The Lake District

Hey guys! I am a little behind schedule with my posting, so I have some catching up to do! A couple of weeks ago, the international Psychology students were invited by the Leeds Psychology department to attend a 'Psych reading party' at the Lake District from February 14th to the 16th. And no, there was no actual reading involved. Basically, a bunch of the Psychology students (there ended up being 24 of us) get together to do some 'networking' with Ph.D. students and Psychology professors from Leeds. The entire trip was payed for by the Psychology department and the only condition was that we sat through a couple of talks given by the Professors that attended the trip. So Jennifer and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get to see the area.

The journey was only a 2 hour bus ride from Leeds. As we approached the Lake District, you could see these gorgeous mountain views and sheep roaming the hills (but by this point, I was starting to feel a little car sick and had to shut my eyes until we were able to unload the bus). When we arrived, we had to load all of our bags onto a truck that would transport them up to the hostel and then took a 15 minute trek to get there ourselves (the roads were too narrow for the bus to get up). Right away, I was glad that I had purchased a pair of hiking boots before the trip, as we had to walk uphill through muddy and slightly rocky terrain to reach the hostel. We also got to see herds of sheep and pretty greenery on our walk. It was exactly how I had always envisioned England to look!

This was my first stay in a hostel, but the entire building had been rented out just for our group so it was a very nice first experience.

The living room of the Langdale Youth Hostel (sorry for the poor photo quality, I took this one on my phone)

We got to choose our rooms and because there weren't many of us, Jennifer and I ended up in a room with only 2 other people which allowed us to spread out.

View from the room

On Saturday the 15th, we were given a full English breakfast to start the day before listening to a short talk about the psychology of running. Apparently, there are people who do extremely long runs through the Lake District (which is covered in steep, rocky mountains). We were given stats on the fastest runs and it's crazy how fast some people were able to cover all of that ground! At the end of the talk, we were given the option of taking a walk down to the village (about a mile from the hostel), going on a short hike (about an hour), or going on a long hike (around 3 hours). Jennifer and I decided to attempt the long hike, along with our roommate, Evaleen, who is an international student from Canada. We were guided by the 3 Ph.D. students, one of the professors, and his wife.

The hike started off well and the views were amazing! I absolutely love walking around in nature and just taking everything in. Something about it is so calming and peaceful. As were walking, you could see the lake and the village below, and snow-capped mountains in the distance. My hiking boots were a lifesaver as we were basically walking through a wet marshland and there's nothing worse than cold, wet feet.

My little lamb friend

 At one point, we were up pretty high and very close to the ledge. If you know me, you know that I am terrified of heights, so at this point, I was no longer taking in the view but trying to stay as far away from the ledge as possible to make sure I didn't fall to my death. It was so scary! Also, the weather had taken a turn. It started to rain, then snow (my first snow in England!) and the wind began to pick up. We were being pelted in the face with snow and the cold was beginning to seep through our clothes, so everyone decided it would be a good time to end the hike and head back to town. This couldn't have come at a better time for me because we made this decision while standing on a narrow ledge of the mountain and I'm pretty sure I would have turned back on my own at this point. There was no way I was about to go any further with the steep, rocky path that was in front of us and the storm that appeared to be headed our way. Thankfully, Jennifer knew I was freaking out inside from the heights so she made sure to walk behind me until we reached more level ground (so I guess if I were to fall, she was either going to have to catch me or she was going down with me!). 

About halfway through our walk back, Jennifer lost her footing and slid straight through a pile of mud! She had mud completely covering the back of her jeans. I'm surprised I made it down without falling because I tend to be clumsy in general but to add to that, the ground was so slippery!

It's kind of hard to see, but behold, Jennifer's muddy butt after her fall!

Toward the end of our hike, before we hit town, Evaleen remembered to get a picture of the three of us. We were numb from the cold, covered in mud, and dripping wet but we made it! Also, I don't even know why i had my hood up because it was not water-proof and the water just soaked right through it! Lol.

More sheep!

Once we made it to town, we headed into the nearest pub to warm up with hot chocolates! We then wandered around the town for a bit and popped into the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop for some fresh gingerbread. It was so delicious!

We were tired out from our hike and Jennifer had still been walking around in her muddy jeans so Jennifer, Evaleen and I decided to head back to the hostel to get cleaned up and change into some warmer clothes. The walk back was gorgeous and I took loads of pictures!

We almost got lost on our way back, but we ended up finding the hostel. After getting cleaned up, we went downstairs to wait for everyone else to return, and there was tea and cakes waiting in the living room! That night, we had yorkshire pudding for dinner. It was basically a giant pancake bowl with stew in the middle, and it was delicious! Sunday was our last day, and we left to head back to Leeds with packed lunches in hand. We had so much fun on this trip and were able to meet a lot of new people. I'm so glad we went!

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Yesterday (March 1st), I went on a short day trip to York and had my first afternoon tea, so look out for that post in the next week or two!