpful. I knew that I had been missing something crucial for a while and as I had suspected it turned out that I was missing God. The retreat helped me reconnect with Him and helped me to figure out what was important in my life. We went to prayers when the monks had them. We didn't have to go to each and every one during the day, but we went to most, especially to Mass and Compline. On the last day, I made it a point to get up at half four in the morning to go to Vigils and Lauds which starts at a quarter to 5 and goes on till a quarter past 6. I got a bit fidgety in the middle, but I don't regret going. Prayer is always good. :)

After that, I spent a few days in Aberdeen. The weather was quite lovely the whole time I was there and Aberdeen is a nice place as well. The beach is pretty and I saw the ships in the harbour which looked quite impressive. 

I had a long train journey back to London from Aberdeen on which a woman who sat next to me reprimanded me for being anti-social with my laptop. I tried to explain that I really only had my laptop open to keep me from getting bored and people in today's world generally don't speak to each other on trains and planes. But she got me and the guy sitting across to shut out laptops and engage in conversation. The guy turned out to be a young physics professor. Interesting. I'd like to know what your opinion is on the issue. Should people talk to each other more on public transport? Is technology making us more antisocial? Let me know in the comments.


Anyway, London is nice so far; weather has been good. I'm looking forward to Holy Week and Easter, but I half wish I was spending it in Pluscarden. The monks told us all about  their lovely Holy Week and Easter services and staying there for a while definitely put me in a more prayerful mood. I don't think the Holy Week services here will be quite as moving.

I hope you all have a Blessed Holy Week!

I'm on the train back up to St Andrews as I write this. I left from King's Cross in London, I guess you could say I'm on the Hogwarts express (I promise one of these days I'll get a picture of me by Platform nine and three quarters).
My holiday was fun. I had a great time with my cousins, enjoyed the preparation and consumption of the lovely Christmas dinners, and enjoyed navigating the mad sales after Christmas as well.

I only went into the City twice this time. Once we walked around the Trafalgar Square area and another time we went to see a play at the National Theatre. The play is called WarHorse and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The set design, the props, the acting were all amazing.

For Christmas, we went to the Midnight Mass at Westminster Cathedral which was said in Latin. We opened presents right after we got back and on Christmas Day we had a big dinner.

New Year's was much more laid back. We roast duck on New Year's Eve and then stayed up to watch the New Year's Eve specials on TV. We brought in the New Year with champagne while watching the firework display at London Eye on TV.

I do not usually make New Years' resolutions, but this year I did. I also discovered why so many people's New Years' resolutions fail. For one, people expect things to change overnight, which doesn't happen. If you have been going a certain way or doing or not doing something for a long time you cant expect it to just change suddenly and completely just because we hang a new calendar on the wall.  It takes a while, and its a process of change. I was almost read to give up my resolution when I figured (after the first day itself) that it wasn't going to work and every thing I saw or read seemed to contradict my resolution. Well, after a bit of thought and the revelation that it will take a while to get used to, I decided to stick with it.

It snowed during the night and early this morning back in Croydon and it seems to have snowed all over England as well. As the train rolls on I see trees with snow in their branches and large fields made white with the snow. I only hope St Andrews gets a bit of snow, I am longing to build another snowman!

Happy New Year to you, and I hope your New Year's resolution will last!

After a seven hour journey on Saturday, including a bus and three trains. I made to London in one piece. I have to say hearing some of the stories of other people being stuck in airports etc. I am glad I only had to make it to London. I am also glad that my home university is only two hours away from home for me, meaning that I would be able to go home on any weekend if I wanted to. I have to say, I had a bit of a glitch, since I ended up locking my debit card by being a ditz and forgetting my pin one too many times in a row. I'll have to sort that out when I get back. 

As for now, I am with my relatives and will be spending Christmas here.  There's a Christmas tree in the window with presents around it. It looks so lovely. Preparations for Christmas dinner and sweets have begun. I have to say that I miss my mum dad and brother a lot. It's hard being without them at Christmas since I never have, but I suppose I'll be alright. I miss my Mummy most of all.
I also happen to miss my friends from St Andrews as well. It wasn't especially hard leaving, because I know I'll see most of them in the New Year. It was hard saying goodbye to the JSAs though. Being in a place for only a semester must have been quite hard for them, leaving now and knowing they won't really be coming back. I am going to miss them.

