6/21
Thursday’s
class began with an elaborate lecture on the art’s in London. One of the things
I really have loved about London is the way that the arts are so embedded in
their culture. I have always appreciate art and performance, but I found a
newfound respect for it since I have been here. I find it really interesting
how public money greatly funds much of the arts through the National
Lottery. Of course, museums and
theatres still rely on benefactors and commercial ticket sales, but I think
that it is great that art is so much a part of the United Kingdom that public
tax money goes to it and it’s seemingly normal. After this discussion, Kristian
Gustafson came to speak to our class about security and its relation to the
Olympics. He works as a security advisor for the London 2012 Olympics, and has
an extensive resume of other important projects he’s been a part of. We walked
through the thought process, and questions the security team asks themselves
when given a task. It was really interesting seeing the intricacies of finding
the balance between making the public feel safe, but not freaking them out by
having policemen or safety officials everywhere. After our lecture and guest
speaker finished, we met with our professors to discuss our final paper.
In
the evening, Margot and I went to go see the production of Sweeney Todd! We
were lucky enough to have booked seats on a whim (although we had been talking
about it for a while) while were in class during the day. And were really excited
to finally get to go to the show! We took the bus from our flats over to the
West End, which is London’s version of Broadway. We picked up our tickets at
the box office (the lady working was nice enough to move us to more central
seats) and had some time to kill so we went to the Canadian bar just around the
corner. Margot (from Canada) had been there a few times already to watch
Stanley Cup games. It was a nice little pub, I tried out some Canadian beer
which was very light and crisp. A nice change to the ales on tap in the pubs
which are less chilled and sometimes darker. After getting our drinks there, we
walked back to the Adelphi Theatre and took our seats for the show. We were
about three rows from the top, but it was incredible nonetheless! Compared to
the show at the Globe, it was great actually being able to understand the
dialogue, songs, and plot..haha. Although Michael Ball played a great Sweeney
Todd, by far I thought Imelda Staunton shone the brightest on stage. She is the
actress who also played Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films, but
absolutely killed it in this role. The show was amazing overall, and I had the
songs stuck in my head for days afterward. I ended the night incredibly happy
to have finally gotten to one of my shows on my list of performances to see.
6/22
Friday
afternoon was a catch-up day for me. I spent the day working out, lifting, and
attempting to get going on my paper. One thing I am going to miss about London
is Café Nero, the coffeehouse chain around the city. They have great lattes
which have often been my savior for our longer days of classes, especially
following late evenings out. They have free wifi at their locations so I have
been going to the one by the flats to work. I was going to attempt to get to Buckingham Palace but I was
feeling lazy and it was nice to have a day to my disposal. We spent the evening
in, watching Rumor Has It and eating Perfect Chicken. It was an interesting movie to say the least, but it
definitely felt nice to rejuvenate and try and get some sleep before leaving
for our trip on Saturday!
6/23
Me,
Jessie, and Lauren arose around 6:00 AM on Saturday morning to begin our
adventure to Stonehenge and Bath. We took the bus to King’s Cross where we
caught the charter bus we would be traveling for during the day around 7:55 AM.
This was definitely our earliest morning yet, and even with staying in the
night before it was a struggle getting up then. The ride to Stongehege took
about two and a half hours, it took us a while to get out of the city of London
as we were the first stop in the morning and there were about four subsequent
other ones. Once we were on the road, our attempt to sleep was interjected
often by the tour guide’s louder-than-need-be voice over the loudspeaker
informing us about our trip. We were lucky enough to get the front seat on the
top of the bus, so we got a beautiful view driving into the countryside.
Stonehenge was just a speck on the rolling hills as we approached, flanked by
cattle and burial mounds. Once the bus driver maneuvered into a parking spot
(yes, maneuvered, people were literally taking pictures of him trying to get
into the space) we exited the bus. After a brief stop at the bathroom, we were hurriedly
encouraged to get moving by the now clearly pushy tour guide. The older woman
clearly wanted to get the show on the road, and had no disregard for our
bladders.
