Two more weeks...

I have two weeks to catch up on and only two weeks left ahead of me. It’s terrifying how quickly this semester has gone by!

My parents came to visit for a week, which was incredible. It has been so long since I’ve seen any of my family that seeing my parents was the ultimate treat. I really miss them. I just wish the entire family could have come over, as seeing my parents made me miss everyone that much more! We had a great time exploring the city while they were here. On the night they arrived John and I went out to dinner with them at a great place off of Bond Street called Greigs. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in search of a good steak in London. On Monday I skipped out on our walking tour and play (sorry Professors) to spend time with my parents. We explored the shops around Mayfair and then my mom and I headed to the London Eye to see the city all lit up at night! London is so beautiful. I’m so glad I got to share that experience with my mom.

At Fortnum and Mason with my parents!

On Tuesday we did some more shopping and had afternoon tea at Browns. It was my first experience having high tea in England and it was absolutely delicious, though it was almost too much food. Who knew tiny tea sandwiches could fill you up so easily? Wednesday we went to Hampton Court Palace, the home of many famous British monarchs, but most notably Henry VIII. It was a perfect day for the trip. The weather was divine. I also got to meet Henry VIII, who told me that I looked like his daughter, Elizabeth I. I was flattered. This is the third time I’ve been compared to Elizabeth I here in Britain, and every time it makes me extremely happy. That night we went to see 39 steps, a play that I saw with my theatre class that I particularly enjoyed. My opinion of the play as a perfect one to see with parents was backed up by the fact that my classmate Betsy was also there with her parents. It was just as great this time as it was the first time.

hanging out with Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace

On Thursday I didn’t get to see my parents at all because I had class in the morning, a tour of the National Portrait Gallery in the afternoon and then a river cruise with the study group. The river cruise was incredible. It gave us all an opportunity to dress up, cut loose and celebrate the end of the semester. I’m really glad we had the opportunity to do something like that. I’ve met some great people who I didn’t know before this trip and it was great to have a chance to celebrate the great time we’ve all had getting to know each other this semester. I will definitely miss being together with this group, even though I will hopefully get to see everyone a lot when we are back at Colgate in the fall. 

Eliza and I before the cruise

Myself and John pre-cruise

Flat 15E: Elizabeth, Liz, Myself,  Jordan and Amber

Corey, Carolyn and I at the dock

Molly, Allie, Myself and Liz at the dock

Showing off my dress at the flat

Getting my Award: Guinness World Record for Fiercest Angophile

English group with our awards

Eliza, Myself and Sam on the boat

Hannah, Megan, Allie and I on the boat!

I spent Friday hanging out with my parents and wandering around Mayfair again. They sadly left on Saturday morning to head back to the states for Easter. Here we celebrated Easter by getting together for dinner. John, Jordan, Elizabeth, Liz, Dan, Kevin and I all got together and went in search of an open restaurant. We found a great Italian place and had a lovely dinner before all returning to work. Now that the semester is almost over the work is definitely piling up in the form of finals and papers. It was nice to take break to celebrate the holiday.

Monday night class was cancelled because our Professor wasn’t feeling well. This gave us a chance to celebrate the bank holiday with the rest of England. We spent the day wandering around and enjoying the sunshine before heading to a play in soho that night called Chekov in Hell. The play is about Anton Chekov waking up in modern day London and his response to what society has become since his time. It was a great play with a lot of very funny moments. On Wednesday the playwright came to class to tell us about the process of wriing the play and to discuss our responses to the play with us. It was very interesting to hear about what his intentions and though processes were while creating the play.

On Thursday I headed over to Marylebone with Betsey, Corey, Alex and Gillian for dinner with Professor Coyle, his girlfriend Kara, Professor Dudden (who is leading the history group) and her husband Marshall. The professors have been doing small dinners throughout the semester with the students. We made up the very last group. It was so nice to have good home cooked food, especially Kara’s excellent cookies.

Friday was, of course, the Royal Wedding. I have never seen this city so crazy. People began to camp out along the route between Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace on Monday night! Insane. A few of my friends went to Hyde Park to watch the wedding on the screens set up there. The rest of us chose to stay in and watch it on TV in order to avoid the rain, the crowds and so that we would be able to really see and hear everything that was going on. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding and, though we watched it at home, we still very much felt that we were part of the nationwide celebration. We got to see the flyovers and cheered out of the windows with our British neighbors. We also got dressed up with tiaras and union jacks and cracked open a few bottles of champagne. Though I can’t say I would ever want to actually be a royal, it was hard not to be jealous of Kate Middleton. She looked gorgeous and definitely got a fairy tale wedding!

Elizabeth and I dressed up for the wedding!

