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I feel like I have been here before... That's because I have! I am writing this entry from the computer lab of Metrogate. No joke!

I woke up and finished packing this morning. I got my backpacks on (pretty much for the last time I guess) and walked to the train station. I took the train to the airport and checked in. I went to the gate and waited for them to announce the specific gate number. They announced and then I waited some more to board. I listened to music. We boarded and departed. The flight was only 50 minutes long. We barely got in the air and flying when it was time to descend back down. I had to wait in line for the passport check because a flight from the US just unloaded in front of me. Bummer. Oh well. I got checked and then grabbed my backpack and hopped on a train. I took the Tube to the storage place. I forgot about how much stuff I left in random plastic bags. It will be a squeeze to fit it all in tomorrow but I will get it done. I took the Tube again to my hostel, Hyde Park Inn. It is on the other side of the park from Metrogate. My mom stayed in a place right by it when she was here. My room is on the third floor. Ugh, too many stairs. Oh well. It seems ok and I am going to be there only one night so who really cares anyway?

I got settled and then started walking. I walked across the park and then over to Our Lady of Victories. It was good to be back there. I grabbed some lunch from Tesco and ate it in the courtyard thing by the library. I walked over to Metrogate where I am now. I don't think I will be able to write in the blog again until I get home.

I wish there was some succinct way for me to sum up all the experiences and fun and sights and sounds and just everything that has happened to me since I left back in January. That's not possible though. I know I don't need to do this but thank you to everyone who read this blog even once (but especially to the people who read it everyday). That means more to me than I could write and I will always cherish this blog and this trip. So yeah, I guess this is it. I might write again tomorrow when I get home. Only because I wrote in it just before I left so I think it would be good to write again when just after I get back. I will also be updating the posts, adding pictures, and stuff so feel free to check back if you want in the next week or so. Um, that's it. I can't wait to get home!

I thought of this song while I was writing this post. It's called "Home" by Micheal Buble. Here are the lyrics. (These lyrics coincide with how I feel.)

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky, I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
'Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

Last Time Again

I couldn't think of a better title than that because I am feeling a lot of the same feelings right now as I did almost four months ago when I was getting ready to go to London. The fear and anxiety combined with the excitement and happiness was in both. Also, what I wrote about doing things for the last time definitely applies to today. Like when I was showering this morning. "I am showering for the last time here." was a thought that went through my head. Or when I walked to Our Lady of Victories for the last time today. Or when...

I decided to go to mass one last time because I really liked the church and just because I felt like it. The woman who has always sat in the pew in front of me and to the left was there again. The priest talked soooo sssllloooww. I didn't really mind but it was noticeable. The mass was fine although I missed the singing. After the mass, that woman came up to me and said how nice it was to see me at mass all the time. I broke the bad news to her that it was my last time. She said that it might not be and that I should come back sometime. It turns out her name is Susan. Haha, I saw her basically every Sunday for 4 months and I did not know her name until today. That's the life goes sometimes. She said, "All joy and happiness to you," as we parted ways. I said "Likewise". I am so poetic sometimes. I walked over to Kensington Library (not the last time, I am going to have to go there before I come back to drop off a book). I dropped off a bunch of books and just looked to see if they had any books that I wanted to take with me (library picture 1). Nope. I left and walked over to Foundation House where my classes were held. I took a picture of the classroom where I had Sociology and Senior Sem (picture 2). Fancy, no? . I bought a couple snacks/breakfast for the plane ride tomorrow morning. I also bought some sunscreen (I'm optimistic about my travels being sunny) and a little bottle to hold some laundry detergent. I made lunch. My last PBJ here in London. Pretty depressing (who am I kidding? SWEET!)

