Dos

Tres

Cuatro

I really must talk about Spain in detail, but this Internet is so expensive I feel compelled to update on the most current of issues. So, London, oh London.

I arrived yesterday with two and a half bursting bags, smelling of trains and chorizo. Heathrow never gives you a great impression--and this time, it made me wait an hour before customs. I had rather luckily arrived in the time where masses of immigrants from Pakistan arrive to find new homes (and the British are very picky about immigrations) so it was a long wait indeed.

Luckily the tube was great in terms of connections so I arrived at my hotel safe and sound. My hotel is located just off the Kensington Gardens in the residential area. It's a nice town, but the hotel room is so small that I feel almost English. Gosh. But in the area there is a place where George Orwell actually lived, which I thought was pretty awesome to notice.

In short,

LONDON IS AMAZING.

I am going to live here in less than ten years, I have promised myself.

Its streets are gorgeous, the people are sarcastically funny, people don't give a shit about what you do and where, the fashion is amazing and the food is great.The only things that don't push for any brownie points are the prices and the weather, but hey, nothing's perfect.

Anyway. Last night I received roses from the Falafel store owner while I was getting some shish kebabs. Today I got "baby-ed" at by random strangers. I found this very disturbing. I miss my lover, needless to say. While I love London in general, I miss home and its comfort.

Today was a busy rush around Notting Hill (not so romantic as the movie, as I was alone and carrying mounds of shopping bags), Portobello and Brick Lane market. I spent an inappropriate amount of money on vintage clothes which I absolutely adore and some jeans. I will definitely have to cut down on expenses. Yes.

Tomorrow I am checking out Soho and West End, hopefully watching some musicals, then to Oxford Circus and Mayfair for shopping. (Wait....shopping? Anyway.) Then on Tuesday I will do the rounds for the art galleries and gardens, getting a bit of culture. I really want to check out the Royal College of London as I am seriously thinking about moving here after undergrad and nowheretown Amherst. I have a lot to say about undergrad and Amherst, but there will be plenty of time for that in the future. And I have two minutes on the computer.

So it will be a rush, I really wish I had weeks both in Barcelona and London to really explore this place. It feels as if I am breathlessly and untidily brushing around the map with no clear sense of absorbing the whole. So pray that I will be returning to these destinations pretty soon.

Five days and I will be in the arms of love.

till then,

Ciao bellas!

s

muchas siestas

one russian, twopolish,twogerman,twoenglish, one sicilian-italian, oneserbian, one korean, two taiwanese, many catalan, one turkish, many french and the kiwirean (yours truely)

food

more food

endless amounts of food

wine,beer,more beer,tequila

martiś swimming pool

4AM street parties

campeones del mundo

sangria

chorizos,salchichas y fuet

sancho the sweetest abuelo

nectarines

ricekrispies and ghetto fake nutella

smoking

and trees

festival and two thousand people

tapas y mas cervezas

random hookups and spanish men

the ¨work¨camp that consists of sunbathing, lemon and tonic and guitar strumming

raw liberalism

natural public displays of affection

cést la vie

rapidamente

can colom the have it all shop

dirty toilets

pub rules, 21, name games and 40year old spanish wine

stars, meteor showers

singsongs enfrente de el bar

ca la susi, mojito mojito

cereals for brekkie

40 degrees celcius

meals with ac-dc, paolo nutini, bill withers, guns n roses on the stereo

down to earth, daybyday

timeless moments

 

 

 

...me  encanta  España.

Hello kidlings. I did not expect to have internet access so early on in the travels, but here I am. I am in Heathrow Airport, London where I just went through a very crazy ordeal indeed.

Shanghai was busy, bright and moving. The Chinese government blocked every site that is remotely useful so I couldn't do much with the computer in my hotel room. But Shanghai is not the issue.

LONDON.

BASTARDS.

Flight was okay, I was between two men that smelled weird but were generally pleasant. The airline kept feeding us like sheep. I felt so bloated and bored overall. Watched two movies, decided not to go on the third. But the real problem wasn't about the flight either. It was afterwards.

I have a very weird time schedule where I got off this evening (around half 5) and leaving at half six in the am tomorrow morning to Barcelona. I thought the flight was naturally 'connected' but I was apparently wrong. Because Heathrow is so huge I went to the terminal that I thought I was connected to, which took around 15 minutes. I got through their security checks and through the connections counter only to find that my flight wasn't connected at all. I had to check in again. Shiite. Furthermore the guy at the counter told me with a smirk, "You have to pick up your luggage and then go through check-in again."

But the counter girl in Shanghai told me that my bag will go to Barcelona directly, so I questioned him on that. But he smirked again and said, "No, why would we let that go through? We don't even know what's in there. It's a safety precaution."

So I rode the fricking shuttle back to terminal 5 and had to go through immigration services, where the woman questioned me for ten minutes--no, let's make that "interrogated" instead-- on various details of my life that she does not need to know, before letting me pass through baggages. The bag isn't anywhere, so I am lining up at this customers service line, where someone KIND FOR ONCE tells me that "Whoever told you the shit about luggages doesn't know what he's talking about, love. I know what I'm talking about." and says that my bags are off to Barcelona.

Oh Jesus.

And now it's around six,  I am stranded in Heathrow Airport, not in the comfy departure lounges as I had earlier (and wrongly) expected but in front of the check-in counter where people refuse to check me in because my flight is tomorrow.

Oh fuck you bureaucracy.

I was looking forward to a 24 cafe run in those lounges. Now I have to try very hard not to look like a bum at three in the morning in front of Heathrow check-ins.

I hope I can get to Barcelona in one piece, seriously.

It only struck me that I am leaving today. TODAY. That's crazy.

It is a huge rush off for me, packing everything, still trying to figure out where to go and how to get there, failing in such plans, et cetera, et cetera.

Emotionally I am very unprepared. It just struck right now when Dad left for work this morning, he told me time and again to be careful and have the time of my life. 

:') 

I am unprepared to leave the known and enter the unknown--and furthermore live its foreign mantra. I am hesitant to think of any opportunity costs that I am leaving behind--this trip was not without its sacrifices, I tell you--and I am hesitant to admit that this is the first test of distance I am put through.

I am excited and scared to see what changes this journey will bring upon my character and being; and on others' too. 

Logistical concerns like language barriers and transportation, food and money are lingering in the back of the mind, but the brunt of the issue lies in Finding the Self. 

Message me from time to time lovers, my phone is roamed.

And if you want a postcard do send me your home address on here or on my cellphone. I will see you all bright-eyed and bushy tailed sometime in August.

I love you.