I Love This City

Picture: Me in Hyde Park

Today was our first day of classes, and I was in a weird mood all day. I've been living off coffee every morning to battle the daily drowsiness and jet lag, but today I think it really upset my stomach. For the majority of the day I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach. I actually hate coffee, but I needed something to wake me up in the morning. Caffeine really effects me and I think today my body was telling me to watch it.
Our english class is going to be interesting because we're studying romantic poetry, but we're going to be doing a lot of writing because the class is a GE C4 and a GWR. All the professors today didn't think they were giving us that much work but realistically it's a lot for 6 weeks and 4 days a week of class. Josh's class will, of course, be my favorite, but even that class seems like it will be a lot more work than I expected it too. I guess it's more the combination of workloads than any one thing in particular. At least all of our assignments are creative project type things about experiencing the city... but still. I won't like working on stuff like that. Tonight I have a chapter of history to read and like 8 poems to analyze. Our British professor has the coolest accent ever. That class will be interesting as well, it seems like a lot of time will be spent on the melting pot culture of London, which I find extremely interesting.After class and a quick stop to the grocery store, Jill, Ashleigh and I went out exploring. We went to Notting Hill and Portobello Road, which is where they have a famous street market on the weekends. We had some gelato, which was unbelievable by the way, and we just wandered around. It's so fun getting lost in London and taking pictures of random things. We took way too many pictures of us just being stupid, but it was so much fun.Whenever we find Hyde Park we know how to get home because we're just on the other side. We walked around the park and took some outrageous pictures. I was really excited at how "friendly" the birds are at the lakes around Hyde Park. I hand fed pigeons, swallows, and swans. I thought it was cool, but then again I'm really easily amused.
One thing I noticed about the people in Hyde Park is that people are not afraid to be affectionate in public. People were laying on top of each other and making out in the middle of the day! It was shockingly inappropriate according to American standards, so naturally we took pictures and made fun of them. See them there in the background?By the time we got back we realized that we had been out walking around for 2 1/2 hours. It felt like we were out for half an hour. I just love exploring the city.
I'm starting to feel like I never have any alone time to reflect or to just surround myself in my thoughts and enjoy the beauty of this place, so when we got back I decided to go for a run by myself through the park. I was nervous about my ankle, since I sprained it in March and it's still kind of giving me problems. I put my brace on it, grabbed my ipod and went for it. I thought my ankle was going to die, I thought I was going to get lost, and I thought I would feel completely out of shape... but as I started my run listening to the buttery voice of Tyrone Wells I realized I was smiling. Nothing mattered anymore, it was one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced. I was amazed at the grandeur of the park. There were lakes and paths off the roads that went through brush and around rivers... I got lost in the park and didn't care. I couldn't stop smiling. I missed running so much, and I was enjoying everything around me. I didn't even notice any pain (if there was any) in my ankle because the beauty of the park was such a pleasant distraction. It was nice to be by myself for a little while and just appreciate the beauty of the scenery around me. Before I knew it I was at the Serpentine and I could see the London Eye, Big Ben, and Parliament. Without even keeping track of anything I had run about 3 miles away from home, and took a shortcut back to make the whole thing around 5, and my ankle felt awesome.
I am in love with this city. I could easily live here permanently. It was an awesome day, awesome adventure through the city, and an awesome run. I just wish I didn't have school and could do this kind of thing all day everyday. Tomorrow we're going to Parliament on a field trip and then we're going to see Macbeth in the Globe Theatre. It's going to be unbelievably epic. I've dreamed of being in the Globe for years, and tomorrow I get to go see one of Shakespeare's most famous plays there. I might cry. Maybe. Ok, probably not, but it will be one of the highlights of the experience for sure. That's all for now! Cheerio!