Catching Up: Part 2.busyworkz

I feel like this is more overdue than the library books I checked out in sixth grade, lied about turning back in, and then kept for myself just to prove that if you were well liked and had a good reputation in high school: you could get away with anything.  I did, and I knew it.  And I didn’t care or give a flying anything that it was unfair and really only added to people’s anger or annoyance with me.  I say, ‘whatever!’

That was tangential… random.

Right, so, you may or may not have forgotten so let me remind you now on this most chilly of December nights that I am in London!  Wowzers!  Can you believe it?  By now you would think that the novelty of being in a whole new city in a whole new country on a whole new continent would have worn down.  Well…NOPE!  Still just as crazy as it was on day one…without the lateness and the nerves and the fears and tears and the outrageous taxi fees.

Wow.  Three ellipses in less than 200 words.  Either I am terribly bored with myself or I am just scatterbrained.  Let’s be real, though, I am incredibly scatterbrained, odd, weird, whatever.  But I must also confess that lately I have been in a funk.  A general lack of motivation, excitement, and gusto.  It has nothing to do with the people I’ve been around: they’re all spectacular, great, etc, but I am feeling a bit down, a bit beaten.  I don’t know why: me thinks it’s just that time of the year.  Which doesn’t really make sense because I love the holiday season.  I love the snow, I love the cold, I love the cheer.  Something’s just a little off.  I will figure it out.  I promise.

Here’s another promise: starting on Friday, I am going to finish the last portion of this blog off with a miniseries called Fifteen Days.  For the last 15 days of my time in London, I will blog everyday about something, even if I find it minute or insignificant, at least it will help regulate some memories of this fantastic experience.  So there’s that to look forward to, dear reader.

Anyway: it might be time to talk about some things that are actually happening/actually happened.  I mean, this is a travel blog right?

Right.

So, last Wednesday rolled around very quickly.  For anyone who was not aware, I had a special piece of home visit this last weekend and he arrived on Wednesday afternoon.  Spencer visited from Minnesota over his Thanksgiving break.  It was great to have such a wonderful friend and important figure in my life visit me.  I definitely needed the morale boost to get through these precious few weeks.  I met him at South Ken, gave him a tour of the little area by the V & A museum, and we just chatted a bit before heading off to dinner and a show.  Design For Living, by the way, was fantastic.  Funny, charming, smart, well-written, superbly acted.  I was very impressed.  Plus, it was an excuse to see another piece of theatre—that’s never a bummer.

Following the show, I went back to the Res Hall and got some work done before settling down with a new book.  As of right now, that book is finished!  9 books, y’all!  Woot.

So I had this presentation to give on Thursday about Blasted which I don’t believe went very badly.  Actually, I thought I did a pretty good job, and I am usually rather hard on myself.  Anywhoozle, I had lunch at Hummus Bros (Hum-Bum) and showed Spence where I have classes and all that jazz.  On Friday, after seeing Spencer’s little homestay/flatstay in Wood Green, we went to Camden Town where I met up my class for a field trip and Jenny, Jamie, and Spencer did some market exploring.  On Saturday, Jenny Katz and I went to the Senate House Library to work on our project which I think could have been done anywhere with internet access.  Wah wah!  We did find a specific case of visual arts censorship to talk about, though, so that’s some forward momentum at least.  It’s the last big thing I have to do before finals week!  Ah! It’s coming up so fast that I think I am going to be ill just thinking about it!  Grr. Time has flown by. 

We met Spencer at Pat for lunch before heading back to the res hall.  On Saturday night, Drew, Steve, and I made dinner for everybody…seriously, we fed like 11 people.  It was a great meal with even better company.  We ended up just playing a game of Things after Drew walked Kate back to the tube.  On Sunday morning, I went to the markets with Spencer for some lunch and some x-mas shopping; I was lucky enough to finish all of it last weekend!  Huzzah!  Smiles all around: I think I did pretty darn good.  Following the markets, we went to Westminster Abbey to try and get in to Evensong, but it was actually the first Sunday of advent which meant they were holding a candlelight service instead!  Ahh, it was wonderful.  Just wonderful.  I kept thinking how much more my Grandpa or my Grandma or Stacy Little would have got out of it and it made me feel a little odd; just another moment of: wow, I am so fortunate.  I just am so grateful for all of the opportunities I have/have had in my life and I hope that always comes across.  I am just very, very thankful. 

