Tour of Parliment, The British Museum, and a traditional Enlgish dinner

On Monday we met at Parliament for my British Life and Culture class and we went on a two hour tour of Parliament. The Parliament building is not as old as I thought that it would be. It was built 150 years ago. We went to see the Queen's room, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The Queen or any other royalty are never allowed to go into the House of Commons. The House of Lords is filled with gold and has a throne for the Queen. The House of Commons is very plain and has no gold. Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take photos inside so I have none to post from my tour. After touring Parliament I went to The British Museum with my Art History class. Philippa took us around to show us some interesting stuff. The Rosetta Stone is at The British Museum, which is the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs. When the Egypt was ruled by other empires one of the Kings had a message put in three different languages put on a big piece of stone. Because Egyptian hieroglyphs was put with two other languages with the same message people were able to figure out hieroglyphics. I was also able to see some real mummies! It was a very interesting exhibit. The Egyptians also mummified animals so I was able to see a snake, bird, crocodile, and cat mummy. The 2012 Olympic Medals were also on display in the museum. My favorite thing that I saw was probably a tree that was made out of guns. It is called the Tree of Life, which was made after the Mozambique Civil War. The war lasted for almost 16 years and when the war was over the soldiers turned in their weapons. It is quite odd that the Tree of Life is made from weapons that killed so many people during the war.







Yesterday night, I came back to the flat and had to prepare a traditional English meal with my flat for Lyndon and his wife. We had spotted dick and toad in a hole. Spotted dick is almost like a cake and toad in a hole is sausage made in a dough. Lyndon and his wife came by each flat and sampled some of the meal. At the end they decided on a winner and my flat won! We got a bag of crisps and 4 different kinds of alcoholic drinks for a prize!


Today I had class with Rob and we learned about the Rolling Stones and a bunch of other rock n roll bands. For British Literature my teacher took us to the British Library where we saw real mauscripts from Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, Beatles lyrics, and the Magna Carta.

Shakespeare, Shopping, London Icebar, & Abbey Road

On Thursday I went to the New Red Lion Theatre to see a The Works of Shakespeare Abridged. This was a comedy that incorporated all 37 of Shakespeare's plays with three actors. We had a lot of difficulty finding the theatre, because it is a very small unknown theatre that holds less than 50 people. I was not the biggest fan of the performance, but a lot of people from my program thought it was really funny.
On Friday after class I headed to Trafalgar Square to meet Curtis for lunch. I took him to Pizza Express, which was really good. Then we went shopping! We went to Covent Garden where we bought some art work to put in our apartments next year. We bought a piece that had 9 photos of all the major places in London framed! We then went to Oxford Circus to do some more shopping. I bought a sweater there and Curtis bought 3! From there we headed back to his flat and met up with his friend Tony. They were having friends from school who were studying in Dublin and at Oxford visit for the weekend. We decided to make them dinner for when they arrived so we went to buy groceries at Sainsbury's and Iceland. We made chicken fettuccine Alfredo. It took a while for Luke and Ryan to get to us. None of the boys had exchanged their international phone numbers and they weren't sure where Luke and Ryan were being dropped off at, but we finally found them! We then headed to the London Ice Bar!! The London Ice Bar is a bar where the whole place is made of ice. The seats, the bar, the tables, and even the cups are all made of ice. They give you a big blue hooded jacket and gloves to wear while you are in there. It was a ton of fun! We were only able to stay in there for about 45 minutes, because it is such a popular place to go. From there we went to try and find a pub to go to, but we ended up getting into a club for free so we went there instead. Ryan had quite the dances moves and provided much of the entertainment for the night. Then it was an adventure to get on the night buses! We finally made it home after a very fun day though!





To the left is a picture of my ice cup!










Today we went to Abbey Road where the Beatles had their studios. It is about 10 minutes away from my flat. We found out that we were taking pictures for awhile on the wrong cross walk, but we got some pictures on the right one too! I was also able to see the studios where the Beatles produced their albums. My teacher Rob used to work there, which is pretty cool! Rob also told us that a lot of people write their names on the gate outside the studios so I came prepared with a pen and was able to write my name and Curtis' name on the gate.

