London Calling!

After my Five Minute Friday post last week about noticing London, I've kind of had it on the brain, so I thought I'd expand a little bit on that theme. Here's the first entry in what I hope will be a few about this city that I love so much! Once I write the second entry, I'll link up to it at the bottom of this one!

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-- quote from Samuel Johnson

I admit it. I am in love.

I am in love with a city and that city is London.

I have been an Anglophile (lover of British things) since I was a little girl and I went to an afternoon "high tea" given by my mom's British coworker. It was a wonderful afternoon of finger sandwiches, scones, petit fours, and of course, gorgeous, gorgeous tea. All of this was accompanied by our hostess' lovely British accent and stories of living and growing up in the UK. This afternoon tea came about a year after the excitement of having gotten up in the middle of the night to watch Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer get married in a fairytale like spectacle of a wedding. I was absolutely entranced.

That dress just has fairytale romance written all over it. What little girl wouldn't swoon?

I had no idea of the love affair that was to come.

In the intervening years, I got my Brit-fix through the odd British accent encountered in our local area or via an actor or actress in a movie or on television. I learned some British history in school (especially as it pertained to the beginnings of America) and in glimpses of British landmarks in books, TV and movies. I understood the appeal of The Beatles, The Who, Elton John, Queen, and The Rolling Stones. I received a present of some British coins from an uncle who'd been stationed in Europe and thought I'd received gold. At some point in middle school or high school, I began spelling words like color as colour and theater as theatre and realised (not realized) that it just looked right to me and that the American spellings looked all wrong.

Too right I do!

After all of this, you can only imagine the thrill I felt when I headed off to college and discovered that my university had a London study abroad program where you could go for a WHOLE SEMESTRE and live and study in London. Even more thrilling was when my parents agreed that I could enroll in that program. I went to the first meeting of students who were going with me and could hardly contain myself. I listened with rapt attention, took notes, and absorbed every little detail. That meeting was in October of my junior year and I was slated to fly at the end of January. For me, Christmas had come early and it was a gift that would last far beyond December 25th.

When the day arrived for me to go, my parents drove me to Atlanta to meet my flight and since this was pre-9/11, we all walked to the gate together. After a tearful goodbye, I crossed through the door toward my flight and as Obi-wan said to Luke, I took my "first step into a larger world."

Up, up, and away! -- photo courtesy of British Airways

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I hope you've enjoyed hearing a little more about the city I love. If you'd like to read more, click here for the continuation of my journey and my first full day in my beloved London.