The coldest March in 50 years

Really though. My art history professor told us yesterday that this has been the coldest  March in London in half a century. And of course it's while we're here. Ah well, at least I'm freezing in London.

I had a paper due Wednesday, so Monday was pretty low key. For my history paper, I had to compare some aspect of the United States to two European countries. Since I had visited Michelle's school in the Netherlands, I decided to talk about the different elementary education systems. I found that in terms of structure, all three systems are pretty similar. However, the Dutch have little to no testing and allow their schools a significant amount of freedom in terms of organization and assessment. They seem more focused on allowing kids to just be kids instead of test-taking machines. As a future teacher, it's great to have the opportunity to see what works and what doesn't work in other countries!

On Tuesday, we went to the National Gallery for media and society. Usually Mo takes us to places that we aren't sure are really relevant, but he sells it so by the end of class you kind of get it. For this class, he prefaced by saying "I'm going to try and convince you that this fits with what I'm talking about." In class, he discussed art and the media, comparing art in a museum with advertising. The museum was definitely a stretch; he kept pointing to famous pieces from the 1500s and saying "this is when Hollywood started." I love the National Gallery, so I didn't mind being back, but definitely one of Mo's weaker lessons. He had started doing so well to relate things recently, too!

It was back to Trafalgar Square for Culture by Design when we went to the National Portrait Gallery. We saw a temporary exhibit of George Catlin's portraits of Native Americans in the West. We're still talking about stereotypes in the media, so we were examining the portraits to get a sense of what Americans think about Indians. I really enjoyed the exhibit. Indians are often viewed as belligerent, stupid, and savage. While you could certainly get those ideas from the paintings by Catlin, I feel he was just painting what he saw. It's hard, because stereotypes have to come from somewhere, they're just usually skewed by society and the media. Except for one painting (which was a portrait OF Catlin), I definitely didn't get the sense that he was just carrying "the white man's burden," which often happens in an ethnography.

After CBD we went to CHIPOTLE! I got my usual burrito bowl with tortilla chips. In some ways I liked it better; they don't use as much cilantro here, which I like. However, maybe the cilantro gives it some of the flavor it needs, cause my food was a little bland. Everyone thought it tasted different, which it did, but it was still good!

On Wednesday, we talked about the break up of the Soviet Union and watched "The Lives of Others." The film came out in 2006 and actually won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2007 (well deserved). Set in East Berlin in 1984, the film follows the story of playwright George Dreyman, who begins to be watched the State Security. It essentially shows the totalitarian state of Germany under Soviet rule, and the struggles people face when they have to choose to do the right thing. Definitely worth a watch! It's sad but powerful.

For art history we went to the V&A to see the David Bowie exhibit!! It was really cool, but really crowded. I was excited to see the exhibit and I heard great things about it, but I was a little skeptical that we were going for an art class. But the exhibit convinced me that art isn't just about painting with a paintbrush, it can be performance too. The exhibit really immerses you in the life and mind of David Bowie, from his beginnings in London to the present. The coolest part was that you wore headphones the entire time, which picked up on where you were and played particular songs or sound bites depending on where you were standing. It was hard and frustrating sometimes because it was so crowded, I'd have to wait a while to read everything. By the end, I kind of gave up and just looked, which honestly was just as good. I'm really glad we were able to see this exhibit while in London!

Bath

We arrived in Bath around 5:30, so after some regrouping time, everyone set out in search of food. JMU was playing Indiana, so a lot of people were trying to find somewhere to watch the game as well as eat. Of course there was an England football game on, so we weren't able to find anywhere playing it :( Six of us ended up at an Italian restaurant, where I was able to get a gluten free pizza with no cheese! It was quite delicious. After dinner, we headed to the nearby pub, the Pig and Fiddle. It was filled with 20-somethings, and had a really relaxed atmosphere, which we all really liked. At 10, there was a DJ, so it picked up a little bit. We stayed for a couple hours, then headed to Mr. D's, the burger joint just across from our hotel. Their potato wedges are out of this world!

