Significantly Late Update

Okay, so it’s 26 May 2013 and I’m back home in the States. In fact, I’ve been back in the U.S. for almost a full year, much to my sorrow.

A lot has happened since my last post, which has contributed to my lack of updates on this blog: I ran a marathon; I started my final year of school, and I finished my final year of school; I started working in a new department at Columbia, I finished working in that same department; I was named valedictorian of my class and graduated with a B.A. in Cultural Studies (minor in Women’s and Gender Studies), and earlier this week I presented my thesis project at my very first conference.

So, today is actually the first day in almost a year where I’ve got nothing on the horizon to distract me. With that in mind, I glanced at the desktop of my laptop in order to clear out year-end debris, and noticed a tiny folder marked “To Be Posted.” What could this possibly be, I wondered.

Well, it was three days’ worth of photos from my semester in London. In fact, it was my final three days’ worth of photos. So, not being someone who’s able to leave things like this undone, I am going to do my best now to pick up where I left off, and get these photos up. I’ll also be doing my best to recount what was going through my mind in these moments, but I can’t make any promises.

So, without further ado, let’s go…

Sadly, I don’t remember much about 02 June 2012, and the photos don’t offer too many clues about what else may have been going on. However, from what’s left one thing is clear: it was the day that my dear friend EN returned to the U.S. We met up at the Hammersmith stop on the District (green) / Hammersmith & City lines (pink) before making our way to Heathrow on the Piccadilly (dark blue) line.

Along the way, I snagged photos of EN’s last moments in London, both on the tube and at breakfast. An all-too-brief time later, we said our goodbyes, she boarded her flight, and I boarded the tube…

Until we see each other again in Chicago...in about three days.

[NB: In the busy year since, we’ve only managed to see each other twice, but that’s because she’s been equally busy going through her final year, graduating, being awesome and whatnot. In fact, as I type this she’s back in London visiting, as her post-graduation trip. I wish Nic and I were there…]

One other thing I have photographic evidence of from that day is that on my way back to KG & MM’s house, I stopped along the Hammersmith Bridge and watched as boats started queuing up for the gigantic flotilla in honor Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee…

Boats lining up for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant

But more on that in the next entry.