When I left home on Monday morning my planned destination was the British Museum, a thirty-minute walk from my house. However, on the way I discovered the Wellcome Collection, a find that I glad I encountered before leaving London. The collection was founded my Sir Henry Wellcome and it is essentially all the artifacts he collected in his lifetime as a patron of science. Their current special exhibit is called, “DIRT.” It covered everything from the cleaning habits of the Dutch in the seventeenth century, London during the cholera outbreak of 1854, the revolution to the medical field following the use of antiseptic, the “untouchables” of India to the largest municipal landfill in the world in Staten Island. It was a really intriguing portrayal of how dirt is present in everyday life. The permanent exhibits are the “Medicine Man” and “Medicine Now.” In the “Medicine Man” section, I was able to see an assortment of odd artifacts concerning health and medicine. For instance, vintage artificial limbs, chastity belts, Napoleon Bonaparte’s toothbrush and a lock of King George III’s hair. In “Medicine Now,” I learned about genomes, malaria and obesity. After several hours in the Wellcome Collection, I proceeded on my way to the British Library. As an English Literature minor, I have never experienced such literary ecstasy as I did in the British Library. I was able to see a 1410 copy of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” handwritten notes by Jane Austen and her writing desk and works by John Milton. It was magical. The library had other cool items unrelated to literature like Mozart’s marriage contract, handwritten pieces from Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud and Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Magna Carta. It was an awesome day of planned exploration and accidental discoveries.
Tuesday was my last full day in London and I wandered through the day with a feeling of slowness. The feeling hung on all of activities from packing to reading in the park. “Slowness” is the only adjective that comes to mind to describe the feeling, yet it does not do my mood justice. I felt I was neither here nor there, a no man’s land of abandoning London and not yet in the embrace of Seattle. The weather seemed to echo my feelings as throughout the day it failed to decide which meteorologists’ forecast to adhere to. The day waffled between sunshine, dark clouds and rain. For me, the sunshine was the feeling I would soon be in Seattle and I wished to bask in that emotion. However, in the distance were the dark clouds that indicated the foreboding feeling I felt concerning my departure from London. Finally, the rain manifested itself today, Wednesday, in tears.
I write now from my flight to Seattle seeking to capture this odd medley of feelings that are cycling through my day of travel. As I left London this morning, I said cheerio to the city with the realization I was saying good-bye to this phase of my life. It will be a rare gift if I ever again have the opportunity to spend half a year exploring one foreign country. On my flight from England to Iceland I grieved for all that I was taking leave of. My landing in Iceland marked the half waypoint from London to Seattle and with it a shift in sentiment. It is now three hours and counting before I land in Seattle. I will be home and with it brings excitement and anxiety. I wonder how things will have shifted in my absence. My relationships, my responsibilities and myself. I question if I am ready. I suppose in three hours I will know.
Today, Thursday, I am home. It feels natural and right. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog while I was abroad! Now my eyes are turned towards home sweet home.
