I have reached Cambridge and I am currently using my friend Brooke's computer in her dorm at Pembroke University. I won't be able to cover everything right now- I'm on my way to bed- but we'll see what I can post for now to tide you guys over for a bit.
I spent the last night in Utrecht at my friends Josh and Brian's place near the Wall at the UCU campus. The last day in Utrecht comprised almost solely of getting bus tickets, hostel reservations, and finding a place to print it all. When it was all completed, I decided to head back to De Beurs (an outdoor cafe in the city center) for a beer and london trip planning. The people next to me started talking about Salsa, which caught my ear. I found a place to go for some latin ballroom! Time to meet some locals when I get back from this two week trip.
When it was almost time for my train to come, I headed over to the train station, only to find that it had been cancelled. I searched the board for the next train leaving for Rotterdam (which I realized later was the LAST possible option), and it was sitting at the station at that moment. I ran to the platform and hopped on the train. I had a different ticket, on a different train, but was determined to get to the Bruxelles-Midi train station.
No one checked the tickets, though I'm sure it would have been fine anyways. I arrived in Rotterdam twenty minutes before originally planned, which is a blessing because the terminal my next train was going to leave from had been switched. This notification was in Dutch, so I had to ask a few people what it meant, but I made it on the correct train this time, heading to Bruxelles-Midi.
I arrived in Brussels at 00:42 and was hoping to find another wayward traveller spending the night in the station that I might be able to hang out with. And no problem- the place was nearly crowded with backpackers; or, at least the benches were. The first group I heard speaking English I asked for directions, and I soon found out that I was definitely in the right place. The group was made of two German girls (age 24 and 25), a French guy (21), and a guy from New York (23). I know the guy from New York was named Joe, and haven't a clue about the rest. We chatted about good horrible movies (such as Tremors, Croctopus, Dale & Tucker vs Evil, etc.) for a while. Something about a shark eating a plane in flight. Good times. We also touched on EU/USA politics, travel plans, language acquisition, and more. The German girls were studying archeology and received permission to do a dig in England for two weeks. Something about the design of houses from centuries before our time; a thesis project. Joe was on the last leg of his two-month excursion of Europe, and he would fly home shortly after exploring England. Additionally, Joe really wanted to say that in his life he had been slapped with a black leather glove by a French guy cursing in French. So that happened, and the picture is on its way. We fell asleep around 4, and woke up around 5:30, fending off homeless people along the way. We all went through customs to the Eurostar (except the French guy), got on the train, and woke up at Pancras station.
I withdrew some money, found a map, and departed from the station in search of the British Museum. I had been there when I was 11, but I wanted to remember and appreciate it this time around. So I spent hours in there, covering everything I could. The place is amazing and I highly recommend to anyone who visits London. I just... I really like that place. Check it out.
After the museum I wandered towards the Thames, walking down streets I didn't know the names of, but finding street performers and large crowds and little shops and large malls and telephone booths and beautiful architecture. My ultimate goal was to reach my hostel on the other side of the city, but the pure joy in seeing the streets packed with the hustle and bustle of tourists was intoxicating. So I just kept walking, with my backpack strapped on.
On that note, this will be an intermission. I'm really tired now. Goodnight everyone, I'll pick this up again later :)
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