Angel on the Tube

     So for those of you who don't know, I live about 45 minutes east of Central London so you can imagine the commute from Gatwick airport to my flat in East London. After a certain time of night the tube stops running and only buses are available. So when I arrived back from Venice around one in the morning on a Tuesday, it took another 3 hours of public bus rides from the airport back to my flat. Luckily, most of my classes here are in the afternoon so I still had some time to catch some sleep before heading into classes upon return. Venice was the first time I had left London and was returning to my flat in London and there was a sense of "coming home" that was comforting and new. Just like in Chicago when I leave for a weekend and come back, this was the same, except it was a new and surprising feeling. It was the first chance I could say I was "coming home" and I really felt it. From the second I exited Gatwick, two strangers, at two different times, helped me find where I was going at bus stations on the practically deserted streets of London at 2am. There may be this stereotype of cold, rude Londoners but I find it ironic how I spent a weekend in a foreign country with not nearly as friendly strangers helping and the second I arrive back am greeted by helpfulness.

     Throughout the weekend to Venice I had been praying for a stronger Christian community to surround myself with and the day I arrived back, I received a message inviting me to a Bible study. I figured I was too tired from traveling all day but in the middle of class, I decided I would go and give it a shot. After class, I took the tube another 45 minutes into Central London to meet with this group of Cru students I had never met before. I was still having phone issues at this point so I could only use my phone when on WiFi but I had the so-called instructions on which stops to get off at on my phone. However, due to my tiredness, I somehow managed to transfer in the wrong direction and when I realized it, I got off at the next stop to figure out where I was. I overheard this man asking a girl for directions and I sort of chimed in and asked the girl which stop she suggested I take to find this group. I told her "Sorry it's been a really long day and I just got back from the airport so I think my brain is full of too many numbers and names of train stops right now to concentrate". She had also just come from the airport (Heathrow, but still) from Colombia visiting a friend and we began chatting. 

(Now normally the train station is the last place I talk to strangers. I know I should be more open, and I've recently been more observant on public transit due to theater assignments, but having a genuine full on conversation waiting on a train platform is a rarity for me. In my head, it only ever happens in movies or with my overly open and outgoing friends.) 

     So this girl and I get to chatting and have all these little random things in common like her company is based in Copenhagen, she asks me where I've traveled, and she's from the same city my dear friend is studying abroad in. We get to my stop, or what she thought was my stop, and are about to say goodbye and briefly exchange names. I thought this would be the extent of our conversation but it turns out I still had another few stops before I had to leave so we sit down and continue chatting. We share our hopes of where we want to travel next and she gives me suggestions for places to go near Canterbury the next time I visit my friend. She gave me tips on the airports and traveling and we started to bond over silly little things, but it was so nice and made my day. We ended up exchanging information and I got off the train to meet the group of Cru strangers waiting on me but that moment on the train really made me smile. It was as if God wanted me to visit this Bible study just to meet this girl on the train, just to have a small moment that made me smile amongst the anxious night I was anticipating and was yet to come. It really is the little things sometimes. I told my mom this story later on and how unusual it was for me to talk to a stranger on the train. I think in a weird way Venice opened me up in a way I needed, a little too late, but in it's own timing. Here I spent all weekend in a place where I knew no one and should've maybe met more friends but then I return to my own city and meet a stranger on a train within a few hours of returning. Maybe Venice did do it's job of opening me up, even if that meant upon arrival. My mom said maybe she was just an angel sent that day, just for me. I'd like to think of it that way, and someday maybe we will meet again.