In the morning, we had a walking tour of Bath. Again, it was really cold, but a little less windy. We went to all the big places in Bath, such as the Royal Crescent, Circus (the first circular street ever), the Pulteney Bridge, and finally the Abbey.

The Royal Crescent

Assembly Rooms

Broad Street, the narrowest street in Bath

Javert's suicide from the new Les Mis was filmed here

The Abbey

On our tour, we passed Sally Lunn's, the oldest building in Bath, and also home to delicious Sally Lunn buns. Eight of us sprinted over there after the tour to beat the crowds and had a DELICIOUS lunch! The bun is almost like a big cake; my sandwiches were made from just half of one.

We had a tour of the Roman Baths after lunch, so our whole group headed over there. Thankfully, the tour was primarily inside. I thought the baths were really cool, but the tour definitely dragged. It's incredible that there is such a hot spring of water in such a cold area, and that it still exists. The water has been used for healing since its beginning. I mostly just wanted to get through the tour so I could stand next to the warm water! The water is green, which is kinda gross; we were advised not to touch it!

We were free the rest of the day, so some of us went to a fudge place nearby, where I got a delicious candied apple! We just wandered around the shops and then headed back to the hotel until dinner.

For dinner we went to Revolution, which definitely had more of a bar feel than restaurant. This could also be because I'm pretty sure we were the only non-hen party group there. The food was AWESOME though, and they had pretty cheap pitchers which we split. It was Meagan's birthday, so we bought her some drinks :) We stayed there for a little bit, but it was pretty empty, so we decided to find somewhere else to go. It was still early, so we ended up striking out pretty much every where we went. We went back to the Pig and Fiddle for a little while, but I guess everyone was tired, so we only stayed for a little while before going back to the hotel. Before going home, we had to buy Meagan her own Mr. D's potato wedges though!

On Sunday, we left Bath for Stonehenge and Windsor Castle. It was bitterly cold still, so when we got to Stonehenge, we literally just walked around the perimeter, took some pictures, and got back on the bus. I was really surprised by how small the stones look in person. I expected big, imposing rocks, but they were a bit underwhelming. We had audio guides, but I couldn't even take my hands out of my pockets to listen to it. Definitely cool that it's mysterious, I just wish I could have seen it on a nicer day. Oh well, I've seen Stonehenge! It's weird, at this point in the trip, everything feels normal. Seeing Stonehenge doesn't feel as crazy as seeing Big Ben did 10 weeks ago. It's a weird feeling, getting used to seeing famous structures.

Rocks on rocks on rocks

We all piled on the bus and headed to Windsor Castle. This is the royal residence, and where the Queen calls her home. We were given audio guides, so we just wandered around the grounds and in the state apartments. It was cool to imagine all the royals standing where I stood. Everything was decorated so ornately and it was really beautiful (not to mention warm!). I'm not sure if the Queen was there; there wasn't really an indicator that I saw, like at Buckingham Palace. 

We had 2 hours in Windsor, then headed back to home sweet Madison House. We just hung out, and I got to Skype with my parents and Nan (my grandmother)! I wish I could be at home to visit with her, but it was definitely nice to hear her voice! Since it was Meagan's birthday, we watched Notting Hill, which was terrible. Definitely a relaxed, but great weekend! I just hope it starts warming up a little before we leave!

Stratford-Upon-Avon

On Thursday afternoon we departed in our coach (which picked us up at Madison House, so convenient) around 2pm for Stratford, the birthplace of William Shakespeare! We arrived there around 4:30, and had to meet at 7 pm at the Royal Shakespeare Theater for our production of Hamlet. I actually ended up being in my own room in the hotel! At first I was nervous about being by myself, but it ended up being awesome. I forgot how nice it is to sleep in my own double bed ALONE in a room.

My digs for the night

It was bitterly cold and windy, so the usual seven of us made a beeline for the center of town to find somewhere to eat. We settled on the Rose and Crown, a pub, where I had a delicious combo fish and chips and a treacle sponge cake!

