GYM!

Yesterday, for the first time since I joined the Y as a preteen, I joined a gym!

Which is exciting. 

I've not really been to many gyms before, but the one I joined seems to be really, really cool. I'm pretty sure it's got multiple pools, a sauna, and then the workout room. 

They give you an electronic key, and when you get there, you stick it into a machine and sign in. If you like, they can program different workouts for you to follow and they'll tell you which machines to go on and how long to use them for. If not, you just do whatever you want. 

Each machine has a keyhole and all the cardio machines have a big screen at the front of them with an ipod/iphone dock. You stick your key into the machine and it records your exercising as well and tells you things on the screen. Another thing about the screen is that you can watch TV on them if you like. Once you switch machines and put your key back into the next machine, it'll go back to whatever TV show you were watching. (additionally, if you want, you can plug your ipod/iphone in and it'll come up with all your music and shows and whatever you've got on there.) Also, the cardio machines, with the exception of the treadmills, have internet browsers on them, which is also really awesome. 

So yeah. I joined a really awesome gym!

Another good thing about it, is that it's right downtown just a few blocks away from the train station. So I can walk down the road from my house to the train station, catch the train into town, and walk just a few more blocks to the gym! 

I think, in the two weeks I've been back in England, I've taken the train way more times than I took it the last 6 months I was here. I'm getting a lot more comfortable with it, which is nice, but we took the bus into town yesterday and that rather freaked me out since I've always been way more comfortable with streetcars and subways and lightrails than I ever was with busses. 

Anyway, I'm super happy and excited to be here.