Checked-Out of Regent's College

I am never to spend another night in Regent's College.... HALLELUJAH! Unfortunately, we timed our Eurostar to Paris wrong, so we've got another night in London in a nearby hostel. I have a feeling that today is going to be a little bit of a throw-away day. I'm not sure what we'll do. Last night and this morning we said all of our goodbyes at the Hobgoblin pub with Thai food and cider and drinking games. The good thing about this group though is that we will have reunions once we're back at school in the fall. There's also a good chance that I will run into some of them in Paris, since half the group seems to be travelling there immediately after the program.

I will not be able to keep up with my blog regularly from now on, nor will I be able to send a lot of emails or post many pictures since I will be travelling from hostel to hostel. I will do the best that I can. Other than that I will plan on catching up once I get back to the states! Cheers!

Tying up all the loose ends

The last few days in London have consisted of me trying to check off the items on my list that I have not yet done in London. Really, at this point I feel pretty much satisfied. I've seen all the art galleries that I really wanted to see, I done all the tourist attractions that I was interested in, and I've tried all the British food that I've cared to try. Unfortunately, because there is simply so much to do in London, this month has just flown by. It feels like maybe a week ago that I arrived at Regent's college. It's so incredibly different from my study abroad experience in Spain. Granted, that program was a full 3 weeks longer than this one, but I also feel like it went by more slowly because I had down time. Salamanca is a small city that just doesn't have as much to do as London. I also had the siesta very day which afforded me a built-in chill time. I never take it easy here, because there has always been too much left to see and do. Tomorrow I might have to force myself to take it easy for the sake of getting my laundry done and packing for the rest of my travelling around Europe.

Today, though, a bunch of the girls went out for high tea at Kensington Palace's Orangery. This is the royal palace that Princess Diana used to live in. The tea-time meal was delicious. It included champagne, salmon sandwiches, a scone with clotted cream and jam with fresh berries, chocolate cake, and (of course) tea. The English always put milk in their tea. I tried it, but I prefer my tea sans the milk - I feel like it ruins the flavor.

After tea we did a quick run of Harrod's. I wanted to stay longer, but I was out voted; I'll just have to see if I can go back on my own in the next couple of days or when we get back to London after our travels. Chances are that I won't actually buy anthing there, but the place is absolutely enourmous and I only saw about 3 rooms of it.

At night we saw our final musical of the trip, Spamelot. It is basically the musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so it had quite a few good laughs in there. It wasn't the best musical that I've seen (and the tickets were a bit more expensive than I would have liked), but it was enjoyable.

I am an official literary geek

...and it served me well today, because it got a me a free mini-tour at Westminster Abbey. The Abbey entombs more than 3,000 individuals, some of whom have very illustrious histories. Almost all of the past monarchs of England are buried there, my favorite being the double tomb of Elizabeth I and Mary I. It's also crazy though, that some of the most important historical figures could easily be passed over if you're not keeping your eyes peeled. William and Mary, for example - tiny littly plaques on the ground... no pomp, no ceremony. I had to do a double take before I realized what I was walking on. The real excitement was at the poet's corner though. We found ourselves overcome with the need to touch the graves of Chaucer (while reciting the "General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English), Dickens, Johnson, and Tennyson. The Abbey is tricksy though, as it also has many many memorials to illustrious historical figures who are actually buried elsewhere. Spying a bust of John Milton but unsure of the whereabouts of his remains, we asked a woman who worked at the Abbey if she could tell us if John Milton was actually buried there. She whipped out her handy-dandy index and informed us that, no, John Milton was not buried in Westminster Abbey. We did however have a nice discussion about the merits of Paradise Lost and various other literary works. Rosemary (that was the nice old lady's name) told us that she was "so glad that young people still read these things - and that you are so excited about it!"..... and we were in. Rosemary was so glad to have a group of people who were interested in the Abbey and the people buried there (as well as, I suspect, to have some people who were a little informed) that she gave us a little personal tour. The tour is made even better when one considers that most people who take a tour at Westminster Abbey pay a nice little fee to do so. It was great to have her there to answer questions and to point out places of interest that others might pass over. She even showed us the tombs of some of her own ancestors. By the end of the tour we had made our way around to the tomb of Sir Issac Newton, where we bade farewell to Rosemary and thanked her profusely.

In the afternoon we went to another modern art exhibit with Sarah Kent. Although it kept me more interested than some of the others, I feel that I've already expressed my feelings about modern art. This collections was pornographic (literally), so it succeeded in making me not only unappreciative of any talent in it, but also inclined to call the artist a pervert. I really don't think it's fair that all of our class-planned outings to art galleries have been centered around modern art. One visit to a modern art gallery would have been ok, but because of the way the program is set up, I've been obliged to go to at least 5 different modern art galleries, and I have not enjoyed any of them.

Once I was free to escape from the walls plastered with 1970's porn, I high-tailed it over to the National Portrait Gallery for a much more agreeable art viewing. I absolutely love portraiture. I feel like it's a window into history, or in the case of more modern portraits, a window into the subject's life. It fascinates me to look at the clothing, the hair, even the dogs that people kept as pets in the past. My favorite portrait was one that was set alone, because it is a newly aquired piece for the gallery. It is a portrait of (what is supposed to be) Jane Grey, one of Henry VIII's six wives. It is significant because there are no other known portraits of her. Experts have guessed that this is a portrait of the queen by comparing it to physical descriptions of her in historical documents, an inscription labelling her as "Lady Jayne," and based on the context of what she is wearing and how she is presented in the painting.

At night, we went to see a fringe play on the outskirts of central London. It was an extremely intimate theater - our group took up the entire thing. We were close enough to touch the actors. Musicals aside (you can't compare apples to oranges, right?), it was by far the best play we've seen. The acting was superb and the story-line real and moving. It was focused on the issue of racism in the UK among blacks from Africa and those from the West Indies. I think it's really interesting to get a non-American perspective on racism, since in the US it is impossible to escape the black/white divide. I thought the play brought up some really nuanced and powerful issues for thought and discussion.

