I Love Kew

I woke up a little earlier than normal and wrote a tiny bit more for my Islam paper. Then I went to class. Our final class was just spent talking about a news article about Western views of Islam. That was about it. It was kind of anticlimactic. Oh well. We said goodbye to Hadi (I really liked him) and then left. It was a magnificent day out and I really wanted to go out and see one last new thing around London so I went to Kew Gardens. It is just a short Tube ride (20 minutes) west of London. I got off in the town of Richmond and then walked along the Thames to the Kew Gardens entrance.

Richmond takes its name from a palace that Henry VII built in 1500. There are a lot of houses from the 1700s and still retains a very village feel, kind of like Greenwich but different. I got out of the station and walked around the town a bit. I saw the Richmond Theatre which was built in 1899. I really liked the red brick (picture 1). It is right across the street from Richmond Green which is a big expanse of grass where people were hanging out and enjoying the sun. The town really owes itself to Henry VII. The part of the palace he built is now a bunch of homes so doesn't really look like a palace anymore. Elizabeth I died in that palace which is cool. I left Richmond and spent a large chunk of time walking east along the Thames. The path had the Thames on the left and a creek on the right with trees and stuff (creek picture 2). The creek reminded me a lot of Shingle Creek park where I used to run in high school (kind of by Park Center and Brookdale Park for those who know the area). It made me miss it. The river was at low tide which made it pretty much ugly but that's ok. It was still pleasant with the sunshine and loads of people walking, running, and biking by. I finally got to the village of Kew and walked by some of the houses on my way to the gardens. The houses had wonderful gardens and plants in their extremely tiny "front yards" (picture 3). They were still cute. I made it to Kew Gardens. It was 12 pounds to enter but worth every pence.

The Royal Botanical Gardens of Kew are the most complete public gardens in the world. They were started by Royalty but have since become public. There are 6 greenhouses (yes, 6). Therea re over 40,000 different kinds of plant on display (!!!!) and it is a center for research.

I am an ambition person sometimes (that is an understatement) so I wanted to hit all the major sites which means walking around basically the entire complex. That's about three miles. I started my tour at the Secluded Gardens. There was a little grove with a stream and bridge. The flowers were very nice (I could say that about everywhere). My next stop was also my favorite place, the Princess of Wales Conservatory. It is a really cool looking building. It has different levels and is very angular. There are 10 climate temperate zones inside. Everything from heavy rainforest to arid desert is represented. Like I said, this was my favorite room. It seemed that everything was in bloom and the sheer variety of plants was astounding (picture 4). I saw a sign that said, "Don't throw your money in the pond, it's hard to get out. Throw it in the gift shop." I thought that was funny. There was a really big pond inside that had stingrays. You could down below water level and look in at them. They are very interesting creatures. Just tons of awesome flowers and plants in this place. I left the greenhouse and went out into the Rock Garden. This had rocks, obviously, and other plants (picture 5). I liked the set up a lot and it was cool walking around the stepped rock formations. I walked through the Grass Garden (pretty obvious what that was). It was on to the Bonsai House next. AMAZING. There were 10 Bonsai trees but they weren't the normal Bonsai trees. There was a maple Bonsai tree and a pine Bonsai tree (picture 6). They were awesome.

I walked up to the Temple of Aeolus next. It is set up on a hill in the Woodland Garden. The guy who originally designed the gardens liked having these little Greek Temples all over the place. A few are still there. I walked to the Palm House next. It is pretty obvious what this is as well. When the building was built in the Victorian Age, it was held as a perfect example of Victorian ingenuity and craftsmanship. It was stifling humid and hot inside. The palms were massive. They were hard to take pictures of though because there were so many leaves and they were so tall. I did get a picture of one of the sweet palm things (picture 7). I walked up some stairs and got a bird's eye view of the palms. The rainforest must be spectacular. I walked over to the House next door which was the Waterlily House. It was really small but had a pond in the middle of it where some HUGE waterlilies were growing. They bloom in late May/June though...

The flower garden outside the Palm House was awesome (I am going to run out of adjectives). There were SO MANY FLOWERS!! I don't know the name of a lot of them but they were all so pretty. The color combinations were great too. Pink, yellow, orange, green, red. I loved it. I walked on and past some trees and grass areas until I arrived at the Temperate House. This house had wood type and other plants arranged by where they come from. Every continent was represented (except Antarctica). I didn't like this one as much except one set of flowers (picture 8). I was getting tired so I sat down outside the house on the steps looking over the Cherry Walk. The Cherry Walk is a path with cherry trees along each side. I ate lunch here. Two men and a little boy were walking down the path (picture 9). The boy didn't want to keep walking so the two men left him there and kept walking. They never turned around and the boy got the idea and ran after them. Funny.

I walked over to the Pagoda next (picture 10). It is a five story pagoda designed by an Englishman. The English were kind of obsessed with Asia for a while (like at the Royal Pavilion at Brighton). It was cool but very strange to see. I walked by a Japanese Garden. This had a real rock garden where there is no grass but pebbles instead. It was interesting. The next part was along a woodland gland which had some flowers growing among trees. Very pretty. I got to Queen Charlotte's Cottage. This is where that Queen stayed when she visited. The house is located among a bunch of flowers and woodland scenery. I walked some more to the Bamboo Garden. I didn't know there were so many kinds of bamboo! I thought there was only like one kind of something. There are tons of them. I was nearing the end and walked through the Rhododendron Dell. Rhododendron bushes lived both sides of the path. The reds and whites and pinks and greens created an incredible atmosphere for the path (picture 11 is not a rhododendron but it was on the path and I liked it a lot). I stopped off for a little bit at the indoor kids playground, Creepers and Crawlers. Little kids running around all over the place. Reminded me of the Beacons field trips (the after school program I worked at last year). From there I walked by Kew Palace (picture 12). It is a big red building. Admission price and I was tired and not interested so no go. I sat down on a bench before I left and soaked up the sun. It felt glorious.

