Falling in Love with London

I haven’t slept a full night for about two weeks, my feet have heartbeats, and my legs set up every time I sit for too long. I’m happier than I’ve ever been. No sleep means things to do, things to see. Sore feet means endless adventures. Stiff legs means I’ve gotten enough exercise to work off the heavy and amazing meals I’ve been indulging in. I couldn’t imagine things being any better. I love my flatmates, I love my new city. And I do feel that it’s mine in a way. London has become my home wholly and completely in the space of two weeks. Crazy as it sounds, it’s true. There’s this sense of almost overwhelming belonging when I walk down my street on the way to the tube for my morning classes. And besides, I think I’ve come to know the city pretty well in my short time here.

So far, I’ve seen the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, Soho, the London Bridge, Baker Street and Fleet Street (appeasing my inner nerd). My new favorite study spot is by the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, and my favorite cafe is just down the road from my internship downtown, at the edge of Canary Wharf. I’ve walked Southbank and seen the Globe theater, explored the outdoor book market–my favorite–I’ve seen the shard and the London Eye, and I’ve taken a day trip to Bath and Stonehenge.

And all of it has been amazing. As has my internship, at a publishing house called Reaktion Books (pronounced Reaction Books). I can’t quite believe it’s real, living in the city I’ve dreamed of my entire life, exploring the streets with the four amazing people I get to call my flatmates, and working in publishing, something that has always been a far off dream–until now.

But, nerdy as it is, my favorite part of the semester so far wasn’t the Eye or the Bridge or the Gardens…my favorite part was this past Thursday and Friday, when I was lucky enough to go to the Cursed Child at the Palace Theater. On the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter being published. Only weeks after the 19 years later epilogue took place. And it wasn’t just the relation to Harry Potter that made the experience my favorite one so far. It was the sheer beauty of the performance, from the music to the acting to the sets, related to Harry Potter or no. The special effects can only be described as magic, the music was gorgeous, the actors brought me to tears, and the sets took me on a journey through familiar faces and places that evoked nostalgia both because of Harry Potter and because of real life experiences. The play, performed in two parts across two nights, brought the audience to tears, made us laugh, made us gasp, and left us at a loss for words. I could go on to rant about it for at least a thousand more words, but as I’m now bound by the theater to “keep the secret”, I can’t give away any specifics. All I will say is the experience was the ultimate cherry on top of an incredible start to an impossible, incredible, absolutely amazing semester. I can’t wait to go on my next adventure so I can write all about it.