Loving Leeds!

My goodness, I can't believe it's only been 4 days since my program started (and only 1 day in Leeds)! It feels like I've been here forever because we've already done so many neat things. I really can't believe that yesterday I was in London....

A very lush view of the Palace

Sunday we took a walking tour of the city and saw pretty much everything you could possibly imagine visiting in London: Leicester Square, the West End, Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, etc. Although my feet were aching, I was engrossed every minute in the hustle and bustle of such a historic and beautiful city. In case you all were wondering, we walked over 22 miles this past weekend; Rachel wore a pedometer to prove it!

How beautiful is Leeds's City Hall?

After a delicious and traditional English "Sunday dinner" at lunchtime (roast beef, potatoes and yorkshire pudding), we hit the road and traveled north to the Yorkshire lands I love so much. We had finally arrived at Leeds!!! We were quite exhausted from the long day, so after a short tour of the area surrounding campus, everyone went to sleep, including myself.

This morning, we woke up and met some of the other foreign exchange students and then headed to our first class. The way the Leeds International Summer School program works is that you take two courses consecutively (each are two weeks long) from the morning til early afternoon. My first class is about Country Houses (basically Downton Abbey) and the roles they, as well as the aristocratic families that occupied them, served within society. I absolutely love this topic and cannot wait to see what I can learn from this course, as well as all the fabulous field trips we get to take to these gorgeous mansions.

After class, several of us went to lunch at a delicious asian-noodle restaurant and then headed back to campus for tours of the university and library and to receive our student ID cards. A few of us then went shopping and got to see the fabulous Victorian city center: a hub of shopping, culture and just all around life. I had liked what I had seen of Leeds previously, but this really blew me away.

Gigging 'em with Rosemary!

We then attended the welcome reception dinner for all the international summer school students, where I had the pleasure of meeting so many more wonderful people. I became fast friends with several kids, so a group of about 10 of us went to a few local pubs -- at one I even met an Aggie traveling with some of her friends. (We got lots of weird looks because we instantly acted like we were best friends, but that's just the Aggie Network for you!) I am so glad I've already gotten to know them so well because we all had a blast! The fun continued when we came back to our dorm to find the rest of the students and social assistants hanging out in the common room. Turns out the world is a pretty small place because it was so easy to click with everyone. I cannot wait to strengthen these friendships, as well as make some new ones soon!

A great group of people from the Leeds International Summer School

Thanks and gig 'em,

Rachel