I left the gardens and took the bus back. I had to take a bus to Hammersmith and then change for the bus to my flat. It took longer than I thought it would but was ok. Lots of people getting on and off. It's amazing to me that after all the places I have walked and scene and explored in London there are still so many areas that I don't even really know exist. One could spend a lifetime getting to know this city.

I came back to the flat and ate dinner. I did the second and third days of Paris blogs and then was all blogged out and went to bed. I loved Kew Gardens and I picked a great day for it.

EastEnders

I went to bed late last night so when I woke up today, I pushed the snooze a couple times. I eventually clawed my way out of bed and went to Sociology for the last time. Justin decided to finally take us to the East End and have a walking tour. He had been talking about doing this all semester so I was glad that it finally happened. The name of this post is the famous British TV show about people who live in the East End. We took the Tube over to Whitechapel. We walked by a pub, The Blind Beggar, where one of the Kray Twins killed a guy (picture 1). I don't remember the whole story but it is a famous place in the mythology of the Kray Twins. It is still popular nowadays. Then we walked by some football (soccer) fields (picture 2). It turns out that there used to be houses there but when the Lufthansa bombed London, they focused on the East End. They did that because the docks were located there and the largest concentration of people lived there as well. So all the houses in this area were bombed and never rebuilt. They were turned into recreation areas instead. We walked by the boxing club that the Kray Twins went to all the time. We also passed by the house where they grew up. Our second to last stop was a pub where all the victims of Jack the Ripper frequented, The Ten Bells (picture 3). It is a fact that that pub was the last place the last victim was before she was killed. We ended our tour at Spitalfields Market. It was a fruit/vegetable market for over a hundred years but recently has gone under redevelopment into a commercial area. There are still some little flea market stands inside though. This was where we all said goodbye to Justin. He went and had coffee with some people from the class but I wanted to go back to my flat. Before I left, I got my picture taken with him (picture 4). Justin was awesome and really taught us a lot about British culture and what it means to be from London. He was a really good teacher.

Back at Metrogate, I ate my PBJ lunch and did a little research for my Islam paper. I decided to write about head scarves. My plan was to write about the origins of them, their current application in some countries and some controversies surrounding them (ban on them in French schools, lifting the ban on them in Turkish Universities). I didn't get too far though because I had Senior Sem to go to. In Senior Sem, Phil gave us a packet about readjusting when we come back home. It had a lot of good points in it. Then he gave us the final plan for storing our luggage. Anna and Nick (two of my classmates) gave presentations on the independent learning projects they did here. Anna's was about the perception of art, more specifically music and theatre. Nick did his on comparing different kinds of performance (ballet, theatre, opera). They did a good job and had nice interactive elements to their presentations. After that Phil gave us money for our expenses on our HostUK trips. Then we left.

I came back and then immediately left for the library. I had a bunch of books I needed to return because they were due. I only took two books back, both just overview books of Europe. I want to do a little more research before I leave. I completely that chore I came back and started working on the Islam paper more. I made dinner and that's where I am at right now. I still have a little bit to go on the paper but I wanted to take a break and get this post done. Hopefully I will be in bed by around midnight. I cannot wait until this paper is done.

Just a short information note. In the left column, I added the list of tags I have made on all my posts. So if you scroll through the list, you can click on a label and see all the posts connected to that label. It is an incredibly long list but I figured if anybody is bored they can look up things. It's also fun for me to scroll through the list and see all the interesting and cool places I have been to. Also, as you can see below, I updated the post from yesterday to include more details of my day so have a read if you like.

Adios!

Arts and Crafts

I went to bed really late last night because I just was not tired. So I was kind of tired all day. In Islam, we watched the second part of The Power of Nightmares. Again documenting how radical Islam and Neo-Conservatism are tied together. Then we talked about Muslims in the West today. I got my hair cut after class. I wanted to do it before I left traveling and today seemed like as good a day as any. It is ok job. I don't have any opinion either way. In Art History, we had an essay test where we had to write about 3 out of 9 different topics. I wrote about the Parthenon, Impressionism, and the Victorian Age. It was easy. Sad to see that class end though. After that I came back and cut and pasted a bunch for my Art History journal. For the journal, I typed up all my notes and then printed them and cut them out. I pasted them on some colored paper and then pasted them into the book. It took a long time to do all that. I still have to print and cut out the paintings. That's for tomorrow. Before dinner, I finished up the paper for Senior Sem. Other than that, just more homework, researching travel plans, and getting more excited about Paris. I leave in less than 24 hours. Woo! It is going to be so much fun. I am just super tired. I can barely keep my eyes open so sorry about the short entry. Just a pretty boring day. I will write a post before I leave tomorrow.

Bon Soir!

Relishing Time

Isn't it funny that relish means to savor or treasure but also means a concoction that one puts on a hot dog or bratwurst? I think it's weird but the whole English language is weird. Anyway, the reason I titled the post that way is because after class, I went to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square and tried to relish my time there because it is running out. It's crazy, I only have 17 days left until I depart for Turkey. Of those, 3 will be in Paris and at least 5 will be taken up with classes. That only leaves 10 days! I still have so many things I want to do and see here or revisit! Yikes! Anyway, onto my day.

