The Eye, A Duet for Two, and Adopted Monkeys

Ah, what a week so far! Alongside my normal class schedule, I went to the London Eye with friends last night at around 8 PM. I was curious as to what the city looked like at night, and since the trip was free because of our student passes, we figured there was no better time than the present. I took lots of pictures which I will upload this weekend, but suffice it to say that London's skyline actually give NYC's a run for its money. London has more water, so it looks so irredescent and glorious. The ride took about 30 minutes and the Eye is the third largest ferris wheel in the world, from what I've heard, so you can only imagine how high up we were!

Today, I saw my first play with my modern drama class. It was called "Duet for One" and it was a 2 person play starring , believe it or not, the annoying mother from "Bend it Like Beckham" and some other fellow I wasn't familiar with. The entire play took place in the man's office, and he is a psychiatrist who is having therapy sessions with Stephanie. Stephanie has multiple sclerosis and before the disease ravaged her body, she was a world famous violinist. The play touches on the hopelessness she feels and her need to find meaning in her life after losing the one thing she identified with. It was very touching and engaging, and made me cry a little. I was also extremely proud of myself for walking to the theatre and back without getting lost! It was a hefty walk, about 40 minutes, but it was in such a nice area and the nights in London are so clear and beautiful.

Also, this morning at breakfast, I couldn't help but notice the back of my 'Frosties' cereal bowl. Apparently, with only 3 proofs of purchase, you can go online and adopt a monkey from Africa!! You get a certificate of authenticity and weekly updates about how your monkey is doing. Needless to say, I'm taking advantage of that gem of an opportunity and bragging to all the Brits about how I have my own monkey reserve in Nigeria.

Friday, I'm going on a 10 AM day trip to Cambridge. The ride is supposed to take aboud 1 and 1/2 hours to 2 hours, so I'll definitely get a nice amount of reading for school done on the voyage there and back. Also, I have finally sent out postcards, so all the family and friends I've promised I'd write to should start checking their mailboxes in the near future!!

That's about all the updating I can do for now.. I need to get some shut-eye before my 10 AM class tomorrow. So long, mon amies!


British Word of the Day:
Rubbish bin: their term for trash can or garbage can. I.e., "For goodness' sake, Elizabeth, discard of your leftover crumpets in the rubbish bin and not on your trousers!"

It's Been a While, But...

...I return, with tons of pictures and stories!!

I haven't gotten a chance to blog because the internet in my NIDO dorm has been down for the past 4 days. What made this infuriating was that it wasn't the WHOLE room, but just my side of the room without the connection. Katie's internet was hunky dory the whole time. Maintenance had to come in and change the entire ethernet socket before I was able to get reconnected. Boo.
However, this week concludes my first week of classes. Monday, I was supposed to have a Contemporary Politics and British Culture seminar, but our first meeting was canceled.

However, I got to go to all my other classes and I'm very excited about each one of them. For my 19th century literature course, my professor is an elderly Scottish woman with a very charming accent. She reminds me very much of my dear Aunt Joan! She's wise, witty, funny and very personable. I can tell she's spent her whole life perfecting the art of literature interpretation. We had to read Persuasion by Jane Austen for her class, and I finished it in a day - it was a great one! My other literature class, Writing in London, is run by a younger British woman who is extremely enthuisiastic and knowledgable. She gave us two excerpts from British poems and literature to read for next week.

I'm also taking a sketching class called Seeing London's Architecture. My professor is a wiry German man who sometimes randomly stops talking in the middle of a sentence, looks up to the sky, squints, then brings up tangential information in these long-winded bursts that are very interesting to observe. I sometimes think he knows too much about architecture to be able to condense it all into teachable incriments. He took us for a walk around the campus and explained literally everything from the origin of the shutters on the windows to the kind of granite used in the doorframes. Then, we went to the British museum and had to sketch the collumns of this great arch and the intricate ceiling design. After doing that sketch for 45 minutes we went to the Egyptian exhibit and were allowed to pick one piece of art to sketch for the remainder of class. I chose this very large lion made of granite with intricate hieroglyphics on its torso. If I can figure out how to upload my sketchs, I'll try to, just to give everyone a good laugh. Aunt Joan, I could use your guidance!!

My last class was a Modern Drama in Performance class, where I get to go to the theatre every Wednesday night and analyze plays and drama. The first show we'll be seeing is at the Almeida Theatre, and it's called "Duet For One." Needless to say I'm crazy excited about seeing British drama! The only trouble is we all have to get to the theatre on our own, and sometimes it can be a hefty trip. I'll hopefully meet up with some of my classmates and let them guide me the first few times, since I've inherited my dad's directional skills (which we all know means they are nonexistant).

Yesterday, we all took a boat over to Greenwich and went on a tour of the village. At first the weather was pretty miserable, it was rainy and chilly and windy and very bitter!

Me and Katie, freezing in a cold burst of wind!

The weather started to ease up a bit though, as we took the tube to the boat and waited at the dock. Me, in front of the London Eye.

We finally boarded the boat and took the 45 minute ride over the Greenwich. Lauren, Renee, Anthony and I all sat at the same table while the boat trudged along.

Once we got to Greenwich, we went on a tour of the neighboring parks and landscapes. This was a shot of the Queen's observatory. Although it's hard to see in the picture, there's a giant red ball on the pole of one of the towers. Every day at exactly one o'clock, the ball cascades down the pole in a very New Year's-esque kind of way. We got to see it drop, and made sure all our watches were on track!

This is now a chapel where the School of Royal Music sometimes performs. We actually heard them as we walked by and it was very beautiful.

