By Crystal Luong
London Correspondent
They say college is the time you meet the one you’ll spend the rest of your life with, and I think I’m falling in love. When I’m away for too long on my travels, I get a feeling of longing. Life is a constant whirlwind of new sights and sounds. I yearn for more. I confess, I’m in love with…the London program.
There’s never a moment to spare, nor a time for boredom. Shows, shopping, markets, museums — they’re all a hop, skip and jump away by the London Underground. I can even ride on a horse through the historic Hyde Park and have random tourists take photos of my ridiculous appearance. And what shall I do on the weekends? Time to fly off to Europe and experience a new culture or two.
On a trip to Scotland, my travel buddies and I paid tribute at the William Wallace Monument (home to “Braveheart”). A weekend later, I was in Ireland on a mystery tour of the utterly breathtaking countryside, exploring hidden lakes and waterfalls.
Last week was our educational fieldtrip — a grand tour of Roman England that consisted of hours upon hours aboard a bus, featuring an actress-turned-tour-guide whose favorite saying was “Wakie, wakie!” We explored the Roman baths, cathedrals, colleges and stately homes in six cities over the course of five days.
The learning and so forth was wicked fun, but nothing beat our group-bonding time. Hardly anything compares to living in a house with 39 other people, seeing them in class Monday through Thursday and then traveling with them for a week without break.
However, the most surprising aspect of the situation was that the joviality never stopped.
At one point, I found myself punting in Oxford, and I wasn’t playing football. In fact, I was floating downstream with a 15-foot pole, known as a punt, and one oar for maneuvering. Sounds simple? Between crashing into the canal barriers and random trees on both riverbanks, my fellow shipmates and I survived, soaked, but in good spirits.
Every night of the fieldtrip was a new adventure as well, whether it was a hotel room get-together, an on-the-town experience or a ghost walk in York.
Life at 56 Prince’s Gate, our London home, most closely resembles a “Real World London” television episode that never stops. In fact, we are even taped. Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) records every waking moment of residents throughout the United Kingdom for Big Brother-like security reasons.
It amazes me how the diverse people who make up our house manage to get along. The 40 of us collectively split three telephones, one kitchen, one lounge, one water cooler and one refrigerator. In addition, we eat dinner as a group at least three times a week. It’s a test of human patience, but also the creation of a dysfunctional yet loving family. The key word here is loving, and I’m loving London.
October 23, 2003