A Semester Abroad

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

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Jan 18

now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.

I’m already bad at keeping up with this whoops.

Thursday is my long school day. At 9:30 I had Literature and Otherness for the first time, and then the seminar after that until noon. Then I have an hour and a half gap in between classes which is not enough time to go back to Wood Green but too long to just kick it on campus which is not too exciting, so last week Manuel and I just went to Kari’s room and tried to read Henry V (aka I fell asleep in her chair). Then we had Shakespeare from 1:30-2:30, and seminar from 3:00-4:30. I have a different seminar section than most of my friends in that class, but I’m okay with it because I looove my seminar professor. Even though I have 4 classes, I have 7 professors (or “tutors”) because for all of my classes except one, I have a different person for lecture and seminar. My Shakespeare seminar prof is my favorite so far though. He’s really laid back and funny and on the first day he showed some Caravaggio paintings and compared his style of painting to Shakespeare’s style of writing and it was really interesting.

After class that night, a bunch of us went to see Slumdog Millionaire at the cinema across the street from my hall and it was really good. I quite recommend it. Although I don’t know if I can agree with all the reviews calling it the feel good movie of the year, because the entire thing was incredibly depressing until the very end. But it was good. Later that night we went to karaoke night again at the Jolly Angler’s and though I did not participate this time, it was still quite enjoyable.

Friday….I don’t remember what I did in the morning. Probably a whole lot of nothing. I have my 19th C. Lit class and seminar from 1:00-3:30 on Fridays. It sucks being at class that late on Friday, but oh well. At least Kari is there to suffer along with me. Anna told me to probably not take this class because she heard that it all felt like busy work, but I did anyway because the music class intimidated me too much. I see where she was coming from…the professor is definitely my least favorite because I feel like the analyses of the books is on very much a high school level and not a university level. But now I’m in it anyway, and we’re reading so many classics in that class that hopefully I can just enjoyed the reading material and forget about that fact that the discussion questions are really basic and not stimulating at all. Meh. I’ll survive I suppose. Of course this is the one class where I have the same professor for the lecture and the seminar. Story of my life.

After class, Kari and I went back into London to get more books. She hadn’t even started, so she had a lot more to do than I did, but luckily I ended up finding a few of the books I hadn’t before. When I came back to Wood Green I had every intention of doing nothing but rest and sleep all Friday night, but of course as I was making/eating dinner I was convinced to go to a house party later that night. By the time we ended up actually GOING anywhere instead of sitting around in the halls I was already tired and I only ended up staying at the house for an hour and a half or so before catching a bus back with a few other people. I am just not someone who enjoys parties with people that I don’t know or am not comfortable with. And I’m not comfortable with many people. I wish I was outgoing enough to be good at parties, but I should just accept that I’m not.

On Saturday, Manuel, Suzy, Emily and I went into London to go to the National Gallery and wander around some of the places in the day that we had only seen when it was cloudy/dark out. So more pictures.

by George (Washington), what are you doing in Trafalgar Square? The base says “Presented to the people of Great Britain and Ireland by the Commonwealth of Virginia 1921.” Apparently it stands on imported US soil as George stated that he would never set foot on British soil again.

James II

Lord Nelson atop his column again.

took a touristy photo!

…and then I almost hopped on this bus.

I found home in Trafalgar! From what I’ve been told this was the real Texas Embassy when Texas was a nation (which I’m sure was a glorious nine years), and now it is a restaurant, where I will have to head sometime for chips and salsa.

our destination.

The National Gallery was pretty phenomenal. We were there for a couple hours and I had to rush through a lot of things I would like to go back and look at more, and we didn’t even step foot in one of the wings of the museum. It was pretty surreal standing within a foot of works by artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo (both of his were unfinished), Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet, Manet, Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Renoir, and dozens of other amazing artists. I will definitely have to return anyway because the only actual painting of Da Vinci that the gallery has (other than a drawing) was not on display for conservation reasons.

portrait of Cardinal Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne

Emily left after the Gallery, so the rest of us wandered around London. Suzy hadn’t been to Piccadilly yet so we went there, then came back through Leicester and Trafalgar and went back down to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey.

just because it never gets less gorgeous and it still blows my mind

Westminster

Suzy decided to go back home after that because it was bitterly cold outside, but I had read about a historic tavern/pub that I wanted to visit (thank you Rick Steves) so Manuel and I braved the cold and walked back up to Trafalgar and then down Strand Street…..it was a much longer walk than the map made it look, but it wasn’t bad.

this picture doesn’t do justice, but there was a massive demonstration outside Downing Street

Royal Courts of Justice

we finally made it to Fleet Street, with no sign of the demon barber.

The tavern is called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, and is one of London’s oldest. It was originally opened in the 1500s and then was rebuilt in 1667, a year after the massive fire that destroyed the city. It’s famous for being one of the favorite haunts of Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens, and was also visited (though I’m not sure how frequently) by people such as Mark Twain, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Arthur Conan Doyle, W.B. Yeats, and Teddy Roosevelt. Also, the little “court” walkway that connects the entrance to Fleet Street is mentioned in A Tale of Two Cities. As soon as we stepped inside, I felt as though I had walked straight into the Prancing Pony from Lord of the Rings (I hope someone understands I mean by this). It’s probably my favorite place that I’ve been to in London so far; it was like traveling back in time. The tavern is four stories, with a cellar bar and restaurant, a ground floor restaurant serving different food, another barroom, and two more stories of additional rooms, private and public, as well as seemingly endless sitting rooms, with wooden chairs and tables that squeak as though they’ve been around since the 17th century themselves. The door frames are low, the floor is covered in wood shavings, and apparently the beer is cheap — I stuck with a slice of apple pie myself. In short, I will probably visit this place multiple times just to sit and pretend like I’m waiting for my pal Charlie to show up so we can sit by the fire and discuss his latest and greatest piece of literature. I hope he doesn’t stand me up.

After we left we walked (in the rain, now) to try to catch the tube back to Wood Green. We tried St. Paul’s station first, which apparently closes early because it was gated, and ended up having to walk to the Mansion House station and catching a couple lines back to the halls. I did take a couple more pictures of St. Paul’s because it’s still gorgeous at night in the rain.

Queen Anne

Today, I sat around and did a little bit of reading for class, and then got ready because I decided to go to church at the singles ward in London (and I do believe the only singles ward in all of Great Britain). I got there a little early, so I walked a few blocks down to see the Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial on the outskirts of Hyde Park. I didn’t have time to explore the park but I will soon I’m sure. The Memorial looked absolutely beautiful in the sunshine, and of course I sang A Day in the Life to myself as I turned toward the Royal Albert Hall, because let’s face it pretty much everything in this city/country relates to a Beatles song.

Royal Albert Hall.