The One Where He Went to Barcelona…

I dont even know where to start, so I suppose I will begin BEFORE the beginning. 

Last week, I did the whole going to class bit, and on Tuesday we had our last Shakespeare play at the Globe; Midsummers Nights Dream which was the best of all of them, but we had to stand in the pit like “peasants” this time so it sort of took away from the experience.  Like many other weeks I wound up doing something Touristy on Wednesday; this week my friend Anne and I went to see Buckingham Palace’s open house which is scheduled to end tomorrow so we were lucky to get in.  We saw the series of state rooms that are used for hosting formal gatherings, including the entry hall, grand staircase, King Edward’s art gallery, and most impressively, Queen Victoria’s Ballroom, which is where the Monarch holds formal state dinners.  Queen Elizabeth has held 97 functions in the Ballroom.  This is impressive, simply because of the amount of work and time that goes into such an evening…heirloom china, 6 crystal glasses per guest (sometimes over a 100 guests), 6 florists working on centerpieces, chalklines to keep candle votives straight along the table which forms a U-shape, with the Queen at the center.  It takes the staff about 2 weeks to prepare all of the food and setting for each evening, and EVERYTHING is washed by HAND at the end.  Two American Presidents, Reagan and G W Bush have attended functions at Buckingham, and the only visitor to have attended two has been Jaques Chirac and his wife of France.  CRAZYYYYYY.  It was also intereting to think about some other gusts…like the Shah of Iran who attended in the 1950s, long before the Iranian revolution, or Nelson Mandella who was originally deported from South Africa by British authorities, before the nation became independent and he was elected President!  Also interesting was the history during the war, where bombs were dropped EXTREMELY close the Palace, but the Monarchs never left, fearing that their exit from the building would signal to the British that they had lost the war.  I pretended to be deaf so I could read the audio guide tour rather than hold a stupid headset up to my ear the entire time, that about 5007 people have touched. 

The rest of the week was boring, but I wound up getting all of my work done so that I could take my trip to Barcelona without worrying about it all.  And so, lets drive into what actually happened on my Holiday in Spain!

I had booked the flight this past summer for super cheap, expecting people here to jump at the chance to come along, but wound up being wrong.  They closest I got to finding someone was convincing two people from my class to go on Friday and stay till Saturday, so I could spend the day with them.  I didnt sleep friday night, and went to St. Pancras train station at 330AM to get on the shuttle train to the airport.  The airport was surprisingly crowded for 5AM when I got there, and none of the flights were budging until the very thick fog lifted.  My plane was 45 min late, but everything went smooth since I had only my backpack.  The shuttle train into Barcelona from the airport was just as easy as I remember it, and I walked the short distance to my Hostel. 

I booked this Hostel on a hotel website, so it was a little bit more expensive, but wound up being DEFINITELY worth it.  It was right at the top of Las Rambles (the main tourist and certainly the center street of the old Roman city) and only a 5 MINUTE walk to Dunkin Donuts (which, over the course of 3 days, I spent about 27 USD at).  The Hostel was super clean, and actually was run by two sisters who were from Chicago.  They were very friendly, and the entire group of people staying the night I was there were great (more about the later).  I checked in, and quickly went down Las Rambles to meet up with the two friends who had been their for a day already. 

We found each other easily, and all sat down to enjoy a round of Tapas right on Las Rambles, with street performers, honking European cars, and about 2.7 million tourists.  It was delicious, I even enjoyed the calamari (hard to avoid fish in Barcelona).  After lunch, we went down to the bustling pier, and looked out over tons of Sail boats parked in the harbor.  It was SUNNY and 75 degrees, which was appreciated since rain was forecasted.  The two friends had to leave around dinner time, which left me free to do as I pleased, which usually means do as the authors of my Lonely Planet Guidebooks please.  I did a two hour long trek across the citys modern part to see various forms of “Modernista” architecture.  Most of it was not much to write home about, but some were very bizarre and interesting.  One building shaped like a soft serve ice cream (people live in these), one shaped like the sea with sea weed and coral formations, one shaped like a dragons back.  Modernist designers used custom poured concrete and lots of tile to create what some would call ugly, some would call HUGE RVENUE GENERATORING buildings around the new part of Barcelona which was built during the 1800s.  The most famous Modernista designer is Guadi, and his most famous work is one that he never saw completed: The Sagrada Familia Church.  He died (he drunkely walked in front of a tram, and then laid in the road for two days before being taken to a hospital where he declared he wished to die with the poor people of Barcelona) before seeing it carried out.  Then civil war broke out in 1936, and all of his models and drawings were destroyed.  However, Gaudi is burried in the church, so in the 1982s after Ferdinando Franco died and Spain began to modernize and liberalize, people checked out his tomb and found scrolls of blueprints to the church.  Today, work is being done to build what Gaudi started, and there is significant progress being made.  However, many of the local doubt that the thing will ever be completed! 

At night, I walked down to “La Barceloneta” which is a rejuvinated part of Barecelona right on the water.  There are lots of restaurants and hotels there now, and at night there was a fair going on with rides and everything.  I ordered a Paella to go, but it would up being sea food Paella (fried rice with spices) so I had some picking around to do.  Also, I have no idea what the word for “spoon” is in either Spainish or Canylonian (Barcellonas sepratist dialect of spainish) so I had to eat the whole stupid thing with a Gelato spoon which is basically a plastic tongue depressor.  Wah wahhh.  Afterwards, another stop at DD to get a coffee and I went to sit in the Place Revial which is where Barcellona is most alive during the night, right off Las Rambles.  People watching, and DD.  I went back to my Hostel once I was too cold, but found everyone sitting in the lobby talkng rather than in bed!  I decided 2AM was no time to go to sleep, and joined in the conversation.  Lots of cool people, and everyone was heading out to a party at a friend’s apartment for  someones Bon Voyage party.  Why not, and it was cool!  Afterwards, we took the metro to another club to get out of the tourist-infested areas and actually be at a Spainish night club!!  I went home early with another Hostel guest, so I could wake up early the next day.

Sunday morning, I walked down to the center of the old city, to meet up with a Tourist Bike Tour I had seen advertised online before leaving for Barcellona.  It was called Fat Tire Bike Tours, and like most other things on this trip, I HIGHLY recommend going with them on Bike tours in cities around Europe (also in Paris, London, and Berlin).  There were about 12 of us in the group, with out tour guide Mark!  Mark was from Texas, and decided one day that his life with his girlfriend was too boring, so they moved to Barecellona.  Cool??  I guess, he was a very good guide!  I was the only American on the tour, there were older ladies from Denmark there (one of whom got lost, what????), also there was a woman from Latvia, a man from Germany, another from London, and two girls who were my age, from Australia!  Like many other times while alone in Europe, I felt very isolated, so I decided that I would narrow the population to just english-speakers!  Biking is not conducive to conversing however, so it wasnt until later on, when we would stop, that I could actually talk to people.  We did lots of the old city, and even before the tour started I didnt even need a coat it was so warm and sunny out.  We nearly took out a few Barcellonians walking back from sunday mass, which means many “LO SIENTOS” could be heard from out group along the way…although I dont think our appologies were taken too seriously.  We exited the old city, saw many of the modern buildings from Gaudi and his contemporaries, stopped at the big church and had many history lessons along the way.  We stopped at the last remaining bull-fighting areana in Barcellona.  Apparently, Bull-fighting has been outlawed in Barcellona, but you would never tell by the event schedule the Bull-fighting arena keeps.  Not everyone bull fighting-obsessed in Spain however, the entire white and blue tile facade of the areana was covered in dried red-paint balls from angry animal rights people! 

We continued down towards the sea, taking up a large portion of the road with our bikes, until we reached the modern Port-Olimpic.  Something that Barcellona never lets you forget is that the 1992 summer Olympics were held there…get over it.  Actually, in all fairness, the Olympics bid gave an otherwise decrepid and skeezy Spainish town, which barely made it out of Franco-era rule without being burned to the ground, an excuse to completely revitalize!  Port Olimpic is a great example of this redevelopment, with two skyscrapers built directly between two modern marinas, and two extremely attractive, but man made beaches.  Between the two buildings is a fountain which works at night with lights and music to put on a specticle.  From here, we saw towards the north along the coast, where the post-modern Bareclona is currently being built, with many skyscrapers, and “solar parks” which is part of the whole green movement to power Barcellona.  We biked toward the old city again after that, along the marinas and beaches on the “boardwalk”.  At the end of the last beach, we stopped and parked for lunch, where they were expecting 12 bikers with lounge chairs right out on the sand under umberellas!  We were comped for an entree and a liter of Sangria which is an American-turned-Spainish punch made with redwine and fruit.  Mostly red wine.  It was DELICIOUS, I had a Chicken Caesar Salad which is remarkable simply because they dont do that in London so much.  It was here, during lunch, that we finally all got to talked.  The woman from Lativa was really interesting, she was impressed I knew where Lativa is, and she was even more excited to talk to an American to practice her english…many too excited I felt like she never stopped talking.  The Australians were the most interesting, they took a semester off to travel together for 3 months through Europe and eventually America and Canada.  WOW did they have some stories!  We quickly finished the tour after lunch, and gave Mark a round of applause.  The two globe trotters and I agreed that we should meet up for diner that night, and at their suggestion I met them at 730 to join them for quite a night out on the town. 

Before I get there however, I did wind up doing something during the afternoon.  Since it was Sunday, most things were closed, so I decided to take my Lonely Planet and have it take me to the top of “Montjuic” which is just south on the coast of the center of the city.  It is a very high hill, where the Kingdom of Spain built a castle to protect the city from invaders.  During Franco era however, it became a center of fascism, and was extremely gross by the end of his rule.  This became the epicenter of the 1992 Olympics, the city poured millions into building the stadiums, and even a regulation swimming arena all on top of this monster hill.  Also, the largest art museum, and a former royal palace is located up there.  I was surprised to discover that the entire place was rigged with escalators, so I easily made it to the top, and walked around to see the various things, eventually winding up at a park on the very edge of the cliff closest to the city and sea.  Manyyy photos were to be had, even though I was alone. 

I walked down, and used the guide books suggested walking tours of the old city to explore the remaining sights I had yet to see, including Roman ruins, civil war sites, churches, etc etc.  I accidentally stumbled on a small street that made me fairly confident that an international travesty was about to occur, when I found a tiny little store.  I was almost about to start running, when I realized that three ancient women were making something that smelled like fried heaven.  I walked in, and recognized “chuerros”, or “xuerros” as they say in Canalonyan, which I would say are kind of like Spainish cookies, a little on the fried dough side.  They are dough, pressed in a long star-shaped tube, and looped into a circle, and they fried, and sprinkled with sugar.  I said chuerros, and she put about 2 pounds of them into  cone of paper…this concerned me both for my health and my lack of euros.  She said uno euro after sprinkling the sugar, and I said “oh wow, really???” handed her the coin before she realized what a horrible mistake she made.  I sat in the largest square of the old city, eating my chuerros, and drinking my Dunkin Donuts, people watching until it was time for dinner.  One other interesting story, the main church in old Barcellona, has been under “renovations” for about a decade now.  It is completely covered in scaffolding and mesh wth advertisements on it, but our tour guide told us that the church makes so much money off of the advertising that it cant afford to take the mesh down!  So it is a big debate about when the stupid thing will be back to normal, meanwhile millions of tourists stupidly take photos of the church…with the ads on it.  Hahaha.

Around 715, I wandered to the meeting point and waited.  To my surprise, they actually came, and we sat talking for a long time before discussing the game plan for the evening.  They had a flyer, advertising dinner and entertainment, all for 23 euros, so I green lighted that and we walked to the pub where it started.  The deal was we were to go to two different pubs to try many types of tapas and sangria, and around 1030PM were to go to a theater venue to watch a spainish music/dance show called Flaminco.  The whole experience was really nice, because the waitors explained to us each type of Tapa they brought to us, the history of tapas, and it was all-you-can-eat and drink!  Around 1015 our waitor and his spainish friend walked us back up Las Rambles to get inside the theater, where we sat talking.  We had very interesting conversations, comparing our different home lives, and our travels.  They live on the western side of Australia, worry about hitting Kangaroos at night in the dark, and have Christmas on the beach….crazy!   We sat waiting for the show to start, not knowing what to expect.  I have video and photos, but all I could describe it as in writing is sort of like Spainish-jazz.  They sang, played instruments, clapped, while a woman with tap shoes out provided a beat.  They would respond to each other, harmonize, speed up, slow down, crescendo, it was pretty wild.  It lasted for about 45 minutes, and they it turned into a night club with performers, so we decided to take off.  Dunkin donuts was closed by then, but we talked for a while outside, and then I decided to go back to my Hostel so I could get up early the next day. 

Last paragraph, promise.  I woke up at 6AM to check out of the hostel and take the metro “uptown” to the last remaining tourist location on the list: Parc Gruell.  In the 1800s, this was just a small hill on the outskirts of the modern town, where most of the building was happening.  A rich business man bought it, and gave it to Gaudi to build luxery homes on.  I am not sure what happened in between that request and whats there today, but I imagine it involved a lot of, something.  Anyways, basically after the developer rejected what Gaudi had done, the city bought the property and turned it into a Park.  Most of it is green trees and grass now, but Gaudi’s village, which looks pretty much like a scene from Hanzel and Grettle or Willy Wonka still remains.  I sat at the top of the hill, after climbing about a million steps, to watch the sun come up over the Mediterranean!  Many photos, again. 

Overall, things could NOT have gone better, and I am really happy how everything worked out.  Being back in London is weird again, but going to the grocery store and for a run today helped normalize things a little.  My class tomorrow morning is cancelled, which is awesome because I absoultely need to sleep in.  Thursday, Amanda arrives in London for the weekend, so I will be remaining here to host her and show her the sights.

Sorry this was so long, but hope you enjoy parts of it!  Cant wait to show you all the photos.

Being a good person again…WHAT?!

Yes, this weekend, I was caught being a good person again, and so soon after my brief soup kitchen stint.  I will explain more in a bit, first lets talk about Thursday and Friday briefly!

Last Thursday obviously was full of class time, learning about a large war that occured in South Africa a long time ago, called War of Blood River.  Basically, a bunch of Dutch “Afrikaner” circled their wagons, provoked an African tribe to attack, and then obliterated 3000 of them from inside their wagon circle while only 3 Dutchmen died.  Wow.  Than in the afternoon, my most interesting class of the semester, we learned about the American Revolution from a British perspective…anyone want to hear more about that?  Hahaha I didnt think so, it was basically a bullet pointed excuse list for reasons why the British lost the war.  Assuming only about half of them were legitimate, or ones that I could see being possible….we STILL trounced them.  (U_S_A, U_S_A!!) 

Thursday night was pretty fun, we had a guys night at the Rocket after class, and then afterwards all of us, girls too, went to Leicester Square to a few clubs.  It was nice, because most people I know were going somewhere the next day, Amsterdam and Dublin specifically, so I wasnt going to see them for all weekend.  I remained in London for this weekend, for several reasons.  First being that I was due to write a long paper about the reasons Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan hate the West and are thus international problems.  The other being that I had signed myself up to volunteer at London’s Fouth Maggie’s Night Hike!   

On friday during the day, I worked for hours while the sun was shining on my paper, which wound up turning out pretty good.  Around 530PM however, I went down to City Hall on the Thames, to begin my volunteering.  Maggie’s is a charity which opperates “Cancer Centers” around the UK to help patients who are experiencing the disease.  They have been running the Night Hike every September to act as an awareness and fundraising event.  Every participant had to donate at least 45 pounds ($85) to walk, but most people donated more through sponsorships.  The organization coordinates with “London Open House Weekend” which is an event that was also going on this weekend.  Many important buildings, old, governmental, private are not open to the public on a daily basis.  However, for one weekend a year, they open their doors so people can come inside and check out the architechture, the courtyards, the whatevers!  So, Maggie’s Night Hike was extended this year, to include 8 seperate open house stations AND City Hall.  Overall, the walk was 20 miles long to include all of these stops, some of them were really interesting to see.  Yes I just said 20 miles…and I want to be clear that while I was tired enough by 9AM the next morning to have just walked 20 miles, I did not actually WALK 20 miles.  However, 1500 people were crazy enough to do so, so you can tell how well coordinated and how much money Maggies took in over the course of 12 hours. 

I started off by grabbing my free teeshirt, and bowler hat, ( rejected the idea of taking a free reflective construction vest, simply cause I have blue eyes and that would be a bad combo), and met up with the other NYU kids who had volunteered to help.  I was assigned for the first half to be a navigator in one of three minivans that would be transporting food, supplies, and people to the 8 Open House stops along the route.  That part was fun, I got to see all 8 sights and parts of London from the van along the way.  I also got to meet lots of British people who were non-NYU volunteers.  The second half, I was chosen to work as a greeter for walkers coming back to City Hall in the morning.  The first two ladies came in around 330AM, having started at 10PM, which means they booked the 20 miles in about 5.5 hours!  WOW.  The people who came in after that all were hot, sweaty, grumpy, tired, and probably a little irritated about paying 45 pounds to be in that state.  However, my favorite part of my job was being able to inform them that in order to complete the walk, they had to walk up the 1km long spiral ramp inside City Hall to get to the 9th floor (top floor) where the banquet hall was the finish line.  They were all so pissed!  Hahaha.  However, I did enjoy telling them as well that there were free massages, coffees/teas, bean bag chairs, and “bacon butties” available for them once they were done.  I said this to them usually with a bite of bacon buttie in my mouth, or a cold coffee in my hand, so that made them even more disgruntled.  Allow me to explain in short what I learned a bacon buttie to be.  After varrying definitions from walkers throughout the night, I walked up to the 9th floor to find out.  Basically, a role with a large piece of fried bacon on it.  However, what makes it a “bacon buttie” and not a ham roll is that they put a thick slice of butter on it, which partially melts over the meat.  I thought that as long as I only eat ONE my ENTIRE life, it was to be counted only as a cultural experience.  I also thought of a Wendys triple cheeseburger that still remains on the menu back home, and felt better about my heart.  Hahahaha.  The second part of my shift involved a lot more interaction with British people, and I did watch the sunrise over Tower Bridge.  I went home around 9AM to take a short nap. 

Saturday during the day, I walked a very long distance to meet a friend at Tate Britain, a museum featuring British artists from the 13th century onwards.  I know what all of youre asking, were there any Whistler Paintings….actually I would bet up until just then, till I mentioned Whistler, that you were all drawing blanks on who the famous British artists are!  You would be right, there are none, and the whole museum was pointless.  At least it was FREE and the company was good.  After that, we walked back to Westminster and over the bridge to people watch at the London Eye.  Good day!  I stayed in that night, because I had felt sick all day after eating my bacon buttie.  HA

Sunday was not very interesting either, editing homework and preparing for the week.  I went for a long run, which took me to new parts of London.  I saw Spitalfields Market, which I will describe better soon when I go for a longer period of time.  It was a MESS but looked interesting overall, thousands of small carts and people with tarps, trying to sell you ANYTHING to make money.  Also, Brick Street which runs right through the mess, is supposed to be the best place to get Indian food. 

Today was another boring-ish day, I woke up to go grocery shopping, this week I cooked Indian Korma with rice for dinner.  Tonights Guest Lecturer was Clive Bloom, who is normally our professor who inroduces the Guest Lecturers.  He had some good insight into British Culture, but I dont think the NYU liberals reacted to well to his lecture, because he said a lot of things I wouldnt have expected a Lecturer to say! 

This week is looking un-interesting overall, so I will skip it, and write next Monday all about my trip to BARCELONA!!  Talk with you then!

I think Michelangelo had ADD…

OK so I have kept saying I would blog and then things kept coming up, so right now is the perfect chance to squeeze one in.  (Thats what she said). 

I will start on Saturday morning, when me and my two friends Anne and Mike went on a Guided Tour of Stonehenge and the Georgian city Bath.  It took about one hour on the bus from London to get to Stonehenge….let me tell you, we came over a rise on the highway, and then THERE it was, just like in photos.  However, I will also say this immediately, Stonehenge is like England’s Mona Lisa…you see it after hearing so much about it all your life, and then it is a HUGE disappointment.  It was smaller than I thought it would be, and had about 3 million tourists circling around it, but you are prohibited from going very close.  However, we did learn a lot since our tour included an audio guide about the rocks.  It was also possibly the best weather day we have had since being here, so with the sun shining, and temperatures high, it was good to walk around and look at the green grass and be out of the city of London. 

