A little natural history

I woke up today at 7AM. On my own. Proud?? I am!
Anyway, I started my day with a run around Hyde Park. It's the first time I have seen Kensington at such an early hour and it was actually amusing. I saw runners with their dogs, moms walking their small uniformed children to grade school and workers actually biking to work (what a concept right?) Something I find interesting is that unlike people in large American cities who carry their dogs in their purses, residents of London aren't afraid to have huge dogs in the city with them. Not only have I seen a lot of Labs, but dogs that are so huge, they could pass for actual humans. I keep thinking about Mav and how if I tried to walk him through Hyde Park leashless he would probably jump in the lake and never return.

I ran down to the Peter Pan statue that sits in the east end of the park. That is possibly my favorite site so far. I love the story behind it. (If you don't know the story, it's worth a look-up). Then I went to the opposite end of the park and just wandered aimlessly for a while. You could walk through London your entire life and probably never cover the same street twice.

After my adventure, I went to the Natural History Museum. There was so much to see there as well. We saw everything from dinosaur fossils to jewels. Don't worry Emily, I took picture of some that I think you would particularly enjoy. All of us then went to another orientation, where the program leaders talked a little bit about traveling through Europe. I'm really excited to see some other European cities while I'm there but I also am growing more interested in seeing more of the UK. The coast looks especially interesting.

I start my classes tomorrow. I have two in a row and each is three hours long. I am actually looking forward to it! Also, I set up a website where you can find pictures from my adventures. It is http://flickr.com/photos/mcgroves . Miss you all!
-M