Wicked!

It was back to class this morning for an enthralling discussion of solipsism in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. After which, we went to the British library to participate in a scavenger hunt! After a short while though, I think most of us realized that the scavenger hunt was creating a sort of mania that had us missing out on the things we really wanted to see in the library. These included original holy manuscripts from all over the world, Shakespeare's First Folio, illuminated copies of the Canterbury Tales, but my personal favorites were the original hand-written lyrics to Beatles songs, including "Yesterday" and "Ticket to Ride."

The afternoon was spent with a bit of shopping at Lilywhites, which is this ginormous sports clothing store. I didn't purchase anything, but a few of my friends were determined to get themsleves a couple of England football jersies.

Finally, we saw Wicked!!!!! I had seriously been looking forward to seeing this musical since before I even arrived in London! It was fantastic! I had actually read the book right after school let out in May, so I had a readily available comparison between the two in my mind. Towards the beginning of the play I was a little irritated by the deviance from the book, but by the end, the plot of the musical was so far off from the plot of the book that I didn't even care anymore. In this way, it became an entirely new story and experience, rather than just an irritatingly erroneous telling of the book. Honestly, though, it was soooo good. I would see it again in a heartbeat.

Weekend in Edinburgh

I spent the past weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland - just in time to avoid the terrorist threats in London. Edinburgh is a beautiful city with ancient buildings all over the place surrounded by the ocean on one side (or, more precisely, and inlet from the ocean) and highland crags on the other. If it's possible, the Scottish accent is even more fun than the English accent. Honestly, I would be perfectly content to just sit and listen to people talk. I also noticed that the people of Edinburgh seem more friendly towards Americans than Londoners, and that cars will actually stop to let pedestrians cross the street. In London you will get run over trying to do that.

Our hostel was right on the Royal Mile the in the center of Old Town Edinburgh; I couldn't have asked for a better location. Hostels, in and of themselves are always fun because you meet so many people from all over the world. I love talking to all of the people that I meet, asking them where they're from and what has brought them to here. It's also always fascination to hear their perspectives on where I come from. I met this one Korean guy who will be starting PhD work at Princeton in the fall, and when I mentioned that I was from Virginia, his immediate association was with the Virginia Tech shootings. I suppose that because it was an experience that hit so close to home for me, I often forget that it also made international news. I also got to practice my Spanish with a few Spaniards who were staying in the same hostel, which turned out to be extremely useful when we had a few communication break-downs in English. I never fail to be amazed by how many Australians I meet everywhere I go.

On our first afternoon in Edinburgh, we went to climb the Crags on the outskirts of the city. On our way there, we passed Holyroodhouse, which is the royal palace in Scotland, and there just happened to be a small crowd gathered outside the gates. We found that the Queen had just arrived and was being given the keys to the city and that she was scheduled to open Parliament the following morning. So, it was my second time seeing the Queen since being in the UK - clearly, she is following me. After that excitement though, we climbed a steep mountainside to get a beautiful vista of the city from above. At that moment, I felt like I was really in Scotland. I even picked some heather - it was the first time that I've ever actually seen my namesake flower. Friday night we took a haunted tour of the city. Edinburgh has a slight obsession with death and hauntings which is closely related to its history with the Plague and witch huntings. We first had an above-ground tour of some of the "haunted" spots in the city. Then we were brought into a room set-up with torture instruments, in which we were given the gruesome details of how they were used. The tour then moved underground, into the vaults below the city. It was pitch-black except for the torch (aka, flashlight) of our tour guide. We were told of the people who used to live underground and of the people who continue to use the vaults for Wiccan worship.

On Saturday we went to see Edinburgh castle, which was great. I'm always in awe when I try to think about the people who once worked and lived in that castle. We got to see them shoot off the gun too, which they do every day at 1pm on the dot. After the castle we got lunch at a really expensive restaurant called The Witchery and bought the cheapest meal on the menu. So, I tried lamb for the first time - it was ok. The dessert was heavenly though and made the entire expensive meal worth while: dark chocolate torte with lavender ice cream. It was delicious.

After lunch we went to a writer's museum which had some artifacts from Robert Luis Stevenson, Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott. It wasn't anything terribly exciting, but the admission was free, so why not? Immediately afterwards we did the "Scotch Whiskey Experience." It was a super-corny little attraction, but it actually turned out to be tons of fun. When you first go in, they give you a glass with a shot of whiskey in it (you get to keep the glass as a souvenier). Then, the guide teaches you how to test and appreciate the spirit properly. The one we tested was supposed to smell fruity and and like vanilla all at once - I just smelled scotch. We then learned about the distillery process and how scotch whiskey is made. The final part of the "experience" was an actual ride in a barrel cart through "the history of scotch," which was essentially a series of dioramas with nice lighting and an audio narrative.

Sunday, we went to the National Museum of Scotland and the Royal Museum of Scotland, which are attached so that they are essentially one giant museum. I really enjoyed it because it had so many different types of displays, from paintings, to artifacts, to manuscripts, to costumes, to stuffed animals. The star of the show was Dolly the sheep in her rotating glass disply case. I also chanced to be lucky enough to be at the museum on the day when they were having performances of traditional Scottish highland dancing. At that moment, watching people in kilts dance and play the bagpipes, my Scotland experience was complete. To kill off the last few hours before our train departed, Amy and I walked up to New Town Edinburgh, which is far from new, but is also far more commercial and big business than Old Town. We went to see the Georgian House, which turned out to be a bit of a rip-off. As the name might suggest, it was a historical house from the Georgian era, decorated with era appropriate furnishings. Had the upper floors of the house been open, it might have been worth it, but since they were not, I was pretty disappointed. Finally, on the way to the train station (apart from getting drenched in a downpour) we found an outdoor market where I got my self a savoury honey crepe before waving goodbye to Edinburgh.

