My first week is consisting mostly of settling and exploring.
I am settling in well in a beautiful 'colonial' house with a South African Christian family. I have my own room, larger than my own at home, painted blue, with two large windows overlooking a lush backyard. This morning I was pleasantly greeted with blue skies for my first time this week from my bed. I can't say enough good things about the house, my neighborhood, and most of all my new 'family'.
I keep slipping, already, in conversation, while referring to my host parents, as my father or mother. I almost prefer to do so rather than attach host in front of the title each time I refer to them, as long as they don't mind, which from the conversations I've gathered, they don't. They are, from what I can tell, very family oriented people. The father, Attilio, who was born outside of Naples, not too far from Capua where Nana was born, told me that he feels to do his best to represent himself as a father to those who are living far from their own fathers. And it is something he does very well. They both are very sweet; I feel very lucky to be with this family.
The neighborhood is turning out to be fitting as well. I live about thirty minutes outside of central London, southeast, by train, (45 min away from Emma's apartment). We are sandwiched between two train stations, Brockley and St. John, and both are about a ten minute walk. I am realizing that I will be walking a lot during my time in London. My college, Goldsmiths, is right up the road, on Lewisham, pronounced Lew-uh-shum, not Lewis-ham, as the way a proper American would think it would be said. It's only a fifteen minute trip to school by walk and bus.
My first 'real' day of school is tomorrow, and it's not even that 'real.' It is an program specific orientation. I believe I will meet my professors and classmates, which are both groups of people I'm anxious to meet. I think we will also talk about our program and what we will be studying this year, which I'm also anxious to discuss.
In terms of exploration, most of my trips have included either Emma or Allison. Emma's apartment is in Bloomsbury, just north of Russell Square, in a beautiful part of the city. We found a quick route for me to visit that avoids the tube. I simply take the train to Charing Cross, then the 91 bus to her apartment. Buses are making life for me very convenient. Emma and I have eaten dinner a few times together, although we plan to see each other most of this weekend. We are learning how to unite our schedules together, which mine in its feeble state is fairly easy to do so, but her's is far more busy.
Allison has a much freer schedule and as a result, we have seen each other a quite a bit this week. We met at Trafalgar, explored the latest exhibit at the Portrait Gallery, then wondered to Covent Garden, all of which was so refreshing to see again. Those walks make me so appreciative that I am here again and also that I have already been here. I most noticed the refreshing nature of seeing something for the second time today in Greenwich. Allison and I explored Queen Anne's, the Laban Dance theater, the Maritime Museum, and what is currently being used a filmset to the next Pirates movie (the fourth one, which God only knows why they are still keeping this series alive, oh wait $$$$$) the Naval Academy. We stalked out alongside a tattered chainlink fence along with a British family to see if we could catch a glimpse of Jack Sparrow himself. We convinced ourselves we did, or Allison did, and I am too cynical to believe that we did. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining detour to our historical visit.
All in all, I'm very happy to be in this wonderfully gray country once again, and do believe that I will have an amazing time during my stay here. I hope the months go slow so I can savor each day I'm here.
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