Next our tour took us to the Georgian City of Bath, which was formerly a Roman outpost right around the 1st century.  There are some of the best preserved Roman Bath houses located in Bath, because it houses one of Englands only naturally hot and continuously flowing hot spring!  It still runs today at around 98 degrees celcius, which is nearly boiling, but it cools off a lot once its in the cool air.  During the 18th century, it became a popular tourist attraction and so they built a Georgian bath house around the old Roman one so visitors could look down into the old pool.  Originally, the Romans used it as a place of relaxation and a location to do informal business.  It was considered sacred, so it had a full temple connected to it, but it also held chambers to get massages, and the giant communal bath had an arched roof over it, which seemed really impressive to me.  The town the grew up during the 18th century around the old Roman Baths is a real experience.  It is many times smaller than London, however it is a fully modern city with typical Georgian Buildings (neo-classical, white stone and collumns).  We had a great pub lunch where I ordered a British Steak and Ale Pie with chips…delicious!!  We also were told that we HAD to go to the oldest house in Bath, which since its erection has housed “Sally Lunn’s” which is a tea house that is famous for Sally’s unique “bun recipie”.  Let me tell you, this was another talked up experience, I mean as far as buns go, these were hands down the best, but how big of a feat is it to have “the worlds greatest buns”?  What made this one and half pounds expense worth it was all of the “bun jokes” that ensued about Sally Lunn.  Also in the town, they were having a “Pig Parade” similar to the Cow Parade in West Hartford.  The pigs have a historical purpose, however I forget exactly the connection to the town of Bath. 

Saturday night was my friend Seth’s birthday, he was turning 20, so we celebrated…at the end of the night we realized we hadnt baked him a cake, so we will definitely have to do that at a later date.

Sunday was another spectacular weather day, and while I slept in, I did manage to get out of the dorm around noon time.  I took some books down to St. James Park by Buckingham Palace to rent a lawn chair and sit in the sun all day long, studying.  I was alone, so it was very productive, and the location could not be beat.  Sunday night I intended to stay in and work on some things at the dorm, however this whole weekend was London’s “Mayor’s Thames River Festival”.  All weekend long, and all along the miles of the Thames’ banks, were loads of exhibits, food tents, games, entertainment, and fair stuff. I didnt make it down during the day times, but I heard from people it was quite crowded so maybe it was good that I didnt.  However, on Sunday night I went with a handful of friends down to the River to watch the Festival conclude with fireworks over London!  They were pretty decent, nothing forth of July worthy, and there was no music.  However, it was unique watching them with the buildings along the Thames as a background!

Monday was a productive day…grocery shopping and cooking for the week (This week is Green Thai Curry with Coconut Rice!), I went for a long run, and even did a bit of reading.  There was one thing that made this Monday interesting though…I worked during the morning at the American Church of London’s Soup Kitchen.  I signed up a while ago, but for about four hours Monday morning, I buttered slices of bread, boiled pasta, etc for about 30 homeless or poor people who came to the tent outside like it was their routine.  Many of them thanked me and the other volunteers, but it was also sort of the least anyone could do, so it was sad.  Something I will remember for a while.  Its sort of hard to tell who it homeless in London sometimes, everyone has bad teeth!  On Monday night, we has the second part of our Guest Lecture series, this time it was a black man who was born in Britain.  He talked at length, with many “ummm”s, about racial descrimination and politics revolving race in the UK.  It was not as good as the week befores class, because he was so opinionated and biased, I tended to dismiss in my head a lot of his key points.  However, I did appreciate that he did talk mostly about the UK, and did not make generalizations about America like the woman last week did. 

Tuesday was simply FULL of classes, with another Shakespeare play in the evening down at the Globe.  This weeks production was Timon of Athens…a play that was never performed during Shakespeares life, and it is even debatable if he wrote the whole thing.  It was a very bizarre play, and not at all similar to what we had been required to read for class.  In my opinion, full frontal nudity does not have its place in Shakespeares Globe…however there was a sign I had missed on the way in advising people that it would occur.  HAD I KNOWN!  And on that point, where was the female nudity?  It would have been an entirely different matter, but unfortunately the play only features about 3 women characters for only short scenes. 

After the play, it was my friend Mike’s 21st birthday, so a friend and I walked ALL the way up from the Globe, back to the Rocket pub where celebrations were occuring.  The night overall was calm, but possibly the best part was that outide the pub, on the picnic benches (most pubs have picnic tables outside), were a married Irish couple who were dropping their kid off at school in London.  I started talking with them, and got into a really interesting question, where I learned a lot about their persception of America, and of their own country.  It was exactly how study abroad is supposed to work, so a nice moment. 

Today, I woke up and went with a friend down to the British National Gallery Museum…which was kind of a huge disappointment.  Mostly classical art, but things that are that spectacular.  A few of the Van Goghs, Cezeans, and other very old/dark age stuff was neat, but overall not to interesting.  In the afternoon, I went for a long run down toward Hyde Park, came back, and wound up meeting some friends to go out for a walk around Nido  Its good to keep in touch with people during the week time, not just go out with them all on the weekends.   This weekend is going to be very crazy, I will write again soon I promise!

Too Much British Culture

Last post ended with my trip to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe on Tuesday night with my class.  I would like to build on that theme for this post, as I did in real life the past couple of days, by talking about all of the cultural and educating I have been experiencing over the past couple of days. 

London is a city FULL of things to see and do, architecture like I have never seen, museums rivaling the other greats in the world like Le Louvre and The Met (all FREE or reduced for students), and a nightly repetoire of events that gives New York a run for its money.  On Wednesday, I decided to wake up early and get a start at tackling all of these awesome things to do.  I started by taking a long and winding walk through London, in the general direction of Buckingham Palace.  I wandered through Covent Garden, lots of back roads, Soho, Leicester Square area (where lots of theaters and restaurants are, there is even a TKTS Box Office like in Times Sq.).  Leicester Square is the gateway to the theater district, and once through it, you have Chinatown to your right, and Picadilly Circus directly in front of you.  I wandered through that, and discovered lots of cool things.  Just past Picadilly, the streets become full of hotels and high-end shopping boutiques.  Because it RAINS so much in London, the poshest of stores a long time ago united to create “arcades”.  These arcades are long indoor hallways, lines with very expensive stores selling men’s suits, jewlery, and exclusive designer fashion!  They provide a pleasant shopping experience, with glass domes along the hall, and lights and wood trime store fronts.  I went into the Burlington Arcade, and discovered that it is where the mom in The Parent Trap’s Store was supposed to be!  Hahahaha

After that, I went south a few blocks and crossed the National Mall nearby to access St. James Park.  I was incorrect last time, once standing on the bridge that crosses St. Jame’s lake, in one direction is in fact Buckingham Palace while towards the other direction is a view of The Horse Parades, which is a large open square surrounded by government buildings like The Office of Budget, Finance, etc.  It is STILL impressive, because behind the square full of classical style buildings with Corinthian Pillars is the London Eye popping up. 

