So I recently watched a VlogBrothers video entitled (approximately) "Seeing Sights in London" which got me thinking.
Basically the video is a montage of all the things that John Green managed to see in one jet-lagged day in London. Now I have lived in London for two and a half years and have seen virtually none of the things that he saw in one afternoon.
I've been to the Science Museum twice, a couple of visits to the Natural History Museum, Greenwich and the London Eye since arriving from all the wonderful museums, interesting historical sights and just general amazing things that this city has to offer.
When I first moved to uni I was filled with optimism about all the things that I would do in London. I had an picture that I would be in museums every weekend and exploring this wonderful city with the sort of enthusiasm that I had when I visited London as a kid and teenager. Yeah...
It turns out that with all the lectures, societies and other socialising activities the thought of actually exploring London kind of got forgotten and two and a half years later I still haven't really seen anything. I think as a resident of a city you don't separate the city in which you live from the city which the tourists comes from all over the world to see and therefore it seems ordinary and from your everyday life. You also say "oh I'll visit that later" and then never do.
And I've realistically only got another year and a bit living in a London and I know that there are so many things that I will never do even though I've had plenty of chances but that doesn't mean that I'll regret what I didn't do whilst living in London because I've experienced the city in a way that only people living in a city can do.
Spending afternoons sitting in Hyde Park reading, using the world famous famous tube and red buses as everyday transport, treating Oxford Street and Westfield as my local high street (though never again at Christmas), fancy a Chinese - pop to China town and oh being in the Olympic opening ceremony!
Sorry this was a fairly rambling post but I'm tired and that video made me think, plus I'm so bored of revision! The link to the vlogbrothers video is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KboR0Iw96Hk
Basically the video is a montage of all the things that John Green managed to see in one jet-lagged day in London. Now I have lived in London for two and a half years and have seen virtually none of the things that he saw in one afternoon.
I've been to the Science Museum twice, a couple of visits to the Natural History Museum, Greenwich and the London Eye since arriving from all the wonderful museums, interesting historical sights and just general amazing things that this city has to offer.
When I first moved to uni I was filled with optimism about all the things that I would do in London. I had an picture that I would be in museums every weekend and exploring this wonderful city with the sort of enthusiasm that I had when I visited London as a kid and teenager. Yeah...
It turns out that with all the lectures, societies and other socialising activities the thought of actually exploring London kind of got forgotten and two and a half years later I still haven't really seen anything. I think as a resident of a city you don't separate the city in which you live from the city which the tourists comes from all over the world to see and therefore it seems ordinary and from your everyday life. You also say "oh I'll visit that later" and then never do.
And I've realistically only got another year and a bit living in a London and I know that there are so many things that I will never do even though I've had plenty of chances but that doesn't mean that I'll regret what I didn't do whilst living in London because I've experienced the city in a way that only people living in a city can do.
Spending afternoons sitting in Hyde Park reading, using the world famous famous tube and red buses as everyday transport, treating Oxford Street and Westfield as my local high street (though never again at Christmas), fancy a Chinese - pop to China town and oh being in the Olympic opening ceremony!
Sorry this was a fairly rambling post but I'm tired and that video made me think, plus I'm so bored of revision! The link to the vlogbrothers video is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KboR0Iw96Hk
