Countback to Cambridge -- Wednesday. Tower of London.

Tower of London

A brief look at Thursday --

I had my Shakespeare class, in which we spoke about Tuesday night's Romeo and Juliet (more on that to come later) and afterwards, I dropped off a postcard. I'm thinking that I might start a tradition of dropping at least one postcard in the mail every Thursday. Could call it Post-week Postcard. ;)
I spent the rest of the day just relaxing.

Wednesday.

Wednesday saw me with my history class at the tower of London.

Stepping inside was pretty eerie, even though our history prof explained that actually, the tower of London had been a royal residence for 500 years and that most of the prisoners were executed on Tower Hill, not inside the tower of London. There were exceptions, of course, like the queens of England who were killed (Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey, and Anne Boleyn) but it was not the vast majority. To be killed inside was a twisted honor. You had to have been close to the king. Still, so many were falsely imprisoned . . . I can't imagine living at such a time. Still, despite the feeling of darkness -- particularly in the prison that had been turned into a gift shop -- it was surprisingly pretty.

And yet, there were the subtle reminders everywhere.

Where Anne -- and others -- were beheaded. 

We went on a mini tour though, and saw the chapel, as well as the darker areas . . . Here is our tour guide, known as a beef-eater. They themselves have no idea where the name comes from, but all I can ever think of is Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, where Sir Andrew states that he is a great eater of beef and he thinks that does his wit harm . . . Being a beef-eater however, is no easy job. One most have many many years of military service and a good many other things. It is a difficult job to get, since originally, these men served as guards to the royal family.

Our Guide.

The Crown Jewels

This was one of my favorite parts of the day. I am not a fan of anything grisly, so seeing the tower, inspite of the historical importance, was a bit unnerving. The crown jewels though, I could get into that. It was like seeing all the stuff in Hazurite, or at least getting sense of what it would have been like. They were absolutely beautiful. They were so shiny and gorgeous. . . It is easy to see why people would fight over these things . . . it was like they caught the sun and let it shimmer within itself. They were just beautiful.

Museums

From there there were a bunch of museums. So many so that it felt like this huge overload. They must have had material on every possible subject, but I particularly noticed the ones on weapons, which were interesting. I liked this best though:

For more photos stay tuned. I will probably update to facebook eventually. We also saw the old sleeping chambers of some of the kings (below) and where they kept the torture instruments. I didn't take photos there, because, as I mentioned before, I really try to stay away from that kind of stuff. I truly believe in walking in the light and such things hold no interest to me. 

King's Chambers

Well, that's all for now. See you next time when I write about the two plays I've seen recently -- View from the Bridge, by Arthur Miller, and Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare, of course.

As always, wishing you all the best,

~ Emery 

Countback to Cambridge. Friday. Northbank.

So today I decided that I was actually going to go out and about and so I did.

The first thing I did was go to this really amazing bookshop, Treadwell's, that I'd looked up and heard a lot about. It took me forever to find since it was definitely off the beaten path, but I got there eventually. It reminded me of the leaky cauldron, on the outside, since if I hadn't had been looking for it, I would have walked right past. As it was, I nearly did. It was a rather small bookshop, but very wonderful. Inside, it was very cozy and I was hit with this feeling of calm. Once inside, thishad  little dog came up to me, very excited and happy. His name, it turned out, was Trick. Once I said hello to this little dog, I began to browse. They had a really interesting collection. Everything to the wheel of the year, to dreams, to history, to practical sorts of things. The employee there was very nice too. I stayed. Probably 30-45 minutes and then headed out. I had decided to walk by the Thames, and so I did.
It was a nice little walk.

Well. I say little. It was actually 2.1 miles, according to GoogleMaps! Still, it was lovely weather and views. And then I saw this:

The Millennial Bridge. And then, of course, I had to cross it. There wasn't really another option for me. It was so pretty! So I did.

And here's me, of course. 

Looking windswept as always. 

Once I crossed it, though, it was really cool as well, because I found myself by, what I think was the Tate Modern. And they had a live band playing, which was pretty cool. And they were good! 

