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Phở and Stroll
Yeah it’s good to go away and moan about London but this city is one heck of a place to live in. A regular Monday with a late start (might’ve missed an alarm or ten.. oops) finds me working on a bunch of different things in the Student Centre with the sun streaming down from the glass roof. Wrapping up around 3, I stuff my stuff (noun and verb case of the same word – bear with me) into a locker and head out for a classic Regent’s Park run. I am meeting a friend for dinner and having to stick around uni till later, I decided to clock my…
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Getting in the Rhythm
Going away is amazing but the grounding I felt as I got off at London Bridge and knew how to get home without Google Maps – comforting. This week has had its ups and down (and a lack of exciting enough things for standalone posts). It was only a week of disconnection but it took some time to get back the visual and geometric sense I needed for my summer project so the early part of the week was spent revising content. Wednesday was a big day as I had to pitch ZNotes for the final step to get into the UCL Hatchery. After a lot of preparation and nailing…
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The Final Day of a Dream
The week-long escape from reality culminates to this final day in Vienna. After a lazy start, I went for a run along the rainy Danube Canal and through the Hapsburg hunting grounds. Strolling through palaces of the rich and royal in Austria, our next destination is actually a restaurant (a very food-y trip indeed). This place is super interesting though: an all-you-can-eat Pakistani cuisine place with a pay-as-you-wish system. I know – it’s hard to believe that combination of words existing in any context let alone in the middle of Vienna. But it is what it says. Greeted with a buffet of food and a plate, I ate way too…
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Next Stop: Vienna
A delayed flight from Charles de Gaulle deposited me in the Austrian capital of Vienna at midnight. From the airport to the central city, a well organized bus system existed and I got on to the one that took me closest to my friend’s house. My first human encounter in Vienna was pretty cool; I got chatting with the gentleman sat across me in the bus who had a fascinating job – a light engineer. His company builds lighting systems for historical buildings in Vienna and across Europe like the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). On recounting this to my friend, apparently this kind of friendly behaviour was not very…
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Sunbathing in Paris
Yep you read that right! A ridiculously hot few days in the City of Love come to an end as I finally get a chance to put some “thoughts to paper”. After a sad goodbye to Basel with a final swim in the Rhine, I caught the TGV straight to Paris! Its crazy how close everything is in Europe and how well connected it all is. I think the fluid nature of the border helps – only a few minutes later, I had entered France and didn’t even realise until I checked Google Maps. Trundling through French countryside, passing quaint towns and major cities, the 3 hour trip didn’t feel…