I came back to the flat and packed. It didn't take that long because I knew what I wanted to bring and what I wanted to leave. I did the post about yesterday and then walked over to Safe Storage to put my bags in. That was a little bit of an adventure because I walked with the little roller suitcase and a bag full of stuff. The bag ripped and a lady walking by gave me a new one. I like people sometimes. I dropped my stuff off and then walked back. Since then, I have been looking up and booking a couple hostels. I am only booking ones that look really good and are what I want, I am still without a place to stay for most of the trip. I plan to find stuff as I go. I've got some travel books so I will be fine. I also looked up ferry schedules and checked to make sure they were all hunky doory. I made dinner. I had tortellini and sauce. Yum. I took some pictures of Metrogate so I can remember it. That includes the laundry "room" (it's smaller than a closet), my bedroom (picture 3), my bathroom, and the kitchen (picture 4). I don't care what anyone else says, I didn't mind it here at all. In fact, I kind of liked it. It was centrally located and it fit my needs just fine.

I forgot to mention that yesterday I talked to my boss at Champlin Public Works. He "interviewed" me. By that I mean, he asked when I wanted to start. Haha, so that's really, really good news. I have a job this summer. Yay!

I was out when Mo left so I didn't get to say goodbye. That's too bad. It's weird being one of the only people left. The computer lab has been empty all day.

I am about to go to lay down for a few hours. I might sleep, I might not, but I need to do it so I can be alert when I land in Istanbul in about 12 hours (woah). I will probably add a little bit more before I leave.

I didn't sleep at all. I ended up watching some tv. I will update as much and as often as I can on the blog so check back often! Love everyone and um, see you all soon!

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!

Paul, John, George, and Ringo

Today was a day of class, grocery shopping and the library like most Mondays are for me here. We continued our study of music in Sociology. We started where we left off last time, that being the Beatles. We listened to "I Saw Her Standing There". It was written by Paul McCartney and was a huge hit in the US. Starting here, the Beatles and their producer George Martin start to change their sound incredibly quickly. We moved forward 12 months to 1964 and the McCartney song "And I Love Her". The sound is much more confident and studio production is a lot more noticeable. The guitar sound is similar to Spanish guitar because the Beatles took a holiday in Barcelona and heard it there. It made me think of St. Nicholas Square in Granada at night. Lennon's writing was more abrasive, radical, and sad. McCartney's was more optimistic and romantic. A good example of this difference is that last song (romantic) and the Lennon song "I'll Be Back" (kind of sad). We listened to "Help!" next. Another huge hit. A song that sounds happy and stuff but the lyrics are actually pretty dark, a trend that becomes more prevalent. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" was recorded only 18 months after their first single but is so different it is astounding.

The music for "Yesterday" was thought up by Paul in the middle of the night and he thought he had plagiarized, it came so easily to him. Turns out he didn't. It was the first song that only one Beatle sang and played on. There are more recordings of this song than any other ever. The song broadened the appeal of the Beatles to more people. McCartney was only 22 when he wrote it (!!!) but the lyrics are very world-weary and jaded. "Eleanor Rigby" has a very interesting story behind it. It was originally called Dorothy Hawkins because that was Paul's first girlfriend but wanted to change it. Paul and John both liked a woman named Eleanor Brown so they named it Eleanor Hawkins. Then Paul was with his girlfriend at a clothing store named Rigby's so he changed the name to Eleanor Rigby. Father McKenzie in the song was originally Father McCartney but he didn't want to do that to his dad. Well, Paul and his girlfriend went to Liverpool to visit his parents and he showed her the churchyard he used to play in as a kid. One of the gravestones said Eleanor Rigby and the one next to it said McKenzie. CRAZY!!! He totally didn't think of them like that. Next we listened to "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "A Day in the Life" both of which were induced by and sound just like a drug trip. They were heavy into LSD and such by now. "A Day in the Life" was recorded with a 100 piece orchestra in a 24 hour period. A 24 hour party came afterwards, haha.That's where we stopped with the Beatles. It was so interesting.