At that point I must have walked about a mile and I didn't really want to turn back. So I began looking for a tube station. I passed plenty of interesting things on the way there.

Lots of Restaurants too. 

Southwark?? Cathedral

But surprisingly, the best part, I think, was when I stumbled into the Borough markets. Very cool. Like something out of Bedknobs and Broomsticks. There were just stalls and stalls of all kinds of wonderful and interesting looking food. Feeling adventurous, I had a mint chocolate chip ice cream (in a cone, of course) that was made using goat's milk. It was delicious. I think I prefer it to cow's milk. The goat's milk had a slightly lighter taste and texture, but other than that it wasn't particularly different. I do not regret that 3 pounds. 

All for now -- 

Stay tuned for the next countback -- (About Wednesday, since yesterday was fairly dull)

Wishing you the best as always,

~ Emery  

On Women's Voices

So, this is just a brief update. We went to Cambridge last weekend and soon I shall update with pictures. For now though, Tuesday is my day off, and so I am kicking back and relaxing. I had originally thought to go to the national gallery, but they, while open, are on strike today and parts of the museum are closed. So I've turned to books. Besides, I am still headed to a performance tonight. and the rest is good. I am actually reading a book on housekeeping. I bought it and it arrived today. I have decided to read up on it, because living here is much like having my own department and I find I lack knowledge in the area. What is interesting about this book though, is the author's voice. I have never read a book such as this and I'm finding I quite like it. I think there is something about a women's voice, in writing, that is so utterly valuable. I've come across other female voice in how to books, and have loved them as well. Why? I think it's the fact that women aren't afraid to be soft, personal, and yet blunt, and to the point. There are plenty of anecdotes and women are often very funny in their work. Mind, this is, certainly, a sweeping generalization, but I do notice a difference. Many women's words wander, in these how to books and I really appreciate that. So today, I'm grateful for that -- the value that is a woman's voice in non-fiction -- and in literature, and those -- of all genders -- who teach us the skills we need in which to live.

Tonight we are going to Romeo and Juliet (my least favorite play of all time) but I'm still looking forward to it. Today is grey, but about 50 F. It is quiet and calm. I hope to read, listen to podcasts, watch more Replacements, snack, and maybe write. It has begun to rain now, so I am glad to be quite warm and dry. Tomorrow we are going to the Tower of London in our history class. It should be interesting.

Logistically, I am excited, because I received my Oyster card and was registered for my class at LSBU. I now have a Jack Vettriano planner as well. If you are wondering, he's not a designer. He's a painter, who's work I'm very fond of.

And that's all for now -- nothing terribly exciting, I'm afraid, but I'm glad of it. Our quiet moments in life are too fleeting. They are to be treasured.

Until next time --

~ Emery  

How to Hold Your Breath -- and other things

So, yesterday interesting. For the most part it was quite good but there were certain points that were meh.
My history class that afternoon was one of the good things. I really like the professor (to be perfectly honest, I really like all my professors though) and I took 9 pages of notes from his 2 hour class, with practically 0 drawings in the margins (actually, there were only a few daisy-like doodles, which is a record for me). That said, I was writing in 4 different colors . . . What can I say, I think things to have variety.
Still, the stuff we went over was very cool. We went over a lot of origins and the foundations of England, which was a lot about talking about the vikings. Something I really like about this professor is that he pauses when he talks, when he wants you to take notes, which for someone who doesn't write very quickly (at least legibly) is wonderful. After we'd done a lot of talking about the vikings, we then got to see some of the artifacts that they had, when we went to the British Museum. It was very cool. We weren't allowed to take photos of things like the ancient helmets that the vikings took into battle (they looked as though they were made out of gold and silver) but I did take a couple pictures of the museum itself --

The ceiling, in the main hall. 

She looks like Athena to me, but we were moving too quickly for me to catch her name, Likely Hera, in all probability. 

 The viking artifacts were amazing. The swords, shields, and helmets were amazing, of course, but so was the giant cooking pot that they used. I thought the coolest thing to see were the Pagan artifacts that they carried on them. Of course, they eventually turned Christian, and it was interesting to see the subtle transition, but I like the original objects better . . .

