Coming to an End

So for those that have been following along the last few months, thank you. I have not posted anything in the last two weeks, one because I wanted to have a large final post of my most recent adventures, and two because finals have been insane!

Pride Parade

Brighton England has been described by many for its creative and artistic culture. It is the gay capital of England and many compare the culture to San Francisco in California. So here you can imagine that Pride is kind of a big deal. I don't have many photos for this day that are appropriate to post so I will leave you with a single colorful photo taken from the parade through town. 

I have never been to a pride festival before but I was really surprised at how any people came out. It looked like everyone in the town plus more were suddenly on every piece of grass in the center of town. Large parts of the parks were covered in people laying around and hanging out. Everyone welcomed you to sit with them and it was such a fun community event!

The very next morning after hanging out with by Brighton friends I set off on a trip to Cambridge. The famous University that taught so many great scholars such as Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin, Francis Crick and many others. The place held so much prestige and honor that it made me feel like I should have been studying instead... especially since finals were around the corner!

 I got to visit the cafe on campus where James Watson and Francis Crick first announced their discovery for the "secret of life" - DNA. Having the opportunity to go and visit this pub and be able to order food and drinks instead of it just being a museum was so cool for me because it makes the time so palpable. Like if I walked in I would meet Watson and Crick themselves.

I also got to visit Kings Church, one of the tallest standing buildings ( I think it actually is the tallest) in all of Europe, they say it took 100 years and quite a few kings ( I think 5)  presiding and influencing the structure of this church. It stands tall with stained glass windows all the way to the ceiling that portray the old and the new testaments.

Besides the stunning architecture there was also the campus culture.








This is more than a series of building and schools, its a little town full of musicians, cafes, and even a farmers market.

In continuation with my record of different and strange foods, I decided to try an Ostrich burger bought from the on campus farmers market (we should have one of these). It was interesting, and definitely didn't taste anything like a bird. It didn't resemble duck or chicken, but rather the texture or a beef burger and the taste of a pork sausage. It was definitely an interesting experience trying it out.

The musicians on the street here were all very creative and surprisingly amazing. The school had a sense of peace to it and hearing beautiful diverse music everywhere you went largely contributed to the atmosphere. It was the most at peace I have felt on my travels thus far.

Then of course is the punting. Cambridge has the River Cam running through it where you can rent a boat and relax as they push you along the water. The boats are even cushions and set up to lay back, the people at Cambridge when not studying definitely know how to spend their leisure time well.

                                                                          A view of the city style of the campus

The week following Pride and Cambridge I dove into studying with Finals looming, and the new found inspiration from such a prestigious University. The following weekend I went to London, England to visit Shakespeares Globe and watch "King Lear"

King Lear

I have dreamt of visiting this theatre ever since I learned who William Shakespeare was. It has been built  a total of three times, but this latest version of it still has the natural lighting and lack of speakers that were the same as when Shakespeare's play were originally performed here. Watching Shakespeare is always such an interesting experience. Even if you don't understand the Shakespearean language they act it out enough and the exaggerated motions are more than sufficient to completely get what is going on.

The whole building is in the circle for the acoustics. I was sitting in the top back and I could hear the actors as if I was in the front row.


Then I went to see the ancient city of Bath! Hands down one of my most favorite cities I have visited. The hot springs in the middle of town were the first thing to bring people to the area, It was a community spot that inspired healing and was for relaxation. Until the baths became only for the richest of the rich. Sot the city began to expand farther and farther out, the farther way from the baths themselves that you got the newer the buildings were. You could actually see the architecture slightly changed as you walked from the outskirts of town into the baths.

There is a large building that was constructed as a old "spa" with multiple rooms for healing for those that visited it, but if you go underneath into the bottom floors of this building you can actually see the old rubble and the mouth of where the water was coming from, which I have captured below:

While I was in Bath I became one with nature....

And became the pigeon lady! Until they started fighting while I was holding them! haha


And finally after leaving the beautiful city of Bath, I got to see Stonehenge for the first time:

Which was just incredible. Considering how much it randomly rains in England, we were really fortunate that it didnt rain all over the tour group while we were there. This was such a peaceful place because unlike the city of Bath it wasn't very crowded so it was really peaceful and incredible to see with my own eyes.

And for the whole entire reason I am here in the first place and a large reason that I have been MIA on this blog so recently, Finals. This was such a hard end of semester for me, but still so much fun. I made such great friends with my group members and classmates throughout the entire class. We worked hard nights, long nights, and then the party nights. We supported each other the whole time and became so close in the process. I will genuinely miss them and all of the friends that I made on this trip. There is nothing quite like meeting so many people from such diverse cultures and backgrounds all at once and all together.

I feel like I have earned something from every friend that I have made here and I have learned so much about different places and realized that everyone is really very similar regardless of their culture or where they are from. The world doesn't seem so big and unfamiliar anymore.I will always cherish the summer I spent in Brighton England.

I leave tomorrow morning with mixed feelings. I love the time that I spent here, but I also cannot wait to see my friends and family back home. America here I come!   

Thanks for following!!