This is my London journey.
My name is Tara, and I live in Charlotte, North Carolina. For a little while now, I have felt like I am supposed to go live in London, England for a few months and study photography. If you knew me, you would know what a huge leap that is for me! Let me give you a bit of background:
The past few years I have had a growing interest in photography. All I own is just a simple automatic digital camera. If someone handed me a DSLR, I would probably panic a little. I have wanted to get a good foundation of photography so I can really see where I can take this. So, that's been on my mind for quite some time, however, I have lacked the means to do it.
Also, in the past few years, London has moved up to the top of my destination wish-list. I don't even know why, exactly. I have always loved British accents, and have wanted to travel to Europe for as long as I can remember. I have gotten more into British authors, movies, culture, etc. My brother and I had talked about taking a trip there together. My love for British things just kept increasing, getting to the point where I would actually start crying at the overwhelming thought of actually standing in London, seeing the clocktower that holds Big Ben, then the London Eye, and St. Paul's, etc. Of course, all of England is right up there with London. I want to see it all.
Then, there has been this desire recently to make some big changes. I have played it safe most of my life, and it's led me to a very stagnant place, not at all where I thought I'd be in my early 30's! I kept thinking how great it would be to just start fresh somewhere for awhile, but not something permanent so I could still return home to what is familiar and loved.
Soooo...earlier this year, sandwiched almost exactly between Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, there was July 2. I was off work that day, and doing lots of different searches online. School, job, etc. I tried to do a Google search on short-term photography classes, thinking that would be most ideal right now. This is almost exactly what Google gave me a few months ago:
Of course, I clicked on what Google suggested for me, surprised that London was the only city popping up. What I found was the London School Of Photography. I read a lot about it, and then sent a text to my mom, telling her about it. She responded by asking if I was going to apply. I texted her back with all kinds of excuses, mainly about money. I was certainly excited about stumbling onto something so cool, but there was no way, right?! That's crazy just to even think about it! So, I shrugged it off. Back to same ole, same ole life.
Or so I thought.
As the next couple of days went on, I found I could not shake this idea off so easily. In fact, I kept finding it at the forefront of my thoughts. Maybe there was more going on than I realized. I was praying and trying to decipher whether this was a "me" idea or a God idea. Truth be told, I'm still not 100% sure about that. But from lots of little things in this process, it seems to me that God has orchestrated this idea in my heart, and wants to bring it to fruition. The idea of living in London for a few months to study photography is an intricate intersection of so many desires I have had; desires that, honestly, cannot be fully explained or expressed. To me, it feels like something divinely bigger is going on. So, during this season, what I must do is maintain my faith that I will cross the pond, even though right now, it looks impossible by human standards.
Jesus looked at them intently and said, "Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God." -Mark 10:27
My goal with this blog is to chronicle my journey of making London a reality and getting there, then my adventures while I am over there. Hope you will check back and see what happens! The best is ahead!
