Random London

I took my last Westminster Exam today - The Rise of the Novel. It went alright. I won't say great because I had no idea how to prepare or what is expected. At Michigan I'd say I would expect an A- or a B+ but we'll see how they grade here. On my way to the exam, and on my way home I got a reminder of the wonderful randomness of London. Expect the unexpected.

I was heading up the stairs at Oxford Circus on my way to the exam and over my rock music that I'm jammin to I heard some other music coming from outside. I look up and take my headphones out and am confronted with the most random sight - African tribal dancers in red cloth and face paint singing about Jesus right outside the tube station. My face split into a smile and the mood hasn't broken all day. There were photographers, gawkers and a film crew. I still have no idea why they were there but it made my day!

On my way home from Uni after a good workout at the gym I am walking home to Shoreditch and a big white van drives by on Old Street. Suddenly the driver sticks his head out the window and howls...yes...howls. But the driver was wearing this wolf/wolverine/monster mask. This silliness just made me laugh out loud and shake my head. Oh randomness.

It occurs to me that my recent bad mood (evidence by my lack of blogging) has to do with not having a purpose. Going to class has been my purpose since I was 5 and during summers there was work. I don't have an organized schedule purpose since classes ended and I got back from traveling over Easter holiday. Once my paper was done my only task was theoretically to study for this exam and I didn't really know what to do. I've kept up with the reading so I didn't have to read anything. I reviewed the plots, themes, characters of the novels I was intending to write on and skimmed some critical reviews but other than that I didn't really know what else to do. I'll go into the relative merits of the UK education system (as I've experineced) later.

My point is that I never realized how cranky I get when I don't have anything to do! With most of my friends preparing for their finals or preparing to go home I've been at loose ends. With an unexpected amount of "free time" I am going to have to give myself something to do and be productive towards my own personal goals, instead of organized academic goals that have always provided me with a value system with goals to reach for me. That is my task for this afternoon while I do laundry. I will post my reading list and sylabus shortly.

Berlin

It's Eater Holiday and I'm in Berlin with JoAnne, Hope and Beth! It's been a great two days and we're heading to Warsaw Poland tomorrow. We went on a few tours which were really good and we saw quite a few memorials and places related to Nazi Germany as well as the Soviet occupation of Berlin. I saw the Berlin Wall which was a really cool experience having learned about it in school and understanding how much the history here has completely changed the world. 

It stuck me that this city is like the buds on all the tree right now. The twentieth century has been a long cold winter for Germany and Berlin and now the weather is warmer, the flowers are starting to bloom and the first buds are springing from the ruin of extreme political domination. The brand new modern buildings were striking. Berlin as a city is much older than anything in the United States, yet a majority of the city was leveled during WW2 and the new buildings were built in the modern style. 

I'm quite tired and don't have the energy to keep writing - we've seen most of Berlin in just two days! Tomorrow we catch a lunch time train to Warsaw Poland!