I have been walking around the blank blog entry for a while now, trying to organise and put down the whole range of new feeling, thoughts and events in my head... Of course, it is impossible, there are always too many things going on. But at the same time nothing seems to be as new as six months ago when I met this non-touristic London for the first time. Now everything became more mundane, somewhere between "Ah, I like that good old place" and "Oh no, we've been through this before".
Shamelessly stealing Ilya's pictures...
... following the channel from Haggerston to Limehouse
I must confess that after a period of tiredness from this city's constant busyness, crowdedness, noisiness and pollution I recovered and fell in love again. Not so much with the city itself though, but rather with the culture.
Seriously, you must agree that the British just have style. Look at those good old pubs with scratchy wooden tables and charred fire places, at Oxbridge colleges where nothing seems to have changed since their construction, neither their architecture nor their traditions, or even at the majestic, wildly growing ancient trees you'll find in almost every single park, coming straight out of fairy-tales from your childhood.
Another source of inspiration which should be mentioned here is a brilliant BBC series - a modern version of Shelock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It combines the beloved Victorian London with the present-day metropolis in a most charming way. No doubt, these fetishised images of modern London introduced a second wave of excitement about my life here.
Goldsmiths loo (note: I am not responsible for any of those!)
As for my studies, there were many up and downs this term. I guess there were various reasons. Less directions from tutors gave, on the one hand, more freedom, but, on the other hand, more possibilities to get lost. Additionally, working in a group of three turned out to be very challenging and less flexible than I assumed. Naturally, getting used to the philosophy of the course made everything seem more monotonous. And even though I feel that I achieved less than in the first term, plus having a smaller work load, I am running out of steam currently.
Luckily, we'll escape to Ireland next week. Until then I need to write one and a half essays...
But yes, cheer up, we also did many fun projects and almost got arrested in Hyde Park... I will try to share some of them at some point. So stay tuned