I got up early and finished that review for Islam. I think it is OK. Not great but not bad, just OK. In class we talked about terrorism. What is it? What is Al Qaeda? Who is Osama Bin Laden? Plus a whole bunch more questions. Super uplifting and fun... Haha, not. It was good though because, as always, it seems I don't know much about anything and I really liked learning about it that stuff. The second half of the class, we watched the first part of a movie called The Power of Nightmares. It was made in 2004 and won a BAFTA (like an Oscar). In the part that we watched, the documentary discussed the rise of Neo-Conservatism in the US and the rise of Radical Islam. Without actually saying it, it was showing the similarities of the two events. Anyway, it was super interesting and painted a pretty scary picture of the Neo-Conservatives.

Then I ate lunch and went to Art History. We met in a classroom which stunk. I would have rather met at a gallery. We talked for like 10 minutes about the questions on the exam next week and reviewing the course. The other 30 minutes we were there were spent asking Linda questions about her family and stuff. She invited us all over to her house for tea on Sunday. Kind of random but I am definitely going.

After class, I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum because I needed to write about one more piece from there in my Art Journal. I wrote about the Cast Rooms. Back in the Victorian era, they made casts of a TON of different monuments and stuff in churches all over Europe. Like the David, Trajan's Column, the Basptistery doors, etc. These casts are now on display as a cheap way to "see" famous things. It is a very Victorian idea. Then I took a bus over to Trafalgar Square. I wanted to go to the National Gallery and buy a couple souvenirs which I did. I bought a print of Lake Keitele (probably my favorite painting), a clock with Monet's Houses of Parliament in the background, and a magnet with Van Gogh's Wheatfields with Cyprus. It was a very successful trip. I am ashamed to say that I think those are the first souvenirs from London that I have bought. Haha. Oh well, I got some now and I am really happy with them. Of course, my favorite souvenirs are going to be my pictures, this blog, and my memories. It's still nice to have other things. I sat out on the steps of Trafalgar and read "Band of Brothers" with the sun shining on me. I wanted to just soak up the atmosphere and the view down Whitehall of Big Ben and the fountains and everything. I am really going to miss this spot when I leave. Again, that's what I meant by relishing time. It's passed before you even know it.

I came back and made more noodles and sauce for dinner. I am currently working on a critique of The Merchant of Venice for tomorrow. I am a lot of homework coming up. Next week I have my Art History test and the journal is due. The week after (my final week, AHHH!), I have three big papers due and at least two tests. So, there you have it. Lots to do and little time. What else is new?

A Presto! (Italian for "see you soon")

New Thing 1, New Thing 2

So today was a day of learning more about two things that I thought I knew something about. In Islam class, I learned about liberal Islam and in Art History, I learned about Russian Impressionism. Both concepts were new to me which was fun. Plus the sun was shining. Basically, a great day.

So in Islam vs. the West we discussed liberal Islam. (As a side note, my prof canceled class last week so I didn't miss anything by being in Spain which was nice.) Some of you might be thinking "liberal Islam. Isn't that an oxymoron?" Well, no, it's not. There are all different kinds of philosophies in Islam. There are fundamentalists, radicals, moderates, and of course, liberals. The liberal Muslims think that Islam has nothing to do that so many Fundamentalists do. Liberal Muslims also think that Islam is compatible to democracy. In connection with the idea of Liberal Muslims, we talked about the role of women in Islam. There are many issues to discuss like marriage, dress code, domestic violence and the right to work. Generalizing (a very bad thing to do), liberal Muslims have very Western ideas about all of those things where as Fundamentalists follow exactly what the with political or economic systems and should not force its beliefs on people. The best example of this is in Turkey. It is a secular country (the only majority Muslim, secular country in the world) and has been doing OK for the most part. There are many other aspects to Liberal Islam like how they are more open to Western ideas and how they reject the literal readings of the QuranQuran says. After seeing a slide show and taking notes for a while on that stuff, we watched a video. The video was about a guy who went to a bunch of different Islamic countries looking for liberal Islam. He visited Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, and Turkey. It was a really interesting movie. I liked the parts about Turkey simply because I am going to go there. Honestly, I had never even heard of liberal Islam before so it was a really eye-opening experience for me.

After Islam class, I came back and went on the computer and added a ton of pictures to Facebook. It took a while but I eventually got a bunch on. For lunch, I had tortilla chips with salsa (SO GOOD!!!) and an already prepared salad thing. Then I walked over to the Royal Academy of Art for Art History class (picture 1). For our class, we went into an exhibit called "From Russia". It is an exhibit featuring paintings from 4 different Russians museums. The paintings are by French and Russian artists from 1860-1925. That means more Impressionism. Yay! The exhibit almost didn't happen because some people claimed they owned the paintings and said they didn't want them being shown. That caused a ruckus and some talking back and forth of the two governments but eventually they came to a consensus and the paintings were shown. It is a really popular exhibit (sold out just about every day). This is the first time that these paintings have ever have shown in the different country and all together like this. Very special.

We met up outside the exhibit and Linda talked to us about "From Russia" and stuff. Then we got our tickets and were sent on our own way in. The exhibit is really about how the French Impressionists affected the painting styles of the Russians and how the Russians used that style but in their own way. As I said, all the paintings are in 4 different museums throughout Russia but just about, if not all, of the paintings are from two Russian collectors. One was named Morozov and the other was named Shchukin. They both loved Van Gogh and Monet and had extensive collections by them. They did have slightly different tastes though. Shchukin loved Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso. Morozov favored the Nabi artists and Fauvism. Both men had all their paintings in their houses but by 1905, both opened up their houses to painters and other artists to view the paintings and get inspiration.

