Friday 19 December 2008

Yeah, it's overwhelming, but what else can we do?

Ice-skating at the Tower of London with Rayna and Greg

How to wrap up an amazing six months living in London? At first, I thought I could sum up the whole experience by waxing philosophical: How my time here never felt like the pseduo-vacation of studying abroad, but more like I was creating a life, putting down roots—making friends, building a home, settling in. And how cosmically unfair it feels to have those roots torn up just as they were getting established.

But that's too abstract. So I thought I could write about all the things, big and small, about living in London that put a smile on my face: the Saturday mornings spent with the Guardian and a cup of tea; one pint with Greg quickly turning into many at the Market Porter or the Royal Inn; the unrivaled people watching available in the Sunday-morning markets of the East End, from Brick Lane down to Spitalfields; waking up 20 minutes early just so I can have an espresso on the way to work; cooking with Phoebe in our tiny kitchen with the view out the window of Kingsland Mosque's minaret lit up green for Eid; walking across London Bridge five days a week; sitting in the front seat on the upper deck of a red London bus.

But that misses the point. Maybe, I thought, I should write how my time here wouldn't have been any fun at all if I hadn't, quite unexpectedly, made some great friends. What's the point of a full English breakfast, or hiking around Hampstead Heath, if you don't have a Phoebe or a Greg to share it with?

But that, I thought, is too sappy. So here's all I'll say: I'm going to miss London. A lot.

Monday 8 December 2008

Where my thoughts escaping

Wow, it's been a while since I updated. My excuse is that my whole family came to visit me for Thanksgiving, which was very busy and great. I'm so thankful they made the trip—Thanksgiving without them would've been hard to bear.
We did all the usual tourist stuff, plus my Mom and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner (pheasant!), we went to a Thanksgiving Day service in St. Paul's Cathedral, popped in for a pint at all my favorite pubs, had champagne cocktails at the top of Tower 42, and took a weekend trip out to Bath.

The countdown's begun for the end of my time here, less than two weeks now. Weirdness. Much navel-gazing and musings on that topic to come.