life :)

Hello all! Greetings from the train ride down to Cambridge, England. I have to make 2 changes to get to Cambridge on the train, and right now I’m on the second train from Wakefield- Westgate to Stevenage. From Stevenage I will catch my final train to Cambridge. I am spending one night in Cambridge at a hostel there. My plans in Cambridge are to walk around the town and the university, go this meditative yoga talk and maybe rent a bike. Tomorrow afternoon I am taking a bus down to London to visit my family that lives there for the weekend. One of my flat mates is going to meet me there on Saturday.
Besides from traveling which I am doing a lot of I have done involved in /gone to exciting things in Huddersfield and in the nearby areas. I am part of the climbing and mountaineering society. We go climbing every Wednesday at the rock wall in the neighboring town called ROKT. I really like ROCKT it is a very big place with a lot of different rooms for bouldering (climbing not as high and not harnessed in) and really solos for top roping (where you are harnessed in). Next weekend we are going on a weekend trip to go climbing, walking and eat a lot of cheese (everybody brings cheese, grapes or bread and we have a big food fest). I have met a lot of nice people from the climbing and mountaineering society. Last Friday, I went over one of my friend from the society’s house, Varsha, who lives about 30 minutes from Huddersfield. She made me a traditional vegetarian dinner that a lot of people in Yorkshire usually have on Sunday. Also one of the guys from the club took me outdoor climbing in the Peak district.
One thing about Huddersfield, that I didn’t know before I came, is that my religion is a very big minority. I am Jewish and there is one other girl that I know who is also from SUNY New Paltz that is. We have a faith centre on campus, which I usually spend time at between classes because they have free tea/coffee and it’s a good place to do work. There is no Jewish organization on the Huddersfield campus. I have been to the Chabad at Leeds Univeristy which is a 20 minute train ride from Huddersfield and Manchester University which is about a 45 minute trip. My friend Varsha, from climbing society, is very interested in Jewish culture and last Friday night I took her to Shabbat dinner in Leeds. She really liked and wants to go there again.
In addition, I am involved with an organization called Active Travel. This is an organization in the UK that promotes physical fitness when traveling to school or work. They have free bike rentals and you just have to put down a deposit. I got a bike from this organization to use. Unfortunately right now I don’t have the bike because the Huddersfield representative, Chris, who gave it to me needs it. Almost every Tuesday in the early evening I meet Chris and we go on a ride to map out routes to the surrounding villages of the Huddersfield city Centre. Last Wednesday, I helped Chris with a program at the local college, for 16/17year old ESL students, where we took the students on a short ride along the canal and showed one girl how to ride a bike.

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