And we're off!

Thursday:
Thursday's dreadfully exciting morning started off wonderfully, with us getting to our tube station in time to hear that the line was canceled until a ways South of us. (Oh, and it was raining.) So, we had to trek up a hill to a bus stop, wait a long time for the 125 (which someone told us to take), only to get on that bus to find out that it would only take us up one more stop! Then we got on an 82 bus, which--thankfully--could get us near the tube station that was working, but--unfortunately--stopped at every street along the way! Argh! We arrived at the Centre very late to our Shakespeare class. We didn't miss all of it though, which was good. Our Shakespeare teacher, Jean, is hilarious. She is very theatrical with a straightforward, earthy sense of humor. I'm excited to have discussions in her class. On Monday we'll discuss our experience of A Midsummer Night's Dream (which I'll get to later!) and then start discussing the text of Othello (which I'm in the middle of reading right now).

After class, I went with a few girls to the Tate Modern, which is a museum with modern art that was built in an old power station. There were pieces from a lot of random, as well as famous, artists (for instance, we saw two Picasso's and a Dali). However, my absolute favorite exhibit was called Thirty Pieces of Silver by Cornelia Parker. oh. my. gosh. It is amazing. It isn't a painting. It's a little more like a sculpture…but it isn't. I can't really describe it here, but here is how she made it. First, she collected thousands of silver objects (cups, plates, candlesticks, a tuba, etc) from second-hand stores. Then she laid them all out in the street and arranged for a steamroller to run over them all. And what she did with all of them is hang them with some kind of wire from these grids (that are hung in the museum). But even though there are thousands of separate pieces they are arranged into thirty circles. So each of those circles is on it's own grid and is made up of smaller silver objects. They look like they're floating or on water or something. I was mesmerized by it and looking at the shadows they cast on the ground was fascinating, too. As I said, I can't really do it justice--nothing can except seeing it in person--but anyone who wants to get a better idea of it can just Google the title and artist. It's pretty amazing.

After that, we went back to the Centre. While I waited for the last class to finish, I just hung out, read, got online, and bought a notebook for class. Once everyone was done for the day, Anne and I went to the Art Store we had gone to on Tuesday (where I bought a different notebook for another class). I was very upset to find out that some stores (particularly small independents) will not accept American credit cards, because they don't have a chip in them with a pin or something (that Europe cards have). So, I'm going to have to pay with cash more than I thought, but oh well. :P Then we headed off to the West End and dinner. The most amazing thing happened on our journey. Okay, so in the tube stations there will often times be random musicians playing for money. So, on our travels that evening we came across one who was playing the saxophone. I love the saxophone. And not only was he playing the saxophone, but he was playing a Beatles song, too! It was the best thing ever! And then--as if that wasn't enough--when we got to the West End, there was another man playing guitar (I love listening to guitar, too!) and he was also playing a Beatles song! I was SO happy. It was wonderful. For dinner, Anne and I found this nice little rotisserie cafe. They had really good potatoes and served pretty big portions. (I'm not sure why everyone says we Americans are such a super-size culture, because--when it comes to food--it seems to be the same if not more so here...) After dinner we made our way to the Theatre!

We saw A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Novello performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Our first play!!! It was great. I really enjoyed it. It was an interesting, artsy interpretation, with some aspects that I appreciated more than others. I can't even begin to go into detail here, but I wrote down some interesting bits so I'll remember if anyone wants to talk about it with me later. I did really like Demetrius, Flute (Thisby), Hippolyta, Theseus, Titania... Suffice it to say I was very pleased with my first London theatre experience and I can't wait for the next one! We got out really late from the theatre and had to go all the way home on the tube (it's at least an hour trip I believe). I was SO tired. It was a very full day.


Friday:
This morning we were very sad to see it was snowing. But it didn't snow for long and we got to school without too much difficulty. (Although we were crammed on a tube at one point. I mean crammed. It was filled to capacity--or past capacity--and at some stops people wanted to get on, but couldn't.) Class was nice (we won't usually have it on Friday, but because of the cancellations earlier this week, we had to make up). I LOVE Martin (our Britain Today professor). He is a lovely, older (father-ish) English man (he looks very intellectual). And he has such a nice soft-spoken voice and he talks about history, architecture, politics, etc in such an interesting and conversational way. I love to listen to him. He lectured for about an hour or so and then we headed off to the British Museum! The British Museum is HUGE (of course) and we only glimpsed a small section of it (Rooms 50, 49, 41). But that's fine because it's really close to our school, so we can just stop by whenever we want (yay for London's free museums!!!) and take it a little bit at a time. I'm really excited for that.

After that (and lunch, which I packed), we were off to the Thames! (We walked and took a bus for a short ways.) We all took a boat along the Thames. There is such an amazing collection of architecture here. I saw the Globe! Yay! We got off at the Tower of London and spent the rest of our time there. However, by the time we got there, we only had about an hour to spend looking around, so we did not get to see even close to everything. (I did see a lot of crown jewels!) I definitely want to go back. It was AMAZING! So beautiful, impressive, and scary all at the same time! Basically, I went in the White Tower, the Waterloo Barracks (plus Jewel House, I think), and then we walked the wall from the Salt Tower to the Martin Tower (I believe). However, we didn't get to go in the Bloody Tower or the Wakefield Tower (i.e. the torture tower), which we really wanted to see. :( So, obviously, I really want to go back. I need more time to see the other towers and to just look around. The whole thing is amazing. It's surreal to be in it--it's like you are transported to another time. (London's like that in general, but especially there.)

After that, we were free to go off on our own. I went with Anne, Alice, and Bethany to meet a PLU friend of Anne's and Alice's (who I know, too), Stevie. She's already been in London for a semester and she took us to Sirena Cafe, where we ate Italian food. (I had a huge, tasty chicken caesar salad.) Then we went to a cafe for a while (Cafe 88, I think it was called). After that Bethany and I headed home, but--since we live in totally different areas--we split up at the tube station. I was very proud that I made it back all by myself and didn't get lost or confused at all. yay! It was fine--I read Othello on the tube. And when I got back Ros gave me some "cake," but it looked and tasted more like apple pie. It was quite yummy. I talked with her and Sarah a bit (about clothes, shopping, credit card theft, etc), before coming up here to write this loooong report. whew!