Words 4 London

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I last put my thoughts to text, WOW that’s ridiculous. So much has happen since then and in attempt to not make this one post extremely long I’ll keep most things short unless its really important.

The last time we spoke Damon and Adrian just had came in town and we ended the night with crazy names such as “Double Fist Epps” and “No hang Pruett.” Those two are very selective about the people they let into their business so I’ll use that as an excuse to scroll over the activities of the weekend. Not to mention Saturday night I was out on the town somehow in Red chino’s and  the infamous Rico made an appearance. He hasn’t been out in quite some time and looking back on it, he’s tasteless and is a thing of my immature past. If you’re lost reading this right now, don’t worry about. Just trust it’s not good. We did do some amazing things though, such as get some Ben’s Cookies, see Lion King the play (was amazing) and make breakfast for our amazing house mom! I’ll end by saying that while they were here I’m sure I didn’t take full advantage and realize that they’re true friends. So AP and D.Money much respect to you both and I’m forever in debt to you and your gracious acts in coming to London to visit your friend from way back when!

One would think that after a weekend like that I’d get some rest, but nope Damon and Adrian pack and leave around 6am on Monday morning. I say my goodbyes with my eyes half closed and jump up to the realization that they’re really leaving and that four hours ago before I fell asleep I made one of the most spontaneous decisions of my life, you’ll learn about this one next week. Just know that if you’re going to be in Europe…BE IN EUROPE, enough said! Off to school I go catching the 7am train realizing that I have so much work to catch up on being that this is the last week of session 1 and finals are approaching in five days. The first day breezes by to be honest and I’ve made the decision that every evening after class I’ll make an effort to communicate and network with my classmates more. Monday after class a few of us head out and get dim sum and I’ll say that the food was amazing. The leaders of the crowd were Chris (student at Oxford) and Hong (student at Columbia) but the crowd consisted of me, Vicky (Italian law student) and Madhurima (extremely intelligent lady that’s headed into law herself in India). Needless to say the conversation between us all is unprecedented.

After food some of my mates head to the book store, of course I want to go but I don’t because I know good and well I’m not about to add any extra reading to my plate (though I REALLY REALLY should) but instead I head back to campus where I go workout and put some miles to the pavement. I catch the 9:50 train home so that means I get back to the house around 10:40 when I realize that I’ve left my converter at school and without it no work will be getting done this evening. DANGIT!

I head to sleep around 11:30 thinking that I’m exhausted and if all goes well I can sleep at least until 6:30, but instead I wake up at 5am Tuesday morning with no computer to do work so I aimlessly find something to do and leave for the 6:10 train to the city in hopes to grab my converter and start work earlier than usual. To make a long story short, there’s a train failure and I make it to campus an hour and a half later to find out that I can’t even get into the building until 8am. I could have left at my normal time. Aww well, I grab a sausage and egg from the shop and sit on campus reading random articles in the NY Times. I come up with the following to describe the events of my morning: Moral of the story, relax, take your time and trust that all will work out at the right time because if you try and make something happen earlier GOD will only take you on round-about until he’s ready for something to happen! This day goes by just as fast as the others do, and after class we head to a “Jack the Ripper” tour (Google it) put on by Madhurima and then to Bricklayne to acquire some curry (Indian food). The crowd here is amazing as well slightly different people from the night before but all wildly intelligent beyond my imagination.

Somehow through the events of the night we don’t leave the Indian restaurant until late and I end up catching the last train out of the city ONCE AGAIN so I don’t arrive home until the next day. Somehow I’m walking in the house past midnight and waking up at 5:30a, daily. There must be something wrong with me, no but seriously I’ve even set up a doctor’s appointment upon my return. Wouldn’t want to be that ignorant black male that’s too proud to get himself checked out.