Another satisfying day

It's always a good start to the day when I don't have to be in class until 11. The down-side to later classes, however, was that I ended up with only 15 minutes to get changed, eat lunch, pack-up my backpack for the day, and walk to the tube stop (a 10-15 minute walk at a casual pace all on it's own)! It was kind of amusing to see a group of 40 people stuffing their lunches into their mouths on the move though.

The place that we were so furiously rushing to was another art exhibit with Sarah Kent. I was one of the first people who got to go in (only 5 allowed at a time), which was unfortunate, because I had no idea what I was looking at. Only after I had left the exhibit did I learn that what appeared to be inflatable pool toys hanging from the ceiling by chains were actually made out of metal. It was wild. They really really looked like blow-up toys. I couldn't believe it.

Then we went to a different art gallery to see an exhibit put out by Damien Hirst. The bottom floor was filled with some stange things that I would consider more along the lines of anatomy that art - like bisected cows and a shark preserved in formaldehyde. The real gem of the exhibit though was a human skull that had been inset with thousands (literally) of diamonds, so that the entire skull (I mean not a spot remaining) encrusted with diamonds. Needless to say, it was a high security exhibit. Only ten people were allowed in at a time and we were only allowed to look at it for two minutes; any and all bags had to be left outside. They also tried to make it extra dramatic by having the skull displayed in a small glass case in the center of the room while the room itself was pitch black. I didn't particularly like that aspect of it, because I kept bumping into people since we couldn't see each other. I don't know why anyone would ever want to put diamonds in a human skull; it's kind of macabre in its own way.

In the evening I went to see yet another musical. I'm really spoiled with all the cheap shows here; I'm afraid that I'm going to miss them when I come home. We saw Chicago, which was really intersting to be able to compare to the movie. I loved the actress who played Roxie in it - she was fantastic. The dancing was also really good, but seeing many of the scenes live made me realize just how well done the movie really is. The "Cell-Block Tango" for example, was better in the movie. Of course, I don't want to discredit the live performance; there are simply some things that can be done in film that can't be done on stage. I also got a kick out of the British actors trying to imitate American accents. Some were better than others at it, but they all tended to slip-up every once in a while. The word "pop" seemed to be particularly problematic for them.

Sue Weir is a little crazy...

...but she's well-meaning. The best way I can describe her is as an uptight old woman who lacks patience simply because she has so much to share. Anyways, she gave us a tour of the city today, stopping at places that I believe are generally intended for medical students - I don't know how we got tangled up in it.

We first got to see an old operating room while Sue told us the gruesome details of how one would amputate a leg before anesthetic was discovered. She even had the eeire tools and operating table to help the ambiance. Things like this make me realize how squeamish I really am, since I had to consciously set my mind upon other topics to avoid becoming sick. The speculum was a particularly disturbing tool.

As if the first display wasn't enough, we were then taken to the Hunterian Museum. John Hunter was an 18th century surgeon and anatomist who collected and collected and collected. What did he collect? Body parts, animal parts, fetus bits, diseased things - all soaked in alcohol in neatly categorized glass jars. We had a nice long stroll through the rows and shelves of body bits, and even learned a little bit of the history behind them. Unfortunately the combination of a hot room and dissected things in jars made more people that just me a little nauseated. Alas, we pulled through and made it out of the museum without any vomiting.

Our final stop on Sue's tour (though I've left out a few of the stops in the middle) was the house of Samuel Johnson. It's fascinating to think that this is where our dictionary really got its start. It is a tall, but not very wide house (I think there were four floors) with a really innovative swinging wall on one of the floors that would have allowed Johnson to connect or seperate some of his rooms at a whim. I also got to watch my friends being foolish as they tried on the children's sized period costumes in the house; we had a quite a time of it with putting on a little "play" and all.

After the tour, we were free to do as we chose. Naturally, I decided to go to a musical. The original plan was for a group of us to go see Phantom of the Opera, but the tickets were sold out. Everybody else then switched modes to go see Mama Mia, but since I've already seen it and the tickets were rather pricy, I opted out. Instead, I went to see The Lion King on my own. It was my first real experience in London completely alone. It was great though, that when I'm not with a massive group of American tourists, people simply assume that I live here, which I suppose I do for the time being. The play was fantastic. I was really impressed by the creative costuming involved and the new set of songs that are not in the Disney movie (though those are in there too!).

I heart Roger Bowdler

The morning started out with a woderful class session - including a quiz on Boswell which I am sure that I aced, and a discussion of the play from the previous night. I'm sure the details would be boring, so I will exclude them from my blog.

At 2pm we met Sarah Kent at the Tate Britain where she gave us a tour through a photography exhibition. I'll admit that I was extremely apprehensive about the tour, since I disliked the one that she gave at the Hayward Gallery. It wasn't anything personal about her, but I had formed some bad connotations with her since the modern art experience. So, at this exhibit, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually liked it. Granted, I didn't appreciate all of the photographs, but as a whole I enjoyed it. Afterwards, I spent some time walking through the upstairs regular exhibitions of the Tate Britain. My favorite room was the one with the portraits of the Tudors, including Elizabeth I. I tend to like art that I feel gives me a window into the past, which obviously modern art does not do.

The evening was consumed by a 2 1/2 hour walking tour on the south back of the Thames with Roger Bowdler. It's a beautiful vantage point from the south bank, and anything with Roger Bowdler is a treat. I think that the entire group (males and females alike) have a ginormous crush on him... because he is just that British. The few of us that hung around after the tour to badger him with questions were also priveleged enough to go grab a drink with him at the Blackfriar's Pub. It is, allegedly, the best pub in London. What is unique about it are the paintings and mosaiqs retained from its original purpose as a monastic something or other. It was really quite an experience - like we were sitting in a piece of history drinking beer and cider.

Changing of the Guards and a play

The morning started out by attending the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. After seeing the parade for the Queen's birthday however, I was a little disappointed. There wasn't as much pomp, not as many guards, the queen wasn't there, and I couldn't see anything because it was soooooooooo crowded - there was practically a wall of people surrounding the palace gates. It just wasn't worth it. Afterwards I came back to Regent's to update my blog (as I'm sure you've noticed). I decided to opt out of Jon Readey's Chelsea walk, as I had already been to Chelsea and because after my long weekend I really just needed to get my affairs in order.

