Time Waits for No Man

So I'm behind a little on updating everyone on things. Haha I'm adapting into London life: I wear my headphones on the tube, I eat at weird times and I don't mind walking all over just because. I honestly lose so much track of time lately. It's all a blur of London and classes. I think it's become such a routine that I'm assimilating into my own London life. If I keep track time moves slowly, if I don't then time races past and I don't know which I prefer. There's a lot that's happened... Taylor and I spend a lot of time together. We've walked the river Thames if I haven't mentioned that, saw a lot of sights and told some deep life topics to one another. We found the "Haunted London Experience and want to try it out"... We've gone to a few bars and clubs with some Londoners which is like an everyday event almost for locals. We've been a little wrapped up in classes though and I'm starting to race through to my first midterm on Monday. It's so weird having this class schedule but it's nice to have so much time to explore London. I've now purchased tickets to Rome, Dublin and Paris over the next three weekends, we're going to the Tower of London tomorrow, we bought tickets for Madame Tussaud's and might buy tickets to the Harry Potter Studio ;) haha There's a lot to do here and now it's to the point that I don't even notice the differences that I did in the beginning, I can understand accents on the tube, I know the places I love and don't love. I have my favorite shops, coffee stores, pizza places, pubs, hair salon, parks and places to hangout. Jason, the Irishman, has hung out with us a few times and I met a new friend! Sam has a masters from Bristol, works for newspaper and is seriously so funny! He's brilliant. I've venturing out on own more and I like that. I feel resilient and I'm learning a lot about myself. My goals, passions and ambitions. The friends that I want to keep. The people I enjoy being around, and even the places I want my future to go. I thought I had it worked out and now I want to go a new route. I am going back to grad school after a year off. Being abroad made me realize I want more knowledge about people and how they communicate. So I'm going back... And then after that ill work and get some experience and then go back and be a professor at a university. Teach people my ridiculous ways ;) I think I would make a fun professor. It takes a lot to study abroad. There's a lot you have to know and learn before you even get a clue on how to be. Now most of this is old territory. It's really humbled me in a lot of ways though. I miss the US and I miss UW a lot. There's so much I took for granted and thought I wanted away from. This really changed my perspective on things. We went to a football match today, it was really... Intense. You can't stand up during the game without getting yelled at, there's the home side, away side and the neutral side so fans don't attack each other. The players are phenomenal! I love "soccer" back home! So this was great! We were about 10 rows from the field. We were so close to the players is was such a new experience for me. Fulham won 1-0 against Stoke City. Then we went to this amazing pizza place in Hammersmith and Allison, Taylor and I got hair cuts and I went tanning. I was in desperate need of vitamin D! It's so overcast here that a lot of people tan in beds to get vitamin D. It really helps with the gloom you sometimes get in London :) earlier this week we went to the Tate Modern or Art History and it was really interesting. Picasso, Candinscki, and cubism... Not my cup of tea but really interesting, Hogarth had some really morbid and depressing pieces that were cool to see but left me feeling oddly sad as I left. We then got to go to the Liechtenstein exhibit! That was really interesting all the modern dots like comic books. Then Caroline took us to the top floor that over looks the Thames... It was so gorgeous! You could see St Paul's! After a while abroad... You find the things you like and places that are really good. We've gotten a bunch of deals on things by just exploring London and kind of doing what we want. It's so exciting and liberating to make your own choices in a new or foreign place. It's very empowering.

New Outlook

So we're once again a little behind. Remember that nice Irish guy I met at the pub? Yeah, he came to Chinese New Year with my friends and I and we had a blast! He was nice and friendly and knew all these facts about London and history. It was really nice to just have a local friend with a cool accent. We watched the fireworks that were amazing! Then headed home to catch up on some things. Throughout the week, I went to classes, the Museum of London and the Courtauld Gallery of Art, read articles, discussed the middle ages, and was a normal boring student learning about the coolest aspects of London and the UK throughout history. Then... the ominous Valentine's Day struck! (dun dun dun). What does a devilishy handsome student like me do in another country on Single's Awareness Day? We gathered a group of friends, went to a local pub, and then saw the cutest, cheesiest movie ever; Warm Bodies. It was so good! I would definitely buy it on DVD once it comes out. It was so fun to just get together, meet up and have a nice night. When we were leaving this little old lady stopped Taylor and said how cute and nice we all were and how she had never met an American and she's glad her first American experience was with such lovely young people. :) Heartwarming right? It jerked at a few of my tears when Taylor told me what she had said. We were just kids, sitting around a table for dinner and this woman had seen something entirely new and different. It was so cute to see. I can be really negative at times, and sometimes bottle or hide my thoughts so as not to hurt or embarrass others. I don't think these things on purpose but I know they have a time and place to be said. I'm trying a new approach. Not blatant optimism but rather... positive outlook on things here. More positive than they have been, anyway. I keep looking forward to the next moment the one I'm in seems surreal. Sitting in my room in London, 56 days on the clock and so much to do between now and then. :) who knows where it'll take me.

