So it has been about a week since I last blogged and filled everyone in
on my trip. I am also fortunate enough to have another one coming up - 3
days each of Budapest, Munich, and Prague - on Monday. I thought since
now that I am officially done my junior year of college (frightening to
say that) and have happily turned in all 8 of my 3,000 word essays
(exciting to say that), I could fill you in on what I've been up to
besides writing, writing, and writing. Here's a few brief images and
captions from a fun weekend spent with a great group of friends from BC
studying abroad here in London and visiting from Paris:
 |
| This is my Fall Semester schedule for my senior year at BC. We picked classes the day I got back. I got everything I wanted, so I'm pretty happy. You may also notice that I don't have class on Friday or Wednesday, and not until 2pm on Monday. Completely unintentional, I swear. Anyway, a scheduled 4 day weekend is awesome. (Side note if you're a budding musician: Unintentional 4 Day Weekend would be a good name for an album). Ok, back to cool stuff. |
 |
| To some, this is just cool graffiti. To others, it's virtual nostalgia. As you can imagine, I was pretty thrilled this place actually existed. |
 |
| I went on a Harry Potter binge about 6 weeks ago. It was quelled and then immediately reignited upon my entrance to the magical world. Sorry, they don't allow muggle cameras past this point. |
 |
| Portobello Road, which was a fun outdoor marketplace in west London, had some cool and colorful houses. Reminded me of my trip to Burano in February. |
 |
| Katie and I (and all of our friends too!) enjoying afternoon tea. Really a fun time! |
 |
| All of my awesome BC friends! From left to right: Me, Dave, Sarah, Kara, Mike, Sarah, Amanda, and Danielle (Katie is taking the picture). We hang out a lot at school, so it was really quite awesome to be hanging out in London! |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week has also been quite difficult, as friends back in Boston know. The Marathon Monday bombings certainly affected me, Katie, and other BC students studying abroad. For people who aren't familiar with the Marathon and Patriots day (like me, 3 years ago), its probably the most "Boston" day of the year. It's an odd sort of holiday that people spend watching the race and cheer the runners with family and friends. The whole city gets into it - it's pretty incredible. Boston College is a particularly exciting location to be, as at Mile 21 and the end of Heartbreak Hill, the runners are welcomed by a ton of wild students cheering them on, handing out water, and supporting them through the last five miles of the race. Like most BC students and people from the Boston area, a lot of people I know were running in the race at the time of the bombings. Everyone is OK and accounted for now, but at the time, it was tough not knowing what was going to happen next. Even worse was feeling like I couldn't do anything about what happened here from across the Atlantic. I realize that myself, Katie and other BC Study Abroad students are lucky to not be home in terms of "being safe", but I think I speak for all of us when I say that we wished we could be there to help our BC and Boston community deal with this tough time, especially now that everyone we go to school with is on a city-wide lockdown. I'm proud of my fellow students and the city of Boston for how they are responding to this tragedy - currently as I write this, the hunt for the bomber continues - and I know that they will be able to get through this as a stronger community than ever. One final note: Before this tragedy occurred, I was thinking about training for the marathon for my final year as a student. It was something I saw as a great way to stay in shape and cap off my time at BC with an awesome accomplishment. But after seeing the bravery of the first responders and realizing what running in this race now means - not letting the act of a terrorist change how you live your life - I am more determined than ever to do it. And I know I'll have the whole city of Boston and BC Community behind me. To everyone in the city of Boston - you are in my thoughts and prayers, and I couldn't be prouder to go to school in your city. Stay strong!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other than the tragic events of Monday, the rest of my week was pretty good. I finished my papers, handed them in, began preparing for my trip a little bit and today played an awesome game of basketball with some local Londoners. Multiple throwback NBA jerseys were present and high-quality 80s-90s-00s rap was blaring the entire time out of boombox. It was a great break from following the events at home, believe me. The rest of the weekend will be dedicated towards preparing for my upcoming trip to Budapest, Munich, and Prague, as well as some well-deserved fun around London. Stay tuned for another post before I depart!
Til then - Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment