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!

So Much Work

I walked into my flat at exactly 7 am after taking the bus from Victoria Coach Station. I debated in my head about sleeping for a while (I was exhausted from the overnight coach ride) or stay up and work on one of my papers and catch up online. I decided to go sleeping route. I laid down and pretty much immediately fell asleep. It felt wonderful to lay in my bed. I set an alarm to wake me up at 9:30 so I could get dressed and go to church. The alarm did not wake me up. I ended up waking up at 10:30 which was a major bummer. For a split second I thought about not going but that immediately went out of my mind. I threw on a nice shirt and almost ran over to church. I caught the tail end of it and was able to get communion. It was still worth it. I stood over to the side of the pew I always sit in. Rachelle, Katherine, and Phil were there as were all the regular people I always sit by. It was interesting to take a sort of back seat view and watch it all unfold. I was really sad to leave. The four of us stood outside for a while and chatted. Then Rachelle and I walked back to Metrogate.

I ate some lunch and then went to the grocery store to buy a little bit more food to get me through to Saturday. After procrastinating long enough I started working on my Sociology paper. I wrote about the Diversity in London. I talked about how London has been a city of immigrants and locals since it was founded by the Romans. I also talked about how the best evidence of the diversity is simply walking around any neighborhood and seeing the restaurants and people. Then I threw in some stats to back up my claim of it being a multi-ethnic city. I worked on and off all afternoon and evening. One object of my procrastination was calling my mom, dad and brother. I finished the paper at around 10 I think. Then I started working on the post about my first day in Paris. I finished it up pretty late and then went to bed.

See ya!

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!

Musi-c-lass

So today was a day of schoolwork. Probably my punishment for all of the sweet stuff I have been doing lately. I woke up and went to Sociology. We talked about music and the relationship of the US and the UK. First, we talked about Jazz and Blues and their growth in the US during the 1920s and 30s. It was called Delta Blue and we listened to a bunch of different examples of it: Bessie Smith, Bukka White, Robert Johnson, and Louis Armstrong. All of them were really good. It's just good music whether it was recorded 70 years ago or not. Plus, it was so influential. We continued on to the Big Band Era and listened to "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller. I played that song in jazz band in high school. While all of this music was being made, very little of it was being brought over to the UK except by people who really wanted it. That all changed during WWII when loads of US soldiers brought themselves and their music over to England. Frank Sinatra was our next stop on the musical tour. He was one of the first "lead singers" ever which made him very influential. We listened to "I've Got You Under My Skin", my favorite Frank song. He played at Royal Albert Hall a bunch of times in the 50s and 60s but always brought his own band because he didn't trust the British musicians.

After Frank, we talked about Chicago Blues which was Blues but had electric guitars and real bands. Our example of this was "Smokestack Lightning" by Howlin' Wolf. Great song. We contrasted that with the Rolling Stones's song "Midnight Rambler" which sounded very familiar. Howlin' Wolf recorded and toured with them in their early years. That really tells the story of the Blues. It started in the US. Then went over to the UK. Which brought it back to the US in a new way. Really cool. The we talked about Elvis for a while and listened to "That's All Right Mama" and "Mystery Train". Elvis was influential because he bridged the gap between the black and white radio. People didn't know what race he was so both types of station played it. Next up was Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio. We listened to "The Train Kept A-Rolling" which was a great song and just insanely popular in the UK. Jimmy Page, the guitarist from Led Zeppelin, fell in love with song and the band played it on their first tour. Finally we talked about the Beatles. We listened to "Love Me Do", their first single. Justin told us that the Beatles recorded 16 albums in their 8 years at Abbey Road. INSANE! That is just incredible. We ended with "Twist and Shout" which was recorded in one take in Abbey Road Studios at 9:30 pm after they had been recording all day. They were super tired but did an AMAZING cover. The video of course is not from that recording but still good. That song alone showed how far British had come in catching up to the established Americans. When people heard this, they knew that music would never be the same after. This was a great class of listening and learning about music. Justin made an astute point. British kids know the history of music and where stuff fits in. Americans kids, like me, usually have no clue.