We
walked through the tunnel, under the main road and up toward Stonehenge. We
merged with the large line of people processed slowly around the main
attraction. Taking the site in on our own, we decided not to listen to much of
the audio tour as it was pretty in depth and I was still particularly tired at
that point. It was pretty much what I had expected but I’m glad I got to come
see the historic site. We spent our time there checking it out at all angles
that we could and snapping photos. It was unfortunate that we only had about 50
minutes there. Day trips like these sometimes stress me out as I feel like I’m
worrying about making it to the bus on time-especially with the guide we had
that day. It was great to see overall before moving on to Bath. We drove
another hour and a half through the western countryside before arriving into
Bath. I loved seeing the cottages that dotted the farmlands, and learning about
how the area we were driving through is used by the British Army for practice
shooting ranges and more. Quite the contrast.
Bath
was a nice little city whose architecture is very reminiscent of Italy. Though
it definitely wasn’t the same as being in Italy, it was nice to get out of
London and get a different taste of the United Kingdom. After corralling the
group, we walked toward the Roman Baths where we had tickets to a self-guided
tour throughout. The Roman Baths were used for purification, health
rejuvination, and sacrifice. The museum part was pretty much interspersed
throughout the site, leading up to main Bath area. Although we couldn’t
actually go in the water (which is polluted by rain water and seagull..you
know) it was still relaxing just spending the time there and taking in the
history of it all. After we wrapped up and threw a coin into one of the
remaining parts of the baths, we wandered around the city finding somewhere to
grab food. We ended up going to M&S and getting food to go and eating on
the steps of the Bath Abbey where we were meeting. Before leaving I grabbed hot
chocolate from the cute chocolate shop, where it was tempting to make
additional purchases. Eventually we headed back to central London, getting home
around 7:00 PM. Saturday night was a really fun night out at Zoo Bar with all
of the girls! It was nice to go out with all of them as it was our last
Saturday night together.
6/24
Sunday
was a relatively chill day again. Unless I’m completely forgetting what I did
during the day-it involved mainly doing work and working out. As Saturday was
fairly busy, it was nice to take another downtime day again. The highlight of
Sunday was going to go watch the England versus Italy quarterfinal Euro 2012
game. Jasper was nice enough to come with me to a pub down the road, Hoop and
Grapes, to watch the game and try and experience it in as much of an English
way as possible. We soon came to realize that the area we live in is much more
business rather than residential, which explained why the pub wasn’t as packed
as we had anticipated. Hoop & Grapes is a dim, long-established pub that
looks like it was built inside a condo. Carpeted stairs reach up three
levels-on the first is the main bar flanked by tables and a dining area, on the
second is a cozier dining area with normal tables, and on the third is a room
filled with couches and chairs to watch the game on the relatively large
television in the corner.
Jasper
and I explored the floors at first, though it would’ve been cool to watch it on
the third floor, it seemed like there was a group that had reserved it already
and was watching it in there. We settled down at a table by the bar on the
first floor which we had good view of two televisions. The tables next to us
were filled with what seemed to be an extended family. It was evident that well
into the first half that the men were the ones truly interested in the game, as
one of the wives kept asking when it was going to be over (didn’t help for her
case that it went into overtime, then penalty kicks). As we were watching the
game, we both ordered some traditional British food. I had a steak and ale pie
with chips and had a few pints of 4-4-2 ale (mainly because of the name J..soccer formation for
those who don’t know). It was fun to watch the game with an energized and
passionate crowd, even though it was on the smaller side. England was able to
hold off Italy and take them into overtime, and eventually penalty kicks. When
Italy made their final kick, the pub essentially went silent. You literally
felt the aura of the pub change from anticipation, excitement, and nervousness
to an audible emptiness. Despite England losing, it was still really fun to
have that authentic experience!
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