Collegiate field trips

Things are definitely starting to speed up as we head toward the end of our London Stay. This week was intense, to say the least. It also marked the beginning of our study of Shakespeare. On Monday, we toured the Globe Theatre. It was incredibly interesting to sit in the newly constructed, yet historically accurate building. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and funny. He showed us examples of what the actors' scripts might have looked like. Each of the men would only have been given their lines and the last three words of the actor's lines before his (cue lines). These were written on a scroll and rolled up, which is possibly where the homonym roll came from. Also you would only get your part of the play and you would play a part. Who knows? One of the other valuable parts of his lecture was when he encouraged us to pay close attention to Shakespeare's use of prose versus verse-iambic pentameter. For example, Prince Hal is the only one of his kings to speak in prose, that is, up until he quits living the low life with Falstaff. In addition, he distinguishes Benedick from Beatrice in Much Ado in that, when she falls in love, her diction switches from prose to verse. However, Benedick remains in prose for the entire play. We continued our homage to Shakespeare with a two day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. Our coach picked us up at 8:00 am in front of our flat. We stopped in Oxford and were given of a tour of the campus before reaching our final destination. In Stratford, we visited Mary Arden and Anne Hathaway's houses. Much more exciting in theory. It was really hard to figure out what was original and what was replaced. Little was actually there when Shakespeare's mother and wife were there. After doing the site seeing, we collapsed at our bed and breakfasts. My group was split up among three different places. Amanda, Emily, Maggie and I stayed together. Our room was extremely adorable. We rested for about an hour and then went to the Courtyard Theatre to see Richard II. It was phenomenal. The next day we had a delicious breakfast and then walked around the city on our own. It is an adorable, quiet area- aside from the large amount of construction. We saw a number of Shakespeare properties, none of which were extremely interesting but the afternoon brought a performance of Henry IV part 1. Even though Richard II was my favorite, Falstaff was hilarious and Hal was played by a great actor. We were all very tired and had a quiet ride home.

Tonight we were able to take a tour of the Houses of Parliament. Our tour guide told us about the rich history of the building and I think I am actually starting to understand the convoluted succession of monarchs - maybe. He even pointed out a dent in one of the tables that is rumored to have been made from Winston Churchill's ring during intense meetings.

The Hour That...

Tonight we saw a play with 200+ characters and no words. It lasted for almost 2 hours. Enough said.

Amsterdam, Barcelona and the City

Since we have hit the halfway mark of our London stay, everyone in 270 ECR is buzzing with spring break plans. It is a mixture of excitement and anger over fairs and fees. People who say flying around Europe is cheap obviously never had to bring three seasons worth of luggage. Anyways, I have all of my flights booked. I'll be going to Amsterdam with Ben, Lee and Maggie, then flying to Barcelona by myself where I will meet up with Amanda and Emily who will be doing the Paris thing for the first few days. It will be perfect -not just one but two coastal cities.

Today began with a journey to the City. (City with a capitol 'C' refers to the one square mile of London that was once Londinium or the original London. - Now, very few people live there so it functions solely as the city's center for commerce. When you think London skyline, you are thinking of the City) Anyways. We arrived at the preset location to meet Sarah a little bit early so a soy vanilla latte was able to help me warm up to the idea of a three hour walk. I know I can't complain about the cold when my friends and family are trapped under many feet of snow, but the wind was pretty evil today. Everything was so noisy, too. Apparently, they call jack hammers pneumatic drills. We saw many churches that were constructed under the direction of Christopher Wren after the Great Fire and a building that was made by the same man who conceptualized the Centre Pompidou. The architect is Richard Rogers and the building is the Lloyd's of London building. It is the most obscenely modern piece of architecture in the city. There is no way I could work there. I would feel like a cog in a machine. There is such a variety of different types of architecture and new and old buildings are intermixed throughout the entire city. I really appreciate the different textures and rich history. -Tomorrow we're climbing to the top of St. Paul's, though. We'll see if I still appreciate it after all of those stairs.