Wednesday approaches way too fast, like what the hell have I been doing that it’s Wednesday already? Well I start the day by posting in my class’s Facebook group that I plan to take a class photo on Thursday at the end of class and for the most part most members agree that it’s a pretty good idea. I’m supposed to be meeting some folks that I know from the states post the day so I decide to leave the gym bag home for the day, surprising being that I’ve committed to running 15 miles by Friday and I’m only 7 in with one day left because I refuse to run on Friday with that being the last day of classes and the final. Nevertheless this day goes by just as fast as the rest or I just don’t remember the interesting facts of day. Either way it was a great day. ACTUALLY the best part was at the end of class I stay in the room to study and I’m joined by another student whom I’ve seen but never spoken to. Her name is Misu; she’s working for the UN in Hong Kong. She’s Asian but you’d never know because she doesn’t have strong Asian features and most importantly she has a full British accent (born and raised here). Unbeknownst to me, she’s the oldest person in the class and we spend an entire hour and a half speaking on life, how she’s grown in the plus ten years since she’s been out of Uni (what the Brits call Undergrad), the troubles in building a family as a “successful” woman and lastly she allows me to push my thoughts on life towards her as she smiles and says “you’ll figure it out.”

DANG, she just had to be ten plus years (she wouldn’t tell me her age but I guessed at 32 she looks 23) older than me…..oh, did I mention she’s wildly attractive with a great mind so she’s beautiful in my book….great conversation.

Post school and the wonderful talk I head to Totenem Court Road ready to meet up with some friends where we are scheduled to go to a secret bar, haha sounds exciting right? Well before I arrive, I stop in a local grocery store to eat (I grab a cup of pesto pasta and cookies – clearly I’m starting to gain all the weight I’ve recently loss…so sad). Nevertheless on my walk, I run into some really really cool art. (Displayed below).

The monkey below speaks the truth! 

So I finally meet up with Stefani (Stanford Law student I met at Upenn with Evie) and her two female friends an Asian woman preparing to be a solicitor and this really cool girl who graduated from Yale, came to London and said she never wants to leave. We go on a search for this mysterious bar that you can only find by searching for a blue door, going down some creepy steps and knocking on a door. The excitement in actually finding the bar down the steps and having to knock as some bulky British dude in a well-worn overly sized suit sizes us up and down before he grants us entry. Of course after all the crap you’ve just went through you’d expect the bar to be something more than dirty stools, horrible lighting and an even worse smell but at least we can say we found the infamous “hideout.” Next we head to a nearby bar where we’re the only one’s there and then Stefanie’s friend joins. He’s this really easy going Harvard Law student, but not just your ordinary kid. For two years after he graduated from undergrad he did economy research in Spain while bartending, and I quite “yeah man, I was just in bullshitting” haha. This all before he came to Harvard Law (at 25 years old), interned at a top three law firm last summer and now interning at a top five law firm in London as he prepares to finish the internship in Hong Kong and then head to Tokyo where he study abroad during the first semester of his 3L year. WHAT THE FUZZLE am I doing with my life, because clearly I’m doing nothing compared to that haha! We all chat it up, he offers me advice and says he’s willing to help in any way he can in regards to my law school journey, even says if he tries hard enough he can remember where he put his LSAT study material. haha might take him up on that offer. Clearly having a great night, I leave them mid conversation because I realize that it’s 11:25 and the last train out of the city leaves and 11:50 and I’m a couple of stations away from the one I need to be. In full sprint through the train stations I laugh at it all and scream to myself “LIFE IS FREAKING AMAZING”….I’m living the life or at least getting a chance to hang out with the people who actually are living it haha! I get to the train with less than two minutes to spare and I’m convinced that I’m some sort of superman who does it all and makes it to the last train with time to spare *pokes out chest*

Oh gosh, Thursday….that means the final is tomorrow. Class is short this day and I’m almost late because I’m trying to clean out the camera so I end up running to the train with a camera in one hand and a computer in the other. Somehow in my life I’m always running in some form or fashion. Nevertheless, class is darn near empty because the only subject of the day is labor law and most have decided we have enough information to cram for tomorrows test and none of us want to add this to the pot. Once class is finished I make another announcement to the few classmates that are left, some continue to leave, and others decide that they don’t want to be in the picture so they leave. You’d think that since I set up the picture I’d get a better position but nope all you see is the orange hat haha but I really enjoy these guys so I don’t mind.

