#NewMayDays Days 25-29: Blah blah blah and Iceland
This project may indeed be turning into a catalogue of excuses, but absolutely foul weather and a backwards sleeping pattern have again impeded me from being too original over the last few days.
- I tried working in the Social Sciences Library and it was fine. Modernity is alright I suppose, but also not really why I chose this university.
- I learnt how to make origami dinosaurs! Here is my first attempt.
- I went for a jog in uni parks for the first time, which was a pleasant change from my usual street circuit. I normally run for 20 minutes or so which is ample time for getting in a lap of the park, and the more wooded stretches reminded me very much of my regular route through deepest Bavarian forest this time last year - although with a whole lot more wheezing, human encounters, and rain.
- I tackled a few new recipes (mainly involving salad, what have I become), and today I sampled a marinaded grilled chicken and mash concoction. If anyone has any tips on how to make spinach edible they would be very welcome; if one more person tries to talk to me about kale I am going to scream.
MOST excitingly, however, this week I booked my first SOLO TRIP. Although I travel a great deal I have never actually planned a holiday alone; I always end up coordinating with people I know or staying with a friend of a friend, and I've not yet managed to hostel by myself which I've been desperate to try since meeting reams of independent Australians when inter-railing age 18. I'm very excited, especially since this adventure will be in a brand new country! Since I'm spending my whole summer in the states (more on that later), and finishing off with a week in NYC in August (more on that later), it turns out that journeying back via ICELAND is far cheaper and less taxing on my terrible flight nerves than doing the whole US->UK schlep in one go. I've booked myself in for four nights at this absolutely amazing looking hipster hostel in Reykjavik as recommended by Amurrican Uric, and I'm hoping my Santander research scholarship (more on that later) will stretch to enjoying what Iceland has to offer.
I have to admit that I booked the whole thing on a whim after staring open-mouthed at endless shots of Iceland in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but if Montenegro last summer has taught me anything it's that I'm a sucker for beautiful landscapes. I can't wait.