I did have some paintings that I liked a lot. There were a ton of paintings by the way and it took me much longer than everyone else to get through because I read all the information and looked at each of the ones I liked carefully. I actually went through slowly, writing down the ones I especially liked, and then went back to the beginning and walked through again to make sure there weren't any other that jumped out at me (borrowed this technique from my mom). So the first painting that I especially liked was Cezanne's "Woman in Blue" (picture 2) which I don't really know anything about (no info card next to it) but I really liked how the woman's body language and face looked "blue" just like her dress and stuff. The next painting that I really, really liked was a painting by Derain called "Drying the Sails" (picture 3). It is a fauvist painting meaning that the colors are not realistic, the shapes are a little abstract and the brush strokes are quick and stuff. I just like how the blue and orange clash and make the painting really bright and stand out. When I walked into the room with this painting, it immediately jumped out at me. A painting by a Russian artist that has a very fauvist quality to it that I also really enjoyed was "Date Palm, Egypt" by Saryan (picture 4). I also liked a painting called "Kissing the Earth" by th Russian artist Roerich (picture 5). I don't know much about it other than it is a landscape painting so I almost automatically liked it. The "natural abstraction" of it really caught my eye. There were tons of other paintings that I really liked but the last one I will mention here (I don't want you all to get bored) is "Peasants Dancing" by Natalya Goncharova (picture 6). She painted in pretty abstract ways but always featured something about Russia. She drew landscapes, people, and still-lifes. This painting is of very Russian looking peasants dancing together.

After I got done with the exhibit, I walked over to another art gallery called White Cube (picture 7). Linda recommended it to us and it was right across the street so I figured I might as well check it out. Linda said it was "a hip and happening art gallery" or something. Inside, there is literally two white rooms. One room had probably 25 identical statues of an abstracted naked guy all over the walls, ceiling and floor (picture 8 but without the guy in the middle obviously). Can anybody say extremely weird? I wasn't really in the mood I suppose after seeing all the sweet paintings before. The other big white room had a bunch of metal pieces of varying sizes welded together to form a big metal caterpillar looking thing. It was more complicated than that but, again, I didn't really get it. Oh well, it was still cool.

I started to walk back to my flat but the sun was shining and I noticed in Green Park a bunch of deck chairs. I didn't sit in them but I did take a couple pictures which was cool (picture 9). The parks were really busy today with people walking and biking and roller blading because of the nice weather. I continued walking back to my flat and soaking up the sunshine. The reflection of the sun on the water, which I am always a sucker for (e.g. Crater Lake, Grand Teton, Lake Sag, etc.), in Hyde Park was so cool (picture 10). It was a perfect spring day. Back at the flat, I finished organizing my class schedule, ate dinner and lounged around like usual. I didn't do anymore Spain posts because I spent a lot of today putting up a ton of pictures on Facebook. Sorry, as I have said before, when I find time, I will do it. I guess that's all for now. I hope everyone had at least a little bit of fun today! I know I did.

Farewell!

Islam and Art Fun

A very interesting day today. I went to the Islamic Centre of England and the Courtauld Gallery.

I got up later than I meant to (my alarm just isn't waking me up anymore) so I ended up not taking a shower and eating breakfast instead. I decided to walk to the Islamic Centre (picture 1). It was about 3 miles and it took me 50 minutes because I walked super fast there. I left kind of late. We met up a Tube station and then walked together as a group over to the Centre. We had to remove our shoes and all the girls wore head scarves (literally their own scarves over their heads). We went upstairs to a conference room place and waited for the speaker to come. He arrived and while he introduced himself some people brought up coffee and pastries. So good! I don't the speaker's name or where he's from but he is a Shii Muslim (as is the centre but any muslim can come in and worship). It is not a mosque because mosque's are holy places and have different rights and such. People can still pray in the building though. He told us about Islam and some of his beliefs. He said that 9/11 was a conspiracy to turn the tide against the gaining power of Muslims. He also said that Saudi Arabia is one of the most opressive countries against women and other rights but is friends with America. There were some other mildly surprising responses. I wasn't offended really, I don't know why. He was definitely fluffing everything up and promoting all the good things about the Shii faith. I reminded myself of the fact that he was sugar-coating and promoting, not telling all sides of the story. I don't blame him for that though. It was just interesting to hear someone say that stuff.

He told us that he was in the US (Alabama) and ended up getting arrested, spending 3 months in jail, and then getting deported to the UK. Crazy story. I felt bad for him that that was his impression of the US. It's much better than that, I think. Anyway, we talked about a few other things but time was running short so we went down into the main room. There was a stage for conferences that they have in there. Since it's a Shii place, they have the names of twelve Immans lining the walls (picture 2). The room used to be a bingo hall, dance hall, and movie theater before its current incarnation. The wall behind the stage is very important because it is the only type of thing like that made out of wood, usually its out of tiles or something else 9picture 3). Very cool. We had our picture taken as well (picture 4). I learned a lot and it was an interesting experience and place to go.

I took the Tube back (I wanted to have time to eat lunch). I ate lunch and went to Art History. We met in the classroom (for the first time since the first class) because our prof wanted to show us two videos about the Impressionists. They featured pictures and told stories about them and the artists, just like our prof does in the galleries. These were more cohesive though because they could use art in different galleries. So we watched the videos and then made the journey to Courtauld Gallery which is in Somerset House (picture 5). Somerset House is a very classic building and was built in the 18th century I believe. The Somerset Gallery has a bunch of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings.

