London calling!

Hi everyone!
After a long hiatus, I'm going to do my best to update this and keep you posted on my European adventures. The following is a bit of a journal I submitted for one of my classes, I think it sums up my experience pretty well so far.

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here almost two weeks, and the bizarre streak of beautiful weather has also prevented the fact from hitting home. Isn’t London supposed to be bleak and rainy? Not that I’m complaining; the sunny weather has encouraged me to leave my warm bed and enjoy the gorgeous weather with some outdoor sightseeing. My flat has taken to calling Westminster, and anywhere with a recognizable landmark for that matter, “famous London;” these are the landmark parts of London we expected to see when we applied for this semester. Walking across the Millennium Bridge for the first time was the most surreal experience: St. Paul’s, the National, the Globe, Big Ben, the Tate Modern, and the London Eye, all easy viewed by making one slow 360 degree turn. London is a city steeped with tradition, everything around is old, preserved, and proud. The queen herself is tradition: her right to the throne is confirmed simply because she happened to be born to the right parents. It is a reminder of how much of a child America is. We look at buildings that have been around since the Revolutionary War and call it wildly old: here, the Tower of London allows you to glimpse into a very tangible past, generations before Christopher Columbus was a glint in his mother’s eye. The history of the place is helping me get into a more academic mood, in a sense: I’m anxious to fit in with the impressive classical pillars around me and sink into thousands of years of history. I’m reading Great Expectations in my literature class, and I feel so much more a part of Pip’s world when I’m sitting in a building only a few miles from where Dickens lived.

I’ve surprised myself by how easily and quickly I’ve gotten accustomed to living here. The easy problems have been ironed out: plumbing has gotten a lot easier to deal with- you just have to flush it like you mean it- and I’m looking to the correct side of the road before crossing. I feel confident when travelling on the Tube and figuring out how to transfer bus routes; I have grown accustomed to cooking for one (or eight, for the past two Sunday evening flat dinners). I’ve even begun using the word “cheers” in nearly all conversations. It is the most peculiar word I’ve ever encountered. I’ve learned when to use it by listening to locals; they use it the way Italians use “bella,” liberally and often in place of other words. It means “thanks,” “you’re welcome,” “see you later.” Everyone uses it, from the coffee shop owner to the older gentleman who tells me that the frozen vegetable dish from Marks and Spencer is actually quite good. I don’t think there’s any equivalent in America, but there’s an air of “namaste” to it. I doubt “cheers” has any religious meaning, but it certainly seems to have spread beyond having a pint.

Last Sunday I went to an Evensong service at St. Augustine’s. I have been to all sorts of Christian services, but I was new to the Church of England. It was oddly comforting to be in a place that had been used as a house of worship for over a hundred years, yet I’m not sure the complicated ritualism is what I’m looking for. Regardless, I still gleaned a lot from it. It was a small service, only about ten of us were there including the choir. They were extremely warm- the woman on my left gave me fair warning about when hymns were coming up and I largely followed her lead on when to kneel and stand. It was good to get back to a house of worship and ponder just how blessed I am to be here.

I’ve been reflecting on the passage that was read at the service. The reading was from the book of Matthew, and I had heard it several times. The reader gave it an insightful life, and was perhaps the most animated I had ever heard a reader. The passage was as follows: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye… Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” I smiled to myself when I realized what passage it was. How fitting, I thought. That is exactly what I am doing here. I’m removing my privileged middle class set of blinders and learning what it means to live somewhere outside of my comfort zone. I am asking questions of myself and others that I never imagined existed. I am seeking, seeking to be inspired by the color of double-decker buses and the architecture of the Inns of Court. I am seeking to find whatever is trying to find me.

I miss you all and will be posting details about my trip to Scotland this past weekend as soon as I can!