Post class we all part and go towards our perspective corners of study. I’ve decided to stay in the classroom for a while to handle some business then it hits me that I have 8 miles to finish my 15 miles for the week so I charge my iPhone, drop the books and head off to an eight mile run where I run at an 8per mile pace (I’ve made tremendous progress). Upon my return I take the opportunity to head to the library until it shuts down, and again grab the last train home where I’m met by Jonelle the house mom. We exchange jokes and stories of the week for about thirty minutes. Again, an amazing day and the last day of school is tomorrow so I’m pretty anxious and not sleeping at all….I’m pretty sure I lay in the bed with my head to the wall realizing that the world is ahead of me and it’s up to me to make the most of it.

With that, I notice that I’m typing this at 2:30am in the morning, I just hoped off of a conference call and the first day of class starts tomorrow so I’m going to stop here with the promise to finish off telling the amazing weekend tomorrow morning. Know this, this past Saturday afternoon I walked through a refrigerator to get into an underground bar….. Ummm I love London. Scholarship has definitely come first but know that I’m enjoying the city on the weekend. Well as I head to bed pass 2am in which I’ll probably wake up at about 5:30 know that the world is what we make it….so pray hard work hard and believe harder! 

It’s Wednesday morning and i’ve woken up late as heck. To my suprise I haven’t heard anything from Damon and Adrian who were suppose to arrive in London at 6:40, over an hour before I wake up. Send them at least six emails, call their phones and receive no response. Contemplate not going to class and figuring out what’s going on with them, I oblige at the thought of the hourly rate i’m being charged to learn. Ha, no better way to get yourself to go to class than extreme cost analysis. The day in class is particularly boring; we’re talking about property law. Though the professor is very engaging I just don’t find the subject matter interesting. I get an email from Damon telling me that he’s made it in and that Adrian’s flight was delayed so she wouldn’t be in until the afternoon. The worrying about them stops now. At some point I get emails from Jonelle saying “You have company, get your ass home” haha I simply reply “Yes mam, i’ll be running out of class at four pm exactly.”

I could never tell them this, but I darn near run back home in excitement. If you don’t know, these are like two of my closest friends at Howard. Me and Damon were room mates in drew hall freshman year when I walked into our room and said “Who are you?” haha excuse me, I’ve lived here two weeks sir, who the heck are you. I was a country football player who had practice every morning at 6am and he was a chill dude from Chicago who shopped all the time. Needless to say, we’re completely different but somehow we’re still cool. Adrian on the other hand is the homie from way back in the dizzay. Me, her and Damon all had freshman year English together. She did Phi Sig the semester after me and then we both were on Homecoming Court (She was Mrs. Howard, smooth right). I walk in the house and it’s extremely quite, but then they both are like watup mil haha. We eventually head to grocery store because i’m about to put some things on the grill and start this London trip off right. To no surprise we spend the majority of our time in the liquor aisle but we get chicken, lamb, sides and Jonelle already has sausage and ribs so i’ts about to be a great day of food. After we leave and we’re headed from the train station back to the house A HAIL STORM FROM HELL starts. We run to the door and that cute little Frankie is laughing at us, she’s still in her karate uniform as her and Jonelle tell us about how she was whooping some little girls but in class that day. It’s still hailing outside and i’m thinking we’re not about to grill, ha Jonelle obliges and tells me to get out there. I roll up my pants, grab the largest umbrella in the house and head outside to start the grill in a full out hail storm, hilarious. We cook up a storm; by the end of it all we’ve eaten sasuage, ribs, lamb, plantains, fries, etc etc etc.

 Not to mention we’re going to town as Adrian makes mixes of Southern Comfort and juice, quite good if I have to say so myself. Jonelle makes this amazing jerk seasoning and we all stuff our faces to complete capacity and talk smack to each other about the different aspects of our lives. Adrian tells me about when I was a freshman I was on a mission to prove to the world that I wasn’t a dumb jock. Appareantly, I used to force intelligence as she would put it hahahaha, that’s so funny to me. Of course I give her smack in retaliation. We litterally go blow for blow in sarcastic remarks until we realize that Damon’s weak self has gotten drunk as all get out and he’s stumbling everywhere. See the Picture of Double Fist Epps and No Hang Pruett below haha

Clearly he becomes the peak of all jokes from here on out. We all pass out and I wake up in the middle of the next morning thanking the Lord for this opportunity and great friends who drop a stack to come visit their friend in London. I’m forever in debt. Much love guys.

