taking a dip in the melting pot

*Note: Sorry for the three big posts in a row. I’m just trying to catch up. Oh, and sorry if my posts are little lengthy/detailed, I just have all of this information being soaked up into my head everyday and I feel like I should put it somewhere or else it’ll go to waste. So my blog has turned into my memories box and you all have the privilege to dip your head in my Pensive (Harry Potter…).
THURSDAY
Annie and I had a repeat DP in the laundry room. I feel a tradition forming.
After dinner, we trekked to the lovely British Museum in the rain. I love that place. This time, Annie and I went to a collections room from George III and this Sloane guy. I want the cool things that I acquire from my life to end up in a cool museum someday. Bucket list.
We watched “The Holiday” that night, which is probably a bad idea because 35 girls in one centre + only 4 boys in the program + dating not allowed for 4 months + Jude Law = emotional girls. Yep.
FRIDAY
DAY OFF!!! I woke up for breakfast, read a little in bed, went running in Hyde Park, wasn’t ready for the day until 12. Fabulous. The roomies originally planned to have afternoon tea at Kensington Palace then take a tour of the Palace, but then it started raining on us and we were cold and the tea place was closed until the next day and we were hungry. So we went to Zizzi’s Ristorante and had some fantastic Italian food given to us by a cute Italian waiter. They took forver to take our orders, to give us the food, to give us the dessert menu, and to give us the check, so we ended up sitting and talking for 2.5 hours, or so. It was a lot of fun and we avoided the hail and rain.
That night, we wanted to leave the centre but we needed to be studious, so we found this cool Starbucks off of Oxford Street and did some reading there.
SATURDAY
…is a special day...The whole group did a trip for our Culture and Communities class and took a trip to Northern India and Pakistan, aka Southall, England. I’ve never really been exposed to the Indian culture before, so I had a bit of a culture shock, but in a good way. It was one of those just immerse-yourself-an- absorb-all-that-you-can days. First stop: the Sikh Guduwara. Upon entering their temple, you must take off of your shoes, cover your heads and wash your hands out of respect. I used a scarf that everyone said made me look Polish, so I kinda stood out more. How we greet everyone there is: “Sat sri akalji”, or God is the Highest and may he be with you, or something close to that. The Main Hall is where their Holy Scripture is, written by each of the ten Great Gurus. It’s elevated and covered by a tent out of respect. They don’t believe in worshipping idols, but they instead pay respect to the scriptures that they consider sacred by touching their heads to the ground in front of the scriptures. When you walk out, you put both of your hands out to receive a type of mixture of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs. Sikhs do this every day whenever they have time and forever long they have time for. I really thought it was cool how in every Sikh temple throughout the world, they serve food during the day for free, feeding thousands out of charity. On top of that, the food is good.
Something that I respect the Sikhs for is the fact that they put a big emphasis on families and chastity. They have a lot of respect for their temple and for how they worship God and all of the people we came in contact with were just sweet and welcoming.
The group also had to individually go to another Sikh temple along with a Hindu temple. The Hindu temple started out the same, with the removal of shoes and the hand washing, but it was an entirely new experience.
We had the liberty of wandering around Southall for a few hours, so I got a henna tattoo and some sweet corn. Then we ate some really awesome Indian food at Gifto’s. I physically have a hard time handling spicy food, but it was so good, so I was suffering and not suffering at the same time.
I'm really happy about the diverse cultures that I'm able to fully experience here in London. Apparently, only about 52% of our area is native born, so we're surrounded by culture. And I love it.
Jolly good, mate.