This weekend has been spent trying to get all of my final work done. I’m also trying to finalize my plans for the end of the semester. We finish class on May 10^th and my flight home isn’t until May 14^th. I was planning on visiting my extended family in Ireland during the period before I go home, but turns out my finals schedule may make that impossible! I’m hoping to figure out a way to make it work. If it doesn’t I will at least have another excuse to come back… maybe an Ireland trip with the family would be an ideal graduation present next year? Keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out this time around!

We have exactly two weeks left. I can’t believe it. These have been the most incredible 4 months of my life and I don’t want them to end! I can’t wait to be back in the US and see everyone but London has earned such a special place in my heart that it will be very difficult to leave! I’m hoping to make the best of my last 2 weeks… once I get these pesky papers done…

From Dublin to Durham

Our trip to Dublin was amazing. I think I have a new favorite country. The people in Ireland were so friendly and laid back, making it a really enjoyable experience navigating the tiny city of Dublin. I just wish we could have stayed longer and had a chance to go out into the countryside. While we were there we toured the Guinness Factory, Christ Church Cathedral, and did an open air bus tour, which allowed us to see all the major city landmarks. We also did an organized pub crawl through Temple bar, which allowed us to meet a lot of fun people from all over the world.

Our Hotel!

Elizabeth, Corey, Myself, Liz, Carolyn and Kristen at the Guinness Factory

Christ Church Cathedral

Dublin Castle

Christ Church Again

Myself and Corey on the pub crawl

On Monday we yet again didn’t have a play, because our play was on Tuesday instead. We got to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz. I really enjoyed it. It was definitely a feel good play, there were tons of kids and more colorful costumes and sets than I could even count. I presented a report on the play on Wednesday to our class, which was uneventful as I was the sixth person in my class that day to talk about the play. I had very little to talk about when it was my turn as everyone had already covered most of the material.

On Thursday we went to Crystal Palace, the site of the Crystal Palace, which burned down in the 20s. It is now just a large field but was once a huge museum type exhibition. It was cool to imagine what it was like when the Palace was still there.

Friday morning we got up at the crack of dawn in order to pack and make our way to Kings Cross to catch a train to Durham. After a three hour train ride up north we arrived in Durham (well most of us, a few kids didn’t get off  the train at the right stop and had to switch trains to come back when they got to Newcastle). We checked into our hotel, grabbed lunch and went on a tour of Durham Cathedral. The Cathedral is incredibly impressive. The sheer size of the building is overwhelming. The Cathedral holds the remains of St. Cuthburt, The Venerable Bede and King Oswald. The coolest thing for me was seeing the tomb of the Venerable Bede. The Venerable Bede wrote the first history of Britain, The Ecclesiastical History of Britain.

Gates to Durham

Durham Castle

Durham Castle

Doors inside the Castle

Durham Cathedral

The Dining Hall in the Castle

On Friday we ate breakfast in Durham castle before getting on a bus and heading to Hadrian’s Wall. We  had 2 hours to explore one of the old Roman forts along the wall and to hike around the wall. The views were incredible and there were sheep everywhere. We had a lot of fun wandering around and hiking up some hills and ruins. There were a lot of sheep to chase, so we got a good work out. Our tour guide’s 3 year old son was with us, wearing a Roman helmet and carrying a wooden sword. I purchased my own sword at the gift shop and spent the day having some battles with him. He successfully won our battles 22 times, but I’m planning a come back. We all were exhausted after running around for a few hours so we all slept for the two hour bus ride and the following three hour train ride. When we got back we all basically headed straight to bed.

My corner on the bus made me look like a 5 year old

Emily and I conquering some ruins

My arch rival, Roman Warrior Sean

Hadrian's Wall and fort

My parents arrived in London yesterday morning! I met them at Heathrow at 10 am when they landed and then headed back to their hotel with them where we dropped off their bags and had lunch. I headed home so they could nap then John and I met them for dinner. We had a delicious steak dinner. It was great to have real delicious food after months of my own mediocre cooking.

Today I won’t really get to see my parents, as we have class, a walking tour and then a play. I won’t be done until around 10 tonight. Tomorrow I will be going to tea with them and on Wednesday we are going to drive out of the city to see Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII’s home. I’m very excited that they are here, even though it is making me realize how close I am to going home!

T. Swift and Dress up

Last Monday we went on a walking tour of Leighton House. Leighton was an artist in the 19^th century who was part of the orientalism movement. The movement consisted of a group of men in London who indulged in an opulent and excessive life style. The best known member of the movement is probably Oscar Wilde. The house was incredible. It was all overly decorated in a culturally muddled and inaccurate style, that was none the less breath taking. One of the rooms in the house is designed to look like an Arab palace, complete with a fountain in the center of the room. It was a very cool place to see.