In Senior Sem, we discussed some business first. We can reserve a locker to store stuff for about £2 per week that we need to store (so £10 for me). That is RIDICULOUSLY cheap. So that was good news. After that we talked about existentialism for a little bit. It is a philosophy that holds that life is meaningless. There are two branches though. One says that life is rational and without meaning and religion is irrational but we need to make that "leap of faith" to make life more meaningful. The other branch grew out of the destruction of WWII and held that life is just plain meaningless and messed up and religion doesn't fix that. People who believed this wrote plays and that were later called Theatre of the Absurd. They thought that life was meaningless and incomprehensible so their plays were too. They felt that language lost it's coherent ability so their plays did. Basically, their plays are weird and messed up just like life. I read a play in this style in ALP in high school called "Rhinoceros". It was weird. So many connections from what I have learned here to what I learned in ALP. Crazy. Anyway, it was a fun class as well.

After class, I read the book I had to write a review on and then set about writing the review. That took up all of my evening. I did take a break and go to the grocery store. I also looked up ferry times and days for when I am traveling in Greece so I know when and where I can go. But that was about it. By the way, the book I reviewed was called Leo the African and was an historical fiction novel about a Moorish guy who travels around the Mediterranean in the 1500s. Pretty good I guess. Anyway, that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the music!

Toodles!

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!

Food & Friends

Monday Monday... I had a pretty good day today. Nothing too crazy. Just a couple classes and then dinner with Phil.

In Sociology of the City, we discussed multiculturalism in Britain. One of the big issues we talked about was "What is British-ness?" because that is an issue going on right now. The idea came about in the 1800s when England took over Scotland and Wales and made Great Britain. This is a separate question from English-ness or Scottish-ness because it involves the colonies that Britain ended up taking over and all the immigrants from those places that moved here. We watched a pretty funny movie about a guy who was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland but is second generation Indian. It was funny but serious at the same time. Kind of a serious topic of class but that's ok. I have to write a paper due two weeks from today. It is an observation paper. I am going to write about the people in my church and stuff. It should be fun.

In Senior Sem, we took a test. That's all. It was pretty easy because I pay attention in class really well. Mostly just regurgitation questions which I am pretty good at. (Pre-positioning: This way of doing things is fine) Some people don't pay attention in class but study a lot for tests like the one we had in Islam and this one in Senior Sem. I do the opposite strategy, I pay attention in class but hardly study. The results seem to be the same.

After class, I bought some bread because the bread I bought a week ago spoiled. I knew I should have used it but I had so much other stuff that was going to go bad that I couldn't. Oh well. The real lesson I learned is put the bread in the fridge. Only problem is that that would probably freeze it which I don't want to happen. Haha, enough bread talk. I went to Phil's for dinner tonight with Peter, Vanessa, and Chelsey. They live in a flat that they rent from FIE in Chelsea about 25 minutes walk from Metrogate. It was a lot of fun. We talked about a bunch of stuff and the food was just amazing. We had Scottish Pie (beef and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes), cut up fresh vegetables, banana creme pie and (my favorite part) a salad with lettuce, candied pecans, oranges, and onions. So good!! Katherine and Phil did a great job! Like I said, we talked a lot about their kids and our plans after the program and art and a bunch of other stuff. A total blast. I brought my camera to take pictures but, alas, I never really got a chance to.

No St. Patrick's Day celebrations for me. But for anyone who is celebrating them, have fun!

Tomorrow I am going to a mosque for Islam vs. the West and to Somerset House for Art History. Should be fun!

Bye!

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!

Class Space

"It looks like someone has a case of the Mondays"

That's how I felt today. I was tired when I woke up. I also just didn't really feel like going to class. You do what you gotta do though.

In Sociology, the whole class time was spent listening to my prof tell us about the Kray Twins (Reggie on the left and Ronnie on the right). They were two brothers who grew up in East London in the 40's. By the time the 60's rolled around, they were super powerful gangsters (there is rumored to be a picture of them with the Queen somewhere out there). They were ruthless and violent when they had to be. They basically ruled London during the entire Sixties. They got away with a lot of stuff. It was a really good story and parts of it were pretty amazing. Like all the political corruption that went on back then. There is political corruption now too but I suppose I am pretty naive and don't think about it much so when I get a big reminder like the story of the Kray Twins, it amazes me.

We spent the first hour of Senior Sem talking about the two plays we saw last week. Lots to talk about with them. The second hour was spent getting a little refresher on what an orchestra is. We are seeing the Royal College of Music's Orchestra on Thursday night (they are playing Planets). In preparation, Phil told about what makes an orchestra and how each instrument is like a color for an artists. They have different moods and sounds and looks. We listened to examples of each instrument which was fun. I never listen to band music and when I do, it makes me remember being in band in HS and how much I liked it.

