December 30th, 2007

Today, after our daily morning meeting we headed out to the British Museum (see picture to right). We took the tube and once we arrived we all agreed to split up and meet up again after three hours. Ok, I like museums but another 3 hours on my feet in a museum seemed a little daunting after being tired already from the museums yesterday. The museum was massive, so I had to be selective. Amy, Corby and I decided to start with the ancient Greek area and try to end up with the Egyptians. They had a great deal of remains all reassembled of the Parthenon which was amazing to see. But my favorite part was definetly the Rosetta Stone – it’s such an amazing piece of history! The mummies were also pretty cool/ creepy. 

After a quick bit to eat a few of us decided to check out Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park since it was Sunday. Now this really was an interesting site. Speaker’s Corner is where people go to stand on a box and literally just talk about anything. They speak they’re mind and draw in a crowd of people. The tradition dates back hundreds of years to Queen Victoria’s reign—she allowed the practice saying that the only thing people couldn’t do it talk badly about the monarchy. It was really cool to see (mostly) somewhat crazy people blathering on about nothing (mostly religion) and drawing in crowds. It was really quite awesome to witness. While one man was on his step ladder talking about how Jesus is our savor, another one on his box was talking about how Brittany Spears was never a virgin—apparently she came out of the womb a slut. 

After an hour listening to some interesting/ some utter crap we decided to explore Hyde Park a bit more, it’s massive! We found the Princess Diana memorial fountain build in 2004 by Queen Elizabeth. It was a really nice and interesting design. Then myself and two others really wanted to find the Peter Pan statue (see right). It took us a while, but we found it and I’m glad we did—it brought back good childhood memories. Hyde Park is such a nice area to wander in. All the ducks, geese and swans add to the atmosphere. 

This whole day all of us were dragging. Constantly on the go, and on our feet for three days was finally getting to us. We were wiped out so we headed home around 5. Then me and the girls (Corby, Amy, Meghan) went out to get pizza (we are trying to eat cheaply, but damn is that difficult here!). After picking up a few groceries and wine we headed home to watch a movie before bed. We get to sleep in tomorrow—we don’t have our morning meeting until 10!

December 29th, 2007

Today we got up early had our daily morning meeting and then left for another long day out. We walked to a museum that was only about 20 minutes. It was the Museum of Brands and Packaging. It cost three pounds (I won’t even go into how expensive it is to eat in this city, it’s insane!). We wandered through rooms upon rooms of packaging—some of it was quite interesting, but others were rather mundane. It was interesting to see the progression of certain brands and the changing in advertising during war times. The museum was in Notting Hill and since it’s a Saturday and nice weather we went to Portobello Market which was only down the street (which is what I believe Mom used to pass by all the time). 

The market was great (see above picture). It was fun to people watch, grab food, and shop. I resisted buying anything until we passed a candy stall. Matt and I bought a bag of Turkish delights (I craved them and he had always wanted to try them since reading about them in The Chronicles of Narnia) that were covered in powdered sugar. They were probably the best ones I have ever had. It was really cool to see all the street performers (see picture below) and hear all the different languages being spoken. I was really glad we had a chance to spend a few hours there (which was not scheduled but since the weather was nice we couldn’t resist. 

We then ran home for a quick break to charge some camera batteries and then we were off again, this time to the Tate Modern Art Museum. People who know me, know I really enjoy going to art museums so I was pretty excited. We took the tube as close as we could and them crossed over the Millennium Bridge (see picture below)—I know I have walked over it before but it was a really cool to do it again. There are some great views of the river Thames from up there. The Tate Modern was really good and had a great deal of exhibits. I loved the oil paintings, as per usual, and enjoyed quite a lot of the abstract exhibits. Two museums in one day can be really tiring! 

After the Tate, we all split up again and the people I was with decided to go for dinner in Covent Garden. After eating some pasta I went to the Lamb and Flag Pub (which apparently is the oldest pub in London) for a pint before we had to meet up with some other people. We ended up jumping around to three or so pubs that night. We were a little tipsy on the tube ride home that night. Then to bed to wake up bright and early!

