♡ann/athena♡

Travel log 4, feb 9 //

I’ve been a month here already. The hype of a new life has already run off. I am used to the cold and the constant light rain. The routine is settle and the first assignments are getting close. But overall, I am happy and proud of myself. Between anxieties and nervous and worries, I’ve managed to get through all. But I want to talk about a couple of things, first.

Every experience is different and that is okay. The change of pounds to pesos is obviously not the same to any other currency. A train to London is not the same to everyone. A ticket to Europe is not accessible to all of us. And that is okay. I don’t have to pressure myself on ‘I should be travelling more to London’, ‘I should have known every close town to Reading by now’, ‘I should have bought a book’. I am taking my time and enjoying the ride. I have booked five musicals and that means that I need to save money for a while. And that is okay because I am going to have the time of my life on five different nights. I looked for themed tours that are budget friendly that I can go once my formative assignments are done.

I not counting this trip by experience because what was important and amazing for me might not be for others. I am counting this by happiness. Happy tears. Happy smiles. Happy.

One month down, five more to go. // athena, Reading.

what I saw in Bath, jan 8 //

a wednesday is weird day to travel. and, when you receive and email that says, ‘travel to Bath’, is kind of odd. but, everything is worth it. pinky promise. The university was the one that organized this trip. and by that I mean, they transported us there and let us be free and wander around for hours. 

we checked out the Roman Baths, which I was excited. as you can all see. this temple was dedicated to Minerva (roman version of Athena, now you see?). getting here felt like a portal to Italy, specifically, Venice. then, we came back to England and walk around the city to this two places: the circus and royal crescent. one is an entire circle of the same squishy but tall house. in the middle was these gorgeous two big trees. the other one, that is a block away from the circus is incredible. 30 houses making a giant semicircle. in front of it, is a big big park that goes down the hill. from there, the royal crescent looks like a castle. the view is incredible. and guess what? actual people live there. the house in the middle is a hotel. we walked around more and more. until we found the Sally Lunn's house. the older house of the town. is a restaurant and a 'museum', rather tiny I shall say. it is known for these large buns. It looked really tasty. 

I made a little vlog of what I saw. I think is better to show than to describe. I am planning on doing these 'what I saw in…' for everywhere that I go. I am going to upload here but it is also in youtube. enjoy it. 

// athena, Bath 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ephsKBqpY

travel log 2, jan 6 //

my first week here. not even first week of classes in the university. nope. a week living here. existing in a different time and space. I want to talk about one thing that blew my mind: the sun decides to begin to disappear at 4 and by the time it is 5:30, is already dark. that alone is so confusing and disoriented. when you think about it closely, make a lot of the sense. England is far up than Mexico. now I plan my day to utilize the sun hours as much as I can. I am still a night owl but I am trying. somedays I feel tired because my body looks out of the window and says, ‘no light, then goodnight’. And yes, yes. the sky is grey in those few hours of sun. does that make me sad? no, I enjoy it. but now, when the sun decided to show up and light up my way back home, I found myself saying ‘oh, what a nice day’. hey, look at me, just a little over a week here and I am already taking about weather.

this week was the introduction one. the university was almost empty. it was a bunch of international students being lost around the campus. it is a universal look, being lost in a university campus. I met so many people. I was scared at the beginning. I am so proud of myself for approaching stranger and make a conversation. some worked out some don’t. and it’s okay because I am challenging myself. beside how anxious and nervous I was, I made some friends. A key point of this week was getting used to Reading (I can move around in bus by myself!), learn how does the university works: lectures, seminars, the buildings, the department, etc. but being more familiar with the culture, weather, manners, the way they drive, the currency, the food and so on.

I am so excited. // athena, Reading.

Todavía se vale el post de año nuevo. Ya pasaron más de 10 días, y aunque no tengo por qué explicar las razones de esta tardanza, quiero hacerlo. La primera es que estaba enfocada en mi familia, porque no los voy a ver por un largo tiempo. Realmente esa es la razón, voy a estar (estoy) viviendo la aventura más grande de mi vida. Antes de entrar de lleno a eso, quiero decir un par de cosas sobre el año que se nos fue.

2019 fue… interesante. Unos meses parecieron ser pequeños años dentro del mismo (como el verano) pero otros pasaron volando (diciembre). Fuera de esos, hubieron muchos cambios. Dejé la ciudad en la que crecí y con ello mi casa. Me salí de colegios a vivir sola para la universidad. Rectifiqué y valoré a un más cuales son mis verdaderas amistades, tanto las que son nuevas como las viejas. Todo lo anterior, aunque me hizo muy feliz y crecí mucho; hizo que conociera mi punto de quiebre. Ese punto en el que uno voltea al barranco y siente el vértigo, ese. Ver hacia atrás en este año es darme cuenta que cada cosa que pasé me preparó para esta aventura de vivir del otro lado del charco.

Aquí tendría que hablar de mis propósitos de año nuevo. En lo personal, como una lista de proyectos que trabajaré lo mejor que pueda durante todo el año. Estoy emocionada por los retos que me puse. La mayoría son privados pero hay dos que si quiero explicar:

Self-care. Saber mis límites y respetarlos hasta cierta medida. Si me siento muy abrumada para ir a una fiesta: no voy. Quiero salir a caminar: voy. Tengo ganas de cocinar: vale. ¿Una pizza?: vamos por una. ¿Mi cuarto está ordenado? Depende de sí encuentro lo que busco. No me quiero dormir temprano: vamos a jugar sims. Estoy cansada: ¿tik tok?. Lavarme la cara todas las noches, lavarme el pelo aunque me dée flojera. Self-care. Cuidarme. No dejarme ir. Con el balance de tratar y experimenta nuevas cosas, claro.

Quiero luchar más: por mis derechos, por las que ya no están, por mi libertad de expresión, por lo seguridad, por el planeta, por mi familia, por mí. Ya me cansé de quedarme callada porque no quiero pelear. Ya no. 

Vamos, 2020.