Lake District

Daily life is starting to settle in. Last week was mostly filled with university classes, which were only moderately interesting. On Thursday, the exchange program invited us to a group dinner followed by a headphone disco. The food was absolutely delicious, so diverse and international. Samosas are my new best friends.

The headphone disco was an interesting experience as well. Instead of blasting music through speakers, everyone listens through headphones. The funniest part is walking into the room expecting loud music, only to find it almost completely silent. You can just stand there and watch people dancing to music you can’t hear. It’s brilliant! And when someone starts singing along, it’s absolutely hilarious. The music itself was great too, so we ended up having a really fun evening.

At the weekend, we went on our first bigger trip. The four of us rented a car and drove about three hours northwest to the Lake District, one of the largest national parks in the country. Thank goodness for smartphones—we would have taken several wrong turns without them.

The village where we stayed had no mobile signal, so we stumbled across our first truly beautiful hike almost by accident. We walked around a lake before climbing a hill with a fantastic view, then made our way back down. Fish and chips for dinner, followed by a full English breakfast on Sunday morning—two more items checked off the bucket list. After that, we took a short boat trip and walked back along the lakeshore before heading home. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and we came back with plenty of great photos.

Since Monday, it’s been full speed ahead at university. I’ve submitted my first assignment, and now I’m sitting in the library preparing for the classes ahead.