Here's to catch up on the last week or so. Two Saturdays ago, I went to the town of Battle, England which is the site of the Hastings battlefield. I chose that day because it was the anniversary of the 1066 battle and for the occasion a reenactment was being put on. The first half of the day was mainly spent walking around the abbey and battlefield. The abbey was built by the victorious William the Conqueror after the battle as penitence for all the Englishmen he had killed. I ate my lunch sitting on the famous Senlac Hill where the battle was fought. Again, for a self-proclaimed military history geek, it was pretty darn cool to be sitting on the hill. Before the reenactment, there were various demonstrations such as how armor was made and how infantryman and cavalry fought during the time period. Everyone even spoke French in the Norman encampment. The battle itself was pretty cool, although the troop movements were in the wrong direction. (for event logistic reasons).
On Wednesday the 19th, I had my first cross country race in the red and blue striped King's College uniform. On the chest are the letters "KCL" and the college's shield. The 5-mile race was held at Parliament Hill on the south side of Hampstead Heath. The course is considered the most famous in England, which is cool, but all of the hills were not. It was a very hilly course. After my season last year at Carolina being derailed with a broken foot in the first meet, I really just wanted to come out and run a decent time after a year since my last cross country race. I ran a 28:56 which I was pretty happy with, especially considering the terrain and being early in the season. That time should go down a good ways with more races and flatter courses. Best yet, I finished #1 on the team and we beat our rivals over at University College London.
Then last Saturday, I stayed in London and went to see Wimbledon over south of the river. With the subway closing large portions of the lines on weekends for maintenance, I had to get creative with how to get there, but I got there sure enough. First off, I took a guided tour around the grounds. The tour took us to see, among other sites, Centre Court, the interview room, and Court 18. Centre Court is what it is. In the interview room, I got to sit in the same chairs at the very desk that names like Federer, Nadal, and Sharapova have sat in. But, for me, the highlight of the tour was, without doubt, Court 18: famous for being the court where Greensboro Page alumnus John Isner played the longest match in history.
Class has been going well so far. I must say I hate my class on War and International Order, as I really don't care what Hobbes, Rousseau, or Kant thought about the state of nature. However, my War and Intelligence class is really cool. My lesson this past week was on "Strategic Deception" which was really interesting. My professor actually spent 20 minutes of the lesson instructing us how to craft an effective lie. I promise, I'll only use the skill against bad guys in my future career.
Yall take it easy,
Will
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