120 hours in the U.K.

First: I'm in Rome! I arrived yesterday afternoon from Heathrow and am now cozily settled into a double room in the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in the Monteverde neighborhood. Teaser: what's black, full of squid, and consumed by me on my first night in the city? Stay tuned to find out. But now, I'll recap my fast-and-furious five-day "layover" in the U.K.

Tuesday, June 15

London. Landed at 11:30. Checked into a hostel on Euston Road at 1:45. Mustered, with great difficulty, all of my patience and regard for proper hygiene and spent half an hour or so changing clothes and freshening up. What a waste, spending 30 precious minutes in a hostel bathroom, when I could be out exploring the city! But soon enough, I was legging it down Judd Street towards Bloomsbury, on a mission to see as much as possible before meeting chaplaincy friends for dinner. I should have been tired, but London keeps me perpetually exhilarated. I've found myself there at the beginning of many adventures, and no matter how many times I stroll through Russell Square or past the British Museum, I still feel like it's my first time and I'm out to discover the world.

Bloomsbury, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Westminster, St. James Park, Green Park, check, check, check. Soon it was time to meet my Bristolian Catholic friends. I met Sem, James, and Chrys in the Leicester Square tube station. Lucky, incredibly lucky me to get to spend time with them again. We went to a great little restaurant in Chinatown and then wandered over to Covent Garden for dessert. It was still light when we finished -- a perk of summers in Britain -- and we strolled down to Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, torturing James by taking tons of pictures, until we had to split up.

Wednesday, June 16 - Friday, June 18

9 a.m., off on the train to Edinburgh! I had the presence of mind to take some pictures on the way up the East Coast this time, and I'm pleased with how well they turned out. No matter how many times I take trains in Britain -- or anywhere, really, although the scenery is better on the way to the 'Burgh than to Boston -- the novelty does not wear off. I just find train stations and train rides absolutely magical. The view of the great old cities -- York, Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed -- and of the Eastern sea coast on the way up to Scotland is second to none.

I could go on for ages about the utter joy of being back in Scotland, but I'll save the gushing in the interest of ever getting on to tell you about Rome. For now, suffice it to say that I had two blissful days of wandering the city and catching up with old friends in the best possible -- and most uncharacteristic -- weather: almost pure sunshine and temperatures in the '70s. Highlights: the obligatory, exuberant run/hike through Holyrood Park and up Arthur's Seat; a scrumptious Scottish breakfast complete with haggis; a sunny walk up Calton Hill with Lauren for a view of the city; a long and leisurely tea and catch-up with Sarah, my favorite ex-flattie; a BBQ at the CSU with some of the old characters; another (how lucky can I get?) date with Sarah for brunch before I caught my train on Thursday morning.

Even with so much to look forward to in the coming weeks, I hated to leave Scotland! I was back down in London by dinnertime on Friday, though, where I stayed for the first time in a hostel in Kensington. Until Friday night, I had lived in indifference to the World Cup, but that all changed when I went out for dinner with an unfortunately ill-timed craving for some good pub grub. After the better part of an hour spent scouring central London for a pub with a single free seat -- during the England game, I realized the next morning -- I gave up the quest as impossible and settled for some noodles in Chinatown. Not a bad alternative.

Saturday, June 19

I got an early start and walked through Hyde Park to explore the Portobello Road Market, which has its famous antiques market open on Saturday. It was pleasantly swarmed with people and a zillion different interesting things to see. Most exciting of all: the fantastic food market on the north end of the strip, featuring everything from pastries (I bought an apple strudel for a, um, second breakfast) to fruit and veg and all sorts of ethnic foods.

Lunchtime: off to Bristol to meet friends from my M.A.! Again, it was really exhilarating to be back in the city for the first time since I left. The weather cooperated again, turning from rather gloomy to warm and sunny just as I arrived. A friend met me at the bus stop, and we proceeded on a proper little pub crawl through Clifton as more girls met up with us one by one. We all had dinner at an Indian place together, and then a couple friends walked with me out over the Clifton Suspension Bridge where I frantically took pictures in the beautiful dusky light and strove to stash away the memory as purely as possible. It was great to get to catch up with a whole group of old friends and to revisit another of my favorite cities in the world.

Sunday, June 21

Bright and early, off to Rome from Heathrow! Time for the main event to commence. Have you ever witnessed the Italian method of disembarking from a plane? Total stampede -- you have to see it to believe it. Whatever happened to the civilized British queue? I've swapped cultures, to be sure, but I'm happy to report that I'm adjusting to my new environment just fine!

Belated addendum: You can find pictures from my UK trip here!