Making London a Home: Why it is Essential to Always Have a Plan...and Why Those Plans are Absolutely Worthless

I have always had mixed feelings toward plans. I have experienced efficient planning that leads to successful events with my mom, and I have also flown by the seat of my pants with my friends for years. All of these experiences have almost always been successful and not to mention a great time. So...I have never really known where I fall; am I a planner, or am I not?

London has not solved this quandary. When I am in unfamiliar territory with places to be on a deadline, planning is a must. Also, living in east London, when the Tube closes at midnight and where the night bus takes ages to get anywhere, requires at least some general guideline in order to avoid paying for a taxi. I've been planning. I've also seen those plans go up in flames at the precise moment that they're meant to guide me to success (preferably on a yacht, in a Formula 1 race car, or atop angels wings on very special occasions) ...

I've planned for fun:

Every Monday, Desiree, Margaux and I meet for dinner. It's great! Good company and good food is an amazing way to start off the week. Unfortunately, my week started off a little crazier than that. I need a trench coat. So, I took myself down to the Burberry Factory Store; 50-70% off...chyeaaahh! As expected it was still a little out of my price range but still outrageously fun to walk around and touch things.I had a backup plan! It was time to head downstairs to wash some clothes...

4 POUNDS FOR ONE LOAD IN A WASHING MACHINE THAT ONLY HOLDS 3 PANT LEGS!!! There was no way that I was going to or ever will pay that. Washing 1.5 pairs of pants for 4 pounds (not including the drying) was definitely not happening. Hello sink...

I spent the rest of the morning before class washing the necessities by hand in my cute little sink. I'm becoming very primitively domestic. Ahh such skills I will have! Now I plan my outfit two days in advance so I can wash and it has time to dry...jeans take two days. Tragically, so falls another plan into the burning pit of failure and bare legs cringe at the prospect of goosebumps sure to appear under damp jeans.

I've planned for academia:

Classes here are much different than at home. There are primary and secondary reading lists and it's sort of a guessing game which books will do the most good. I finally sat down to research which books I needed to purchase and which books I was able to check out from the library. It was simple really, I requested the necessary books from the library to pick up at the Regent Street campus and made sure the books I needed to buy at the bookstore were in stock. I planned to leave for class early the next morning to pick them all up.

What should have only taken an hour turned into three consecutive days of 1.5-2 hours/day of walking to find these books. The University has campuses all over; some within walking distance of each other and some not. I walked and searched, sometimes not finding the right building or finding the store to be closed, and even discovering my books were not ready for pick up. I still do not have my library books. Ugh. To make matters worse, there are so many people and so many tourists in the city that nobody walks on the correct side of the sidewalk and major pedestrian congestion is chronic. They drive on the left! So walk on the left for cripes sake! The good news is, all of this walking is really helping me stay in shape...

I plan for exercise...kind of:

I have done my best to stay in shape while I am here. As I've said before, London is a walking city and I take advantage of that while also using the stairs...all the time. But, I thought it was time for a little more structure so I went to Argos (the local everything-you-need-to-survive store). It was raining that night. I love rain. I planned my short journey that would only take me twenty minutes to walk to in the rain. I thought it would be relaxing and refreshing. False. After a little detour and an hour later I finally found it. Only to my utter confusion, I only found catalog kiosks in this tiny little store. I tried to look up some dumbbells and my frustration made it nearly impossible for me to hold in my screech of anger, so I quickly left empty handed and walked back...(which by the way was only 20 minutes when you take the right streets). I still ended up walking about twice as long as planned, which is a common occurrence.

Note: I ended up figuring out the system the next day when it was light outside, not raining, and I had a good night's sleep. Dumbbells and workouts have been in place ever since.

I plan to 'Oxford':

I had a wonderful Saturday in Oxford with Desiree and Margaux. We had planned everything. Desiree and I left early so that we could get to Paddington station with enough extra time to get our tickets. You see the think about London's public transportation is that they like to do maintenance on the weekend. The direct lines to Paddington were closed. After rushing and waiting for the late bus, with frantic calls to Margaux who was trying to get tickets but couldn't because we needed the booking card...we made it with just enough time. But not to fear! I had the rest of the day planned thanks to my handy dandy England guidebook! A trip to Oxford University, walking down high street, and a meal at the Eagle and Child is what we wanted. Turns out (after much walking and staring at numerous maps) Oxford University is made up of lots of different colleges and not really open to the public for free. Campuses are scattered around the city and there is not a main building to attach to the touristy "I came to visit Oxford" photo.

For lunch, I wanted to visit the Eagle and Child, a cozy little pub that Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and other brilliant folk used to frequent in order to talk and write their books. Also, with the commanding encouragement of Joshua Brewer I knew that I needed to snap a photo or two. We walked in, ready for some heavy English pub food and feeling good about the cute little setting. When the girls walked to the bar to order, they were told we had to wait forty minutes while the new food shipment was unloaded. Okay...no thank you! It's 14:00 and we're starving! We left. We found greener pastures however, at a cute little French restaurant that probably gave me the best meal for the best price that I have had since I arrived in the UK. Margaux graciously informed me that of course it was the best...it's French.

The day was really very wonderful. It was great to get out of London for a little bit and being with great friends is always an occasion to have a great time. We walked around the University Park and watched some rugby. It was a fun casual way to laugh and get our fill of boys in little shorts doing manly sport. Unfortunately, none of them were the eye-candy type, but the idea was still a good one. We walked around Magdalene University and snapped lots of photos while discussing where our lives will be in a few years. It seemed a rather fitting topic of conversation to be had in a place that is built around knowledge.

I plan to play it by ear:

Even though it's hard for my plans to come out exactly how they were planned, there are some days where I don't plan. After a quick lunch with a friend I had a about an hour to kill before class. I needed some notebooks and I ended up at PoundLand in Kilburn. Not the greatest neighborhood but I always enjoy discovering new areas that I have never been too. I got a great deal on notebooks and my love for PoundLand grows every day.

I also was able to visit St. Paul's Cathedral with my Art and Society class. It's beautiful and grand to say the least. You'll have to look at photos from Google at the inside because I couldn't take pictures. It took my breath away, and a trip to the top of the dome gave me the best view of the city I have seen so far. It's gorgeous. I plan to go there for Sunday service next week. I went to Wesley's Chapel this week with is also amazing on a much smaller scale.

Fun fact: Not familiar with St. Pauls? YOU'RE WRONG! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrRxQVUFN4

I ended the week celebrating Andrea's birthday. With a visit to Greenwich and the Meridian we spent a wonderful Sunday discovering new sights and as always...spending it in good company.

I'd like to end this post with a shout out to the wonderful people of DU. Congratulations on hosting the first Presidential Debate. From what I saw and heard, the event was amazing and the University was playing it's best hand right at the perfect time. Congratulations to those in charge (Sam, Parker, Stuart, Ariel, Gergana, and whoever else I'm missing from this) you all pulled out a no hitter. And congratulations to Vince Szilagyi for being brilliant and basically branding himself a bad ass for the time being and until probably forever. I wish I could have been there with you. I'm so proud!

So, am I a planner? I'm not so sure. My genetics will probably always insist that I plan, but I have found that it's more appropriate to consider those plans a rough outline and always accept peer editing.

Until next week,

Cheers.