I’m currently sitting in the Newark airport, once again on U.S. soil.  While I’ve been abroad for a few months, it doesn’t feel that long.  A lot has happened; most days are mundane.  I went to Stratford again, this time with my friend Kinshuk (and she took pictures for me.  I’ll post them at the end.)  I went to an Imagine Dragons Concert.  It was amazing.  I got the chance to work with a fantastic group of people to put on a play called No Such Cold Thing, which was an experience and a play I enjoyed immensely.  The space may have been cold, and the first night may have been a little crazy, but what was created was something truly lovely.  Now, I’m helping ASM a show called Dissocia.  I got an original poem published in the WritersBloc journal (here’s the link if you want to read it), and took a chance and proposed an original play for performance, which got accepted. So come spring I’ll be directing my short play Hello Stranger. I also just got cast as Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  I may be a bit busy next term.

But that’s just the highlight reel.  It doesn’t tell you about all the mornings I grumbled about getting up early to catch the bus (aka, every Wednesday), or the all the random conversations (what is the difference between an interstate and a highway?), or the time spent preparing for two different group presentations (and how relieved I was when they were over), or even the time I got covered in glitter (it was for Dissocia‘s photoshoot.  I also had confetti in my hair).  One of the hardest things to explain about my experience studying abroad is the fact that it’s just life, in all its fantastical ordinariness.  There are good days and bad days and amazing days and days when all it does is rain.  Sometimes the most mundane days are the ones you remember most fondly, for no particular reason.  Sometimes they just slip by unremarked.  People love to ask me if I’m enjoying Birmingham.  The answer is yes.  And while it is so very wonderful to be heading home, I’ll also be glad to go back, and spend some more time just living.

And now, some pictures. (Which is what you all want anyway.)

New life goal: Move to Stratford, have a rose garden.

The RSC

This church in New Street is just pretty.

They have actual thatched roofs.

Kinshuk

Per my mom’s request, Kinshuk took a picture with me in it.

Lighting was an issue.

Imagine Dragons!