Friday, 3-22-96
12:30 AM London
Thursday, 3-21-96
6:30 PM E-Town
Picking up where I left off…
We (Meg & I) went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard! We waited for about a 1/2 hr. for it to start & it was so cold out that we only lasted through about 5 mins. of the actual event before taking off! While there a news reporter from Channel 9 (in Dever, Colorado USA) stopped us to ask us about our tourist experiences in London! He was on vacation & was making a travel log for the station w/ his camcorder!
Next we walked to Trafalgar Square so Meg could get an overview of some of the city’s famous sites from a far (such as: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, & Parliament) & so she could see the birds & Nelson’s Column! We also went into the National Gallery for a whopping 5 minutes Super-tour, led by your truly, highlighting some of the museum’s more famous works!
Then we went to a pub in that area for lunch, which was yummy! At that point Meg was falling a sleep on me constantly, so we went back to Pembridge about 1 PM, so she could take a nap! Not what either of us had expected, but she needed to take care of herself, which I respected.
While she slept I read some of her American magazines (i.e. Cosmo & Glamour) & relaxed, which was nice. We set the alarm for 3 PM & then got up at that time. We took the tube to Regent’s Park to find LBS (London Business School), where she is considering studying abroad next Fall from MIT!
Having rested she was much more alert & enthusiastic… We were able to have some more sisters talks! At LBS we met w/ an admission lady who was very friendly & took us for coffee… Meg was impressed!
Finally, I rode w/ Meg to the Green Park tube station & gave her a laminated card w/ a shamrock in it & the “Irish Journey Blessing” on it:
“May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
She really loved it (I had gotten it for her in Ireland) & got all teary eyed, as we said our farewells & I put her on the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow Airport!
Though a short visit… It was so great to see her! She seems to be doing well… She is seeing a guy @ MIT who she likes a lot. She is currently up for a summer internship in her latest career dream (Theater Mgt.) @ the Lincoln Center in NYC! She was also very excited to go on this Spring Break trip in South Africa… She is there now as I write this… What amazing experiences we “Axe Girls” are having, as Dynamite said in her letter I received today! So true… M & D raised us well!
After I put Meg on the train I went straight away to Newman Center for the last session of Growing in Faith. It was on “Heaven & Hell” & very interesting at that… When it was over & Fr. Tim was summing things up, I took a moment to thank everyone for sharing & the faith experience this semester… I truly grew! I also asked if they all minded if we all gathered round Father Tim for a picture. They agreed. It will be nice to have that for my memories.
I stayed for part of the Charismatic Prayer group, which I continue to enjoy & feel the Holy Spirit’s presence there as we praise & sing to the Lord!
Then I was off to Canoe Club… Nothing too exciting, just worked on some skills & played some games. The big event of the evening was everyone chatting away about tomorrow night’s “Purple’s Ball!” We are all meeting beforehand at a pub at Imperial College & then going over to the Ball together! It should be a blast!
When I got in about midnight, Lori, Nick, & I stayed up till about 2 AM chatting away & planning our trip in 2 wks. to Scotland! We are hoping to rent a car & make it a silly & fun road trip… ☺︎
This morning I got up early to do e-mail! I was real tired from staying up late. I got to school & found a message from Chambana congratulating me on making Ma-Wan-Dad Senior Honorary! ☺︎ YEA! It is a real honor & I am proud to have been chosen! Yesterday was “tapping,” in which if I had been @ school they would’ve surprised me w/ carnations & a note of acceptance! Rumor has it I would have had to sing the Alma Mater in front of my classmates as well… I will also miss Initiation & some other events this semester, but that’s okay!
I also had messages from Mom, Dad, & Kelly! Mom had done some great Eurorail Pass research for me & I told her to go ahead & get the 2nd Class Month Long Youthpass for me! ($600)
In architecture class we went to Robert Adam’s 20 Portman Square “Home House.” The interior he designed was fabulous! It turns out Wedgewood pottery/china (the blue porcelain trays w/ white carvings of people etc.) stemmed from his interior designs, such as we saw today! It was especially cool to see since I did an essay on his “style” for class that was due today!
