“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”

Wow. I arrived in London two days ago and it is amazing. It’s big and bustling, but definitely not the same kind of bustling as NYC. No, this is not nearly as efficient or orderly. But has its own intricate ways of functioning and moving around the countless tourists. I started my journey by trying to find Regent’s Park: I wanted a quiet place to sit and write in my journal. Coincidentally, I found Baker Street, too! 221b Baker Street, home of the illustrious and intelligent Sherlock Holmes. It was a bit like a fantasy, walking down the street and imagining him in his adventures throughout London.

After that, I finally managed to have my relaxing morning in Regent’s Park, writing in my journal and enjoying the beautiful view. Afterwards, I just decided to make a sandwich for lunch and walk around the city. Familiarize myself with the landscape. Acclimate and enjoy the new country I had landed in.

I ended up discovering how close the British Museum was to me. And how big it was! So many interesting artifacts to find, so many stories that I didn’t know existed, so much time in such a small building (in retrospect), so many universes available to explore!

It was definitely an eye-opening experience that completely exhausted me. I was there from the time it opened until it closed. So after a quick jaunt back to my room, I promptly wrote in my journal about my adventures in the Museum and settled in for the night.

Already, from this small amount of space I have traversed in London, I am thrilled and excited to begin my adventure here. The accents are wide and varying. The people are warm and genuine. The languages and speech patterns are new and tantalizing.

What more can I find out there? How many kilometers can I traverse in my short two weeks? How many galaxies will I encounter?

Here are some pictures from my travels.

IMG_2859IMG_2869IMG_2842

PS. I am the biggest lover of William Shakespeare (the greatest writer to ever live). As these blog posts come about, you may notice my love for him seep through the cracks. For example…

IMG_2871

 

Finally Home

My plane landed in Rochester, NY two days ago, where I was welcomed with snow and bitter cold air. Everyone kept telling me, “welcome home!” and I would try to muster up an excited response back. Not that I’m not excited to be home, it’s just that I know it will be different. Trust me, I can’t wait to see my friends again, sleep in my bed, eat home cooked meals, and catch up on my favorite TV show. This is the longest I will be home for since summer 2013 so it will be fun to be able to relax for a few weeks before going back to New Paltz.

I’m not gonna lie, the jet lag was hard. I only slept for 20 minutes on the plane so by the time I got home at 6pm (midnight back in Prague), I was beat. I pushed through and started to unpack knowing that if I didn’t start laundry immediately, I never would. I also walked around my house looking at all the new additions my parents had done in the past few months. In every room I went in I kept reaching to hit the lights on about 3 inches higher than the light switch actually was. After a while I realized it was because I kept hitting the spot where all the lights would have been in my dorm at Prague. Also, I keep putting the key in the door upside-down, another thing from Prague. It’s little things like that that will take some readjusting to.

Being back in a country where I understand literally everything is quite overwhelming. I’ve become so used to just tuning out conversations around me because I can’t understand whatever language they’re speaking, but now that I’m back my ears pick up every word anyone says. Walking through the airport my eyes would scan every single sign and advertisement and it was like a sensory overload for my brain. But that has gotten better in the past two days, so I’m not too worried.

I miss Prague already and I often find myself thinking about all of the amazing things I was able to do there, but I also missed being home, so even though I never sound like it, I am very excited to be back.