After that, I went to take the required picture of Buckingham Palace, but I will wait for the changing of the guard video footage till late in the semester.  Because of budget cutbacks and highly unlikely chances that anyone will ever attack the Palace, the changin of the guard has been reduced to everyother day.  Also, because of the large number of Canadian black bears that need to be shot every year to manufacture the special bearskin hats the guard wear is taking its toll on the Black bear population, the guard recently agreed to dollar-store brand hats instead- what good sports!  I went back up towards where I live, away from the river, up the road where all of the government buildings for the UK are located.  I saw 10 Downing Street, or I should say just Downing Street because it is all blockaded off and the house itself, about three houses down from the end of the block is being worked on so scaffolding blocks the view.  I passed the Queen’s House Guard, and saw some Red Coats sitting on their horses, posing for pictures.  Through Trafalgar Square, when it started to rain a little, I went down “the strand” road towards The Hilton Waldorf Hotel…home of the famous Waldorf Salad!  Walking up Kings Way towards the British Museum, because I had planned when leaving in the morning to eventually meet up for a guided “London Walks” tour of the British Museum.  This is the same company the gave us free tours of Soho, Bloomsbury, so I decided to actually pay for a tour, and get a little background knowledge on the many priceless articfacts in the GIANT British Museum. 

The British Museum was built over time, originally housed in a small mansion that was donated by one of its chartr members, as the collections expanded, they built around the old mansion and eventually demolished it.  Today, the Museum is a very modern affair, while the exterior looks patched together and very old (the front is Greek Looking, with pillars and dark stone stairs).  Inside, houses many, but of course not all of the items that the British Empire overtime allowed to be swept back to the mother country.  At one point in time, during Queen Victoria’s rein as monarch, the British Empire covered 1/5 of the world’s landmass, and more than one in four people in the world were British subjects or colonists, and this was after the Americans kicked the out of the 13 colonies!  I have heard this fact about 20 times since being here, the British are very proud of days gone by.  Anyhow, this was a very museumy museum, with art and items on display from all over the world.  There are three main featurs not to be missed, including the Rosetta Stone from Egypt, a large amount of the Parthenon (enough to make me wonder how what I saw in March is still standing), and Egyptian Mummies with their sarcophoguses (SP?).  All of these things, and much much more, were stolen and taken from countries the British used to have power over.  However, the museums charter is very clever, stating that once an item is inducted into the halls of the building, it may never leave again.  SO now, the Greeks are asking for there stuff back, which was given to the British by the Turks who used to rule over Greece in the 1800’s, and the Museum is pointing to their charter and saying, sorry, cant help you!  Hahahaa

The tour given by Molly, our London Walks guide, was very informative, although she seemed like she hated her job.  Afterwards, I did some explonring on my own since I wont have time to come back.  I think the most interesting thing by far was a temporary exhibit about modern medicine.  Someone took the time to track a modern man and woman’s lives, here in Britain, and literally track how many prescription and non prescription drugs they took over the course of their lifetimes.  The man took more, but there was a table with about 5 hundred million pills all lined up in a bar-graph like way to illustrate how much drugs the modern person consumes.  People were appauled!  So much so, that all the asthmatics had a panic attack and pulled out their inhalers!  Hahaha

As soon as I got home, I was TIRED after a whole day of lots of culture and tourist stuff.  My friend called me 5 times while I had been gone, so I called her back to see what was on fire.  She told me that she had arranged to get tickets to an author speak that evening at the local Bloomsbury Theater and that I should come.  I had never heard of the author before, but his name is David Sedaris and he has some bestsellers out in the US that British people love as well.  He was very interesting, and very funny as he read us some of his upcoming stories from his books.  My friend told me his stories are mostly satricial commentaries about experiences from his life…I think I might like to read some of his stuff now! 

Thursday was mostly classes, afterwards I went for a run to a park near our dorm that I had never been to before called Primrose Hill.  I was surprised to be suddenly running up a Hill in London, its been so long!  The view from the top is definitely something I wll be looking to see again however, and it was relatively close too. 

Today was another big tourist experience day!  First, I went to a museum called the Sir John Soane House, which reminded me a LOT of Beauport-Sleeper Mansion in Gloucester!  This man in the early 1800’s fused three townhouses together to create one big mess, basically.  He was an architect and he actually designed many of the buildings that London is famous for.  In his time, it was ok for someone to go to an exotic or historical place and pillage things they found on the ground.  So Sir Soane went to places like Athens, and the Roman Forum and literally picked us stuff they found on the ground (like ANCIENT artifacts, parst of buildings, pillars, tiles, cups, whatever) and brought it back home.  The walls are PACKED with Roman and Greek junk, and in his basement, he has one of the best preserved examples of an Egyptian Sarcophogus known to man, with hyrogliphics and everything!  I met a Professor while touring the house, who teaches at Columbia, but also works at Lincoln Center in New York as a Director of Visual Arts…what luck!  He told me lots of interesting things about all of the stuff this guy had in his house, so bizarre.  I kept thinking the entire time, I would never want to live with all of this stuff! 

After that, I went to an even cooler museum in town, called the Winston Churchill and Cabinet War Rooms Museum!  Grandpa, this is where I started to think about you!!  This is an independently run museum, meaning it recieves no money from the state, and it is actually produced by the History Channel in America.  During World War II, Hitler’s rise to power was quick, swift, and no-nonsense.  In 1940, he had conquered much of continential Europe, and began his campaign to take over he USSR and the UK.  To do this, he decided to bomb the UK’s heart and center of government, London.  For close to a year, the German airforce spent every night bombing parts of the UK, primarily London (which of course is where the seat of British power is located.)   This meant, that at the time, Churchill who was NOT elected Prime Minister in 1940 (succeeded an unpopular PM who resigned) was left to fend for himself.  He promoted himself to being in control of the war and troops, and used his Cabinet of officials to make decisions and strategies.  This group of people were in direct danger of German bombs, so they created an underground “war room” where during times of boming and raids, they could go without fear of being blown apart.  These rooms were used throughout the war, and were covered by a 1-2 meter thick layer of concrete that could withstand a direct hit form the Germans. 

The war rooms were VERY interesting, we were given audio sets to listen to as we passed the rooms where large decisions were pondered and made, Churchill’s sleeping quarters/kitchen/diningroom, also where LARGE maps of Europe and Asia were kept to keep track of death tolls, front line advances, and naval battles.  The museums of Cabinet War Rooms was only half of the most interesting museum I have ever been in however, the second half was a recently created Churchill Museum.  This was the most non-museum museum I have even been in!  It was full of pictures, audio clips of his speaches, and video footage of everything from his rise to power, Parliament speaches, to his funeral watched by 400 million people around the world in 1965.  After this most interactive and detailed museum experience, after seeing love letter he wrote to his wife and cigars he smoked on the morning of VE-Day, I feel as if I am a Churchill expert!!!  The War Rooms and Churchill Museum were defintely a highlight on this study abroad experience.

Afterwards, I walked from there along the river since it was such a nice day out (for London).  I walked across the Millenium Footbridge (by the way, this bridge was origianally call the Wibbly-Wobbly Bridge becuase when it opened in 2000 after millions of pounds spent on it, it waved around a LOT to the extent where people thought it would collapse into the Thames.  Today, that problem is fixed).  On the Northern side of the Thames is located St. Paul’s Cathedral!  Again, feed the birds, Mary Poppins and the whole bit.  I finally went INSIDE of the second largest unsupported dome in all of the world.  Inside, you are not allowed to take photos, but it was incredible.  Details, artwork, icons, and gold leaf ALL over.  You could put this up against St. Peters any day.  What makes this all the more remarkable, is that while Churchill and most of the rest of London’s population were hiding underground, and the Germans were dropping their bombs, this marvel was not destroyed! 

