Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Oh, and a belated Happy Halloween!

Last Tuesday, on a whim, I decided I wanted to visit London. After a Monday filled with disappointing visa news I spent Tuesday talking with people at my school's international office about my options - or lack thereof. By the evening I'd gone into panic-mode/motivation-mode - a combination of despair and frustration with this visa nonsense and a determination to find a solution, likely one involving changing to a different graduate program at a different university in a different country. (Sorry for that run-on sentence...)

Enjoying myself at the National Gallery

London seemed like a good choice for several reasons: 1) I know several people there whom I enjoy being around, 2) Several of those people have had experience with studying abroad for undergrad and grad school, 3) I always have wanted to go to London and Oxford, and to get up the courage to apply to Oxford for school, and 4) London is not in the Schengen Zone, and thus not part of the nightmare that is the Schengen visa process.

So after failing to get airline tickets - thank you fraud protection... - I found cheap round trip tickets to London via bus. Not ideal, but Student Agency gives a discount for ISIC (International Student Identity Card) holders, has pretty comfy seats for a bus, serves hot drinks, and plays movies. So it was bearable for the 18 hours there and 18 hours back. I almost wasn't allowed into the UK because in my rush to go I hadn't thought to find out my friend's exact address where I'd be staying, and that led to a whole host of other questions, including my favorite:
Border Police: "What do your parents do for a living?"
Me: "One is a special education teacher and the other is a social worker."
Border Police: "So how do you have enough money to be supporting your travels in Europe?"
...

The London Eye on the Thames

After a moment of being completely offended by his classist remark, and his insinuation that I was still financially dependent on my parents, I retorted: "I made ____ dollars teaching English in Korea for two years, so that's been just fine, thanks." Despite my annoyance, I smiled sweetly, answered all of the other questions with poise and a convincing tone of voice, and was finally allowed in and told to enjoy myself. So I did.

I met my friend at the British Museum, which involved a trip on the tube from Victoria station - an experience I never want to repeat because it reminded me so much of how anchovies must feel in those suffocating packages. I was thrilled that we spent most of the weekend walking to and from our destinations.

Big Ben

That afternoon I got to sit in on a seminar with him, and was very impressed with the caliber of students and with the fact that their faculty allows them to have "wine and nibbles" afterwards to contribute to further discussion of the talk and to start off the weekend. His friends in the program were wonderful to me, and I felt a bit envious of their close-knit and enthusiastic community. Later that evening we met up with two friends who also taught in Korea, and it was both surreal and wonderful to see them outside of Korea.

On Saturday my friend and I headed to the National Gallery and came upon a jobs rally in Trafalgar Square, and luckily we both enjoyed the impromptu stop and stayed awhile to listen and to appreciate the energy of the gathering - a mixture of frustration and hope that is always a bit intoxicating at protests.

My personal favorite

We saw a guy dressed as Guy Fawkes (it was the 5th of Nov, after all) and enjoyed seeing an Australian acrobat do tricks, in addition to simply people watching. The Gallery itself was also a treat, and we lingered so long that by the time we left it was dark - even though it was just after 5:00pm. We made our way down to the Thames, Big Ben and Parliament, and the London Eye because we heard there were going to be fireworks, but after walking for awhile without any sign of them we changed direction. I ended up stopping to buy a small Banksy print, only to end up having a lovely chat with the Irish woman selling it who then gave me 3 for free (I credit this moment to my mother and grandfather, who taught me the art of stranger-small talk).

The Guy Fawkes procession arrives at Occupy London

Not long after leaving the river we went looking for someone with information about fireworks, but saw across the street a group of about 30 people, most wearing Guy Fawkes masks, following someone waving the Anonymous flag and headed towards Occupy London at St. Pauls. Since we'd planned to go there anyway, it seemed like an obvious choice to join the procession - though we were not dressed appropriately. My pastel blue jacket and bright pink scarf stood in stark contrast to the mostly-black garb all around us. After walking for awhile and nearly getting hit by several cars going the wrong way - ok, the right way, but it felt so wrong - we made it to Occupy.
The tents, the crowd, the mic check, the General Assembly, the free kitchen and medical tent, the "Star Books" lending library outside the Starbucks, the posters plastered across columns and walls, and the sounds of people making music and discussing social justice - I felt very at peace among all of it - at peace, and very cold. After talking with a nice Welshman about the USA's best qualities and about the ways in which Occupy London could be more inclusive of visitors (which was the question posed to the GA for discussion), we headed back to my friend's place to make a warm dinner and to rest our weary feet.

Somerset House, with a Christmas Tree in November...

On Sunday I met up with another friend who studies a field similar to mine, and has similar career goals as well. We talked about our school programs, plans, goals, etc. and it was nice to just catch up and hear another person's perspective on all the things I've been turning over in my head lately. It put me in a great mindset for my day trip to Oxford on Monday, too.

In Oxford Park

Although it was the grayest and drizzliest day of my stay, it was also inspiring. I met a friend of mine at St.Antony's, which is home to several area studies programs. While my friend was studying, I headed to a seminar on Ideational Threats in NATO-Russia Relations, put on by the Russia and Eurasian Studies Center. The lecture was interesting, but the Q+A was great. The questions were well thought out, critical, interesting, and made me feel the way I thought graduate school was supposed to feel. I even asked a question, and after was able to meet several of the people in the department, as well as some fellows and doctoral students. It was the kind of environment I've dreamed about for school, and I'm not exaggerating.

I headed over to the Social Sciences Library,which involved a lovely walk through the park and past another college, Linacre. I spent a few hours doing source research for my thesis and wishing our university had a library as full and as enticing as theirs - which later my friend and her peers said was the least inspiring library to study in (which must mean the others are even better).

St. Antony's, Oxford

That evening before catching the train back to London, my friend introduced me to some of her friends and I was able to talk to them about their programs and experiences at Oxford. One program really appeals to me, and the girl in the program had only great things to say about it, which piqued my interest even more. I left Oxford feeling re-energized and reminded of why I love to be in school (yes, I know, I am so "white and nerdy," as Weird Al would say).

Now, after a looooong bus ride through the grey skies of the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, I am finally home. As the bus drove into Prague along the river across from my neighborhood I couldn't help feeling like I was back where I belonged - for now, at least :)