Howdy,

Well, this is the first post from my trip, as I am sitting in my girlfriend's living room in Leeds, UK. I arrived in London on Monday afternoon after a twelve hour trip that included a stop in Cardiff on the tarmac exhausted, and after checking in at my friend's hostel in London and having a shower, I hopped a train to Leeds. Since, I have just been nostalgically enjoying my time here and spending time with my girlfriend, along with some old friends. We've eaten some lovely meals, including an amazing dessert last nite at a new Italian restaurant where I had grappa and Josie had lemoncello cheesecake. Nothing much to report, except that I am leaving Leeds later today and heading back to Stansted Airport, where I will catch a flight early tomorrow morning to Porto, Portugal. I have never been to the north part of the country, so I am really excited.

Today I had an interesting, well somewhat interesting experience waiting to buy a youth railcard for Britain at the train station. We waited almost twenty minutes in line, with a whole whack of other people, and not one person seemed impatient or frustrated. People just waited, respectfully and quietly, unlike how it is in North America where any wait that is longer than 3-5 minutes is greeted with scorn and anger. We could learn a lesson from this, and even though my patience varies from time to time, I am trying to get better, learn how truly relax and not care as much about time and scheduling.

Next time I update this, I will be throwing some pictures up here. I did not take pictures in Leeds, for the most part, as I already have many from when I was living here, and minus a few store fronts, the city has not changed very much. I'm off, as my girlfriend would rather me not spend all my time updating my website. Much love.##

-Shain