Week 8

Week 8 was pretty lax, which everyone definitely needed after spring break. Saturday and Sunday were spent recharging and getting used to the London cold again.

Monday, I woke up to a windy and snowy London! I decided to brave the cold anyway and go with Meagan to Camden Market. I found a great gluten free and vegan bakery! Their brownie was to die for. On the way back from Camden, we realized we had to switch tubes at King's Cross Station. Neither of us had been there yet, so we decided to go up and take pictures with Platform 9 3/4. The display is really weird: it's not even at a platform, and they have a designated line. They even have people with scarves and a professional camera taking pictures for you! Ah, tourism. We took our pictures then headed back to Madison House, where I just curled up with "Heart of Darkness," which I had to read for film.

Off to school!

Tuesday was pretty boring until Culture by Design. It was too cold to walk to the Cinema Museum, so Mo just played us video clips and took us to a cafe in Russell Square, which was a nice break.

The CBD outing was REALLY cool! We went to the Leake Street "Graffiti gallery." My teacher just named it this to slip it into the academic calendar, it's really just an unregulated tunnel of graffiti. It's really cool though, because the graffiti is totally legal. People can just go and spray paint anything they want, and as a result, the visage of the walls changes weekly. We spent time wandering around, trying to find our favorite pieces. I was struck by how colorful it was. I've never had any desire to graffiti anything, but I'm always impressed by the artistic ability of "writers." 

Love this quote. My teacher said as long as he's been coming to the tunnel, this has never been painted over.

Mario!

After CBD, a group of us (also after getting lost on the bus...) decided to go to Wagamama for dinner. It was delicious, and they were able to accommodate for my being gluten free. My noodle soup was awesome :)

For history on Wednesday, we went to the Science Museum. We were learning about the postwar technological advances, so we went to an exhibit on such things as washing machines, vacuums, and other domestic technologies. I definitely thought of my brother Chris, while I was there. They had an area where you could "fly" a plane and to get to our exhibit we had to walk through a space exploration exhibit. I know where he would have been spending all of his time if he came to London!

For art history we went to the temporary Manet exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts. It was really cool to have an employee of the Academy show us around the exhibit and explain the important pieces. I wasn't as familiar with Manet's work, so it was really great to get "insider" information. If I had gone by myself, I probably would have come away with much different messages, especially because there is not much behind Manet's work than it being a "slice of life." For those of you who the name doesn't ring a bell, this is one of his most famous pieces, "The Railway":

Thursday, I went to Twinings with Kelsey and bought a TON of tea! I love tea so I had to go to the iconic London store to get some English breakfast tea. After our shopping, we went to Tea and Tattle for a scone and tea. 

Raspberry and vanilla jam with clotted cream

Tomorrow I leave for Amsterdam! I'm staying until Sunday with family, the Strabuccis. I'm really excited to meet them. I'm traveling by myself, which is a little intimidating, but I know I'll be fine. After all of my other travels, I feel like a pro at navigating airports. This will be the last time I fly before I head home in April, thankfully. Cheers!