Oh, prepare yourself for a post of all mumble jumble. Recently, I skyped with my room mates (and dear friends), and they informed me that they "want less photos on my blog and more stories." I suppose I have been lacking in my story telling. Personally, when I read blogs I skip over all of the writing and simply look at photos....for me, photographs speak louder than words. But, for them, I shall try and tell more stories.
There are a million and one things I could say, and yet I somehow am at a loss for words as I sit here and try to tell you all some London tales.
Where to start.
Recently my London mornings have consisted of a couple cups of tea (trying to embrace the way of life) as well as curling up on this lovely sea-foam green oversized chair that lives in front of the huge glass doors that overlook the garden. I sip my tea and read The Guardian (the superb newspaper in Kingston.) These simple mornings have really proven to be the best start to my day. I also occasionally read the newspaper out loud in my best British accent from time to time. Hey, I wasn't kidding about fully embracing the way of life here.
I should also take a moment to mention how blessed I am with my living situation here. Most study abroad students that I have become friends with are all in quite unfortunate living situations. A lot of the families that are host homes for Kingston University's study abroad students are far from the warm and welcoming. As I hear the horror stories of cold families who are only hosting students for the money, It only makes me love my home more and more. I mentioned in an earlier post about how wonderful my land lady is...and wonderful she truly is. My land lady, Marie is a precious soul, and I would even go so far as to say that she is one of my closest friends here. She is like my English mamma. Marie is this little sassy French teacher who lives in Surbiton (a borough of Kingston). Some of my favorite moments are when I return home after a long day of classes or hip hopping around Kingston. I walk into the family room, where Marie is comfortably sitting in her comfy chair, sipping wine and watching the evening news. The first thing that always comes out of her mouth is, "Ah, katlin, so how was your day?". From there, we tell tales of the happenings from our day. She listens as I tell her all about my economics professor who singles me out during class and makes me feel like a doofus, about how  I took the wrong bus back to Surbiton and got lost along the way, and about how some English boy was making eyes at me on the bus. And then, as my stories become less and less, she begins her turn in telling her day's tales. And after the stories are all told, we go our separate ways for a few hours (in which I make attempts at studying), only to reassemble in the family room a few hours later to drink wine together and watch a few of her favorite programs on television. Marie is a wonderful human...and I wish you all could meet her. But, since you are all an ocean away, my "Marie Stories" will have to do.
Until tomorrow,
Cheers!