Public Transportation... and then some.

Being that my only means of transportation in this crazy city is public, I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I remember when I was in high school, living in New York City (a city equally as crazy, if not more so, than London), I really hated public transportation. I had to do it every single day, back and fourth to the same places over and over again. The 7 train was so incredibly excruciating, not to mention that I've been followed by creepy men no less than five times AND been beaten with a homeless man's cane (not as funny as it sounds). I just remember being so tired from the traveling that I didn't even want to go out because it was too much effort.

Here in London, on the other hand, I don't seem to mind it as much. Granted, I don't have to take the train or bus to school, which makes life a lot easier, but its not like I live super close to central London either. I pretty much have to take the bus and train to hang out with my friends, go shopping, get my haircut, go to the grocery store, and do anything really worth while. Maybe I don't mind it much because I don't really have to do it everyday, but its not like its a picnic either, so I don't really know why I don't mind it as much as I did back in high school.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I do get frustrated by the fact that at least one of the lines I usually take on weekends are closed every single week, they are constantly delayed/don't come when they are scheduled to, or they're overcrowded beyond belief. Okay fine, I'm still not a big fan of public transportation, but honestly, I'd rather stand on a packed train that's moving than sit in traffic for over an hour. True story.

On a side note, I got my first London haircut today! 

This is what I wanted...

..

...and this is what I got.

So... not a big fan of the hair stylist that I had. He was very nice and very informative, but when I asked him to cut my bangs shorter, he flat out said, "Well, I'm only cutting it this much more, and I'm not going any shorter than that. I don't think you'll be happy if I do." I wanted to be like, "DUDE! I asked for it shorter. I think I'd be happy if I got what I asked for. I mean, c'mon." Its not like I was asking for him to make them look like this:

Anyway, maybe I'll like it better when I style it myself. That usually happens to me. I'll just have to get my bangs trimmed when I go home in December, which is still SO LONG from now!!! On the other hand, I can't even believe that its Thanksgiving next week!!! I'm sort of nervous about it, though because I've never hosted Thanksgiving before! I feel like I'm Monica from Friends or something. Come to think of it, I kind of am like her. I like things neat, I like to cook, and I have brown hair! Well, I guess a lot of people can relate to her then, but still, I've definitely always felt like more of a Monica than a Rachel or a Phoebe. I digress... the point is that I'm really nervous about cooking Thanksgiving dinner for like 15 to 20 people and I've never cooked Thanksgiving dinner on my own before. AH! At least I will have the help and support of my roomies (or flatties, I guess) and one of my bestestest friends ever, Blair Brown!!!

That's right! I have my first visitor in London coming in TWO DAYS!!! Blair and Stephen (her boyfriend) are coming from San Fran to London on Thursday, and I can't contain my excitement! We have so many fun things planed too! Firstly, we're going to Koko on Friday (this Indie club in Camden), then we're making Thanksgiving dinner together, and then we're going to Oxford next Saturday, and I've never been there before! WOO! So many fun things to look forward to and distract me from the pain in my stomach that I have from thinking about my assessment on the 1st and 2nd of December. Can't wait!

Wanderer...

Thought I'd share this... I love it so much!

I'm Back!

I realize that I've been M.I.A. for the past month or so, and I just want to officially say that I'm back! I'm sure that most of you reading this knew that I was alive and still living in London, and even though most of you know what I've been up to (some in great detail), I still feel the need to give a very general, non-descriptive overview as well.

So, what have I been doing? Well, let's see... I've been practically living at Laban, performing ridiculously complicated choreographic tasks, reading extremely cryptic dance literature, finding excuses to wear fake-hipster glasses, spending lots of quality time with my fellow MA Choreography (a.k.a. MAC) peers, and finally, losing my appreciation for the TFL due to the multiple tube and DLR weekend closures that coincidentally interfered with ALL my plans. So, in a nutshell, I've been kind of busy. I have also gone right back into my lovely habits of procrastination that I had weirdly forgotten about during that year between undergrad and grad school, hence, me writing this blog. What I actually should be doing right now is planning my rehearsal coming up in two hours, but... meh.

During this one month blog hiatus, I have also managed to schedule some pretty awesome "holidays" during the next two terms, which I am so excited about. Beginning on December 10th, I am going to be a traveling machine (not to be confused with a time traveling machine... which would be pretty sweet, but not gonna happen). From December 10-17th, I'm going to Sicily to visit my cousins (YAY!), then I come back to London for three days, and then I hop right back on a plane to New York for two and a half weeks. So, after all of the family traveling ends, I head back over to London on January 6th to begin my 2nd term at Laban!

Now, one may think, "Christina, that's already a lot of traveling! You're probably done for a while once you return to London, right?" and to that I would say, "HELL NO!" A few weeks after I return to London, my friends and I are traveling to Oslo for the weekend, then in February we're going to Paris to visit another friend, then in March I'm going to Stratford-upon-Avon with some MAC people, at the end of March we're going skiing in the Italian Alps, and THEN at the end of June we're going to Peru! There are also a few trips that I have yet to plan with my MAC people. I don't think I have ever traveled this much in such a short period of time in my entire life! This is honestly a dream come true, and I think that I am in such a good mood (despite some things that should actually be bringing my mood down quite a bit) because I am so excited about life right now!

First of all, the traveling that I will be doing coming up very soon is a huge life goal of mine that I am finally getting to achieve. Secondly, Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up, and this is my absolute favorite time of year! I know, they don't celebrate American Thanksgiving in England, but I don't even care because I am already planning a really awesome Thanksgiving feast for some of my favorite people in the whole wide world! I, of course, will be greatly missing my entire family on this day, but the thought that I will be seeing them very soon for Christmas (my absolute favorite holiday) makes me feel so much better! Anyway, I am just in one of those extremely hopeful moods, and I am really trying to keep myself that way. The last thing that I want to do is fall back into my funk, which ultimately did not allow me to keep up with my blogging.

It feels good to be back! Now, onwards and upwards!!! YAY!