Expectations

"What are men to rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We will know where we have gone---we will recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor, when we attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarrelling about its relative situation. Let our first effusions be less insupportable than those of the generality of travellers."
~Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen

In 17 days, I will be on my way to London. I'll arrive on the morning of June 7th, and for six weeks I'll take classes, live in a University of London dorm, and explore London.

It still hasn't sunk in.

Right now I'm still at Yale, working at the Yale Press (where I'll be working in August), hanging out with Glee Clubbers, and looking forward to Commencement weekend, this weekend, which will be a crazy flurry of rehearsals, baccalaureate services, and concerts. I haven't made any packing lists, haven't finalized how I'm getting from Heathrow to my dorm, none of that.

I am, however, reading. We have seven books to read for British Comic Fiction and one to read for British Art in the Georgian Era. I've already finished Joseph Andrews and Pride & Prejudice (hence the quote, more on that later), and am now beginning Nicholas Nickleby. More Dickens, some Thackeray, Evelyn Waugh, and the Alice books are ahead of me, in addition to the art history book. But I'm enjoying it.

So. This blog. I have another blog, mostly dedicated to books and movies, and I have a livejournal, which I've been neglecting. But I wanted something separate for London, something to include all of my experiences abroad this summer. (The title, by the way, is a bit misleading. I plan to visit Paris, as well as other places in the UK, like Stonehenge and maybe Dublin, so I'll be writing about those trips here too.)

I want to remember this summer, to be able to come back and know where I've been and what I've seen, like Elizabeth Bennet says she will in the quote at the beginning of this post. I want to be able to look back at my trip to London and remember what it felt like to be there, through stories and photos. So this blog is as much, or more, for me, than it is for anyone else.

But I also want it to be a means of communication, of sharing my experiences with friends and family. Check back, see what I've been up to. But also---email me. Blogs are nice but they're very one-sided; you may know what I've been up to, but I won't have any idea about you unless you tell me. I'll write back, I promise.