Day 25 aka Throw him in the Thames
Media and Politics started off with a bang as we were reminded that our term paper is due on this upcoming Monday... oops. So I've been working on that ALL week. Then we went to the Old Bailey, which is a courthouse near St. Paul's Cathedral (more on that later). Before we were allowed into the public gallery, a bailiff told us about how you can't talk in the public gallery, and how some judges will find you in contempt of court if you do. He told us that one judge fines 200 quid in cash on the spot-- and if you don't have it? Jail time. With the murderers and rapists, so he said. So that shut me up. I always get more anxious about being quiet when I'm not allowed to talk. Anyway, we went in to listen to a mortgage fraud case.. super boring. So boring, in fact, that our professor was actually falling asleep and we spent more time watching him catch himself than listening to the barister (who wears a robe and wig!!) ask the banker a lot of questions. Neither of them really had a case against the other. It was a little ridiculous-- even the judge was getting fed up. After about 45 minutes we left and headed back to Madison House.
Our theatre professor was 10 minutes late to class so we played a game of telephone pictionary. Catherine taught us the game: everyone writes a sentence on a piece of paper and then hands it to the next person (in a circle). Then, the next person reads the sentence and draws it, then folds back the sentence so only their drawing is visible, then hands it to the next person. They write a sentence that they think the drawing represents, then hand it off again. Ideally, this goes on until you get your own back and see how far your sentence has been translated from the original! Mine started with "The Queen is on the pound" and came back with "Put your two cents in." A very fun game, and all you need is paper and pencils! We talked about Macbeth, which we had seen on Thursday in Stratford, and about Chekhov since we were seeing The Cherry Orchard at the National Theatre later that night.
We left straight from class to get to the National Theatre by 5:15pm to take a backstage tour! We were led through all 3 theatres and the backstage areas, and even got to see a horse puppet from War Horse, which we're seeing later in July! I asked a ton of questions and had a really good experience. We broke for dinner. With our backstage tour ticket, we got a discount on the 10 quid wine and main meal special at the National Theatre's Olivier Cafe and Bar. So I only paid like 8 for it. :) And it was some of the best non-Italian food I've had in London so far-- just roasted chicken with a kind of asian glaze? and salad. We went into the theatre to see The Cherry Orchard at 7:30pm. I was one of the 4 people doing a presentation on the production, so we got to sit in closer seats than the rest of the class. I loved the production elements of the show, and the acting was very well done for the most part. BUT. The version was an updated script. But all the production elements were left in the original 1904 setting. I agreed with the critic who wanted to throw the updater and his script into the Thames because it completely ruined the play for me. They were using words like "bloody fricking" and "bozo" and it was just so misplaced that it sounded ridiculous. The language of Chekhov is hard to access, but if they were going to update the language, they needed to keep to the spirit of the play, instead of going for cheap laughs. Chekhov definitely throws in a bit of comedy, but it should not be the kind that causes uproarious laughter by any means. But I digress...
Stayed up until 2:30am doing Media and Society homework. I am starting to get a little ticked that we have been here for 4 weeks and I haven't gotten a single assignment back from ANY class. I know that it is rough to grade so many papers (though none of my classes have over 20 students), but they have a week to do it from when we turn it in... and now it's just piling up because they won't turn back any of it, and we keep turning things in. This might seem trivial given that this is study abroad, but with so few assignments I just want to know how I'm doing!
Day 26 aka London is such a maze!
We went to Fleet Street for Media and Society, which is where Sweeney Todd takes place. It is also where the newspaper industry used to be, before all the streets got bought out and they had to move to the docklands. There are also courts there. That was about as interesting as the walk got. I know there is some sort of plaque or house or something about Sweeney Todd, so I'll have to go back and find it. It was very close to Madison House. After class, I made lunch and did homework before going out to dinner for Claire's birthday! We went to Zizzi's, an Italian place, and I had delicious spinach and goat cheese ravioli with tomato and pesto sauce and a sweet but dry white wine. Afterwards, we went to Scoop, the best gelato place in the area. It's in Covent Garden, which is a short walk from the house as well. I had peppermint and tiramisu (you get two scoops in a small, three in a medium and four in a large). Then we RAN to the Odeon Cinema thinking that Bad Teacher started at 9:15, but it actually started at 9:45. SUCH A GOOD MOVIE. GO SEE IT. I might actually buy it on DVD when it comes out. That's how funny it was. We then walked back to Madison House in the freezing cold and got ready for bed.
Day 27 aka homework party!
I spent the entire day Wednesday working on the aforementioned Media and Politics term paper. Still have about half left. But I did gather and cite all my sources so that I can work on it without internet and on the train. I should be doing it now... but this is more fun at 1am. At 6:30pm we had our weekly meeting, where we got our Paris itinerary and stuff for the week! Gina and Alli orchestrated a birthday celebration for everyone who had/has a birthday for the time we are together in London! Everyone got a cupcake and we got to blow out candles and they had bought each of us cards that were passed around for everyone to sign! It was so sweet and a great cupcake too! At 9pm we had a social committee meeting where we planned out our potluck Mexican food dinner for next Wednesday! We are also going to all go bowling and to some other free events later in the summer. After the meeting, a bunch of us met up in our flat to work on the various essays we were all completing. Except Sarah, who never seems to have homework... lucky. I finally finished going over sources and decided against reading for Culture by Design because it was late-- don't tell Jay!
Day 28 aka more steps than i have ever seen before
Today I climbed over 1000 steps. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral for our Culture by Design outing to observe the architecture and what makes it a symbol of London. I saw no feed the birds lady... but I did see the steps she sat on! As part of our guided tour, we got to see the beautiful cathedral (which randomly has Russian Orthodox icons and Byzantine mosaic work in it) and got to climb up to the Whispering, Stone and Golden Galleries. We didn't get to go to the VERY top, but we got all the way up to the tallest outside balcony. It was beautiful-- a clear, sunny (but windy) day, with a great view of almost the entire city.
me at the top(ish) of st. paul's. you can tell i had 2 papers due that week and had just climbed over 500 steps.
The cathedral's view is actually protected by law-- no one can build anything to obstruct the view in the area. It is 528 steps to that point, and 528 more on the way back down.
view of the floor of the church from the 2nd to top stairwell.
Nice workout for the day, but we were all feeling it afterwards. After class, it was time to pack for Paris!!! And finally we left at about 6pm for the train station. We left St. Pancras Int'l at 7pm for the Gare du Nord in Paris. I worked on my essay for the majority of the 2 1/2 hour train ride. I got two pages written, so a little less than half done! I bought a hot dog on the train for dinner. It was actually not bad-- but I had really wanted a cheeseburger. They ran out, though. Oh well. We rode the Paris Metro to the Piagalle station and walked to the hotel, where I am typing this now. We were finally let into our rooms at 11:30ish. This place has continental breakfast AND they give you a boxed lunch. Sarah and I are definitely going to a crepe stand tomorrow though. Tomorrow we'll be seeing the Musee D'Orsay and Le Louvre!!! Then we will be walking down the Champs Elysee (big shopping street) and seeing the Arc de Triomphe!! Bon soir!
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