in the depth of winter, i finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.

it's been a week since katie came to visit. i can't believe how quickly time passes here. katie and i had a perfectly exhausting time. london's been atypically sunny lately (sorry to rub it in, new yorkers), and i've been taking full advantage: we went to oxford street and hyde park on the first sunny day. i hadn't been to hyde park since i was in london last year, and the sun and the dogs and the birds and the green everywhere and the lake were perfect. we passed by buckingham palace on our way home--or what we thought was our way home--and inevitably got lost in the depths of soho, which i've discovered is one of my favorite parts of london. we went back to oxford street the next day with a strict goal to buy shoes, and after about 3 hours of unsuccessful shopping, we finally both found the right pair in the same store. go figure. i loved having katie here, and i love having people here in general, cause it gives me a reason to 1. neglect my homework and 2. explore and get ridiculously lost.

what i really wanted to post about was my first british culture class this week. we listened to our first guest speaker, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a journalist and regular columnist for london's the independent...she was so incredibly charismatic and insightful, especially on the status of the british cultural dynamic. since i've been here (and i remember thinking this last year, too), i've noticed a certain comfortableness in social situations among all londoners--regardless of the race, ethnicity, sexuality, whatever. but i couldn't really reconcile that with the fact that on a more official, legal front, london doesn't seem to be too far past new york. yasmin brown opened on this exact point, saying that "although society is much more open [in social settings]...when it comes to power, to the people who we have up there [in government], it is going to be a very long time until we have our own obama." mrs. brown's lived here for quite some time now, so it was really interesting to get her take on it. the rest of her talk centered mostly around immigration and national identities within london. i'm actually really excited for this class, despite its taking from me my otherwise free mondays, as we have the opportunity to hear some insightful, important, and respected people throughout london.

today's once again sunny, and i've already walked down to the oxford street/st. james park area and back. i'll be doing homework the rest of the day, going to a few pubs tonight, and continuing to be really excited that jay sean is british and listening to his songs! i can't believe i just found this out, but now i love him all the more.

some pictures of hyde park/katie's weekend here, at your leisure, below: