DAY 21, RICE

Days that you get so tired and it's so late that you don't even feel like cooking for buying anything to eat.
Days where plain white rice is the best thing that happened to you during the day.

Today my supervisor came up to me and asked me when my last day was, and she said "Great! We will hold onto you until the very last day of your work term!"
I guess it is a good thing? At least the next time I go to Macau I might be able to visit the place, and I can point different elements and say, "I designed this."

Today my colleague was talking to me, and she was basically saying how she has huge ambitions to change the situation Hong Kong is stuck in right now, but then she is stuck here in London doing extremely useless things such as setting up sheets for printing.
Then i asked her, with what you know right now, how much do you think you can change?
She is really smart, and she is pretty much set to go to Harvard to do masters after this summer, but I guess if we aren't geniuses, there are stages that we must go through, stepping stones. Some are lucky, they do things that are more inspiring or contributive, others just end up doing the most meaningless stages of a project.
Well after all, somebody has to do the boring work. We are like the bowl of white rice, no matter how delicious the dish is, it won't be very filling without a bowl of rice, and the strong taste might be too much to handle alone. In certain times, the rice will be the highlight of the meal, and you better ensure that it's the most tasty bowl of rice ever.

Sometimes there are things we have to do, and we can't find a way to get out of it. So if you can only choose doing it while being frustrated, or try make the best out of it, why not choose the latter?

- Jon

CHINA TOWN

China town, a place where you get the same food as in Hong Kong, but for three times the price.

DAY 20, SLEEP

Note to self: It is nice to be polite, but when you ask if there is anything you can helo with right before you get off, the message you are sending is "I am dying to stay at the office and I need some work to do."
In the end, people pass on their work to you and they leave early instead. Great.

Skipped an entry yesterday but I dont think it will be an interesting day to talk about anyways. The client scheduled to come to the office for a review today so yesterday was a whole day of photoshopping, modelling and autocad. Having 3 different people ordering you to do work at the same time, the amount of windows opened keeps on increasing and the amount of work left to do does not decrease, it just keeps on piling up... In the end I stayed till 12, without eating a legit dinner... I guess the good thing is I got a free cab home?
Why can't they decide on what to design before rendering the images, photoshopping complicated elements away isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do compared to rerendering an image...

Today I overslept by an hour, although I still made to the office on time I felt like falling asleep the whole day. It felt like I was pulling an allnighter and I am at the 30 hour mark. I felt like I am almost done a studio deadline. The only problem is, I am not even close to done.
Sometimes the inconsistency in the plans and models, and the miscommunication between different parts is kind of annoying sometimes. In the end, its you that has to fix all the mistakes that you didn't make.

Silly me, thinking that I can actually go home on time, or drop by a guitar store on my way back. Haha

Done with complaining about the past two days, now I need to hope that I wake up feeling alive tomorrow, especially when my supervisor said "One of the guys is helping with another project tomorrow, so we are depending on you".

I guess one of the up sides to the day is that the weather is really nice?

-Jon

DAY 18, SUN AND MOON

The title and the picture actually have nothing to do with what I am about to say, just thought that its a pretty cool picture that's all.

After two weeks of being in the office, today must have been the most hectic day so far. I don't even remember the last time I took me so much effort to just the facade of a building. And thinking that I have to finish the remaining 3 sides tomorrow makes me not feeling much like going to work...
It sounded really easy, reading the sections and the plans and figure out where the openings are, and then model the facade. But in one level there are already a lot of inconsistencies, not to mention 4 levels in total.
Since the facade elements are not planar, every time I mess up I will have to remodel that part of the solid from scratch... which i do that a lot. In the end I made the same wall about 4 times...

Just when I thought I can get some rest and continue tomorrow, my supervisor came to me, smiling,

 "Jonas! I need you to do something"

Sometimes I am given designs that doesn't even make sense to me at all, or it takes forever to model and doesn't even come out nice. We just have to follow the instructions and give them what they want. Since the architects higher up in the office don't really use computers, they don't know the process you need to go through to make a certain thing, how complicated it is, etc. They will keep on coming by to check on you, and you just want to finish it already but you are already working at your fastet pace.
The pressure.
And I end up getting off 3 hours later than usual, dinner was a bowl of rice with ice cream on the side. Yum

I still can't get myself to like using computers a lot... but what can I do? I suck just as much at drawing haha, might as well stick to something more user friendly.