A tour of Westminster Abbey and War Cabinet Rooms

Today was our Wednesday day trip around London. I started off with Philippa at Westminster Abbey. Philippa seems to know just about everything and everyone! She studied history at Oxford and is a living encyclopedia. All of the workers and monks at Westminster Abbey came up and where talking to her while we were there, because they all knew her. She walked us into a courtyard that is right outside the Abbey first. Here is where the best boys school choirs is located and where the author of Winnie the Pooh lived. Then we walked into the Abbey. Thousands of people are buried in Westminster Abbey and it took almost 700 years to build due to money problems. It is very interesting walking around London and the Abbey because a lot of the city is new mixed with old. This is due to bombing that have taken place in London and buildings or parts of buildings to be rebuilt. There is a burial in the beginning of the Abbey that is dedicated to an unknown warrior during the first World War. Philippa said that she had seven great aunts that never married, because nearly one million men where killed in a battle during World War I. She said that for 2.5 days men walked constantly marching to battle across the street in front of the Abbey. One random soldier was returned from France and buried in the Abbey. It is the only body that no one walks on in the building. I however got to walk on hundreds of Kings and Queens bodies and also other famous Brits such as Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens. The Abbey does not hold services for the public and is a private church. The Abbey had to make their money by selling burial spots. Some people in the Abbey are just random people that didn't do anything but had a lot of money. The Abbey was a beautiful place, but as Philippa said it is almost like a junkyard. There are burial places that all look completely different for famous Brits, Kings and Queens, and random people. There is Catholic items and Protestant items in the Abbey. There is also some different types of architecture, because it took so long to build. Philippa was also able to have one of the monks include Ball State University in a short prayer service that was announced to the whole church.
After this we grabbed a small lunch and Philippa took us to Saint James Royal Park, which is located right outside of Buckingham Palace. She also showed us where Prince Charles and Camilla live in the Clarence House. From there I went to the War Cabinet Rooms Museum. This is the actual place where Winston Churchill and other leaders stayed during the bombings in World War II. It is an underground building with cement that is 6 feet deep above to protect them from bombings. I was able to see where Churchill and other leaders had meetings about leading the war. It is exactly how it was when the meetings where taken place during the war. It also had a separate museum dedicated to Winston Churchill. I was able to learn a lot about Churchill. Some interesting things that I never knew before was that Churchill was also a writer and artist. He often worked 18 hour days. He always had a drink at every meal and was very specific about his meals. He was the first person to earn an honorary citizenship from the United States. He was the first person in over a hundred years to receive a public funeral at Saint Paul's that the Queen attended. He was an active member of Parliament until he died at the age of 90.
After my day trip ended I came back to the flat and had some dinner. Then I went over to Curtis' flat to plan some traveling and I also skyped with Monty!

Some things I've learned:
Private schools are called public schools here



Here is a video of a man that we met on our tour at Westminter Abbey. It is a priest that had been at Westminster Abbey since he was 16 and this is him doing some cartwheels at the Royal Wedding.

A weekend visit to Amsterdam!