My unromanticized view of Paris- and why I enjoyed the city anyways

I am now bringing a very long weekend to a close. We were given Friday and Monday off, which allowed everyone enough time for a little travel. I chose PARIS! and booked tickets with Lee and Ben. Looking back on the four days, we were pretty unprepared but made it through in one piece. I'll go through each day separately to make sure I can remember everything. Friday: Our flight left from Heathrow at 2:00 and landed at 4:00. Getting off the plane was quite a shock because we knew we had to buy tain tickets but weren't sure which ones or even how to ask for the right ones. Eventually, we found the right ticket counter and after the lady looked at our directions sold us what we needed. Once we had made the long treck out to our hotel which was in a suburb east of the city, we decided to scavenge for food. There were not many choices. After finally deciding on a Chinese?!? restaurant, we struggled through a difficult, mediocre meal. It was not turning out to be the Paris I had romanticized for years. Saturday: Determined to have a better day two, I was able to figure out the cheapest ticket that would allow us all day access to the trains and the metro (only about 3,40 euro). However, it was an incredible struggle, again, to find a restaurant. Luckily, we found a nice cafe that sold delicious paninis and we were able to warm up for a bit. Then we ventured to the Eiffel Tower to meet Molly who is studying for the semester in Paris. I was incredibly excited to see someone who knew so much of the language. We decided to escape the windy tourist area and ventured to the Louvre. It is soooo big. Since it's impossible to see the entire museum, we tried to pick certain areas to see but it was ridicoulously hard to follow the map. Although, I did get a picture of the Mona Lisa. Would have never thought you could take pictures in there. Sunday: Ben was too sick to walk around with us on Sunday because a new version of the black death is going around our program. So many people have gotten sick and I am on my way. Luckily I felt well enough to go out on Sunday, though, because we experienced just about every quintessential tourist stop in the city.
Sacre Coeur: It was extremely beautiful. There was such a contrast between the green grass; clear, blue sky; and white basillica. In addition, it is set very high on a hill and even though there are many stairs involved, there is a great view of the city from the outside. However, there were multiple men outside (clearly not with the church) who tried to tie little pieces of string around our wrists. They were very forward and demanding. Compared to London, the people in Paris who are looking for money are abrasive and relentles. Even though I was a little upset after my walk up the stairs, the view made up for it and we were able to circle the basillica during the church service. It was the perfect time because we were able to experience the sounds and smells of the building as well as it's architecture.
Les croque monsieurs!: Since Lee and I were starving after climbing up to Sacre Coeur, we looked for a place to have lunch. Finally we found this cafe that was fairly crowded, a sure sign of a good pick. We decided on a table inside and I was excited to see that they had croque monsieurs on the menu, one of the first french food items I ever learned. It is essentially a grilled ham and cheese but it is quintessentially French. The sandwich plus a cafe creme was the perfect lunch.
Notre Dame: A quick ride on the metro brought us to the most famous cathedral in paris. The stained glass windows were spectacular.
Conciergerie: We were able to walk around a little bit after Notre dame and found the conciergerie, which is French for a waste of time. No, seriously, our guide book explained it as an exciting, mysterious former prison that had housed many prisoners during the French revolution, including Marie Antoinette. We thought it would be a smaller version of the tower of london. No. It was a waste of euros, especially because we didn't speak French. Oh well.
Luxembourg Gardens: The park was extremely lively, filled with dozens of kids climbing on the HUGE jungle gym, old men smoking cigarettes over games of petanque (French bocce ball), and students reading books in chairs set along the walkways. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend some downtime.
Crepes avec Nutella!: As the afternoon had worn on, we decided to get some crepes from the stand at the gardens. I knew what very few of the toppings meant, but I was sure of the Nutella. It was deliciously messy.
Cafe creme at a cafe: We met Molly again for a cup of coffee. We looked around for a little bit before settling on this large cafe. It was fairly upscale and our drinks were small, but delicious. It was so nice being able to see a familiar face and share our experiences thus far.
Le Comptoire de Mme. Tomate: After taking the metro to the Centre Pompidou, we decided to get dinner at a restaurant by the name of this point's heading. It translates "The counter/bar of Mrs. Tomato." It was trendy inside and had upbeat music. The service was also excellent. Our waiter was extremely friendly and the waitress was even more excitable. She kept saying long strings of French to us and I only understood about half of it. I ordered a chicken sandwich and a gin fizz and Lee went with a hamburger and beer. Everything was excellent. After our meal, the crazy waitress poured each of us a shot of rum. We weren't really sure what to make of it but gave eachother the "when in Rome..." look and downed the alcohol. However, I looked around and spotted another table of people who were sipping their idential shots slowly. Just when I was beginning to think we had committed a big faux pas the waitress appeared at the table speaking loudly, "Allez! Allez!" (Hurry!) and making motions with her hands that seemed to insist "drink up!" It was definitely the best meal of the trip.
Le Centre Pompidou: Of course, the Eiffel Tower was overwhelming and yes, the Louvre was spectacular with it's glass pyramid; however, when I exited the metro stop by the Centre Pompidou, I was speechless. The building is MASSIVE and stood out so much because we went at nighttime. The modern art was such a nice contrast to the Louvre but I don't think I should really compare the two. Apples and oranges, really.
Glittering Eiffel Tower: Lastly, we went to the Eiffel Tower and got lost on the Metro for the first and last time. Thanks to a tip from the woman from Boston we met at the cafe, we learned that the structure lights up for ten minutes every hour, on the hour after 6:00. Beautiful.
By Monday we were all ready to go home. It was such a long, action packed weekend. Also, I was definitely homesick for the Tube and ENGLISH. On our way to the train station, though, we found one of the city's gems. It was a bakery smaller than my bedroom but we could smell the bread from the sidewalk. (One of Molly's tips) We went in and purchased long thin baguette sandwiches and I also got a croissant that was perfect on the long ride to the airport. Everything was so delicious.
There were many wonderful parts of the weekend but my visit really allowed me to come to terms with the city I had romanticized for years. Now, it's not some far-off dream but something I have felt, seen and smelled. I feel like I am one of the few who has such a subdued view of the city. Everyone usually seems to talk about it in such strong language. You hear about the nasty people and exaggerated tales of the beautiful places. However, I feel that I was able to see it as a real, dynamic city city, full of gems and potholes.

ALL or nothing

After living here for over two weeks, I have learned more than anything that it is important to take advantage of every opportunity and to be ready for plans to emerge at any moment. Shortly after I woke up on Saturday morning Amanda came into my room asking me if I wanted a ticket to see Othello. Of course, I couldn't refuse. She, and two other girls went to queue for the show at 6:30 a.m. and stood in line for multiple hours. The show featured Ewan McGregor as Iago, Chiwetel Ejifor (Keira Knightly's husband in Love Actually) as Othello and Kelly Reilly (Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice) as Desdemona. Tickets are going for as much as $1,000 on eBay, even though we only paid $15. The show was amazing! The theater was intimate and we had actors running behind us. It was also a nice contrast to when I saw the play at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI. There, it was staged outside in the middle of the day. Here, the set was very dark and dynamic music enhanced the performance. Three years ago, I remember falling in love with Iago; his conviction and ruthlessness were mesmerizing. However, on Saturday, Ejifor stole the show. I was also very impressed with Reilly's performance. She was convincing, but strong enough not to let the role stifle her. The role of Desdemona is tough in that it has to be conceivable that Othello is able to believe she is having an affair with Cassio. However, this role can fall flat if it comes off as foolish that she should fall subject to Iago's plot. I was really blown away.

Later that night, a bunch of people in the house went out. There was a party being thrown for a new travel agency. There were multiple rooms constructed for the event. One had sand and palm trees, another was created to look like an Amazon forest and the last one resembled a Japanese lounge. It was incredible! What was even better was that EVERYTHING was free. We had to wait for a while to get in but had an amazing time. Quite the PR event.

On Monday we decided that we needed to be productive and tried to go to the Westminster library. It was closed. Sooo We took the tube to the British Library. It was intense. They asked for multiple forms of ID and I had to fill out a form on the computer. Once that was done, I received a library card with my picture and a briefing of the rules. No pens. No snacks. No backpacks or bags. etc. etc. etc. Also, there is no browsing of the stacks. You request books online and then the people bring them directly to you. Unfortunately, we finished our applications after 4:00 which is the last time you can order books. I do have access to one of the biggest collections of information in the world, though.

dAY tRIPPER

Today was really marked by a number of different cultural experiences. As the weekend began yesterday, I would have loved to sleep in today but I had made an appointment to get my allergy shot. It would be nice not to have to deal with it but, nonetheless, I was psyched to ride the tube for the first time by myself. I only need to take it to South Kensington (two stops away from Earl's Court) but I was excited. Of course I got lost on the way to the doctor's office (which is called a surgery here) but I was only a few minutes late. Then, the doctor was French and incredibly hard to understand but it didn't take too long.

After lounging around for the rest of the morning, Lee; Ben; Charlie and I decided to go to the Camden Market. It really turned out to be interesting. The vendors have mostly clothes, jewelry and other trinkets. The vibe was something else, though. It was bohemian smoke shop meets punk rocker Hot Topic with Chinese food cooking in the background. I was also surprised at the manor of the vendors. They were extremely pushy and seemed to be everywhere. This made browsing extremely difficult. Plus, I don't know how I would ever buy anything without a dressing room.

Once we got back to Earl's Court, we figured it was about time to find something to do next weekend because we have four days off. After many headaches, we booked flights to PARIS. Now, we just have to find a place to stay when we get there. Luckily students can tour the Louvre for free on Friday nights because the tickets were not cheap.