-Jon

DAY17, THE PARK

I dont want to jinx it but I hope that the weather stays like this for the next 4 months I am here, it was such a nice day a group of us sat outside in the park right after going to church today.

I dont remember when was the last time I had the leisure to sit in the park.

Lying on the fake grass and staring at the clouds, I was afraid of two things only,
1. That the birds didn't often use this park as their toilet.
2. The kids don't have enough soccer skills to kick hard enough and hit my head.

Watching the kids play reminds me of when I was small. Back in Hong Kong we had small podiums shared by a few buildings, and every day a group of us little kids will gather and play football after school. There were no nets, no goals, just an uneven surface with sharp edges and stairs, not exactly the safest place to run around. We didn't care, it was the best setting for us to play in. Sometimes we will kick the ball into the streets, the fountain, the car park, the security guard.

That is the worst part.

The rules say that there can't be any ball games in the podium, so every now and then the security guards will come out and give us a warning. We will run away for 5 minutes and then gather once more to finished our unsettled game.
I guess I wasn't quite the obedient child when I was small haha.
But with al the rules adding on to the existing limitation of space in Hong Kong, I am not surprised that kids prefer to be on their phones and computers rather than out playing in the sun. Days were more simple back then.

-Jon

HEADS

Two heads are better than one.

ME AND I

Today I did not strike a single conversation with anyone, I did not touch my phone other than taking pictures. I walked around by myself, and I tried to not interrupt with anyone's business. I pretend that I am not there.

I like being by myself, one of the reasons being I dont really talk much, or sometimes I do find it hard to start a conversation with someone. Not that I don't enjoy being with a group of people, it's always interesting being the listener, and just smile.
Being by myself means that I don't have to follow other people's pace or think that I am making the other person feel bored. Honestly, I dont know how interesting it is to stare at pigeons or sitting there watching clouds all day. I don't need to answer to anyone but myself, and even when I get lost, I won't feel bad for getting myself lost. That always happens.
And I don't want to get people in trouble when I am sneaking into places to explore, after all they didn't sign up for that.

Even so, after being by yourself for too long, you want to have someone there with you. After all none of us are able to to survive alone.
But after being by yourself for too long, you start to lose the ability to communicate with others.

- Jon

DAY16, DOWN THE LANE

Decided to wake up early and go to Brick Lane for a visit today, since I have heard of it so much. It was really empty today for some reason, but the markets are really interesting to walk in, and really cheap bargins too. There are so many stores selling vintage things it reminds me of good old cambridge haha.

I was lost in a neighbourhood where the streets are empty and the stores are all closed, it seems like there is no sign of anyone living there. Then I came across a residential apartment, I guess it was a social housing project.
I stared inside from the street and I felt sad, very sad. All the time we study all these concepts to apply for social housing and design and all that stuff, but in the end they all seem extremely unpractical in the given economical circumstances. Dreamers are dreamers, but somewhere along the way they still have to give in to what reality is able to support. And that is the building that is placed in front of me.
I dont know if the people living there are happy about the environment, or maybe they are very grateful for having a place to live with their family already, while people in other parts of the city are complaining about not having enough space.

Then I ask myself, what are we designing for?

-Jon

STREETS

I dont't create the stories,
the streets do.

COLLECT

Today I am a collector, I collect stories.
People just seem to find it hard to put the cups into the bin after they are done with them, but this leaves a lot of room for imagination.

What was the person doing before he or she left the cup where it was? What was is the cup looking at, is it part of the memory of the person who was once there?

Still more to add to my collection.

-Jon

DAY 15, FRIEND

Met up with one of my childhood friends in the city today, and he introduced his girlfriend to me.
When I see how he treats his girlfriend, honestly it wasn't really something i expected from him. Being the tough person I've known for so long, and suddenly acting so soft and caring.
All grown up now haha.

Just another five minutes. It feels great to sleep in for a longer while during when you are warm and cozy inside the blanket, and the five minutes will end up being something around 30 minutes. Once you resist the urge to wake up to the first alarm, the mentality that there is always a next alarm to wake you up will keep you in bed for more than you expected.

Rush Hour.

It is funny how only 5 minutes can make such a difference. We know that if we get out of the house 5 minutes earlier, we will be able to avoid the huge crowd rushing into the subway at once, having only one-fifth of the mount of people. But we don’t do that. In the subway station, no matter which route you take, you will find yourself ending up in the same position, and allow the crowd to slowly push you forward. You can’t even manage to hold up your hands to read on the train.

