So I feel like this second trip to India is really starting soon. I went with Amy to the airport and sent her off with my huge (almost 30 kg) suitcase (sorry Amy). After I got back into London, I wandered around a bit. I tried my luck at the Indian consulate again, managed to find it this time, which is better than last time, but I was told that I’d need five business days to get a new visa, so that wasn’t going to work out, but the man there did tell me that I can probably just get my student visa extended when I get to Delhi. I was glad to hear that, although I’m not too excited about spending more time in Delhi than I have to (Amy and I looked up the weather in Delhi, and it does not look like it’s going to be fun). Anyway, hopefully that works out. I mean, I don’t really have to go back to Dharamsala, but I think it’ll be easier for me to work on things while I’m there rather in a new city, and when I left, I assumed I’d be returning, so I don’t feel like I’ve said proper goodbyes to everyone that I wanted to before I left the first time. Also, maybe this will sound really silly, I don’t think I said a proper goodbye to the place itself, and I often find myself missing it. I think I feel more at home there than I do here, which makes sense in some ways, because I’ve spent a lot of time there, but also seems strange in some ways because here I at least speak the language, but English will get you around there anyway, and I speak with an American accent, so just because I speak English here, doesn’t mean that I don’t sound out of place anyway. I’ll be sad to leave though, or at least I was sad to see Amy go. I’m such a lame person to travel with, so I don’t know if she had fun anyway, but I had a good time. I almost feel like this part of the trip has started already though. I realized that this summer, or at least the first part before I go to Katmandu, I’ll really be traveling alone. It’s probably not a big deal for most people, but (don’t laugh at me too much for admitting this) I won’t even go to the cafeteria at Swarthmore if I don’t think there will be someone there that I can eat with. I feel like this summer is going to push me to be more okay with not having people I know around. At least I’ll still know people in Dharamsala, but not like anyone I can go to dinner with or anything like that. I don’t know if any of that makes any sense, but oh well. So anyway, I feel like that part of the trip is starting, because I’m staying in a hostel alone, and I’ve been wandering around London alone all day (after the consulate, I went to the Museum of London (I found it kind of boring, but there were some interesting things, and it was free, so I’m not going to complain), and I walked around the outside of St Paul’s cathedral (it cost a lot to go inside, so I didn’t go)). So anyway, now I’m here in the hostel, contemplating my impending return to India and contemplating starting all those things I’ve been putting off for two weeks and wondering how I still have so much stuff if I sent so much home with Amy (seriously, the suitcase would barely close, even when it was fully expanded).
I think I may also feel like I’m going back, because for the last few days, I’ve had clothes hanging all over the room drying. I was so excited about finding a laundromat somewhere here, and I did find a few finally, but they were so expensive (at least $7/load), that I just washed my clothes in the sink. Some of my clothes anyway. The bathroom was tiny, so I didn’t really think I could manage to wash my jeans or my fleece, so I guess they’ll just have to wait until I get to India, where everything will probably get so wet that I won’t bother to wash anything, because nothing will ever dry anyway. I should stop with this train of thought though; it just makes me question the decision to go back for the summer. It’ll be fun though, and at least I won’t have to return to Linens-n-Things and my favorite line, ‘thank you for calling Linens-n-Things. This is Katie speaking. How may I help you today?’ Let’s just hope I didn’t underestimate on the grant proposal budget.
I feel like I should go out and do something on my last night in Europe, but I suspect tonight will actually just be internet, trying to repack the suitcase better than I did, and sleep. Tomorrow hopefully I’ll see Lucy though, if I can get any phone around here to work (I tried two payphones. One wouldn’t take my coins, and the other ate my money (I liked the first one better)). I should work on that being productive thing for a little bit though. You’d think it’s like summer or something with the way I’m slacking off.