Getting it Right This Time.

Well, I suppose it's time for another blog entry, isn't it?

Because of all the tube closures I had to "alight" at Westminster
and walk back home to Victoria. I have to admit it is hard to stay
in a bad mood when you come above ground to this view...

Sunday, I must mention, was the worst day I've had in London thus far. It began around 50*F, and gradually dropped to closer to 40. It was raining--quite hard--and my umbrella blew inside out three times, although I've begun to observe that this is a regular occurrence on the streets of London. I had to journey way north to Primrose hill (beautiful area though!) to pick up a printer I bought on gumtree (craigslist), then back to Victoria, then out to the Docklands for a voice lesson which was, disappointingly, anything but enjoyable. And all this with nearly every tube line that I needed to use closed for "planned engineering works." On this glorious day I also happened to witness a man fall of his bike and crack his head open, had a massive apple fall on my head whilst my umbrella was stuck inside out, my White Mocha at Starbucks (which, at the end of the day was meant to be perfect, reliable, and make all my problems--and cold, wet shivers--melt away) was mostly hot milk with bitter espresso...until I reached the bottom and found ALL the white-chocolate syrup concentrated there-- quite undrinkable.

All Souls Church

I live right near St. James's park and finally took a stroll
through the other day!

After being out nearly all day in the most miserable weather I've yet to see in London, I FINALLY reached my bed and dived under the covers with a hot cup of tea. Perfect, right? Wrong. In just 15 minutes I needed to leave for church. I was SO close to skipping and staying in this perfectly warm and dry bed, but thanks to some friends I met at orientation, the incredible things I'd heard about All Souls nudged me out of bed and into the misery of London weather yet again. But I'm SO glad of it! The service was incredible. There are people from so many different nationalities and backgrounds, all coming together as Christians, and it is a wonderful, inspiring sight. We sang all kinds of songs, one even in another language to express the global community of this church. After the service many, many people went downstairs to have coffee and chat together. I spoke with a few people who were all so kind and welcoming; I cannot wait to get to know many more!

This week the English department's induction for post-graduate students has begun. Yesterday there was a lecture/meeting for all MA English students, and then specifically for my pathway, 1850-present. We were given readings for the first class next week, and given an outline for the year (for the core module at least). It is going to be a fascinating class, but, as they have already warned us, the most challenging class of the MA as well.

St. James's Park-- Looks like Autumn to me!

I choose to view everything about my experience here as a chance to do everything right that I did wrong or didn't get the chance to do before. When I first went to university I chose Purdue, a school I really knew nothing about, that was in the-middle-of-nowhere Indiana, with people I couldn't relate to, and a major that I didn't like. Then I transferred mid-year to SMU, an undeniably cliquy school, where I had a really difficult time making friends or fitting in for years. I joined a sorority during their "informal recruitment," with only a handful of other girls, and therefore didn't have a pledge class I belonged to, or a group of girls that I felt like I was a part of. I didn't know how to get involved in anything, and I didn't do much outside of my comfort zone. I never got involved in my church because I was too intimidated my the young adult group that was already there, who had been meeting together since high school at least. I didn't really feel that I had good friends until my last semester at SMU.

There are so many things I wished I'd done differently in my undergraduate years, but now a whole new opportunity has been given to me, and I'm determined to do it all right...not to mention I'm living in London, somewhere that I've felt for so, SO many years that I was meant to be.

St. James's Park again-- Buckingham Palace is at
the end of the water.

My undergraduate experiences taught me that I had to be aggressive in finding friends. Now I have been more so than ever before. I've put myself out there, decided to be rid of shyness, and as a result have met SO many incredible people already, and I've only been here a month! I've found a church I love, and am already finding more ways to be involved. Honestly, though, I must say the thing I'm most proud of is that I am auditioning for musicals! I have NEVER been brave enough to do this before. I always had excuses: I'm not good enough, I have no acting experience, I can't dance, etc. Most of these may still be true, but so what! I LOVE musical theater, and how will I ever become more experienced if I don't start trying? Now, I don't expect anything to come of these auditions really. They are for the King's Musical Theatre Society at school. There are two different musicals they are putting on, and while I would love to be a part, any part, of either, there were tons of much more experienced people in the waiting rooms than me. However, I personally think my audition went really well, my voice sounded great, I read the script well, and even remembered most of the dance routine! I'm just proud of myself for going, and the most important thing is that I had fun :)

A few more auditions, English Lit. induction events, new friends, new food, and LOADS of reading to fill the rest of this week... I can't wait :)