I did, however, brave the streets of London on my own to make it out to Cynthia Wall's tea party. I got lost because of inadequate street labelling, in the pouring rain, so that by the time I finally found the flat I was soaked. Once there, however, I became nice an cozy with a cup of tea and some biscuits! I even got to try quail eggs, which taste exactly like chicken eggs to me, only smaller. Professor Wall has a beautiful little flat (and I do mean little); I was especially impressed by the crown moulding and the design on the ceiling - not to mention her collection of books! My dream is to one day have a room in my home completely devoted to my books. I would love to have original sets like Professor Wall has, though I feel that may be far in the future for me. When I was at Portabello market last week I was very tempted to buy some old copies of Bronte and Dickens books, but I because A) I already have copies of the books, only newer and not as cool, and B) I didn't want to buy too many things that I will have to carry back home with me in my suitcase!

The night was topped off by a play called Betrayal, which I have mixed feelings about. The theater was different from the others that I've been to so far. This one reminded me a lot of Culbreth theater at UVA, intimate with the audiece on three sides. I'm not sure I really like the set-up though - probably because I had a crappy seat and couldn't see half the theater from where I was sitting unless I leaned forward.

I SAW STONEHENGE!!!!

I was pretty excited about it... if you can't tell. Between my trip to Bath on Saturday and my trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge on Sunday, I simply didn't have time to write about it until now. It was a busy weekend for me, but I got to see a lot more of England than just metropolitan London.

Saturday morning, a group of fifteen of us all left Regent's College for Bath. I really don't like traveling in such big groups because it's really difficult to coordinate and it's always slow going. We worked it out though. The skyline of Bath that you can see while pulling into the train station is beautiful - spotted here and there with steeples and spires of churches, rows of houses nestled in the hills. Bath definitely represented more of the small town feel. In some ways in reminded me a lot of Salamanca: it's a small city filled with sandy-colored stone buildings, many of which are medieval, and it has common plaza areas where people just hang out. In fact, one of my favorite parts of the day was sitting on the stones of one of these open areas (they don't officially call them plazas), eating ice cream, and watching the hustle and bustle of the people while listening to street performers play classical guitar. It wasn't the typical touristy thing to do, but I enjoyed it immensely.

We did, of course, fit in the more touristy attractions at Bath as well. This included the Roman Baths and the Fashion Museum. The baths were really cool to see. I was amazed at how intact they still were and that, if the water wasn't polluted and nasty, I could have jumped in and used it as a swimming pool. I was really fascinated to learn just how intricate the bath house was, and that in Roman times it was so much more than just a place to was off - it was a social and spirtual center, which included (of course) the baths, a "healing pool," a temple, and a large plaza.

The fashion museum was also a lot of fun. It has the largest collection of antique and historical clothing of any museum, and all of it is juxtaposed alongside more modern and contemporary fashion. It's really bizarre and interesting to see the contrast between historcal and modern, as well as to see how clothing and fashions have evolved through the centuries. Hands down, though, the best part of the museum was the room where we got to try on hoop skirts and corsets. I never realized how skinny I (or anybody) could look with a corset on! It took quite a bit of work to get that sucker tightened up though, and I now understand why women used to requre maids to help them get dressed in the morning and why it wasn't uncommon for women to faint when their corsets were too tight!

Other than that, we just meandered around the city to enjoy its general feeling and character. I wish I had known where Danny had been living all semester, because I would have looked up the address. As it was though, I had to settle for where my own fancies (or, rather, the fanices of our 15 person group) took me. At the end of the day we took the train back to London.

On Sunday morning I got up early again to make a day-trip to Salisbury and Stonehenge. This time, however, it was much easier to get a move on since I went with only two other girls from the program, Meg and Evan. Salisbury is an even smaller town than Bath, though is not quite as pretty to my opinion. We got there and walked through the rain (which I am starting to get sick of) towards the medieval part of town with Salisbury Cathedral. Our day was unfortunately a little broken up, because of our bus tour to Stonehenge smack-dab in the middle, so that we got to the Cathedral, but didn't have enough time to really look around and resolved to come back later. Before the bus tour though, we also grabbed lunch at a place called The Slug and Lettuce, where I tried duck for the first time, and probably the last.

The best way to get out to Stonehenge is to take a bus from Salisbury; since we wanted the full experience (and because we get a student discount) we decided to take a tour bus. It was nice because we actually got to see a lot more than just Stonehenge through the tour. We saw Old Sarum, which is basically a hill that was built up with ledges like a layer cake and that used to have an old castle on top of it. We also saw a dozens of burial mounds scattered everywhere across the farmland that we were passing. It boggles my mind that they're just there - and no one pays them much mind. Our tour guide informed us that we were also in prime crop-circle territory, though we didn't run into any of those. And then.... out of nowhere... was Stonehenge! It runs like this: farmland, farmland, some sheep, more farmland, farmland, farmland, Stonehenge, farmland, sheep, farmland, burial mound, farmland, etc. It was nice to have the tourguide with us giving some of the history of the stones and pointing out some interesting features, otherwise I would have been looking at a circle of rocks, desperately trying to recall that discovery channel special I saw two years ago. There are many theories about what it could have been used for: a calendar, sacrifice, fertility rituals... the list goes on. I could almost feel the druids around me.. (just kidding). The tour guide did pull out the handy-dandy dowsing rods, which he claimed (and then demonstrated) that they would cross when he passed the east-west line that cuts through Stonehenge. I was unconvinced.

