Since I’ve been AWOL for the better part of October and now feel
as if I’ve left my poor blog like a baby in a hot car, I’ll sum up the past
three weeks with two words: life happens. These past few weeks have kept me as busy as Grand
Central Station at Christmas. Also
midterms. Those happen, too. Which is probably why writing and processing
my own thoughts and happenings after so many hours spent writing and processing
fancy academic things was just so not
in the cards for me for awhile. The
aftermath left my mind reduced to goo. Fortunately,
my good friends Jess, Nick, Winston, and Schmidt from the hit television comedy
series New Girl have recently brought
me back from the dead with their incomparable wit and comic genius. After a few hours spent in front of my
computer with those great people, I suppose it is time to communicate with the
rest of you real people.
One of the best things that happened this month was that one
of my oldest and best friends on God’s green earth got to join me in London for
a week. How many people get to say
that?? To put my excitement for Maddy’s
arrival in perspective, I confess that I burst into tears the moment she walked
through the gate at Heathrow. And these
were not pretty tears that would make Brooke Davis proud. They were tears of the gaspy, snorty, quick-blow-your-nose
variety. (In my defense, I had just
witnessed some sweet teenage boy’s reunion with his mother, and it was very moving, let me tell you.) Long story short, that same week just so
happened to be the week that everyone’s family planned a visit. Since my parents won’t be making the trek
this semester, having Maddy here during unofficial parents’ week truly could
not have been better timing. I mean she was listed as my mother on Facebook for
a while in the tenth grade, back when it was cool and clever to list all your
friends as your family members on Facebook.
That definitely counts for something.
Quickly sensing our week of fun was about to fly right by,
Maddy and I set out to take advantage of each day and crammed in as much
activity as we could manage. We made the
absolutely necessary first stop in Westminster to visit Big Ben, the London
Eye, Westminster Abbey, the House of Parliament, and a series of red telephone
booths. Confession: this was my first
time actually going to Big Ben since being here. Shameful, I know. We also didn’t realize we were standing literally right beneath it for a good
five minutes until the bells started ringing.
(I think it’s time to come to grips with the fact that I am more “book
smart” than “street smart.”) Needless to
say, this spot, surrounded by a few of the most well recognized landmarks in
all of London, is also, in my humble opinion, one of the most captivating views
in the city.
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| Westminster Bridge. |
What’s funny is that probably 80% of the things Maddy and I
did when she visited were new experiences for both of us. We saluted the Queen’s men at the Changing of
the Guard at Buckingham Palace. We
taste-tested our way through the Borough Market, one of the many delightful markets
that dot the map of the city (and one of my personal favorites at that). We wandered aimlessly through the department
store of all department stores, Harrods, absolutely awestruck and trying our
best to keep our eyeballs inside our heads at all times. We even made friends with the night manager
at a local convenience store who gave us free candy. I remain unsure as to whether I should be
proud or ashamed that we made candy runs so often that week that he knows each
of us by name.
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| The Queen's Guards. Doin' their thang. |
One day while I was in class, I gave my guest her own
homework. I had her dig through my super
cute and nifty London guidebook from Anthropologie (which I regret to say I had
barely been using to its full potential) and pick a neighborhood for us to go explore.
And so, we hopped on the tube and
ventured to an area called Shoreditch (which is pronounced more like shortage and less like shore-ditch… because in England
pronouncing a word the way it’s actually spelled would be too easy). Our intention was to find some
hole-in-the-wall vintage shop we saw in the book, but instead we stumbled upon
a million other things that made us want to jump up and down with glee. Things like darling shops with window
displays decorated to perfection (and a blessed sign on the door declaring, “SALE”),
an indoor/outdoor marketplace, and a series of cheap and healthy restaurants that
were making us drool. We perused the
shops, found a couple gems to take home, and eventually settled on a lunch
place called Leon. The food was so tasty
and the atmosphere so charming that we simply had to return for Round Two just
three days later.
