We experienced our first stereotypical London weather day today. The sky was pretty consistently grey, with the occasional spurts of light to remind us that the sun does, in fact, exist. Finally starting to get a handle on the city, my friend and I ventured out early in the dull morning for breakfast. We really were adventurous as we crossed the street from our flat to literally the first cafe we saw. Go us. We sat in a corner table and ordered coffee and scones like an adorable old couple.
But today was our first day of class. I had almost forgotten that real work needed to be done on this trip. But I think that’s the key. Do what you love, love what you do, right? Well I love walking through a city already awake. I love almost getting run over by late businessmen in the Tube because we are happily taking our time. I love crossing the bridge every morning to see the London skyline before I get my brain working. All just to get to class. Imagine that.
Class really helped me get my thoughts together. I discovered I liked and appreciated Curious Incident more after we discussed it. I found I connected to it much more than I originally thought I did. Human interactions are such strange things. A show about a boy who feels completely alone in life is better realized when people gather together to talk about it. A character who has to lie to protect his 15-year-old autistic son is understood by a 20-year-old female college student. What a phenomenon.
With such emotion running through my veins, it was the perfect time to go to the National Gallery. To prepare for our art paper, we learned about specific painting and the emotion behind them. I was drawn to Turner’s pieces and the stories he told. We then got lost and dealt with a whole new category of emotions.
I’ve learned to really enjoy quiet time on this trip. Travel is fickle. It makes us feel like we need to do absolutely everything or else we fail as travelers. But I think that is a blatant lie. Running through checklists is all well and good until we realize we’ve missed hundreds of moments and memories in our haste. What a way to waste an experience. So I rested. I spent time to breath and catch up with my thoughts. And then I was good to go.
We saw Everyman at the Olivier Theater at the National Theater. I have still not processed everything that happened on that stage, I hope someday I do. We watched a man’s journey to God. It was tough and forced and at times uncomfortable. But he got there. We should all be so lucky.
Clearly 9p.m. is too early to turn in when in London. So off to the pub we went-all 15 of us. We went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, one of the oldest pubs out there. Unfortunately for us, we had not eaten and the kitchen was closed. Being the responsible, albeit irritated, college students that we are, we went home. The only thing standing in our way was that we had absolutely no fekking idea how to get home, as Everyman would have put it. Very hungry, very nervous, very lost. Miserable combination. But thank God for the Tube. We are getting so good at navigating this city when we can’t think straight.
I’m Incredibly grateful to not be lost in London anymore. To be sitting in my flat, eating dinner at 11:00. To have friends that pray with me when life gets stressful. To be here. God is good. Life is good. What more could you possibly need?
Ticket to Write 