London: A Recap
Trip Start
Jan 02, 2006
1
20
Trip End
May 30, 2006
Madison, Wisconsin
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Well now that I am safely back in the United States, I feel it is necessary to provide some sort of a valediction for my five months in Britain. Looking back now, more than a month since getting back from England, I feel a great longing to return to London once more. Those five months were most definitely the five best months of my life. My time in England definitely had its share of frustrations, moments of despair, and utter loneliness and isolation, but with each day that passes my appreciation of London and my time spent there only grows.
London is a gem of human civilization. It has all that one could possibly want in terms of entertainment, diversions, public parks, restaurants, good public transportation, and historic sites. While it does have its quirks and annoyances, I must say that aside from a rather random and ill-advised trip to a remote part of East London, I never once felt threatened during my entire time in London, even while out late at night. While the weather is often unpredictable, it is definitely not as bad as many claim, and at least during my time there, there were a fair number of bright and sunny days. I can say though that there's nothing like a sunny day that brings London alive.
Undoubtedly, I visted many great and historic buildings, sites, museums, libraries, and other locations during my time in Europe. I travelled far more than I thought possible, and yet in my travels I encountered far more destinations that I would like to visit again, and others that I would like to visit sometime during my life. I must confess, however, that nonstop travel is definitely not for me. I realized that I appreciate places more when I am there on short visits and am then able to return to a home base. In an odd way, London, and not America, was that home base both in a physical and emotional sense. A place that felt safe, clean, and livable. This was a feeling I never thought I'd express, but it's true.
The people that I met during my time in England were also interesting. Although the 26 people on our program were all business students, I did not know the vast majority of them prior to the trip, and it was nice getting to know my fellow classmates. I also enjoyed learning from my colleagues at Deloitte, and my professor at Imperial College, Thomas Lawton. But it was also the random people that I met in hostels, or standing by the side of the road, or on the train, etc. that made a great impression on me. Many of these individuals were like me (i.e. they were American college students) but others were from countries I had never been to, and had either heard about tangentially on the news or in a book. As a geographic afficianado, this was exciting to me.
Most of all, what I'll always take away from my trip are the life lessons that were presented to me. And the thousands of moments that I experienced when past knowledge and present situations finally began to make some sense. I feel like for the first time in my life, I took significant and informed risks and enjoyed the fruit of my daring. I learned that balance is the key to inner happiness and that success has to be defined on your own terms.
Before I wax too nostalgic and philosophize beyond my capacity of erudition, let me thank you the reader for patiently reading this blog. I'm not sure how many of you made it this far, but I heartily congratulate those of you who did.
I am glad to be back in my homeland, the USA, and I am looking forward to pursuing the interests that I developed in London in the upcoming months and years as well as putting into regular practice the lessons that I learned.
Thanks again for reading, and look for pictures from my upcoming trip to India in August!
Happy Trails,
Jayanth
