Out of Context In Arkansas (and Louisiana, but who's counting?)

Remember back when I was in London, and I did a reasonably okay job of updating this thing? When I had a dream of continuing it throughout my senior year of college as a way to document the year? Yeah? Well, that was before senior year ate my brain, so that didn't really happen. In the few moments I was able to escape from the brain-eating, I did do fun things like go to New Orleans and explore abandoned theme parks.  So I figured I would do some retrospective out-of-context posts. Just for the heck of it. The first two photos were taken in New Orleans pre-stomach plague of death (But that's a story for another time.), and the third was taken in the fish hatchery of Dogpatch USA.

So You Live In A Convent

Hello again!

Week one is over. Weird. I'm not really sure how that happened. You know those weeks where there is so much going on, and 85% of it is overwhelming, and some really good stuff has happened, and some really bad stuff has happened, and some really weird stuff has happened, and you don't really know how to process any of it? No? Well pretend, because that's about where I am right now.

I am still thrilled to be here, but it has been a roller-coaster this week. On Saturday, I moved into the place (convent) I am living in right now. The nuns lest in 2005, and it is now populated by 22 camp counselors. The building and grounds are beautiful and the building I am in was built in the early 1800s, which is pretty cool. Let me tell you, I now have new respect for northeastern weather. Ninety degrees isn't that hot when you can escape to air conditioning, but when you live in an attic room with a broken window A/C unit that prevents you from opening the window, ninety degrees becomes a whole new animal. The neighborhood was described to me as "urban" and "diverse". My mother suggested I stay in a youth hostel for the week. It's really not that bad, but I haven't been going out in the neighborhood on my own. I work in Center City, so I take the bus there, and I am excited to move closer tomorrow so I can get out and explore on my own. I worked a lot this week, and when I get too stir-crazy in the convent I go and hang out in the cemetery. It's pretty and there are cats, which is cool.

Monday I started work, which was great and overwhelming and weird. I showed up on Monday morning, and had to go through a bunch of HR stuff. In the middle of a lecture on worker's comp stuff, I had this bizarre moment where I realised that I now have a real job. And that's weird, and I don't know how I feel about it. It's not the work that's weird. That's overwhelming in different ways. This was one of those holy-crap-I'm-a-college-gratuate-and-sort-of-considered-a-real-adult-and-I-don't-know-how-to-handle-this things. My actual job is similar in a lot of ways to when I worked in foster care as an intern, but for some reason business cards and worker's compensation doctors lists freak me out. Is that just me? Possibly.

Now that I have had a day to recover by binge-watching Hemlock Grove (So. Good. Check it out. Unless you have a really weak stomach and/or hate horror. It's really not scary, but can get a little graphic.), and sleep in, I declare my first week here a success. Next weeks starts tomorrow with a cross-city move, so I'll let y'all know how that goes.

Time For a New Adventure

Hello again internet. I realise that it has been quite a while, and I apologise to the three people that kept up with this little corner :). I made it back from London just fine, although I would have to say that the adjustment to back home was harder than the adjustment to being abroad. This could have something to do with the fact that I expected to have to adjust when I went abroad. I did not expect to have to adjust when I came back. But I digress. Everything went (reasonably) smoothly, and I graduated with a BA in Psychology this May. YAY!

Now I am off to live in Philadelphia for a year to work as a case-worker. Have I ever been to Philadelphia? Nope. Ever lived anywhere in the Northeast? Absolutely not. So stick with me guys, this should be an adventure.

Thoughts on Experiences.

"Oh, it will be such a great experience!"
"Oh, you'll have so much fun!"
"Oh, you'll have such a great time, and get to travel so much!"

I heard all of this, and more, as I prepared to head off to London to study abroad. Funny, no one really mentioned me learning anything, and most people did start off whatever they said with "Oh!". Though I will be the first to admit that my semester had less than I would have liked to offer me academically, I learned more life lessons in these past six months than I expected. By a long shot.

I didn't really experience the whole "no-one-can-possibly-understand-what-I'm-going-through" phase, or, the "intense-homesickness" phase that we were all warned about it that mandatory study abroad meeting last fall. I did have intense mexican food cravings by the end of the semester though, and honestly, at times, I missed that more than my family (I'm not heartless, but skype works much better connecting me to my family members across the ocean than it does with connecting me with Chuy's). Luckily, I lived in a predominantly Bengali neighbourhood, and only a couple of blocks away from curry mile, so I was able to be placated with some fantastic curry. Curry that I will never be able to replicate, and I am sure in a couple of months my curry cravings will rival the mexican food ones. My semester had a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle shifts mirroring my experience with mexican food and curry. And, as with everything in life, I even managed to learn some lessons.

Lesson one: Public transportation, when functional, is one of the most phenomenal things ever. Living in a climate where it is tolerable to be outside for more than 30 seconds is pretty great too.

Lesson two: London does not have good Mexican food. Full Stop.

Lesson three: London has incredible curry restaurants. If anyone can find me a reasonably priced curry restaurant in the states that can come close, they will have my everlasting gratitude.

Lesson four: Street signs that exist and are consistently placed in the same general area are helpful, and often necessary for navigation (I'm looking at a whole lot of European countries here).

Lesson five: Trainers are for tourists, and London is not easy on the feet.


I could go into the deep, meaningful, breakthrough moments I had while abroad, but every time I try to talk about those with someone, much less write them down, I sound ridiculous. Honestly, I learned a lot more about how little I know than anything else, and came away with more questions than answers. I think that's a good thing though. As soon as I decide that I have all, or even most of the answers, my world has obviously gotten too small. I do know that I need some more time "out there" to learn a little more about myself. Though I am still set on that PhD in psychology, I want to take a year off to live somewhere else. I want another year where the routine is often overwhelming, where I am far enough out of my comfort zone that I am not getting back in anytime soon, so I might as well just go with it.

I'm not qualified to get anywhere close to "settling down"yet. I don't know enough about how I function, and what works best for me. I don't know nearly enough about my likes and dislikes, or what is really important to me. This all seems absolutely ludicrous, as out of anyone, I should know myself best. Then again, that's not saying much.

Thanks for sticking it out with me internet. I will let you know when the next adventure comes along.

Foyles at Haz-Beans.

Hello there. I feel super special, because my friend Elizabeth from back home asked me to write a guest post for a blog she and her dad write, called Haz-Beans. Go check it out!

-El

Capoeira

For the past couple of months, I have been going to a Friday night Capoeira class taught by my friend Dafne. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art, and a whole lot of fun. Cartwheels, handstands and spinning kicks are in abundance, and music is a big part of it too. On Sunday, I went to a roda with Dafne, and got to see a bunch of people play. It was in a park, and we had gathered quite the audience.

-El

The Queen of Hoxton

On Saturday, we went out to celebrate Charlie's birthday. We went to a great rooftop bar in Shoreditch, called the Queen of Hoxton, and I would highly recommend it on the rare nice days here.

-El