11:20 on a Friday night. I am sitting on the couch in my flat, watching the headlights of the cars on the street five stories below. I am wearing an orange sweatshirt and blue polka-dotted pajama shorts. I am listening to Joni Mitchell. Next door there is some kind of pre-Halloween dorm party going on, just loud enough for the sounds of laughter and animated conversation to be comforting (to a college student, anyway).
"I've looked at life from both sides now, from win and lose, but still somehow it's life's illusions..."
Sing it, Joni. I guess I'm feeling a little reflective. My parents were here this week and I just said goodbye to them before they leave early tomorrow morning. There's nothing quite so comforting to the weary mind as family. Mom and Dad, I miss you already.
I miss all of you. It's so strange, the semester is already half over, and I'll be home before I know it. I can't decide how I feel about this. Mixed. I love London, but today I just got fed up with the crowded Tube and the terrible coffee and the expensive groceries and cigarette smoke; most of all, with the sense that even the simplest task is a matter of survival, of walking and carrying and getting jostled into oblivion. I get so disoriented sometimes; I can't believe I'm here. But all of you, my friends and family, remind me of who I am and of what I'm doing.
And with that, sentimentality interlude over. Don't worry, I'll try to get back to descriptive adventure narrative, I don't want to scare you off with all this faux-thoughtfulness. I didn't mean to turn this into a personal journal. But that's the thing about new experiences- no matter how hard you try you can't simply describe them objectively. Whether you like it or not, your thoughts will shine through; your mind will shape and be shaped. That's what I'm learning. (But don't worry, the next installment about Greece will not devolve into a sonnet or something... I'm not quite that far gone.)
Until next time, then. Sleep sounds glorious right now. Goodnight!
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