With finals coming up and less than a week left in this incredible city, I have been extremely reflective recently. Although my mind has been focusing on fun facts about the BBC, British Reggae, and Henry V (these are the types of cool things that I have been studying over the past semester), my mind has also been focusing on how far I have come since arriving waaay back in September.
Less than one week ago, I was saying goodbye to the most amazing friends, taking in my last glimpses of the most beautiful places, and getting ready for a triple-flight endeavor back home to the States. Now, finally home and visiting friends at school, I honestly can't believe what just happened over the course of only a few months.
I found the statue soon after I discovered the jogging path along the Grand Canal. For a long time, I didn’t know its name, didn’t know the name of the figure that sat on the park bench near the water’s edge, day in, day out, no matter how stormy the weather.
Studying and running have very strongly characterized my life from my teenaged years on, which left myself little room for trying new things.
One of the simplest but most enjoyable activities I have found over my time here has been to sit out on the heated terrace of a café with a coffee or a glass of wine and watch Paris pass by.
Tuesday morning I started crying in the middle of the city. I was with three friends, following along with the teacher who had taken us to see the Garden of Remembrance dedicated to all the men and women who died for Irish liberty. It was beautiful there, despite the cold, despite the construction happening at one end to prepare a monument for next year’s centenary. There was a fountain shaped like a cross, a statue of four swans turning into children.
Instead of returning to Shanghai early, six of us took advantage of our 4-day weekend, journeying from Siem Reep, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand’s capital and most populous city. Bangkok is a modern and progressive metropolis steeped in history.
11 December 2015 "Public baths? You mean where I bathe with other people? Oh no, no, no. No thank you but that’s definitely not for me. Really, by all means, I do not mind passing on that while in Japan."