Although I got there a day late, we had a great weekend. Our hostel was located close to Victoria Station, which is a very centralized location--on Friday and Saturday we got along without public transportation at all, just walking to places. Some of the highlights:
Walk on the river embankment and through Westminster
Harrods, then the Natural History Museum
Picnic and stroll in Hyde Park
Play at Apollo Theatre, Picadilly Circus - "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?" by Edward Albee
Late night consumption of Tokaj wine and paprika chips
Visit to my old neighborhood of Camden Town
Admiring the piercings and hairdos of teenagers at the Camden Market
Riding the Underground
The British Museum, stop in St. Paul's, and trying out the Millenium Bridge
The weather cooperated, for the most part: every once in a while it would rain, but only for about 5-10 minutes. The temperature was perfect so that when the sun came out, it felt REALLY good.
I left with a better impression of London--I do think it would be a really nice place to live…the parks and the theatre would really do it, for me. When I lived there for a semester four years ago, I didn't have a very good time because I didn't have many friends to hang out with, and I got really bored…it was also a time in life when I was going through lots of changes and emotional stress. On visiting again, I realize that it's an amazing city. If it weren't for the high cost of living…the pound sterling is doing a bit too well nowadays…
Anyway, we really had an excellent time. :-)
Unfortunately, Julia and I probably won't see each other for a few months now (not until the beginning of our senior year), so we decided to suspend the relationship for a bit. We'll probably get back together in August, but we'll see how things turn out. I'm really happy that we got the chance to get together a couple times this semester!
Finally, I posted some pictures. See below.
One more thing: I found out this morning that I did really well in the Putnam Math Competition back in December! I scored 30/120 points on the exam, which placed me tied for 256th among the 3500-some undergraduates who took the test across the country. Basically, that means I got 3 questions right out of 12, which is pretty good considering that the median score was 1 point--that is, most people hardly get partial credit for one problem. Only 2 students at HMC (among 55 total Mudd participants) scored better than me! I really didn't expect to do that well.
You can see the problems, some solutions, top scorers, and score breakdowns from this year here: http://www.unl.edu/amc/a-activities/a7-problems/putnam/ (the 2005 competition). I got problems A1, A2, and B1 correct.
Wow! London!!
Showin' some sass
Natural History Museum…I think they might have changed the dinosaur sometime since 1994? I remember a T-Rex.
Royal Albert Hall
Julia displaying the Albert Memorial
Picnic location…a garden outside Kensington Palace in Hyde Park
Beautiful day in the park
My alma mater…Camden School for Girls!
A short, sunny respite from the rain, outside the British Museum
On Millenium Bridge
Photos from Matt's visit last week:
Buda, Sullivan, Pest
Stage at Amadinda concert. They played every single instrument pictured here during a single piece. Note especially the carpet at the back, which is a musical instrument that you hit to make a carpet-slapping noise.
The Danube west bank from Joseph Bridge
Matt and me on Gellert hill, overlooking Budapest--somehow Matt turned out blurry
1 comment:
congrats on the putnam man awesome job!!! but now you've got me trying to do the problems damn it! im physics not math!!!!
-coleman
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