Who doesn't like alliteration? It just makes things so much more fun to say. Love and loss of London, that's what I've decided to title this travel link up post on the theme of "love on the road".
The love of London started in 2004 on my semester abroad. I stood in front of paintings, attended off west end theatre, wandered royal parks, and debated articles from The Guardian, Evening Standard, and The Telegraph. I was exposed to so much culture and life I didn't know existed; opening my eyes to just how sheltered a life I lead B.B.S. (before the Big Smoke). Although I was excited to return home to Canada and my studies, London had left an imprint on my heart, one that left me consumed with all things British.
I couldn't shake this desire to be in England again and in 2007 applied to a graduate program in Leicester on a whim. That whim quickly developed into me moving on to campus in the middle of the midlands experiencing a whole new England I liked just as much and a new group of friends I like a whole lot. Late night writing sessions, pushing essay deadlines, and a mess up at the printers with my thesis, meant I was ready for the familiar and to be surrounded by the comforts of home. I returned and moved in with the boyf and was ready for the next stage of my life to begin.
Funny how things never turn out exactly how you plan. The boy and I broke up and I made the decision to move to London. I knew it was going to be just two years, but two years were better than no years. I was right about that and am suddenly reminded of the poem with the famous adage, "tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all". This is now the loss of London. I lived two glorious years in this most amazing city, one that has always felt more like home to me. My eyes had again been opened to how much I let pass me by when I get too comfortable. I felt an independence and a confidence in London that I sometimes feel just out of my reach in Canada. Losing London has been quite difficult. Even though I always had it in the back of my mind that everything was just temporary, it surprised me just how much life I had created in that short amount of time.
Life goes on. You must learn to adapt and prosper in the face of life. London and the people I met in it will always be the loves of my life. My heart has been changed forever.
Fun travels!
