So, my London adventures concluded on Saturday. We rolled out of bed and waited in line at the airport for over two hours to get our tickets and such. A cool thing was that we got "involuntarily upgraded" which means we were so close to being in first class. Essentially it meant we got better wine and more leg room. Fuck. Yeah.
The only really landmark thing that happened while in the airport was that I made friends with a three-year-old Irish boy named Colin. He shot disks at me then bounced a ball around the airport cafe' and army crawled on the floor to find it. It was awesome. If he was fifteen years older, he could have been my future husband.
I really do feel like a changed girl after returning from London. It's not a cliche', I'm not being Hallmark-y, I truly mean it. It was, without a doubt, the greatest week of my life.
Things I Learned from/about the British:
- be more laid-back. They took their time and didn't check their watches every 3.2 seconds. The women didn't shoot each other catty looks. They were relaxed; they did their own thing and didn't care what those around them were doing. It was refreshing.
- be less self-consumed. A least two-thirds of the women I saw didn't wear make-up, or wore very very little of it. And they looked gorgeous. And the ones who did didn't go overboard--they knew they weren't supermodels and that the world wasn't an issue of Vogue, so they dressed sensibly. And they didn't care if their shoes were from last year or if their jacket wasn't in style; they did their own thing. Again--refreshing. A lot of the girls on NMU's campus need to learn to be like British girls.
- foreign boys = hot. Ok, they have the accents. And the smoldering looks. But more than that, they knew how to treat a woman. American guys just stare at girls and never DO anything. Guys in London actually paid compliments and gave "you're-a-goddess" gazes all the bloody time. And I loved it. A big reason that I want to go back? Oh hell yes. I *heart* foreign boys.
- melting pots rock. They say NYC is the world's biggest melting pot. Nay, I say. I saw more cultures represented in one afternoon at Portobello Road than in the entire time I was in the city that never slept. And again--I loved it. (I think I tire of all the white blah-ness of the UP. Wouldn't you if you lived here for 22 years?)
- don't take anything for granted. So this was more a self-realization thing, but I felt awakened while being in the city. How can you not if you're surrounded by beautiful buildings all the time? Ever since then I've been noticing smaller details and I've been trying to appreciate everything at least a bit more.
Ultimately, this trip broadened my views and made me realize how expansive and wonderful this world really is. As Amanda put it, "this proves that you're bound for bigger things than the UP or even America--you're bound to take on the world!"
Ciao, dahling!
~*Krissy*~