Thursday, August 18, 2011

BEDA 18: Stretched thin.

The only thing I don't like about blogging every day is that I don't feel like I am doing justice to my time in London by forcing myself to blog about it in these tiny spaces between the things I'm doing while I am here. I don't like rushing through writing, but I also don't want to spend my time here crafting artful blog posts when I could be just living my life. So again, this will be short, and hopefully I'll write more about it later when I have a bit more free time to reflect.

Yesterday was mostly spent recording the video I mentioned (which will be on YouTube soon) and then I got Alex started on watching Community. Around four thirty (is it weird that after only two days I already find myself almost typing "half-four"? Oh London.) we left with Charlie to meet Rosi and everyone else in town for her birthday bowling excursion. She was already with Lex and Claire, so we got our bowling shoes on and headed over to our reserved lane.

When I was getting my shoes, they asked, "size"? and I froze for a moment and then replied, "Um. I have no idea what show size I wear here." I remember I had memorized it back when I was living here, but that's definitely the kind of fact that leaves your mind after two years away. After trying a few pairs, we deduced that I am a 4. So. That's a fact about me. Although I seem to recall being a 5 now that I think about it.

Bowling was a ton of fun. I felt badly, because everyone was saying "I'm terrible at bowling!" before we started, and I was joining in with the sentiment (because I am) but somehow, that just wasn't true last night at all. Maybe it's something about being in London. Maybe UK bowling is easier. I have no idea, but while everyone else scored in the 50's, I managed a 111. I think it was the first time I scored over 100 in my life, seriously. Unless we're counting Wii Bowling, in which case, I'm awesome.

Melissa came and met up with us about halfway through the bowling, and the computer made her take all five turns she'd missed at once, which was hilarious to watch. I can only imagine how sore her arm was after all that. Lex got a drink called a Zombie which was delicious but had so much alcohol in it they only let you order two in a night -- I decided I should get one too, without looking at how much it cost. It was twelve pounds. TWELVE POUNDS. That's like a $20 drink. There was a tiny of piece of me that was screaming as I handed my fancy little traveler's debit card over, but who cares. How often do I get to hang out with my friends in London, right?

We went to a little Italian restaurant afterwards which was lovely. It was so nice to get to chat with everyone. I mean, I've been spoiled in getting to spend a lot of time with Rosi this past year, and I see Melissa every few months; even Charlie and Alex I just got to hang out with at VidCon, but there's something different about hanging out with them in London. And especially Claire and Lex -- I haven't seen either them since 2009. So it was just overall a really nice evening.

We met up with Jazza again after dinner and headed to a pub for our third stop of the night. I had another "Cider and Black" (I realized I got it wrong yesterday, drat!) and we hung out there for an hour or two. It was in that moment, sitting there with my friends, talking and laughing, that it really hit me how short this trip is. I guess that's the nature of my life though. I have so many amazing friends in so many different places... you can't really spread yourself that far across the globe and ever really feel like you have enough time with anyone. Every moment you get with someone just makes you realize you had a hole exactly that shape in your heart that you'd forgotten about. And London left a huge hole in mine.

Alex and I are just simultaneously writing blog posts right now, and I think Rosi and Liam are both on their way over to the flat now. So it'll be nice to get a bit more time with people before my stupidly early flight to Poland tomorrow. At least I'm going someplace else that's fun and not just home. That would be a lot more difficult.

Anyhow. London. It's great. I'll write more tomorrow.

Flights taken: 18

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your feet are a 4? But you're so tall!

SM said...

ooh I can't wait til I finish school so I can go to London. I'm thinking of going in their summer next year!
Hope you enjoy your last day there :D

badbob001 said...

Even in a rush, that was still a meaty blog post.

Which would you prefer: To have many brief visits with friends all over, leaving many little holes in your heart? Or fewer but longer visits with friends, leaving you with larger and deeper holes that will take longer to heal?

More likely, it'll progress from the former, to the latter, and finally to settling down, when your heart find a part it can't bear to lose.

TheMusicLiesWithin said...

I Love Reading your BEDA's They are so funny.. well i have started a blog. its themusiclieswithin.blogspot.com i wouldn't have started it if i hadn't read your blog :P

Riley said...

Man, reading about your time in London just completely reinforces how much I want to go there again. Either to study abroad, have an internship there, or just live there for a while.

Just curious, but I go to UW, and I know you did a study abroad thing in London. What program did you go with? And do you have any tips you could suggest for an aspiring abroad student? I know you're obviously really busy right now, but if you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated. Either way, I hope you have fun in Poland. :]

PhredofMars said...

Nice to hear that the place wasn't burned to the ground what with the riots and all.

Emily K. Odd said...

I need to tell you something very weird.
OKAY, This is also horribly off topic so, yeah, I'm sorry.
Last night, I had this dream ( Oh god, that made it sound totally weird ) XD anyways, in this dream, I'm on a bus and I'm going to cheerleading camp, which I already have no idea why because I would never consider cheerleading.. ever, anyways, YOU'RE ON THIS BUS. And we get dropped off at this school and we go up to one of the classrooms.
And then suddenly, JK Rowling appears, and she is absolutely brilliant. And you're super siked to talk to her and get her autograph, and I'm like, " Kristina, this is such a brilliant moment for you! "

And then, after a really awesome time of discussing all things Harry Potter related, we get back on the bus and are chased by dementors into the Ghostlands, like in World of Warcraft.

-sigh- I have no idea what this means, but I had to share it with you! In some way, shape or form.

ANYWAYS, I hope your having an awesome time and I really think your absolutely brilliant and everything that consists of rainbows and unicorns and My Little Ponies in this world and I hope you read this even if it is weird and doesn't make much sense!

Sorry, again for this randomness.
- Emily
Oh, and wait! DFTBA :D

Manar said...

Long distance friendships are so hard. :( I don't have many friends who live outside of the US, but I do have friends spread out all across the country--and I live in Texas, which is HUGE. Just getting to another state can take forever. Just getting to another city in THIS state can take forever. But trips that allow you to see friends are always so gratifying. :) Hopefully you can go back to London and spend more time with your friends there soon.

Manar said...

Long distance friendships are so hard. :( I don't have many friends who live outside of the US, but I do have friends spread out all across the country--and I live in Texas, which is HUGE. Just getting to another state can take forever. Just getting to another city in THIS state can take forever. But trips that allow you to see friends are always so gratifying. :) Hopefully you can go back to London and spend more time with your friends there soon.