NAAANNTTSSS INGONYAMAAAAAA BAGITHIII BABA

Okay, guys, this week has been great.  Over the weekend Jase and I mostly read for classes, did laundry, etc., but we also went out with some friends here and there! All of us girls on the trip have discovered something remarkable... it's this store called Primark. I don't think I will find a better store here.  It's three stories of amazingly cute (and low-priced) clothes.  Which is crazy, because from the outside it looks like a tiny shop, but it's like Hermione used an expansion charm on the inside! I got a sweater, a shirt, a pair of pants, and a purse, all for 14 quid. It's kind of exciting, guys.

Other than our shopping excursion, on Sunday we went to All Souls Church (much more contemporary than our previous Sunday at St. Paul's Cathedral).  I enjoyed it for the most part; it was a nice service with a good message about prayer and joining in someone else's struggle by praying for them.  Also, I've been looking into volunteering opportunities for my Christian Ethics class, and I just emailed a woman today about feeding the homeless on Thursday mornings, so we'll see how that works out!

Classes were good all week.  On Monday for British Life and Culture we went to the Tower of London for class.  It really was fascinating.... and extremely weird to think about the numbers of people executed on Tower Hill (and executed by amateurs, nonetheless... yeesh!). I just always get chilled thinking about how executions used to be a show... and I was intrigued that this place that was once a site of murder (people were kept in the Tower until they were executed, or they were tortured and whatnot) is now a museum of sorts for us to walk through and enjoy.  Part of me thought that there should be a sort of reverence at sights such as these; it's weird that groups of schoolchildren walk through every day talking, laughing, and goofing off.  Anyway, also kept there are the Crown Jewels, which are just huge. Just imagine a line of crowns and scepters with jewels as big as your fist all over them.  Since I've never seen diamonds that big, it was difficult for me to look at them and think they were even real!

Jase before we went in!

Following our teacher, Mr. Rumbalow.

The Tower of London

Cage--Ravens are kept here as good luck for the monarchy

Some roam freely, too... They're so much bigger than I thought they were!!

This guard was playing with one!

Hahahaha. In the museum, different types of armor from different time periods were on display.  In Henry VIII's time, he instilled the huge codpiece fashion to show how manly his soldiers were. Hahahaha. 

Tuesday Jase and I had two classes--our Lewis and Tolkien class and Theatre.  We discussed the whole of Out of the Silent Planet, and next week we'll discuss Perelandra.  In theatre class, Ian (our teacher) had a guest speaker come in who is a set-designer for many plays in London. Later that night we went to see "Kiss Me, Kate," which is somewhat of an adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew."  I really enjoyed this play and it was my favorite one so far, until........

Yesterday.  Both Jase and I had 1:00 classes (he had Enlightenment, I had Christian Ethics), and after we decided to pop over to Leicester Square to see how much "Les Mis" tickets were.  Unfortunately, in the theatre class, Ian told us we were no longer going to be able to see "Les Mis" as a class because he couldn't get a group ticket rate.  Disappointed as crap, Jase and I were determined to get tickets anyway.  After scouring the internet for ticket prices, the cheapest we could find were 57 pounds each, with obstructed view. Not good. After getting off the tube in Leicester Square, we turned into the London Theatre Booking booth, and I said to the worker, "I suppose the cheapest Les Mis tickets we could get would be around 70 pounds each, right?" He looked at me like I was nuts and said, "No, we have them for around 25 pounds each." I, of course, was pleasantly surprised! He then told us the earliest he could get us these tickets was next Wednesday.  Jase and I, though, did not have a schedule with us, so we left and texted some of our professors to see if we had any events that night.  While waiting for their responses, we popped into a little Italian restaurant and had a 3-course dinner for about 16 pounds, total (insert "Not Bad" face).  Turned out, we're going to see "Richard III" next Wednesday night, so we went back to the Booking booth hoping to get tickets for next Thursday.

Best part.  Upon returning to the booth, we began ordering from one of the two workers.  The other worker looked at us and said, "You guys aren't doing anything tonight, are you?" I looked at him and said, "No, we're free!" thinking that he was going to recommend a show for us to see that night.  He said, "Well, I have two tickets to the Lion King tonight that I can't use..." --my brain immediately thought he was going to try to sell them to us for cheap-- "and they're yours if you want them." WUT. YES. THANK YOU SO MUCH. We thanked him profusely, and after buying our Les Mis tickets and getting the Lion King tickets from him, we scurried back through the crazy-crowded tube station to get cleaned up at our hostel before going to the Lion King. FO FREE. It was fantastic, guys. We were in the orchestra section.  Row L. The costumes, the special effects, the dancing, the music.... I just.... yeah. Best night yet.

My sweet fiance before the show!!

So excited! 

