The Aughts

This doesn't have anything to do with my going to London, but it's a monumental event and deserves mention....

It's almost 2010!  I stupidly didn't realize it to be the end of a decade until I saw the ubiquitous end-of-year magazines, particularly one heralding the 2000's to be [dun dun dun] THE DECADE FROM HELL.

"Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post-World War II era.  Call it the Decade from Hell, or the Reckoning, or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade.  Call it whatever you want - just give thanks that it is nearly over."

-- TIME, November 24, 2009

I was really sad when I read that.  Sure, this decade has been plagued by bad stuff, and I don't want to deny the terribleness of 9/11 or war or disease or financial trouble....  Okay, it's been a pretty bad ten years.  But, the 2000's recap has been so bleak everywhere.  I am personally offended and upset that people claim that these years in which I grew up were so horrendous.  I resent the fact that history books will look upon these years as the "Decade of Broken Dreams".  Melodramatic much?  Why do people only want to remember the bad things?  I prefer to be more optimistic, but maybe that's because that's just my personality.  I hate when the media bashes things incessantly (except, say, Sarah Palin; she deserves it, and Tina Fey is epic...); why can't they also discuss even in the slightest the good things that happened this decade?  Not even one nice event?  Just think: whenever a door closes, a window opens.  I hope I am neither naive nor alone in thinking this. 

Okay, if the world had no happy, felicitous events in the past ten years, maybe I'll just recap some of mine.

- I graduated from elementary school, junior high school (as valedictorian!), and high school.
- I aged 10 years, in a good way.  I'm nearly 20 years old now, and I've learned so much in these years.  (Gosh, I'd hope so; if not, I'd still have the mind and mentality of a 9-year-old.)
- I learned to appreciate my family and everything I have.
- I made some great friends.
- I started college.
- I went to Florence (this topic deserves its own tome); I'm planning a whirlwind trip to Europe currently.

Eh.  I didn't mean to pat myself on the back for the past ten years in this post.  But I wanted to express how depressingly the media illustrated the start of this century.  Certainly, something good must have happened, and I firmly believe good things will happen in the next ten years too.

My yearbook quote, cheesy as it was:

"Believe in your heart that something wonderful is about to happen."

(Apparently my high school yearbook is full of deep philosophy.  I was unaware of this until now.)

Smile.  Celebrate.  Happy new year.  Cheers!

On British Accents

Today, my sister and I spent quite some time mindlessly talking to each other in really bad, affected, posh British accents.  I'm sure if we were in the presence of a Limey, we would be very embarrassed.

Recently, I have watched a bunch of British films in the attempt to familiarize with the accents, slang, and mannerisms.  In my repertoire over the past week: Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, The Queen, Bridget Jones' Diary, About a Boy, Notting Hill, A Bit of Fry and Laurie....  I think I should also re-watch the entire Harry Potter series, just for kicks.  But then, my sister reckons (haha, "reckons") that I will be spewing words like "Expecto Patronum".

Since I realized I was going to London, something else has changed in me that somewhat involves accents.  I've summoned up the courage to speak to strangers that I run into who speak with English accents.  For example, a few months ago, I met a father and daughter pair on the F train who were speaking with English accents.  I didn't want to bother them, but after a few stops, I turned to the dad next to me and said, "Sorry, but may I ask where are you from?"  He told me they were from Manchester, and I told them a bit that I was headed to London next year.  Then, last week, I was window-shopping at Bloomingdale's on 59th Street with my friends and we paid a visit to the Clinique counter when a Clinique beauty lady asked if I needed help.  Honestly, I was just nosing about, but she had a British accent, so I asked her where she was from.  A Londoner, she turned out to be!  I told her that next month, I'd be studying there.  Sure, it was a bit awkward, but very it is interesting to meet such new people, and certainly not something that happens every day.

These experiences have surprised me.  Namely, I never thought of myself as one who would strike up conversation with strangers.  Like most New Yorkers, I usually mind my own business.  I even get annoyed when this particular woman gets on at 55th Street and constantly and incessantly talks to her neighbors until Pacific Street.  Either way, I think this is a good thing for me: extroversion, friendliness, conversation, meeting new people!  Incidentally, I cannot wait to meet scores of Englishmen and Englishwomen - and even people of vastly more countries - once I go to London!

Two beloved history teachers from high school wrote in my yearbook:

"Enjoy the great journey you are about to embark on.  Keep that wonderful curiosity...it will serve you well."  -- pbb

"Love college - break out of the mold."  -- dpg

Well, here's my chance!

Two Weeks' Notice

I am leaving for London in two weeks!  I can’t believe the moment is nearly here!

There is so much on my mind; it is really quite overwhelming.

The thing that has been most nagging me recently is how much I am going to miss home.  “Home” encompasses everything from my family, my house, my neighborhood, my school, my friends, and even my country.  I have never really been away from home.  (Okay, that’s a little false: in fourth grade, I went on my first overnight trip to Taconic Outdoor Education Center in Cold Springs, NY, for three days; after graduation, I spent a joyous weekend at Minerals Resort with my good friends; finally, about a year ago, I had the best week of my life in Florence, Italy.)

So, I’ve been a bit away from home, but never for the duration of a whole semester.  In that sense, I am different from most of my fellow college students.  A year and a half ago, most of my peers had already put their adolescent years behind them and moved away to college.  Nope, here I am: still eating at the dinner table with my family instead of in a dining hall with schoolmates, still sleeping in my comfortable bed instead of on a strange cot and flat mattress-like thing in a dorm room.  There have been times when I complain about commuting and wish I had a place on campus, namely when the trains do not run in my favor or during late-late-night organic chemistry review sessions.  Nevertheless, I love my family and love coming home to them.

But no longer!  In two weeks, I will hop on a plane, skip across the pond, and move into a completely unfamiliar room, building, neighborhood, and country.  Hopefully, I will be sharing a room with my best friend; we shall see when I arrive.  I am thankful to know a bunch of NYU pals who are also traveling with me, and I hope to get to know them better over the course of these 16 weeks; I sense these are friendships that will last a lifetime.  At last, I think it is finally time for me to gain some real independence.  After all, my family has babied me for my whole life: I do not have to cook, clean, grocery-shop, or lift a finger at home.  (I do help out, though! Don’t get the notion that I’m a lazy brat.)  I’m a bit nervous about the cooking for myself and having to take care of laundry and watch my limited budget…but I couldn’t be happier!  And to be able to do it all in the City of Majesty!

I think I have always wanted to visit London.  Since I was young, I was always intrigued by their accents.  Who isn’t?  Then, when Harry Potter entered my life, I wanted to visit the real-life landmarks of King’s Cross, the Burrow, Hogwarts…oh, wait, never mind….  Also, London would be a springboard for my journey into the rest of Europe!  After my visit to Italy this year, I’ve been bitten by an extremely virulent travel bug, in the best sense, of course.  Every country and city I hear of, I want to visit!  Paris, Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Vienna – I want to see them all, and more, and I endeavor to do so.

Of course, it is not all fun and games.  I will be taking classes: Organic Chemistry II, Social Psychology, Cognition, and Seeing London’s Architecture.  I certainly have to discipline myself to make time to study and do well.  This might be a big obstacle, but…I suppose I will only know when it occurs…

…which will be quite soon!

Cheerio, darlings!