We walked around a lot in class on the way there & I talked to Rachel & Brendan Tume a lot about traveling & Scotland & Ireland…
Turns out Rachel got into Ma-Wan-Da as well!
After class Jillian & I took the tube out to Zone 3 to go to Wimbledon!!! Very cool… We got to tour the tennis museum there, see center court, & just be in awe that we were really there!!! It was so awesome to look out at Center Court, where I have watched the famous tournament played every year here on TV! The museum was full of interesting Wimbledon history, as well as Tennis history in general…
I bought a cute baseball cap w/ it’s official symbol on it’s official colors (purple & green)! I started wearing it immediately! An older couple in the gift shop said it looked very “smart” (good) on me! ☺︎ I also got some postcards!
The biggest news of the day though is that I receive a long letter from Lloyd Bradford today! It was amazing and a lot to digest. I miss how we once related & connected. I wonder what will come for us. Time will tell! I do look forward to getting back in touch w/ him & maybe hanging out this summer?!
I read the letter once when Jill & I stopped here on the way to Wimbledon.
When I got back I read it twice more through before falling a sleep for 5 hrs.! ☺︎ It was so nice to chill & rest & ponder & dream… Lori got home & slept for hrs. too… She needed to relax as well!
When we woke up about 9 PM we were hungry & all of a sudden got ambitious & took the tube to Tottenham Court Rd.! We had chose to have a late, yummy, & very filling (not to mention expensive) dinner @ “Ed’s Easy Diner!” It was like a much smaller version of Ed DeBevic’s in Chicago & we got burgers, cheese fries, & Choc. shakes! ☺︎
Our waiter was real cute & they had mini jukebox selectors at the diner! We each played 2 songs! But mine didn’t come up before we left & we ate, & sang & danced in our seats to the 50’s tunes, very leisurely…
Fun, fun, fun…
When we got home I called Ron Weasley to find out if he could go to Scotland & he said “no” unfortunately. I couldn’t talk long, cuz I only had a bit of change… I will still be going there for Easter though, which will be nice.
It is still hard to believe he won’t be back @ camp… I wonder what this summer will be like??? Camp, Lloyd Bradford, re-adjusting to life back in America, etc.??? God only knows… Well, I am gonna read Lloyd’s letter once more tonight (this morning rather, it’s almost 2 AM) & then get some shut eye… CHEERS! ☺︎
Friday, 3-22-96
11:19 AM London
5:19 AM E-Town
I need to vent right now… I am overwhelmed, Lori is worked up about our plans for our Scotland road trip & is frustrating me… My dress for the ball is coming undone at the seam at my butt & I am still taking in everything that Lloyd’s letter said… I wish I could talk to Mom, Dad, or Katie right now, but this is all part of my growing experience here. As much as I would love for them to be, they will not always be there for me right when I need them… Yes, I could call them now, but it is not necessary. I am praying a lot for God to be w/ me right now!
Things have been going relatively smoothly here for me lately. Though everyone else has been having conflicts, Lori & I have been doing well overall. She tells me I get so excited when we plan things & can’t expect everyone to “bounce off the walls” w/ me all the time…
The thing is, people give me crap & tease me about “always” beings so bubbly & in a good mood. But that’s not it… I just try to be optimistic in a world full of negative people.
Yes, I do need people to bring me down to earth sometimes, when I get carried away… But I also need people to share in my excitement & optimism as well…
I want to be excited about the ball tonight… But, for some reason am not quite there yet… Stress is upon me from all angles.
One of my house/classmates wanted to borrow my architecture notes. It may be stingy of me, but I told them “no.” I just don’t want them using my hard work, ideas, & research for their paper. I think that is alright.
Well, Lori & I just had a really great talk. We sorta debriefed which always helps me… I feel much better, as does she… Gotta go do errands now! CHEERS!
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Note from Present Day Kathy: Wow, this was another long one, followed by another shorter entry the same day, and covered so much ground! I got tired, while also really enjoying, revisiting my awesome adventures/all that we managed to pack into our days and nights back then… Including taking 5 hour naps and staying up until 2 AM!
