Wow. I go home in twelve days. Which means that I have seriously neglected this blog over the past 2.5 weeks. I can't say that I haven't had ANY time to post, but I have been out exploring a lot and doing way more homework than I was expecting. Every day I get back to my room and pass out, and I'm still tired every single day. First world problems am I right? Let's back track a bit so I can give you a lay of the land.
We're staying in Kensington, which is a beautiful, wealthy, and kind of boring neighborhood. I was randomly assigned Anna as my roommate (lol) and we have this huge room with high ceilings, crown molding, and a private bathroom. Some people believe that going abroad with a friend is a bad idea, and while I may agree if you're talking about a full 4-6 month semester, but choosing to come here with Anna was one of the best decisions I've ever made. We've done a good job of making friends and doing things with other people, but if we're getting sick of anyone, it's easy to retreat to each other. We both came to Europe in search of something - for me, that was a free type of happiness and self awareness, and for Anna it was an escape from her bad breakup. We've been able to lean on each other and rely on each other and grow together during this time, and it's truly been priceless. Last night we were sitting in a pub together, just talking about how happy we are to be where we are in our lives and how far we've come. While I would feel awkward confiding those types of things to many, Anna understands. And living together has been perfect. Anna put it best - when we're together, it's like we're alone. I'm the kind of person who thrives on alone time, and that's really hard to come by on an abroad program. But we can retreat to our room together and sit in silence for hours and truly feel alone.
But back to London. This really is the world's city. We've met so many people from so many places. We've eaten food from far corners of the world. We've wandered through markets, browsing items and listening to people speak multitudes of languages. I personally love East London. There's art, music, food, a huge vintage market and tons of bars. It reminded me a little bit of south street in Philly, but I'm also homesick and biased so I can't say others would agree.
We've been to the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Tate Modern Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. I'm starting to really love art, and I find it fascinating to try to put yourself in the artists head. I'll just stare at a piece and try to pretend that I made it, and why I would have made certain color choices and drawn certain lines. Maybe I'm a freak. But you should try it. I'm so curious as to what motivates people in everything they do - and most art is so weird that it's mesmerizing.
As for the class itself, it honestly kind of sucks. Our American teacher has a PhD in Philosophy and claims to be accident prone. This somehow qualifies him to teach a course on the NHS. Our whole course revolves around the philosophy of health care, which in itself is interesting, but not exactly what I signed up for. I still have no background knowledge on how the NHS functions and I'm starting to think my teacher doesn't either. He also has us writing 4 essays and doing a presentation in the 3 weeks that we have class. It's bizarre and I miss our Amsterdam class.
People keep asking me which city I like better and they're so different that I honestly cannot say. Amsterdam was magical and beautiful and fun. But to me, there will always be something special about London. I feel like if I was in London for an extended amount of time, I would never be bored. There is so much culture, so much nightlife, and so many things to do. People are always out and about getting drinks after work and running around on the tube. It seems like people here work hard but also enjoy their lives. There are so many parts of the city to explore because it is ENORMOUS, and like I said, the city truly belongs to the world, and I feel like a little piece of it is mine.
So this post was pretty unorganized, poorly written, and rambly, but hey. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. To make up for this random post, I'll plan to post a more specific piece tomorrow about my weekend in Wales (which was amazing btw). This weekend I head to Barcelona, and then only have one more week to spend in London! I am planning to visit Westminster Abbey, the London Dungeon, the Serpentine Gallery, the Museum of Broken Relationships, Selfridges and Harrods, and the Portabella street market in Notting Hill. We also have tickets to see the Book of Mormon, attend afternoon tea, and a polo match! I also want to try to make it to the famous Ye Old Cheshire Cheese pub and a beer garden. Until tomorrow friends!
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