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| Welcome to Shoreditch. |
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| Nothing says "cutest dang shops" like exposed brick |
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| All smiles for the gluten-free goodness. |
In between the new things, I did get the chance to show Maddy
a few of my favorite routine things, namely Hillsong Church, my regular Starbucks
on High Street, and a cozy pub down the road from my dorm. It’s like they always say: sometimes the
simple things are the absolute best things.
Things like thousands of voices belting out praises to God or a warm cup
of coffee on a chilly afternoon or late night pub chats over strawberry ice
cream. Nothing beats a longtime friend
with whom you can simply sit and talk and be.
When you find a friend like that, hold them as tight as you can. Remember when you were little and you got to
hold your brand spankin’ new baby sister in the hospital and your mom said, “Be
gentle, sweetie, don’t squeeze,” but all you really wanted to do to that sweet
little baby was squeeze her tight? Well
in this case, all bets are off. This is
your permission to squeeze. These are
those rare people who have seen you at your worst and wouldn’t dare hold that
against you. They have also seen you at
your best and will remind you who you are and what you are capable of when you
need it most. They are not afraid to
deliver a little bit of tough love or a healthy dose of reality when needed. These are the friendships that keep us
sane. So squeeze ‘em tight.
Sadly, the day came when I had to send Maddy on her way back
to the land of the free and the home of the brave, and this left me feeling just
a teensy bit homesick. This was, after
all, the exact halfway point on my big, exciting, sometimes scary semester
away. Halfway. A bit more than halfway now, actually. Even as I type that I think it must be a
typo. Sometimes I look at the next seven
weeks and think, That’s it?? That’s all the time I have left here? Then on other days, when I am a bit less
enchanted by the glamorousness of being “abroad” and a bit more enticed by the
comfortableness of being, say, in my own bed at home, I scroll through my iCal
aghast, and think, That’s it?? I’m only halfway through? Then I put down my phone and eat my own
words. “Be here now.” Right-o, mate. I’ll get right on that.
It’s almost as if those words transcended upon us all at the
same time. And by us I mean my group of
friends here and I. (Shameless plug that
I do, indeed, have friends here besides fictional television characters.) After all of our friends and family left and
each of us had our own sad, sulky, Celine Dion “All By Myself” moment, we
looked at each other with conviction and said, “It’s go time.” (Those were actually the words spoken,
yes.) Enough with the funny
business. It is time to take advantage
of time before time takes advantage of us.
After an inspiring conversation with a woman in Starbucks, who is
harnessing her inner Julia Roberts and going all Eat, Pray, Love on Europe, and her London-native friend, we made a
London Bucket List. It’s a list we’ve
been promising ourselves we would make for awhile. Now that it’s actually a thing, we have no
excuse but to absolutely exhaust every item on it. That is because it really is go time, and in
every sense of the word. It’s go time
with school, because now comes the actual writing papers and taking tests part
we’ve all been squeezing our eyes shut to in hopes that it might go away. It’s go time at the gym, because those gym
memberships were not free and our personal trainer friend Adrian is probably
hardcore judging us for being seemingly more committed to our Lulu ensembles
than to the workouts themselves.
(Adrian, if you’re reading this, I am sorry for missing abs class again,
and I promise I will come back.)
Most importantly, though, it’s go time in London. Talking to the two women in Starbucks gave us
about a million and one ideas of things to do in London. And with the vast pool of knowledge from the
many different guidebooks each of us brought to London, collectively we could
probably rule the world. (Knowledge is
power. I love books.) Yes, we live in a lovely area that has so
much to offer, but there are so many more neighborhoods with so much more to
offer all over London. Way more than you
can count on all of your fingers and toes.
Wouldn’t it be a pity if we missed out on them?
Fueled by newfound enthusiasm, we packed this last weekend
to the gills with Bucket List items and other productive things. For our Modern Popular Music class, Abby and I
went to a blues concert at a bar in Soho called Ain’t Nothing But the Blues on
Thursday night. If you’ve ever met me,
you know that “edgy” and “hipster” are not among the most commonly used
adjectives to describe my persona. So yes,
we did feel a tad bit out of place. Also, I think the guy next to me was smoking a
joint. I think. This did not, however, keep us from having a
fantastic time in a very new environment.