I left for Amsterdam right after my class on Friday. I met Curtis at one of the tube stops and we took the train to Gatwick Airport. It was about a 30 or 35 minute ride on the train to the airport. Our flight left at 3 and it was about a 45 minute flight. We had to take the train again in Amsterdam to get to central Amsterdam. Then we went straight to our hostel which was in a very nice location! Our hostel was called the Botel Zebra. It was a boat hotel that was on one of the many canals in Amsterdam. It was owned by a very nice lady and was a lot nicer than I expected. It also came with free breakfast! We checked in and dropped all of our stuff off in our room and then set off to explore Amsterdam. We got something to eat first at a restaurant. I was really surprised that most people spoke English there. Then we walked around in the city for awhile. Right when we turned the corner of the restuarant we found the Red Light District. We walked down the street. It was very interesting and was quite the experience walking through it. There were coffee shops and sex stores on every corner. We called it a night after walking around for awhile. We woke up and got breakfast on Saturday and went to try and find a market. Unfortunately we could not find the market. We decided to head to the Anne Frank museum, but we took a wrong turn and ended up right by the Heineken Brewery. We go there right at it was opening! We bought tickets for the tour and we got free hats! The Heineken Brewery was a lot better and bigger than I thought. We learned how Heineken started, how beer was made, and much more! We each got 3 free beers (Curtis had the potential for 6 free beers because I only had a sip of mine haha). After the tour we headed to the Anne Frank house. I wasn't able to get any photos, because they aren't allowed but it was an amazing place. From there we walked around a little bit more. We ran into the tulip market. There was so many people there to get their tulips in one of the squares. I wish I could have been there sometime in the spring or summer and made a trip out to the tulip fields. Then we headed back to the Botel Zebra and took a short nap and then went out to get dinner. On Friday night we saw a lot of places that had food that were probably for people with the munchies coming from the coffee shops so we decided to get a bunch of snacks for dinner. We went to a place and Curtis got a hot dog covered with a bunch of stuff and I got a slice of pizza. We also went on a mission to find a place that sold just fries. We were looking for a really long time for this place, but we finally found it. It wasn't as good as we were expecting, but I'm still happy I got my fries! On Sunday we spent most of the day in the airport and got back home eventually. Our flight was delayed and we ended up getting back really late, but we both got back and were ready to go for class on Monday! I had British Life and Culture and Art History on Monday. After that I met Curtis at Oxford Circus and we had dinner at Garfunkel's. Today I had British Pop Music and we talked mostly about the rise of pop in Britain and Beatle Mania. Right after class I headed to the Prince Edward Theatre to see Jersey Boys! It was really good! Here is a preview:

River Thames Walk, National Art Museum, War Horse, Greenwich

The past couple of days have been very busy! Monday I had to be at the Tower Bridge at 9:15 in the morning, which meant leaving my flat by 8. This was for my British Life and Culture class. We took a river walk on the Thames. Lyndon was the leader of my group. We first discussed the Tower Bridge. The Tower Bridge was cutting edge technology during the Industrial Revolution. It use to open up to allow ships through up to 1000 times a year, but now it only opens a few times a year. From there we talked to the Tower of London, which was built in 1066. The old London zoo use to be next to the Tower of London and I learned that the zoo use to keep their polar bear on a chain and let it swim in the River Thames. The walk lasted about 4.5 hours and we saw so much more! This walk helped us learn about how London developed as a city.
Right after the tour we had about 30 minutes to grab a quick lunch before we had to meet Philippa at the National Art Museum. I ate with Shelby and a place called Pret. I had a mozzarella and tomato croissant, which was delicious. All of the art museums are free to get in to in London, so Philippa will be taking us to museums most of the time for class. The museum was amazing. Here are some of the painting I saw:






This is a portrait of The Baptism of Christ. This is a portrait of the Fighting Temeraire. This is the Equestrian Portrait of Charles I. Charles I was less than 5 ft tall so he had most of his portraits on horse to make him appear taller. You can also notice how the head of the horse is a lot smaller than it should be also making him appear bigger than he really is.

This is The Arnolfini Portrait.

An interesting fact that I learned was that back in the day blue was the most expensive color to have in a painting. It had to be imported form the Middle East.The museum was a lot more fun than I expected and I learned a lot about how to observe art. After awhile in the art museum I was able to meet up with Curtis after we were dismissed. We went to dinner at a place called The Wharf. Curtis ordered the fish of the day, which was sea bass and got this! He wasn't sure how to go about eating it, but he figured it out!

On Tuesday I met my two other teachers at school. First I had class with Rob. He is my British Pop Music professor. He actually doesn't teach anymore except for this class for the Ball State students. He seems really cool. He said we will be talking and listening to music for 3 hours from Britain from 1950-1990's. Then I meet my British Literature, Nora. I am not too excited for this class. We had to analyze British poetry and then she gave us the assignment of going to the Charles Dickens Museum. London is celebrating Charles Dickens this year because it is the bicentennial of his birthday. Then right from class I had to get on the tube to make my way to the New London Theatre to see War Horse. It was amazing! What they did with the horses was so cool. At first I couldn't get over the fact that people were there to move the horses, but eventually they disappeared and all I could concentrate on was the horses. Here is a preview video I got off the internet:





