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| London in Motion |
Okay, so it's been exactly 2 months, 2 weeks and 1 day since I departed from home and left behind all that was familiar to study English literature and sociology in the UK. Since I've arrived, I've made and lost friends, been overjoyed with wonderment and happiness at all the wonderful new things I've been learning & experiencing, been heartsick for familiar voices and have longed to wrap my arms around those separated from me by miles upon miles of ocean, land, and mountains. I've journeyed widely and more frequently than ever before, travelling to new cities to take in new sites and meet new people almost every weekend whilst attempting to soak up as much beauty and culture provided by the little rural community in which my university is nestled during the working days. I've walked through the woodland adjoining the Victorian hall that graces the western side of our campus. I've picnicked on the green hills and sheep-dappled fields that slope down gently only to cut away steeply to form countless numbers of creeks and shallow riverbeds.
I've ventured into our little town for market day and bought freshly grown produce, homemade bread, and preserves to add to my food-making arsenal for the meals I would engineer to keep myself going that week. I've explored the streets of Manchester, London, Liverpool, and Edinburgh whilst successfully managing to navigate around each's unique transportation system that varies in their degrees of complexity. I've had to manage myself and my money in a way that makes me feel like I've truly earned my independence over here and leaves me with little doubt of my ability to handle myself in almost any situation. This burgeoning self-faith is something I hope will continue to grow as I do my best to foster it and, more than anything, I hope to be able to take it back home with me once my time here comes to a close. Currently, I am left with a little over two months more in England, and it would seem that the next part of the journey is just about to begin.
Tomorrow marks the start of my university's Easter vacation, which will extend all the way to the end of the month, upon which time exams will commence. I will be travelling abroad three out of four of these weeks, spending the first in Greece, the second in Italy, and the third in The Netherlands and Germany respectively. I will be travelling with friends I've made over the course of only the last two months, but a few of which I feel as though I've known my entire life. That's what it's really like here; an entire college or life's worth of experience condensed into a few short months. In the beginning you cling to whoever you can for survival, like you did in high school. Then, as you begin to get a better feel for your footing, you begin to realise where you really figure into things and how to get about and be on your own... In other words, by a continual process of trial and error and attempts at friendship and occasional causes for embarrassment, you find your independence, your stride, if you will, as you begin to walk on solid ground. Sometimes the earth shifts and you stumble, perhaps even fall, but eventually you scrabble back up onto your knees and then push yourself to your feet with usually only a bit of dust and a reddened face to show for it.
So, now that I feel as though I'm really beginning to hit my stride as it were, I'm forcibly whisking myself away and out of my comfort zone and throwing myself straight back into mostly unknown territory again: Travelling across Europe not quite by my lonesome, but with small band of fellow wanderers to keep me company. Unlike all (or at least most) of my previous travel experiences around both Europe and Asia, our exact itineraries are not set, nor is our accommodation. True, this grants us a great deal of freedom in respect to where we go, what we do, and enables us to follow our whims and chase our muses wherever we might... But of course, it also leaves us with a great deal of uncertainty at the outset.
Now, I'd very much like to think myself the free and restless spirit that revels in the wandering, the exploring, and the investigating that leads one to some of the best surprises travelling independently and on one's own can offer. And, to an extent, I think I can safely say that I am (or at least am in the process of becoming) that person. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of this studying abroad business seems to have to do with developing trust in--not so much other people, surprisingly--but in yourself. As long as you've developed and are continually working to develop a stronger faith in yourself and your own judgement, you're able to make sounder decisions with more clarity of thought, and this process eases with each time you allow yourself to practice thinking on your own, forming your own opinion, and then acting on it. Just like when you're in the process of forming both good and bad habits, these things tend to stick, so getting them right (or at least on the way to/close to being right) the first time is probably a good idea.
In other words, I'm going to do my absolute best to have as much fun as I can out there whilst simultaneously doing my best to... Well, do my best and not mess up too badly along the way.
And that's that. I fly to Greece tomorrow with one suitcase, a flimsy backpack, a Canadian, and two Brits. Wish me luck, safety, a great deal of fun and a good deal of learning, enjoyment, excitement, and wonder. After all, those are all the things I wish for myself and intend to make good on, so I'm sure a little bit of positive thinking from your direction couldn't possibly hurt to help along the endeavour.
Lots of love and all that jazz from England,
Torey
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