The theater

The production of Hamlet was phenomenal. The theater was set up like the Blackfriar's in Staunton (and I assume the real one), with a stage that juts out in a rectangle and the audience sits all around it. We were all really surprised when the lights went down and the actors appeared in modern day clothes. I like to call the production "Hipster Hamlet." All of the words were original Shakespeare, but the atmosphere was decidedly modern. At first I was really thrown off by this change, but the acting was incredible. I could tell each of the actors was passionate about their character and knew them inside out. This was great, especially because the show was three and a half hours long, and I wasn't bored at all. After the play, the actors who played Horatio (Hamlet's friend) and Ophelia came back to the hotel and talked to us. Listening to them talk was mandatory for the theater class, but it was open to everyone so I stuck around. It was awesome to hear the actors' opinions about their characters and hear how they prepared to play such iconic roles. Not to mention they were really sweet and eloquent people.

The next morning, our group took a coach to Anne Hathaway's Cottage, about 10 minutes outside the city. Interestingly, the only significance of the cottage is literally that it's where Anne Hathaway grew up, nothing to do with Shakespeare. It was still a really cute cottage and it's always interesting to see how people lived hundreds of years ago. 

The coach next took us to the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried. Unfortunately, there was a school church service beginning right as we got there and we weren't able to enter the church. Everyone was really bummed, but we couldn't wait for the church to reopen to enter. It was a beautiful church.

Instead of riding in the coach, our tour guide walked us through the city from the church to Shakespeare's birthplace. This would have been a nice leisurely walk if it hadn't been sub zero with 20 mph wind. I felt so badly for acting impatient, but it really was ridiculously cold and our guide kept stopping and telling us irrelevant information. We did get to see the little town of Stratford, which I enjoyed. Finally we made it to the birthplace of Shakespeare. Again, very neat to see how people lived long ago, even though the house has been renovated since Shakespeare's time.  

Shakespeare's birthplace

We had a few hours before we left for Bath, so we just got lunch and popped into stores to shield ourselves from the cold. The motto of the weekend was definitely "this would be so nice in the summer." Our coach picked us up and then we were on to Bath!

J-M-U DUUUKES

The Dukes are officially on the NCAA bracket! Our next game is against the number one seed (and we're sixteenth), so we'll see how long we last, but STILL! I hadn't realized how good our team was this season, so it's been awesome winning the CAA Conference and then getting to go to the NCAA. This is the first time since 1983 JMU has been in the tournament. I wish I could be at JMU to celebrate with everyone. We tried to watch the game at a bar here, but after going to three different places last night, we had to settle for keeping up online. I'm so proud of my school and our team!

Earlier in the day Wednesday, I went to the Wellcome Collection near the University of London. It was a neat place, dedicated to Henry Wellcome and full of medicine and wellness information. Their tagline is "a free destination for the incurably curious." We went for history, mostly because my teacher wanted to take us to the cafe there. Each of our professors gets a certain amount of money, but because most of our outings are free, they've been using it to buy us coffee and snacks at cafes. I was able to find a delicious gluten free cake there! We then went around the exhibit, which had information about obesity, malaria, and the human genome. The really cool area was Wellcome's collection of assorted objects: a chastity belt, Napoleon Bonaparte's toothbrush, Charles Darwin's walking sticks, among other interesting things. Just a room full of junk, but the coolest junk I've ever seen. Definitely a cool place.

For art, we went to the Courtauld Gallery, which had pieces from the impressionist movement: Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin. There was also a really cool exhibit called "Becoming Picasso," which had pieces by Picasso only from the year 1901. This was before he really became famous. He actually saw some of van Gogh's art and was inspired to make the paintings displayed in the exhibit. It was fascinating to see his progression: paintings from the first half of the year are colorful, with broad brush strokes, and depict parts of  Parisian night life. In the second half however, he becomes much more introspective and tormented, due to the suicide of his best friend Carlos Casagemas. His friend's death is what inspired the Blue Period, and I was able to see the beginnings of it. It was crazy to see the dramatic changes people can undergo in just one year. I love going to all of these art museums and seeing pieces that are lesser known, but just as important to in artist's career.