Anyways. Very cool class.

After that -- class ends in the early evening, I went to search for food. I wound up picking the most complicated route and spending about 1 1/2 hours on the tube at rush hour and eating outside in the freezing cold. Not the most fun I've ever had . . . I also arrived to the theater show 45 minutes early and wound up wandering around the cold some more. Finally it was time to go the show that we were supposed to see for our London Stage class.

It turned out to be pretty amazing, and the theater was pretty cool as well.

And we were in the front row!

The show itself was really excellent. It was one of the best shows I have seen in recent years. The actors were excellent, the sets suited the show and used the stage in new and interesting ways and the story was thought provoking and heartbreaking.

The story begins in a lighthearted fashion -- the main character, Dana, found a man in a bar and decided to . . . how shall we say this . . . take him home. When they awake, the banter is playful and sweet. And then the man offers to pay Dana. She is completely aghast and tells him no, that she did it because she liked him. That that sort of thing should not be done for money. Then it is his turn to be aghast. He said he assumed that she wanted money, otherwise he would have not slept with her. He informs her that she couldn't have liked him, he is a demon. He tells her, his voice rising, that in 2 weeks time, she will be begging him to pay her.

She, a bit of a fire ball, informs him that that he's nuts.
He storms out, informing her he's going very far away. When he leaves, Dana realizes that she has a large red mark below her collar bone and it won't go away. It fact, it seems to be getting more painful.

From there, Dana is given an interview in a company. She aces it and the company wants her to do a follow up interview in their establishment in Alexandria.

The demon shows up again and offers to pay her 45 euros, saying it was bothering him still. She refuses. It seems she is falling in love with him and he with her, which he cannot stand.

She and her sister (whom she is very close to) begin to journey to Alexandria when their cards are denied and, later, they are informed that all the banks have closed. It is the beginning of a complete and utter European collapse and apocalyptic world. It all goes down hill from there. It is a dystopia and, as I said before, very heart-wrenching.

Still, it was well done and I "enjoyed" it. I won't spoil anymore, in case you ever get to see it, but that's all for now!

Until next time!

~ Emery

Drury Lane Theatre -- and other events

Sunday night I didn't sleep well and wound up waking up at 5:30 am or so, before getting up at 7 am to get ready for classes. For all its bad start, however, it was a lovely day, which just goes to show that the girl in the old fairy tale, Catherine and her Destiny was right. It is better to have an unhappy "youth" and a happy old age then a happy youth and a miserable old age. It is better to have the good things ahead of you. 

Ahem. Anyways. The day started out with psychology class, which was on interviews and c.vs . . . (what we Americans know as resumes) it was weird, but I like the professor (yes, I know I said that it wasn't common for them to be called that, but the woman has a doctorate, so I'm calling her a professor, ok??) so it was alright. After that we had the lab section in which I got to talk to some very nice students (labs themselves are a tad boring) and then I was headed to my London Stage class. On the way there, for my lunch, I snagged a Cornish Steak Pastry. When I bit into it, I was not impressed. It tasted very dry. I took another bite. It tasted better. I took a third. It was amazing. After that, I finished it in minutes. *That* is definitely something I would like to learn to cook! 

But the best was yet to come. I arrived early on Hollins' London "campus", which was lucky, because we were going on an outing for our class and I arrived just in time (the head of the program had emailed us that morning but I'd been sleep deprived enough that I hadn't thought to read them) and then we were whisked off to Drury Lane Theatre. They're currently playing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At first, I thought we were going to see the show! But, sadly, no. However, we got one better -- a backstage tour! The company is the oldest in the world -- in that they've been putting on shows consistently the longest. They also had the second female actress in the world. 

The tour was nothing short of amazing and I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone who is curious. 

I did, of course, take photos.

Entrance. Lots of Statues. 

King's Drawing Room. Apparently Her Majesty still uses this way!

Chandelier from actual good crystal. 

One of the two guides. They were in costume the whole time. And in character! They were very funny. 