This was inside the Painted Gallery. Originally, it was built as a place where the Queen's sailors could eat lunch, but they refused because they thought it was too elaborate and beautiful. So now it is a church, and if you're rich enough, you can have your wedding reception here. (HINT to future contenders!!!)

This was a painting on the ceiling... so gorgeous.

Katie and me sitting at the long candelit table inside the gallery.

At lunchtime, we ate at this local bar & grill place with a student special for only 5 pounds. My chicken burger was shaped like a heart.... a secret message from the cook, maybe? :)

After lunch, we tooled around the park. At this point, the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful. Thus far, we've really lucked out with the weather.. it's only rained 3 times in a week, and not for very long.

Then, we went to the Great Observatory and saw the Prime Meridian! Here I am showcasing the official longitude and latitude.

Here we are, stradling two hemispheres! From top to bottom, Katie G, Renee, me, Katie K, Lauren and Anthony.
The view from the observatory was breath taking.

Voila!!!

My roomie and I on top of the big hill we climbed.

A nice shot of the park.

Ahhh... taking it all in!

An artsy fartsy picture Katie K took of me.

Renee, me and Lauren outside the Queen's House!

The spiraling staircase inside the Queen's house. It looked even better in person.

After the Queen's House, we checked out the National Maritime Museum.

The Katies and me outside a huge anchor in front of the museum.

This is dedicated to Aunt Joan! A pretty sailboat inside the museum.

A really lovely room of stained glass windows, floor to ceiling, inside the museum.

To get home, we had to walk through a huge foot tunnel to get back to the tube! Renee, me and Lauren felt like we were inside a giant worm.

After taking the tube back home, we all showered up and decided to check out this dance club called The Egg. They had free vans to bring people from our dorm to the club, so we all hopped into one and checked our coats and danced danced danced!! On the way to the club, we talked to a bunch of British fellows that were in our van and they were actually quite nice. They're all from right outside the City of London and they told us that they play soccer in Hyde park a lot, and invited us to kick around with them on Sunday. We all talked and hung out for the whole night, and I have to say that I'm very pleased to have finally made some authentic British friends!

So that is my life as of the last entry! Today, we're going to see if we can go back to the British Museum and look around some more. It should be a lot of fun, and as usual, the sun is out just in time. So long, dear friends!

British word of the day (courtesy of Tom from the Egg):

Curry - it is not only meant to describe the popular Indian cuisine, but a curry is also the term for an Electronics Store. Ex: "Since my mobile is being bloody uncooperative, I'll have to drop in at a curry and exchange it."

Finally.. Pictures!!

This weekend has been absolutely unforgettable. Yesterday, the girls and I got lost in London, walking from St. James to Soho to Kings Cross, without a plan, destination or itinerary. Soho is so quaint and lovely, it reminds me of Bleecker Street in Manhattan. We got a snack at a local cafe and bought some school supplies, then walked down to The Rocket to watch Liverpool play Hull City in soccer (or should I say football). Burgers were only 3.50 pounds during the game, so we ate there and watched Liverpool win 3-1. After that, we went to Smithy's pub to go to the NYU mixer. They had free finger food which i was happy to indulge in, and the DJ played some pretty good music so everybody danced around and mingled with the masses. Per Carla's advice, I tried a Snakebite and I actually started a serious trend of them.. by the end of the night everyone had red drinks in their hands.

Here's a whole slew of photos from the weekend:

That's a park right in Bloomsbury near the acadmic center.

The NYU in London stone!

The Rocket - where we watch all the football games.

London's version of Chinatown!

My roommate Katie and me in front of some lion statues in Chinatown.

Katie, Cait and me in front of a fountain in Soho

In one of the many phone booths (it really smelled in there!!)

A Byzantine art museum

Who's the real statue??

Doing yet another statue impersonation

London at night.. a more historic looking Times Square in my opinion

Katie Gaston, me, Cait and Srivani near Chinatown

We got caught in our first London downpour! Renee, Srivani, Katie G and me soaked to the bone!

Srivani, Katie G, me, Lauren and Renee dancing in the rain

Renee, me and Lauren (my neighbors in NIDO) dilly dallying in the streets

So those are all the photos from yesterday. Today, Katie K, Cait and I took a 2:30 bus tour from Kings Cross to Westminster Abbey and all around the city of London. It was amazing!! I took so many pictures, but here are my favorites:

St. Paul's Cathedral! So beautiful

The clock in the cathedral tower

Me in front of one of the many statues.

Tower Bridge!

This should be on a postcard!

The view from the harbor.

In front of some funny sculpture of a guy with a big shnoz.

The egg shaped building is called the Ghekin

A great view of the London Eye

The sun setting on the harbor

Big Ben!




Big Ben and the London eye.. I love this one.

Hanging out with my homie

Outside the gate to the Parliament Building

The Parliament building

So that just about does it for pictures at the moment! The tour guide was really funny and informative. He told us a lot about all the places we saw and some common misconceptions. I.e., everyone thinks Big Ben refers to the actual face of the clock, but it really was meant for the bells inside the tower. We also drove by the London Dungeon museum that I definitely want to go back to and check out. It's a whole museum about medieval torture. Apparently, one method was soaking someone's feet in water for a whole week, then, when their skin is soft enough, having the goats and sheeps come and use their rough tongues to lick all the skin off their bones. Barf!!!

I can't wait to walk around some more and see more places around here. Classes start on Tuesday (sigh) but I'll savor my last day of freedom tomorrow and get a lot of errands done. I need to go grocery shopping... eating out every day is not easy on the wallet.

Whelp, that's about all for now. Enjoy the visual aids and wish me luck on my pre-school excursions tomorrow!