It’s a familiar feeling. My face is hot, it must be somewhat flushed. Linoleum floors. The sound of typing in the background, and you can feel the collective mental energy of students hunched over pieces of paper, scribbling mathematic symbols or essays. I’m in a basement computer lab of the London School of Economics. It is early May, which means exams are looming large. This is the time of year when you have to untangle all those things you missed because you slept in during the 9am lecture every week for the entire term. Exciting stuff.

I guess “familiar” is how I would describe how it feels like to be back. But in these past few days I have also been reminded of why I chose not to stay. That said, it’s been nice seeing some friendly faces. People have moved on, they don’t see each other often anymore, they’re in new relationships or some long relationships have disintegrated. The only thing that I was surprised at was I thought they would have hung out together more often, and stayed more tight knit. But I suppose work does that to you. And some people who acted as the social glue of the bigger bunch have since left London.

It’s been lovely to explore new areas of London and see/do/eat some things I never did while I was here. At the same time I’ve definitely also set out to visit some old haunts, such as Arang. I suppose it’s about revisiting a place and looking at things from a different perspective. It can’t hurt that I have a bigger budget than I used to, and that the £ is weaker! 

So far: lunch at Borough Market, went to Wish and a Citypink event, attempted kite flying at Hampstead Heath, the crepes from the legendary stand, checked out the Burberry outlet store, tea at the Orangery, took the Eurostar to Paris for a bike tour, shop shop shopped. Et cetera. Photos to follow :)