First impressions, London!!!

It was difficult saying goodbye to everyone. I couldn’t believe that I was leaving all my BFFs in the United States and moving to London. It seemed like such a scary move and I found myself on the plane to London quite ambivalent: excited to be in London, but sad to leave Washington, a place I’ve loved from the very first day I set eyes on it.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by the people I met in London and their small but most welcome acts of kindness: the Somalian lady dressed in the burqa at Heathrow who assisted me in connecting both suitcases; the Indian Hospitality undergraduate student I met on the tube; the young British gentlemen who all so willingly and eagerly assisted me with transporting my suitcases; and the extremely kind cab driver who drove me to Greencoat Place.

In my journey to finding my path to peace, I’ve met various people along the way and thanked Allah tremendously for those angels He places in my path. On the plane, I was a wee bit worried about getting to Greencoat Place, toting suitcases and all. But, as always, Allah provided for me. Now I sit here in this beautiful Initiatives of Change center in Victoria, London surrounded by the philosophies of Frank Buchman and the work and initiatives of IofC. It already feels like such a warm and friendly place that I could see myself spending a lot of time here and initiating various programs for youth and women in IofC London. It’s all very exciting.

Funny how when you move to a new country you experience all these oddities and yet I felt very prepared. The journey through the tube was much, much easier than any other journey I’ve had through the New York Subway. So I’ve decided I like London. Next stop: Westminster Parliament. I’m excited to see where Gordon Brown works and where all these decisions that affected my life and the life of all those in the British colonies took place!