We started new our 2nd session class (which is now almost over) and I'm in British Victorian Lit, taught by a Truman professor. It's interesting, and I actually do feel like I've learned more by being in London. The London program has this phrase, "Use London as your classroom," which is really lame, but it makes a lot of sense... Anyway, we've gone on some field trips for this class. We went to the Charles Dickens Museum and the Florence Nightingale Museum. Also, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery. London has an incredible National Gallery. It's huge! I was there for a few hours and got through a little less than half of it, so I need to go back. The Tudor wing in the National Portrait Gallery was quite exciting for me. I am also not done going through there. Good thing they're free! We also had a guided tour of the Tate Britain through the program, which I had already been to. The tour was interesting though, because the guide was able to tell us things that aren't written on the plaques by the paintings.
I do have a very exciting story (I've already told this to several people.) One morning I woke up with a very strong urge to go see Les Mis. I've seen Les Mis before (more than once), but it's been a while. So that night, I went to see it, because I'm in London and I can do that. :) First of all, I'd forgotten how much I love that show. It was amazing. But the exciting part was... the guy playing Jean Valjean went to my high school!! How crazy is that?! I didn't know he was in the show, I just recognized his name in the program because I know someone who was in a show with him back in the day in St. Louis. So after the performance, I went back to the stage door and met him. We talked for a bit, and he seemed excited to meet someone from his hometown so far away. It was way cool.
Last weekend I went to Scotland with two other girls, one who is here for just 2nd session and one who is here for 2 and 3. We spent two days in Edinburgh, and one day we took a day tour to the highlands/Loch Ness/Urquhart Castle. We saw the Loch Ness monster, of course. And the highlands are absolutely breathtaking. I'll post some pictures. Our tour bus made a stop where we "met" a highland cow (very furry cows) named Hamish. Highland cows are so cute! Too bad they wouldn't like the climate in Missouri much, or I'd bring one home! Edinburgh's a great city. We went to the castle where we saw the crown jewels and the room where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI of Scotland/James I of England. And Edinburgh Castle has a cannon that they fire every day at 1pm, so we saw that. We also went to the National Gallery of Scotland and just wandered around Edinburgh quite a bit. It was a great weekend, even if it was cold and rainy.
Last Wednesday we had a field trip to Dover Castle and Canterbury Cathedral. We ran into traffic on the way there, so our time was cut short at the castle, which was very disappointing. We went through the WWII tunnels, which was cool, but there was so much more to see! I really wanted to see the WWII hospital and the medieval tunnels. Oh well. I was also kind of sad that we didn't get to see more of the famous white cliffs or Dover Beach. Then we headed off to Canterbury, and on the way to the Cathedral, our guide pointed out what's left of the church where Christopher Marlowe was baptised. That was exciting. And the Cathedral was beautiful, of course. And huge. And lots of people are buried in it. Also last week I went on a "Jack the Ripper Walk" where a guide took us around some shady looking parts of London where some of Jack the Ripper's victims were found, and told a version of the story. Apparently there's a conspiracy theory where the whole Jack the Ripper deal is related to the royal family. It's pretty interesting, but I don't know if it's true.
This past weekend I took the train to Aix-en-Provence (in southern France near Marseilles) to visit Jake where he's studying abroad. What a great weekend! It was so nice to see Jake, but it went by way too quickly. And Aix is absolutely beautiful. The weather during the day was hot, but at night it was perfect. On Saturday we did a lot of walking around the city center, which is all one way streets full of shops and restaurants. There's also the Cours Mirabeau, which is apparently the 2nd most beautiful street in France. The gelato is delicious. So was dinner on Saturday. We ate at a pretty nice place, outside of course. I had cod, and it came with veggies, potatoes, and three snails. I couldn't bring myself to try them, but Jake said they weren't bad. Aix is known for it's fountains throughout the city. It has a lot of them, and you can drink from most. It's also known for being the birthplace of Cezanne, so they have this thing called "footsteps of Cezanne" going around, where you can follow paths where he walked. It's pretty cool. I was sad to leave on Sunday, and had a rather traumatizing experience at the train station in Paris, where I had a layover... I didn't realize I had to change train stations. So I got directions and took the correct metro line... the wrong way. I only saw one way, so I assumed it was right, but apparently it wasn't. I missed my train and had to buy another ticket to get back to London. All they had left was first class, too. At least they fed me! Train food is actually pretty good.
And that brings me to today. I went to the Imperial War Museum this afternoon. It's huge and extremely well put together. Tom would love it. They had lots of tanks and various war machinery, and amazing exhibits on WWI and WWII. They had this "Trench Experience" where you could walk through a recreated WWI trench, which was eerily realistic. Then they had the "Blitz Experience," for WWII where you sat in a recreated shelter while the city around you was bombed, and they had recordings of people talking that were supposed to be with you in the shelter. After that, you came out of the shelter and walk down a recreated street that was just bombed. It was sad. I also went through their Holocaust exhibit, which was very moving, and a WWII through they eyes of children exhibit. I didn't realize that they evacuated so many children out of London. They also had a recreated house from WWII times that was really cool to walk through. It was really a depressing museum, but very interesting.
And now for pictures!
My friend, Hamish from Scotland:
The beautiful highlands:
Urquhart Castle from Loch Ness:
Edinburgh Castle from a park:
The white cliffs of Dover/Dover beach:
Canterbury Cathedral:
Fountain in Aix:
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