Tonight I am staying in, because tomorrow I am going with some friends to see Stonehenge and the ancient Romand City of Bath!  Talk with you soon!

No Fear Woody

Yes, here in England, they call Shakespeare Woody…not sure why!  There are lots of things here that I have been learning about.  Like did you know, that the Red Telephone Booths that London is famous for, we originally painted that color for a specific purpose?  “London Fog” was a phenomenon that was associated with the dirty factories, and the millions of homes that formerally burned coal to heat and operate.  Up until the 1950s, London Fog was so thick and dirty that it was often hard to see down streets all the way.  Also up until the 1950s, not every home in London had a telephone to make emergency phone calls with, especially after the War, so the town installed painted red booths, for people to make fire calls from.   The idea stuck, and has become something internationally recognized, but they are hard to upkeep, so they are being scaled back in number.  ALSO being scaled back, after the last Mayor of London, is the traditional British Red DoubleDecker Bus.  They are expensive, not fuel-efficient, and being replaced over time with regular and double length buses.  There are several other things I keep meaning to tell everyone…more to come in British lore later I guess since I cant remember!

So Saturday was an interesting day.  I woke up, geared and ready to go for a full day of tourist attractions, however my friends all wanted to hang out in their pajamas and be lazy, so we didnt wind up getting a move on till around 2PM.  We took the tube down to Tower of London.  It was 14 pounds however, and we suspect NYU is going to host a free event to this later on in the semester, so we just walked by it instead.  We stopped to get some good old American B&Js Ice Cream before walking to cross the Tower Bridge by foot.  It was pretty impressive, and the view inland and towards the sea were impressive!  On the bridge, we were accousted by four British girls, who were working on a school project with their friends.  They had to take photos with tourists at famous London tourist attractions, while wearing really ridiculous hats?  We posed with them, but threatened to sue if we found it on the internet.  Hahhaa. We went over to “Southwark”, or the south bank of the Thames, which is technically still London.  It was NOT a part of The City of London during Roman, Elizabethean, or Victorian times however.  Therefore, it was always pretty dodgy, scummy, and ‘the other side” of the Thames.   Today, it is trendy, and houses some of the premier cultural parts of London.  We stopped under the “Hays Galleria” which is a converted shipping bay from Emperial times.  On either side of what was once a harbour for ships, are massive warehouses that have been restored and filled with shops and restaurants.  Hays Harbour was once used exculsively for the East Indian Tea Company ships…the same ones that would travel to India, the Carribean, and Boston!  Today…Starbuck and Pizza Express,along with a really bizarre fountain, call it home, under a modern metal and glass dome roof.  We also ventured past the Tate Modern Gallery, which is the compliment to the older Tate Britain Gallery, both house the kind of art that the names describe.  Most London Museums are free, so we walked right into the Tate Modern, and out of the rain, to view some modern art.  The Tate Modern is actually a fairly new museum, we learned on both of our sightseeing tours that up until London’s Millenium Celebration, the building the Tate is now in, was an Industrial Revolution era power converging station.  The building is a MASSIVE dark brick box, with a HUGE square pillared chimney.  It rivals the size of most football stadiums, I dont know how big exactly, but walking inside of it was pretty impressive.  It is all carved, out, with the main hall as pretty much a hollow shell of what you see from the outside.  Inside has some Picassos, some Rembrants, etc etc, but nothing that I found particularly awwing.  We moved on from there to go back to NIDO for dinner time and to get ready for Saturday night. 

Sunday, I finally got to sleep in!!!  Everyone was having an OFF day on Sunday, with the rain and cold weather, we only went out to go to Sainsburys for groceries, and then came home to spend time working on Homework and catching up on thing at home.  A LOT of Facebook albums went up that day hahaha.

Monday was only a little more interesting.  I slept in again, but mostly this time because I went to bed late.  I decided to get all of my homework done this day so that I could spend Wednesday, Friday, and all weekend doign things because it looks like those days will be very good weather-wise.  I read for my classes, and then around 3 began cooking for the week.  INDIAN FOOD, specifically Chicken/Vegetable Curry was what I made.  Too much actually, so I have a whole weeks worth of dinners now, and they are DELICIOUS severed with brown sticky rice.  Youre jealous, I feel it all the way across the pond.  After cooking, and smelling like Indian food, I went for a long run towards Buckingham Palace again, and then making the loop back to the river at Westminster.  I saw lots of cool things along the way that I will go back to explore, two of them stick out in my mind.  First, was the St James Park which runs along the National Mall going towards Buckingham.  I ventured through the huge black iron gates into the park, and immediately ran across a bridge that goes over a pond.  Over the pond, and I will definitely be back for photos, in one direction is the Old South Africa House, which is a huge marble building that faces Trafalgar Square, we see the back of it (and beyond, the top of the London Eye Ferris Wheel).  The other direction is a leafy and floral dominated runway along the sides of the pond that frames a large portion of Buckingham Palace.  These were once private gardens, for the Royals only, so pretty good stuff.  The other thing I will go back to see was the center of Coven Garden district.  Covent Garden used to be a large market and play section on the western outscirts of old City of London.  This was where the poor people lived and worked, and it was very shady at night.  TODAY, it is a huge market, made of one central building surrounded by many other impressive marble and stone buildings.  I noticed top end designers, cheap discount stores, and food shops all over…a real resemblence to Quincy Market in Boston.    I quickly ran past one other thing but I dont know if Ill go back…the building where Charles de Gualle set up the Free France National Headquarters during WWII, to act as the official French Government in Exhile while the nation was under seige.  COOL

Monday night was the first night of my fifth class, which is a required class for all students at NYU in London, the topic being current London affairs.  Every week, we will have (semi)high profile speakers come and talk with us about issues and events going on in UK affairs, and contrast the through Q&A to the USA.  Our first lecturer was an arabic woman, who works in UK Political News.  Her parents were born in India, during the occupation/colony.  They shipped both of her parents, they bring British people, to Uganda, to help build railroads in that part of the world.  When the Uganda revolution happened, they were deemed British and sent out of the country, so they moved to London where they would be accepted.  She discussed immigration issues and racial/gender/immigrant prejudices in the UK, and how they differ from the USA.  It was actually really interesting, we have 9 more classes like this until we leave! 

Today, Tuesday, was classes ALL day long.  The only interesting part of my day was a trip to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeares Globe Theater.  NYU paid, so I wont complain.  However, it is built just as they believe the original Globe was built, meaning that there are three tiers of wooden bench seating in a circle around 3/4 of the stage.  The center of the theater is a circle, where people STAND for the whole performance, but just like in Shakespeares time, when peasants used to view the show from there, the tickets for them are much cheaper.  One clear disadvantage to this theater, is the fact that the roof is not complete.  There is a WHOLE, where London rain (often) falls through onto the stage and the crowd.  I know they are trying to be authentic, but how about a glass plate over it so the place can be heated? 