I am a bit excited to see what Christmas in London is going to be like.

On Tuesday, I went sightseeing around London with my cousin, again. It was nice to be back in the city, it felt as lovely as ever. It was a bit windy and chilly, more so than last time.

We did a lot of walking this time. We went to Westminster, saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We walked to the Tate Modern. The Tate Modern was nice, they had some interesting pieces of art there.
From there we walked across the Millennium Bridge towards St. Paul's Cathedral.  Then we took a bus to London Bridge. From there, we took the lovely walk, along the Thames, all the way up to Tower Bridge.  Walking by the river meant we felt the cold and wind even more, but it wasn't too bad. Then we walked across Tower Bridge and around the Tower of London. It all looked very impressive.  To borrow my cousin's words "Tower Bridge is the prettiest bridge in London".

I am a bit tired now. Tonight is my last night down here. I leave bright and early tomorrow to take the train from King's Cross to Edinburgh.  I'm a bit excited and a bit nervous. I have to go put my stuff in order now. So, I have to say goodbye.

Oh wait! I almost forgot. I have more pictures! Right Here.

I've spent the last two days sightseeing in London Town. It's been pretty amazing. It was lovely to actually see the places in person, when I'd only seen them in pictures or on TV before.

Buckingham Palace was lovely. I saw part of the Changing of the Guard there yesterday morning. It was quite cool. The gates of the Palace are massive. I mean, you would expect palace gates to be massive but actually seeing them left quite an impression.
The parks are lovely too. I walked through Green Park and Hyde Park and they seem like lovely places to take a contemplative walk or even to go for a morning jog, which quite a few people were doing.
Trafalgar Square was another place that struck me as being huge. The sun was playing hide and seek when we were there and I kept having to take off and put on my coat.
I also Saw Piccadilly Circus and the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of Natural History, which were quite nice too.

London definitely seems like an amazing place. It feels rather familiar although I'm not sure exactly why that is. It could be because something about it reminds me of Mumbai; like the architecture of some buildings, the trains and train stations, the fact that traffic moves on the left. It could also be because I've lived in London in my imagination before. I'd even looked at pictures of it when I was younger and imagined myself there. It definitely lived up to all that I'd imagined it to be and was in some ways even more impressive.

I'm not done seeing this lovely city yet, I'm going to visit a few more places in the next few days and I'll be sure to write about them too.

In the meantime,  here are some pictures for you to enjoy!
Let me know what you think of them and I'd love to hear anything else you might have to say or ask.

I'm writing now. This might not be up to my usual standard because I am still a bit jet lagged. I slept for 12 hours last night, but I'm still tired and sleepy right now.

The flights were both good. The first one had a little over an hour's delay. This meant that I had to rush a little to get to my next flight. but it was alright and I made it with time to spare. The flight was good because I managed to take a few naps on board.  The second flight was good too. It didn't start out that way tho, When I got to my seat, I saw that it was one of those near an emergency exit, and didn't have a window. I was upset, because I really like to have a window. Then I saw that there was no one in the seat right behind me, which had a window, so I moved there and I had a happy flight. Granted I had to keep the shutters down most of the time, and when we were landing in London, the sky was overcast and rainy so I barely got to see the city properly, but I still enjoyed having the window.

It was nice when I finally landed. My aunt, uncle and cousin met me at the airport  and we drove back to their place. Everything looked quite lovely. the buildings, the houses, the streets and sidewalks everything. It reminded me of Bombay quite a bit too. Especially since people here drive on the left (i.e. the right) side of the road. I felt like the streets were quite narrow compared to those in the US, but everything moves pretty smoothly. Although there is a bit more traffic than I've seen in a long time.  The trees look familiar here (unlike those in California which always looked quite alien to me and they weren't even friendly).

I'm liking it here so far. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will go into the city soon and I'll take some pictures there.

You can ask me anything you're curious about in the comments. I'll read and answer them.

I have to give a special shoutout to three amazing friends who made me a lovely little video postcard. Thanks guys! I loved it!