I'm a New Yorker in London
My first entry from when I've been abroad, it looks like? Yeah, aside from the various little notes I've made in books - mostly my analysis book, since it is the only notebook I brought with me (/makes a mental note to buy those somewhere when I can) - this is the first thing I'll be writing down since I've started my experience over here in London.
Now...what exactly to write about, I'm not even sure. I feel as though there is so much to say, and yet I'm not really positive on what it is I want to say. Like...there's so many different emotions and thoughts swirling about in my head at the moment, and putting them into words seems like one of the most difficult tasks I can have right now (and I do still need to register for classes and whatnot...I'll either do that later or sometime tomorrow, probably).
The city is gorgeous, I can start out with that much. Growing up near NYC makes me have this idea of what cities are supposed to look like, and yet not all cities do have the grand skyscrapers and such of NYC. No, while London has a few of those, it's main attribute is the oldish looking architecture even in its residential buildings. There's some Victorian-style stuff as well, and it's all really nice to look at. I have a great love for the style of the city, even if I find it difficult to navigate, because it's not a grid and number style system like NYC is. Though the Tube was awesome to take...and it's so damn clean; I couldn't even believe it was a subway at all.
My residence hall is in Camden Town, which is actually pretty boss. It's kind of like a micture between Brooklyn and Manhattan, I feel. And Chinatown, almost. There's a ton of markets and everything that are around, and I feel as though I haven't even explored a fraction of it. It's definitely fantastic, and I'll need to look around more. Unfortunately though...my hall is a half hour or more walk away from the main campus, and it's pretty isolated from some of the other resident halls. So I have been feeling pretty lonely; I haven't really had a chance to get close to anyone so far, so I've been going out by myself a lot. I've walked that treck a few times, and I have also explored a bit outside of my area...by myself, though. But I might possibly go out tonight with some people, if they actually go and actually knock on my door and ask me to go with...considering I don't know what room they live in. But it'd be nice to have some more human contact. The British students move in tomorrow and Sunday, so I'm hoping one will kind of take me in, or something.
The Political Science Department looks like it's gonna be killer; though the downside is that it's actually only a graduate department. They create undergrad courses for the affiliate students - the study abroad students. So my classes will basically be with all Americans, which I'm kinda bummed a bit about. Though, on the other hand, it means that I won't have classes of more than 30 people, probably, which is killer. I was lamenting the idea of taking a class with 500 students in it. I work better in the smaller environment.
Even the classes sound awesome. I think I'm gonna go with three political science classes, and skip out on a math one. For a few reasons: 1) because the political science classes sound absolutely amazing, and I don't wanna miss out on one of them, 2) because the math class I wanted to take sounds like it needs a pre-req, and then the other one I wanted to take is a level 2, which probably equals a level 200 at home, which doesn't count for my major, and 3) because the polisci classes all have essays as their assessments, and no tests I don't think, which means I can possibly be done with everything by March or April and not have to stay until June if I don't want to. The possibility of coming home earlier is appealing, if only because...well...six months is a little much. If I can come home at the time of a regular semester's end, I would like that a lot more.
I'm also excited to start the internship course, though Parliament is...pretty much on the opposite side of the city to my dorm building. Sucks, but I think once I start I'll get over that and just enjoy the commute. I think it's only going to be once a week anyway...a lot less than I thought it was going to be, but I'm not going to complain. Just as long as I get the chance to work where I want to, with the Labour Party and all that. :)
Speaking of the political system, it is amazing over here. I still don't know as much about it as I would like, but holy hell I'm already in love with in in comparison to the American system. Plus, they're much more to the left here, so the conservative crazies that bother me - i.e. any member of the Tea Party movement - are pretty much nonexistant or have no political career. I love that. God stays out of politics, and things that are still in debate over in the US are pretty much solved. Love. It. (I'll probably have a whole thing on politics later on when I acquire more knowledge about it and everything.)
To some of the sappy stuff: I miss people. I miss you guys, I miss my family, I miss my friends at home, and I really miss Andy. I text him so much and I still feel like it's not even enough, you know? I think I've mentioned him to every person I've talked to over here. I have been trying my best to stay in contact with him a lot, though it's sometimes hard, considering the international plans and everything. I hope that once I get skype and my actual laptop (which is coming thanks to him, huzzah! <3), things'll get a bit easier. I really do miss him so much.
But, I hope things'll only pick up once classes start! I'm having fun, and have kind of fallen in love with the city already, as I said, despite my lack of internet (until now) and my bit of loneliness and homesickness. I've been asked for directions a few times, which means I must at least look like someone from the area, which makes me more excited than I really thought it would, to be honest. When I open my mouth on the street and have an American accent, people seem surprised. That pleases me on so many levels, really.
But yeah, just your typical New Yorker living in London for the next few months. Things can only go uphill from here, I hope!