Monday, September 22, 2014

A Whirlwind: My Past Two Weeks

Well, It has officially been too long since my last post. Last you heard from me I had spontaneously decided to go to Bath for the day. Spontaneous day trips are now a thing of the past as I am now in my third week of classes. Except, I did go to Hampton Court Palace at some point in the last two weeks, but I don't necessarily remember when, however, it was phenomenal.




Channeling my inner Harry Potter in the Maze! (yes, they had a maze!)


I keep letting the excuse of school and homework stand in the way of my blog, but if I'm being honest, I've been completely bogged down with school work from even before classes started. Yes, that's right, one of my professors assigned reading for our first class, but it wasn't too awful.
First day of school pic
I have been walking around the past two weeks in a daze it seems. Completely overwhelmed with all the stresses that come with uprooting yourself from a community you love and moving across the world, plus a full time graduate program class load, and trying to read the Harry Potter books for the first time make for a very busy, stressful, and, did I say overwhelming, couple of weeks.

Studying essentials
To catch you up, after Bath I had orientation, I met a few people and my professors, but mainly it was the usual orientation, they all tend to be the same. I started classes, I have class Monday through Wednesday, which gives me ample time to get through my readings on the long weekends, WRONG. Last week EVERY SINGLE CLASS met at a different location other than their assigned classrooms. Which, don't get me wrong, is great, but at the same time, it takes up a TON of time that I could spend doing other things, like reading for said classes. Last week I went to the National Art Library, the British Library, and Oxford, not to mention a walking tour around London to 10 different galleries and the British Museum to prep for class this week.

Oxford was wonderful. I went for class, we went to two different museums and then after our formal class was over I stayed and wandered the streets by myself for a couple of hours, got to make the most of it.


The Bridge of Sighs
Unfortunately, I really can't remember much I've done the past two weeks besides reading, and reading, and reading and reading and reading and reading. It's all just become one big blur in my mind. My University had a "Grad Night Out", we went to this luxury yacht hotel thing and had drinks on the river while watching the sun set. Talk about an experience. My roommate showed up finally. She is from South Korea and a complete sweetheart! I'm really excited to get to know her better.

View from the luxury yacht
Another thing that happened was my first English haircut. The girl that cut it just moved here on a whim with her best friend, they are from Australia. Don't worry, I may have gotten a trim, but I'm actually attempting to grow it out (who knows how long that'll last). I decided that I'm single with no prospects or hope of a relationship anytime in my near future, so I might as well grow out my hair while I have no one to impress. But, after making this decision I have seen so many cute pixie cuts here and it's so hard to not go get it all chopped off.


The Tour of Britain also came through London... I think last weekend? I seriously can't remember, but anyways, my favorite cyclist, Marcel Kittel, won the stage!!!! Bahh, I was seriously beside myself, still can't believe I got to witness a big tour like that in person!

Here he is during his time trial. He didn't do too hot on it, but he was saving it all for the circuit. 
The breakaway
And, this past Saturday was my birthday! Once again, if I can be honest, it was a really difficult birthday, and I went through literally all the feels in the course of 24 hours.

I started off my birthday (at midnight) in my room, alone, crying. Sad to be away from friends and family and feeling the most alone I've felt since coming here. It definitely did not feel like my birthday. That morning I got up and went to Harrod's to meet my Londoner friend Adrienne for high tea.
After eating this I was full for literally the rest of the day, also, now I am completely broke
I had also done some early birthday shopping earlier in the week and got to wear a cute newish outfit (the top was new, thank you H&M). After an AMAZING high tea we went to the Borough Market and smelled all the yummy foodie smells, but thankfully were too full from high tea to spend any more money.
Y'all, I'm 23. It's going to be a great year, I can feel it

The Borough Market was jam packed with people, but it was so awesome!
Then, we went to platform 9 3/4 where I got to take my cliche HP pic. If you had told me I would be doing that two weeks ago I would've laughed in your face. I think I have become the quickest Harry Potter fan ever, I even have a Hogwarts sweatshirt to prove it.
Am I doing this right?!
I'm actually a Hufflepuff, but the scarf clashed with my outfit, so Gryffindor it is. Sorry I'm not sorry.
I got home from spending the day with Adrienne and skyped my parents for a whole 5 minutes. They had to go and so did I. I met some of my grad school friends at a local pub for my birthday dinner where we ate Indian food over some fun conversation. It was nice to not really have a spare moment in the day to myself to feel lonely and I'm so thankful for the friends I have made this far.

So beyond thankful that this sweet friend took me all over London for my birthday!
After my birthday I had to step back into reality and get to cracking on the group presentation I COMPLETELY forgot I have to do later this week. And now, I have more reading to do, as I am sure you yourself have things to get back to.

In conclusion, I have been very very busy, and even though it is completely and utterly overwhelming, I have had a lot of fun experiences, and I'm living in London for goodness sake! When I'm too stressed to think I put on my running shoes and take a nice relaxing run around Kensington Gardens or use Harry Potter as a reward for getting my readings done by a certain time. I'm trying to take everything one day at time, but we will see how long that lasts as a way of keeping my mind sane.
Kensington Gardens
I got a birthday package from my parents today. Which came with fun attachment camera lenses for my phone. So much for homework, brb, checkin out the fisheye lens!


1 comment :

  1. I definitely approve of your new appreciation of Harry Potter.

    ReplyDelete