Monday was sort of a blur, so much so that I can barely tell you what I did. Hold on, I can’t be getting this old or maybe it’s just that the week has been filled with amazing adventures. I’m pretty sure at some point I studied for my test but besides that I can really barely remember, like i’m sitting here on my bed and i’m legitimately trying but i’m failing. Well on to Tuesday, TEST DAY! Our schedule is set at class from 9:30 to 12:45 and a test from 3-4. Of course attendance is scarce; i’m still baffled that teachers try to teach on the day of an exam. Before the test we’re all in a zone arguing different points in legal matters and praying to our higher powers that what we studied actually shows up on the exam. We eventually all head down the hill to the dimly lit room full of about fifty desk and two very stern English professors that are entirely too serious about their jobs. 

The exam starts and i’m compelled to dive right in but I stop myself to create an outline. 40 minutes into the 60 minute exam I realize that I’ve only spent time on my first essay and must construct the second essay on the vague question of how I feel about the changes within the English legal system in the last couple of years. Mind you, the ENTIRE SYSTEM has changed. Why did I pick this question, well that’s something I continue to ask myself hourly. As i’m putting my pencil to rest my over exerted hand the instructor calls for time and we all release a large sigh of relief because the exam was totally not as hard as it could have been. In the hallway its sounds as if a fight just occurred in high school because everyone is huddled discussing the essays they attacked and the points they used for the attack. 

From there I announce that we should head to a pub and get some beers. My colleagues say they’d rather go get cookies and tea —___— hahaha! Me, Chris and Rebecca, both from Oxford all head into the rain and scurry around the city and end up at Ben’s Cookies in Convent Garden. We sit here and jump into conversation towards politics, the oz bus, and how I have this intense love for law well the part that that helps humanity..somewhat of a black peter pan or the new school legal static shock. Hearing about their high school and undergraduate experiences is such a culture shocker. Mind you, they go to Oxford so of course the dialogue is interesting. For instance, they tell me about a game called chicken that the students played in high school or Oxford, I can’t recall which one. Nevertheless, when a test starts they all just sit there and look at each other. The last person to pick up his test and start wins. The kids were so smart that it wasn’t a matter of information; it was a matter of who was bold enough to go into the test with only fifteen minutes left. Heck, in high school it was the exact opposite. We had bets on who could pick the pencil up the fastest of coerce the teacher to give us extra time. Eventually we leave and the sun comes out so I decide to head out for a three mile run. The many sights of London I see while hitting the pavement in my beat up Nikes is amazing. I plan to start a pretty serious running regiment so get ready guys.

Next I take a shower in the LSE locker room and head to dinner to meet with Stefani, a friend of Evie Hightower’s that I met on my many UPenn Law adventures. The American Law firm she works for sent her to London to work for a month so dinner is in an amazing flat with two other women hailing from Yale and King’s College. Dinner is amazing if I might say so myself. Thank’s ladies for the food. 

I hurry back to train station because the last train comes at 11:49. To my surprise  two stops later is Jonelle Chambron banging on the window and we end the night talking to each other about the interesting days we’ve had and the night ends with me knowing that in a few hours my friends from freshman year, D Money and A.D. will be here…amazingness! 

When I first started this blog I said to myself “Never reread what you write, just type and press submit”. Yeah, that’s blasphemous. My apologies to the readers who had to endure the million mistakes. 

My apologies mate, 

J.A.Favors 

Thursday and Friday are sort of a blur, the same ole thing of listening to old English professor’s dive into subjects from Alternative Dispute Resolution to Civil and Criminal Procedures. It’s been raining a lot lately, as such so many activities are postponed, cancelled and subsequently the moral is slightly harmed. Friday is a new day, it’s a bit interesting because all of my classmates are talking about the boat trip that LSE is throwing or the Crush party that some are going to because they didn’t buy tickets fast enough for the boat trip. Me on the other hand, I’m running back to the house because Frankie (sweet 8yr old British-American girl) is having a birthday party and I told her the night before I wouldn’t miss it (after I stayed up until 3am cutting out her decorations, certainly well worth it).