Finally, we made a late night excursion to this Mediterranean dive down the street. It was delicious! I got what was essentially gyro meat in a pita topped with garlic mayo and a mixture of shredded cabbage, carrots and other similar vegetables. We were all so full walking home.

Even though today wasn't the easiest I've had thus far, I'm very happy to be living in such a diverse city.

Send me a postcard; drop me a line

Today was the perfect blend of sleeping in, learning about England's monarchies and sight seeing. We met Sarah at 1:30 at the National Gallery and learned about the diptych commissioned by Richard II and saw the initial sketch for a painting of Henry VIII, Henry VII and their wives. After class concluded, about 4:00, the weekend began.

SO, we adventured to Abby Road. It was perfect because none of us were wearing jackets. However, it was a bit anticlimactic. There weren't any signs or souvenir shops (like there probably would be if Abby Rd. was in America) There was another big group of tourists, though. Luckily for us, cars in London drive very conservatively and ALWAYS stop for pedestrians. We were able to take a number of pictures at our leisure. Oh wait, cars here drive like they are racecars and we almost got hit 20 times.

It's all part of the experience, though.

Theatre woes

Well, yesterday was a bit of an unfortunate adventure. We had tickets to the Chekhov play, Uncle Vanya at the Rose Theatre in Kinston. Getting there took a fairly long tube ride to the end of the line, a stint on the SW rail and a 10 minute walk. Then, the play was borderline awful. The script centers around Russia, just years before the revolution and is more about the characters' inaction than their actions. However, this did not come through. We were all pretty disappointed but I think Ben and I are still going to purchase tickets to Shakespeare's The Tempest, which will begin playing there at the end of February. From the look of the flyer we saw, they are staging it with an Arabian knight flair. That alone is enough to make me want to see it. Plus, tickets for the pit are only 7 pounds!

Luckily, we were able to resurrect the rest of the night with a big pot of pasta and a lot of garlic cheesey bred. mmmm. I went to the store in the afternoon and stocked up. I bought my first jar of Nutella and some mini wheats with apricot filling (among many other things). Do they make something like this in the US? Not sure. Oh well. Now it's time to get ready for another one of Sarah's walking adventures. Today we are meeting at the National Gallery.

Nothing better

I just finished my first paper of the semester and it feels GREAT to have it done! It is for my course called London as a Visual Text and examines the Thames River through the lens of engineering. Trust me, it's moreexciting than it sounds.

Earlier today, I had the same course that I just finished the paper for. Usually, it entails studying the history of London by walking around and actually seeing all of the important places. This may sound like a class in british tourism; however, if you think this, you have clearly never met our professor Sarah Chochrane. She is the most adorable British woman who is not much taller than me. But, when she breaks into her "brisk walking" the rest of the class is either in a dead sprint or half a block behind. Oh, and she knows just about EVERYTHING. We spent the morning and early afternoon in Westminster Abbey. It is impossible to describe how beautifully ornate it is. I also love the perks of being in a student group lead by a headstrong British woman. We were able to stand inches away from Edward the Confessor's tomb. He is the one who is responsible for establishing the original Westminster but the space is always closed off to the general public. While much of the Abbey is made up of the large nave, the individual chapels are small and because of the presence of a large tomb, we wove in and out of them like little burrowing insects. Now, this was all well and good until we came to the Chapter House. The sign read that the Chapter house is to houses what the rose is to flowers. While circiling around some shrine my button that indicated my ability to be in the abby popped of and, of course, rolled into the center of the floor surrounded by a velvet rope. No one important seemed to noticed so I wasn't faced with any permanent reprocussions but I am without the free souvenir.

NOW, I must talk about last night's performance. We went to see the production War Horse at the National Theatre. It was INCREDIBLE. The play tells the story of a boy, Albert and his horse Joey in the context of WWI. They are separated when Albert's father sells the horse to the British cavalry but Albert ends up enlisting with the hopes of finding him. The story is extremely powerful but it is only part of the experience. The horses in the story are elaborate, life-size puppets constructed out of wood. They are made of intricate wooden frames that are lined on the inside with brown or grey fabric. Controlled by three people, the puppets act and move just like real horses and, at times, actors actually ride on them. We were all blown away. I only wish more people could see it. Luckily we were among the few to get tickets to it because every performance is sold out and people are actually queuing at 6:00 a.m. to purchase the tickets set aside to be sold on the day of the performance! Amazing.

