Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Hey all,

So I am back in London and have moved into my "new flat" for 4 days, where I am living with a woman named Sue and her friend named Alex, who is crashing with her because he is renting out his flat as well. I am thrilled to be in this location. It is literally right in the middle of everything, right off the main shopping street (Oxford)- and is dangerously close to TopShop- and the Topshop offshoot store- which I realy shouldn't even look around in. However it is on this tiny little street, so you don't feel like you are crowded, or in the smack dab center of London, which is pretty cool. Here is a picture of the street I am on:
And here is "my room".



Anyways, went to check in with the doctor yesterday morning, and he seemed to think that things were improving ( thank god) however slowly. I am going to go back next week to see if the biopsy is still needed, and to see if an MRI is still needed ( I cound't get an appointment until Ot. 9th anyways.....) But this is good news, and though London still needs to remain my base until further notice, I should be able to pop in and out, and still go to Munich this weekend for Oktoberfest- and maybe I could even try to make it back up to Scotland? we shall see. I have to have a big chat with Brittish Airways to rearrange my tickets.

I still haven't been able to go get my photos of barcelona put onto a cd so I can put them on a computer, but here is a one I took in the market I wrote about, on my phone before my phone died. I love market places for some reason. The last morning I was in Barcelona I went to one of the houses that Gaudi designed, and got to tour the inside. It was really cool- I took way too many photos of that as well- and bought a calendar. haha

The funny thing that I realized in Barcelona, and on my first experience experiencing a city completely on my own, is that I have somehow still set these weird standards for my self on this trip. I have managed to create obligations for myself on a trip that is meant to be obligation free. For example, I woke up late everyday I was there, and I managed to feel guilty that I wasn't waking up early enough. I didn't feel like talking to other people in the hostel this weekend, and I felt bad that I wasn't doing what I was "supposed" to in the hostel. I wanted to order a steak, but I felt bad that I wasn't ordering the Spainish calamari dish I was supposed to. Its sort of ridiculous how many rules I still make for myself, and how guilty I can feel about nothing, and all by myself with no one watching- and I think that this is something that is really good for me to work on on this trip. I think I need to let go of the idea of"right and wrong". Sure, there is a fine line between staying in your comfort zone and just doing what you want to do- but the bottom line is that this trip is about me, and if I am tired and want to sleep in- there is probably good reason for it. And by allowing myself to just do what I want, I think that I will get more out of the experiences I actually choose.

I think that that was part of what was so great about Africa. You kind of just had to go with the flow, there were not a bunch of tourist sites to tally mark, and it was all about just experiencing what the day had for you- and even if you had a plan you had to just let Africa serve you what it wanted to- and it ended up being the perfect combination of experiences. I just have to keep being open to surprises, and let go of the guilt I feel when I am less interested in one thing versus another, regardless of how famous or important the tourist site is.

There you go, a little bit of rambling for you.

I am not going to feel guilty that it is now one o clock and I haven't left the flat. But I am going to thoroughly enjoy whatever activity I choose for this afternoon. haha

signing out.
http://rebeccasworldadventure.blogspot.com

2 comments:

  1. Hooray for self revelation! I am so happy that your trip is proving to be so enlightening! Love you 8^)

    -peter

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  2. I don't know if you know this, but I went to Barcelona for four days in the middle of my trip to France, and I totally went to that marketplace on La Rambla! And a lot of the other places you mention...I love thinking about how I was just there and now you are. It makes the trip seem more real. Yay!

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