“The shadow of the wind”

I almost forgot how much I liked reading, since it has been a long while since I last read a book on my own will. Not that the books we have to read at school are boring, some of them are really interesting books if you spend time on them. Just that the idea of someone/ something forcing you to finish the book in a short period of time for an upcoming test takes away the leisure to enjoy the content.
Having so much time while commuting back and forth every day, i can allow myself to live in the story rather than trying to remember what the story is about. If you ask me about the details of the chapters I’ve read so far, I won’t be able to tell you; but if you ask me if it’s a book worth reading, yes.

Holy, this week passed by way too fast, I still feel like it's my first week at work to be honest.

-Jon

DAY 14, WALDO

This morning when I was waiting for the lights, a tall man stood beside me. As we were crossing the streets, he raised his voice,

‘Hey Tony!’

The person named Tony, who was crossing the road in the opposite direction, did not acknowledge. So he ran backwards to chase after Tony until he got a ‘Hi’ back. Did he really want to greet Tony so badly? Or did he simply feel like an idiot for saying ‘Hi’ to the thin air?

Sometimes I think we are too afraid of being lonely. Paranoid might be the word. I do believe that humans need each other to survive, and so do other living things, which form the food chain and all sorts of other cycles. As for humans, we need someone to share our emotions with, something that will give us an understandable response, and that is a thing that only other human beings are capable of doing so. When you saw a great movie, when you went to a terrible restaurant, when you were caught in a ridiculous argument, you want your feelings to be acknowledged by another person, maybe make you feel,  ‘If someone else agrees, I guess my reaction was normal.’
We need other peoples’ acknowledgement.

So that is us, we share, we learn, because no one can read minds and sharing is the only form of communication we know of. We build connections with different people, we find new ways to keep our connections alive, and we get more and more used to our connections with people being stable and rapid. This is when we realize, it is getting harder and harder to disconnect ourselves, we start to share every little detail to the whole world, bragging, looking for comfort.

Maybe we are like waldo, we try to hide who we are, but at the same time we put on really bright colours, hoping that someone would notice us.

-Jon

DAY 13, UNDER THE BRIDGE

Haven't written anything for the past two days. Not because I am slacking too much, but it is just too tired... Every night I tell myself i have to sleep before 12, but with all the cooking and cleaning after 5 other people, usually that doesn't happen...

Funny thing about work, when it's not near a deadline, they don't give you much to do till 1 or 2 hours before you get off... And then? You end up staying an extra 2 hours... Normally if you accumulate enough hours I think you'll get a day off, but then again the group leader already said no day offs so... haha
It's hard to find something to do in the office when there's no work assigned. Other than surfing my way through facebook or other things, I ried to pick up grasshopper and 3Dstudio, yay for more computer modelling!
After reading through 400 pages of notes and tutorials on grasshopper, it is still the most confusing thing ever... The logic behind the programming is pretty simple - input, manipulation and output of data, but then to figure out how to link the functions together or what to use is something you gain from experience I guess... A long way to go

Today I also discovered one of the most amazing places in London - a series of soccer fields under the bridge. The feeling of a group of people sharing the same passion gathering together, and enjoying every bit of their time on the field, no matter how the conditions of the place isn't as great. This is the place where talents are discovered.
I am excited about what I will see when I get to go to Brazil, I suppose it will be a very different experience.
So i tried picking up soccer after neglecting it for 2 years... and i must say I don't feel that my body belongs to me at all. What has school done to me?

-Jon

SCOOP

I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream

DAY 10, LES MISERABLES

Even though it snows a lot in Canada, I didn't really play with snow a lot, the most I did was making a giant snowman. I dont like wearing gloves at all, so every time I play with snow my hands will turn all red and start bleeding, not a great feeling at all.
Today I found myself end up walking around with two "little kids" in the group, and every one in the group ended up throwing snowballs in each others faces... with nothing better to do, i decided to stand aside from the danger zone and made this little guy. Sadly i wasn't able to find it anymore after the movie...

Watched Les Miserables for the second time today. I must say when i am watching it the second time round, the movie seems a lot shorter, but still the play is very nicely written. Haha the soundtrack is stuck in my head again. A disappointing fact is that i found out today that part of the scenes in the movie was filmed in Greenwich London, haha yea the place where the time zone is +0.00, shall go there for a visit one day.
The cinemas in central London are pretty amazing though, since the cinemas used to be theatres, so there is only one movie showing at a time, but the house is a room with rows A-Z, watching a movie is like watching an opera show haha.