The reflection in the mirror is of a concert hall and The first paintings we saw were a bunch by Monet. The one I liked best was "Antibes" painted in 1888 (picture 6). Monet would spent the winters of 1884-88 on the French Mediteranean Coast. He went there to get different lighting and subjects. He described his work from there as "pure gentle sweetness:some whitess, some pink, some blue and al surrounded by the fairy like air". I loved this painting as well. Its just as Monet said, pure gentle sweetness. We looked at Manet's last great piece "A Bar at the Folies-Bergere" (picture 7). It is a bar maid who is looking very bored and sad with the mirror behind her.her helping a customer. So the mirror reflection is her "public life" and what we see is the "real her". I didn't like this one as much but it was still really good. We walked by a few Seurat pointilism paintings. I loved them still. They are just so vibrant and bright. They really stand out in a room. There were also some paintings by Cerzanne who worked with multiple viewpoints which lead to pretty weird looking paintings.

The main thing we looked and talked about was Van Gogh though (nice rhyme!). For those who don't know, he only lived for 37 years and only really painted for about 15 or something and painted 900 pieces. He only sold one while he lived though. He was from the Netherlands originally but his most famous paintings were done in Arles, France from 1887-90. He had huge mental problems. One of his friends came and stayed with him for a couple months. The friend decided to go out on night and the two got in a fight. Van Gogh went back to the house, cut off his lower ear and then went to bed. He almost died. After that, he was committed to a mental hospital for a while but eventually left, shortly after that he killed himself. He lived in relative poverty almost his whole life. He is famous now because of that story about his life and because his paintings are really cool. He did a self-portrait that was painted, obviously, soon after he cut off his ear (picture 8). We saw it today which was cool.

After Art History, I walked back to the flat and ate dinner. I had spaghetti noodles with a can of ratatouille mix. It was pretty good. Different than the pasta sauce I always have so that was nice. Then I did a little homework and now I'm here. Tomorrow is Senior Sem and then I don't know what I am going to do. Depends on the weather as usual. It was pretty chilly and windy today. No rain though!! Woo!!

Cheers!!

Impressions of Impressionism

My day started out like usual. That being hitting the snooze like 4 times and then showering and having toast. I went to Islam vs. the West. We talked about Fundamentalism in Islam today. It was interesting but a lot of intense notetaking going on. Holy crap. Next week we are going to a mosque which is going to be super sweet.

*Disclaimer: Lots of art talk below. You have been warned.*

Then I came back and had lunch and went to the National Gallery yet again for Art History. As you can tell by the title of this blog entry, we talked about Impressionism. First, we talked about what painting was like before Impressionism. People spent a ton of time copying and practicing techniques, then they made their own paintings which were sent into this competition called the Salon. In the Salon, rich people would find paintings they liked and ask the artist to paint for them. That's it. The impressionists were rebelling against this sort of thing. They were a co-op and all very young and self-funded in Paris. They painted modern life and made no qualms about it. Some critics thought their paintings were boring or whatever but the artists just wanted to paint what was going on right now, not what already happened like the Salon type painters did. A good example of this is the artist Manet (not Monet) was painting a model who was posing all weird so he said to her, "Is that how you look when you buy your radishes?!?!" I thought that was a funny quote and totally epitomizes what the Impressionists were about ideaologically.

The Impressionists did not just disagree with the subject matter of the Salon painters but also how they painted. They would sketch and then spend hours or days in a studio making it perfect. Impressionists wanted the painting to be done as fast as possible. They wanted to capture moments and the feelings associated with them. If you can't tell yet, I love Impressionism.

Some of the works we looked at included Manet, Monet, Sisley, Pissaro, Van Gogh, Caillebotte, Seurat (Post-Impressionist), and Degas. The more recognizable pieces we saw were "Sunflowers" and "Van Gogh's Chair" by Vincent Van Gogh and "The Water Lilly Pond" by Monet. If you look any of those up online, chance are that you saw them in an art class in high school or whatever. On a side note, "Van Gogh's Chair" is actually a self-portrait that Van Gogh did. Just like if I asked you, "If you could be any vegetable, which would you be?" Except that you would then draw the vegetable.

One of my absolute favorite paintings (maybe my favorite ever?) that I have seen in all the art galleries I have been to here in London is "Lake Keitele" by Akseli Gallen-Kallela (picture 1) which I don't think is actually Impressionistic because the artist is Finnish. The silver streaks on the lake represent where the boat of a mythical Norse hero paddled by. I just love the way the lake and mountains look. It's like a picture but better. Like I said, not really Impressionist but it looks just like it and who cares, it's a beautiful painting. One of my favorites that we saw today was "Houses of Parliament, Sunset" by Monet (picture 2). He went to London in 1870-1 because of the Franco-Prussian War. He painted a bunch of stuff while here. He said that he liked London a lot because of the fog (actually smog from the factories) and the way it made the sunsets and sunrises look. Another painting that I liked was "A Coastal Scene" by Theo Van Rysselberghe (picture 3). He used a technique called pointillism where you just make dots to create the painting. He actually copied the technique from Seurat. I thought this painting was peaceful and it reminds me of some of the places I have been in the US and here. "A Wheat Field with Cypresses" by Vincent Van Gogh (picture 4) was another painting that just blew me away. This is actually a field outside of a mental institute that Van Gogh stayed in for a year (he was a little unbalanced). It reminded me a lot of "Starry Night" but during the day. I love this one too. So bright and just happy looking if you ask me. Last painting I want to mention is Monet's "Water Lily Pond" again (picture 5). It's a Japanese bridge over a pond in his gardens. You can actually go to Monet's gardens in Giverny, France. They aren't too far from Paris. He spent a ton of his time painting scenes from his garden. I have heard that the gardens are spectacular.