More sometime soon!

2nd Day of Classes and Greenwich

Hey all! 

The past two days have been particularly interesting, but I guess every day has been so its all relative.  On Thursday, I woke up for my other two big classes on a weekly basis around 9AM to have breakfast and make my way over to the NYU Academic Center.  In the morning, my class is History of South Africa with Professor Denis Judd.  Prof. Judd as it turns out is a world-reknown historian on the subject, which is always intimidating because you know right off the bat there is no BSing the work!  He was very nice, but quite eccentric and a little bit slow in talking, so well see how that class goes, again however not too much work listed on the syllabus so thats good.  After a two hour mid-day break, I headed off to State and Society of Britain from 1780-1914.  This class is taught by another PhDed Professor, who was much younger and energetic…the entire 3 hour class was engaging and interactive, and I think this is going to be my best class ever at NYU.  There is a limited amount of work as well, but two presentations involved which is always-never fun.  We have field trips in both classes to places around London! 

After I finished up my day of classes, I headed outside to meet in front of NYU for a sponsored walk of SoHo District in London.  This district is boxed in by things like Oxford St, Oxford Circus, Picadilly Circus among other famous names.  A circus by the way is just a unique way of saying “square” that is particularly busy…often times the buildings on all four corners will be rounded so if you were looking from a birds eye level, the corners would all make a big circle.  The tour guide was very interesting and took us through the red light district of London, past many theaters in the West End, and showed us some local pubs and restaurants that tourists dont go into.  We walked home from Picadilly to Nido for the night.  The night was certainly not spent inside Nido however, as a large group of us started the evening in one of the communal kitchens having dinner, and then moving on to the local “Rocket Pub” to coincidently meet up with nearly 50 other NYUers for the night.  Pubs all close on weekdays around midnight in London, and usually 1AM on weekends.  It usually has been making for early nights. 

Today we needed to wake up EXTRA early here at Nido, as over 100 students grouped up in the lobby for a day trip to Greenwich!  To access Nido by the way, everyone has a plastic card with a radio chp in it, the is scanable like a Charlie Card.  You must scan in and out of Nido, so 100 hundred kids all leaving at once through 5 gates, leaving 4 seconds in between, took a LONG time.  It took even longer to go to Kings Cross, scan our Oyster Cards to get into the Tube and take two seperate trains to the Westminster docks on the Thames River.  We went through all of that trouble of course, because NYU booked us all a seat on a river cruise that would bring us from Parliament and Big Ben all the way east to the Bourough of Greenwich.  A crew member on the boat gave a lively tour of things we passed by on the way there, and let me tell you some of the amazing things we saw!  Of course all of the things Ive mentioned before, we saw again.  We passed new buildings like The Financial Times, where the print the newspaper.  Also, we pulled up right next to the Tower of London, where many people were beheaded and the Crown Jewels are currently kept.  We went directly under the Tower Bridge, which is a raiseable bridge, and the top beam-looking object everyone is familar with is actually a way to cross when the bridge is elevated for boats.  Today, the bridge is rarely raised, but in old times people could walk up one tower, cross over the elevated street flaps, and walk down the stairs in the opposite tower, as boats took their time going under….cool idea!  Gloucester should probably do this… ha  Anyways, after that we were sailing past new parts of London, or I should say greater London, that I have never seen before.  50 years ago, we were told the River Thames eastwards of London towards the North Sea was an Industrial river, full of WHARFs and docks to bring in item to Britain from around the world.  About 30 years ago they decided to elliminate the industry from the Thames and allow nature to completely rejuvinate itself.  Today, Londons drinking water comes from the Thames, it is that clean, however because it is a brakish river and is very tidal (rises and falls 26 feet twice a day), the water looks very dirty, but in fact it is just silty.  I guess that wasnt the case in Florence, cause there was no way the Arno is tidal.  Today the Thames is lined with businesses, offices, luxery hotels and condos, and of course river view restaurants and is in fact onf of the cleanest rivers in Europe.  One further interesting fact we learned, and why I put WHARF in all capitals…WHARF is a very old term that is actually an acrenym for Ware House At River Front and was first used in London!  We passed so many famous things, a few pubs that have been open since te 1500 and 1600s.  We saw a pub where Shakespeares company of actors drank after their shows….I thought of AC Petersons!  We also saw a pub that used to be called the “Devils Punch Bowl” , where many young men in the 1600s were literally knocked over the head and put on a boat headed for longterm sea voyages, AKA “recruited for the her Majesty’s Navy”.  This is also where guads captured the famous Captain Kidd and brought him up to another naval dock on the Thames, tied him to the wall, and let the tide come in and out twice, fully drowning him, before deeming him dead!  WOW thats brutal. 

We continued down the Thames, and saw yet another pub that Charles Dickens lived above for two years while writing Great Expectations.  Speaking of Dickens, we passed a small harbour/inlet that back in his day was surrounded by dirty horrible work houses and factories.  This is where it is said Dickens was inspired to write Oliver Twist, because many bands of pickpockets lived in abandoned buildings in this dank and musty dock area.  We also passed Londons bsuiness district, or Wall Street, which is called the Isle of Dogs.  This is where Europes tallest building resides!  We finally took a last turn and docked at Greenwich, and of course by this time all of the FOOLISH hung over people from the night before had either fallen asleep, turned green, or vomited over the side!  I tipped the commentator, he said he and the crew would take our tips and do more “pub research” for the next group! 

Greenwich is a royal Bourough of London because it has historical connections with the Crown.  It is where, up until 1998, the prestigous British Naval Academy was located, the large and impressive Queen’s House is located, and of course where Greenwich Mean Time originates from.  We joined a guided walking tour which took us into the Naval Academy, now “Greenwich Academy” for high schoolers.  We saw the impressive halls and achitecture of this building, which is situated right on the river.  There are actually two buildings, mirroring eachother with a large space between them.  This is because the Queen’s House was built before the Academy was, and further inland.  Essentially, they built the Academy on the Queen’s front lawn, and she said fine, as long as there is a giant hole between the two buildings for me to maintain my river view!  Now THAT is power.

We headed from there up to the “Royal Observatory” which used to house Britain’s astronomical labratories and telescopes.  However, they had to move these to British Islands off the coast of Africa due to the light pollution during the last century.  The Royal Observatory is still significant though, because it is where 0 degree longitude is measure from and maintains the Prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time for the ENTIRE world.  In fact, all of the Industrialized nations in the 1880’s conferenced on this topic, where should the center of the world be located in terms of time and distance?  They needed to agree upon this, because up until then, all of the world’s cities had their own Prime Meridians and ideas about time, so New York and London and Paris were never sychronized.  The convened, and all but ONE country decided upon Greenwich as the center of the world.  The one country to defect was FRANCE, who determined Paris as their Prime Meridian.  For a few year, they did alright alone, but eventually decided after several sea-related callamities and debocles to agree with the rest of the world.  Hahahaha.  We of course stood on the Prime Meridian, and took photos in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres! 

