Week Eight: Movies, Mazes, Westminster Abbey, and Walks

So this past week I was able to explore more around London, I watched classic Disney Halloween movies and I visited Blenheim Palace! Monday started off with classes, and my copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the illustrated version, arrived! It is huge! I did not think that it would be as big as it is, but it is neat and really pretty! I love the pictures in it, and just how the artist portrayed the scenes and characters!

On Tuesday we had classes as well, but after classes, we went as a group and saw Suffragette! It tells the story of the women in Britain who fought for their rights, and was a really good story. I loved the way it portrayed the events, and it made the Women’s Rights Movement more real for me! After the movie, I went with a friend to Holland Park. It is a tiny park, but very pretty! There were so many different colored leaves on the trees, and it was just fun and beautiful to see all the colors!

On Wednesday we had our day trip to Blenheim Palace. We made a stop on the way and visited Winston Churchill’s grave, and the church nearby. The grave had flowers on it, and the church had a commemorative stained glass window inside of it, to remember Churchill and his contributions. We then went to Blenheim, where Churchill was born. It is huge! The house itself is huge and contains a lot of history, and the gardens themselves are about 200 acres, I believe. We had a tour of the house which was really fascinating to listen to, and learned about the palace’s history and Churchill’s family history. There were also eyes on the ceiling, which was kind of creepy… And the house inside had a Churchill exhibit, and it was fun to read about his early years and how he proposed to his wife! Very cute! After we toured the house, a friend and I took a train to the Pleasure Gardens! There was a butterfly house and a maze! Such fun! The maze was actually pretty tricky, we had a hard time getting out at the end! But we made it out, after channeling our inner Mission: Impossible selves! Our next stops were the Cotswold’s, which are beautiful little villages in the countryside back from Blenheim to London. They were so beautiful. Very picturesque and a bit touristy, but they also had a lot of history, and it was fun to be able to explore a few of them on our way back!

Thursday I had class, then went on the first half of a walk. It was around the legal area of London, and I saw the hospital that Benedict Cumberbatch jumped off of in Sherlock! A lot of people wrote on the wall of the hospital under the spot where he was standing for the episode. It was pretty neat! I also went to the National Portrait Gallery with some friends, which was fun! That night, I Skyped home for my mom’s birthday! I enjoyed being able to see them and talk with them!

Friday we went to Westminster Abbey! It is huge. It’s very pretty, and while we were in there they had a morning prayer, which was a neat experience to participate in. What I enjoyed most was going to Poet’s Corner, where many famous British poets and authors are buried or have memorials. It was such an interesting experience to pay homage to these authors that I love or am beginning to love as I learn more about them and study more of their works. It was just neat, and I felt that I was able to connect more with these authors, and I felt more as I visited this area. Just neat! After the Abbey, I went on half a walk with some friends and explored more of the theatre area of London, and Covent Garden. It was fun to see everything! In the evening, a friend and I went and saw the London Eye and Big Ben all lit up! It was so beautiful, and I loved seeing it! When we got back, we walked into our room to find a few of our roommates doing makeovers, and we joined them. It was really fun! It was a great bonding experience, and we were up until late having fun with it all!

Saturday I went on my final walk for my London walks class. I love that I am done with them and that they helped me explore London! Afterwards, I went to the British Museum, and got to see The Rosetta Stone! Ah it was just really neat to see in person, and the different languages on it! We explored Egyptian, Greek, and European statues and history, and it was fun! After the museum, I was finally able to make some progress on an assignment, and then relaxed. It was a good week overall, and it was great to have some new experiences! I cannot believe that the program is over half over already! It is going by so fast!

Week Seven: Ooh la la, Paris!

Wow! This past week has been so crazy and filled with new adventures! On Monday, we went as a class to see Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure in the Globe Theatre. It’s a raunchy and risqué play to begin with, and the actors managed to fully bring out those aspects in their performance of the play. I was prepared for it, but at the same time I was nowhere near prepared for it. Luckily those parts were not too drawn out on stage! However, the play was really well done, and I enjoyed it! It was neat to see the play performed, and get a better sense of the characters and their roles in the performance. We were groundlings during the play as well, meaning we got to stand right in front of the stage the whole time, and get a more authentic play experience. A very neat experience, though I can say I prefer to sit during plays.

Tuesday we left at four in the morning to catch a bus that would take us to St. Pancras Station for our Eurostar train to Paris! Paris! We arrived in Paris around 9:30 in the morning, and went to our hotel to drop off our luggage. From there we took off running! I went with a friend by Metro (their Tube) to the Louvre, and once we managed to find our way out of the mall that we had exited into, we saw the pyramid outside the Louvre! So neat. From there we could see the Eiffel Tower, which we decided to walk to. Some advice: do not try walking to the Eiffel Tower from the Louvre, unless you plan to do a lot of walking… so it took us quite a bit of time to get to the Tower. Once there, it was so neat to see in person! I had dreamed of seeing it for ages, and it finally became real! It was narrower than I thought it would be, but still impressive! We then decided to climb the stairs of the Eiffel Tower, which was not the best idea. We got some neat views, but there were so many stairs! Afterwards, we went in search of food and found some crepes. Very yummy! We then went to Sacre Coeur, a cathedral on the top of a hill that overlooks the city. It was a neat building, and very pretty! There were also many stairs to get to it though, but we found a nice garden on the way! Once we found a metro stop, we headed to Luxembourg Gardens and explored those a bit, before finding one more metro to take us back to the hotel. It was a very fun filled but exhausting day!