We finished the class by looking at a slide show of British Subcultures. The Edwardian Boys, The Rockers, The Skins (not like we think of them) were some of the subcultures through the 60s. The 70s had Hippies, Glam Rock, and Jamaican. The most famous of all was punk. The Clash and the Sex Pistols were huge. The 80s had Gothic, New Romantics, and House/Techno. Since then, there haven't been any documented subcultures really. Justin said that it is just a "Post-Modern Supermarket of Style". People just grab and use styles of the past and mix them all together. The best example of this is Amy Winehouse. I love her song "Valerie"(wait through the first minute or so, then the song starts). She doesn't make an appearance in the video though .

In Senior Sem, we talked about morals. We finished with Utilitarianism and then discussed Kant. We talked more about baggage storage. The last part was spent talking about our final farewell activity. The basic consensus was trying to find a river cruise where we could maybe eat lunch or something. I might be in Paris when it goes on because people want it on the weekend and I will only be here on Sunday. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it really. Frankly, I would rather go to Paris no matter what anyway. That's not to say that I won't be kind of sad about missing it.

After class, I ran a bunch of errands. I bought just a couple groceries to get me through to Wednesday night. I bought some art supplies to make my Art Journal (construction paper and a journal). I got my glasses fixed. I walked in the optician and asked the guy if he could fix them. It took him like 5 seconds and I asked how much it cost. He waved me away and said it wasn't a problem. I was very grateful. That was so nice of him. Then I went over to the library to drop off and pick up some more books. I came back and worked on stuff then made and ate dinner. I had quiche in preparation of Paris (haha, not really, it's cheap). That was my day. Sorry about all the Beatles info. I think it is really interesting and I like posting the YouTube links. The music is crazy good too. Tomorrow more class.

Cheers!

Routine Life

Well today was definitely a return to my routine. Sadly, I don't have many more times that I can have the routine. Not to be too weird but this was my fourth to last Monday in London. That means I only have three left. That makes me feel so many things: sad, happy, scared, excited, anxious, depressed. Right now though, all I feel is good about getting back to blogging. I kind of missed it the past week. Speaking of blogging, I added two entries about last Sunday and Monday. I put them under the actual day they occurred. It makes more sense that way. I also added a little more to my post from yesterday, about what I actually did and such.

Now, about today. I woke up a little earlier to put the final touches on my Sociology in the City paper. I had to describe a social activity in London. I wrote about the church I went to. It was fun to write about it. In that class today we talked about Parliament. I had heard most of it before during our tour of Parliament but hearing Justin put in his little anecdotes and opinions made it really funny. He is a really good teacher. We spent about an hour talking about the monarchy and what they do and what's going on with them. That was really interesting. We watched a video of Queen Elizabeth II performing the ceremony of opening Parliament. Lots of traditions and weird things going on. Like the Queen has to request the the House of Commons to attend and sends a guy over to do it. The House of Commons slams the door in his face (part of tradition) and he has to request to enter. This shows the superiority of the democratically elected Commons to the monarchy. Anyway, there was a ton of stuff like going on. I thought it was really fascinating and had never heard of most of it before (at least before my visit to Parliament).

I got lunch at the sandwich shop (I had to go grocery shopping later) and read in some books in FIE about Turkey and the Greek Islands. I am going to say this just about everyday until I leave but I am so excited about my trip. It is going to be so amazing. In Senior Sem, we discussed the next chapter in our moral philosophy book. It is about utilitarianism. Basically, that theory holds that whatever decision creates more happiness is the best decision. This created lots of discussion during class. Like utilitarianism says that animals can feel pain and unhappiness so we shouldn't kill them and we should all be vegetarians. I'm not even exaggerating or anything. That's what my book says. Then we spent some time talking about Shakespeare since we are going to Stratford-Upon-Avon this Saturday on our last group excursion. I will admit that I did not really pay attention during this part. I was busy planning my schedule for next fall. I register on Wednesday. Everything that was talked about I had heard before. Then we talked a little about the role of critics and what one needs to include in a critique of a piece of art (like a play).

After class, I did my usual Monday grocery shopping trip. Not much to say about it. I bought some frozen pizzas which should be really good. One is Cajun Chicken flavored and the other is Tikka Marsala flavored. Yum! After grocery shopping I went to the library and returned a bunch of books then checked out a bunch more. I got a ton of books on the places I am going to travel to which I am looking forward to looking through.

