If anything, this blog should have been titled The One Time Londoner as I've only had one chance to really experience London and reflect upon it in writing. Ever since arriving to this city, London seems to have outpaced me. I have never been so caught up in "busy-ness" as I have over the past couple of months. In retrospect, even though I didn't get to enjoy London as much as I was expecting, I believe that all my hard work must have paid off.
First, I achieved a huge feat by securing myself my dream job. Second, I have learned so much and that has given me confidence that I can add value in whatever environment life takes me next. Third, I've formed a great web of connections with the LBS network. In that sense, I've really excelled in my career. Also, my strife in moulding something out of myself over the past couple of months has brought me closer to God and it is only because of His mercy that I consider myself victorious in the above mentioned feats.
Having said that, I still feel like I haven't visited London. Other than a few jogs on the Thames and a walk or two through Regent's park, I haven't really seen much of this spectacular city. And just when I get the opportunity to get to explore, the city has to suffer from its worst snow storm in 20 years. Its funny how life works, but I'm still determined to make the most out of this city while I'm here.
Yesterday, I visited the British Museum. Its amazing how the Brits brought the whole world to this island of theirs. I had the distinct pride of walking through the grandiose of halls of the museum to witness the splendors of my Muslim and Ancient Egyptian ancestors. I also had the opportunity to witness the controversial Greek Parthenon exhibit. The beauty of the Egyptian and Greek masterpieces that the museum hosts are worth all the ruckus both Egypt and Greece have made to retrieve their antiquities, but the way I look at it is that it makes much more sense for the world to view these treasures in a global capital like London. These relics not only serve as ambassadors of these two ancient civilizations, but might incite curious minds to eventually visit the lands where these treasures originate.
The rest of my yesterday was spent touring bookstores on Baker Street. Its quite relaxing have some alone time where I can think things over and recuperate from the stress of school work and exams.
It doesn't do justice to just recap on a couple of months in a lousy, unpolished blog post such as this one, but I just had to get some writing out of my system. For today, I plan on visiting some more museums, namely the Tate Modern and the National Gallery, to weather the snow. Let's see what impressions London leaves on me today...