Visiting the Shadowlands

Yesterday's trip to Oxford was great.  Freezing, but great.  We left the Pickwick at 9 am on a large coach bus and headed toward Oxford.  The whole ride, the scenery was snow-covered and gorgeous.  Our first destination was the Kilns, C. S. Lewis' home from 1930 to 1963.  It was magical for me.  Our tour guide took us first to the library (which was not originally a part of the house when Lewis lived there; it was a shed) and began telling us about Lewis' life and his time at the Kilns.  The house has been refurbished to match photographs of what it looked like when Lewis lived there; in the 70s a couple had bought the house and put in the generic decorations of the times... shag carpets, yellow linoleum floors, the works. All of that hot mess had to be restored to Lewis' tattered, magical home.

Apparently when Lewis lived there, there were not only filled bookshelves in every room, but also stacks of books all over the house.  Lewis, having a photographic memory, would bring students into his house and ask them to pick any book they wished off the shelf and start reading.  He would then pick up where they started reading and finish the page (or chapter) from memory.  Amazing.  After talking about the Inkling's life for quite a while, we toured the rest of the house, journeying through Warnie Lewis' bedroom and study (where a married couple currently reside; scholars actually trade out and live in this house periodically while doing research on Lewis and Tolkien), through the Common Room, Dining Room, and kitchen, up through Lewis' study and room.  Outside the house is a nature reserve and a pond where Lewis apparently used to swim frequently.  I can absolutely see how Lewis was inspired to write Narnia there; the house is so quiet and reserved.

Oddly enough, though, my fondest moments there were hearing the stories of Joy Gresham, Lewis' great friend and later his wife.  She just seems like she was so sassy with a fiery spirit, and I really admire that in a woman of that time period.  She was an impressionable woman who was apparently an amazing author herself, which I can attest to after reading Lewis' Till We Have Faces, my favorite work of his so far, and one that Joy almost co-wrote (because she revised it so heavily).  The writing is vastly different and more skillful than Lewis' previous works. I just love that she impressed herself upon Lewis and impacted his life like she did.

We then departed the Kilns and went to central Oxford for lunch and our tour of the town.  Most of our crowd headed off to The Eagle and Child, so naturally we (Lydia, Caitlyn, Megan, Kirby, Mary, Jase, and I) headed off in the opposite direction and found a small pub called the Crown. It had reasonable prices; I ended up getting tomato basil soup and some onion rings (because why not??), while Jase got the British dish of gammon and eggs.  (He's kind of loving it here, and he's actually much more adventurous than I am!). We finished lunch and headed off to take our tour!

The tour of Oxford, while I enjoyed seeing all the colleges and churches, was freezing.  I, stupidly enough, only wore one layer on my legs and it was below freezing outside.  This was a two-hour outside tour.  I won't lie; I love the town so much, but I just barely got through this tour, and I was unbelievably glad when it was over! Haha.  On the bus ride home, I read through plenty of Out of The Silent Planet, and I just felt much more connected to Ransom's character.  No joke, I am looking into that program where scholars live at the Kilns.  Guys. This could be a thing. How amazing would it be to live in C. S. Lewis' house??!

Regardless of the cold, I just loved yesterday's trip.

London Calling

Alright! So I've had at least one of every class so far. Tuesday I had C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and my London theatre class, and Wednesday I had Christian Ethics.  I think I'm really going to like the Lewis and Tolkien class; I'm just glad I get my literature fix this semester to be honest.  We really just talked about the syllabus and went over some bio for both Lewis and Tolkien, which I love doing because it just makes me feel super smart... they were smart dudes who sat around talking, I'm in a class sitting around talking, they were in the UK, I'm in the UK... it works, alright, don't question it.

After class, Lydia, Jase, and I set off to search for The Shakespeare's Head pub to eat lunch, which had been recommended to us by Mary and Kirby (here), and James and Kristen (back in Abilene).  We found it tucked into some construction work over by Holborn Station, and it was good. I'll be going back, folks.  The prices, while still not ideal, were cheaper than we've seen everywhere else. Like, fish and chips for 7 pounds (11 dollars) rather than 11 pounds (about 18 dollars).  I got lunch (with a drink! Hoorah!) for 5 pounds (8 dollars). Mostly we just go to the local Tesco's or Sainsbury's, the grocery stores, and pick out pre-packaged meals there. People in England are surprisingly big on pre-packaged sandwiches.  There's a restaurant called Pret a Manger at least once every block here that is literally just a sandwich shop for pre-packaged sandwiches.  I actually really like this; so much better than fast food in the states. As opposed to getting a burger with fries or paying $7 for a subway sandwich, you can pick up something relatively cheap and healthy.  However, my only issue here is that they put mayonnaise on EVERYTHING. And not a little.... like, drenched. I finally found some at Tesco's with the friendly "no mayo" label, and I rejoiced. Huzzah!

