Wow...March already?!

Hey all! I know it has been a while (maybe too long)...but things have just been so crazy here! Since the last time I posted I have completed and turned in two 1000 word philosophy essays, had a visitor from North Carolina, been planning my whirl-wind tour of Europe in a few weeks and traveled to Newcastle, London and Manchester!

First things first, the philosophy essays. At first I thought, 1000 words no big deal. And philosophy no problem because the topics are interesting (one was on the existence of God and the other on whether others have minds) and I just need to write about what I think. WRONG! 1000 words was actually quite hard to write, mainly because I wanted to write more than that and you get counted off if you have more than 1000 words! Second, I had to do a lot more research than I had expected because while I can talk about the topics, and my own thoughts, I had to write an argument as to why my thoughts were right and use historical context to do so. I'm sure many of you are thinking, duh! But it has been such a long time since I have written an essay that I have forgotten what it takes. But I think they turned out alright, they are both 50% of my grade anyways.

Also, my friend Catherine just came to visit me for a week for her spring break all the way from North Carolina! She just left on Sunday, and it was sad to see her go but it was also really nice to have someone from home here with me. When I picked her up from the airport we went straight to London where we stayed for about 2 1/2 days. A condensed list of what we did there includes:

1. Touring the Shakespeare Globe Theater
2. Tate Modern
3. the National Gallery
4. Watching the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace
5. taking it easy in a book market
6. Trafalgar Square

And well you get the idea. We then headed back to Leeds where I showed Catherine what students here in Leeds do, and what life is like. She also had the chance to meet and hang out with my flat mates, as well as some of my other friends here at Leeds. We then went to Manchester for the day to see some of those sites, including the Fashion Market (right up our alley), a cathedral, the Lowry (which had interesting art exhibits) and the best of all we got to see an exhibit with 10 drawings from Leonardo da Vinci! Which was very interesting since I have learned about him all throughout my school days and have even based a project or two on his sketches and ideas.

I am now getting ready for my next big trips! First I am off to Belfast, Ireland this weekend with a group of 6 others. We will also be heading down to Dublin for a day to experience the St. Patty's day festivities, which I hope will not disappoint, even though we won't be there for the actual day of St. Patrick's.

The next weekend I begin my tour of Europe with some friends I have met in Leeds. A break down of the trip goes like this:
1. Barcelona, Spain
2. Italy (Rome and then up north to Venice and such)
3. Nice, France
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Vienna, Austria
6. Prague, Czech Republic
7. Berlin, Germany
8. Amsterdam, The Netherlands

So yeah, its a lot but I'm going with great people and will be seeing wonderful places! That is for the most part what has been going on here, in a very shortened version. But life has just been great, the weather has been warming up. I feel more at "home" in England and am looking forward to the next few weeks! Hope all is well for everyone else, I am now headed to go see "Flashdance" at the Leeds Grand Theater (students get GREAT discounts), where I actually just went last week to watch "Swan Lake: the Ballet". Will be in touch!