The Little Moments

I’m a big fan of the little moments.

Often the most simple of things make me smile the most—listening to birds singing outside my window, catching a ray of sunshine across my skin, seeing sunset or sunrise, having a deep conversation with a friend, making a connection with a random stranger…the list goes on. This trip to London has been full of a lot of those moments so far. Here are a few of those moments. 

So far every morning and every evening and every second we have free time, people pull out books and are reading. We share passages with each other and ask for progress updates. 

One morning I went people-watching with two friends. We went to a park our professor brought us to and placed ourselves on a bench that overlooked the park. When we saw interesting people, we made up stories on who they were or what they were doing based on our general impressions of them. It was a cool way to get to experience London and the people who live here. We learned that most people keep their dogs off-leash when in the park. Afterward, we played the “quarter game” where you flip a coin and heads you go right, tails left. We wandered around the city streets flipping a pence seeing what we could find and stumbled upon some interesting things. 

Later that evening I went to dinner with another friend. We tried out a crepe place on Tottenham Court Rd. We ate crepes and talked about life and really got to know each other. 

Every morning I eat breakfast with my roommates down in the basement of the hotel. Sometimes other classmates join and we all eat breakfast together with no phones, just conversation. As a person who hates having to have her phone on her, having these moments where phones are not present makes me very happy. 

These simple things are the moments I love to have while traveling. They connect you to the place you’re in and connect you to the people you’re with. Yeah seeing all the iconic spots of London is great and being a tourist can be good too, but I like the moments where you feel like you’re living in a place. 

Every day doesn’t have to involve something big. Enjoy the little moments as those are the ones you’re going to remember–getting lost on the tube, laughing while walking down the street, running from the rain when you weren’t expecting it, making memories at a bar, taking pictures in a photo booth, the mornings when you get to read and write. It’s all part of the bigger picture of life—so fill it with the little things.