There are probably 30 other pictures I could talk about and put on here but I don't want to bore anyone (I hope I haven't already). If anyone who reads this comes to London someday, seriously make time to go to the National Gallery and check out the Impressionists there. It is totally worth the time and they are more beautiful in person. Anyway, after that was over I walked back to the flat but on the way, I was still overcome by the Impressionists and stuff, so I stopped off in St. James's Park and took some pictures of the flowers (picture 6 and my shadow with flowers picture 7). There are SO MANY daffodils blooming right now. There were just tons of them. I took a whole bunch of pictures but deleted a lot of them. I couldn't get the effect I wanted to appear on the camera. There was an awesome sunset in Hyde Park while I was walking (picture 8). After getting back, I read for a while and went online for a while and made dinner and did my usual night routine but just sitting around. Tomorrow we are listening to the whole War Requiem which should be interesting. Till next time!

Bon Soir!

Victorian Paradise Now

Today was another day of classes so this is probably going be another kind of boring post for some people. Just giving you fair warning. I actually thought both of my classes were very interesting today, if that counts for anything.

In Islam vs. the West, we spent half the class learning about the Israeli/Arab conflict. Now there is a convoluted and complicated topic. Wow. I know I say this all the time about all of my classes, but man, I did not know one thing about Israel. We talked mostly about recent history (1900 to now). The circumstances of the founding of Israel are very tenuous and I can really see both sides. One of the things that really surprised me was how it is often portrayed that the Israelites are smaller and less powerful than the Arabs in the region and are sort of the David to the Arab's Goliath. It's really the opposite. After years and years of US aid, the Israelites are quite powerful militarily. Hearing about all the refugees and displaced people because of all the violence is very sad. It is a rather bleak future for the whole area still. Israel is blockading Gaza and there are still tons of suicide bombings and such. Really sad. The worst part is that there is so much history and tension, it seems hard to find a good solution. Neither side seems to budge at all. Anyway, that's what we talked about. The second half of the class was spent watching a movie made in 2005 called Paradise Now (movie poster picture 1). It's about two friends from the West Bank who are chosen to be suicide bombers in Israel and their struggle with it. I don't really want to say more about the plot because it was really well done and you should just watch it. It really made me think about what life is like for all the displaced Arabs. I am NOT saying suicide bombings are good and neither is the movie. Actually it basically says the opposite. Just rent it if you can and see for yourself. All the dialogue is in Arabic so hello subtitles. Like I said, very well done and just a good story.

I came back and had some lunch and headed off to the Tate Britain. That is not to be confused with the Tate Modern. There is a group of 4 museums in England all under Tate control. The other two are in Liverpool and St. Ives. Tate Britain is located east of Westminster on the Thames. It houses all the British pieces of art that the Tate controls (obviously). There is a huge range of years, from the beginning of British art to modern stuff that isn't in Tate Modern. We focused on Victorian era paintings for the second class period in a row. We looked at a few paintings that focused on the early Victorian age which had a huge fascination with the Middle Ages and with telling stories in the paintings that have a moral. An example of the "telling stories in the paintings that have a moral" was The Lament for Icarus (picture 2) by Henry Draper. In Greek mythology, Daedalus and his son Icarus lived on Crete. Daedalus made some wings out of wax and feathers. He let Icarus use them to try and get off the island but warned him to not fly too close to the sun. Of course Icarus does and the wings melt and he falls to Earth and dies. In the painting, Icarus's dead body is being lamented by sea nymphs. The classic tale of "always listen to your parents". An example of the "fascination with the Middle Ages" is Claudio and Isabella (picture 3) by William Holman Hunt. Its a story from Shakespeare. Claudio is condemned to death for adultery and his sister, a nun, tries to plead his case to the husband to save Claudio's life. He says he will only do it if she sleeps with him. She goes back to Claudio to tell him that. The painting is this moment and them discussing what should be done. Its a moral dilemma. Victorians like moral dilemmas and talking about them.

The other stuff we looked at about the Victorian era was the late Victorian era. These paintings usually had no people and were not detailed and had no moral stuff. They were art for art's sake. My favorite of these was Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea (picture 4) by James Abbott NcNeill Whistler. It's a painting of the Old Battersea Bridge at night. I just like how hazy everything is and how it seems like a fairytale sort of even though it was a kind of grungy area at the time. I just think its very pretty. Reminds me a lot of the Impressionists who were painting in France at the same time. We are going to the National Gallery, yet again, to talk about the Impressionists next week.

After Art History, I came back and hung out (i.e. reading stuff online and books, eating, napping for just a little bit, etc.). Not much to say about my evening. I do have a little bit of exciting news which is that the week after Easter, when my mom is going to be visiting, I won't have any classes. All my profs said it would be fine if I missed class (made up work after/before and such). So I have another about 10 days of no class to go travel with my mom. Sweet!! We don't where we are going yet. Just thought I would let people know and have them be jealous of me. Haha.

Happy Tuesday!

Me in the City

Well hi there! Today was a pretty interesting day for me. Lots of stuff going on. It started out this morning when I got up an hour earlier than normal so that I could study a little for the test/quiz we had in Islam vs. the West. He told what there was going to be 4 questions and we were to write 300 words each. Pretty easy. I got the test and the questions were exactly what I thought they would be so I was prepared. The test only took an hour. I came back and had lunch of fruit cocktail and noodles with butter and salt. I dinked around on the computer and then went to Art History.

