Dear Dreamer,
On January 11th, 2013, just two days ago, I spent the day alone. I left my room around 1:30pm and I returned back to my room around 9:00pm. I had no friends with me, nor did I have a phone; I have no intention of buying one while I am here. The whole city of London was around me, but I was completely and wholly alone.
Now then, since I have been in London, so many different things have happened to me that I cannot recount even a few of them. But before I tell this story, I wanted to tell you why I'm telling it. It's not because I'm trying to be a loner or anything like that. I actually have a lot of new friends out here in England. The reason I chose to share this is because this lesson that I am learning has struck me more than most anything that I can think of since I have been here. It is so simple to me, yet it is so profound.
On January 11th, I took with me my Oyster Card (public transport card) and some Quid, all my Christmas present apparel from family and friends, my black Canon PowerShot Digital Elph, and my tiny Digital Concepts tripod. I told my flatmates where I was going, and then I left. I boarded a bus that took me to a tube stop, boarded an underground train to the Waterloo station and then I embarked on my journey. I had one goal in mind that day: take pictures and be a tourist.
I was so intentionally the one thing that I often strive so hard not to be! I was wholeheartedly a tourist. I took pictures of everything with no intent of hiding my purpose. I set up my tripod and stood back in crowds of people to smile at the camera. I didn't hide who I was or where I came from. I let the whole of central who saw me know that I was not from there. I had people ask me if I needed them to take my picture, I asked a few people to take my picture, and I went everywhere I could that money didn't prevent me from entering.
I went to see Big Ben and took every angle of picture possible, I went to Westminster Abbey, I gazed upon the London Eye, I took pictures with Winston Churchill's statue, I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tate Modern, a bunch of bridges and a whole bunch of other places that only tourists really spend that much time at. I saw an underpass transformed into a graffitied skatepark that was really a work of art. I saw the colors of sunset and the colors of the night lights. I imagined the heat of the sun warming my cheeks but it failed to reach me. I felt the chill of night bite my hands and lips when the sun went down. I paused and watched a man play a brilliant piece of a flute in a tunnel. I ate my first fish and chips at a pub. I walked for miles and miles and watched my steaming breath rise in front of me. I soaked it all in.
On that day, there was not a person in the world that I would have wanted to be there with me. God alone was there, and that was all that I wanted. I didn't feel the need to pray or even to think to myself. I just existed.
After my long walk home from Hammersmith, I finally took a moment to think and to pray. On January 11th, it occurred to me that I had just experienced something that I had not experienced in years, if ever. I was completely alone. The world was there, but I was alone. I had not opened my mouth to speak but a few times. I spent the day in silence, and the silence was wonderful.
This aloneness, this silence was such a blessing. It has been many years since I have not had a cellular phone that piggybacks in my pocket wherever I go. Back home I got to a point where I felt isolated if I didn't have it with me. I never allowed myself to experience that isolation. Isolation in many respects can be painful and can result from painful events, but I cannot describe how much of a blessings the isolation that I experienced that day was. I don't know if this makes sense, but Dreamer if it does, and if you know this feeling that I cannot describe, then you also know the longing that I have to abide in those peaceful moments.
I do not hope to live in isolation. I would like to get married someday, to have a family, to make new friends and spend time with old ones; but there is a huge peace in knowing that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. That aloneness, it was exactly where I was supposed to be, exactly how I was supposed to feel. An overwhelming peace enshrouded me. I do not know why God so chose to bless me, but I know that I am blessed. I am so blessed.
I spent the day in silence, and the silence was wonderful, beautiful.
Content in God's peace,
Carter
On January 11th, 2013, just two days ago, I spent the day alone. I left my room around 1:30pm and I returned back to my room around 9:00pm. I had no friends with me, nor did I have a phone; I have no intention of buying one while I am here. The whole city of London was around me, but I was completely and wholly alone.
Now then, since I have been in London, so many different things have happened to me that I cannot recount even a few of them. But before I tell this story, I wanted to tell you why I'm telling it. It's not because I'm trying to be a loner or anything like that. I actually have a lot of new friends out here in England. The reason I chose to share this is because this lesson that I am learning has struck me more than most anything that I can think of since I have been here. It is so simple to me, yet it is so profound.
On January 11th, I took with me my Oyster Card (public transport card) and some Quid, all my Christmas present apparel from family and friends, my black Canon PowerShot Digital Elph, and my tiny Digital Concepts tripod. I told my flatmates where I was going, and then I left. I boarded a bus that took me to a tube stop, boarded an underground train to the Waterloo station and then I embarked on my journey. I had one goal in mind that day: take pictures and be a tourist.
I was so intentionally the one thing that I often strive so hard not to be! I was wholeheartedly a tourist. I took pictures of everything with no intent of hiding my purpose. I set up my tripod and stood back in crowds of people to smile at the camera. I didn't hide who I was or where I came from. I let the whole of central who saw me know that I was not from there. I had people ask me if I needed them to take my picture, I asked a few people to take my picture, and I went everywhere I could that money didn't prevent me from entering.
I went to see Big Ben and took every angle of picture possible, I went to Westminster Abbey, I gazed upon the London Eye, I took pictures with Winston Churchill's statue, I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tate Modern, a bunch of bridges and a whole bunch of other places that only tourists really spend that much time at. I saw an underpass transformed into a graffitied skatepark that was really a work of art. I saw the colors of sunset and the colors of the night lights. I imagined the heat of the sun warming my cheeks but it failed to reach me. I felt the chill of night bite my hands and lips when the sun went down. I paused and watched a man play a brilliant piece of a flute in a tunnel. I ate my first fish and chips at a pub. I walked for miles and miles and watched my steaming breath rise in front of me. I soaked it all in.
On that day, there was not a person in the world that I would have wanted to be there with me. God alone was there, and that was all that I wanted. I didn't feel the need to pray or even to think to myself. I just existed.
After my long walk home from Hammersmith, I finally took a moment to think and to pray. On January 11th, it occurred to me that I had just experienced something that I had not experienced in years, if ever. I was completely alone. The world was there, but I was alone. I had not opened my mouth to speak but a few times. I spent the day in silence, and the silence was wonderful.
This aloneness, this silence was such a blessing. It has been many years since I have not had a cellular phone that piggybacks in my pocket wherever I go. Back home I got to a point where I felt isolated if I didn't have it with me. I never allowed myself to experience that isolation. Isolation in many respects can be painful and can result from painful events, but I cannot describe how much of a blessings the isolation that I experienced that day was. I don't know if this makes sense, but Dreamer if it does, and if you know this feeling that I cannot describe, then you also know the longing that I have to abide in those peaceful moments.
I do not hope to live in isolation. I would like to get married someday, to have a family, to make new friends and spend time with old ones; but there is a huge peace in knowing that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. That aloneness, it was exactly where I was supposed to be, exactly how I was supposed to feel. An overwhelming peace enshrouded me. I do not know why God so chose to bless me, but I know that I am blessed. I am so blessed.
I spent the day in silence, and the silence was wonderful, beautiful.
Content in God's peace,
Carter
Can't forget the wonderful family who took me in for three days before taking me to Roehampton University, nor my wonderful study abroad group that is here with me from Hawaiʻi! The other pictures are from Harrod's and Matilda!
These pictures are from my trip to Greenwich yesterday. We took a boat to get there and then had really chilly but interesting tour! I wish I could have spent a little more time there, cause it was pretty cool.