June 4, 2010
I’m sitting on the floor of the room I’m staying in this summer—I’m in Harold Wood which is just outside London. I have papers spread out all over the floor. It’s 4:28pm for me and I arrived at 6:30am. I haven’t paused for days—just been in hyper drive. I mostly like it that way because I get more done, and I don’t have time to panic. So, before I continue working on my paper, I have to unpack my mind. I’m listening to Caifanes on the nano ipod look alike I bought from one of my students (she and the boyfriend she recently moved in with sell them at the pulga.) I’m drinking the red bull Ian had for me when he met me at the airport.
I got my mushy London-Heathrow-Airport-Scene-from-Love-Actually moment! Ian hates that movie and I love it!
Being here in London feels a bit surreal. On Thursday morning, my brother called me to say goodbye and to give me some last minute big brother advice (not 1984 big brother or voyeuristic tv show—literal big brother :p) He asked me when I was returning to the states and I said August 3rd, and then he asked me when I started work and I said August 16th. He said, “You don’t give yourself a break do you?” I thought 13 days was plenty of time. Last year I only gave myself 1 day before starting work. I don’t know exactly how to describe it—being so busy you enter an adrenaline induced euphoric feeling. Even that doesn’t describe it.
I’m really pleased with the academic year that just ended. I feel like I learned so much as a teacher and in my classes at UTPA. The challenges were not so great that they broke me, but challenging enough that I think I improved. The minimester was extremely stimulating—both the content and the frequency made the class very intense.
I was finishing the school year at Donna High School, taking the minimester at UTPA, sort of preparing for my trip, and trying to keep up at best I could with social activities with friends and family (since I was going away for 2 months I wanted to make the most of my time with them.) I was getting very little sleep because of all the reading and writing for my Chican@ poetry class. I just felt like I was busy all the time.
So Thursday morning came so quickly. I hardly slept again because I was working on my final paper for class. I wanted to mail myself the books from the Chican@ poetry class, and so that added pressure to rush as well. My sister was so supportive. She did my hair, took me to a small restaurant on Main Street for breakfast, took me to the post office to ship my books and even paid for the postage. It was a great send off.
Every time I travel, it amazes me how many people travel—people from all different cultures sharing one experience. Because of this, even the traveling bit is exciting for me. For the flight to Houston, I sat next to a man who was hogging up the arm rest… grrrr! But for the London flight, a girl going to India and a boy going to Amsterdam were my seat neighbors. They stayed awake the entire flight! We left Houston at 3:45pm on Thursday and because of the time difference were arriving at 7am on Friday in London. They hadn’t realized this until I mentioned as we were about to land. :P Oh, also while waiting for the London flight, I met this retired lady. I didn’t ask her name… oops! She’s been retired for 10+ years and each year she takes a long trip with her girlfriends! She was going on a cruise and spending most of the summer in Europe. I want to be like her when I grow up!
My worst fear came true—they almost didn’t let me in to the country! I had never had any problems with immigration, but I think I was nervous this time because I was traveling completely alone (independent study so no other classmates arriving around the same time like in past trips.) I forgot to take anything in writing from UTPA so I emptied out my wallet and actually showed the officer emails on my blackberry!
I started writing this on Friday and now it’s 1:28am Monday morning… will try and keep up with my travel journal more. Saturday and Sunday journal coming soon :P
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