I've been in London for 10 weeks and 1 day! I think that's the longest I've been away from home... definetly way longer than I've ever been out of the country.
I hardly notice British accents anymore, actually, I don't notice them at all! I say a few words in British accents like "Sorry" and "Hello". I'm working on "Thank you" but that's harder....haha Whenever I go to the grocery store I try to make the check out person think I'm British. Its not too hard as long as you don't talk much. An American man approached a group of us as we were leaving church on Sunday and asked us if he'd just missed the service. It really surprised him that we were American, so apparently we're blending in okay.
A popular topic around the house is what's going to be different/ weird when we get back? I think it'll be weird driving a car, or even being in a car again, or even having to wear a seat belt! I think I'll miss public transportation. I feel like I'm saving money on gas and helping the enviornment when I ride the tube, but that's not an option at home, and I'm not really saving money, its ridiculously expensive when you think about it! I think I'll miss all the organic food. Genetically modified food (aka, everything Americans eat) is illegal here! Isn't that crazy? Everything is organic, but I like it! I'll really miss living with this group of girls (and Phillip). We all agree that we like it being all girls, and it would have changed all the dynamics if even one other guy came. We all get along really well (which is not to be expected of 9 girls) and we all kind of act like sisters, its fun. I think it'll be weird hearing my cell phone ring- I never get calls or texts here! I bet the first few times that phone ringing will be annoying, but then I'll sink back into being really dependent on it and it won't bother me.
I love that I dont have to stare at my map all the time or check the underground signs to make sure I know where I'm going, I just know! I love it when British people ask me for directions! Usually I can point them in somewhat the right direction, which is exciting.... Did I write on here about my 12 mile walk? It was a few weeks ago, actually a month ago! I decided I wanted to see London by foot because when you take the underground you never really know how things connect and how close one thing is to another. So I walked from home past the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert past Harrods (which we thought was far away our first week here!) Through the parks to Buckingham Palace where there was a huge crowd, so I stood around and watched the band march through the gate, and I walked through St. James' Park (or is it Hyde?) to 10 Downing St., Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, then up to Trafalger Sq., and down the Strand (where the West End theatres are) to Covent Garden where there were tons of shopping booths, and a magic show! I met some interesting people along the way. I think it was about 5 miles there and 5 back. Then that night I walked to church so there and back, that was 2 miles, so I walked 12 miles that day! My legs were kinda sore the next day, but I got to see a lot of London, and it proves if you have enough time you can walk just about anywhere!
We're seeing a lot of great plays with our theatre class. Last week we saw Much Ado About Nothing which was fabulous! The National Theatre in London puts on several plays for reasonable prices, and its an amazing facility! We got to take a tour of it on Tuesday, backstage and all! They have 3 theatres in the building, the first is really versatile and they can change the stage and seating to fit any type of play they want to- lots of room for creativity! It was really cool to see the workshops where they make the sets and props and the storage spaces where they store the sets between shows.
Today we had 2 lectures on British art and we covered the 1600s-1900s. It was really interesting! Our lecturer explained a lot of the meanings behind symbolism in the paintings we saw. She explained the meanings in Hogarth's painting, which made me love them even more! In poitraits of youths they sometimes put a sunrise in the background and older people they'd put a sunset. Dogs symbolize fidelity. Lilies symbolize purity. Columns represent education, and pretty landscape backgrounds are supposed to make the viewer believe the sitter is more beautiful than nature. Art makes a lot more sense when you know what it means! (that's pretty logical!)
Last week for our art class we went to the Kenwood House that's just enough north of London to be out of the city pollution, and its gorgeous out there! It was the house in Notting Hill, towards the end of the movie when Hugh Grant overhears Juila Roberts talking about him while she's filming a movie... the big white house and the pretty lawn- yeah I was there! That was really cool!
Earlier in the week the group went to the Texas Embassy, which is now a Tex Mex resturant, but it used to be the Texas Republic Embassy when TX was its own country! All the interior decor was TX stuff like UT, aTm, ACU, and TCU flags, longhorns, TX license plates, etc. It had really good food- all imported from Texas! It felt like home!
I have a few big papers coming up. I have to compare a set pair of paintings for art- 3-4 pages- it shouldn't be too bad once I get started. Then I have a 4 page essay for theatre discussing the themes of The Importance of Being Earnest. I have the usual journals for my British class and my Non-profit organizations class. Then I have a 5 page final for my non-profit class that I can actually do before the final date. I'm actually nerdily excited about this case study I have to do for my non-profit class. I'm doing a case study on the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. Its this place that does a lot of enviornmental, ecological, and agricultural study and they have these huge biomes with artificial atmospheres. Its huge! My paper has to be 8-10 pages, but I get to arrange an interview with someone from the Eden Project! I think I'll probably interview someone from the Communications department because the case study is supposed to be somewhat relevant to our majors.
This weekend Gena and I (that's my entired non-profit class) are going to Brighton and we have an interview with a free lance fundraising guy, so we get to pick his brain about fundraising! If I can get the art and theatre papers out of the way I can enjoy writing this case study!
Eh... what else....Hannah and I had tea and scones at the Orangery at Kensington Palace today. We felt very British and acted like we actually had manners... just kidding, we do, we just tried to act extra lady like even though we were wearing jeans.
I have 41 days until I go home. That's weird. That's still a long time I guess... just in comparison to how long I've already been here... I'm 2/3rds of the way done! Crazy!