While I was walking in the park today I noticed a man playing catch with his dog - with a snowball... So the dog would happily chase after the snowball and find that the object it was chasing disappeared. Confused, the dog walks back to the owner while he has another snowball ready in his hand already.
This process repeated for a lot of times... poor dog.

-Jon

DAY 9, CARGO TERMINAL

It feels so nice not having to wake up with the birds in order to go to work, oh how i miss being lazy. It has only been a week, but somehow this week seemed really long... I guess that's the working life?

While being lazy, today ended up being a very eventful day, which I ended up getting lost in the middle of nowhere watching planes take off, while freezing my bum off.
It sounded like a simple task, going to the airport cargo terminal to pick up a parcel. Then the tube decides to go on a maintenance today which cuts off the access to the airport from where im at. Which means I have to subway up, and across, and back down just to get to two stations away form where i started...
Finally arriving at the airport and took a bus to the cargo terminal, that's when i realize everywhere looks the same and I have no one to ask, and no idea how to get to my destination.
Well lucky me I found my way while wandering around mindlessly, and very fortunate that I didn't catch a cold, yet.
The whole trip took more than 5 hours.
Well hopefully this is the last time I go back to the airport till the day i leave.

-Jon

DAY 8, THE CLIENT

That awkward moment when the client likes your design the best but you hate it so much you want to delete it...
Just laugh it off

I still have no idea why my team trusts me so much that they keep on giving me work to do just to wait for me to screw up...
But yesterday was a nice reunion with my dearest friend photoshop, and we spent a long day together. VERY LONG
Well I guess anything would be greater than doing CAD drawings all day long and paneling them on sheets, so I consider myself lucky

Meeting with the client was weird. He wasn't able to come in so the meeting was through the phone while sharing the computer screen.
And because of that, everyone in the room were
On their phone, and my supervisor got so bored he started doodling on his notes.
I understand why though, the client is so strong on his standpoint but his idea doesn't work, but for some other amendments that are completely logical, it makes me wonder why the architects did not think of that. Instead they made something very irrational, such as corridors in a mall that's 10 meters wide.
Interesting.

Yesterday had the most snow I've seen ever since coming to London, and it's such a pretty scene especially when the snow doesn't gather on the ground like in Canada. And then you see people in their twenties playing with the snow like little kids, throwing snowballs off from the balconies to the streets... Not what you see every day in Canada either.
I was walking to work and I see this man wiping the ice away from his car window carefully. Spotless. I smiled, this is not
Something you see back home.

Welcome to the winter wonderland.

-Jon

PIGEONS

Ever observed how a pigeon eats?

It is actually really interesting to stare at pigeons while they eat, provided that you have nothing better to do that is.
The bread crumbs or the bits of food that dropped from sandwiches are usually too big for the pigeons to swallow whole.

The pigeon hops up to the crumb, picks it up, bite a bit off while flicking away the rest.
Then it hops to where the crumbs landed, and repeats the process until it finishes the whole piece.

Imagine that it just holds on to one piece, and scared that it will lose the food once it lets go, then the process won't get anywhere.
Simple.

-Jon

DAY 7, MARKET

What a pleasant surprise, one thing great about working near a tourist hot spot, is that on thursdays there is a market near by, and boy it is amazing.
Once you go near the area you can already smell it: steak, pork, duck, lamb, tarts, potatoes, all cooked in huge pans, The cooked ones go out, the raw ones go in, non stop.
I would love to try all the stands there but i dont think ill be able to given the short period i am staying here...
Two lunches a day sounds like a nice option too haha

One thing about markets, none of the people here knows each other, but they interact as if they are friends for a long time, even for such a short moment.

AND, pigeons everywhere...

It was a nice day outside the office, but not that nice back inside.
As an architecture student, I am not that proud of my designing skills other than making things into boxes. Till now my team members still have trust in me and ask me to design things, and today would be a pattern for a facade.
Great. I have no idea what to do... and in the end i misunderstood the instructions so i had to redo the model again, which ended up with a worse design.
I think that are starting to realize that i am not of much use haha.

Gotta step up my game.

-Jon

DAY 6, SYSTEMATIC

Should have known this before but once work starts, the days start to get systematic, especially when you are working on one project only and you are facing the same files over and over again.

