Monday, 1-29-96
10:49 PM London
4:49 PM E-Town
Big news of the day: Debbie & Alex are coming to visit from Feb. 8th – 11th! Yippee! Who says God doesn’t answer prayers??? I was walking home from the tube this afternoon w/ out a trace of spring in my step… I felt worn-out & homesick (mostly due to the nasty cold I have recently acquired…). Upon entering the front foyer of Pembridge & checking my mailbox, I found a beautiful letter from Debbie! It had an article enclosed about Alex and her talent in, and dedication to dance! (written by her neighbor & childhood friend) Debbie has a way with words… in her letter she brought me to laugh out loud, as she described her picture of me, in her head, emerging through the London fog in my bright red parka! Then she brought me to tears when she spoke of the feelings I must be experiencing & how proud of me she was… boy, did I need to hear that — now, more than ever!
It turns out Alex will be auditioning for the London Royal Ballet here on Sat., Feb. 10th! So they decided to make a little vacation out of it w/ me as their personal tour guide! ☺︎ How exciting! I can hardly contain myself!
While on the subject of wonderful correspondence… I received two great & newsy letters on Sat. before heading out to Stratford-Upon-Avon… One from Kelly ☺︎ & one from Michelle ☺︎ ! ☺︎ Kelly & I haven’t been able to successfully e-mail yet, so I was so happy to hear from her! Michelle was doing well, but having graduated early in Dec., misses school.
Today’s e-mails included messages from Peggy, Cheryl, Deborah (who got “pearled” — I am so happy for her, but wish I could’ve been there for her candle lighting!) & Meg & Mom! ☺︎ Meg is busy preparing for loads of interviews for consulting internships this summer. Mom was gearing up for an assessment that took place today at school by the principal. Special prayers go out to Mom & Meg!
Sunday morning Lori & I got up early & braved the cold to attend the “Charles I Commemoration” reenacted by the “King’s Army” of England. It was really cool! Tons of Brits were dressed in authentic dress of soldiers of the times & marched along the mall of St. James Park through an archway and to the Banqueting House, where years ago Charles I had been executed… there a ceremony was held in his honor. It was a pleasure to observe, walk along side those marching, people watch, & take it all in — as well as many pictures! The rest of the procession, after the ceremony, was to head up & around Trafalgar Square, where there is a statue of Charles I & then back to where they began. But, Lori & I were too cold & decided to get our grocery shopping done at “Sainsbury’s” while we were out & then head home to relax & warm up! ☺︎
Sunday night I went to 7:30 PM mass at Newman House & continue to enjoy the community & worshipping there!
Today was rather average, in terms of class etc. I continue to learn a lot in Hugh Peters’s International Business class… a bloke named Raymond joined Jill & my group for our foreign exchange portfolio mgt. project & business (MNE) assessment presentation. He seems nice & is a business major at North Carolina University, rather UNC. It will help to have his added business sense & knowledge to Jill’s psych background & my Leisure Studies! We even made a move away from our prior passive stance with our portfolio! We moved all the French francs & DMs to US $! Right now we are in a 4 way tie for 3rd… We’ll see about next week.
After class I joined the masses in the computer lab & e-mailed till the system over-loaded and all our screens froze… This was more than likely a good thing, for we all needed to get on w/ our days & not live vicariously through our friends and family back home! (though the correspondence is very comforting).
Then I headed off to the Birkbeck library to get some books for my British Society essay due next week. I am doing it on “The Continuing Education Controversy in Britain.” I didn’t get home till 3 PM, which set my eating schedule off a bit… Setting my dinner back to 9 PM! I also returned the white blouse, I decided I wouldn’t wear, to Esprit. What a productive day!
Melissa made a comment tonight about how exciting I make my life… it reminded me of Christi’s similar observation, back in my Fr. Yr. in college at dinner one night at the Phi Castle… Yeah, I guess I am easily amused! It keeps life interesting, I guess!?! ☺︎
I passed Dave Heron & Brendan Tume — two of the nicest and cutest blokes at Birkbeck, both from U of I… in the daze-like-state I was in, I said “Hey!” & didn’t even stop to chat! Dave said, “Hi Kathleen, how are you?” (I like how he says my name, Kathleen! ☺︎) I said, “Good!” Even though my cold had me feeling like shit! He said, “good” too, when I asked him how he was… then, in all my coolness — I kept right on walking! Good Kath, real good… I believe studying abroad had somehow made me more vulnerable & therefore lowered my self-esteem &/or general communication skills! He even was near behind me when I looked back, walking into the Birkbeck Student Union… but, of course, I just kept walking!
Well, he sure won’t be anymore than a fantasy if I keep these stellar communication techniques up! God placed the current object of my affection in my very line of vision & path, in today’s course of normal school events & errands, & all I could say was, “Hey,” “Good,” & “How are you?!”
Oh well, I’ll get over it! I suppose if he doesn’t think I am verging on mute, w/ out 3 pints of lager in me…, he might find me interesting & “hard to get” or something… But, I doubt it! Besides, I don’t even know for sure what his status as a bachelor is?! I’d be happy just being friends.
Okay, enough boy talk & low self-esteem crap!
“I’M GOOD ENOUGH, SMART ENOUGH, & DOG-GONE-IT!!! PEOPLE LIKE ME!!!”
WAHOO! Time for bed…
CHEERS! ☺︎
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Note from Present Day Kathy: First off, I continue to be fascinated by revisiting what my faith and spirituality looked like back then, at 20, vs. today. As I’ve shared here on my blog in the past and even a recent a recent London Semester Journals post, since our Molly-girl was born and died in April 2008, it no longer works for me to believe that God has a “plan” for us and our lives. Likewise, though I think God may or may not be able to intervene at times in our lives, the idea that God answers prayers for specific things to happen or not is also something I no longer give much credence to. Maybe if certain things in my life, that I and others prayed for, had turned out differently I might feel differently? That said, I refuse to accept that Molly didn’t live because God didn’t want her too &/or that we didn’t pray enough to save her life. That being said, I do believe that God walks with us through difficult and painful experiences in our lives. It also works for me to believe that God, as well as loved ones who have gone before us, have ways to communicate with us.
I wasn’t expecting any visitors from the States during my semester abroad and remember how excited I was to find out dear friends were planning a trip to London!
I recall buying London’s Time Out magazine often, while living there, and using it to find fun things to do around the city. In the scrapbook pages I shared in this post, from my roommate and my adventure going to the Charles I Commemoration by the King’s Army, you can see the Time Out listing from the “Around Town” section I clipped.
I am pretty sure I kept the papers I wrote during my semester in London and have them in a box somewhere in our home. When I find them, I may also transcribe them here, if I think they are interesting and worth sharing.
I am still easily amused and love finding adventures for my family and friends to experience in the Chicago area, as well as when we go on vacations. To this day, if a friend or family member is really happy about something and wants someone to be excited with them, they will contact me knowing they can count on me to share their enthusiasm!
I also get a kick out of how I used positive self talk back then, a practice I still employ today, when I am struggling with my mindset.
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Reminder: Unless I’ve been given permission to use people’s actual names, in most cases I’ve removed or replaced the names of the real people who were part of my journey/experience there, in effort to protect and respect their identities/privacy in my London Semester Journal entries. I will also not share details that I think and feel are too personal for anyone I interacted with, my loved ones, and me.
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Here’s the back story of My London Semester Journals from 1996, including what prompted me to revisit and decide to share them here in 2018. And here’s a list a list of the entries, which I will update as I share them.
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