Frost and the Ripper

Last night everyone from the CEA program went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour. It started off outside the Tower of London and ended in a dark alleyway outside an old synagogue. We walked past murder sites, "in the footsteps" of the killer himself, and through some really interesting culturally-diverse neighborhoods located in the East End. I expected it to be cheesy, but our tour guide was really engaging and had an apparent passion for the mystery and intriguing stories surrounding the infamous killer.

Our guide began the tour by commenting that "winter arrived today." He wasn't exaggerating. Although the official start of winter is months from now, yesterday felt like it. It was 9 degrees Celcius (or about 48 degrees Fahrenheit) and drizzling. I took the train home and it started to pour. Needless to say, after listening to gruesome accounts of prostitutes being murdered, it was a bit unnerving to walk back alone from the station in the dark and the rain.

---

One of the best side effects of traveling for me is the rush of motivation and inspiration I get. I don't feel like I've wasted a day since I've been here. We're required to read "Politics and the English Language," an essay by George Orwell, for my journalism course. I decided to buy the collection of essays that it's published in because it inspired me so much.

Orwell's title essay, "Why I Write," holds universal truths known to anyone who's ever been inspired to express themselves through words. Many of the thoughts and feelings he writes about were ones that I naïvely assumed I was alone in having. Of course, he expresses his feelings a bit better than I did: "I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued," (Orwell) versus "I guess all writers are meant to be lonely" (me). A little melodramatic, Katie.

Anyway, it's cool and very inspiring to be able to relate to a great author's thoughts on writing. Maybe I'll actually attempt to write something of substance while I'm here, not just blog entries and mandatory papers for school.