That night we went to see In a Forest Dark and Deep, a dark comedy starring Matthew Fox, an actor from LOST. Being a LOST fan, I was incredibly excited to see this play. I was very disappointed. The script wasn’t bad, nor was the story. The acting was atrocious. It was very hard to get into the story when you are so distracted by how poorly the actors are performing. The quality of acting was similar to a high school production, it was that bad. Even Matthew Fox’s good looks couldn’t get me enthralled with the show. I am glad I got to see him, but I don’t know if the 2 hour play (without intermission) was worth it.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful, but was followed by an incredible Wednesday. After theatre class with Professor Punter Liz and I went to see Taylor Swift at the O2 arena! We got on the O2 express boat by the London eye and headed down the river to the arena complex. On the boat we held a belated celebration for Liz’s birthday by toasting with some champagne. It was about a half hour ride down the Thames to the arena, which was incredible. The actual arena is located in the center of the round building. Around the arena there is a mall like area full on tons of restaurants and even a movie theatre. The size of the place is incredible. After a quick dinner we headed to our seats for the show. It was absolutely amazing. I have always been a Taylor Swift fan, but the concert was even better than I thought it could be. Taylor is a great performer and is clearly very grateful to all of her fans. Occasionally between songs she would simply stop and stare out into the crowd, clearly overwhelmed by the volume of people who had shown up. My favorite part of the show was when she came into the crowd and performed three songs about 15 feet from where Liz and I were sitting! It was very cool.

Liz and I before the concert

The arena from our seats

Taylor!

From when she was right in front of us!

Loved her guitar

My favorite set/ dress of the night

On Thursday we went to the Horniman museum for our museum tour. The Horniman is a hands on museum with a local feel. It is directed at local schools and benefiting the immediate community around south London. It is very different than the museums we’ve have been to before. So far, it is my favorite. This is probably because we had a talk from a curator of the museum in the hands on area, where there are hundred of artifacts available for you to handle. These artifacts include cultural costumes from all over the world, musical instruments and toys (the museum focuses mainly on natural history and cultural history). We were told to explore the museum after our talk was over, but a group of us ended up staying the hands on room for about an hour and half just playing dress up and messing around with the instruments. It was incredibly fun. I don’t think Professor Coyle’s intention in bringing us to the Horniman was to release our inner children. But that’s what he did. I wonder how he will react when he learns tomorrow in class that we used our museum exploration block to play with recorders and dress up…

This caught my eye the second we walked in...

Eliza in the dragon costume

Myself looking like Poseidon

Corey, Dan, Natalie, Jordan and Liz all jamming

I got to try it on!!

On Friday we had a day trip to Bath with the Colgate economics group. We took a walking tour of the city and then had some time to wander around. It was a very cool place, and I would love to go back and spend more time there. We didn’t have enough time to take advantage of the famous hot springs that give the town its name. I hope I can find a weekend before we head back to the states to venture back to Bath! That night Liz and I had dinner with John, Kevin and Dan over at their flat. John made a very impressive meal of Cordon Bleu with asparagus. I think it was the first time I’ve really had vegetables in quite some time… probably a good thing. After dinner John, Dan, Kevin and I went to the bowling alley down the street to collect John’s prize for having the high score for the January through March quarter. I still can’t believe that his by chance 211 managed to stay the alley’s high score for 2 months. His prize was a large bottle of bourbon. Unfortunately, none of us drink bourbon so the bottle will mainly just be on display as a trophy.

a shopping area in Bath

The Abbey

the Pump Room!

The original Roman Baths

Spring is here!

The Royal Crescent

Assembly Rooms, very Jane Austen.

The Pump in the Pump room

Elizabeth and Corey 'taking the cure'

On Saturday Liz and I made dinner for a large group. We cooked a TON of pasta with a cream sauce and chicken. We ended up feeding 12 people by the end of the night and still having left-overs! That night we headed to Rocket, a pub/bar type establishment, with our usual group as well as some Colgate kids visiting from St. Andrews. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that the Rocket wasn’t very crowded that night.

Jordan and I before heading to Rocket

Yesterday Liz and I went to the foundling museum. The museum was originally the foundling hospital, where fallen women would leave their children in the care of the hospital in order to give them a better life. The children at the museum were raised to be workers for the state and were normally never told the identity of their parents. As sad as it seems now, it was actually a great institution that saved the lives of many children who would have otherwise been abandoned and left to die by parents unable to support them.

Today we don’t have a walking tour or a play to go to. Having a free Monday is very weird! I will be using it to get ahead on some work, since this weekend I will be in Dublin and don’t plan on doing any work while I am there!