As I get off the train I notice that I look like a wider beast and need a haircut. Well, we’re in London and the amount of African-American barbers are slim and only to be found in select places that i’m not hip to yet. I visit this shop right outside of the train station (complete suburbia) where this British guy has a million tattoos, a slick hair cut (totally gelled into a Mohawk) and one chair to cut hair. I look him in the eye and say I need to look human again. He has no brush in the entire shop and he cuts my hair with the $5 battery operated trimmers you can get from your local grocery store. Ha, we both come to the conclusion that he’s never cut black hair before BUT I talk him through the entire process and for £4 I walk away with a descent line up and an even beard feeling like I won’t scare the little children away!

I arrive at the party and there’s nothing but little children running around with face paint, eating amazing food and waiting out the little spat of rain that’s currently coming down. From there, all come up to me and say “So you’re the American boy” haha the cultural differences of that party were simply amazing. It was a great night, I turn in early because I’m dead beat tired and this feeling flows into the next day where I get a late start.

Saturday morning I head into the city to get a cellular phone at tmobile so I can stop incurring charges while texting those in the UK. I do this at the Oxford street tube station and I’m amazed by the amount of tourist and scenery, I’m quickly upset with myself that I left my camera at home. Note: phone usage in the UK is mind-blowing cheap, that’s about the only thing though haha the £ is kicking my butt! Next I head towards campus and I get off at Charring’s Cross, thinking it’s near LSE and I run into the 2012 Gay Pride parade, let’s just say it was a sight that will blow your mind. Besides from the ridiculously extremes who take it too far walking down the street with no pants on or the butts of their pants cut out. Other than that it was just a MILLION Britts on every corner congregating over beer, weed and cigarettes. Mind you, the cops are right there. What are they going to do arrest everyone, nope. AGAIN, I’m upset that I left my camera at home, won’t happen again. I head to campus to do work and talk to family back home until around 8pm when I meet up with George and his family for dinner. George, Brandon and I entertain their parents for at least three hours of ridiculous undergraduate stories to even a time when me and Brandon stop being cool over some “she said, she said”, ha darn women! We laugh it off and tell other ridiculous stories of the time I fell off a balcony (rolls on floor in laughter). During it all I can’t help but notice the wonderful marriage and that Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have.

Nevertheless we finish our dinner at Sofra, highly recommended and then head to their apartment for George and Brandon to change so that we can head out on the town and make it back in time for their 5am flight, crazy right! We leave the house at around 11:30 pm in route to Piccadilly Circus; legitimately everyone in the train station is drunk coming from the Wireless Festival. Piccadilly Circus, hmmmm I will call this the Times Square of London. So the night, completely rained on has not slowed down any of the London crew. People are waiting in lines, IN THE RAIN to get into clubs. Though I could go into details of the evening, I won’t give you guys too much of my private life haha let’s just say Zoo bar is a fun place and me, Brandon + George makes for a fun crowd.

We make it back to their hotel as they all pack and leave for the airport around 4:30am. Being that the trains are down, and the place I’m staying being a hour away it made sense that I stayed in the hotel in their absence until check out time (GOD bless the Johnsons), so I did just that. Woke up, took the shower of my life and then headed to the LSE library. Here I get a lot of work done until I’m contacted by my London mother saying that we’re headed to the wireless concert. I reluctantly go because I need to study but then I say JAMIL ITS LONDON and then head to Victoria to meet them as we all head to Hyde Park. I have on chinos, a button down, and Cole haan loafers. I’ll make this short (look at the pictures) and tell you that I’m having the time of my life here. With five weeks remaining I can tell that it’s going to be the time of my life. I head back home all muddy and not really caring that I just destroyed some really expensive shoes, just caring that I had a great time with great people. Head to bed early because it’s a big week and I know it. Test on Tuesday, Damon and Adriann coming in on Wednesday….BIG WEEK! 

As I sit at the corner of Remant Street and Kingshighway eating breakfast in Marques De Riscal I find my self very eager to share my experiences of the week. Beware, this could get kinda long winded but i’ll be sure to keep you entertained. 

I’m pretty sure I left off explaining to you guys the dynamics of the classroom and how things are shaping up here in London. Lets fast forward to Wednesday, July 4th when our class for the day is to tour the legal landmarks of London which just so happen to be near LSE. It would take me all day to point out the key points of the tour but I will share a few moments.

