Bringing it up to speed!

sorry I have been falling behind! since my last entry a lot has happened! This entry will be mostly a summarization of everything.

2 Thursdays ago we went to the Museum of London for our Museum theory class. It was a very cool place but was definitely geared towards children with a lot of interactive exhibits.

Part of the old Roman wall in London

Some Saxon Armor

Hanging with some of Saint Sir Thomas More's writing

All of these museums have my jewelry collection...

A highlander

Guinness!

They just love Michael Caine

The following day we went to Blenheim Palace (the Churchill estate) and Oxford. It was incredible to see an English country estate that embodied so much history. I was even able to show off a little to our tour guide when answering some of his questions about the history of Churchill's family. A true nerd moment. 

Entrance to Blenheim

Walkway at Blenheim

Inside the chapel at Blenheim

We toured Oxford that afternoon. Our tour guide made a point of pointing out the several locations that were used in the shooting of the Harry Potter movies, as if the lure of Oxford wasn't enough without the pop culture aspects of it all. 

Dining Hall at Christ Church College/ Hogwarts Great Hall

William Penn! founder of Pennsylvania and a graduate of Christ Church, Oxford

Oxford dorms

Our walking tour the following Monday took us through Georgian London, including Lincoln Inn's Fields. It was cool to see some of the old architecture, but we didn't see any significant monuments.

We saw War Horse that evening, a play about a horse who is sold to the British Calvary in World War I. The story follows the horse as well as his owner, a boy in Britain who lies about his age in order to enlist and find his horse. It was an incredibly moving play that left my eyes watering at several points. It is currently being adapted into a movie by Speilberg, so it will be interesting to see how the movie compares to the play.

The following Thursday we went to the Tate Modern, an extension of the Tate Britain that houses only modern art. Modern Art isn't really my forte, but it was still interesting to visit the museum. I especially enjoyed walking across Millenium bridge to get to the museum.

Millenium Bridge

In front of St. Pauls on the Bridge

Last Monday we celebrated the beginning of March with a walking tour of Chiswick Park. It was a perfect day to explore this 'pleasure palace' as my teacher called it. The house and grounds were built specifically for entertaining purposes and are all incredible. We got to take some time to explore the grounds after our tour and got some great pictures!

Chiswick House

Chiswick Park

Walkway at Chiswick Park

Bridge at Chiswick Park

Another View of Chiswick House

Jordan, Liz, myself and Elizabeth at Chiswick Park

attempt at a jumping picture at Chiswick

Some Tree Climbing

That night we went to see 39 steps. A comedic play adapted from an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It was hilarious. It was an example of classic British humor. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting London!

Yesterday Liz and I left for our spring break trip. We are currently in Rome! Today is Liz's Birthday and we celebrated by visiting the Spanish Steps, doing some shopping and tonight we are attending a wine tasting at the hotel before going out to a birthday dinner and meeting up with a few of Liz's friends from home who are studying in Rome for the semester.

Santa Maria Maggiore

View from the Trinita del Monti

Trinita del Monti

Liz's first drink as a 21 year old

The Spanish Steps

They do love their vespas

We will be here in Rome until Monday, when we will leave for Scotland. We will spend four days in St. Andrews, where I will get to celebrate my birthday, before heading back to London!

Toho 6B reunion on February 26th