A Moment of Peace

Before I left for London I was seriously anxious that I would spend the next two and a half months as a total loner.  I figured I would be way older than most people in the program, which is sort of true, and that I would have a hard time making friends.  On the contrary however, I can't seem to get a moment of peace around here.  Not that I'm seriously upset about having made friends, I'm actually relieved to have a more active social life.  But I was just expecting to have more time to read, maybe play a little ukulele, perhaps wander around the city unaccompanied.  Instead of alone time though I have been constantly surrounded by people.  At school I literally can't sit for more than a minute in silence without someone coming up and talking my ear off.  I get a continuous stream of text message invitations to various activities ranging from going to the pub, to joining the Harry Potter Club (which yes, actually exists). 

On Saturday I made up my mind to go to Knotting Hill by myself for at least a couple hours in the morning.  As I was sneaking out the front door, I was caught by the entire apartment full of guys on the first floor whose window overlooks the street.  Completely dumbfounded as to why I would want to go to a street fair alone rather than spend the morning drinking beer in their apartment, one of them convinced me to meet him later to walk around Buckingham Palace.  I accepted graciously, though secretly a little bitter to have yet another demand on my time.  That morning is when I met Lane in the antique market who told me all about the skeleton keys.  I also had the most lovely walk through the entirety of Kensington and Hyde Parks.  After I spent the afternoon meandering around and taking pictures, I met up with my friend outside of the tube station for Buckingham Palace.

That was when the coolest thing happened.  As we approached the courtyard in front of the Palace, we noticed an unusually large gathering of people.  After inquiring about the crowd from some very pleasant   Bobbies, we learnt that in just about a half an hour the Pope was scheduled to drive by there on his way to make a speech in Hyde Park.  Though there was already a very sizable crowd lining the streets, apparently none of them noticed the vacant stone column behind them.  So we climbed up on top of it, and had a perfect view of the street beyond where the Pope was expected to drive by.  We sat and chatted away the half hour, and finally got to see the Pope drive by in his bullet proof vehicle dubbed "the pope-mobile".  How fortunate I felt as I sat on top of that stone wall taking pictures of the pope-mobile.  The night ended with a few pints at the pub with some of my new friends, and I went to bed happy, and slightly tipsy.

When I woke up the next morning I was so glad that I hadn't blown off meeting my friend at Buckingham Palace.  I was also glad that I took the morning for myself, and had the most amazing time in the process.  I guess it all comes down to balance.  Making friends, while spending time with myself as well is healthy.  I never want to be the kind of person that fears being alone, but even more than that, I really never want to be the person who doesn't have any friends.  So, every time I get frustrated with the constant texting, or the incessant talking during my breaks, I will just try to remember that without friends I would have never seen the Pope, and that was pretty damn cool.