Settling In

Today Tanya and I went over to the botanical gardens. They're like a 5 minute walk away, which is amazing, because they're absolutely beautiful. If it's ever sunny again (today was a really, really nice day) I'm going to go study there. I took my camera, and it decided to work, so I have pictures to document the beautiful scenery. So if you'd like to check that out, follow this link.

Yesterday I finally worked up the courage to go climb at The Matrix, the university's bouldering gym. It was nice to get back on the wall after so long, but after not climbing for over 2 weeks, I've lost a ton of strength, especially in my hands. I managed to get myself pretty frustrated by jumping on routes that would've been no trouble 2 weeks ago and falling off on the second or third move. Also, the routes are pretty much vertical and end a good 8-10 ft off the mat. So I resigned to doing some of the easier routes and then left. Better luck next time, I suppose. There's some other gyms in the city that I may try out to see if I like their routes better.

Other than that, I haven't been doing much traveling or exploring lately, as I'm just trying to get settled into my classes and figure out the system. It takes up a lot more time than you'd think. I did go on a mini-adventure to find an organic, locally-sourced grocery store called Beanies that had been recommended to me. Normally I'm not too picky about getting organic stuff, but the produce at grocery stores here has been waaay expensive and terrible quality. For example, about a week ago I bought a bag of 5 or 6 nice-looking apples, and all but two turned out to be inedibly rotten on the inside. This convinced me that I should try local things, so I asked around and was told to go to Beanies.

Beanies turned out to be a very good find. It's a little hole-in-the wall place sandwiched in between houses, but the outside is painted bright, barn-door red, so it's not too hard to find. Most of the produce is grown in the Peak District, and it's über-organic, but more importantly, very good quality. And, even better, it's a lot cheaper than the stuff from the grocery store! It was well worth the 10-minute trek uphill. After I purchased my mushrooms, spinach, potatoes, and fruit, I  wedged it all in my backpack and wandered around the neighborhood. I happened to notice a dilapidated, very old-looking church up the hill and across the street, and walked over to take a closer look. The brickwork was crumbling as a result of prying roots of the ivy encroaching on the walls, the windows were boarded up, and the surrounding land was overgrown. Nonetheless, it was clear that the church must have been very pretty at some point. Though it was small, the architecture was in elaborate gothic-style, complete with a spire, and it was situated right at the top of a large hill overlooking the city. I was very curious about the story behind the church's abandonment, but there wasn't anyone to ask, so I walked a bit down the hill to a park I had passed on my way up. I found a bench to sit on by a pond, nibbled on my dried mango, read about methods of corpse defleshing (it's for class, guys, I'm not a serial killer), and watched the little old men and women walking their dogs back and forth. It was a very nice afternoon.

This week I don't have any excursions planned, as yet, but who knows what I'll end up doing. As always, I hope you're all doing well!

~Anna