To see the quick notes I jotted down during the Tate copy and paste this link in your browser

http://www.scribd.com/doc/962730/tate-modern-notes

December 28th, 2007

The jet lag has subsided for the most part, but I am still quite tired from not getting much sleep last night. Today we woke up early and went off to have an orientation at the Anglo American Education Center in Bloomsbury. A metropolitan police officer told us the ins and outs of safety in the city—pretty basic. Everyone got a big kick out of how English they thought he was. We wandered around and got some lunch before meeting up again to go on a bus tour. Lunch didn't take very long so a few of us did the typical tourist posing with the phone box (see picture). We did a half-day bus tour with a very enthusiastic tour guide named Abigail and her monkey puppet (see picture), and a retired bus driver from Scotland named Amend. We saw pretty much the entire city: Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Tower of London (where we got off the bus and walked around), Millennium Bridge, MI-6 (which was really cool—James Bond!), Shakespeare’s globe, Buckingham Palace (where we got out again—and I was pooped on by a pigeon), Trafalgar Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral (where we got out again), Parliament/ Big Ben/ Westminster Abby (where we got out), Prince Albert Memorial, etc. 

After our big/ long day out, it was Steve’s birthday. This is the one time we tried to all go out together. We went to Ye Ol’ Cheshire Cheese pub for dinner and a few pints. Apparently it is a pretty famous pub. It was fun, but difficult with so many people. I drank some bitter and cider -- cider is yummy. After the pub closed (which they do early around there) we wandered all over for another pub, but most were shut in that area. So we went back to the Notting Hill area and went to the Churchill Arms Pub. People really enjoyed talking politics, sports, advertising and culture with the locals. We had a few more pints (I drank London Pride) before all heading home in an absolute down pour. Then straight off to bed to get up early in the morning. I swear I was on my feet all damn day, but it was a really good day.

 

December 27th, 2007

We have finally landed in Heathrow! After a few people exchanged some money we hopped on a bus and rode to our flats. We live in Bayswater a few blocks from the both the Bayswater and Queensway tube stops. It’s a really nice area right across the street from Hyde Park. The flat itself if pretty nice as well. My flat consists of two bedroom (each one consists of a bunk bed and a single bed so there are three to a room), a bathroom and a living room with a little kitchen. It's a good amount of space and we all seem to get along pretty well.  

Today we went and got a weeks pass for oyster cards- which means unlimited tube and bus rides in downtown London. It was good to check out the tube station we will be going to everyday. We were really starting to feel the affects of the long journey and no sleep, but my roommates (Amy, Corby and Meghan—we tend to break off a lot by our selves or with a few other people, because its hard to navigate the city with 27 people and we all feel comfortable enough by ourselves in the city) and I still wanted to explore. So, after a few hours break we wandered down to Notting Hill (which is only about a 10 minute walk from our flat). 

It was a great area to wander around for a while. We searched for the blue door (out of the movie), but couldn’t find it. But we still took a picture by some random blue door anyway (see picture above). We hadn’t eaten since breakfast on the plane, so we found a pub and decided to eat there—the Prince Albert (see picture below). We all had a Groelsch and fish finger bap with lime mayo. After we got home that evening we tried to stay up as late as possible, which for me was about 8:30. I woke up later hoping it was about 6 am, unfortunately it was 1:30. I managed to fall back asleep until about 2:30 but then woke up again feeling very sick and I wasn’t able to get back to sleep until 5. It was a rough night.

December 26th, 2007

Well today is the first day of our excursion over the pond. Our flight was due to leave at 9:15 p.m., which it did, with a few hiccups along the way. After getting to O’Hare three hours early I met up with everyone and we proceeded to our gate. I had noticed previously that I was the only one with out an assigned seat. I later come to find out that United overbooked by 16 people and I just happened to be one of them (may I add, the only one in our group!). I started stressing but assumed it would turn out alright. Then a United lady came up to me and told me I wasn’t getting a seat so she was going to book me a hotel so I could get a flight the next morning. She was very short with me and made it seem as though it was my fault about the whole situation. Thusly I began crying, on my birthday. 

Luckily Steve (our professor) came to the rescue and after some convincing talking plus my tears, I ended up with a seat. The plane ride was rather uneventful; I did manage to get about an hour’s sleep though. The best part was flying in directly over London where I was able to see everything from the sky (London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, etc.)!