After Stonehenge we were back in the city of Salisbury to do our sightseeing there. The first priority, obviously, was Salisbury Cathedral, which is the tallest church in the UK and which houses the oldest working clock in the world. It also houses the best preserved copy of one of the four oringinal Magna Cartas, along with a translation book by Geoffrey Chaucer, and the seal of John Donne. Being the literary geek that I am, the Chaucer artifact excited me more than the Magna Carta. The church itself was built on shale foundations, which is architecturally unsound. This means, that in order to prevent the shale from crumbling underneath the church - then making the church itself crumble - the foundations must always be kept moist. Lucky for us it was a rainy day and there was no threat of crumbling. The church also survived the bombings of WWII (most churches in England didn't) because, with the tallest spire in the UK, it was used by German planes as a navigational point.

We tried to go into a few other museums and places of interest in Salisbury, but, being late on a Sunday, they were all closed. We did, however, get to look at a smaller church in Salisbury with a famous Doomsday painting on the wall. It was small and peaceful and intimate. Finally, after two long days of travel, we trekked it home to Regent's where I spent my evening reading Boswell and went to bed early.

Giving the eye from London's Eye

It was another slow morning filled with sleeping in and reading my British Politics book - though I was happy to be indoors as it was raining. Of course, it rains nearly everyday in Jolly ol' England so I guess I should be over it by now. We then attended class at one o' clock and discussed the merits of the play the previous night.

The real highlight of the day though was our tour of Parliament. The building is absolutely astonishing. It used to be a royal palace, and so practically the entire interior of the building is gold leafed. It also has hundreds of portraits of the royal family and important historical documents. My favorite room was one which showed, along the upper part of the wall, like a running border, the pictures of the various members of the Tudor family, with the most fascinating section being King Henry VIII followed successively by his six wives. We also got to see the House of Lords and the House of Commons, in which we were told that we were not allowed to sit in the temptingly plush leather seats. The House of Lords was gaudy with gold (especially surrounding the Queen's throne), while the House of Commons was comparatively simpler. What was really cool about seeing the House of Commons, though, was that the Queen herself is not allowed in the House of Commons. This dates back to the reign of King Charles I who, upon finding opposition among some of the members of the House of Commons, marched in with 200 soldiers and killed those who opposed him. We ended the tour in the main hall of Westminster Palace, that has been around since 10-- (60 something, 70 something... I can't remember), which has housed the trials of Charles I (who was condemned and beheaded) and other notorious figures of British history. The architecture and style of the room is significantly different from the rest of the palace, because it is one of the only parts that was saved from a massive fire in the 1800's, from which the rest of the palace had to be rebuilt.

Finally, we ended our evening with a ride on the London Eye! I had been waiting to get a view of the city from it - it was one of my "must sees" for my time in London. For those of you who don't know, the London Eye is a massive ferris wheel in the west end of London right on the Thames that takes about a half hour to rotate once around. Rather than being in an open air cart, it has closed off glass pods that fit about 15 people each and still have some breathing room. It offers fantastic views of the west end of the city! Being the charmers that we are, my friends and I, when told that the ride was about to take a souvenier picture of us, pressed our faces up against the glass for a special little shot. I bought a copy to show off when I get home.

Beefeaters are my fav

I arose to the glorious morning before my alarm even rang today! Unfortunately, it was more because it is completely light in London by 5am (and my bed is pushed against the window) and that I have a cold with a clogged up nose. Nonetheless, the extra 50 minutes of sleep that I did get (class was an hour later today) were invigorating. The difference in the number of daylight hours that we get here is really amazing - light from about 5am until 11 pm. It's wonderful in the summer to be out late and still have light outside; in the winter however I would imagine that it would be incredibly dreary.

I also booked a trip to Edinburgh with Amy (a girl whom I've met through the program) for the weekend of the 29th-1st. I'm super-excited about it and will be doing a bunch of reseach on Edinburgh in the next couple of days to ensure that I fit in all the sightseeing I want to do!

Since we had a big free chunck of time in the afternoon today, I persuaded JP and Whit to come to the Tower of London with me (although, to be fair, I didn't have to do that much persuading). It's one of the more expensive attractions in London (at £13 with the Student discount in place) and it is absolutely infested with tourists, but it was well worth it. In the canonized words of Rodger Bowdler, "It's touristy because it's important." We got there in perfect time for the start of one of the tours given every 30 minutes by the Beefeaters. Our tourguide was particularly witty and clever and, of course, gave an interesting informational tour of the Tower area. All of the Beefeaters are military men who have comitted a minimum 22 years of service to the crown. It is considered a privelege and an honor to become a Beefeater at the Tower of London (hrmmm... reminiscent of UVA lawnies). We got to see the tower where many an important historical figure was imprisoned, as well as the courtyard where many - including Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn - were beheaded. We took a walk through the armory and, of course, saw the crown jewels and oggled at their brilliance.

The evening was topped off by Rafta Rafta, a play about relationships within an Indian family in London. A few parts made me feel awkward, but after Cabaret I feel like I can conquer anything the theater world wants to throw at me.

Ampitheater's and Pubs

This morning's class was a guest lecture from the Dean (I think) of Regent's College that was a historical perspective of religion (specifically Christianity) in London. Although the lecture was interesting, the woman was a little too opininated for my liking.

After class we headed out to Guildhall, which is an art gallery with some Old Masters works of King George II, etc. The paintings were nice, but the best part was the basement that housed the remains of a Roman ampitheather leftover from the London occupation of Londinium. Apparently in London, anytime a new building goes up, a team of archaeologists digs at the site to unearth anything that might have been resting at the site. In this particular site, they expected to find an old cathedral - which they found - but then they dug a little deeper and ended up finding the ruins of a Roman Ampitheater! The gallery did a really good job of setting up the exibit to give it an exciting and dramatic feel and for giving the viewer an idea of the size and mass of the actual ampitheater.

After that, we traveled east towards Canary Wharf and Limehouse to a pub called Grapes, which was the basis for a pub in Dickens' Our Mutual Friend called the Six Jolly Fellowships Porter. I felt incredibly English sitting in the dark little pub drinking beer and eating a plate of Miss Abbey Potterson's (a character from the novel) Bangers and Mash. In case, like me, you are unsure of what Bangers and Mash is, it's pork sausage and mashed potatoes, and it was delicious. It was definitely better than Fish and Chips and may end up being my favorite traditional English food.