The tour guide ask the entire group “Who here is American”, all the Americans raise their hands and spits back “Hmmph, kind of an important day for ya huh mate” haha we all laugh as his subtle sarcasm. In between all of the touring I find myself in the back of the crowd chatting with Chris, Asian-Canadian who’s studying at Oxford. He’s one of those guys, who has so much knowledge in his head, has read every book in the state library but in modern day society one could consider his endless fact telling of showing off his knowledge and not shutting the heck up. Personally his intellect is amazing and I somewhat wish I had his intense knowledge on world issues, I certainly plan to stay in touch with the kid. It’s pouring down raining as it always does in London, but we’re still touring for about another two hours learning about the many different courts of London, seeing the beautiful architecture and getting a chance to simply be amazed by the scenery. After about two hours the tour ends and our task for the rest of the day is to go sit in on court cases, either at the Old Bailey Criminal Court or the Royal Courts of Justice (mostly civil and criminal appeal cases).

A group of us decide to get lunch first at a traditional English pub before we head off to our perspective courts. The pub is dengy, crap all over the floor with a stair well not able to fit a full grown man above 5’8. Through 2 downward spiraling staircases we find a table where the six of us sit a converse. The dynamics of the table is amazing, we have the Asian-Canadian guy i’ve told you about, the Italian woman, a Swedish woman, another Oxford student from London and finally a Dutch guy oh and of course yours truly the African-American scruffy beard looking guy. We sit for over a hour discussing the legal and education systems of our perspective countries. In most of their cases, you go straight into law school per se  right out of high school. It’s usually a five year ordeal, totally different from the American way. Did you know that in some of their countries it’s law for their parents to pay for undergraduate school  and if they don’t the children are allowed and do bring up civil suits, WOOOOW. Could you imagine American kids suing their parents for not paying for their undergraduate education, blasphemy? We talk and talk until we realize that we must get to the courts.

We attempt to hit the criminal courts, but you can’t go in with any electronics and I personally have a camera, computer and cell phone with me. They recommend that we go into the nearest cafe and request that they hold our belongings for a few pounds. You’ve got to be kidding me, do I look like Bo Bo The Fool. We decide to head to the Royal Courts of Justice where the security guy looks at my sweater and says “what wouldn’t I understand?” *My sweater says “You wouldn’t understand on the front” and “Its a Howard thing on the back”* I slowly turn around so he can read for himself and he simply says “Dam Americans” hahaha THEY LOVE US OVER HERE GUYS! We enter a few court rooms which are totally different from America because the Judges and Barristers all wear gown and  wigs. Tradition here is amazing. After a few cases of just sitting there because the Barristers talk so low we all decide to leave and walk back to campus engaging one another in conversation that i’m sure we’ll never have again. It’s funny because i’m quite positive that for most of these guys i’m the only African-American they’ve ever talked to on this scale, not by choice but just because of where they’re from and currently are.

I head back to campus with the intent  of hitting the library but instead I end of shooting some hoops (the gym is the size of a classroom, legitimately. You can tell basketball is the last thing on the students minds). After I end up hooking up with a student from HU as we grabbed a few brews and celebrated our independence day as we chatted about the experiences of our first year outside of undergrad. As I took the long journey home I recollect on the adventures of that one day and think to myself that this is an experience of a lifetime and it shouldn’t be take for granted. So as I finish my meal (Cumberland sausage, bacon, free range eggs, baked beans, plum tomato, portobello mushroom and toast) on this Sunday morning I notice that I just wrote only about wednesday haha but the books call so i’ll have to catch back at a later time BUT know stuff got real last night because ummm me and Brandon Johnson should never be allowed to roam the streets of London until 4am haha!  

P.S. Love you all and remember, this life is for the picking. Pick your greatness or pick your poison. #blessings 

P.S.^2: Go listen to Frank Ocean’s “Sweet Life” because no matter your feelings towards who he chooses to show affection towards he makes dam good music! 

As I sit in the class as everyone has left for lunch I feel emplored to share some things with you guys. Though i’m going to skip pass some parts, I truly want to jump to the fist day, yesterday. 

