How did I get here?

So, I bit the bullet and spent way too much time formatting a blog to tell people about my life while I'm in London this semester.  I hope people read it!  I haven't had a blog since my middle school experiences with the social disaster that LiveJournal was at that time, but since I've grown out of my braces and my inability to socialize constructively, I have high hopes for this endeavour.

My name is Emily Boyle.  I'm a Theatre/Music major, class of '12, and I'm studying abroad at Birkbeck College (subset of The University of London) this semester.  I was born in Massachusetts, but spent my entire cognitive life before college growing up in Southern California.  People ask me why I keep going to places with generally low barometer readings for school, and honestly, I couldn't tell you.

This semester I'm taking three classes at Birkbeck: Modern Theatre and the London Stage, Shakespeare in London, and The Twentieth-Century British Novel.  I'll also have an internship at Mousetrap Theatre Projects, which is a non-profit that facilitates inner-city kids going to see theatre productions.  We also work with teachers to help them lead discussions about the productions with their students.  I have my obligatory interview this afternoon, even though I've already functionally been hired.  I haven't been on the tube yet, but due to faulty information about UK banking, I have no money  for the next week.  So I'm walking!  In the rain...  But it's not that far, and London is a beautiful city, and the more I walk, the more quickly I'll get to know my way around.

London has been interesting so far.  I've been amazed at how quickly I feel at home here.  Even though I'm unreasonably paranoid that I'll pull a Natalie Portman in Closer, look left before crossing, and get flattened by a truck, I feel comfortable.  I've been running and grocery shopping, I've opened a bank account, and I've walked places by myself.  And I've only been here for 48 hours.  It's like I'm a grownup!

I guess the overwhelming feeling I'm experiencing is a feeling that I've already changed fundamentally as a person.  Yesterday I realized that if I went back to Clark now, even having been in London for only a day, I wouldn't feel that I belonged.  It feels similar to when I finished my gap year program and started my freshman year at Clark, which I could have anticipated.  I've felt ready to graduate ever since I started college (living on your own and working at a job will give you that delusion), so I can't even imagine how much the feeling will intensify after this experience.

But it doesn't matter, because what I'm concerned with now is getting everything I possibly can out of this experience.  I refuse to let this internship be unfulfilling like the others I've had.  I'm determined to work and learn and grow and travel.  And, if nothing else, I will find a way to make rainboots seem appropriate for an interview setting.

<3 Emily