First off, I completely love my classes already. Of course, the first day of school can never start smoothly, for I woke up to a knock on my door about twenty minutes before class. How stressful! My first class was Topics in Theatre: From Shakespeare's Globe to the West End. The course involves learning the history of theatre and studying performances that touches on the wide range of theatre avenues that London has to offer. I cannot wait to attend all of the plays my professor has set up for us---our first one is this Tuesday! My second class was Creative Writing: Fiction. Can I just say how shocked I was after leaving that class? My professor is NOTHING like my professor at home, and I haven't decided whether that is a good thing or not. She is very relaxed and easygoing, assuring me that I am allowed to write whatever (and whenever) I want. I don't know what this class will provide for me, but just from talking with her I am beginning to believe that I will get my love for writing back here. I am so ready for that. My third class on Monday was Marketing, which, honestly, I am indifferent to. My professor was on holiday this past week so I haven't even met her yet. If it's worth reporting I'll talk about it later.
Then, on Tuesday I had Literary London and Topics in Art History: English Houses and Palaces, and they both hit home so perfectly. I am in love with these classes. LL has been slightly dry, since my professor is covering the history of literature and London, but everything he's covered I am in some way interested in. And the English Houses class literally had me geeking out the whole class period. We are visiting SO many palaces and houses this semester, starting with Hampton Court Palace in two weeks. However, in the class period, all we learned about was the different parts of an English house and medieval castles. If you know me even semi-well, you can probably guess that I was strugglinh to contain myself in my excitement.
The classes repeated themselves, and nothing really spectacular happened during the week. In my off times I took naps and watched Game of Thrones (I'm totally addicted, by the way). However, on Thursday, I met up with my long lost friend, Selina, to have afternoon tea at Harrod's. I had never been in Harrod's before, for the last time I went to London they were closed for the majority of the time due to the holidays. What extravagance! We were both awed and overwhelmed by the beauty and wealth of that store. The tea was lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with her, but afterward we walked through every floor, gawking at the high end clothing lines (Dolce&Gabbana for children? I mean really?!), cooing at the newly arrived toy poodle puppies (for about 2,000 pounds they could be yours!), and traveling up and down the ridiculously ornate Egyptian escalator. After that, I met up with Andy, Pam and Andy's friend Shay who took us to his favorite bars and I got a little more giddy than I had expected...moving on!
Friday, despite a rather nasty hangover, I forced myself out of bed to head to Buckingham Palace with Andy. Holy shit. How can I even begin to explain how breathtaking BP is? I don't really think I can--and since no photography was allowed, sadly I cannot use pictures to show what I can't describe. All I can say is, the palace is magnificent and huge, and it is unfathomable that the huge rooms filled with lavish decorations and famous portraits were only a small fraction of the whole building. HM the Queen also has a hidden doorway to her private chambers I mean how COOL is that?! This year marks her 60th anniversary as sovereign, so they had a whole sectioned dedicated to her coronation. They had on display her coronation dress as well as the clothing worn by her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, her sister and mother, and Prince Charles and Princess Anne. I mean, it was spectacular. I got to the end and just wished that I could have turned right back around to have another go.
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| Apparently the oldest rock lies in the basement of Harrod's... |
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| Who doesn't want hand lotion from Buckingham? |
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| I also got tea which I'm sure is a surprise to no one. |
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| Beautiful Buckingham. |
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| I also needed a mug for my new tea, so I ended up purchasing this on the way back. |
That night, the three of us went on a guided tour of Jack the Ripper. While it certainly hadn't been on the top of my list, I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it if anyone wants a little adrenaline rush one evening. The tour guide was a lot of fun, but once the sun went down and the orange, florescent lights lit the way through the deserted, eerie streets of East End, I admittedly did get a little creeped out, especially when we saw buildings that had survived since JtR's time. However, the shortcuts that our guide took to get to the next site led us through multiple alleyways with bustling restaurants and cafes, and once I muster my bravery I want to go back and find them again...they seemed absolutely lovely. I'm pretty sure after that tour I went back and fell asleep very quickly.
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| Our tour started at the Tower...so haunting! |
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| What remains of the great Roman wall that originally surrounded London |
The next morning, Andy forced Pam and I to go stand in a queue outside the box office of 'Once'. Fun fact: many theatres in London (and maybe other places too...I'm not enough of a theatre person to be savvy of such things) save the first couple of rows for people like us to buy tickets the day of the production. So, for 25 quid each (I'm going to use the slang word for pounds because I can't find a symbol on my keyboard) the three of us had front row seats to the shows. Gosh, what a great show! Theatres in London serve drinks beforehand, and you can choose the option of getting a drink to take in with you at intermission...they also serve ice cream too, which is awesome. However, in addition to all of that, 'Once' takes place in a bar, so before the show they served drinks on stage with free souvenir cups!
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| I actually am using this for my tea right now because it's so precious. |
What a fantastic musical! The second they started playing folk Irish songs I knew that I was in trouble. Being a sucker for love stories I had to restrain myself from bawling at the end, but I absolutely recommend it for anyone looking for a wonderful musical. After the show we raced to the stage door behind the theatre and managed to get signatures and pictures of the cast. Most of them were the walking understudies, so they were very enthusiastic for our support. And they were all so good...I hope that one day I see them on TV and can proudly say that I met them!
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| Andy emphasizing our proximity to the stage...and showing off his beer mug |
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| I tried to do the same but we got yelled at halfway through so there you go. |
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| The woman who played Girl....she was absolutely fantastic. |
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| Pam and I taking our picture with Guy, who sounded like he came straight from Mumford&Sons. |
This week shall be uneventful considering I'll have to focus on schoolwork and watching my spendings. Tip: London is expensive. Like, honestly. I'm visiting Stonehedge and Bath on Sunday though so hopefully I'll have at least something to report!
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| I think this was the last day of non-normal weather...sigh |
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