When arriving into the Temple we were instructed to take off our shoes and leave them inside the doorway, leave our purses but to take our money and camera with us. We were then led to the entrance where we had to put head wraps on as a sign of respect. Definitely not a look I would continue...
We had to go into the Temple where we had a guide.. the Temple is open to people of all religions and who use all texts although it is a Sikh Temple nonetheless. They don't discriminate to others using the space as long as they respect those their to worship. We went into the main worshipping room which was covered in cloths all over the floor where we had to sit. We were then led up to the altar to pay respects to the Temple itself although it was not to their God (unlike Hindu, the Sikh's only worship one God and don't worship idols either). Afterwards we went to another room where we were given pudding to try that essentially tasted like oatmeal and the guide allowed us to ask questions about daily rituals, history, etc. We were then led downstairs to the cafeteria where we were fed a vegetarian indian lunch complete with rice, two mixtures i had NO clue what they were, pita bread, and some sort of flavored water (atleast I think that's what it was). We had to eat atleast some of it out of respect but we weren't forced to eat all of it. You had the option to opt out of it but seeing as how I've been doing so good trying different foods I tasted everything they gave me and even finished the rice. Although it wasn't terrible.. I didn't like that I had absolutely no clue of what it was. We then got to go and take our head wraps off, put our shoes back on and boarded the bus back to campus for afternoon session.
Afternoon session consisted of us sitting in the classroom for 2 hours listening to our teacher ramble about everything that he's discussed at the other sessions. He gets pretty repetitive but when sitting around the right people class can be entertaining. I got my first paper back and got an A+ which I was thrilled about so I celebrated and went shopping before coming back and starting on my LAST paper of the semester!!!!!
In order to write the last paper I had to read the last play for Shakespeare class which unfortunately took like 3 hours. I managed to crank the paper out in a little over an hour and I even think it'll be better than my last one... which I hope considering its worth 70% of my final grade. Our last Shakespeare class is tomorrow morning THANKFULLY. Tomorrow afternoon I'm planning on going into London and finallyyyy riding the London Eye. Tomorrow night we have our big farewell dinner at a Hotel in Kingston and then everyone is planning on heading out on the town for the night. Our British Culture and Society teacher told us that our exam won't be hard on Friday so no need to stay in and study all night!
I can definitely say that I am going to miss this place. Over the last month I have met some of the most awesome people. Coming from a small town we don't necessarily get to experience a lot of diversity. Here I have met people from all walks of life, who come from so many backgrounds, and want to accomplish so many things in life. Everyone here is positive and makes the best out of everything which has made class bearable and life here amazing. I have fallen in love with city life and can honestly say I would love to live in London one day. Studying Abroad is not something I had really planned on ever doing but now I wish that I would be here longer than just a month. It has absolutely flown by and there is still so much I have not been able to go and experience due to classes and I'm just not here long enough. I have always been pretty independent but this trip has made me have to branch out so much more. Coming into a strange country and living with 140 people you've never met seemed intimidating at first but with the right mindset, it has gone better than I could have ever imagined. Not only have I learned about everyone else while I've been here but I've learned a lot about myself as well. This has definitely been the best summer of my life and I hate that my summer in England is coming to an end.
Don't get me wrong, I miss everyone at home but Europe is AMAZING. This will definitely not be my last trip over here and I can't wait to start traveling even more now. Why stay in one place all the time.. I can only travel and enjoy this for a while before real grown up life with officially set in.
Cheers!
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