Part of the theater. We couldn't take pictures of the auditorium because there was a rehearsal going on but we got to go and see it -- it was gorgeous -- and the bit we got to see of the show was amazing! 

There are apparently a lot of ghost stories in this theater  -- over 500 ghosts apparently! 

The main tunnel where a lot of them are supposed  to happen. They dimmed the lights of course, spooky. 

A blurry shot of the two, very talented, tour guides. 

After the tour, I headed back home. Before I got there, though, while we were leaving the west end, my flatmate grabbed my -- and the girl on the other side of her who is also in the class -- her eyes went wide. Apparently Tom Hiddleston had just past us. I was nonplussed. I don't understand the shine of famous people. Well. Actor famous people, anyways. I realized the people I admire are either writers, my family and friends, or dead. Mostly the latter. Haha. It's harder to fall off that horse when you're dead. I actually had to look up this Tom guy though. Apparently he's very famous. I knew the name. I've just actually never seen any of his movies  . . . 

Anyways. Lovely day and I loved the whole tour bit.

More later --

~ E

Valentine's Day

As usual, I had a fabulous Valentine's Day. I know there are a lot of people who detest the holiday, but I've never been one of them. I've always really enjoyed the simpler, no pressure, holidays (New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, May Day), and for me Valentine's Day has always been about more than just romantic love. It's about love for your friends and family, but it's also about self love and love for *something* -- your hobbies, for instance. I've always taken it as licence to dress up in all pink and red and then go do something I enjoy. I think it's best that way. Don't get me wrong, of course, Valentine's Day can be very nice if you're in a relationship -- I can't really forget the Barbershop Quartet, can I? Or the lovely big/little dipper earrings I received last year -- but I don't think that's what it's about. So, of course, this being my first Valentine's single in two years (hey, I may find the Romantic part unnecessary but that doesn't mean I'm unaware of it) , I decided to have a total blast. And that's exactly what I did.
I slept in, to start, because that's always the best way to start the day, in my opinion, and then dressed in bright pink top and jeans, I headed to the London Science Museum (yes, solo! have you met me!?) The metro was completely crowded, as was the museum (well, it was a Saturday) but it was still really great. The museum was large (6 stories!) but smaller than the Nemo. I'm a bit partial to the Nemo, I admit, but it was still cool. I had two favorite parts -- one was the exhibit on Chemistry and Materials that make up our world (who'd have thought??) and the other actually displayed the inventions from the 1800s under King George III! It was pretty amazing. I stayed in the museum for a good two hours. Then, being completely overwhelmed, I headed back.

I did, however take photos from my favorite two parts:

Molecules!! 

 They had many demos on how atoms reacted. My favorite was a container with a bunch of what looked like ping pong balls and a dial on the side. When you turned the dial, what seemed to be air blasted into the container and the balls went crazy! The quicker you turned the handle, the higher the balls went and the more they separated. Obviously, the air was meant to represent heat and the balls atoms. It was a very cool demo. There was also a microscope where you could look at things. I was so excited.  

I still have no idea what this was, but it was a cool sculpture. 

They had about 200 + material samples. It was very cool. The most common was different types of acrylic. 

And here is the king George III exhibit.

Hard to see, but this was made to show how the solar system moved. The planets spun and everything when you turned the crank. 

System for lifting water. There was another one that was a copy of Archimedes' screw for lifting water that had been made for George III 

Compass. Of sorts. 

This was one of the most amazing exhibits I've ever seen, I think. I'm really loving the whole history of science thing. I'd love to take a class on such a thing (does it exist? It must.).

When I got back I changed into my Valentine's outfit -- that red dress, plus earrings and spent the night in. I spent the rest of the evening watching Valentine's day themed cartoons and writing a Valentine's day story -- which I did, in fact, finish the next day. (I adore Mara, the main character of this story. Just the right amount of humor and politics.) I also bought pink donuts for my flatmates. And while I wound up eating more of them then was necessary, then still got plenty and were very happy, it seemed. :)
As for Valentines -- I did send one. But I'll never say to whom. ;)

All for now --

More soon!

