There have been many changes to my
environment and my routine since coming to London. Grocery shopping instead of
a dining hall, taking public transportation to class and around the city instead
of driving myself (I miss my car), and living with 6 other people comes with
its own adaptations and sacrifices. Despite moving to another country and
experiencing so many changes, there is one thing that snuck into my suitcase
and came along with me: procrastination.
Now, this isn’t something new that I
have discovered in London. Like I said, it’s something I knew very well in the
states that followed me here. My procrastination hasn’t been so bad since
starting classes, but it never is at first. The energy I save up over the
summer allows me to focus pretty well for the first couple weeks of classes,
but it runs out pretty quickly. And being in the middle of London doesn’t help
either. Thus, this blog will be a chronicle of what I get up to while abroad
while inevitably pushing back work I should probably be doing instead (if you
are one of my professors and reading this – I'm sorry. I promise I’ll get the
work done in a timely manner).
Since classes started last week, I have,
for the most part, been able to blend together enjoying myself and getting work
done. One day last week I didn’t have any obligations until a 2pm class, so I
decided to spend my morning doing some work in Kensington Gardens. I sat just
outside the palace gates and got a good amount of work done. It wasn’t a hot
day, but it was definitely warm. However, I was sitting in the shade under a
tree and it actually got quite cold with the breeze. When I finished my work, I
had about an hour to relax before I needed to head to class, so I went out into
a sunny part of the field and ate my lunch and laid on the grass listening to
music. I was so relaxed in that moment that I could have stayed there for the
entire 4 months and been completely content. Unfortunately, I apparently had
forgotten that the sun can hurt me and I did not put on sunscreen to protect my
ultra-sensitive skin. When I got to class I realized I had a very bright red
sunburn on one side of my neck (the sun was ever so slightly in the west at the
time and impacted one side of my body more than the other) and my face. Oh
well, it faded after a couple days.
This past weekend I spent Saturday out
and about pretty much the whole day. I took a stroll through Kensington Gardens
and Hyde Park and didn’t realize how beautiful some of the hidden-away areas of
the parks are. There is one area that is like a botanical garden; you can smell
the flowers without even having to get your nose near them.
There was one area that was circular,
outlined by hedges and benches with a fountain in the center topped by a statue
of a man...wrestling a fish? Whatever it was, I liked it. The scene felt like
something out of Alice in Wonderland when Alice goes to the garden, it was
beautiful. I also saw the Princess Diana Fountain which, contrary to what you
might believe at first thought, is not what you would think of as a conventional
fountain. It looks more like a waterslide (a simile supported by all the
children playing in it as I passed by. Should they be doing that? Probably not.
Did they look like they were having fun? For sure, AND IT’S WHAT DIANA WOULD
HAVE WANTED...MAYBE!).
I also saw a play after that which I am
going to refrain from talking about here because I have to talk about theatre
in almost all my classes and it’s not the goal of this blog. But it was a very
intense play.
Wrapping up, I should also mention that
I was lucky enough to attend one of the BBC Proms this past weekend as well,
and I got a free upgrade into really amazing seats! Way better than the
restricted view seats in the heavens, and I had a great time.