I came back and sent off some e-mails to figure out where I am going to work next fall. McGlynn's e-mailed to say that if I wanted my manager position again next fall, I would have to re-apply and re-interview. The prospect of doing all that work for a job that I used to enjoy but not really anymore doesn't get me very excited so I sent in an application to be a math TA today instead. We'll see what happens. The rest of my evening was spent writing those blog posts (uploading the pictures took FOREVER), finishing my class plans for next fall, posting pictures on facebook, and eating dinner.

I like my Monday routine here. Sociology, Senior Sem, grocery shopping, and the library. I am really going to miss it when I am traveling and have literally zero routine so I better enjoy it while I can. I hope everyone had a good day. Hopefully, a couple more Spain posts tomorrow.

Toodles!

A Rainy Day in London Town

Don't think I forgot to do a blog entry for today. I realize how late it is. But I got sucked into looking up travel information. I know it seems like that's all I do (you are probably right) but it's not all I do. Today I did some other things too I promise. By the way, it rained all day today and was incredibly windy. Pretty crappy really.

First off, I went to class. In Sociology of the City, we discussed the Kray Twins some more. It was more about gangsters and the fascination that people have for them though. Then we learned about the paper we have to write. It involves observing some people doing something and then writing about it. Like people in a park or restaurant or on the Tube, the list could go on. I don't know what I want to do yet. The last part of the class was spent talking about multiculturalism in London. In Senior Sem, Phil read some excerpts of more of the War Poets and talked about Benjamin Britten some more. On Wednesday, we are going to listen to the whole piece The War Requiem which is going to be a complete 2 hour affair. That should be interesting.

The most exciting news of the day was certainly the fact that I got my debit card and it works. YAY!!!! I was so happy. I felt completely hopeless and alone without any source of money (other than Vanessa) so it's nice to be a little independent again. After class, I went to the library and got some more books. I think a got a nice variety of stuff like usual. Over the weekend, I read a couple books. One was A Teacher's War which was a memoir about a British woman who taught English in what is now Tanzania and then later in Turkey during WWII. Quite a bit of the book is telling stories of things that happened on the trains while she traveled. It was a really good read and I loved her descriptions. She did some paintings of where she lived and people she met which were in the book. I loved them a lot. It made me excited about all the sweet places I am going to go (granted I am not going to Turkey or Tanzania). I also read The Conscience of the King which was a historical fiction novel about the first King of Wessex. It takes place in 450-500 and is about this Saxon guy taking over the area that is now southwest of London. It was pretty good and filled me in on a big part of British History I was missing (the Saxon Invasion).

Tonight, I called my mom on Skype and we made more plans for when she comes to visit. We are going to go to the Andalusia region which is in southern Spain. I am incredibly excited about it. It should be a lot of fun. That area of Spain used to be the center of the Western Islamic World so there are a lot of mosques and churches and just lots of stuff.

The other part of exciting travel news is that my best friend from SJU, Garrett, is going to be in Sweden at the end of May so I am trying to figure that into my travel plans. I hope I can get up and see him and Sweden. That would be really cool. Because of the rain, I spent most of my day researching and thinking about my travel plans (with my mom, the free weekends in April, and after the program). I am getting a lot more of it settled down in my mind. By that I mean, narrowing down the places I want to go and figuring out how to get there and all that stuff. It is really exciting and I love thinking and reading about all the places.

Well that's all for today. Sorry about not doing the update of my weekend. I just never found the time for it. By Wednesday, I will though.

Bye!

Back to School, Back to School

Well I didn't write an update of what I did yesterday because I didn't do anything. I went to church which was really nice. As I have said before, and the Pope agreed (haha), going back to Our Lady of Victories Church is kind of like going home here. It was weird to be gone for a week. After church, I went on the computer and promptly sat there for most of the rest of the day. I put a whole crap load of pictures on Facebook. If you don't have Facebook, try and find someone who does because I can only put 8-10 pictures on my blog per day but I put 60 per day on Facebook. Plus I took the pictures so they have to be good :-) I had tortellini for dinner and started reading The Odyssey.

