Ramblings

      My laptop has been seriously grumpy in the last two weeks, not connecting to networks and often refusing to turn on at all. For some inexplicable reason, it's being friendly today, so here I am posting an update!
      The last two weeks have been crazy and wonderful. Nik was visiting and we got to do touristy London things and did some traveling as well (perhaps my computer is allergic to him, because it started working soon after he left this morning. Hmm). It's also the peak of the semester for school work, so I've been trying to juggle spending time with him with homework. Not having a computer hasn't helped. But he left this morning and I'm back to the real world.
      Only two weeks left in London. So much pressure wound up inside that sentence! All year I've been hearing and thinking that this semester is the opportunity of a lifetime, a life-changing experience, the best time of my life. And now it's almost over and I feel like I need to live up to that standard. London HAS been amazing. It's been fun and invigorating and overflowing, and I trust that I have been changed by it like I hoped. I'm definitely better at budgeting and spending, cooking, and traveling. I've got a nice little alcohol tolerance growing. And by golly I have finally learned to read analog clocks! Look out, world.
      I guess it's just hard to see the big life-altering differences while I'm still here, as if there's a lens to view it through but I can't reach it yet. Even harder to imagine is going back to school for another year. Living in London, having complete free reign  (and a weekly stipend) has made me want real life even more than before. I want a job and a house and a flower garden and a bicycle. Not the apron and lipstick kind, but the I'm-out-there-living-my life-however-I-want kind. I'm about to register for classes and I find myself unilaterally hating all my choices.  Hello senior project.
      I don't want to stay in London. I'm done with big city for a while, done with honking cars and cigarette butts. But, as much as I miss my friends and family (and food carts) neither am I ready to return home. The beautiful thing is that I have a 3 week trip through Europe planned in between the two!!! That should do the trick. :)

      But anyway. I was updating on the last two weeks, before I went off on a rant. So Nik arrived by train from Glasgow on Friday night. I met him at the station and we went directly to a concert at the Barbican by a group of 3 indie-rock musicians who all work heavily with string orchestration. One of the group was Owen Pallett, which is what drew us in. In the first half of the program, each of the three premiered a classical orchestral work. All very cool, very modern pieces. In the second half, the three and some others formed a strings/electronics/percussion band and basically jammed for two hours. It was incredible music and an amazing concert! We spent the rest of the weekend taking it easy, walking around London, celebrating St. Patrick's Day with my flatmates, and cooking delicious food. Nik got a random craving to make homemade bread, so he bought himself three different kinds of flour and an assortment of ingredients, and went to town making up his own recipe. I think we ate about five loaves of homemade bread in those first couple days.
      Monday-Thursday I had work, classes, and a big load of homework. We spent free time at my favorite pub, the Builders Arms. We also spent an afternoon at Abbey Road Studios, soaking in the aura of the Beatles and countless other recording artists. We took the picture in the crosswalk, of course, along with another 150 other awkward tourists. We ended up spending two hours just sitting nearby watching the parade of people posing and walking in funny ways, pigeon-toed or arms swinging unnaturally, or making ridiculous faces. And the long lines of angry cars honking at them. World-class people watching!

     We ended the week by celebrating my dear friend Irene's birthday with her. On Friday we power-toured Central London, hitting a long list of must-see spots. It was really fun to take Nik around and show him the city. That night we saw The Shins, which would have been really really awesome... except for that I got the flu about an hour before it started. Of course we went anyway, and the parts when I wasn't puking in the bathroom were great!
      On Saturday I pretended I wasn't sick and we set off on a long-weekend trip. First we took a train up to Liverpool and spent two days exploring the city and the Beatles highlights, and then came back down to a little town on the Welsh-English border called Chepstow for two days.
      I'm going to write separate posts for Liverpool and Wales, so this one doesn't get too unwieldy. There's too much to tell to fit it all in!