Of all places not to beep at, is Heathrow airport in London. Of course, on my departure home, that is exactly what happened. The results: getting the most thorough pat down ever, where no part of the body was skipped (sans the bits that could bring about lawsuits). Low and behold I discovered a bobby pin in my pants pocket after putting my shoes back on.
The journey home was long and tiresome. It began Tuesday morning around 6:45 a.m. when my alarm went off. Tuesday was spent at Goldsmiths - University of London. I was checking out the MA in Critical Practice course. The journey in the morning to Goldsmiths was ridiculously long. I left Korri's flat at around 8:40ish a.m. to catch the tube - Victoria line at Seven Sisters to Kings Cross to switch onto the Northern line, got off at Bank to catch a bus to the first open stop on the DLR (the DLR was down starting at Bank). By the time I got to Goldsmith's it was 11am. All in all it was an awesome day. A real university. Who would have thought! I got to hear a lecture, participate in an activity and see the first critic of the first project. It was nice. And I've been told that that program has a 100% employment rate within six months of graduating. Plus they get to work with major companies along the course of the program: last year Kodak, this year possibly t-mobile and the London Olympics. Seriously? Super rad!!!
After Goldsmiths I had some time to kill so I went to the grocery store, got dinner for the night and an assortment of sweets to bring home - staring at the candy section pondering what to get when never having tried any of them before proved quite difficult. I resorted to asking people who stopped next to me what they recommended.
Once back at Korri's and eating dinner I packed and re-packed. I have become quite the pro if I do say so myself. Considering that most of my stuff was already packed, it took no time at all. Once done I watched Juno with Korri and her flatmate Michelle. By the time the movie was over it was late, very late, so I decided that staying up all night would be better than trying to nap for 3-4 hours.
Around 3ish a.m. I popped into the shower and started to prepare for my long journey home. Thank goodness for Korri willing to be an awesome friend and get up before 5 a.m. to help me haul all my crap to the tube and then switching onto the Piccadilly line; props to the tube for opening at 5:20 a.m. Traveling internationally they require you to check in 3 hours before your flight. That meant that I needed to be at Heathrow by 7:30 a.m. Since it was so early the tube was speedy and running well. I got to Heathrow at 7 a.m. Some dud offered to help carry my stuff, even though he had less than an hour before his flight - I told him thanks, but that I could do it on my own. Check in was not too bad. My massive suite case was only 5lbs. over the maximum limit of paying extra, and luckily I had enough room in my other checked bag to pack in that amount.
The wait till the flight was not too bad at all, I snacked and hydrated. No window seat, but I did get an isle seat in the middle with 4 seats empty next to me where I napped like no other. 11 hours and 8 minutes later I landed in San Fransisco where I had a 3 1/2 hour layover to get through customs, security and catch my flight. 2 hours later I landed in Portland where I was greeted by the wonderful Natali. She informed me that we had just enough time to get back to her place, I could have a quick shower, and then off to dinner with the ladies at Piazza Italia, our favorite restaurant located in the Pearl. It was lovely and good and a wonderful welcome home, even though I was exhausted beyond belief.
Today, my first full day back in the states, west coast styling once again, I am tired, sluggish, broke and not sure what to do with myself. I have no phone, I do not know who has my car keys or where my car is even located (It never sold, thanks Dad). But I am optimistic. My 25th year, which commences on the fifteenth of November will bring good things, I am sure of it. It is time to kick off the freelance designer lifestyle, look into bigger and better grad schools abroad and prepare for round 2 and just enjoy life with good people. This year will be a good year!
Now, I will leave you with a small writing I did on my last full day in London while walking to the DLR after my day at Goldsmiths pertaining to my thoughts about my current predicament:
'Now I could spend time banging my hand against my head thinking 'dumb me', but that would be irrelevant and most likely cause a headache. A more productive use of time would be to analyze why and how things came about and except the fact that the universe always puts you where you need to be'.
Happily, I can say I am now successfully designing again. Two books down, more to come...
