Cardiff, one of my favorite evenings...

So currently, I'm in London again. There was a mutual relief from the group when coming back to a city that we were somewhat familiar with. It gets slightly exhausting moving from new place to new place. You can imagine our group of tired, dirty, college-aged American backpackers strolling out of King's Cross station, smiles on our faces because of the recognizable city features. We're staying at the same St. Athan's Hotel (has it's positives and negatives), but overall we looked forward towards clean towels, nicer showers and breakfast that wasn't just toast!!

Between our stay in Aberystwyth and London we made a short stop in Cardiff, Wales. Unfortunately, if you've been in tune to any British news, you would know that Wales and most of Britain is experiencing extreme amounts of rain, causing flooding in citys... such as Cardiff. There was so much rain and wind, it really was difficult to motivate ourselves to leave our little backpackers hostel. But one of the evenings in Cardiff the rain let up and we actually experienced some sun right, which felt wonderful after our week of rain prior. After dinner I went up to the roof of our hostel to have some alone time, just to think and pray, and when I got up to the terrace I found one of my Whitworth friends, Kelly, had the same idea. The hostel terrace had a large hammock that was strung across a corner of the roof, so I sat down in it and listened to Kelly play the guitar he had picked up from the front desk. It was the perfect temperature, and oddly quiet, even though we were close to the city center. Kelly sat on a wooden picnic table while I sat back in the hammock and began to hum along. The song attracted our friend Nick who climbed the stairs up to the terrace and sat along side Kelly. We all traded the guitar around for a while, sharing songs and laughing about experiences that we're had in the last month. Kelly ended up leaving and giving the guitar to Nick, who began to play beautifully. I lay in the hammock curled up while Nick pushed the hammock so that I would rock back and forth. I was so full of peace up in that hammock. It was the first time I felt that I could really relax since we had arrived a month ago in London. A couple other guys from our group ended up sitting on the terrace with us, talking and singing. I asked my friend Jordan to play anything... and amazingly he began to play one of my favorite songs perfectly. He played "Lighthouse" by Nickel Creek, and he and I sang through the entire song in perfect blended harmony. It was amazing... I wish I could go back to that moment when we sang, as I swayed in the hammock (Nick still continuing to push me everytime it came close enough to him) and several other guys listening in to Jordan and I sing verse after verse of beautiful bluegrass. Such a pure moment, and an evening that will always stick out as one of the best evenings I've experienced on this trip.