Free Books

Why would I title this entry "Free Books"? Well there are a couple reasons I did that which will be revealed shortly.

I had Senior Seminar again today. We spent about forty five minutes just doing trip business, handing out information, talking about registration and volunteering and other stuff. The next forty-five minutes we talked about where we are going Saturday. We are going to Salisbury Cathedral (more on that after we visit there), Stonehenge (I am super excited about that), and David Fanshawe. I think I mentioned this before but David Fanshawe is a composer of music who rocks. He has a CD he made where he combines guitar and percussion, choir, and recorded African music. It's called African Sanctus. If anyone reading this blog has a chance to just listen to a little bit of it, you should. It is phenomenal. It is so different from anything I have ever heard. Anyway, on Saturday, we are visiting his house and having dinner with him I guess. It should pretty sweet. So we talked about Saturday and then we listened to some of the CD, African Sanctus.

After Senior Seminar, I came back and had a quesadilla for lunch (yummmmm). I bought some hot salsa but I didn't think it was that hot, at least not compared to Greg's salsa. Then I got Vanessa to come with me and we did a little walking tour of North Kensington (northwest of where I live). The main points of the tour were A) get out and walk B) see more of our neighborhood C) get a library card and visit the library. So main point C was one of the reasons I titled this post free books. Anyway, Vanessa and I walked by the church that I go to every Sunday (all 2 of them so far), Our Lady of Victories (picture 1). Throughout the walk, we passed by houses occupied by semi-famous people. People like Lord Leighton (artist, his house is picture 2), Linley Sambourne (drew cartoons for Punch), and Kenneth Grahame (wrote The Wind in the Willows). They all lived in Kensington in Victorian times. They had really cool Victorian houses along the entire walk. Lord Leighton's is now an art museum which we did not go into, but I will someday. We walked by a restaurant owned by Bill Wyman (guitarist in Rolling Stones) called Sticky Fingers (picture 3). Holland Park is in Kensington and it has manicured gardens that must be spectacular in spring (its not spring so they aren't as good as seen in picture 4). Holland Park was part of the gardens of Holland House, a mansion that was around since 1600, but was later donated and became the main part of the park. The two of us stopped by a garden shop which has peacocks as residents (picture 5). Vanessa freaked out when saw the head of it pop up above the fence line. We eventually made our way to the Kensington Central Library and got our library cards. Same policy as the US, free books for 3 weeks, then renewals. I for got to mention that on our walking tour, we passed by one of the oldest letter boxes in London. The whole walk took about 3 hours, it was very pleasant.

Another reason I titled this entry, Free Books, is because I just finished reading a book I brought with me (for free) called Final Exam. I really liked the book (except for the ending, kind of anti-climactic if you ask me, I was expecting someone to get busted but oh well). It's a murder mystery set at Kenyon College where my uncle, Barry, is a professor. Since I left I have also read Hatchet and An Abundance of Katherines. Both were very good (AAoF being one of my favorite books I think I have ever read, I basically finished it on the plane). It's crazy, I don't think I have read this much in a verrrrry long time. Those three books, plus reading for my classes, plus reading about Britain and Europe for traveling purposes. That's a lot of reading. That's part of life though, changing and adapting. Most nights I spend watching TV and reading (as opposed to last semester where I spent most nights on the computer, playing video games, or watching tv). I'm not making any judgements on myself or what I am doing, I am simply stating the difference.

Well, that's all I have to say for now I guess. More tomorrow I presume. Adios!