A 4 part day

Part 1: Whitney, Janet, Margaret and I left at 9:30am for the National Gallery and Trafalgar square. In the center of the square is a giant obelisk monument surrounded by four enormous statues of lions. Naturally, it immediately became our task to mount the giant lions. Unfortunately, the task was more difficult than in looked and we were unable to ride the lions. After our dreams had been crushed by our inability to climb the statues, we decided that it was time to head into the gallery. It might have been my favorite museum so far, with works by Titian, Van Gogh, Monet, Goya, Velasquez, and many many others. It was impossible to see it all in one day, so I agreed to leave for lunch, in the hopes of coming back another day.

Part 2: With the entire class, we met to head out to the Hayward Gallery for a tour with Sarah Kent, art editor of Time Out magazine and a modern art critic. After both the Tate Modern and the Hayward Gallery, however, I've decided that I dislike modern art. Some of the pieces fascinate me for all of 30 seconds, but then I am done with them and I'm ready to move on. The only exhibit that I really liked was more similar to something you'd find in an amusement park than in a museum. It was called blind light and consisted of essentially a boxed in area, surrounded completely in glass. Inside that box was and environment of 100% humidity with bright lights shining from the ceiling. It was bizarre because as soon as I walked in, I could see no more than a foot in front of me - if that. I couldn't even see my own feet as I was walking around. It's incredibly disorienting, and most people ended up hunting down the walls before they were able to once again trace their way to the only exit. Upon leaving the exhibit, I had collected a number of water droplets in my hair and my clothes were a little damp, but it was well worth it because it was definitely one of the coolest things we've done.

Part 3: The whole class then took a little tour of Hampstead (and saw where Professor Levenson and Chase live!). We, unfortunately, did not have enough time to get crepes as we were rushed to get to our musical later in the night. We did get to explore the heath though. It's an incredibly large open space in London. It has a forest, and ponds, and trails, and all the sorts of things one might expect to find in the country - but not in London. It also has a great big old mansion in the middle of it that supposedly houses many famous pieces of art. However, we were there a little too late in the day to be able to tour the house to see those pieces of art.

Part 4: We went to see another musical! I had never heard of Avenue Q before getting here, which is sad because the show was hilarious. It is a parody of Sesame Street (played with giant puppets and all!) that takes place in New York City. The story line consists of the characters trying to discover what to do with their lives (their purpose, if you will) after college. The opening number was a song called "What do you do with a BA in English?" Much to the chagrin of the (majority) English majors in our group, this question was never answered.

Awkward pictures are the best pictures

I could tell you about our discussion of Our Mutual Friend this morning (since it was fascinating), but I won't because I know that most of you reading this blog have never read Our Mutual Friend. It's a different experience from the standard English classroom though, where usually I'm one of the few people who ever contributes to discussion. In this group of over-achievers, it's almost impossible to fit in a comment - and by the time it's your turn, the comment isn't even relevant anymore. So... Mom, I am learning and going to class here. You also have to remember that the entire idea of the program is that the city itself serves as a classroom. I can't number the type and scope of things that I've learned from being here (and that I learned two years ago when I was abroad in Spain), most of which are far more valuable than anything I could ever learn in a traditional classroom setting.

In the afternoon Jon took us on a walking tour through Kensington and Notting Hill, where we had more fun with statues. After the group walk, Whitney and I split off on our own to explore a little more. We had wanted to go to the Natural History Museum, only to find out that the museum was closing right as we would have been arriving. We then considered the idea of browsing Harrod's, but quickly abandoned that plan when the Picadilly line was delayed. So we ended up heading to the Westminster area early (for our evening walking tour) and took the long route around Buckingham Palace to see all the embassies within the governmental and political hub of London. After making our way around to the front of the palace, we decided to be the cheesey tourists that we are, and have a picture taken with one of the police guards at the gate in in his little funny hat (did I also mention that he carried a massive machine gun?) As soon as we had flanked the officer on either side to smile for the camera, I realized (and I gather that Whitney did as well) that I had nothing to do with my arms. The instinctual urge to place my arm around the shoulder of the person posing with me was clearly inappropriate. In a panic of not knowing what to do with my arms before the flash went off, I pasted them by my side and stood awkwardly and uncomfortably next to the officer for the photograph that will now and forever more be one of the gems of my scrapbook. To add to the glorious awkwardness of it all, upon reviewing the photo in the LCD, I cringed and laughed all at once to see that Whitney had apparently gone through the same panic attack that I had gone through while posing with the guard - arms pasted, body straight forward. Because the picture is so incredibly bad, I will always remember the experience.

The end of the day wound up in a walking tour given by Rodger Bowdler, who to my mind (and I suspect others'), is the quintessential British man with pinstripe suit, European pointy shoes, a hooked black umbrella, and a luxurious mane of greying wavy hair. I truly believe that at least 50% of our group adores him as the God of London's architectural history, about which we have endless questions on how the architecture of this ancient yet modern city plays into both its history and the present day. After the tour, someone was saavy enough to entice him to come to a pub with us, in which I particpated in what I believe was the most intellectual and scholarly conversation I have ever had at (what is essentially) a bar. Our topics ranged from politics, to Texas pride, to architecture, to famililes, to feminisim. All of this I partook of while enjoying a hearty glass of Guiness.

A lazy Sunday

I apologize to my regular readers for the lack of update last night... I was too absorbed in Our Mutual Friend to have any time for posting. My entire day essentially consisted of sleeping in for the first time since arriving in London, followed by reading Dickens in various locations around and near the college.

