Wednesday: A day full of history

I had been looking forward to Wednesday's classes all week because I knew they were both history. First of the day was European history in the 20th century. My professor is an older lady who, while a bit boring, is very sweet and knowledgeable. JMU definitely knows how to pick good professors. Ms. Dobbs gave us an overview of Europe before World War I, highlighting the governments and cultural themes in each of the major countries at the time. I definitely realized that I'm not as familiar with this time period as I am with World War I and on in the 20th century. Our outing was to the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is a beautiful and interesting building. The exhibit we were supposed to see was actually closed, so we just looked at some art from Europe in the late 1800s-early 1900s.

View of the V&A from the street

This was without a doubt the coolest part of the museum we saw. This part isn't finished, but they are plaster casts of famous sculptures from other parts of Europe. Recognize Michaelangelo's "David"?!

We all took the tube back and ate lunch, then headed back to the classroom for Art History with Rachel, another great professor. She's a very interesting lady, and definitely just looks artsy. Again, the class sounds more focused on us experiencing the art rather than sitting in a classroom all day; after about an hour we went on our outing. In the bitter cold (which has been the norm since I've been here), our class walked to the National Gallery. As we entered the building, I got an incredible view of Trafalgar Square with Big Ben in the background. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a picture. I know I'll be back, though. In the National Gallery, we looked at some Medieval to Renaissance art. Since I've taken an art history class before, I was familiar with the themes and aspects of the art, but it was really cool to be learning about it in an actual gallery. Especially one that has the REAL versions of many pieces I had studied in my previous class. Rachel actually used to work at the National Gallery, so she knew all about everything there. I love that our professors are so interested in their subject matter!

The National Gallery

On the way back from the Gallery, I stopped in a Starbucks to grab a gluten free tuna sandwich. We had a group meeting that evening, and Charlotte (the house manager) had said she would be ordering pizza for everyone, so I naturally just bought my own dinner. The sandwich was AWESOME. I definitely see myself eating many a tuna sandwich for lunch in the future. We definitely need them in the states ASAP. At the meeting we took a 330 question survey that was very odd. It was all about our beliefs and values, but the way the questions were worded was really funny. A group of us met to talk about our travel plans for the semester; not much was actually established but it sounds like I'll have to some people who want to travel with me!

I tried to Skype with Jay, but our video connection kept messing up :( I know it's because there's 28 of us trying to use Skype at the same time every night, but the whole spotty internet thing is getting old.