Wednesday, 1-24-96
12:02 AM London
6:02 PM E-Town & Chambana (1-23-96)
Well, it was a rainy day in London & after a long night of insomnia… I ended up sleeping until about 10 AM & then going to Bloomsbury early for a swim at ULU! It was very refreshing — 36 laps! Class — British Society was okay, we learned about the Political Parties of the UK & our tutor randomly called on me after the break and student presentation. He looked at me and said, “Do you have an opinion on the subject?!” I was real tempted to say, “No, no opinion,” and simply leave it at that, but all of a sudden I was talking about how I felt the British political system had a lot to be desired, not that the U.S. was perfect, but it is at least more democratic, in the real sense of the word & congress is somewhat more representative of the greater stateside, then British’s gov’t is of their citizens… Okay, I guess I did/do have an opinion! And my “opinion” actually sparked some conversations & slight debate in the class! (this is a rare occurrence to date in British Society class).
After class I did the e-email thang & received a long, funny, & sincere message from Cheryl! She spoke of an impromptu last night, which she chose not to attend & the upcoming pledge dance, “Party Like a Rock Star!” I forget what the exact phi-incorporated theme is… She said it is nice to be able to keep in touch & even vent, when needed, overseas. I miss her… She said she going to be an RCIA sponsor, that Fr. John called her and needed someone.
Speaking of people entering the Catholic faith, Jill, from all my Birkbeck classes, was baptized Catholic, but is interested in learning more & ultimately getting confirmed when she gets back to the States… I brought her to daily mass last Tues. & she met Fr. Tim, actually I believe she met him when we first checked out the Newman House here… Well, she met with him today about quarter past noon & he gave her a Bible, a prayer book, and a workbook-like book about the Catholic faith entitled, “Your Faith.” He asked her to read the Gospel of Mark for next week, as I recall, & they will meet again at the same time next wk. I am excited to see her learning more about Christ & her faith! I shared my joy for her & pointed out in the little prayer book where it showed the order of the mass w/ all the prayers we say during the liturgy, that she had asked me about…
God works in mysterious ways…
Back to e-mail, I received a message from Meg. She got into the Sloan Spring Break trip to South Africa! Wow, how exciting! She said she may still come visit me anyway for a weekend, March or April?! I guess w/ the airfare wars a bunch of “Sloanies” are taking weekend trips to cities in Europe… I would love for her to come to London! ☺︎
After I e-mailed I was running late for daily mass, but went anyway. I plopped myself down next to the intellectual lawyer guy, who plays guitar in the Sun. choir & goes to Fr. Tim’s “Growing in Faith” on Weds., I didn’t even notice until the kiss of peace… He looks a bit like a guy in my film class last semester that delivered A.J. Winger’s to the Phi Castle once when I was hanging out in the Front Foyer!
Well, tonight I wrote some postcards & Debbie and Alexandra’s b-day cards, and watched REALITY BITES, which got me all riled up inside…
“I want to be in ❤︎ in a movie!” Not really, I wouldn’t mind being in love someday though…
I have had some deep thoughts about Mr. Bradley Thomas Cook over the past 24 hrs., but I am doing my best not to entertain them… I believe it is my hormones & soul feeling lonely from being single since the end of July! I tend to look back on past relationships when I am feeling “ultra single”… and make a big deal in my imagination of what these guys (blokes) once were in my life…
I think Brad is a prevailing past relation because he is still very much a part of my life as a close friend… Few of my past boyfriends have remained strong forces in my day to day life!
Granted I have only spent one evening with Brad since this summer… He was studying abroad this Fall & now I am here… Hmmm
TIME WILL TELL
Time for some shut eye…
or at least rest!
CHEERS! ☺︎
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Note from Present Day Kathy: I found this entry amusing and serendipitous, being that it is Election Day here in the USA. I am proud of 20-year-old me for actually sharing my opinion when called upon in class back then, something I recall often being nervous about doing. Though I didn’t mention it in this entry, I remember being really impressed with the practice of Question Time in Parliament and wondered if our President and/or members of legislative branch of our US government would be able to do that as well regularly.
A lot has changed in 22 years, including my understanding of how truly democratic (or not) our country is. I was a lot more idealistic back then and didn’t grasp things like systematic discrimination against women, people of color, and those who identify as LGBTQ. I think both the US and the UK have work to do, to make our nations truly democratic, more equitable, and represent all people.
It has been a long and hard two years for those who share my perspective on our country and our world, especially when it comes to civil rights and social justice. I felt devastated when Hillary Clinton, who I am still with/believe in and whose campaign I volunteered for, did not win the electoral college and thus the presidency. I am proud to be part of the progressive movement that has mobilized in effort to take back the house and, possibly, the senate (on the national level), as well elect governors and fill other important offices (at the state level) with those who share a more equitable and inclusive vision for their states and our country. I will continue to resist and persist and do believe we can and will also take back the oval office in 2020, with so many incredible people running for office and being the change.
For those not familiar with what an “impromptu,” is/was… When we were in college, our sorority’s social committee would periodically plan surprise parties, where we’d have little notice to get a date and meet up at a bar. The main idea, as I recall, was to give us an excuse to ask someone to join us, who we might not otherwise get the nerve up to invite to go out. Bob and my official first date (October 1, 1996), though we’d known each other for about a month and had hung out a lot in groups, was actually going to one of these events. I used the first “impromptu” of our senior year at U of I, and my first since returning from my semester abroad, to invite him to go with me. Though I apparently didn’t make it totally clear it was a date, as our mutual friend ended up having to point that out.
I appreciate how much I wrote about my practicing my faith in these journal entries. It’s interesting for me at a time in my life when though I still believe in God, pray, and attend church regularly with my family, I don’t feel as strong of a connection to being Christian/Catholic as I did in my college years or even, more recently, just a few years ago. There are a variety of reasons for that, but being able to reflect on what my faith looked liked in my early 20s, including how that helped bring me peace and comfort during my semester abroad, is a helpful reminder of how my spirituality can help me navigate my 40s.
I also found my comment about God working in mysterious ways interesting, as back then my theology tended to favor the idea that “everything happens for a reason” and “God has a plan fo us.” Over the past 20 years or so my views on what God wants for us have evolved and I believe a lot more in free will and a lot less in destiny.
So between politics and religion, this has turned out to be a somewhat heavy post…
Why not throw in love too?!
One of my college friends used to tease me about a line from the movie Sleepless in Seattle, “That’s your problem! You don’t want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie.” When I first heard Rosie O’Donnell’s character (Becky) say that to Meg Ryan’s character (Annie), I could totally relate and felt like she was speaking to me too. It’s true, for many years I did imagine love to be like they often portray it in the movies. At the time I wrote this entry I didn’t think that I had been in love yet, though I had fallen pretty hard for guys I’d dated and had crushes on over the years.
This insight that I shared, about how “I tend to look back on past relationships when I am feeling ‘ultra single’… and make a big deal in my imagination of what these guys (blokes) once were in my life…” was something I recall doing, especially before I met Bob. There are so many storylines in books, movies and on TV shows about people getting back together with old flames that surely influenced those fantasies, as well as my actually having had experiences getting back together with guys who I’d previously dated. However, in most cases when that did happen, it never lasted long, as usually it didn’t take long for us to remember why we broke up in the first place. The only exception to that for me was Bob. As we did break up once when we were dating, for about month, after we’d been together for about 8 months or so.
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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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