After class, I went down on the computer and researching travel stuff. I looked at Rick Steve's website (just search Rick Steves). He has a TON of information and the people who contribute to his message boards are really good too. They have good advice and funny stories. The reason I am spending so much time researching is because, as I have said before, I like it and because there are still a lot of chances for me to travel while I am here: when my mom comes, two free weekends in April, and after the program. That's a lot of opportunities and a lot of decisions to make about where and what I want to do.

I guess that's about it. It was a pretty boring and uninteresting day so that means this blog entry was probably boring and uninteresting. Sorry about that. Part of the deal though. It can't be exciting all the time. Have a nice day everyone!

*Waves Goodbye*

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*

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!

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!

Picture-less Day

Hi again! I did not take a single picture today. Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are. The last day that I didn't take pictures was probably a week ago Sunday. Crazy. There are many reasons for me not taking any pictures, the main one being that I had class during all of the light hours of the day. So without further ado, here's a recap.

In Sociology of the City, our homework was coming up with images that came to our minds when we thought of a city, things that are specific to cities and phrases and metaphors for cities. We discussed these in class. We would give an example of an image or something and then our teacher would say how that image does or does not apply to London and we would debate if the image was really true or not. The same thing happened for all the of the homework assignment things. It was pretty interesting and fun to have a conversation sort of thing with our professor as opposed to him just telling us stuff for the whole 3 hours (still not used to sitting for that long, even with a break). The last part of class, Justin lectured on the history of London, at least the recent history.

We spent the time inbetween classes down in the common room of Foundation House (where our classes are). I ate two PBJ sandwiches. Gourmet, I know. I looked at a couple books they have down there about Venice, Florence, and Rome. Very interesting and I'm still insanely excited about going there.

Senior Seminar was spent discussing two of the cases that we had to read for last week's class. I wasn't that interested, I felt like most of the discussion was just a re-hashing of what was said in the book. We then discussed Cultural Relativism. Haha, interesting, right? It wasn't bad. It was the reading we had to do for our class today. Cultural Relativism says that all things are right or wrong as long as they are right or wrong within the culture and that there are no universal moral truths. The author of the book ripped this theory apart and that was about it. We spent the last half hour of class listening to Phil give us a quick hits history of England, focusing on the Canterbury Tales and how they came to be (since we are going to be re-enacting them in a week and a half).

After Senior Seminar, a bunch of us went to Parliament and sat in on the House of Lords while they were discussing an embryonic stem cell research bill. It was interesting being there and hearing them discussing but the topic was kind of dull. They spent about 45 minutes straight arguing the merits of having "serious disability" or "life-threatening disability". Like I said, sort of dull. It was still good to go there and see them in action, plus it was free.

I took the Tube back and went to the grocery store. Good times. I spent £20 (Yikes!!!!) but it was money well spent. I got some stuff for quesadillas and I got some salalmi and ham and cheese for what hopes to be a few awesome sandwiches. Anyway, unloading my groceries is like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one. Its my favorite thing to do. Seeing all the stuff I get to eat this week, it makes me happy. I ate and read for my Islam vs. The West class tomorrow and now I'm here writing this entry.

Sorry for the whole no picture thing. Can't be helped on days like today and tomorrow when I have class. I promise pictures of some place sweet on Wednesday, I have a couple places in mind. Till then, bye!

Schoolhouse Rock

Well then. When I originally set up this blog, my aim was to update it everyday so as to keep the people who chose to read itthe utmost informed of my life here. I have not been living up to that and I am sorry. It would be easy for me to make excuses like I was sick or I was busy but there are no excuses really. Hopefully with my sickness almost over (I can feel it) and school starting in earnest I will better manage my time and keep this thing updated more. On the flip side, with only updating every other day or so you all get SUPER LONG posts to read, like this one will almost assuredly be.

