January 17, 2010
What a weekend it has been. Nothing really happened, but it feels like I have done and learned so much. I only have class Monday through Wednesday, so I get a four-day weekend…it is going to be a rough semester for me academically obviously.
Thursday I slept in pretty late. Still haven’t totally adjusted to the time change. I decided to go for a run in the park across the street. It was a blast. Funnily, the park was pretty crowded for a Thursday at noon. I realized about halfway through my excursion that most of the people walking around were either ladies pushing strollers, people playing with dogs, older couples, or other runners. This mix of people really demonstrates how well off this area of London is. Nannies and hired dog walkers were everywhere! There were also a bunch of older men riding horses around for fun. Guess they took a day off work… I can’t really remember what we did Thursday night. Obviously, it wasn’t very exciting or I was roaring drunk. I think it was probably the former.
On Friday, all fifty students on the program walked to the Gore Hotel for high tea at 3PM. We had been warned ahead of time to come hungry, or I probably would have expected a cup of tea, some sugar and a biscuit. Drinking tea will never be the same again. First, the tables were set for what looked like a full course meal. We all sat and poured ourselves some tea. Then came the food. And it just kept coming. Scones, muffins, pastries, finger sandwiches, danishes…. Ahhh. So. Good. Halfway through my muffin, our coordinator politely asked if anyone was allergic to nuts. I looked at Vivian (who is also allergic), frowned, and raised my hand. Great, I thought. But after much arguing with the cooks, it was determined that nothing in the meal had any trace of nuts and we were fine. I really wouldn’t have done anything differently, regardless if there were nuts in there or not. It was that good. Best part: the scones. They are this funky, round pastry thing resembling really dense cake. You cut it in half and put jam on one side and cream on the other. Delicious. After about 3000 calories and two cups of tea I was stuffed. We all staggered back to our apartment in a sugar haze and napped.
Oh, now I remember what we did on Thursday. But first, Friday night was spent on the street of Westminster and Trafalgar Square. It is beautiful at night. I took a bunch of pictures but I can’t upload them yet! As for Thursday night, that was a bit more exciting. A bunch of us decided to go out to a club. They are very popular in Europe, unlike the United States. The boys even get up and dance here! So we all crammed onto the Tube (it is crazy on the weekends) and headed out to Soho, the younger, cooler part of London. We wondered into the club called Sketch. Terrible name, right? Anyway, the place was like something out of a movie. Or a dream. Everything was white and the bar was in this weird dome-shaped place. The bathrooms were outrageous. Every stall looked like a giant egg that you stepped into. But the place was empty. I guess we went too early or no one goes to that club on a Thursday. It didn’t matter, thought. We still had fun. After, we took the night bus home and crashed.
Saturday ended up being rather uneventful. We visited the British Museum, which started off great. I saw the Elgin Marbles, which I wrote a paper on last year. They are a bunch of statues and reliefs from the Parthenon. Also, we toured the mummy gallery, saw a bunch of artifacts and tools from the Roman Empire, and I found the Rosetta Stone! Ha, Ha. I took a picture with it. After the tour, I was really worn out. We decided to come back another day when we could appreciate it more. The guide told us that if you looked at every piece in the British Museum for thirty seconds, it would take you two years to see everything. We’ve got a lot of artifacts and antiques to look at in the coming months. Luckily, like the British Museum, all the museums here are free to the public, which is awesome. We can go back as many times as we want.
It rained all of Saturday. And we got lost a few times. Crappy day.
Today, however, was beautiful. Sunny and warm. I was so happy to finally see the sun. It has almost been a whole week, but it seems like ages. You really learn to appreciate blue sky and dry weather over here. To celebrate the nice day, Hal, Viv, and I went for a walk around the Thames. We crossed the Millennium Bridge (the one that gets ripped apart in the newest Harry Potter movie), took pictures of the skyline, and visited the Tate Modern Museum. It was amazing. I feel like I’ve been using that word a lot lately, but that is how I feel about everything here. Amazing! The Tate Modern blew my mind. I saw so many artists and pieces that I have been studying over the last few years. Seeing the work projected in the front of a classroom just doesn’t compare in anyway to witnessing it, experiencing it. I finally get why my art professors get to excited about some of this stuff. Loved it and I’m probably going to go back a few times.
Currently, I’m sitting at my dining room table, eating tomato soup, finishing some homework, and deciding what I want to do with my free time tomorrow afternoon. I think we are going to go shopping for rain boots or wellies, as they call them here. I learned my lesson on Saturday when my feet were soaked the whole day…
Have a great week and I’ll send post cards soon!
Kelly
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