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!

Amsterdam

Early Friday morning, I flew to Amsterdam to stay with the Strabucchi's (John and Evelien are pretty much my aunt and uncle, we aren't sure the actual term)! The flight was about 35 minutes-it felt like no time at all! The Strabucchis live about 40 minutes from the airport, and Evelien came and picked me up. I was a little nervous about staying with them the whole weekend since we had never met, but it ended up working out great. Evelien picked me up at the airport, and we went to the supermarket to try and figure out what things I could eat over the weekend. There is definitely not the same awareness about gluten and dairy free diets in Holland, but we were able to find some things. We went back to their house and I met Mabo and Leendert. Mabo is 24 and works nearby and lives with his girlfriend, who is an elementary school teacher. Leendert is 20 and is doing a really cool school program where he alternates between paid training in a hospital as an anesthesiologist and classes. Their house was very nice, and it definitely felt more like home and suburbia.

That afternoon, I had the opportunity to go to Mabo's girlfriend's (Michelle) classroom! Leendert drove me and we got to sit in the last 30 minutes of their day. Michelle teaches 12 year olds; in Holland, elementary school goes from age 4 (grade 1) to 12 (8th grade).It was really strange for me: there is only one teacher per grade, so there are only 50 students in the entire school! When we were there the kids were just doing free activities, but Michelle used me as a little English lesson for the kids. All Dutch children learn English and Dutch in elementary school. She had the kids ask me questions about America, but they had to ask in English. They asked really interesting questions-how do we learn math, how big is our school yard, are we served hot food? I answered the math question with something about homework and they all laughed-you don't get homework in Holland until high school. It was really cool to see and hear about the differences between Dutch and American schools. They are pretty similar in some ways, and very different in others!

Later in the day, Evelien took me to the "city center" of Almere. Almere is a new suburb of Amsterdam, very much like Short Pump. We went to the mall and walked around, but it was pretty cold and snowy, so we didn't stay long. We went back and I met Jan, who is 14 and in high school. They have one more son, Frans Willem, who lives at a college in Utrecht. We just hung out before dinner, and Evelien made a great fish dinner. After dinner, I went with Mabo and Leendert to one of Mabo's friend's house warming parties. It was really fun to meet their friends, and luckily they spoke pretty good English. It's always interesting saying that I'm from Virginia and no one having any idea where that is. Also it's interesting that everyone can speak English and their native language, while Americans can barely speak English. I was really glad I was able to have an opportunity to talk to actual Dutch people; usually when we've been traveling, we haven't been able to talk to the locals.

On Saturday, I slept in a little and then John and I went into Amsterdam. We took the train, and it was only about 20 minutes-very convenient! It was pretty cold and windy, but luckily the rain that was forecasted never came. We came into Amsterdam Centraal station, a very beautiful neo-Gothic building.

First, we walked towards the Anne Frank house to see how long the line was. Along the way, John pointed out important buildings and gave me little tidbits of information about each one. It was really nice to have someone who knew the city show me around. I really learned a lot about Amsterdam! On our way, I saw Dam Square, which is where the town hall is. The Netherlands has a queen, but she is resigning and her son is taking over control on April 30th. His coronation will take place in Dam Square.

Town Hall

The New Church (the Old Church is in the Red Light district)

The Anne Frank House line was super long, so we decided to head over to the Rijkmuseum (The Royal Museum), which has art by Rembrandt and Vermeer. I actually didn't know about many of the paintings there, but I've learned about those artists, so it was really interesting to see some of their other work. I had hoped to go to the Van Gogh Museum, but it's under construction until the end of April. Just outside the Rijkmuseum was the famous "I amsterdam" sign, so we stopped and I took a few pictures. On the way to and from the museum, we passed over Amsterdam's many canals. The canals were built during the Golden Age of the 17th century, and form almost a U around the Amsterdam Centraal. It is a really picturesque city, and I'm sure it would be much more beautiful with green trees leaning over the water ways.

So many bikes!

By this time I was getting pretty hungry, so we stopped in a pancake place and I got to try both kinds of Dutch pancakes. First I had a large apple pancake, covered in powdered sugar and syrup, which was delicious! Then I had poffertjes, which are little circular pancakes, also covered in sugar and syrup-they are much doughier, but equally delicious!

John told me that there was a little square right in the middle of the city that was very quiet and beautiful. He wasn't sure if we would be able to go, since it's a residential area and the residents weren't happy about tons of people always coming and going. It was open when we went, and it really was a cute little area. Just a small square with a church and row houses all around with Netherlands flags. It was pristine and calm, which felt very different from the city outside.

We walked back to the Anne Frank House, which had a considerably shorter line. The wait was still about 30 minutes, but it wasn't too bad; it was definitely worth it. The boys had told me that I was going to be depressed by the house, and they were definitely right. The "museum" is simple: after the 8 people living in the Secret Annex were arrested, all of the furniture was removed from the space. When the space was turned into a museum, Otto Frank wanted to keep the rooms bare. As you walk through the exhibit, there are snippets from Anne's diary on the wall, pictures of the inhabitants, and videos from those who survived. It is a very touching and emotional display. It is so easy to forget how poorly other people are treated, and this house was a reminder of the atrocities of the Holocaust. Anne Frank was so young and so full of life, and it is such a tragedy that she and so many other children had their lives cut short. The house made me appreciate my own life and the privileges I have as an American. I walked out feeling sad, but enlightened. 

Although I enjoyed the Anne Frank House, I definitely needed a pick me up afterwards, which I got in the form of french fries with mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is used more frequently on fries than ketchup, so I had to try it! I actually really liked it, but I don't think I could do it all the time. 

On our way back to the Centraal station, we stopped and I took a few pictures by the canals. The view is pretty much the same over every bridge, but I still loved it! It was often strange, there were really crowded streets, but some were completely empty except for us.

We passed through the Red Light district on the way to the station, as well. It was very weird-on the main street by the canal, it looks like any other area, although with a few more coffee shops (places to buy weed, which is totally legal). Ironically, right in the middle of the district is the Old Church. It's on the side streets that you see most of the red lights and girls in windows. It was a really weird experience: girls are literally in their bras and underwear standing in a window looking at you. We didn't pass by too many places with girls in them, but it made me really uncomfortable. John said the government is trying to crack down on prostitution, but it's very hard since it's so ingrained in the culture. It was a really bizarre experience walking through the red light district with my uncle, but I'm glad I was able to see it!

We took the train back to Almere (the town they live in), and had another delicious dinner. There were big rugby matches on, so John, Leendert and I just watched them all night. It was really interesting to learn about a totally different sport. There are so many rules to rugby that don't seem to make sense, much like American sports. Now I can at least watch the sport and know what's going on!

My flight left at 10:15 on Sunday morning, so I just got up and John and Evelien drove me to the airport. My flight was really short again, and I arrived back in London in time for St. Patrick's day festivities! It was a really great weekend; I really appreciated the Strabucchi's hospitality and kindness. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures-next time!

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!