When...

When escalators break in the tube station, there are many stairs to descend.

Home Is Where Your Orchard Is.

I love london. I'd even go so far as to say that i'm in love with london. But, no matter what city i'm in, i can never wait to get back home whenever it is that i'm going there. The other day my mom sent me a picture of apples from our orchard and excitedly told me about how she'd used them to make a huge batch of applesauce, and how our dog had rolled around in all the rotten apples that had fallen on the ground, and it made me yearn for autumn on the east coast. There's nothing like it, there's nothing that will ever compare to it. There will be new things, sure sure, but autumn in bucks county is one of the most glorious things there is. Leaves change from bright green to golds and reds, then fall on the ground and they crunch and swirl around your feet, the farms all advertise their apple cider, and orchards and pumpkin patches, your cheeks get rosy when you step outside for a walk, everything is warmer and cozier and home is homier.

Dear London, Pt I.

Dear London (boys),

Why do you insist on still using hair gel to make it look like you had five different fans pointed at your head blowing your hair every which way?

Love,

Echo

Dear London (girls),

Do you know that your makeup is caked on and orange?

Love,

Echo

Dear London (mice),

You're tiny and cute and not scary like the NYC subway rats!

Love,

Echo

Dear London (streets),

I don't know you so well yet, but i can't wait to figure you out.

Love,

Echo

Life.

Devolved.

My desk has devolved from the neat and organized, minimalist desk that it once was into this. This is what getting your masters looks like i guess.

A System. Their system.

Coming from Sarah Lawrence, where the library might as well be listed as a social hotspot on campus, the British Library came as an awakening to the way other libraries work. Striking, to say the least, this library is a behemoth. It is sprawling in the greatest sense of the word, but i have to say that it doesn't look like i so desperately wanted THE. BRITISH. LIBRARY. to look. It's brick. All brick. Not the good old kind of brick though, it's the scary kind of brick. The imposing kind of brick that when you stand next to it feels like it will most certainly topple down on you. And all those marble steps, genius idea in the rainiest of cities. The more i look at pictures of the building the more i don't understand what the architects were thinking. But, now i must digress, because what i really want to talk about is their rules. These aren't just library rules these are THE. BRITISH. LIBRARY. RULES. These are rules for the place that has 150 MILLION items. Million... 25 million of which are books. I can't even fathom that number. And boy are they serious about these 150 million items. You must order your books ahead of time so that when you get there they're waiting for you. None may be checked out. Ever. They must be read in the reading room that you specify. Coats aren't allowed in these reading rooms. They have to be checked along with your bag, and most importantly your pens. No pens allowed. And of course no food, or drinks, especially no gum. Whatever you want with you (that's permitted) must fit in a clear bag that they provide, then check as you enter (and exit) the reading room. So many rules. Such an imposing scary building. The place makes me nervous. It's the opposite of the magical library i see in my dreams.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Oh London, how i love you at times and how i hate you at others. But that's the way everything works in life right? Today was a big lesson in how to queue. Minutes tick by slower than ever, every person in front of you feels like ten. It's seeming more and more that standing in line (i'm just not going to succumb to the british way of saying it) is the norm. Everywhere. And they aren't just normal lines, that are slightly annoying, they're massive. Almost so massive that you can't be upset about it because it just seems so absurd. Waiting, waiting, waiting for everything, there's no option to ever be in a rush. Stand in line to get in the underground car. Stand in line on the escalator to get above ground. Stand in line to get out of the turnstiles. Stand in line at the library with the one old man who is making endless library IDs for newcomers who ask questions that could be answered elsewhere. Stand in line to buy some stamps. Stand in line some more at a different library, because you can't just belong to one, you must belong to two (more on this in a bit). Stand in line at the grocery store. Stand in line to buy a printer in a store so tiny it shouldn't be legal. Stand in line for dinner. Stand in line. Always waiting, tested patience, i guess this is how it's done here.

Life.

Things I'm Learning...

Some things i've learned in london thusfar:

+ it's absolutely impossible to find hangers anywhere (??!!!?)

+ the mice are tiny that run along the tracks of the underground

+ there are no outlets in bathrooms

+ bagel is spelled beigel

+ the city is surprisingly walkable

+ good coffee does exist here, you just have to search harder

+ the clouds always look ominous

Music for Falling Leaves.

Sometimes i forget how amazing bon iver is, and then it comes on, and i listen, and i remember all over again why i fell in love with bon iver in the first place. I feel like it should be reserved for listening to when the leaves are falling, or have fallen, and it's crisp out, and you can get cozy, and let the music act like the fireplace you don't have.

This makes me smile. ( The artist )