hellooooo london

we made it!

im in London, or South Kensington rather. Living on a super posh street where our neighbors all pay millions of pounds to live, and if we make noise on on the street after 11, we might get fined? Let's see how that turns out.

We had the quite the adventure getting here, but aside from lack of internet til now, it's been pretty smooth sailing. The people all seem really awesome. We're living 11 each in 3 flat-suites, with 2 triples, a double, and 3 singles. Lots of US kids, a bunch of international, and a mix of grad students and undergrads. There are 5 of us from NU, 3 from Cornell, 2 from Goucher, and most people came as the only one from their schools. Love my roommates thus far, we stayed up and had a little girl bonding last night.

The day we came in, we ended up being up for 36 hours. I'm thoroughly impressed with us. We got into Londond at 7 am, and didn't go to bed until 2 am (we'd all been up since 7 am the day before...). We got in, unpacked a little, ran errands, met up with other people, etc, had drinks in the flats with most of the group, then split up--we went to Earl's Court to meet up with Dave, a friend of mine from home. We saw his flat, went to a pub, then I sat in our kitchen for a few hours with some of the kids, talking politics--clearly. The next day, we had a flat meeting with our RAs, a break, then met over by where we'll have classes to go on a bus tour. There was a ton of traffic because of some biking event, so we did a lot of "shilly-shallying" according to our tourguide. We saw lots of major things, but I was so tired I dozed off a few times. Got a chance to know a few more of the kids. Then we went back, I finally got to meet my roommates, and had a little downtime. One of my roommates if from Canada and goes to Cornell, the other goes to Goucher in Maryland. Phoebe, from Goucher, came in the night we all got there at 10 pm, and our director told her someone should be there to let her in. Only everyone who was awake was out, and the people who were asleep couldn't hear any bell or call, if one was even audible. So she crashed in a hotel down the street--she handled it so well, I would've been livid. But they seem like a lot of fun!

Now I have to run to get dressed, and go to our first intro meeting with people from our program, then we have a tour of school and an introductory lecture for one of our classes. Typically London weather--it's raining, so I get to break out my ladybug rainboots and paraplouille from Geneva :)

More later!

<3
Marisa

I'm Ready, I Am (?)

oh hello suitcases...

i leave for the boston pitstop on the way to london tomorrow. and im attempting to actually pack, after a month at home where you might think I would've gotten myself organized. Wrongggg. I did unpack (most of) my boxes when I got home, but my room is still a disaster. Things are hanging and piled everywhere, and I'm wishing I wasn't so materialistic. Too much stuff to try to narrow down into two 50 pound bags.

I went to Florida this weekend to see my grandma for her 91st birthday with my family! We don't get down there as often as I'd like, and especially when I'll be lacking normal phone contact for a few months, I'm glad I spent some time with her. My family has been really busy while I've been home too, so a chance for everyone to not be at work/in school was great right before I leave.

Packing is my nemesis--I flip out during the process, then once I get to the place I packed for, I realize I'm grossly overpacked and probably could have chilled out just a little. I'm trying to be rational about this trip, plan for leisure and travel and work and going out and all of it, without packing my suitcases too full to bring home new UK clothes and trinkets. I did pretty well packing for a month in Geneva with only one suitcase, so hopefully my talent continues!

I'm loving reading everyone else's study abroad blogs compulsively and it's making me even more excited to be in London. Adrienne is in Brussels, Laura's taking a break from pharmacy in Belfast, Jess is in scenic Perugia, Dave is already in London (where he'll only be .5 miles away from me!!), Grace and Cait left for Greece today, Troy is in Paris, and I'm sure I'm forgetting people. Ryan also lives about 30 minutes outside of London, and it'll be cool to see his campus. A guy I'd met a few years ago randomly got in touch, and he lives in Madrid! Knowing there are friends in other cities is comforting, and I'm hoping to have lots of weekend trips to meet up with them and see more of the continent.

I have a love/hate relationship with change, so packing up is always hard for me. I adore my family and my life in Boston is fantastic, and that makes it hard to want to leave either of them for something else new and different. I had the same problem when I moved to Boston for school--but look how well that turned out. Going to Geneva this summer was like a test run for leaving for a while. I was in Geneva for a month, and London will be 3--doesn't seem so long when I think about it that way, and I bet I'll be so sorry to leave at the end. Also, now that I'm considering Peace Corps after I graduate, I need to get used to change!

