In Between Classes, I do This

www.nationalgallery.org.uk

The National Gallery, London's premiere art museum is located not 300 feet from our class building.  It costs absolutely nothing to enter.  This works out well for an uncultured cheap-skate like myself.

When other students may be cramming for their next class, or enjoying a leisurely lunch, you may find me chowing down my PB&J sandwich en route to exploring the next wing of the Museum.  But you might also find me napping, as well.

So far, I've accomplished one full wing:  Art from 1200-1500.  Four wings to go...

My favorites:
http://nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jan-van-eyck-the-arnolfini-portrait
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/paolo-uccello-the-battle-of-san-romano
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sandro-botticelli-venus-and-mars
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/austrian-the-trinity-with-christ-crucified
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/fra-angelico-blessing-redeemer
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/bartolome-bermejo-saint-michael-triumphs-over-the-devil
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/justus-of-ghent-and-workshop-music
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/antonio-del-pollaiuolo-and-piero-del-pollaiuolo-the-martyrdom-of-saint-sebastian

Alright.

In the thick of it all

Needless to say, it has been a while since my last blog update.  I will do my best to be succinct.

Theater:  I have seen three more shows, making it a solid 6 shows so far.  The 39 Steps, a west end show, was the main course on Tuesday, a reading of "The World in a Village" at RADA was Wednesday's, and the Royal Shakespeare Production of "As You Like It" was Thursday's agenda.

The 39 Steps was fun at times, boring at times, and overall it was an OK evening.  I'm glad we didn't have to pay to see it (it was included in the class).
The RADA staged reading was exciting.  It was a chance to see a style of theater that none of us FTT majors had seen before onstage.  It was an O'Keeffe 1798 show, and a bunch of RADA faculty and alumni performed it.  They had  1 and 1/2 days to rehearse, and they did an excellent job.
As You Like It was excellent.  The best play I've seen so far.  The actors had such great chemistry.  It really felt like they were enjoying every moment they were onstage together, and they incorporated us into their party will full hearts and friendly smiles.  It was what I think theater should be.

We went to the Tower of London on Friday.  Despite the 16 pound ticket price, we enjoyed every moment of it while we were there.  I especially enjoyed getting to see The Bell Tower, where Thomas More was held.  And, of course, seeing the crown jewels was an experience in and of itself.

I've planned a weekend excursion with my friend Anna.  The destination? PARIS!  We have the hostel and the train booked, and now we are trying to come up with an exciting itinerary.  (Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame are all musts)

I spent a solid 50 pounds at the grocery store yesterday.  Hopefully, this will prove to be an economical decision, as I plan on eating in the flat more often this week, hoping to save more money for trips, excursions, and general frolicking.

And now, I must read Descartes' Meditations on his First Philosophy.  Because I'm also in school.  Though at times it doesn't feel that way.

Peace.

Getting the Hang of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aVbJhg23Ao

I thought the song would be fitting...

So, yes, I am on my way towards a beautiful relationship with my temporary city.  Have I established a good sleeping pattern yet?  No.  Do I have all of the appropriate groceries for cooking and cleaning? No.  But beyond these small practical concerns, I feel like I’m now starting to actually get to know London.  And so far, so good.

A lot has happened in three days.  I’ve seen two more West End-style mega musicals: Phantom of the Opera and Wicked.  Both were huge in every sense of the word.  They were great, they were cheesy, they were moving, they were over-the-top and I loved them.  Phantom played in the theater right by the London Center, Her Majesty’s Theater.  Wicked played at the Apollo Victoria theater, about a 50 minute walk from the flats on the other side of downtown.

I’ve done my fair share of exploring, too.  Some of my flatmates and I traveled along St. James Square for our Global London class requirement.  Going down Jermyn street we saw tons of high-end men’s clothing shops.  I saw a pair of corduroy pants for 20 pounds…might have to make a purchase in the near future…

We also got to see some very interesting monuments.  Apparently, the area around St. James Square was devoted to a lot of military planning in WWII.  We saw monuments to Eisenhower, a statue of De Gaulle, and a huge stone homage to George and Elizabeth.

Didn’t get a chance to see the changing of the guard…but Buckingham palace is beautiful all the same.

And, believe it or not, this week began the whole “studying thing” as we like to call it.  I’ve had a ton of reading already.  Francis Bacon is not the easiest reading to start with, let alone a class away from the comforts of home.  But, we’re managing.  As everyone is. 

My London Theater Center class is amazing. It is my favorite so far, and I cannot believe how engaging and knowledgeable our professor is.  My least favorite class, no surprise here, is our required “Global London” course.  Our first discussion group went very poorly.  Perhaps the lowlight of the class came when the teacher asked us: “Do you know what social inequality is?”  I feel like I’m back in kindergarten.

