Imagine That

I'm not packed yet. In fact, I haven't begun packing. I think I have all the stuff I need, though, it's all a matter of rounding it up. Oh, and making it fit. I'm up for the challenge. I want to take this time to assess what kind of things I want to make sure I do while I'm overseas, and what kind of a person I hope to be when I return.

So here is my list of things I want to make sure I do/see:

• Westminster Abbey (gorgeous architecture, and I especially want to go to the Poets'Corner and see the tombs of people like Charles Dickens and Jane Austen and John Hardy and so many other famous people)

• London Eye (a gigantic ferris wheel, 450 ft high, with these enclosed compartments so you're standing up and seeing the view of the whole city)

• go punting at Oxford (row row row your boat)

• go running in the countryside often (my *house* is a fair distance from the study center, across a bridge and such, so I think I'm sort of in the country)

• join at least one club at Bath University...even though we don't take our classes there, we can use their gym and library and stuff and also join their organizations

• really immerse myself in some of the British hangouts, not just the bars where all the Americans congregate

• be responsible, but not end up BEING responsible for a house full of drunk classmates. i really hope I don't have to take care of people a lot.

• Make a scavenger hunt in Bath for my friend Ashley Hamilton who is coming on the same program in the spring

• do any harry-potter-tourist-attraction I come across

• take in a production at the opera house in Paris

• have a pint in a pub in Dublin (perhaps)

• keep a journal- a real one, for myself

• take lots and lots of pictures so I can scrapbook when I get back

• write a postcard each day, or every couple of days

• put forth the effort it requires to get everything I can out of my one-on-one spanish tutorial at Oxford. I could come back a much better speaker even if I don't make it to Barcelona this trip

• buy a piece of art in Europe. Either a print from one of the museums, or a drawing from some street artist, whatever. It's on my life list of things to do.

• Read under a tree at Oxford. Preferably with an apple in my hand.

• Become a very proficient cook while I'm in charge of making my own meals. (and come back to mary washington ready to cook for my lovely roommates)

• go to a "football" game

• try cricket

• eat fish and chips, once, from somewhere locally owned and operated

• make a trip up to northern england and see Gloucester, where all the quidditch scenes in HP were filmed, and also the cathedral there, and where Gryffindor tower was filmed

• see the Wind in the Willows exhibit at the Museum of Rowing and Rivers

• admire all the plunder from the empire at the British Museum (mummies and gold and lots of stuff that rightfully belongs to some other country haha)

• go to the Roald Dahl museum

• go to the National Portrait Gallery (everything from royalty to Winston Churchill to JK Rowling)

• go to the King's Cross Station in London and take my picture at Platform 9 3/4 (actually track 4), then take a walk up Diagon Alley (Charing Cross Rd in London)

• go hiking in Wales (built-in weekend in my program!)

• have a cup of tea almost every day

• play in the rain....because there's going to be lots of it

• do my best in my classes, and not put all of my homework off until Tuesday morning

• keep in touch with people back home (tallahassee and school)

I can already feel that I'm going to come back much older...not TOO much older...but just more learned. And, let's see, when I get back I will have been to England, Ireland, Wales, France, and probably at least one other country, so I'll have experienced a lot of new cultures. I think I'll be more independent since I won't be able to call home everyday and hear my parents or my friends on the other end. Oh and I want to spend a lot of time reflecting on what I'm being called to do. I think I'll be able to run further/longer, cook a broader variety of things, write in a more polished way (creative nonfiction writing class), and that I'll be more comfortable in a wider range of social situations (I think it is going to be hard to go to Europe with this bunch of people and never go to a club). Overall, I think I'm going to return to the states a more confident, well-rounded individual. As cheesy as it sounds, I think I'm going to learn a lot about myself while I'm away from everyone familiar.

OK, that's it til I get there...hopefully for you they won't be this long from now on.

Much love,
Leslie
(Les, Guadi, short person...etc)