Two days in Boston will be great in between Pittsburgh and London--I need a dose of Beantown and its lovely residents before I flee the country. I am in need of a change, some things at school had gotten a little stagnant, and nothing mixes things up like new experiences and a little break. Keeping in touch has never been a problem for me either, so things will be mostly the same when I get back in January.

Now that I've taken yet another procrastination break from packing....next time, I'll post from Boston!

Oy Jews or Joy Jews

I took a break from packing/freaking out about traveling this weekend and next week, and went to Rosh Hashanah services with my grandfather tonight. I hadn't been to my synagogue since I went away to Boston, and I was definitely curious to see if anything had changed and to run into the temple regulars I enjoy. I didn't realize there was a new junior rabbi, a younger woman, along with the senior rabbi, a man that my family doesn't have a very positive outlook on. The new rabbi gave tonight's sermon. I was prepared to scoff at it. For background, I'm what I call an agnostic Jew. I'm culturally Jewish, see being Jewish as more of an ethnicity than a religion, and have a relatively skeptical view of religion these days. That being said, I was very active in my synagogue's religious school and youth group before I graduated high school, and used to have more respect for a lot of it. I'm unsure of how I view spirituality, religion, and its accompanying views and outlooks these days, and maybe I went to services tonight to get a new perspective on it.

The sermon the new rabbi gave talked about joy as it related to Rosh Hashanah--the Jewish New Year (its 5768 this year), and to Judaism overall. Judaism can often get a bad rap, for having disciples who point of the negative in life more often than the positive. She referred to the two types of Jews that exist as Oy Jews and Joy Jews--those who see more of the negative, or those who seek to see the positive. She and other rabbis and researchers see joy in life not as a condition, but as a practice: being joyous is a conscious decision, and requires attention to your own behavior, soul, and outlook on your surroundings. Being joyous is a tenet of Judaism, according to her studies--as Jews we are to take in all of the good things in our lives that G-d has given us and rejoice in them! As stated in the Shulchan Aruch (46:3), Laws of Blessings dictate that all Jews are to seek out at least 100 things to bless in their lives every day. Sounds like a lot, but just making the effort to find that many things to be positive about can change the lens through which you see life.

This past year has been a stressful one for me, my family, and a lot of my friends. Sometimes, its easy to forget all the good things we have and to just focus on worrying or fixing all the issues. For years, I have actually kept a notebook of what I call "the happy list"--things that just make me smile. Some of my friends in high school keep one as well, and I kept an online list with some college girl friends too. I definitely let the list fall by the wayside this year though--I've been busy, stressed, traveling, focused on a million worrisome things. Maybe all I really needed was to stop and (cliche drumroll...) count my blessings. There are so many tiny things that can lift my spirits, and they can help me forget whatever is bothering me: ten minutes at the reflecting pool in Boston calms me down, and my dog jumping on my bed while I pack helps me feel less stressed. As I get ready to leave from a month at home for a few days in Florida, a day back home, two days in Boston, and then three months in London, I need a way to ground myself. I want to start making sure I notice all the blessings in my life. There are thousands of wonderful things around me to balance out whatever truly minimal problems I have in my pretty charmed little existence.

I want to challenge myself, and the people around me, to be Joy people, not Oy people, and make all the blessings a bigger part of our lives.

Inaugural "blog" blessing list for today:

-the perfect fall weather!
-being spoiled enough to have my little brother take me for errands in his convertible in the gorgeous weather
-that packing is so hard only because i have so much pretty clothing
-the chance to take a break from my usual frenetic life at school and relax at home for a month
-sitting outside reading a trashy novel on my porch
-a delicious lunch at Aladdin's with a high school friend
-reading through old yearbooks
-that I get to see some of my cousins and their adorable kids this weekend
-apples and honey with my mom to celebrate the new year when she got home
-how excited i am to see as many of my Boston friends as possible in the 50 hours in the city
-all the cute pictures from Geneva everyone keeps posting!
-that the reason for going to Florida this weekend is my grandma's 91st birthday
-going to services tonight with my grandfather
-keeping in touch with people i care about--emails, phonecalls, IMs
-my cozy bed that's calling to me...