Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

I planned today to be my "goodbye London" day and it was was (the title of the post is a David Gray song). I woke up and got ready and did a little, tiny bit of packing. My plan was to walk. A lot. I was a little depressed because it was raining when I left but I didn't let it get me down because I had no choice. I had my plan and I was going to stick to it. I took the bus to Piccadilly Circus and walked from there to Stanford's. I bought three guidebooks. Frommer's Greece, Eyewitness Istanbul, and Rick Steves's Belgium and Netherlands. I am also bringing Rick Steves's Switzerland and my big Let's Go Europe book. Those are going to be my main sources of information. I like having the variety of types of guidebooks. I would have just rented all guidebooks from the library but they had a pretty poor selection. So I bought the books and then stopped at the same pizza place I usually do in Leicester Square. 1.50 pounds for a slice. It is sooo good. Leicester Square was getting all geared up for the Iron Man premiere. I really want to see that movie. I'll have to wait until I get back though.

I walked down the The Strand and happened upon a big collection of people walking down it (picture 1). Apparently, it was a Teacher's strike and they were marching to get more pay or something like that. I just read the signs so I don't know much more about it. There were a lot of them though. I stopped at Tesco's and bought a little feast for lunch. That chicken and bacon pasta salad my mom and I had for Easter, a banana, a dinner roll (I love dinner rolls), two white chocolate cookies, and some lemon-lime spring water. I was very excited to eat it. I walked down The Strand until I got to St. Mary-le-Strand Church. You might remember that this is one of my favorite churches. I went in and took a couple pictures. The priest came up behind me and asked if the pictures were good. I told him of course. He proceeded to give a history of the church in about 2 or 3 minutes. He told me about a chapel in the college across the street. I went over to that chapel and looked around. The stained glass was cool. It had very bright colors and interesting faces (picture 2). Each window had a major person from the Bible. I continued walking down the Strand taking pictures of the highlights like St. Clement Danes Church and the Royal Courts of Justice. I walked around the Temple area but the church was closed. I continued on to St. Paul's Cathedral (picture 3). At this point it started really down pouring and hailing so I hung out under the cover of the church until it let up.

It was still raining a little but I was getting antsy so I continued along until I got to the Tower of London. I stopped under the awning thing where the ticket sales are and sat down and ate my lunch. It was raining really hard and there was some lightning and thunder as well. Those are not common in London. By the time I finished lunch and got done digesting, the rain had basically stopped and I saw some blue sky on the way. Yay! I traversed Tower Bridge and then set out on the next part of my walk. The next stage was walking along the Thames to Westminster. I passed by all the usuals: OXO Tower, the Golden Hind, London Bridge, Globe Theatre, Tate Modern, Millenium Bridge, Jubilee Bridge (love picture 4), London Eye, and finally Westminster. The sun was shining finally and the clouds were spectacular. This was true for everything I walked by today but it is mind-blowing to me that all of these places have a memory attached to them. It was like walking through a lot of my time in London. I was amazed at how many little facts I remembered about all the places and how much I loved every single place. I was so sad when I finally turned the last corner and the Tower Bridge went out of view for the last time. It was like that with every place. The funny thing is that even though I have walked along different parts of this part a bunch of times, there were still new things and stuff I had never noticed before. Like Southwark Cathedral. I didn't go inside but I don't remember ever really seeing it before. It has black pebbles and smooth cream colored stone all over it (picture 5). I really liked the look of it. It had a nice little garden as well.

I got to Westminster and did my final salute to Big Ben (picture 6) and Westminster Abbey. I walked up Whitehall, past the horse guards, and up to Trafalgar Square. This was maybe my favorite spot to sit in all of London so I sat for a little bit on last time then went into the National Gallery for a last tour of my favorite pieces. Just like what I said about Southwark Cathderal, I saw all the paintings that I really like but I also noticed some new ones that I had not seen before which was fun. From Trafalgar, I did my usual walk home through St. James's Park which had some AWESOME flowers (picture 7). At Buckingham Palace, all the tulips that surround the traffic circle were in total and complete bloom (picture 8). They were stunning. I walked by Green Park and saw Vanessa and her boyfriend Lucky. It was a crazy coincidence to run into them. My path went through Hyde Park Corner and into Hyde Park next. There flowers here were fantabulous (I just made that word up) too. I saw some dark red/purple colored tulips which I had never seen before; they were interesting (picture 9). There was a canopy thing with vines all over it which would have been perfect for some portraits or something like that (picture 10). I walked by the Serpentine and the Albert Memorial for the last time as well. Sad to see them go. Then it was back down Queen's Gate and onto to Queen's Gate Terrace and Metrogate.

I would estimate I walked over 8 or 9 miles today. It was extremely tiring but totally worth while. I reminisced and saw some new things. I am really sad to see London go but I know that I have to see it go so that I can have some more new adventures. Someday I'll be back though! :-) I didn't write that much about what I was feeling or thinking because I was thinking and feeling a lot of things: sadness over leaving, happy for all the memories I have, lucky to be able to have seen so much in London, anxiety over leaving a place I know, tiredness from walking so much, ecstatic that I am only about a month away from seeing everyone, nervous about all the stuff I still had to do. All of those emotions are thoughts were running through my head at once. There were a couple times when I just stopped, took a deep breath, and cleared my mind. Of course, it was cluttered again in about 2 seconds but that 2 seconds of peace was nice. I'm complaining about that, just saying that it's hard to write about. Anyway, continuing on...

