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!