After some dinner, I said adios to Spencer and dropped him off at the tube station because of an impending Tube strike;  have no fear, he returned to the bitter cold in one piece.

So all the time I spent entertaining last weekend should have been spent doing work—though I can’t really say I would rather do work than hang out with someone from home—so I have been terribly busy over the last four days.  Ugh.  It’s been stressful.  Just that time of year I suppose?  Yeah, hopefully. 

I did take some really awesome study breaks though.  On Tuesday night, I went to Somerset house just off of the Temple tube stop and went ice skating!  It was so awesome!  Plus: we had woke up to snow on Monday and it hadn’t stopped by the time we went skating Tuesday which made it all that much more special.  It felt so good to be able to be out in nature, just enjoying some of that awesome snow, doing something that just seems timeless.  Ice Skating at Christmastime will definitely be a new tradition for me; I’d forgotten how much fun it is.  Also: I need to go downhill skiing.  I miss that!

Last night I ended up making the life choice of going out even though I hadn’t finished my essay due this afternoon.  I cannot decide if I have the worst friends, the best friends, or just have the inability to say ‘no.’  Regardless of what option is correct, I went out and had a grand ol’ time.  Turns out, everyone was feeling the same way because when we got to Walkabout, there were so many people from our program already inside.  I managed to polish off a bottle of wine before going—while writing, mind you—and then enjoy some gin and tonics inside.  It was a fun night filled with dancing.  I think Izzy’s assumption that I am a slave to the dance might be more accurate than I want it to be.  I actually can’t say no to dancing the night away with friends.  I don’t really mind I guess.  So when I got back, after a long snowy walk from Trafalgar square with my friend Jennifer, I decided it would be a great time to finish that paper!  Eventually, 4:30 rolled around and, still a little drunk, I finished my paper and hopped into bed.  Of course, I can’t fall asleep without playing video games first.  So, I turned on my DSi and crawled under my comforter so the light wouldn’t wake up Drew who was sleeping peacefully like a normal human being.  I must have been hella tired though—I woke up with my DSi stuck to my face and my stylus loosely laced through my fingers.

When I woke up this morning, I watched ANTM—GO ANN!  Such a good choice for the winner!—and re-read/edited my paper.  I was depressed to find out that the things I wrote after a night of partying were much, much better than what I had written sober.  Go figure?  Whatever.  Turned in my paper, turned in my review: no more assignments for Theatre in London!  Woot!  But also, what?!   How?!

Izzy and I went to Beauty and the Beast this evening which is a new play at the National Theatre.  What we didn’t know before attending was that the show was actually designed for children and it was rather campy.  However, there were some great, great moments in the show that really made it worth our time and money (really cheap tickets anyway). 

So that’s what I have to catch you up on.  Tomorrow I am starting my 15 day blog-a-day stretch!  Craziness!  That also means that things are wrapping up on this side of the pond; I am both excited and sad to be leaving this wonderful city.  As I am sitting here now, writing and looking out over London, I am reminded that I have never lived in a city before.  It’s always been my college town of 15,000 or my hometown of less than 1,000 (well, 1,064 now).  But this is really great.  It’s still new, living in a city, and I never thought in a million years that I would enjoy it, but I really do.  I love it here.  There is just something so majestic about living in place that makes you feel like you can make it in this big world.  It’s odd to me, though, that the feeling of confidence comes from being in a huge place.  There’s more competition, more complexity, and more distraction, but somehow I’ve earned this huge boost in confidence and motivation by living here. 

 

I kinda like it.