The singer reminded me of a Caucasian, slightly edgier female version of
Little Richard. (For those of you who
are not currently enrolled in COM5105 Modern Popular Music and/or proficient in
your knowledge of R&B artists of the sixties, you may recognize Little
Richard as the guy with wild hair who sings the Rubber Ducky song on Sesame
Street.) To say this lady knew her way
around an electric keyboard would be an understatement. Yes, Abs and I were engaging in local culture
and tapping our toes with the best of ‘em at the blues bar, sans
drugs/tobacco.
It doesn’t hurt that the weather has been
uncharacteristically glorious this week.
The sun shined so bright and the air was so full of fall that it would
be a crime not to spend as much time outside as possible. On Friday, we went back to the Borough
Market, because nothing says “October” like an outdoor market and freshly baked
apple crisp. On Saturday, we took the
tube to a sweet little suburb called Hampstead and wandered through Hampstead
Heath. Hampstead Heath is a huge nature
area that makes you feel like you’re deep in the English countryside when in
reality you’re only about forty-five minutes outside of Central London. The Heath was the most perfect fix for our
autumn appetites. The winding paths take
you through hills and valleys, near ponds and trees, and (the best part) to a
vast overlooking field that presents the most stunning view of the town,
sprinkled with colorful treetops. Not
even a spendy, trendy DSLR camera can do this view justice. I think I said, “You guys, this is SO
beautiful,” approximately eighteen times in the time we were there.
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| October and London markets make a great pair. |
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| Hampstead Heath. Doesn't this just scream Pride & Prejudice? |
The next morning, we set our alarm clocks early again and
took a trip to Vauxhall City Farm for Halloween Opening Day. We were told this is the closest thing we’ll
get to a pumpkin patch experience here in London. There weren’t really any pumpkins, but there
were babies and animals and baby animals, so we were happy. I got up close and personal with an alpaca,
and I also saw a rabbit that rivaled the size of my dog. Deciding we had made enough farmyard friends
for the day, we strolled along the Thames River from Vauxhall toward the London
Eye, where we had a nice lunch before heading back to Kensington. Riding high on a successful weekend and
feeling rather ambitious, Abby and I went home and booked a trip to
Ireland! Just another day in the life,
huh? In other news, I had a chocolate chip
cookie that changed my life. I’d chock
that up to a successful day.
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| Man of the coop. |
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| In another life, this guy would have made a great Emperor Kuzco. |
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| This miniature pony is riding high at the top of my Christmas List. |
Oh, London, could I ever be finished with you? Even if I spent a lifetime here, I doubt I would ever say I did all there was to do, saw all there was to see, and
went everywhere there was to go. Having
lived here for weeks now, I’ve become quite accustomed to the city, but it somehow
still feels just as new as when we first became acquainted. I’m still uncovering new places and learning
the ropes, and I think I still will be up until the day I leave. London’s like this. Right when you think you’ve got her all
figured out, she does something to surprise you. She refuses to be put in a box and she never
fails to throw something new at you when you least expect it. A new restaurant when you thought all the
good food was too expensive. A new view
that leaves you speechless just when you thought the city was just tall
buildings and busy streets. A new
experience when you so ignorantly thought you’d done it all. This general understanding that you will
never figure London out keeps you on your feet.
And it keeps you hungry for more.
I am over halfway done with my semester abroad. Eight weeks down, seven more to go. And you know what I’ve learned these past few
weeks? I have only scratched the surface. They say when you’re in the middle of
something rarely do you truly understand the magnitude of it. Or, in another sense, rarely do you
understand that it is truly a blip on the radar of life. So here I sit, in the middle, and I think I
can finally say I am starting to understand that concept. There is so much more to be done here. And if the past three weeks have taught me
anything, it is to start now, do it now, and do it all.