Today our program went on our Wednesday day trip. Basically, every Wednesday we go on a day long field trip. Today we took the train to Greenwich, London, which is a suburb of London. On the train ride there I was able to see some of the Olympic venues and the financial center of London. When we first arrived in Greenwich we took a tunnel under the River Thames. Philippa told us that Greenwich is where a lot of movies are filmed including Pirates of the Caribbean and Sherlock Holmes. This is also where the equestrian competitions for the Olympics will be. Then we toured the Old Royal Naval College Chapel and the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College. I ate lunch at Pizza Express, which was really good. I have been really confused about how to pay for my meals at restaurants here, so I asked the waitress. She said that you need to ask the waiter for the check or else the waiter is being rude if they just bring it to you. After lunch we met on top of a hill where the Greenwich observatory is. It was a great view of the city! This is also the spot where the Prime Meridian is and where it was discovered! The picture of me on the left shows me in the Western and Eastern hemispheres at the same time. On the way back we took a boat ride on the Thames to Parliament. It was very cold, but still fun! Today was also our first typical London day. Cloudy and chilly! For the first week I had nothing but sunshine!








Some interesting things I've learned or noticed:
- London has very few trash bins so that people can't put bombs in them
- I hardly ever see people on their phones here. It is really nice actually. People enjoy spending time together at dinner and not on their phones and lots of people read books or newspapers on the tube instead of playing on their phones.
- The streets on London either say "Look Right" or "Look Left" to help make sure you don't get hit by a car

Platform 9 3/4 and Harrods

Last night I went to Old Bell Pub with Shelby and two of our flat mates Stuart and Chad. I got my first beer while I was there. I wasn’t sure which one to get, but I decided on Stella. I was able to drink about half of it and then gave it to one of the guys to finish. It was karaoke night. No one participated though; we just sat around and talked.

This morning I slept in and Shelby and I made plans to go see Platforms 9 ¾ and Harrods. We mapped out how to get there one the tube. We had to switched tubes a couple of times to get where we needed to be this time. Platform 9 ¾ is located in King’s Cross Train Station, which is connected to the tube area. We were able to get off the tube walk a little ways under ground and see Platform 9 ¾ from Harry Potter. And it was free!! We stayed long enough to get a few photos and then headed back on the tube to go to Harrods. Harrods is a HUGE department store. I had never heard of it before, but when we got there I was amazed. I couldn’t afford anything there because it was all designer items (Gucci, Prada, Channel, Fendi, Dior, and pretty much anything else you can think of), but it was so much fun to look. The place is 5 stories tall and had so much stuff! We walked around the bags, jewelry, women’s, and gifts sections of the store and headed back out. On our way back out we stopped past the food court. OH MY GOSH. There was the most deliciously looking food. The chocolate shop was probably my favorite. I didn’t get any, but I will definitely be going back to get some before I leave.

After getting back on the tube to the flat, I went to Iceland’s grocery store to buy some food for the week. Someone told me that it was the cheapest place to get food here. When I got there almost everything was a pound! I got some frozen garlic bread, pizza, ice cream bars all for a pound and frozen chicken for 3 pounds.

Tomorrow will be the first day of class. We are meeting Lyndon on the Thames river for a 3 ½ hour tour of London on the Thames. I had to do some research on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert so that I can share it with everyone tomorrow on the tour. Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years during the 1800’s. She married Prince Albert who was her cousin. They had 9 children together and 26 surviving grandchildren who all married royalty throughout Europe giving her the nickname the grandmother of Europe. After that I have a lunch break, and then I will be taking a tour of the National Art Museum in Trafalgar Square with Philippa.

Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and More!

Today I visited Buckingham Palace! Shelby and I took the tube to meet Curtis and we walked down to the Palace. We walked around there for a while and then we walked in the Royal Park on Princess Diana of Wales Memorial Walkway. There were so many birds there! I’m not really a fan of birds so I was trying to avoid them as much as possible. There was even a huge pelican bird. Then we walked over to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. From there we went to a café on the Thames River and I had the best cookies and crème ice cream ever! It was called Jack’s Italian Ice Cream. We stayed there for a while because and sat by the window to people watch where it was warm. Then we went to Waga Mama’s restaurant where I had the chicken teriyaki donburi. After dinner the three of us went to the Tower of London Bridge to see a ship pass through. This was the first time in almost a year that the bridge has been opened and it will not open again until September. Our teacher Philippa suggested that we go see it tonight. Then Shelby and I headed back to the flats and are getting ready to go to a karaoke bar with out flatmates!