Sunday, June 19, 2011

Le London


So I booked a flight to London last night. I am just here to say that it is WEIRD to look at a screen and put in times to tell people I've never seen when I'll be in a place I've never been. It is stranger still to look at those times and think "On that day, in that place, at that time, it is guaranteed that my life will change. Permanently." I have never been to another country that did not somehow permanently alter how I look at the world.

I. cannot. wait.

And yet I can wait, I need to wait, because there are loans to be signed and lodging to be booked and class schedules and adresses and roommate names to get, stuff that needs to be bought, paychecks that need to come in, mini-trips to plan, belongings that need to be got rid of. Believe it or not, I am really looking forward to packing my life into four bags and hopping on a flying machine. It will be refreshingly minimalist, I think.

I'm still processing all this. It's not real. I get to go to the place where Charles Dickens lived. Where Fleet Street is. Where the Romans accidentally dropped their coins into the mud of the Thames. Where Shakespeare's plays were performed while he still lived. Where Alexander McQueen and Burberry and innumerable other brands are based. Where the Black Death killed off way too many people. Where The Clash and The Beatles and ever so many more great bands are from. Where....I could go on and on and on.

All right. Freaking out over. For now. Till the plane touches down on the Heathrow tarmac.