As most of you probably know by now from my obnoxious Facebook posts about Partying in the USA and being back on Notre Dame's non-UK campus, I have, for a few days now, been officially done with study abroad. The people of the London Program executed our final Domer-bomb last Saturday (in the category of sentences I should not speak aloud to the general public), taking over a solid half of one of the giant waiting lounges at Heathrow Airport before boarding our group flights back to the US of A. The past seven days have been crazy - with 2 days in London, 2.5 days in South Bend, and 2.5 days in Logansport - and now that the London laundry hanging up to dry in my shower has left me unable to get anything done, it seemed that now is the perfect time to finally write about my final days in London and my transition back from one L-Town to another.
Since the penultimate week in London brought Parkour Greg climbing through our window, I can't really say that the final week in London brought anything to top my last blog post in terms of excitement. Mostly, it brought a lot of nostalgic lasts. There was the Thursday before the final week, when my Playing Shakespeare classmates and I put on a Macbeth performance for the entire, tipsy London Program. This was fun, nerve-wracking, and extremely weird all at the same time. Mostly, I'm just happy that the audience, which laughed uproariously at such unintentionally innuendo-laden lines as "I have done the deed," did not laugh at my famous but unfortunate line, "Unsex me here."
(If it seems obvious to you that an audience of college students would not laugh at a dramatic Shakespeare monologue, first of all, you completely misunderstand the ethos of the London Program, and second of all, you are clearly not aware that the apartment next to mine - the residents of which took up the entire first row at our performance - was referred to by themselves and others as "Douche Flat.")
The final week brought lots more lasts. The last time I could go out for drinks on a Monday night and not be considered an alcoholic (note: this was also actually the first Monday on which I went out for drinks, but who's counting). The last time I would exchange casual hellos with my friends on our daily commute through Trafalgar Square. The last time I could drop in to the National Gallery after class instead of the Art Department display hallway in O'Shag. The last time I would take an exam as a college junior. Perhaps most heartbreakingly, the last time for at least quite a while that I would shop at Primark.
On Thursday, my last walk home from class across the Hungerford Bridge brought me what is probably my favorite commute of the entire semester. The sun was shining and the temperatures hovering above the 60-degrees-Fahrenheit mark for once, and the people I encountered on my final walk across the now-familiar bridge seemed to be actively trying to make my commute one for the ages. First, there was the twenty-something American girl swearing at her boyfriend in an almost unintelligible Boston accent. As soon as I had passed the two lovebirds and could do so without looking like a psychopath, I broke into one of the biggest grins I think I have ever formed my mouth into. Sure, they were yelling at each other, but they were yelling in the voice of a country I was headed back to in 48 short hours. Weird as this may be, that Boston girl's anger brought me a whole lot of joy.
A few yards later, the joy was multiplied by the simple action of a steel-drum player on one side of the bridge. Seemingly completely at random, the man paused in the middle of his song to shout out one simple word: "happiness." The fact that I kept myself from pulling an Enchanted and breaking into song with these guys is nothing short of a miracle.
On Friday - my last full day in London - I kept the Enchanted trend alive with an impromptu walk through St. James' Park and one last stroll through Parliament Square, past all of the city's most Instagrammable sights. The roommates and I headed out to dinner for one last night of GT'z with G-02, and, before we knew it, it was time to return to the Land of the Free and Home of the Cars That Drive on the Right Side of the Road. We bid a hearty xoxo to an incredible city and semester and headed home.
If you think the story ends there, of course, you are sorely mistaken. My family surprised me at the airport with not only a welcome home poster bearing the shining American visages of both Barack Obama and Honey Boo-Boo Child, but also with a real-life ambush from my two best friends. They took the three of us back to campus, where I spent my first days back in America on the constant brink of tears over how perfect my life is. From multiple meals in the glorious South Dining Hall to a sunset stroll past the Dome en route to the grotto, a lazy afternoon of gossiping on the futons of Howard Hall, and a Sunday bookended by singing in the loft of the Basilica and the choir corner of a full-to-bursting Keough Hall Chapel, it was exactly like I had never left - and it was the perfect transition back into life in the USA.
After one last SDH lunch on Monday afternoon, I finally returned to Logansport. I've been to a potluck dinner/banquet in the LHS cafeteria, made a midday trip to Kokomo, and had generous helpings of Sycamore, B&K, and El Arriero, so I think it's safe to say I'm pretty fully back into the swing of Logansport life already, too.
It was an unbelievable semester in London, but oh, is it great to be back. This afternoon, I'm headed back to campus for a few more days as a homeless but happy rising senior (insert a "WHAT?!" a la G-02 here). From Miami to London to Edinburgh to Amsterdam to Venice to Florence to Paris to Rome to Logansport and back to Notre Dame, it's been a pretty awesome four months.
Thanks for reading the study abroad blog, everybody. From here on out, it'll be back to The Domerberry. If you're on campus, dear readers, I will see you tonight. If you need me, I'll be the one finally sipping on the Reckers smoothie I've been pining for all semester and talking about how I've been 21 for two months and still haven't been to the Backer. Good luck on the rest of your finals, my friends - and see you soon.
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