Right now I am sitting in the beautiful London Center Library.  It’s not too cold outside, and I’ll have the chance to take a leisurely lunch with maybe a nap mixed in there for good measure.  No plans for tonight (yet).  This will likely change in the next few hours.  Who knows? Maybe I’ll just see another play…

An Internet-Guided Roadmap of Where I've been

Here is the purpose of this post:
I want to give you some pictures of places I've been, and I have not been able to have enough time to upload my own camera photos, so here are the websites to some of my favorite places I've traveled to thus far:

This is where we went to our special Program Dinner last evening:
http://web.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/15/1536/Knights_Templar/Chancery_Lane

Here is the theater where we saw Les Miserables:
http://www.london-theatreland.co.uk/theatres/queens-theatre/theatre.php

We sang karaoke and played trivia games at this pub:
http://www.citypridelondon.co.uk/

We had our opening mass at this place, not 25 minutes away, I hope to be back there soon:
http://www.universitycatholic.net/

I'm currently stealing this coffee shop's wi-fi connection (it's right next door to the flats):
http://www.freewordonline.com/facilities/cafe/

And I got a great deal on a 5pound bottle of wine at this grocery store:
http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/aboutus/recruitment/careers_new.htm

We've also traveled along St. James Square (as dictated by a class required trip), been to Buckingham palace (seen the guards, but haven't seen them "change" yet), seen Big Ben and Parliament ("Hey look, kids!"), and walked along the Thames.

While exploring I found these places, and I cannot wait to check them out further:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/
http://www.rada.ac.uk/
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

Well, there she is.  A little internet roadmap for you.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Talk to you soon.  Love. Bye.

Well here we are...

A few words about London.  First impressions: the city is complicated, efficient, and like a calico quilt of architecture.  I’m living in flat 13 of Kamen House.  Its claim to fame is an odd white overlay that covers the top three floors of the building.  Though it’s not by any means an historical building, I would guess that just about everyone familiar with the area would know what you were talking about.

I have five roommates, none of which I knew before and all of which seem like really decent guys.  We just recently made some big purchases for the flat: hand soap, dish soap, toilet paper, and you guessed it, paper towels.  One of the guys made a list of the items we still need to purchase.  Among them is the notorious “lighter”.  Courtesy of the lighter, or lack thereof, we have been unable to use our stove for the first two days.  Our breakfasts have been egg-less, our lunches grilled cheese-less, and our dinners pasta-less.  Unfortunate for a group of people trying to live on a budget, but we discovered some new places to eat in the meantime.

Pubs: I’ve been to two so far.  The Betsy Trotwood, located RIGHT by the flat.  And the City Pride, located two minutes from it.  Verdict?  The City Pride has friendly staff, two nice bar areas, fun themed nights (we’ve already been to karaoke and trivia night), and an overall good clean atmosphere.  It’s like being with a friendly local who’s excited to show you around.  The Betsy Trotwood?  Not so much.  After entering, I stayed for approximately 90 seconds, then left abruptly on account of the general atmosphere.  It’s small, beautiful, adorable, but unfriendly to at least this particular foreigner.  That doesn’t mean I won’t try to make a second effort; I may just want to go with a larger crowd, or maybe with a professor (if that should happen).

Orientation activities have been a strange mix of adrenaline-burning excitement, slouch-inducing boredom and jaw-clenching anxiety.  And these changes occur not every hour or so, but almost seconds apart.  Take the moment we discussed Rome for example: listen to the rectors talk about the free or greatly reduced prices for Easter events for Notre Dame students; then, listen to the nightmare that is Ryanair(lines) (supposedly), then zone out when they discuss any issue that doesn’t concern us (I would tell you, but frankly I wasn’t listening).

Now, I’m not very good at this blog-writing stuff, so forgive me if I trail off and start talking about things that overwhelm you with apathy.  I’ve never intended any of it.  Promise.

I’ve managed to obtain most of my required books, which is a blessing.  The others are pretty easy to find (excuse me, do you have any Shakespeare?), so that’s one problem solved.  I think…

The real problem right now is internet.  In a perfect world, I would have posted a blog entry yesterday, but, as they say “alas I have no internets in my flat”.  Well, I do…but not accessible to this computer.  I pre-registered for the housing company’s internet installation program, but I guess all of that work was for nothing.  I think I am one of the few students still stuck in the 1980s over here.  Not that it’s a bad thing, mind you.

British food, you ask?  The jury’s still out on this one.  I’ve eaten only about 4 truly british meals (i.e. meals not cooked by me or supplied by the program), some have been good, others have just been expensive.  Our librarian made a joke today.  The gist of it went something like this: “London is a rather expensive city—well actually it’s not so expensive any more, we’ve moved down two spots…from number one.”

Now, I have no idea which two supplanted it, but it really doesn’t give me any more financial consolation.  Oh well.  So it goes.

Thursday night I was jet lagged.  It got so bad that I had a slight crisis.  You see, my body thought it was 10pm, but London told me (and so did its weather) that it was a dark 4am in the morning.  Now, I’m no Cartesian dualist, but the events of two days ago certainly started swaying my sentiments closer to the I think therefore I am camp.

Today is Saturday January 15.  It is 1:32am as I write this (though, courtesy of no internets, it will be posted tomorrow at some time) and now it is time for bed.  Good Night London.  Good Evening America.

A Week Away from Departure

"We can, brother Sancho, plunge our hands all the way up to the elbows into this thing they call adventures."
---Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote


And so it begins. (almost).


This is a rather anticlimactic post, but its real purpose is to give you something to look at in the meantime.  I'm still very much at home right now, but I am starting to get ready for the "leap across the pond" that some United Airlines flight is scheduled to make one week from now.


As a way of introducing you to the blog, I'd like to point out a few things that may interest you.  The picture on the right shows the Notre Dame London Centre, the place where I'll be taking classes for the next four months or so.  Below the posts are several interesting links to pages that are relevant to what I'm posting about, and soon I will begin arranging a slideshow of pictures to post as well.


Well, that's all for now.  Until one week from now.