I spent the evening making dinner, doing the post about Kew (I love the title of the post, one of my best ones if you ask me), calling people on Skype, washing clothes and trying to get a little organized. I didn't do a ton of packing today but I figured I had time tomorrow. The main accomplishment I did was wash my clothes so that I could pack them. I didn't do this post last night because I was up talking on Skype until about 2:30 or 3. Tomorrow is my actual last day in London. Yikes!

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")

Two Month Reunion

Ok. So on Friday I went and met my mom at Victoria train station after she had landed and taken the train from the airport. I actually woke up later than I wanted but I got there with plenty of time. I was so happy to see her. It seems like ages since we last said goodbye in MN. So we met each other and then took the Tube to my flat. We went there first because it was only 10 or 11 am and she couldn't check in to her hotel until later. So we got ready and settled and decided to do my "usual walk" from my flat to the National Gallery.

It was pretty cold out but not that bad with the sun shining. We walked by the Albert Memorial (picture 1) and through Hyde Park and the Serpentine. I have said this before, but sometimes this walk can be kind of boring or whatever but it's always fun to walk it with someone who hasn't seen it before. From Hyde Park we continued through Hyde Park Corner and meandered on to Buckingham Palace (Victoria Statue in front of Buckingham picture 2). It was here that we started to notice all the people walking around. There were TONS of tourists around. I was very surprised. Because of all the people, they closed the roads from Hyde Park Corner to Trafalgar Square. The clouds were amazing with the blue sky. It was so strange seeing all the tourists walking around. There are always people taking pictures and stuff but this was crazy. We continued walking and I had us take the detour through St. James's Park (picture 3) because I think it is the best park in London. The dafodils were blooming like usual. So pretty.

We got to Trafalgar Square and sat outside on the steps for a while. The view down Whitehall to Big Ben was just as magnificent as it always is (picture 4). Mom and I ventured in the National Gallery. We did a quick tour of all the galleries. I got to see the Impressionist paintings again which was great. Mom got to see some paintings by Vermeer which she wanted to do. Then we left the Gallery and walked to Parliament. The horse guards weren't out because of construction which was kind of depressing because they are fun for people to see. The clouds were still awesome so Big Ben was cool. We took each other's pictures in front of it (picture 5). We also walked around and saw the outside of Westminster Abbey. Then we took the Tube back to my flat. Mom grabbed her stuff and took the bus to her hotel. Because Kensington Gardens closes at around 6, it is not easy to walk around to her hotel so she took the bus. Anyway, she got to the hotel fine and then took the bus back over so we could go to dinner.

Mom had a little bit of an adventure getting back to my flat. She got off at the right stop but wasn't sure exactly where she was so she walked past my street a whole bunch of times until she finally figured it out. I felt bad for not explaining it better but she got here so it's all good. We ate dinner at Gloucester Arms, the pub down the road from my flat. They have 2 entrees for £8 which is a pretty good deal. We talked and ate. It was very nice. Mom took the bus back and I watched some basketball on the computer and went to bed.

It was a nice day and it was fun to walk around and show Mom all the stuff that I get to see almost every day.

Bye!

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!

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!

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.)

Good Day

Guten Tag! That means good day in German (Amy, correct me if I'm wrong). At any rate, I had a pretty good day today. I usually do. Today wasn't that exciting really but the sun was shining which almost automatically makes it a good day here.

I got up and went to my Islam vs. The West class. We spent most of the class taking notes while our teacher lectured on the early history of Islam. He started at Muhammad (obviously) and his minstry in around 680 and we made it all the way to about 1400 or something like that. About 700 years in three hours, not bad. He told us about what Muhammad did and how everything after him kind of got all messed up. The Shii believe that Muhammad only had one rightful heir but the Sunnis believed that Muhammad wanted there to be elections and the two sides have not gotten along well since then. The rift between them has gotten worse since the US invaded Iraq and there is a sort of civil war going on there right now. To think all that started with no one remembering exactly what Muhammad wanted after he died. That's a good lesson to make sure you have a clear will, if I have ever heard one ;-) Seriously though, it was a very interesting class. I've already said this before, but it's amazing how little I know about Islam. I am still amazed by it.

I went back to my flat and had, what else, a couple PBJ sandwiches and an orange for lunch. They were delicious. Then I took the Tube to the National Gallery (picture 1) in Trafalgar Square (picture 2, with Big Ben down the road and picture 3). I got there a little early and took some pictures of the square. I liked the fact that the sun was out for the first time in a couple days. I really like the fountain picture below (picture 4). I met up with the group and we spent the class period looking at Middle Ages art and the transition from that to the art of the Renaissance. We discussed paintings in churches in the Middle Ages and how they were all very religious based (saints, Mary, Jesus, etc.). Then we moved on to paintings in the Renaissance of Roman and Greek myths and how they were all done for patrons for their homes and furniture. Again, I know nothing about this stuff so its fun to just sit and listen to my prof tell us all this stuff in the paintings. Very interesting.

Vanessa and I walked back from the Gallery (to save money) and then sat around in the computer lab. I ate dinner (chicken and bacon tortellini with tomato sauce, under £2 total, awesome). From dessert, I am currently eating chocolate mousse (6 for about a pound, what a steal) and an apple. Very good and good for you. I spent about 2 hours looking up stuff about visiting somewhere in Britain Wed. through Fri. but I couldn't really find anything so I gave up. It was fun to just look up prices and read more about all the towns. I learned a lot.

I am getting excited about my Spring Break plans. We decided to start reserving plane tickets and hostels by the end of the week. We hope to have everything reserved that we can by Sunday, I don't know if that will happen however. Tomorrow I have Senior Seminar and then its's the weekend for me (haha)! Yay!

Bye!