Why am I living in London. part 1

It dawned on me that I haven't written a post about why I ended up in London so I thought that I would write one.

I came to London in September 2007 for a study abroad semester at the London College of Communication. I was a student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) and my program BS:Visualization requires students either do a study abroad semester or an externship semester. I had done a few internships and thought that it might be a good experience to study abroad. My original plan was to do a semester at Parsons studying Design Management. In the end it turned out to be more expensive than going to MCAD and going abroad became a very attractive idea.

MCAD sent students to LCC for graphic design so I thought that I might go there too, for a different program. Sarah Kissell, a graphic design student, was going over to study typography. I ended doing the Marketing and Advertising program and another BS student Jesse Gadola went too. I was really excited about it. I had been to London once before in 2001 for a trip and had always wanted to go back. So I went to London.

Before arriving in London I stopped in Ireland for nine days. Two other BS students, Katy Smith and Zoe Peterson, were studying in Dublin. I wanted to travel around Ireland for a bit before starting school in October. I loved Ireland and it was great to see Katy and Zoe over there. I remember thinking, BS students are seriously taking over the world.

My course started on October 4th and that day after classes I went out with Sarah and Jesse to see a play in a basement of a pub. We were also supposed to go see some live jazz, but we decided to call it an early night. Sarah and Jesse were living in student housing near LCC and I was in a different dorm across town. When I got back to my dorm a bunch of people were going out to hear some music at a place called the Ain't Nothing But The Blues Bar. I decided at the last minute to join them.

It was at the place that I met the man that I am now married to. The Blues bar isn't very big and I remember seeing this one guy who was wearing a suit and a backpack standing near the front of the room. He was the only person who looked liked he was enjoying himself. He was kind of moving to the music and he just looked like a fun person. I went to go stand next to him and we started taking and then one thing lead to another and he had given me his phone number.

I didn't have a cell phone in London yet and I remember going out and getting one the next day so I could call him. We went on an official first date that weekend and have been together ever since. That was a really fun time, going to school and going out in London while getting to Matthew.

I was over the moon.