Adventure is out there!

So I'm little behind in my updating.

Italian ice cream is so amazing, we grabbed some on our way to Bath and it was so amazing! Travelling in the EU is pretty easy in a sense. We have trips booked/in process for Rome, Dublin, Edinburgh, and Bath. I can't wait to go explore outside of London! We just found out that the Pope is resigning the DAY we land in Rome! I cannot wait!

In one day trip, Taylor and I discovered a lot... we got up early and took the Underground to Hyde Park to go explore. Molly met us down there. It was gorgeous! a HUGE park in the middle of the city with fountains, runners, people and their dogs... it was great. We began to wander and I discovered the Peter Pan statue I was looking for! It's not what you think but it's still really cool! I sometimes feel like I will never grow up so I can relate (and Neverland sounds really legit). Then we found a lot of statues, little buildings and then the Albert Memorial that was huge! We jumped on a bus toward Harrod's which is a huge department store that is worth more than my whole life basically! The next day we went to the Natural History Museum and wandered around South Kensington which is an upper part of London. I have pictures of a McLaren worth millions of dollars. We walked past the house that JFK grew up in when him and his father were here. I feel like we get lost so often that I'm actually findind my way around. We walked around Liecster Square, Oxford Circus, Greenwich, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square... all over. It's starting to all make sense and become really easy to navigate just always keep a map in your pocket!

There's a lot to do at night, pubs aren't what you think. It's basically a restaurant with music that you can order drinks at. It's a place to go after work for a pint and socialize. We frequent a few in the area that have a really nice night life and the other night we were sitting with a group from our program and this guy asked if I would watch his coat and bag while him and his friend stepped out. He said "you look like a trustworthy guy, do you mind watching our stuff?" I told him it wouldn't be a problem and he did a double take when he heard me speak. He came back and struck a conversation. Jason, and his friend Peter, talked to me for about 30-45 minutes about America, being in London and we got to some really cool topics. Jason offered to give me his number in case we ever wanted to hang out. He's Irish, has lived here for 14 months and said that he still doesn't have many friends. London is such a transition city that people constantly show up and move on, or are so reserved that they take a really long time to get to know. I texted him later on to see if he and Peter wanted to meet up for Chinese New Year. We met up after the parade and he sent the day with us telling us really cool facts about the area, monuments and life in Europe. I made a foreign friend!!!!!! It was so cool I loved it! All because we went to a pub and I have an apparent trustworthy face.

Our day trip to the Roman Baths in the city of Bath was outstanding! It was so beautiful there! The baths were phenomenal(as seen below)with water that was believed to have healing qualities. It contains 43 minerals and it's radioactive and helps with skin conditions and other illnesses. So naturally, I drank the water... it was such a metallic taste... like putting a penny on your tongue. The experience was great though. Then we wandered around, found a gorgeous cafe/church, and walked to the Putney Bridge, if you don't know what that is. Go see the movie "Les Miserables" it's where Russell Crowe kills himself.

From all of these adventures I began to notice it's not the place you're in, the things you do, or what you pay for that matters. it's the company that you keep.

Blending in

Studying abroad is such an interesting experience. It makes you look back and relive your entire past to reevaluate where you're currently at in life. How else do you know how to recognize yourself without the mirror of everything else reflecting back. Yesterday was a very interesting day. We were on the Undgerground(subway) on our way to Greenwich when this very articulate man started speaking. He said "Hi everyone, I'm getting off at the next station to go to the homeless shelter but I would really appreciate any spare change you have so I can get a sandwich or something to eat. If not, have a lovely day." he seemed so absolutley genuine about it. Most people ignored him, one even gave him a dirty look. The woman next to me was beautiful, seemed wealthy, and very well off from the clothing and bag she had. She reached into her pocketbook and handed him a handful of change. It reminded me of this fortune cookie I got from Panda Express in the Union last year. It said "Give to those less fortunate that you." Once this popped into my head I reached in my pocket and gave him £2. He said "Thank you very much kind sir," and got off at the next stop. It made me feel a lot better though that a few people did what most in America don't do... show some generosity. Especially from seeing people on the Underground so wrapped up in their own world that they took time away from themselves for a moment... to help another person out. We jumpeed stations and got on the DLR which is an Overground rail station ran by a computer. There's no real driver for the DLR. We went to Greenwich which is now the financial district. There's Cutty Sark, an old sailor ship, The National Maritime Museum--which I loved so much! Boats, ships and nerdy facts about trading industry through shipping days!-- and the Planetarium along the Greenwich Meridian Line, which we did not see up close because you have to pay for it. The Planetarium was really cool! It was at the top of the hill where the Observatory is and it overlooked the "Queen's House" Museum and the green area where they had the Equestrian competition for the Summer Olypics last year. |The open expanse looked over the buildings leading all the way down to Greenwich Pier along the Thames River. It was so beautiful to see.