We met at the Victoria and Albert Museum. We spent the class talking about the 1800s. We watched a short movie on the Great Exhibition, a big get together for all the countries to show their stuff off in Hyde Park in 1851. This was one of the first times in history where it was a public gallery so that everyone could see the art. Before, art was reserved for those who could buy it. We looked at a ceramic staircase which was really cool. There was an area for people to try on Victorian clothes which two people did, Mo and Tschida (picture 1). Very funny.

We got back from the museum and I did that Rome entry below. Only one more day left!! Yay! Next up was the play The Vertical Hour at a theater in Sloane Square (picture 2). I thought the play was ok. I don't know. It was about a woman and her boyfriend's father having a discussion (that lasted about 2 hours). Honestly, that's what about 85% of the play was. Interestingly enough, Kim Catrell from Sex in the City was there. After the play, I asked her to take a picture with me but she said she only signs stuff which she did for me. So cool!

Busy day tomorrow. Globe Theatre in the morning. Pirates of Penzance in the afternoon. Some TV show taping in the evening. The fun never stops!!

Adios!

Updates of All Kinds

There have been a bunch of updates on this here blog the past couple days. I have been working really hard trying to catch up with photos and the Scotland trip and stuff. Here's the list of posts with new photos:

Good News/Bad News
Me in the Cathedral
We All Follow Chelsea, On to Victory
Scotland: Ends (Saturday)

For those who missed it, below this post are the three posts about my trip to Scotland, I think that they are definitely worth a read. The trip was really awesome and I am so glad that I was able to go and that Vanessa came with.

If you're wondering why I didn't post about my day yesterday, I would kindly like to point out to you the length and breadth of the Scotland posts. I was pretty much blogged out by the end there. Also, Vanessa's camera ran out of battery at the end of Friday so the pictures now up on Saturday were from my disposables. Actually, all the pictures put up except the ones for Good News/Bad News were from disposables. You can tell by the poor quality of the pictures. At least I have pictures. I guess I am a glass-half full type of person.

On to my day yesterday. I woke up and got ready and was out the door at around 8:45. I thought it was curious that no one else was walking there and some people (like my roommates) were still showering but I didn't really ask anyone. Well, it turns out that class started at 9:30. Oops. I was a half hour early. Haha, you would think that by now I would have that down but apparently not. In Sociology in the City, we discussed the myth of Jack the Ripper and how it relates to the story in the East End. The murders were really gruesome and happened in 1888. No one knows who did it and there are still a ton of books written about it. I don't know, I wasn't that interested in the whole thing so I don't have that much else to say about it.

In Senior Sem we talked about some general program stuff. Phil gave me a copy of Wicked to read so that should be fun. We spent a lot of the class time talking about perception and how people react to a piece of art (whether that be music or art or whatever). We have our first theater visit on Wednesday night when we see The History Boys. That should be fun. We were given some worksheets to use to evaluate the play correctly and stuff. Then Phil said, "Art communicates" and played two pieces of music. We wrote down our reactions to the music and what we thought it was communicating. The class discussed our thoughts and that was that.

After class, I got back to the flat and saw I had a package. MY NEW CAMERA!!!! It was like Christmas, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Easter, Channukah, Rammadan, Kwanza, all rolled into one. I was SO happy. I ran around and found Vanessa and showed her. She wasn't as impressed but was still happy for me (she said she secretly hated the disposables, I openly hated them). So that was exciting. Then I worked on my blog entries for a loooong time. I ate dinner (shell noodles, sauce, garlic bread) and continued my work. I stopped and called some people on Skype which was sweet. Then I went to bed.

Today I was really tired when I woke up and slept in a little longer so I didn't shower before class for the first time since I got here which was fine. In Islam vs. the West. We discussed the fall of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century to the 19th century and why that happened. Then we shifted gears and discussed in small groups Bush's Legacy in the Middle East. We talked about homeland security, afganistan, iraq, and this idea of "change" with all the candidates now. It was interesting to talk. Our prof is insanely smart and I really like him. He doesn't use ANY notes and still delivers a well thought out and informative lecture and discussion. Awesome.

I didn't have any bread and didn't want to buy some since I leave tomorrow (!) so I stopped at Tesco (a small grocery store thing) and bought a cajun chicken wrap. Delicious. Then it was off to the National Gallery again for Art History. My prof talked about William Hogarth, an artist in the 18th century and widely regarded as the first real British artist. Most paintings that were bought in Britain before that were by Italians or French. Hogarth went to Parliament and complained of people copying his work so they passed the first Copyright Law. He painted 4 different series of paintings. One was about a harlot, another about a rake, etc. They were all kind of depressing and warned of being bad and that sort of thing. The gallery that our prof really wanted us to go to, Sir John Soane Gallery, doesn't allow groups so she told us to go in on our own time in the next week or two and see it. I didn't go today but I will go when I get back from Italy

Speaking of Italy, tomorrow I leave. We have the play The History Boys tomorrow night and when that is over, Vanessa and I are going to grab our already packed stuff from our flats and head off to the train and then to the airport. We are planning on trying to get a little sleep there before our plane takes off at 6:30 am for Venice. Very exciting. I will get all the necessary info (hostels, dates that I will be places, plane stuff, etc) up tomorrow before I leave. I am really excited and a little nervous (as always). I cannot wait to see all the amazing stuff in those three cities.