I first tried reading with Janet on a bench in Regent's park, but the weather proved chilly and my attention distractable. There were simply too many people-watching opportunities all around me to get absorbed with a novel. I never fail to be amazed by the multi-cultural make-up of London. Sitting in a single spot on a single bench for a couple of hours, I must have heard five or six different languages - not to mention different dialects of the same language! I've also found while here that British people have difficulty distinguishing between American and Australian English, Australians have difficulty distinguishing between American and British English, and Americans inevitably have trouble distinguishing between British and Australian English. All that doesn't even touch on Indian English, which I find even more difficult to understand, and which is widespread throughout London.

... Back to reading in the park though. Janet and I spent more time watching children play football (No wonder European countries do so well in the World Cup! They breed them to play football around here!) and spying on a wedding party than actually reading Our Mutual Friend. After a while though the weather got too cold to stay outside all together, so we moved into the refectory for some caffeine and a quiet indoor reading spot (which is quiet in between lunch and dinner).

After dinner we went out to read some more (along with Whitney and Margaret) in a local coffee shop, that we were then kicked out of at 8pm for closing time.

I read some more before bed... until my eyes couldn't stay open anymore... and then read the last 20 pages of the book this morning before class. Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend (all 800 pages of it) complete.

God Save the Queen

Lucky for us, today just happened to be the Queen's birthday! So what does the Queen do on her birthday? She has a giant parade with tons of pomp and ceremony. It was really exciting seeing all of the soldiers and cavalry marching in front of Buckingham Palace... and then.... the QUEEN! She wore a lime green outfit that made her easy to spot, even from far away. Out of the 7 of us that attended the parade, I think we got a few good pictures of them. We're also utterly convinced that we also have a picture of Prince William standing on the balcony of the palace. It made standing there waiting for two hours all worth while.

After the parade we got lunch a local sandwich shop. Cheddar cheese in British is white. It tastes a little different too. Then we went shopping at the Portabello Road market; some of the stuff is crap, but a lot of it is really nice. It would be a great place to go if I was really into antiques. As is, I ended up buying a necklace and a pashmina scarf.

Then we went to get some tea - more because it was raining and we were tired than because we really wanted tea, but the tea did turn out to be nice. It was peppermint! So, while we were enjoying a nice, quiet afternoon tea, a group of about 15 drunken rowdy British boys burst into the bar for a couple of beers and glasses of wine. Shortly after busting into the bar, they encroached upon our table to flirt and discuss the fascinating differences between Americans and Britons, including drinking games, teeth, and hats, among other things. Janet was the lucky favorite of the night and ended up getting more attention than anybody. The boys were nice though, and it was fun to talk to them, though their stay was short as they moved through the "holes" in pub golf. It's an intersting game really, in which one hops off the tube at 12 (though I thought it should be 18) different stops and goes to the first pub available at each stop. There are then an entire set of different rules for "holes" that are par 3, par 4, par 5, etc. The incident made our tea time far more entertaining than we ever could have expected. We also got a recommendation of a bar to go to tonight, which I should be heading off to shortly!

Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin

This morning sent me about 50 minutes east of London to Cambridge, where we were able to get the inside tour from Mr. Jon Readey who went to Cambridge for his Masters. It's a lot different from London; it's smaller, it's less multi-cultural... more quaint. Once you get into the old part of Cambridge there is no motor vehicle traffic allowed, and everyone gets around on bicycles with baskets on them - they remind me of the scene from the Wizard of Oz where the Wicked Witch of the East is riding on her bicycle with Toto in the basket. The city has lots of cobblestones and old brick buildings with climbing ivy. It's amazing to think that Newton and Milton both attended Cambridge once - and that I've been there! I suppose I know that these great figures were real people who must have gone to school somewhere, but it's so unreal to me to think that they could have ever stood on the same stones that I've stood on.

Oh!!! I almost forgot - we got to take pictures at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross station in London before leaving for Cambridge!!!! We even picked out a Harry, Ron, and Hermione from the group to pose at the platform.

Anyways... back to Cambridge. Towards the end of the day we got to go punting down the river Cam, which was pretty much awesome. Our tourguide and punters were great and told us lots of fun facts about the University. We also got to see some of the local students celebrating the last day of exams by throwing each other into the river. All of the people who worked doing the boat punting were really nice. They were all fascinated by the fact that we were Americans (and probably because it was a big group of girls) and wanted to know about our hometowns and about our school. It was a more positive response than we had gotten so far from idigenous Englishmen.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Janet, Whit, Margaret, and I ran into a little old lady in the secret garden today who was nasty and judgmental. I couldn't believe her nerve. We had barely stepped foot into the garden when she approaches us and asks if we're Australian. We tell her "no, we're American" and she immediately starts grilling us, asking where we are studying and for how long as if she can't wait until we are gone. She then starts reprimanding us about how this is a queit garden and how we need to be respectful and that we need to leave if we're not going to be respectful. We hadn't even had time to be disrespectful or loud! We had literally just stepped foot inside the garden! As soon as she perceived that we were not British, she automatically assumed that we were trouble-makers and that we didn't deserve to enjoy the garden. We said ok and ignored her - though it took all my self-control not to make a nasty comment back to her about the long curly hairs popping out of her chin - not to mention giving her a lecture about stereotypes, xenophobia, and tolerance.

Tasteful Nudity?

Today started out with a lovely class discussion about our viewing of Othello yesterday. It was neat to hear the different ways that people had all experienced the same play. Class was followed by uploading pictures onto facebook - check the link on the right titled "Pictures" if you'd like to see them. We then had another good ol' lunch in the refectory then headed out with Team Awesome for the British Museum!

I loved the museum! We saw items from the Sutton Hoo exhibition, tons of mummies from ancient Egypt (that were kinda gross to look at), the biggest collection of Greek vases in the world, and legit pieces of the Parthenon! The best part was: it was free! One big difference I noticed between the American museums that I've been in and this one, was the density of material that is crammed into one room. The British museum just has soooooooooo much to look at; I actually liked it better that way. Oh, and of course we took numerous pictures emulating the poses of the various statues that we saw - I see a new photo album on the horizon: Me as a statue.