Dinner and a game

Today was fairly relaxing and I was able to get a decent amount of homework done but the best part of the night was having dinner at our professors' house. Anne and John live about a half hour away and invited us for a home cooked meal of chicken, potatoes and salad. It was delicious. Shortbread and ice cream were for dessert. Of course, we all had to eat by their rule which is that spoons are only allowed to scoop up the ice cream when the shortbread is all gone. :) It was nice spending time with everyone in their cute little living room.

Then, of course everyone wanted to find a place to watch the Super Bowl. However, a lot of places are charging a cover and most of the pubs aren't open past eleven. It costs 25 pounds just to get into the Hard Rock Cafe tonight! So, a bunch of people are just watching on the grainy TV in the common room. Although, since the BBC is airing it, it isn't the same game that everyone in America is watching. Instead of commercials, we get to listen to past Super Bowl moments and British commentary which primarily consists of the annoucers explaining the rules. Apparently they had to go over the purpose of the coin toss.

The week in rewind

It is hard to belive that I have only been in London for one week. I have seen and done so much and I am actually starting to feel like I fit in. It still hasn't escaped me that I am in a foreign country but when I hear five different languages during a 15 minute train ride, I know I am not alone.

Classes are in full swing and we already have a paper due on Wednesday but this is, of course, not the type of classroom experience that I am used to. As I haven't kept up my blog this week, I'll give a short run through of my week.

Sunday: We all arrived at different times and settled into our rooms. The ACM has rented out what is like a long-term hostel and there is a kitchen and bathrooms on each floor. All of the girls live in rooms of four people. I live with Maggie from Ripon, Caitlyn from Macalester and Heidi from Monmouth. We are all very easy going and get along well but I can tell that we weren't put together because we are the neatest of people. At 6:00 we all had dinner with our professors and program coordinator - and were releived to find out that we didn't have class until the next day.
I ended the evening by heading to the pub across the street with a few other people from the program.

Monday: Class involved a lot of housekeeping tips but we also went for a walk (essentially around the block) with our "host" Goran. He pointed out all of the great places to go and things to look for in our neighborhood. We are staying in Earl's Court, which is in Kensington and Chelsea aka the Southeast part of the city. We had the rest of the afternoon free but had to meet at the Comedy Theatre by 7:30. The performances included Pinter's The Lover and The Collection.

Tuesday: We had another brief class in the morning for more tips on how to survive in London. One of the best tips was John's introduction of the Sainsbury's Basics. It is a line of items at the grocery store that are dirt cheap compared to the other brands. However, even though some, like pasta, are really comparable, some are not. John says he is stuck eating his two boxes of granola that he believes even horses would refuse. Again, we had the afternoon free but had to meet at the Orange Street Theatre at 7:30 for The Woman Hater.

Wednesday: Today meant a BOAT RIDE down the River Thames where we saw all of the quitessential London landmarks, during class. We ended our walk with Sarah at Tower Hill and then were free to roam about the City. That night we went to ANOTHER play. It was Metomorphosis at the Lyric Hammersmith. The performance was incredible. The set was divided into two levels but Gregor's room on the second was positioned very differently. Everything was attached to the vertical back wall as if it were the floor. His body movements really transformed into that of an insect. The performance was emotional and visually stunning.

Thursday: Today, for class, we divided into groups to discuss the past three performances. After class was over Ben, Lee, Maggie and I went to the Natural History Museum where we saw huge skeletons of dinosaurs, a replica of a blue whale done to scale and a huge exhibit on Earth's jewels.

Friday: Sarah took us on another brisk walk around London where we were able a few last remaining chunks of the Roman wall and we spent a lot of time talking about the Tower of London. I can't wait to take the tour. After class ended and our weekend started at noon, we took the tube to see Big Ben and other parts of the City up close. It is amazing to see things that I've only seen in books.

Saturday: Amanda, Emily, Sarah and I went to the Tate Modern and were able to see their huge exhibit on Surrealist works. Being right in front of the actual pieces done by Duchamp, Max Ernst and Jean Arp brought me right back to my FYS. I imagine Evelyn Kain would be proud. Then, I spent most of the night just hanging out and spending time with people at home. We also made a trip to the Burger King down the street. Don't Judge. They have blizzard-esque things for only 99 pence.

We are certainly trying to be conservative with our money because the exchange rate is so terrible but becuase of that we are all very greatful that we have been given monthly tube passes by the ACM. They allow us to go nearly anywhere for free. It is very suprising how quickly we have gotten a hang of the routes and I can definitely say that I love the public transportation. It's just hard getting used to how croweded it is.