London!

Let us consider the stereotypes of London as a city:  the people are unfriendly, the weather and food drab, things outrageously expensive. In my whirlwind 72 hours in England, the stereotypes failed me terrifically.

            My 7:30 flight from Fez via Ryanair was a bit like flying in an infomercial. Literally every ten minutes, a flight attendants selling everything from booze to cigarettes to snacks and bikini calendars (featuring their flight attendants nonetheless!). I made it to central London by 1am Friday and crashed in my fabulous hostel, which is both hostel and 24 hour bar. I feel a blow-by-blow of the rest isn’t necessary so I’ll list the highlights.

In no particular order:

            -Getting lost in the hipster-est (and gayest) part of London, Soho, for some excellent vintage shopping.

            -Asking for directions and meeting an old man named John, who had both interesting stories of the Middle East and surprisingly prophetic insight into my life.

            -Riding the tube and buses and feeling un-harassed alone in public. No one stared, catcalled, followed me, or assumed I was selling sex. I’ve missed that.

            -Crashing a pub-crawl and meeting a cool new British friend, backpacking Austrailians, and a French magician.

            -Seeing most of the tourist sights –Westminster Abby, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham palace, Newton’s Tower, London Eye, ect. Everything I’ve seen on TV is so much bigger in real life!

            -Eating and drinking! Fish and chips, English breakfast, bacon, buying beer at a shop after 5pm…. All of the fabulous convinces of a cosmopolitan, non-Muslim city.

My camera did die before I got any really good pics, so here's just a few: 

This cool church in Soho served as a landmark on multiple occasions

I thought this was funny

As was the ridiculous color of this shop.. Where do you buy this paint??

However, at the end of it all I had a very interesting and surprising realization. While doing all these “Londoner” things, I very seriously considered running away to London, getting a job, and becoming a vintage-wearing, coffee-drinking hipster. But when I thought about it, I had the same feeling that led me to Morocco in the first place. London, although charming and wonderful, is not the challenge I desired. I came to Morocco for challenge, to have a year different from the typical hard-partying, English-speaking, study abroad semester that many students have in places such as London or Australia. I'm not saying those things are bad or undesireable, but they aren't what I wanted out of this experience. 

When I arrived back in Fez walking into the rain and was called a spice girl within ten minutes of deplaning, I was still perfectly ok with being here.  AUI still feels, well, oppressive, and there are still days that get me down. But I’ve made a life for myself here over the past three months, with all the trials and tribulations that go with life abroad.  As my peers prepare for re-assimilation, Christmas at home, and classes at their own Uni, I’m going through a different type of assimilation. I’m using next semester to create new challenges for myself and new plans to travel. Three more weeks of classes, finals, EuroTrek 2011… There is much more in store for this adventurer!