Tonight was spent updating all of those blog posts which means scanning in pictures and uploading them. I also read a litle bit from the next book in the Atilla series, Atilla: The Gathering of the Storm. Pretty good so far. I am about two thirds done. I guess that's all for now. Have fun everyone!

Toodles!

What a Difference a Day Made

Howdy all. Well yesterday was pretty ordinary, today, not so much (I think I should use, some more, commas). Haha, sorry. My writing is not perfect most of the time but I try. Moving on. Here's the big news: I am going to Edinburgh this weekend (Vanessa too). I thought about it yesterday and I looked up bus fares and they were reasonable (about £35 return). I didn't want to pull the trigger yesterday but I did today. I got a hostel reserved too. Here's the plan:

1. Get on the bus at 11 pm Wednesday.
   
2. Arrive in Edinburgh at around 8 am.
3. Spend all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Edinburgh. I will be staying at Castle Rock Hostel Thursday and Friday night.
   
4. Get on the bus at 10 pm Saturday.
5. Arrive back in London at around 7 am.
6. Head off to my cousin Sonya's at around 9 am.
   

You must be thinking, " He's crazy!?!?!" and you're right, I am. I wouldn't want it any other way. I am really excited about Scotland (I have heard good things) and I really want to see my cousin and her family so doing both things in one weekend is awesome. The even more crazy thing is that after Sunday, I have class Monday and Tuesday and then head to the airport Wednesday night to leave for Italy... Oh geez. One day at a time, one day at a time. Haha. On to the rest of my day.

Islam vs. the West was pretty interesting today. We talked about the Crusades. Its funny how the arm of history has swung from calling the Muslims as barbarians and the aggressors to calling the crusaders barbarians and aggressors. That's the contemporary thought, I'm sure it will swing back someday. The violence and destruction of crusades (there were 8 in total) is just appalling to me. Disgusting almost. At the same time, thinking about all the violence happening everywhere nowadays, one can legitimately ask, has much changed? We watched a video from one of the people from Monty Python about the first crusade. It had a little bit of humor in it and was very informative. I liked it.

*All pictures are from the Wallace Collection website*

So for Art History class we met up at the Wallace Collection. It's an art gallery across Hyde Park from where we live. It's in the house that the Wallace's used to live in. All the art in it was bought or created especially for Mr. Wallace (I don't know his first name, they lived in the Victorian Age though) and his son. His son died and his wife bequeathed it to the nation on one condition: that no art work be lent out to other museums. This was awesome because then all the art work was always there but that also means that other art galleries don't want to lend their work there. Sort of you scratch my back and I will scratch yours sort of thing. This means that the Wallace Collection never has big blockbuster exhibits but that's fine. The place has so much stuff in it, I don't where they would put the exhibit. There are a ton of paintings on each wall, loads of fine china, sculptures everywhere, even the furniture is original and you can't sit on it! The extravagance of the place is just nuts. Chandeliers that glitter with gold and glass, walls that look like velvet, windows with actual velvet drapes, all the opulence is almost overwhelming. Then people wonder why the Russian Revolution and French Revolution lashed out against the rich. Crazy.

Anyway, on to the art itself. We looked "Dance to the Music of Time" by Nicolas Poussin (picture 2). This painting has Father Time playing music while the 4 seasons dance in the middle. Reminding us that life is just a dance and we aren't here long so why wait by the sidelines? That's what I got out of it anyway. We also looked at "Perseus and Andromeda" by Titian. This was most likely a commissioned painting because it has a nude young woman prominently featured. The fact the Persues and the monster are in it seem to just be there to make the nude valid. We spent some time looking at Dutch painting from 1600-1700. Puritanism reigned free. Calvinism said no religious paintings so Dutch painters painted their lives: their homes, their churches, their landscapes. One example is "Interior of Antwerp Cathedral" by Peter Neeffs the Elder (picture 4). There are two whole rooms with landscape type paintings of Venice (picture 5). Canaletto did a lot of them. Back in the old days, there were not cameras so rich people had artists paint the tourist viewpoints and then brought the paintings back to show their friends. Makes sense to me. Lastly, we looked at Rococo work. That being very frilly, ornate and decorative stuff. This includes paintings, sculpture, architecture, even the frames. Most of paintings were of love scenes and had pink in them somehow. Like "The Swing" by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (picture 6).

From there Vanessa and I walked (we also walked to the Wallace, save us some moneys) to Victoria Coach Station to buy our tickets to Edinburgh. The website doesn't accept US credit or debit cards (so I heard from one of the workers) so we had to go there to buy our tickets. £35 return. Not bad. It should be interesting trying to sleep. I am a little anxious about that but I think it will be ok. Then I came back and read and watched tv. I had the other frozen pizza I bought because the one yesterday was so good. This one was chicken with roasted peppers and caramelized onion. Yum.

After that, I checked my e-mail and I had received an e-mail from HOSTUK. That's the people who set up the weekend-long stays in the English countryside. My hosts live in Oxfordshire. I am excited to talk to them and meet them. It says that they are a married couple in their 50s who are Singapore citizens which should be interesting. I will be doing that the weekend of March 7-9 so no Northern Spain but that's fine with me. I was just glad to hear back.

So, it was a big day of decisions and travel plans for me (Edinburgh and HOSTUK). Its crazy how boring yesterday was and how exciting today was. That's the way life goes though. Apples one day, cider the next (or something, I don't know how it goes). I hope everyone had a good Tuesday. I will write another post tomorrow before I go, have no fear.

Beannachd Leat! (Scottish for goodbye)