Stress Levels Fall

After having not left the centre for about 40 hours I finally got out! I was tired, frustrated, and suffering from cold symptoms. My hand hurt from taking a 1 hour and 15 minute British Lit. writing test and so I decided to forgoe the rest of my studying for religion and head out. This week I have been aching for home a little bit but Ana was right when she said getting out is the best antidote for homesickness. I took a walk down embassy row behind Kensington Palace and began my de-stressing. It was glorious! I felt so serene and the air here isn no longer painfully cold but just crisp. I decided not to put my ipod in but to enjoy the sounds of living in a big city since I wont be experiencing that for a while. After about fifteen minutes my love for London came rushing back. I walked down to Whole Foods on High Street Kensington and dreamed about cooking and some day having a kitchen full of these yummy foods. I then stopped by Ben's cookies and thought abotu how I have to bring my mom one when I meet her in France so we can see if we can replicate them (Cool fact: there used to be one Ben's Cookies stores in the states and it was in the Gateway in Salt Lake. Tragedy: They closed it down just a few months ago!). After my culinary indulgence I stopped in at Marks and Spencer to buy some digestives for my primary class this Sunday. Somehow a package of Percy Pigs ended up in my basket also. Weird how that happens. Next, I walked up Kensington High Street to Notting Hill gate and marvelled at the way this dauntingly dark cloud was moving in over Central London. Even with an overcast sky overhead, London was gorgeous today. Shortly after the rain began and I ran into Anna Hayes on Bayswater. We both stopped in at Boots because I needed cold medicine and mascara. After that I returned home, fully satisfied with my day out and rejuvinated just enough to work on my religion study guide later tonight. School here might conquer me...but only if I don't conquer it first.

I thought a lot about the things I love here in London but there are far too many so I will just highlight my favorite parts of today.

• Someone asked me for directions today and I told her where to go. No one in London is really too much of an outsider because it's so diverse. I may not be English but there are plenty of other foreigners here just like me. I had this overwhelming feeling of the diversity and the vastness of our world as I walked down embassy row. There is still so much of this world I have to see and discover but right now, here in London, I am discovering so much more than just the British culture.


• I love that there aren't a billion skyscrapers here. I think that's what makes London such a beautiful city. I still live in central London but I don't feel pressed to the ground by overly tall buildings. When I look up I don't see reflective windows or steel beams. I see history. The architecture here dates back more than two hundred years. The Kensington area felt very historic today and I don't think I will ever love a city as much as I love London.


• The British culture. Sometimes I think that they aren't all that much different than Americans. This assumption is false. I especially love observing the pub culture. These business men all sit in pubs around four thirty, enjoying a beer and some chips (a.k.a. fries). At night the pubs are filled with yuppies mingling and picking up on each other. Pubs are definitely a social hot spot for the Brits but not like our bars and clubs are really. I guess it's hard for a completely sober Mormon girl to explain this culture but it's definitely intriguing to observe.


• The humidity. I might be in a semi-polluted city but ever since the first day here, I walk out the front door of 27 Palace Court and breath in. Being from Utah and having no moisture in the air makes breathing in here a strange feeling. It's not all that much different but there is a slight nuance to it. I love it.

That's all for today. I'm going to let you salivate over my Ben's cookies photo while I start counting down to Paris. I leave Monday morning and I am so jazzed.