Goodbye

Today was the official departure day, and so the entire student body (minus about 5 of us) left today. It was a strange, sleep deprived day- we all stayed up late last night, and then got sleep in 1-2 hour chunks in between waking up to say goodbye to the next busload of departing friends (the castle provided buses to Heathrow, staggered according to flight times). The first one left at 4:30 am and the last one at noon.

Afterwards, it was very eerie and quiet at Bader Hall! I'm the only one left in my entire corridor, and there's only about 10 of us in the whole building (including student services staff members). Also adding to the odd atmosphere is the fact that (for the first time since I've been here) there's a thunder and lightning storm going on right now!

I had already done a lot my packing, so I had lots of free time today! I walked the four miles to Herstmonceux and back, took more pictures, finished packing, and watched some movies with my friend who's still here.

Tomorrow morning I'll be taking a taxi to Gatwick (sharing with another student also on my flight) and catching my flight home around noon UK time, to arrive home a bit after 2pm Vancouver time (aka 10pm UK time).

I return to UBC on January 4th, to finish the last year and a half of my degree.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog. I appreciated your interest and comments! :)

Here's a few parting shots:

view from my seat in Seminar 1, where I wrote
most of my exams 

view from my window

view from my window, after the rainstorm yesterday

See post directly below for some photos taken during my walk to the village today. 

Final Walk to the Village

(See post directly above for explanation about today).

wild pheasant!

London with Margaret, Again!

This past Sunday Margaret and I both managed to be free the same day and meet in London again. It was a great day! We decided to walk everywhere so that we could see the city more, because it's really enjoyable to just explore on foot and try to absorb the city. 

Like last time, we met at the Canada Gates at Buckingham Palace:

Canada Gates

Canada Gates

Canada Gates

Buckingham Palace

Queen Victoria memorial opposite Buckingham Palace

Then, we walked to the British Museum. Both of us have been there before, but it's so big that there is always more to see, so it was great to get the chance to go back! We mostly looked at the Ancient Egypt, Ancient Middle East, and Medieval Europe areas.

The Rosetta Stone!!!!!!! 

Next on our list was Covent Garden. I had never been there before, and I'm so glad I got the chance to see it- especially at Christmas!

in St. Paul's Church at Covent Garden (not the same as St. Paul's Cathedral)

On a whim, we decided to check out the London Transport Museum, since we had lots of time and it was also right there at Covent Garden. I have to say that even for me, a transport museum sounded a bit dull, but I was definitely proven wrong! It's a new museum, only 4 years old, and consequently it's very innovative and high-tech. Lots of interactive stuff, like simulators where you can pretend you're driving a train on the tube, and old carriages, tube cars, buses, and train cars that you can go into. It was fascinating and I think we were both happily surprised! It talked a lot about the history of the London Underground (tube) system, plus the Thames as a conduct for transport, the growth of London, and the development of transport between 1800-2011, from horses and carriages to the present.

We were both immediately hooked when the elevator, which you get on right as you enter the museum, and which takes you two floors up to the "start" of the museum (it's chronological), instead of counting floors as we ascended, starting counting down from 2011 to 1800! Time warp!

inside a train carriage

outside of the train carriage

old schematic of the London Underground system, before
its famous colour-coded, more schematic representation
system was introduced in the 1900s 

tube car from the 1970s

digital display that showed the addition of tube stops and lines,
from the 1800s to the present 

double-decker bus!

entrance/exit to the Museum

As we walked back towards the train station and kept an eye out for a pub to have dinner at, we walked through Trafalgar Square. I was here in October with my British Studies class (when it was 30 C!) and it was neat to be back again in the dark, in much colder weather, and with the Christmas tree up.

Lots of icons crammed into one photo: one of the Trafalgar Square fountains,
the National Gallery, the countdown clock to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and the
Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree. 

And that's all! It was strange catching the train back to the castle this time, knowing that I wouldn't be back in London again before I went home.