Today we all had to go to back to school which was weird. In Sociology in the City, we watched From Hell which is a movie from 2001 about Jack the Ripper. It was pleasant way to spend a class period. Haha, so easy. The movie was good though and it was interesting comparing what they did in the movie to what happened in real life. In Senior Sem, we talked about all the stuff we have coming up this week:

Tuesday - The Vertical Hour, a play at 7:30 pm
Wednesday - Globe Theater Tour at 10 am; Pirates of Penzance at 2:30 pm
Saturday - Cambridge Visit with Evensong at King's College

That's a lot of stuff. We talked about Anglican Music more and about the plays we are going to see. After class, I went to the library and got a new card. I picked up a bunch of new books that I am excited about. I also stopped at a store and bought some new ear phones because my old ones broke. Then I came back and worked on my blog more. That's about it. Kind of boring but its nice feeling like I am getting stuff accomplished and almost caught up with the blog. I had some pre-made lasagna and a bread stick thing for dinner. The lasagna was no where near as good as my mom's and made me a little sad. I miss everyone back home and I hope you all are enjoying the stories of my trip!

*Waves goodbye*

Boring, Oregon

Today was definitely a boring day. I went to my two classes, did some grocery shopping, and visited the library. That's it. Apparently there's a town called Boring in Oregon. Who knew? The slogan of the city is "The most exciting place to live!". Funny.

So in Sociology in the City we talked about this article we had to read. It discussed a few theories that people have come up with about cities. One of the main ones in the Theory of Zonality. The theory gives a little blueprint for most major cities. There's the major business zone. There's a zone of transition where most new immigrants and poorer people live. The middle class zone and commuter zone round it out. I think that that sounds about right at least for Minneapolis and St. Paul. As usual, its not perfect and doesn't apply to EVERY city but I think its helps talk about cities and areas of them. We spent the rest of class talking about crowds and the personalities of crowds. How some crowds can turn violent easily and some can't. We watched a video of people in Hyde Park watching Princess Diana's funeral. People were bawling and everyone clapped at the end of the speech by Diana's brother. It was interesting. My prof couldn't get over the fact that people were feeling this way about someone they didn't know. I think with all the coverage of her, some people probably did feel like they knew her. Also, death is scary especially when it happens suddenly and to someone who had a lot of life left in them. Plus she was famous. Anyway, next week we are going to get a tour of the East End with our prof because he used to live there. It should be interesting.

I ate lunch and then went to Senior Sem. We finished discussing Chapter 4. That included the Natural Law Theory and an example of mixing religion and morality. I don't really want to talk about either so I won't. Honestly, there's not much to say about them, at least for me. The rest of class was doing a whirlwind history of music from the fall of Rome to the present (about 1600 years). I thought it was interesting but some people were not listening and it was pretty obvious. That's ok, I don't blame them. I just like music so it was interesting hearing about the progression of it. We were learning about this because in Senior Sem, we are going to spend some time looking at British music so its important to know the context of it. Like next week, we are going to look at "The War Requiem" by Benjamin Britten. It was written as a sort of anti-war song. Interesting. It was commissioned for the re-opening of Coventry Cathedral (we are going there in March) after it had to be rebuilt after WWII. Its cool how stuff we do in class connects with the places we go and how the places we go all kind of connect together as well.