Thursday morning, Kelsey and I went over to Abbey Road! It was certainly different than what I expected. I obviously knew it was on a street, but little did we know how busy said street is. And the drivers definitely don't care if you're trying to take a picture; it's definitely not an established tourist spot. We had to wait about 20 minutes just to get pictures without cars or other people in the picture. We did get to see the Abbey Road Studios, which was neat. Still a cool experience to be in the same place as the album cover! We attempted to take pictures, but it was rather difficult.

This weekend, we're going to Stratford and Bath! We're seeing Hamlet being performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, which should be AWESOME. In Bath we get to see Jane Austen related sights and the Roman Baths. On our way back, we're going to Stonehenge and Windsor Castle!

What is this "spring"?

It might be the first day of spring here, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. The temperatures have warmed since I got here in January, but this is not what I'm used to for spring weather. Oh well, typical London.

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day, and I got back in time from Amsterdam to join in the festivities. There was a festival in Trafalgar Square, which Meagan, Fiona and I went to check out. It was PACKED with people, all wearing green, some with face paint, and in varying degrees of drunkenness. We pushed our way through the crowds to get food and drink-fish and chips and cider for me. There was a large stage and bands changed about every half hour. It rained off and on (until it started to pour around 3), but it was still really fun to listen to live music and be in the company of others. We saw the difference between British and American police when some boys got in the fountains. The police just walked around asking them to leave, but didn't really take much action. I know if it had happened in America, the security would have physically removed the boys from the fountain. Definitely funny. We stayed for a couple hours, until the cold and rain shooed us away. That night, a large group of us headed to Porterhouse, one of our favorite bars. It was pretty fun, and also very busy. As usual, there was live music there, which is always great. I've never seen so many ginger people in one place! Definitely a fun St. Patrick's Day this year! The Brits know how to celebrate.

Trafalgar Sqaure!

The boys in the fountain

On Monday, I wrote my Culture By Design paper-how does De Beers (a designer I chose) communicate its values to shoppers through their store. That evening, I had a really cool opportunity to go to Parliament. It was the outing for the Media and Politics class, but it was free and the teacher said I could tag along. Little did I know that not only would the Prime Minister, David Cameron, be there, but that I would witness the settling of the huge debate about press regulation. There was a huge scandal with phone-hacking, which led Parliament to create an independent regulator which controls the press. I unfortunately hadn't been keeping up with the story before going to Parliament, so I was a bit confused watching. But it was still really cool to sit and hear the MPs talk. I saw history being made!

On Tuesday, we went to Notting Hill for media and society. This area is most famously featured in the Hugh Grant movie "Notting Hill," but it's been used a lot for movie filming and is just a really cool, diverse area. We're learning about film in the class now, so this was definitely fitting. Mo took us to Notting Hill, but then just left us with our tour guide, Andy. Andy took us around the area, pointing out areas that have been used in movies. There is a big market on Portobello Road on the weekends, which I'll definitely have to go back and check out. It was just a really neat area that's changed a lot over the years. You go from extremely wealthy areas to council flats within a block. I loved the colored buildings!

Parts of Spice World was filmed here!!

The Travel Book Shop in Notting Hill movie

Original Banksy

For CBD, we watched Django Unchained. We were learning about stereotypes in the media, so this was obviously a good movie to talk about that. I like Tarantino's plots (or lack thereof) and dialogue, but I usually don't watch his movies because they're so gory. Django wasn't any different, but I still really liked it. It was so funny, but still really left an impact. He did a lot of research to make it accurate, but also purposely made historical inaccuracies. This was really interesting to see. For instance, there's a scene with the KKK (which is actually probably the funniest scene in the entire movie), but the movie is supposed to take place before the Civil War, when the KKK didn't exist. I'm really glad we got to watch the movie in class! Sometimes I forget I get college credit to do such awesome things!