Madrid, Lake District and Much more

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March 13th 2007

Published: March 13th 2007

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Dave3586

The Lake District

A scenic picture of the Lake District

Hi everyone,

So sorry that it has been a month since I posted, I don't know where the time has gone. I have been busy with lots of different things. Since I last posted mom and dad came and visited. It was really nice so see them and we had some fantastic times including a day trip to oxford to see that wonderful city. After they left, I was in crunch mode to get out four essays due on the same day, but I got them out. The day after they were due, I went on a day trip to Bath, which is just a lovely city. Shortly after that, I had my birthday, which was a lot of fun as I went out to a couple of pubs with friends and had an enjoyable night.

The day after my birthday, I left for a quick two day trip to Madrid to see a couple of friends. Madrid was a very lovely city and remarkably easy to navigate. I stayed with a friend from Bates whose "senora" was generous enough to let me stay and cooked to very delicious dinners (even if it was at 11 PM, I didn't

The Lake District again

A scenic picture of the Lake District

adjust well to the change of dinner). Madrid is a very old city with lots of beautiful architecture which you can see in the pictures below. I spent most of my time on my own because my friends had class but I took in almost the entire city as the Metro was easy and my high school Spanish came in handy to navigate me around the city and ask people for various things. I had a traditional three course Spanish lunch which was absolutely delicious and affordable. The weather was beautiful as temps reached the upper 60's. I really enjoyed my time there and would reccomend a trip there for people in the future as the natives were very friendly.

I flew home very late last Thursday night and was off very early Friday morning on a trip to the Lake District of England coordinated by my program. The county of Cumbria is located about fifteen minutes from the Scottish border and was a 8 hour bus ride but it was worth it. As you can see from the pictures below, it was absolutely breathtaking. The nearest town of Keswick was unique in that it was the location where

Go Karts

Me whizzing around the Go Kart track

the pencil was discovered and is home to the world's largest pencil, so I can check that off my list of places I have seen. It was an adventure weekend which contained lots of outdoor activities. However, the Friday night there was a quiz night which my group won. Our prize was a morning of ATV's and go karts on Sunday which was an absolute blast. Saturday I did some canoeing which turned out to be much more difficult then originally thought because of terrible winds on the lake. My arms are still sore from all the rowing. In the afternoon, I went gorge scrambling. This consisted of wearing a wetsuit and climbing up the side of a mountain through the waterfalls. It was a blast and I have many bumps and bruises to show for it.

The past couple days have been absolutely wonderful in London with temperatures close to 70. Tracy is coming for a week tonight and I cannot wait to see her. I promise to do better with this blog from now on. I will write back after Tracy's visit to talk about my upcoming trip to Edinburgh and my 12 day trip to Berlin,