It was fun to get to read about my sister’s visit, as with so much of my time abroad, because I have vague memories that my entries help to jog. I had forgotten about the American journalist interviewing us and how cold it was that day, when we were at Buckingham Palace. I wonder if our part of his travelogue ever made it on Channel 9 in Denver, as well if there would be any record of it still anywhere.
Meg did end up studying abroad at London Business School during that Fall semester of 1996 and even ended up living where I had during the Spring semester of 1996, at Pembridge Gardens.
I also appreciated that many of the stops Meg and I made that day were also places my friend (not her real name) Ginny and I went on our first full day in London last November, when we were following The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk. We had considered popping into the National Gallery that day as well, for a power tour, but ended up getting sidetracked by a Christmas Market in Trafalgar Square (apparently the first ever held there). Then we ran out of time before we needed to move on with my ambitious plan/schedule for the rest of our day, including visiting the Birkbeck College/University of London campuses and Newman House (both of which I wrote about in this entry), and then making our way to enjoy a delicious afternoon tea at the Dalloway Terrace, followed by seeing the awesome musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the West End.
I wish I had written more in my journals about what was discussed at the “Growing in Faith” sessions I attended/participated in with (not his real name) Fr. Tim. When Ginny and I visited Newman House in November I asked the woman who was at the front desk if she knew what happened to him/where he might be now. However, she didn’t know and anyone who might’ve was in a meeting that she couldn’t interrupt. Ginny and I didn’t have time to wait, but we did get to walk around and see the chapel, which looked similar to how it was in 1996, which I found comforting and nostalgic.
I am excited for the upcoming entry in which I recount my experience attending the “Purples Ball” with Canoe Club! It was definitely something I didn’t expect to do and one of so many highlights of my London Semester Abroad.
It was bittersweet to recall planning the weekend road trip some of my friends/housemates and I took to Scotland, as Edinburgh (one of the places we went/where we spent most of our time) is also a destination that was on our itinerary for my family’s trip to the UK this month that we ended up postponing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We were supposed to fly out tomorrow/Sunday night (August 9th) and stay through September 4th. I have been feeling sad today, thinking about how much we were looking forward to our family’s first overseas adventure together, all the wonderful places we planned to go and the friends we were excited to spend time with. I really hope that it is safe/possible for us to reschedule it in the not too distant future (maybe even next year/August). Time will tell and, in the meantime, we continue to try to make the best of our situation, while primarily staying safe at home and wearing masks/distancing when around those not in our immediate family and especially people who aren’t taking this coronavirus seriously.
I remember being so impressed by getting to actually see center court at Wimbledon! Growing up I do recall watching the tournament annually on TV, however as much I as I still enjoy watching and playing tennis as adult, I don’t recall the last time I followed a professional tennis competition like that, even Wimbledon.
As I shared in a previous post(s), there was a lot more in the section about (not his real name) Lloyd in this entry, but as I explain in my Reminder (at the end of every London Semester Journal post), I will not share details that I think and feel are too personal for anyone I interacted with, my loved ones, and me. This is one of those instances. However, I did choose to include some of what I wrote, as I know the way I processed these experiences back then, especially through my writing, was integral to my growth and development at that age and stage of my life.
Likewise, in my second entry when I was venting I left some of the specifics out, however wanted to capture my general feelings, as I found it interesting to see how I coped back then, especially without being able to connect with my parents and close friends, who might’ve helped talk me through such challenges when I was at home or at least more accessible by phone in the States. I am proud of 21 year old me for taking good care of and standing up for myself through the uncomfortable interactions I had with some of my friends/housemates.
During this difficult, uncertain and surreal year, mostly because of the pandemic (though there have certainly be other challenging events/circumstances we’ve faced), I am also dealing with a lot of complicated and painful feelings/emotions. I continue to work on taking good care of myself and my family (now that I have my own), as well as standing up for what I believe in, which as one of my wise friends says, “doesn’t always feel good.” Every time I am struggling with doing the right thing lately, I remind myself that it’s okay if it doesn’t feel good, I can/will do it anyway.
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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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