The more I walk around, the more I see telephone booths lying around on the streets, well for sure I'm in the right country haha. But the question is, how many people still use them?
Somewhere along the way these booths, once beautiful and an iconic representation of London, are now just meaningless boxes that takes up space on the streets.
You can consider them as
- A good practicing spot for crappy graffiti
- A place to glue on layers of posters about this and that musical
- A place to smoke despite you're not supposed to.

Time doesn't stop for anyone, even inanimate objects.
Maybe some things do last forever, sadly not this.

Don't even want to get out of bed in the morning,,, going to be a long 4 months....

-Jon

WHO

"Knock knock"
"Who's there?"
"Doctor"

TOAST

When your toast gets so excited in the morning it jumps out of the toaster.

DAY 5, OT

7 am.
The birds are chirping.
The shower water is hot.
The toster is working so well the toast jumped out of the toaster.
The weather is great.
Today seemed like a great day.

But things didn't end up the way I expected.
I always say that the worst things to happen at the office is not having a lot of work to do. It is either having a lot of work assigned an hour before time, or having no work to do at all...
The thought that you have to keep yourself busy is what makes you feel more exhausted than ever. So that was me, for the first 2 hours waiting for assignments, while trying to not let my eye lids find each other.

I read,
The standards for CAD
The standards for drawings and presentations
The project documents dating back to 2 years ago
The employee seating plans
The rules and regulations for an employee
The fire safety rules
The project documents,
ALl over again

It was the complete opposite after lunch
Hours on staring at the computer until realizing that the person who made the reference file just didn't really care about the details... Great. First time staying late just to remodel half the thing.

I don't really drink coffee, but first thing in the morning my supervisor came up to me really excited and taught me how t ouse the espresso machine, and made me coffee... Can't possibly throw it out right?

It didn't wake me up at all.

The streets of London are always exciting to explore around, i was just walking home after work and i stumbled upon this fascinating car, "snap".

-Jon

DAY 4, SUIT UP

730 am.
I want to row back to sleep cause my roommate didn't let me sleep till 2...
I moved around the room trying to get myself ready, but like every time you are trying to do something sneaky, The doors and the zippers sounds like someone changed it in to an burglar alarm, and you can't tough them without making the loudest noise waking up the whole house...

Still kind of shocked that an architectural firm is located in such a weird place, but well, gotta make use of all the space you have right?
Thanks to staying up too late last night, i fell asleep during the introduction session... what a nice way to start my first day of work haha

Surprisingly my first day at work is extremely similar to my first day of work back in the summer.
1. The project manager told me  that they are rushing a deadline and they need immediate input
2. Knowing how to use rhino makes you extremely useful
3. Assigning me to work on a facade design with strips on my first day of work.
4. Renders.
The only difference is that I didn't have to stay till 10 at night, excellent!

I thought that I would not be able to use chinese anymore in the office, but no, theres this girl from HKU who just graduated this year. Haha I guess its always nice to meet someone from home in another country, especially when both of us are in London for the first time. Haha there goes my chance of having a british accent now...

Good news is, I am assigned 7 days of holiday and the company wants me to redeem it.
Bad news is, I can't have a holiday till may cause we have to rush our project...
Great.

But still, this would be a great 4 months.
And now, coffee time.

-Jon

DAY 3, CHURCH

Today I woke up to realize that the house has no heating or what so ever, no wonder I keep on shivering when I am in the house and my cough never got better... One of the things in the house that no one cared to fix haha

It's not my normal routine to go to church on sundays, I only recall doing it once before, but since I want to explore around and meet new people here, why not?
I have always wanted to learn more about the religion of christianity, and I started going to churches here and there, even back in Hong Kong and Canada, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions, or maybe sometimes I dont even know how to ask the questions, sometimes it is more like a feeling that something just doesn't make sense to me.
Religions and faith gives people strength and happiness, that is what I believe. Having a family outside your home, that is how I would put it, and being in that environment makes you want to be happy too, at least for them.
I mean, how often can you sing out loud to show the love you have for someone? In this case, it would be God.
Or maybe someday I will be able to understand too, who knows?

First day of work tomorrow, now I will finally know what i signed up for. A bit nervous and looking forward to the work for next 4 months though.
Suit up.

- Jon

MUGS

"Keep calm and carry on"
"Now panic and freak out"

DAY 2, RAINING

Second day in London and the blue sky already disappeared, and it was replaced with rainfall and wind that blows the cold droplets right in your face. I was extremely tempted to stay indoors for the day.
I have a feeling that the rain would not stop for quite a while, this is London after all...
The sun was great while it lasted...