*All the pictures along the side were taken at (or of) the Natural History Museum and the British Museum.*

To recap my Sunday, I slept for 18 out of a possible 24 hours. Then Sunday night (Monday morning) I slept from midnight to eight. So out of 32 hours, I slept for 26. That might be a world record or something. It was intense sleeping too, not much waking up and laying there or what have you. It was the down and out for the count kind of sleeping. So Monday we started our first day of class. My first class was entitled (I'm not kidding) Ethnology of Selected Culture Areas. Haha, what a weird name. My professor, Justin Lorentzen, said it sounded stupid too. He prefers to call it Sociology of London. We spent almost the entire class (all three hours of it...) asking him questions about London and his life and stuff. It was very interesting to hear his perspective on American movies and music and stuff. We also filled out a little sheet that was meant to help explore our stereotypes of British people and he would either debunk them or say that they were actually true. Like I said, it was an interesting class and should be fun. He has always lived in London and lives in Notting Hill right now with his wife and six year old son. He said his son's favorite song is "Umbrella" by Rhianna. Everyone in the class busted out laughing. In the class, we will be covering a bunch of different topics about London from its popular music to its history to the different areas, all sorts of things. We are even going to take a tour of the East End with Justin (he grew up there). It has changed significantly since he lived there though. It is now filled with immigrant Muslims and eastern Europeans. Very cool.

We had our Senior Seminar with Phil after that. The topic of our Senior Seminar is Ethics and Morals in Art. We spent half our class time talking about just group business and the other half we spent discussing what ethics actually is. Now I must say that I don't particularly enjoy that type of discussion. I just feel like there is no point really because, as Phil told us himself, "this question hasn't been answered for thousands of years and probably won't be for another few thousand years". Well if there is no answer then what's the point??? Oh well, I can deal with it. Our first reading assignment was reading a bunch of stories and making a decision. Like one was about a father separating conjoined twins and one died. So the question is if he should go to jail or not. Ugh. Again, I will deal. After that class, I went grocery shopping (a week's worth of groceries for £9!!!!) I am expert shopper. I was also broken in on the potato flakes diet ;-). I spent most of the rest of my night laying in my bed watching tv (I watched almost all of Bring It On, I am pathetic). I had a bad headache and was still kind of achy. I did get up to try and find a pub where they were playing the football (soccer) game with Rachelle and Peter but they weren't playing it anywhere. So I went back and watched tv and went to bed.

Today, I got up and was already feeling better. I didn't really have a headache but throat still hurt. Oh well. I went to take a shower but all the hot water was gone (I need to wake up earlier) so I only washed my hair. The first class was my Islam vs. The West class. The course is taught by a guy who was born in Iran but does not practice Islam. We took a bunch of notes and I learned a ton. It's really amazing how I could know absolutely nothing about something so huge in the world; there are over 1 billion Muslims. Anyway, I am going to learn a lot in this course and am kind of excited about it. I hope there aren't as many notes every time. My hand hurt.

I came back to the flats and had a PBJ sandwich and then went to the Natural History Museum with Peter, Kristina, and Vanessa. It was pretty cool. The building is amazing (picture 1) and the exhibits were nice. I guess I just wasn't really that interested when I was walking through. I was glad I went though, the museum is only 4 or 5 blocks from my flat and its free (FREEEEEE!!!). I did kind of tired by the end though. The second picture is of a sort of sculpture thing they had about different ideas on how the Earth (and parts of it) were formed. That is Poseidon I believe.

Next up was our Art History course. The teacher immediately whisked us off to the British Museum to the the Parthenon Frieze there (SO COOOOOOOL!!!). The outside of the British Museum is picture 3 by the way. We were leaving the place where our class was to head to the tube and a girl got hit by a car. The car wasn't going that fast (thank god) but it was a very crazy moment. The light had just changed from green to red for the cars, the car didn't stop, and the girl went out in the traffic and man, crazy. It turns out that she was apparently ok, just a little shaken up. Anyway, we all got to the Museum and on the way to the Friezes and we walked by the Rosetta Stone! Yeah, you know, the thing that deciphered all heiroglyphics... Man, so sweet. It's picture 4 by the way. So then we went to the Parthenon Friezes. Some guy basically stole them from the Parthenon site a long time ago and boy did he steal a lot. He took the whole Southern Frieze, its the length of the long side of the Parthenon. Our professor is insanely smart and she walked us through all the details of the friezes and other marble things from the Parthenon. Very cool and agian, I learned a lot. The Friezes are picture 5.

We left the Museum and I went back to the flat. We had a big FIE get together thing where everyone in FIE came together and hung out. There was free beer (uh oh) and free appetizer. Later on in the evening there was a lot of dancing (mostly caused by the booze, I believe). I had a couple beers and danced but I came back and talked about Spring Break plans with Vanessa. It appears we are the only two without plans at the moment. More on that later (no decisions made and I don't want to ruin the surprise, if there was one).

I think I just wrote a novel... Thanks for reading and have fun everyone! Maybe an update tomorrow ;-)