My love affair with London continues.
Not many understand why I have this emotional attachment to this city. But the weather, they groan. The people- so uptight! Racist even.
I loved this city before I started studying in it. I knew, I knew from a young age that the United Kingdom would be the destination for me- I wanted to be as close to London as I could.
And the last two years have been nothing if not a rollercoaster ride. I lived with my boyfriend of the time here, broke up with him here. I danced in the clubs, I roamed the streets. I drank in celebration and I drank in misery. I made friends. I also lost friends. I shared my bed, and I shared others'.
I also studied at a world-class institution, an experience I would trade for nothing in the world. I met the most amazing, intelligent and interesting people. The kind of people you would stay up all night talking to over dinner and wine. The kind of people who wake you up in the middle of the night because they're having a drunken debate on some philosophical subtlety outside your window- and you don't mind. The kind of people who only add to my insatiable curiousity, something I regard a wonderful thing.
London is nothing without its streets. You haven't experienced life until you've made the walk along the river, across Millenium Bridge in the middle of the night. You don't find out what music and creativity is about until you've walked the raw pulse of Camden. You won't know the magical feeling of seeing the vast, stony, elegant political and business centre of Westminster at 3 in the morning, when it's empty and you feel that the world belongs to you.
And yes, it rains. Sometimes it rains for days on end, making you doubt the existence of the sun. And yes, it is faceless, anonymous. And yes, it can be elitist.
But even that not only do I not mind, but I love. It doesn't matter- nothing matters. Because you can be who you want to be and screw everyone else. Walk in the rain, ride the deep tunnels of the Tube. Soon enough, you might feel like the city belongs to you.
