Winning London

Bonjour mes amis, from the Chunnel! Well, I’m not exactly posting this from the Chunnel, just writing to the World Wide Web from underneath the English Channel. This weekend marks my first of what will hopefully be many international journeys this semester.

Just a brief recap of the past couple weeks:

Classes are well underway and I have made all the necessary changes to my schedule to create what will prove to be a great semester.

I am still getting lost every single day. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that London is not on a grid like New York. I keep looking for the numbered streets and in their place I find things like High Holborn and Oxford Street and Gloucester Rd/St/Ave/Lane/etc. In my first week here I hated being lost. I hated the idea that I didn’t actually know the city of London as well as New York. Back in New York I had forgotten to take a look at my surroundings and actually enjoy the city, and a little bit of that attitude traveled over here with me. I think I came here expecting some grand adventure worthy of a novel, film adaptation, and later a television series spinoff. I wanted Lizzie McGuire’s whirlwind romance in Rome; Amanda Bynes’ discovery that her father was a Lord and a sudden thrust into British high society; the Olsen twins’ – well every adventure the Olsen twins have. Instead, I found myself walking through the streets, lost, like everyone else beside me.

Now, I actually like being lost. It means that I am learning my way around the city. While this idea of being lost is a very literal thing, I am also getting lost in a metaphorical sense. I am losing a little part of myself to this city. Well, I’m choosing to let this city take a part of me. This is really the only way, I believe, to fall in love with a city. Sure, years from now I’ll remember seeing Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace, but what will stick out more is that one Thursday night my friend Abby and I wandered into a club and befriended some Londoners and that night my friends and I wandered into a burger shop with the most amazing maple bourbon milkshakes. What I’ll remember the most is my London. I will cherish my personal connection to this city. This is how I am trying to approach all of my travels. Sure, I’ll take the time to see major monuments and enjoy the scenery, but every person who has ever been to that city can say the same. I am looking for stories that no one else can tell, memories unique to me and me alone.

Last weekend I went on a day trip to Oxford, courtesy of New York University. It was nice to leave the hustle and bustle of London and see something a little less… populated. We were given tours of some of the different colleges that make up Oxford University and given some time to explore the town of Oxford and see some of the other infamous colleges of the world-renown Oxford University.

Interruption: I am now in France!

Anyway, my friend Alex and I spent the afternoon wandering through buildings and streets, pretending to be “real live Oxford students”. It’s exactly that kind of silliness that will make this visit to Oxford memorable to me; well, that and seeing some of the set locations for the Harry Potter films. Anyone who knows me knows that I adore the Harry Potter series. I went into the room where they filmed the scenes inside the hospital ward of Hogwarts School! (This room is also the place where Minerva McGonagall – the brilliant Dame Maggie Smith – waltzed with Ronald Weasly!) My inner eleven-year-old wizard waiting for his owl from Albus Dumbledore leapt for joy.

I could ramble on and on about the amazing coffee I found at this tiny little hole in the wall, or the funny things that happened at the club last Friday night, but I will save those stories for whenever I see you in person. I have to save something for face-to-face conversations, don’t I?

Well, au revoir Internet! I’m off for some croissants, baguettes, cheese, and most importantly, vin rouge. (Actually still on the train, but you get the idea.)

P.S. Happy Birthday to Eloise in Coach 2!