This morning, I was walking to the bus and this woman stopped and asked where I'm from. We had a really good conversation. She was working on a campaign to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters. I'm not a permanent resident so I couldn't help out but it was so nice to talk to her and she was asking me about my experince here and shook my hand. It was just nice to have a stranger say hi. Maybe she thought I was a Londoner, which makes me think I'm blending in here! I use my headphones on the Underground because people don't make eye contact and it's really awkward to start at your hands for 35 minutes. I finally figured out how to make my hair work in the humditity which is a major bonus because 97% of everyone you see here is gorgeous, well kept, stylish and groomed. So I secretly get happy when people assume that I'm from Europe. haha. It's all about just pretending that you know what you're doing and making everyone think you know. Except when I'm walking around saying "wow!" every other word... that gives the whole "tourist" thing away.

Before the Dawn of a New Day

So there are these stages of culture shock that they tell you about. It's sort of an up and down roller coaster

Well I thought I was hitting a low a little bit ago but lately I have come to realize it's a bit lower. No sense in sugar coating it at this point. Studying abroad is hard. There's a lot of little things that I miss back home that I will never take for granted again. Like my shower, free space, friendly people, people who actually give a damn about your day, nice customer service members, service at eating establishments, or just some semlance that people care about something other than themselves. This is supposed to be a city of multiple cultures and mixing of diversit but everyone seems to be in their own little bubble and their own little world. Being an American makes us weak, most of us don't even speak American English correctly, let alone fluent in another language. People here know up to 5 and that's normal. Three is good and two is kind of pushin' it. I love some of the luxuries that the states provides but our ignorance is leading us blindly to our demise. Do you know how many "civil wars" that Europe has had... for millenia. We've had one. Today Taylor and I tried to get our phones to text each other so we went to where we purchased it, they sent us to the providers store, the providers were rude and just made us call customer service that re-routed us 3 times to Samsung, who the lady was so rude and hung up on us before she would help us. So we went back and bought a new SIM card. This was one of the most ridiculous days I've had in London to date, and then Taylors card stopped working again and we don't have access to call our banks really, and we're 7 hours ahead. Why aren't there International Banks? This is stupid to send students abroad blindly. Positive side? It's showing me my true potential at taking care of myself in a foriegn land. I am learning my breaking points and what I can and can't live without. I never knew how truly wrapped up and obsessed my iPhone made me until I came here. Jamie activated is and so did a few others. I'm glad I didn't. I use the wifi when I can and listen to music on the Underground because no one talks and no one looks at each other on public transportation. I miss how confident US people are, or how they start small talk with others for no reason. How else do you connect yourself to the people around you if you don't talk to them first. I tried to make conversation here the other day with this man at the bus stop and after a few sentences he just stopped responding. I am really excited to go to Rome on February 28th, a little mini vacation, with Taylor, Jamie and Heather. But I need to start finding things to do on my off days. Start exploring and things. Taylor and I went to see a few movies. Moive 43 and Les Miserables, Les Mis was phenomenal!! Such a great prouction! They have such comfortable seats! The US is doing that really wrong haha. I've been reading the books from the "Beautiful Creatures" Series and I really like them! I think there are more advertisements here than I saw in the US. The UK is really big on Hollywood and American cinema. The fashion here is so impecable that it makes me a little sick to see how afforadble the clothing is at times. Style is so natural, and normal. I would really love to get used to that if I wasn't dressed like a little American. Tonight Taylor and I are going to see the Woman in Black in theatre. I can't wait! It's supposed to be scary :) We'll see. Then maybe go to Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace tomorrow. The weekends are harder to get around for me because my Undergroud station is closed for construction on weekends. I did discover Tesco, which is like Walmart but British so now I can find really cheap affordable groceries which is really nice! I was starting to worry about those expenses. It's hard to keep track of things here sometimes. it can be frustratiing but most of the time it's pretty much what you deal with. I'm starting to just wish I were home, this will be a life changing time, but not the time of my life. This isn't my city, now I know that. So I can go home with a greater appreciation for things and understandings that London has and will teach me. There's so much acceptance and interesting dynamic here that has progressed far beyond the United States. At the same time the US has some real upsides as well.