~ E

First Day of Classes

My first day of classes wound up being FANTASTIC, if rather stressful.
I woke up at 6:30, because I concerned that I would get lost and I also needed to talk to the teacher (they aren't called profs here, or rarely) and so I arrived on the campus at 8:30 (class started at nine). There was no one there. I meandered around the halls for a while until the students began to file in and then briefly spoke with the teacher (she turned out to be a guest speaker but she was very helpful) and yada yada yada. The class itself -- psychology -- was very interesting. It was on how the mind retains information and was relating that to forensic psychology and how eyewitnesses should be questioned. This went on for about 2 hours and then we had a two hour lab after that in which we practiced the different types of interviews.
I grabbed lunch and then headed to my London Stage class. There were only 3 of us and the prof. He was very cool and wanted us to talk about ourselves, our school, and our stage experience. At the end of the two hour class, I had the Acting Shakespeare class, which I hadn't dropped yet. The professor didn't show though, so the four of us just sat around talking for an hour. That was nice. We discussed creative writing and english. After that, one of my flatmates and I decided we needed to go grocery shopping and so we did so. In the end we decided to buy a pizza and split it for dinner. We chatted for a while and sipped cherry cokes and then parted ways.
That's all for now --
Until next time!
~ E

Third day of classes

So, yesterday's class had me getting up at 9, but once again I found it to be worth it. The class I had was a literary Shakespeare course and I left the class feeling more or less impressed. The professor seemed *very* intelligent and knew her subject matter very well. In class, we discuss what we knew about Shakespeare, and discussed Othello, which we had seen the previous week. Then we parted ways. Once I got back to my dorm, I felt very dizzy and ill, however, and managed to fall asleep for several hours. When I awoke, I felt a good deal better, but a little shaky. We had another play to go to that night, though, so I gathered myself and headed out. We were meeting at Waterloo Station, which is absolutely huge, in front of the bookshop there. And then the adventure began. Our professor led us out of this station and out into the streets of London. And then, they went from busy to completely silent. We wound our way up and across until we reached a seemingly unimportant staircase completely covered in colorful graffiti. We went down these stairs and reached this huge tunnel.

 Talk about magical. And then we made a sharp turn and came upon the theater.

Inside it was pretty amazing too. 

It went on for forever too, it seemed, And there were all sorts of other really amazing rooms, like an eating room with a live band and this amazing blue lighting. 

But it was getting time for the show to start, so the guy took our tickets

And we went in.

The show itself was above average. They did some terribly creative things with the music and the blocking and the acting was decent. Every once in a while, the room would shake and it would sound like a metro train would go over our heads but I could never tell if it was the real thing or just really excellent sound work. 

They had some pretty cool moments in the play. One of my favorites -- we were seeing Macbeth -- was when lady Macbeth gives him the bucket of water and tells him to wash himself clean of the deed. And he does -- only, instead there being water in the bucket there was stage blood and so when he washes himself he becomes more and more bloodied. It was a very thought-provoking choice, particularly since this blood stayed on for the rest of the show. 

Another choice they did that was very cool was the scene where Macbeth sees Banquo's ghost. In the scene before, Lady Macbeth has been preparing for a party as she speaks to Macbeth, she drops different things into these orange/red party bags which have been arranged in a line across the stage. Then, after all the guests have filed in, they begin to play a game. It was a game in which Macbeth was blindfolded and the guests (in masks) ran around until he yelled stop and they would freeze. Then he would make his blindfolded way to the nearest person and try to guess who it was. If he guessed correctly, there would be a great cheer. He first finds Lady Macbeth and kisses her. The cheer goes up. Then he finds the murderer he hired. He threatens him and the man runs out. There is a question of if Macbeth has found him yet. Macbeth starts up the cheer. Macbeth finds Lady Macbeth and then kisses her again. Once again, a cheer goes up. And then, he unmasks the next guest. It is Banquo. 

At the end of the scene, Banquo picks up one of the goodie bags and leaves. 

Very interesting piece, all and all. Very experimental. And the venue was, of course, amazing. 

We headed out after that and I enjoyed my Thursday night.

That's all for now.

Until next time!

