The "reflective" post (sorry)

I've been here for a month and a half now, just about at least, and I'm still not really sure what I'm doing. I guess that's what comes with having a huge city and an incredibly rich country and all that to try to absorb while still going to school. It's starting to turn into me making plans for when I come back, instead of thinking that I'm going to be able to get to all the places I want to go in the weekends I have left here. It's kind of strange to think of it like that, but I was looking at a calendar and I really don't have that many weekends left to play with. Seemed like forever.

London is really a trip for me. Not to reiterate what I've told everyone before, but I'm not really a "city person" per se, which makes it extra weird that I chose to study abroad in London. But that's really the point, a change of speed, almost a test run before I commit to something like a job or an apartment or a grad school or something in a big city. Thus far though, even though I do have my "THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE" moments, I've really liked living here. There are a ton of parks and greenspaces and squares and there are really not many skyscrapers or tall buildings of any sort. They make me feel closed in sometimes. So, that's actually been a big plus for me, and a huge bonus London is having over a lot of American or Canadian cities I've been to, but maybe that's just me.

I'm starting to figure out all the areas of the city fairly well, and the tube system (underground) well enough, but really only a couple of lines. I am enjoying the buses though. The view from the front of the second floor is awesome and you really think that the bus is going to run over the car in front of it all the time. So far, some of my favorite areas of the city have to be Camden Town, Marylebone High Street, Green Park and the Bloomsbury area kind of by default because of how much time I spend here. My dorm and my uni are both in Bloomsbury, so it does take a bit of effort to get out of there on a daily basis, but it's a nice area, so I'm happy.

Outside of London, I have been to Dover, Brighton, and Bath, as cities go, and then Hampton Court, Windsor Palace and Stonehenge, in terms of "sights." Trying to figure out where else I should try to get to, either for a weekend or for a day. Next Thursday, I'm headed to Galway, Ireland and then on to Brussells and Bruges, Belgium with Catherine, my roommate from Brown last year. I'm really excited for that, but it's going to be a lot of flying, and I am thinking that now that there's so much here in Britain I'm going to miss out on seeing that maybe I should've stayed here, but it's going to be fun.