I arrive on campus with a laundry list of these to accomplish outside of class for the day. First day of school dynamics are still as real as they were in high school. Being that I could care less how I look, there was no time spent trying to look “cute” as I see from a lot of my fellow classmates. As I look further I notice that i’m an extreme minority, not in the sense of race that’s plastered in out faces in America but in the sense of actually being an American. The first part of the day includes a welcome seminar in the Peackock Auditorium. There I meet two kids from Germany, I instantly connect because i’m able to tell them that I just left their country even though neither were too familiar with Idar Oberstein where I stayed. We chap it up, both interested in Finance and Accounting. Interesting enough, I’m an Accountant so of course I was able to pass on knowledge and even hand out a business card or two. After listening to the usual first day of school speeches I look around and notice that everyone is staying in their comfort zones, basically sticking to the students from their country of origin. Fortunately for me, there are few Americans and fewer black guys so ummmm yeah I must talk to everyone.

We all head to class next, I must have walked slow because the place is packed and I find a seat in the far back corner. Clearly this seat wont work because as you all know I can’t hear worth a darn (yes, I just let my southern twang flow out). The class is taught by an elderly English law professor that rambles for hours upon hours sifting through his man made text and subtly patting himself on the back while reminiscing his glory days in the court room. Schedule for the next few weeks is as followed: lecture from 9:30 -12:45 and again from 2-4 so you can only imagine that it’s easy to fall asleep. Quick, fast and a hurry I learn that the English law system is vastly different from the American law system. Solicitors, Barristers, not needing a legal education, etc etc etc….I could go on for days. Note: I’m skipping through large portions that made the day stressful because GOD has me and there’s no need to worry. Lets just say none of us should ever complain about Howard’s A-building again, haha back to the day. After class I go on a quest to find the books cheaper and run some errands. I’m with an Asian student who types out his notes in class but his computer is old so he disturbs us all. I’m also with a thirty-one year dual citizen American-Dutch law school graduate who came to the UK from corporate law in NYC and hasn’t been able to find a job. As you can tell the dynamics of the class room is amazing, on one end there’s a Canadian law school student, on the other end a Harvard Business School student and of course the regular students still in undergrad from every possible place in the world. After class and running a few errands I find time to catch up with HU’s own Andrea Gregg, we’re both very busy so we sit on the steps where I give her a pack of red solo cups I brought from America (haha apparently you can’t find those in the UK). 

From there I head to the “Law welcome event” where all the students who are taking legal base courses can meet and mingle. I’m reluctant to go because per the calender i’m suppose to read three chapters that night and stay on task because the midterm for the accelerated course is in eight days. Nevertheless I get there and I approach (for ease i’m using fake names btw, but the people are real) Mike (who happens to be from Scotland) and Jerome (who happens to be a senior basketball player at Morehouse College - HBCU’s STAND UP). We chap it up about law, politics and the usual girls. I mean we are men. Jerome heads to talk to the only black girl in the crowd (can’t wait to tell you about her). As Jerome leaves, I pull in this other guy who’s just standing there being weird (he happens to be a law student in Canada). We all start talking about. school and I get PISSED. Did you know that in Scotland the government pays your college completely and in Canada in dam near 90% paid for. They asked how much my debt was from undergrad and they both took two steps back once I told them haha. Jerome comes back over with the black girl and says “Hey she goes to Howard, he graduated from there” AWHAAAAAAAT, HU STAAAAND UP yeah she’s a sophomore at Howard this year. I felt like a proud alum. We talk more, but eventually I grab all of their contact info and rush to the library. 

In the library I start to work on my class work from my classes in America (remember, i’m taking 5 classes in one summer. 3 online and 2 at LSE), i’m quite exhausted and defeated. Around 8:30 I start to dose off so I take this time to call big herm (my grandfather), he could tell in my voice that I was down so in short he said “You went over there because you wanted the experience, the knowledge and the accolades well grandson you there..make it happen”. From there the library closed, its 9pm a hour and a half to the place i’m staying and raining. I turn on J.Cole “Sideline Story” and come to the revelation that my entire life i’ve been mediocre, i’ve done enough to stay on the team and ride the bench…I’m getting tired of that, I want the ball in my hands with three seconds left on the clock…..so I crank my music, pull out my umbrella and walk to the train station with an umbrella in one hand and my book in the other reading for the assignment I plan to complete when I get home. Welcome to me getting off the sideline….#blessings