On Wednesday, my friends and I headed for the Louvre first thing! We saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and so many other famous works of art. I loved it! It was such a neat experience, and there is so much art there! Afterwards, we went to Notre Dame, and climbed the towers to get a really neat view of the gargoyles, as well as the city! We were then able to tour inside the church. It is beautiful inside! It was interesting to see the church as well, with the differences between it and the churches here, so that was neat! After Notre Dame, we went to the Musée d'Orsay, which contains a lot of impressionist works of art. We saw works by Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Seurat, Degas, and Renoir, famous works that I had studied in my art history class last semester! Needless to say, I was freaking out the entire time! It was such a neat and different experience to see the works in person, to be able to study them and see the actual thing versus a picture of it. I loved it! After the museum, we went back towards the main area of town, the Champs-Élysées, and walked up it towards the Arc de Triomphe. We were able to see the lights turn on as we went, and climb to the top of the Arc! We could see the lights around Paris, and see the Eiffel Tower lit up! Incredible!! We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the way down, and then managed to get back to our hotel after some metro closures.

Thursday we went to the Musée de Rodin, and saw his statues and work, like the Thinker. Very neat and very lifelike! We then visited Napoleon’s Tomb. It is insanely huge and ornate, and there is essentially a giant building to hold mainly his tomb and a few memorials. It is crazy! We then went to the Musée de l'Orangerie, and saw more impressionist artwork. Afterwards we went to the Musee National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet, and saw Asian art from many centuries, which was actually really pretty. I enjoyed that museum more than I thought I would! Our last museum was the Musee de la Musique. I loved it! We learned about the history of instruments and their sounds. And they had saxophones made by Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone! I was so excited and it was so incredible! After the museums, we went and waited at the hotel until we left to go back to the station to take the train back to London. We got to see the Chunnel, and got back to London late that night. It was a long and busy few days in Paris, but it was a lot of fun to see the city! I have decided, though, that I prefer London. It is safer, cleaner, neater, and more organized. So while I enjoyed Paris, I almost felt a little disappointed that it did not necessarily live up to my expectations. But London certainly does!

Friday and Saturday were mainly spent recovering from Paris. I was able to sleep in, get homework finished, and just relax. I was also able to Skype my friend, which was extremely nice! And I went to a church cultural activity last night. It was fun to try the different foods and experience the different cultures! Overall my week was amazing, if not a little sleep deprived and exhausting. I had neat experiences that I will remember for a long time, and I am so grateful for this opportunity! 

Week Six: To Greenwich, Westminster, and Parks

Another week has gone by! So on Monday, we had our regular classes in the morning, and then we had the afternoon to relax and do homework. I was able to get some things done that I had wanted to get done for a while, so it was nice to not really have anything planned.

Tuesday we also had classes, and then the afternoon as well! In the evening we had the opportunity to go to a piano performance for a really good piano player. It was interesting to see her interpretation of the songs, and to see how much she got into the music. I enjoyed listening to the classical music, though I believe I prefer listening to bands perform, not just single players. After the concert, I watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey again with a friend. It was so good! I love that I can watch the current series here! It is so fun!

On Wednesday we had a day trip to Greenwich. We met at Westminster Pier as a group, and then took a tour boat down the Thames to Greenwich. The ride was really fun! We were able to see a lot of the sites around London that we have walked past, and we had a really fun tour guide who told us different stories about the areas around the river in an embellished history of the area. When we got to Greenwich, we were able to just explore on our own time. We started off by walking up the area of the Royal Naval College, which, incidentally, is where they filmed one of the fighting scenes in Thor 2! That was so fun to see, because I recognized it almost immediately! Then we went into the Chapel, which was really pretty, with a lot of maritime symbolism. From there we went to the painted dining hall, which was super neat and filled with murals. Afterwards we went into the maritime museum there. It was fun to explore, and we found a map of the world there! So we were able to play with that, and just explore. We went to a pub for lunch, where they had a cheap deal for pie and mash, only a pound and twenty five pence because it was their 125^th anniversary of being open. The food was only okay, but at least it was cheap! We then went up to the Royal Observatory, and stood on the Prime Meridian line, where Greenwich Mean Time starts! Because we could explore at our own pace, we could go back whenever we wanted, so afterwards we went back to the Centre and we were able to get more homework done as well as relax.

Thursday after classes I went with a friend and explored Kensington Palace. It is nice! They had it set up so that there were four areas to look at, divided by subject and you just followed the signs to the different tours. It was nice to have things grouped and to know what the subject of the area you were looking at was, instead of having multiple generations grouped in one room. In the evening I worked on more homework, and relaxed.

Friday we went as a group on a tour of the BBC! It was really neat! There was a giant TARDIS for the Dr. Who fans, and we could see the news room where they record the news, and different areas of the building. We learned about its history, and even had a few people be able to give a mock news report, weather report, and radio story. It was a fun excursion! That evening I played card games with some friends, and it was a good evening!

Saturday, I spent much of my day doing homework and getting some things taken care of, but in the afternoon I went on a walk for class. This walk took us along the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, and down along the Thames. It was neat to see how large both buildings actually are, and just how pretty they are. The flag was up, so Parliament is in session, which is fun and interesting to think about! And we got to play in a park along the riverside which was nice. After the walk we just hung out talking at the Centre, and it was a good evening. Today we went to church, and I taught the Primary kids, and it was a good day at church!

Overall, it was a good week, and productive for classes. I was also able to explore more of London, which was nice to do! There is just so much to see and do here! I am looking forward to this upcoming week, as we go to Paris!

Part of our group!