After the museum we had some more fun in phone booths as we walked over to Covent Garden, which was the coolest little outdoor market/ shopping center. I definitely want to go back another day to check it out more thouroughly. I bought myself a nice souvenier photo frame with three tinted pictures of some very "London" images. I'm excited about it.

After that, we headed out to see Cabaret! It was interesting- a little too artsy to my liking. I'm glad that I saw it, but I wouldn't be inclined to see it again. The playbill posted on the wall claimed that it had "tasteful nudity" - the British apparently have a lenient definition of what defines tasteful and/or nudity. I didn't even have to wait until Amsterdam...

O, learning to push a wheelchair, and chicken tandoori

The highlight of the day was, by far, learning about the history of the globe theatre in class and then actually going to see a play in the reconstructed Globe. We saw Othello - it was so cool to be able to see a Shakespeare play in the theatre that he used to show them in. My seat was in the very top row of the balcony, and since the Globe is narrow and tall, I was essentially looking straight down on to the tops of the actors heads. For the second half of the show, however, I decided to enjoy it from the vantage point of a groundling, which was a better view and much more intimate with the actors. In true 16th century style, however, it was uncomfortable either way. It was cramped sitting (people used to be 10% shorter in Shakespeare's time!), though I did rent a cushion to ease the hardness of the wooden bench, and my legs got tired standing - but it was more than worth it to see a play in the Globe!

After the play we moved in mass towards what I would refer to as Indiatown. I somehow or other ended up with the task of pushing Allison's wheelchair through the streets of downtown London. It was amazing, the site of the chair parts the Red Sea - everyone just moves out of the way, cars stop to let you cross the street - if only it worked that way all the time! I can now refer to myself as a competent and practiced wheelchair pusher - I didn't even hit any ankles!

Once we finally got to Indiatown, I ended up splitting up from the massive group to eat dinner with only two other people from the program, which I think was nice because it allowed us to really get to know one another. I ordered chicken tandoori... which was delightful. And then we got lost trying to get back home after dinner. I think it ended up taking a full 2 hours.

"Grab her thigh!... higher!"

It just gets better and better every day!

I was finally able to squeeze in a substancial nap after class, so that I am no longer feel like I am suffering from jet lag. I was thus able to take the walking tour around Regents Park and climb Primrose Hill for yet another astonishing view of London. We passed by a fun little pub called The Honest Sausage, in which I am determined to dine before leaving London. I also got to see a cricket game in action... ohhh England.

JP and Whit and I are in the process of filming/taking pictures for a DVD and albums that we would like to create. One of which shall be dubbed: "Me and a landmark," another of which has a theme with a special person leaping across the video. The highlight picture of the day took place in what we lovingly refer to as the secret garden (which is absolutely beatiful and makes me want to frolic among the rose bushes!), in which there is a fountain with a statue in the middle. Whit and I decided to pose in the likeness of the statue... but the real bueaty of it was that we had the entire group participating in the posing process - "Meld your legs together like the mermaid!", "Grab her thigh!...Higher!" The picture is a real beaut - I'll try to post it ASAP.

After a delicious panini in the school refectory, we went out to see Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was seriously one of the coolest things we've done. The play was in an open-air theatre (I feel obliged to use the British spelling) starting at dusk and ending at night. The weather was good and the real-time lighting and time of day was almost a perfect correspondence to the time of day in the play.

I'm sure the following days will bring just as much fun and adventure! Tomorrow we're going to see Othello (which I also have to finish reading!) - that's three straight days of plays!

Day 1 of "class" a success

The morning started out with an orientation and a tour of the college. My student ID/swipe card also now works properly, so I'm no longer getting locked in and out of buildings. After lunch we went to St. Paul's Church. I climbed 434 winding narrow stairs to see London from the very top of the dome. It was a great view, but my legs were shaking afterwards.

After St. Pau'ls we headed across the Thames via the millenium bridge to the Tate Modern - some of which I appreciated and some of which I didn't. Modern art is often a puzzle to me.

In the evening we headed for the theatre district to see Les Miserables. It was fantastic! It made me cry.

Unfortunately since I'm still running low on sleep, I won't be giving a more in depth update tonight!

I'm finally in London!

...though my arrival wasn't as pleasant as I expected it to be.

Our plane was delayed for 2 hours last night, so we arrived in London later than expected and were in quite a bit of a rush once we got here. The tube ride from Heathrow to Regent's College was pretty miserable with all of our luggage - the treck took more than an hour on a hot and crowded underground system.

Regent's College is in a good location, but I'm rather disappointed with the facilities. When I moved into my dorm room it clearly had not been cleaned - there was hair and dirt all in the crumpled sheets, as if a dirty shedding person had just rolled out of the bed, and the trash cans had not been emptied from the previous tenants. The showers are missing shower curtains and I'm afraid to even touch the walls in the bathroom. It was pretty disgusting. I complained about the sheets at the front desk and got them changed, but the comforter is still stained and the bathrooms are still nasty. In addition to it all, my swipe card (that I need to get in and out of ALL the College's buildings) is tempermental and often leaves me locked out (or in!). Needless to say, I am less than pleased with my living space here.

Fortunately, it's not all bad across the pond. I've been meeting the people in my program, and they all seem very friendly. The whole group had a picinic for dinner in Regent's Park which was pleasant. Afterwards Whitney and Janet and I went on an aimless stroll around the block to check out our surroundings. We came across a couple of big red phone booths and took advantage of a photo op. I think we're going to do well in our future travels together, since we are all shameless tourists who love taking pictures and hitting all the "must see" spots, without being afraid to get a little lost and roll with what comes along.

On our way back to the college from our walk, we ran into some other people from our group and were talked into joining them at a pub up the street called The Volunteer. I had a delicious strawberry flavored beer that I've never seen in the US. In the words of Jon Readey: "It's like a strawberry daquiri in beer format."

I'm super-excited about our plans for tomorrow! We'll be going to an orientation in the morning and then doing a bunch of sight-seeing around the city. I might even get to go see Les Miserables tomorrow night!