~ E

 

Second Day of Classes

So, will post about first day of classes very soon, but it's more complicated so wanted to start with today.
Today I got to sleep in until noon which was very nice. My first class was at 2. It was a class I had just added which I was excited (and nervous) about. It is a class on English history from the Anglo Saxons until the end of Elizabeth the first's reign. The class will be taking lots of trips and I am very excited to see how this will turn out. The professor is really nice. We signed up for presentations today. I'm going to be doing Mary 1! I'm very happy about this since I've been wanting to do her since my first year seminar at Hollins! Today in class we talked a little about the vikings and a little about the origins of the different people -- irish, scottish, english, etc. It was very cool and completely up my alley. After that, we went to the British Library, which I'd been dying to go to. It seemed more of a museum than an actual library, but apparently it is a bit of a library as well, just not the lending out kind. I will investigate further. We did see a very cool exhibit, though because you guys know how I am with museums (I struggle with them) I didn't appriciate like I should have when I was there. There were a lot of important historical documents (I lost count) and some lesser, but more interesting historical documents by like Mary the 1st's letter about her marriage to Phillip. There were Shakespeare Folios and Beatles lyrics and stuff from Dickens, Chaucer, Bronte . . . and many others. My absolute favorite thing though was the pages from Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks!!! They were AMAZING. I wished I could look through all his work - but don't we all. I really want to study him in detail sometimes. (Note. New project? I should start a list) There were also pages from Michelangelo's notebook as well that was really, really cool. My second favorite thing (other than some other scientific notebooks) were these illuminated munuscripts -- these sacred books -- from all over the world! Not only did they have the bible, but they also had the Torah, and the Quran -- AND the Hindu and Buddhist sacred texts, which were AMAZING to see. Plus they had manuscripts -- not holy books -- from Korea, Japan, and China! It was really amazing.
The class ended an hour early (we went into the gift shop, but nothing really stood out to me) and we headed back, and I got ready (AKA, I microwaved dinner) to go to the theater.

We went to the show Scottsboro Boys, which was terribly depressing. I thought they made some important points though, so gave them a standing ovation along with several others. The play is very politically charged, so I don't want to write about it here, as I'm not in the mood to get upset again, but I suggest you look it up and see what it's about. It has shades of the crucible, as in value of the truth, innocence and yet determined by everyone to be guilty and the idea that one lie will overshadow the truth. Add to that racial issues in the South, our modern "justice" system and mix well.
The play left all 3 of us a bit jarred, all in different ways I think but personally, I thought it was at least good food for thought. That said, I would never see it again.

National Gallery

So, sometime last night, AFTER my flatmate and I enjoyed Pizza, she invited me along with her to the National Gallery. Even though I'm not the biggest museum person, I decided it would be fun. So, today, we set off at about noon. It was amazing and I'm so glad I went. They were the most vivid, moving and alive paintings I'd ever seen in a museum. We weren't allowed to take photos much (AGAIN) but I loved this artist named Peder Balke. There were many others too but I didn't catch their names. There were so many paintings that I could have written stories about though, it was amazing.
My flatmate and I spent a good amount of time looking at the impressionist stuff too, which was really cool. The colors were amazing.
After we had had enough for one day of all this amazing art, we walked around for a bit, then had lunch at this really good Italian place. I felt very silly ordering a Burger, but it was what I was hungry for and I figured it would be very different. I was right. And it was INCREDIBLE. It was really well seasoned and made beef with mayo (no ketchup), onion, and tomato. No cheese. But it was easily one of the best burgers I have ever had and the chips (fries) weren't bad either. The lemon drink was really wonderful as well, which made me happy because in France . . . well, let's just say it's not their specialty (it tastes like lemon water. Mild lemon water.).
ANYWAYS so, the food was amazing. After that, my flatmate and I wandered around a big shop a little (the area was very cool. There was a live band playing when we came out of the subway and better yet, they were playing Sting's SOS!) in which the clothes were very cute, grabbed "the evening post" then headed home. It was very lovely short day.

Here are the photos -- not very grand or many. That I took. Enjoy!

Until next time!
~ E