Afterwards, the tour took us into the town of Greenwich close by, and we had free time before catching a Light Rail Train back into London.  I visited the Queen’s House with my group, to see the inside, which was AMAZINGLY ornate and decorated with paintings of famous naval battles.  QUITE a day. 

For the rest of the afternoon, after getting back to Nido, I finally did laundry, purchased a laundry rack for drying clothes, and ate dinner after going Grocery shopping at a new Supermarket called Salisburys.  THIS is the store I will be going to from now, for its phenominal choices and very low prices.  It is a further walk however, but I know it will be worth it! 

Ill write another one of these Monday night, after a full weekend.  If there is a good weather day this Saturday or Sunday, I would like to take three of my closest friends here and go stand on the crosswalk on Abbey Road, posing as the Beatles!  Hope you are all doing well, and Happy belated Birthday Grandma, Happy EARLY Birthday Emily!

Mid week, start of classes

So this post will cover Monday-Wednesday of this first week of things really beginning.  First week of classes, volunteering starting, lots of new people and things.  I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester, so I have lots of time off on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Some of those off days will be spent traveling, but many of them are still blank on my calendar!  So I am going to try to fill them by doing homework, sightseeing, and doing some volunteering.  I am still trying to get an internship in government somewhere in town, but that seems less likely now. 

Monday, I slept in, but I have to say that I have not gotten ONE good nights sleep since being here, its very hot in my room and the matress is horrible.  Anyways, after having breakfast, I spent some time doing homework for my Shakespeare class on Tuesday.  Around 2, I left to go to the Academic Center to turn in a form listing which NYU-sponsored trips I want to attend.  Of the ones offered, I could only go on two, including a trip this Friday to Greenwich, and a Rugby Game later on in October, the weekend my friend Katie is visiting from Coppenhaegen.  After that, I went out to do a little sightseeing.  I walked down ALL of Oxford Street which is just FULL of shopping and eateries.  It was like nothing Ive ever seen before, perhaps a little like the shopping district in the Downtown Crossing area of Boston.  I must have walked for two miles, seeing stores and designers from all around the world!  Marks & Spencers and Selfridges & Co Department flagship stores are on Oxford Street and both are very posh, however some of the trendy and low-end stores also find themselves there.  British People are obsessed with American icons as well, so there was an H&M, GAP, Abercrombie, manyyyy Starbucks, and others.  While on the Bus Tour this weekend, we also so many USA telltales, London has a WHOLE FOODS supermarket. 

After walking down Oxford, I came to the bottom where Londons “Marble Arch” is located.  This interesting piece of architecture is odd, because it was commissioned by the Queen to be an entrance to Hyde Park, however the roads were never moved so now it has no purpose.  You can walk through it, but the roads still diverge around it?  Down another road bordering the famous Hyde Park to visit the “Animals in War” Monument (They had NO choice!), and a quick left to go into the rich “Mayfair” Borough.  This is where the American Counselate is located, and also London’s tribute to America in the form of Roosevelt Park in Grosevor Square.  There is an elaborate memorial to FDR, Eisenhower, and also a more recent memorial to British victims of September 11, 2001.  There were quite a few surprisingly!  I sat and read some Shakespeare on a concrete block with “1940″ written on it…there were three others with the other years FDR were elected.  Once it got too cold to be sitting, I walked all the way back north towards Nido, with a quick stop at the 221b Baker Street.  Why did I stop there?  I am not sure why, because a fictional character who exists only in books used to live there…Sherlock Holmes! There is a statue and the residence there is now a museum dedicated to the character, and I was laughed at by British people when I took a picture.  Also on the way home, I passed Kings Cross/St. Pancras train station, which is very close to Nido.  I stopped in to buy an Oyster Card, which is just like a Charlie Card for the transportation system here in London.  It works on buses (both Double Decker red ones and “bendy buses” which are the ones with two cars joined together), and the underground.  While I was there, I happened to find myself at Platform 9 and 3/4, where they have fixed a trolley cut in half to the wall, so it looks like Harry Potter is going off to school at Hogwarts!!  There was literally a LINE to have a photo with it, so I just took one with rrandom kids.  Quite a day.  Before dinner, I decided to go on a long run.  I try to take a new route everytime, and I wind up seeing SO many new and cool things everytime I go.  This time, I ran through Trafalgar Square, and into the UK’s version of a “National Mall” which basically is a very long road that brings you to the gates of Buckingham Palace!  What a cool experience!! 

Tuesday was officially the first day of school and I began at 10AM with Politics of the Near and Middle East.  The professor is a really great guy, has a British accent, and is actually a Middle-eastern expert here in the UK.  He has written, been on TV, in the news, and has advised the government on relations with the Palestine situation.  He has even devised some of the peace accords between Israel and Arab nations, which I guess really is something he should leave off his verbal resume…since most have failed right?  HA  Looks like its going to be a good class, and relativly easy.  After that, I had Shakespeare for the rest of the day with another Professor from New Zealand.  We will be attending many of Shakespeares plays around town, including three at Shakespeare’s Globe theater, and one at a playhouse in Stratford-Apon-Avon where “Woody” lived and wrote!  Hahaha  The class itself might be a tad boring though, I am not even a huge Shakespeare fan.  After that, came home for a run towards the City of London.  This is interesting…everyone says “London” but in actuality, “London” is the original Roman city located on the Thames.  It is very small, only about a square mile, and only about 70,000 people live in its boundaries.  Today it is primarily a business district with tall buildings, and it is where St. Paul’s Cathedral is.  Every road that enters the old city is “guarded” by dragons on either side of the road.  The rest of London is broken up into small bouroughs, like Islington, Mayfair, Southwark, Camden, etc.  Westminster is its own CITY, not just where Parliament meets, or where the Palace is.  I think the guide said that altogether there are 32 small bouroughs that make up “Greater London” which is inhabited by 8 million people and contains all of the stuff I have mentioned!  Who knew!  For dinner, I ate by myself, but then got invited downstairs to join a bunch of people, some I knew and some were new, for “Tacos and Mojitos” night…next Tuesday night is Italian night on the 8th floor communal kitchen!  I cant wait already! 

Today was no classes again, but I went down to NYU to find out more about volunteering in London.  There is a good chance I will get a 1-2 day per week job working for “Maggie’s Cancer Charity” coordinating events for the organization.  I also want to work in a local elementary school through a program called the Shine Project, but I am not sure if there will be enough space for me in the program.  I did some homework in the afternoon, but then went on a historical tour of Bloomsbury, the Bourough our school is in.  It has traditionally been the academic center of London, and is where the British museum and formally the British Library are located.  It is also where people like Charles Dickens, Sir Hans Sloane, and other academics lived in the past!  The people I was with and I decided to go afterwards to our local pub for some ENGLISH FOOD.  I had….wait for it…some BANGERS IN THE MOUTH.  I know in America, we call them Sausages in the mouth, but…wait actually we just call them sausages. Hahaha they came with some amazing mashed potatoes and we ordered chips as well (fries).  

Lots of things coming up, so stay tuned!  I will try to write another blog on friday or saturday, tomorrow I got to my first two history classes ever- History of South Africa and History of Brisith Society!  Wish me luck!