After class I went grocery shopping which was ok. I didn't get anything super interesting. I bought a whole bunch of pasta and sauce along with a couple frozen pizza, maybe preparation for Italy? Actually they were just cheap. For dinner, I had one of the frozen pizzas. It had green peppers, onions, and spicy beef on it. It was fantastic. Before dinner though, I went to the library and got some more books. It turns out that that book "Atilla" that I just finished reading is actually a trilogy. That makes sense. I was wondering why the book just sort of ended all of a sudden with him at age 13 or so. So I'm excited to read the second one. The books are definitely "blockbusters". Lots of violence, big sets for the action, love, bad guys, all that stuff. I like it. That's about it for now. I'm doing a little more research for the weekend of March 6-9 and where I want to go. Cheap flights are in Northern Spain so that's what I am looking into at the moment. No commitments, as usual ;-)

I added a page element thingy to the left there. It's just a list of the books that I've read here (obviously). I did that just so I could keep a record. I spend quite a bit of time reading (especially when I'm traveling somewhere) so any book recommendations are welcome by e-mail, snail mail, facebook, comment, whatever.

Have a good one!

Field Trips

Hello again faithful (and non-faithful) readers! For both of my classes today, we took a field trip to a museum. I also took a field trip of my own to the library. I felt a little like Ms. Frizzle today or something. Haha.

For my Islam vs. The West class, we were originally going to meet in class for about an hour and then go to the Victoria and Albert Museum down the road to see their Islamic Art exhibit. Well that didn't quite happen. When we arrived at Foundation House, we saw a sign that we were going to meet down in the common room. We all got there and our prof told us that we were just going to head straight for the museum instead. We got to the museum at about twenty after to realize that it doesn't open until 10! Haha. Oops. So we all just split up and walked around until then. Me and a few other people walked by a bakery and then spent the rest of our time in a souvenir/card shop looking at Valentine's Day cards and tacky souvenirs. We came back to V & A (nickname for the museum) and got in. My prof lead us in and talked for two minutes and then said, "Right, just go in, have a look around and leave whenever you feel like." I stayed for about an hour looking at the Islamic Art exhibit and some other ones too and then left. I really liked the exhibit. Its so interesting that Muslims were making bowls and carpets with geometric shapes and literally NO human figures on anything at the same time that Medieval artists were painting church scenes with only people in them. Very different artistic styles 1000 years old, that prelude to the "styles" that still rub together the wrong way today.

I walked from the V & A to the Kensington Central Library and checked out some books. One was by Rick Steves (that CAN NOT be his real name). He has a website that has a whole bunch of travel articles and maps and guides on it. I also picked up a book called "Country Walks Near London". AWESOME!!!!! A bunch of day hikes that are all within about 2 hours of London by train. That was exactly the kind of book I wanted. Lastly, I got a book called "Atilla" which is historical fiction about Atilla the Hun.

Vanessa and I walked from our flat to the National Gallery for Art History. It saves money and its not too far of a walk (a little under an hour). The class was spent going through the museum and looking for signs, symbols, and allegories. We looked at the very famous painting "Marriage of Arnolthini". We talked about all the symbols: dog, fruit, chandalier, mirror, etc. We also looked at the "The Ambassadors" and the symbols in that. There were other paintings too. It was all really cool looking for the symbols and deciphering what they mean. Sometimes I think, it seems like not EVERYTHING has a meaning. I don't know. Maybe it does, but I just think that sometimes the artist just put one or two things in for the fun of it. No way to know really, since all the artists we looked at died like 400 years ago or more.

As we were walking back, I was doing a little quiz with Vanessa on American History. She said she didn't know much so I would ask her stuff and see if she knew it and then I would tell her about it. I felt kind of bad, like I was making fun of her or being patronizing and I said that but she replied that it was good for her so I don't know. We got back and made our reservations for Spring Break (that being plane tickets and hostels). So that's all done, for better or worse. Then I ate spaghetti for dinner, watched tv and read. Later on, I drank my now usual cup of tea and did this entry. Very exciting evening, I know.

To recap my school week, I had 2 hours of Senior Sem, 1 hour of Islam vs. The West, about 2.5 hours of Art History, and then 1.5 hours of Senior Sem (tomorrow). That's it for classes this week. Wow, that's an easy schedule. I have a paper and a check up on my Art History journal and a bunch of readings due next week so it's not all good (though it is mostly good).

As-Salamu Alaykum.
(Arabic for "Peace Be With You". It's used by both Arab Muslims and Arab Christians.)

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!