Which I did.

The search for public libraries wasn't very successful as the results tell me that i have to pay for a membership in order to be able to borrow books, what kind of public library is this...
So the book store became the next best thing, and i was lucky to stumble across a street of book stores and guitar stores.
The fiction books are stored in a cylindrical bookcase in the middle of the store, and i ended up walking around it a lot of times trying to catch every single title in store.  I have a list of books that just keeps on getting longer because i never had the determination to read the books... I guess now is the best time to do so!
Spending the day at the book store is one of my favourite things to do, yes I know I am a nerd... but hiding in the corner with a cup of tea and a book makes you feel so relaxed, and there is no space for any sort of technology there.

Alice in wonderland
1984
To kill a mocking bird
The cat's table
The life of pi
Should have read these a long time ago.

Discovery of the day: Casino Royale is the first James Bond novel by Ian Fleming.

Not every day here in London is going to be exciting, i am expecting to find myself back here a lot more in the next few months.

-Jon

STAIRS

After that 139 stairs, i dont know if i was tired, or i was just too dizzy to think

KNIFES AND A ROPE

"I'm gonna risk my life, on a rope, for your entertainment!"
With a smile and a enthusiastic voice, the performer told the story behind the masks they wear.

STREET PERFORMERS

He held onto a rubber tire with one hand, and a glass of water with the other.
He took a sip from the glass.
He then balanced the glass on the inside rim of the tire, and stapled the glass to the tire.

"Snap", secured.

He then moved a few steps away.
He turned around and commanded his goldfish to leap from a fish bowl into the glass.

"Hop!", the fish did not react.

He tried a few times but the fish acted as it was dead.
He smacked his head with a frustrated expression.
He walked back to the table and "sneakily" made the fish "jump" into the cup.
He started spinning the tire upside down, and sideways.

"Splash", was what we expected.

He kept on spinning the tire but not a single drip of water left the glass.
He did it with his eyes closed, scared that he would fail.
He denied gravity for a few minutes.

"Clap", the audience took their pictures and started walking away.

He looked to a distance and started yelling.
He dropped to the floor and started whining.

"John i can't do this anymore, They think my performance is shit. They all left!", as the audience clapped in amusement.

I left.

-Jon

DAY 1

My goal to not screw up in London has already been proven wrong on the first day of walking around, i would be lost if my pictures of google map didn't help me... The street levels of the theatres in Central London all look the same and it's extremely confusing trying to determine your location by the looks of the buildings. I must say  that Central London is a litt bit disappointing, it is a very commercial place and it is hard to find anything interesting unless you turn into the small alleys - Which is where i spent most of the time wondering around today.

Whoever told me that the food in London is terrible, sorry i didn't believe you before. A simple ham and cheese sandwich was the most disappointing meal i had here, and my tongue is still numb from whatever spices they put in the bread. Guess i will be cooking a lot more often than i expect...

The location of the office was not what i expected either, when i first walked into the dark alley i thought the company gave me the wrong address, and i ended up arriving at the huge glass doors in astonishment. Now that got me excited for next monday.

My part-time job hunting wasn't that successful though, i am hoping that i will come across a coffeeshop that makes me want to walk in and stay there, i guess i was searching in the wrong part of London... Or maybe i should just try Starbucks haha.

-Jon

LONDON

To be honest i wasn't very excited to leave for London even till an hour ago when i was waiting to board the plane, it feels like i have a lot of things left undone back in Markham. But anyhow, here i am in the streets of London, finally getting excited for what is waiting ahead of me for the next few months. When i stepped out of the tube i already felt something i never managed to find in Toronto: the stories told by the facades of the buildings, the silence on the streets at night that does not highlight the loneliness and of course, the big red double decker buses.
I can't wait to wake up the next day to start exploring already. Note to self: try not to get lost too soon.

-Jon

STARTING A BLOG

Seeing that I am going to start a new life in London in a few days, I thought it might be a great idea to start a blog to record my life and travels in a foreign country. I want to disconnect myself from the place i am in right now, so that i can have the time to explore around and fully experience my coming 4 months. Another reason for this blog to exist would then be for the people i know to keep track of what i am up to.
I have had a few blogs back in the years but never seemed to be able to keep it up a lot, so lets see how this blogging ends up shall we?

-Jon