Because Grad School

It is that time again where I feel the need to update you on my life. 

As of late my life has been school school school and more school. The lists of assignments and papers and I have are seemingly endless, but slowly I am marking items off the check list.

I wrote a paper about Superman.... because Grad School

I can not remember if I shared the good news, but I am going home for a few weeks in April, which puts the pressure on to finish a few of my assignments early. Also, my friend Caitlin is coming ON FRIDAY!!!! to London, so I have a ton of school work to put behind me before she arrives (among other things to prep for her stay!!). 

I finally went back to Windsor to actually tour the castle! 

If you are thinking of going to Windsor and touring the castle I would highly recommend looking up what rooms within the castle are open to the public. We made sure to go during a time the State Apartments were open. If these rooms aren't open, it is not worth your time or money to tour the castle (the price of a tickets sits at a steep 19 pounds!). However the town of Windsor is quite charming and seeing the castle from a distance when arriving to Windsor by train is a magnificent sight!

The Long Walk

We found a cutesy little sideways building in Windsor!

I signed up for a Half Marathon here in London (North London Half). It is in two weeks and I'm now starting to think my signing up was a bit ambitious, but only time will tell. I am very excited to complete an international race! It is also helping prepare me for a half I am doing in Amarillo when I'm home in April, however it has been a little difficult to adjust my grad school life to accommodate my running life. I am significantly more exhausted, but upping my miles cuts into study time, which means I am up late working and up early running. I can't complain too much though, I get to see some amazing sights while running in London!

Albert Bridge

The Italian Gardens in Kensington Gardens

Buckingham Palace

As deadlines for school approach, my research expands. I went to the Imperial War Museum for research and will be going back to actually have a look at their archives and library. 

Imperial War Museum

Other research trips I have planned are a trip to D.C. in April while I am stateside, and a visit to Auschwitz in May during my travels (more to come on future travel plans soon!).

I've never been to the IWM before, so when I went to view their Holocaust visit I didn't know what area of London I was in. So as I walked to a different tube station I stumbled onto this big guy.

Big Ben

And I instantly knew where in the city I was.

I think there was a holiday recently? Maybe it had something to do with hearts and the colors pink and red?!... Unlike Thanksgiving, Europe celebrates Valentine's Day. This V Day I spent the day working on my Superman paper. Thankfully, I serve a loving and compassionate God, and He made Valentine's Day a sweet time for me. Also, my amazing friend Leasa sent me some INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS English chocolates, so I gorged myself in those and watched Netflix when I could no longer stand my paper.

What would I do without my loving and intentional friends?! P.S. yes, my hair is curled... It's getting so long!

I ate pancakes at a Dutch Pancake restaurant on Pancake Day, aka Fat Tuesday, aka the day before Ash Wednesday.

Pancakes! ... I wanted waffles, but its not called Waffle Day.

And, most recently, I went to Cambridge. Austin had a rowing race/competition this weekend in Cambridge and it was so cool to be in a competitive sport atmosphere again!

Austin and I were twinning!

To see the race I walked for about an hour and 10 minutes along the river to get to the area where they actually race the boats.

Heading to the start

Heading to the start

I am a country girl at heart, and London is very stifling. My long leisurely walk down the river turned into a joyous frolick and I skipped through green open fields of muddy farmland! 

The farther down the river I got the more removed from all forms of society I felt. Finally Austin's boat came up the river towards the starting line, and then my phone died...

Austin's boat. He is second from the back. This photo is really awful quality because it was snapped right before my phone died.

 Being out in the country with no phone was one of the more relaxing moments of the term. I was the only person on that side of the river that far from town. I had no communication with anyone as I walked back to town, and was secretly wishing a cute Englishman would stumble upon me and help guide me back to the city. Unfortunately, as you can guess, that did not happen, and I'm sure if there had been cute guys around I would've fallen face first into the mud, so maybe it is for the better.

My second day in Cambridge three of my Londie friends came and Austin showed us around one of the college's before he headed to the boat houses.

Unfortunately I have no pics from his race the second day because I shot it all with his nice camera. But they did well, even with the cold and windy weather, and us four Londies took a beating walking through all those muddy fields. However, I am grateful to start off my spring break week with some country time (yes, it is my spring break).

Spring is coming!

The next 5 days I will spend on school work (some spring break, huh?!) and then Caitlin comes Friday and we head to Paris the next day! So stay tuned for some fun blogs with my sweet friend (it's her first time to travel outside of the states, so I'm sure there will be some great stories!), and I would love some prayers as I try to pound out my remaining assignments for the semester!