My busy, busy life

[Major facebook photo upload happening circa now, so keep an eye out.]

I noticed recently that I come home really soon. The 24 days kind of soon. The kind of soon that makes me ecstatic to hug my family and my friends. The kind of soon that makes me want to spend every minute I have left running around London to get everything on my to-do list checked off. The kind of soon that snuck up on me all of a sudden, without warning, in good and bad ways.

But never fear, I’m making the most of my remaining time in London!

The other week, my London class went to St Paul’s cathedral. We went at just the right time—the choir and musicians were rehearsing for the day’s evensong service, and the whole time we were in the cathedral it was filled with beautiful music. I had a total movie-worthy moment when I stepped forward into the area under the dome and instantly the music began to swell. Mmmm, so wonderful.

We climbed to the top of the dome and at each height the view of London’s skyline got better and better. Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more pictures of gorgeous clouds over London, I took a few more.

#occupylsx - bringing up some interesting issues with the Church

Last Friday we went on a class trip to Hampton Court Palace in the southernmost borough of the greater London area. Hampton Court was one of Henry VIII’s primary residences and so the bulk of the palace is Tudor in style, but there is also a significant portion that is Baroque and was added and inhabited by William and Mary after the English Civil War and the Restoration.

History lesson aside, it was a crazy mix of architecture made even cooler by the fact that people still live there today. Not royalty, but old aristocratic families who have fallen on bad times, I think, are given old apartments in the palace.

Don't worry, we knew to reject his advances

For Guy Fawkes day I tried to meet up with some friends at a Diwali/Guy Fawkes fireworks show but my bus took forever to get there. So the one year that I’m in England for Guy Fawkes day I saw fireworks from my kitchen window and the bus...but we had candy apples at the Diwali fair and that made up for it. That Sunday a friend and I went to sung eucharist at Westminster Abbey and it was just lovely. After you hear a big, loud pipe organ in that setting, it’s hard to imagine it anywhere else.

Those are just the highlights of the past few weeks (those, and a trip to York that is a post for another day) but there is a lot more going on: museums, galleries, tea with professors, visits to Parliament and international banks, postcards, commutes, and papers. It’s a bit of a whirlwind but hey, I’ll sleep when I’m home, right? xo

Oh, and lest we forget about the second half of my European adventure, I applied for my Swiss visa the other day so I’m one step closer. 62 days to Geneva! Time to start remembering how to speak French.