We had the London Theatre class after lunch, and I think I'm going to really enjoy this class, too. Ian picks our plays that we see and he's our teacher in this class. We are seeing SO MANY plays this semester. We've already seen three since we got here.  I'm pretty sure we see 1-2 a week.  We saw a very British play called "The Magistrate" on Tuesday night, and it was very good! I have to be honest, though, when it hits 8:00 here, I start to get very sleepy.  Add that to the almost completely dark theatre and British humor that I have to really pay attention to to understand, and you get an Emma that must nod off constantly.  I caught most of the beginning, not so much of the middle, and some of the end.  I'm sure it was a very lovely little comedy.  It did star John Lithgow, who played the voice of Lord Farquad in Shrek and Barney's father in How I Met Your Mother! So that was cool.

We had Christian Ethics yesterday, and that should be a good class.  Dr. Taylor wants us to complete 20 hours of volunteering while we're here for the class, so I'll be looking for somewhere here to volunteer.  Last night, we went to see another play called "Fair Em," which is rumored to be a lost play of Shakespeare, but it's very obvious that it is not (according to many scholars.... and me. Hah). It was a cute play with love triangles and whatnot, with breaks of music and stage fighting and plenty of comedy.  I enjoyed it, mostly because it was in a very intimate stage setting; the theatre seated no more than 60 and the actors came through the audience several times... at one point, one actor who had, um... I guess somewhat of a full bedpan with him, needed someone in the audience to hold it for him and promptly handed it to Dr. Taylor, who was sitting in the front row. It made us all giggle, of course.  Those of you who know Dr. Taylor, you can imagine. Hah.

Anyway, I've been having tons of fun with the people on the trip with us.  Everyone is intent on having a great time and we all get along well.  My roommates, Caitlyn and Lydia, are terrific, and it's so much fun to hang out with them! ;) Haha. I love getting to travel around the city of London with such fun people.

Alright.  Today I have no classes, so I had tea and toast for breakfast and now I'm blogging.  I'll probably hash out some reading for Lewis and Tolkien and then I'll snag Jase and we can go get some lunch! After that, the world is our oyster! Hah. Patrick (he runs the Pickwick) told me that they are having a lecture in the British Museum today at 2:45, so we may go to that... or we could go shopping in Covent Garden or Piccadilly Circus, or go to one of the many museums, or we could go be tourists around Buckingham Palace or Big Ben or wherever! All of it sounds great. I'll let you know! Tomorrow we take our first day trip to Oxford. I can't wait! Goodbye, all, London calls!

London History 101

So today was the first day of classes. And now I'm really exhausted.  Time change is a killer, guys... I just want to curl up in my little twin bed and sleep for a week. Actually, I can safely say that my time here is neatly divided into two categories:  sleeping in my tiny bed or walking out in the snow and freezing cold.  Today we all had British Life and Culture practically all day.  From 9:30 to 12:30 we were with Mr. Rumbalow in the classroom, and then from 2:00 to about 4:30 we walked the streets of London with Mrs. Rumbalow.  It was a long day.  

The classroom setting was interesting; I actually got extremely tense because Mr. Rumbalow talks so fast and I was trying to take thorough notes... In case you were wondering, this is a British-style class, which means that our only grade the whole semester comes from our final test. He constantly "flags" information that he says we'll need for sure, but we still need to know most everything else he says as well.  He just went so fast today... he relayed London history from about 8000 BC to the 1940s, just today. It's safe to say I was somewhat overwhelmed.  Thank goodness I took Dr. Taylor's Western Civ class last semester or I would be completely lost in this class. London just has so much more history than America. I feel like a silly American. 

Then we broke for lunch and met at St. Paul's station for Mrs. Rumbalow's tour-part of the class.  We started at the cathedral, then moved down to Black Friar's and Ludgate, then onto St. Bride's church (the original inspiration for the shape of the wedding cake!), built by Christopher Wren.  We went down into the crypt there; during the Blitz (I think, I could be wrong...) the church was bombed out and the foundation was blown away, revealing many different layers of civilization to archaeologists dating all the way back to the Romans.  We also stopped at the College of Arms, where people get paid to create Coats of Arms for families.  We discussed the many Guilds of London.  Just so you know, it's hard to take notes and walk at the same time, especially when it's cold and drippy-rainy, so y'all should be impressed.  

We learned too much today and now I'm sleepy as all get-out.  Good night, all! I must go read for Christian Ethics.  

The Tube Rally: A Day of Stressful Fun.

Today we woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, 8:00 am for the Tube Rally.  Basically, we were divided into five groups and sent on a scavenger hunt around the city of London.  We had to hit up all of the major sights and answer questions about the sights that we visited.  It got intense.... real fast. Our team (five of us:  Me, John, Claire, Aisha, and Renee) headed off to the British Museum straight away because it is the closest to our hotel, Pickwick Hall.  Trying to be smart, we headed to the information desk right away... I thought I would be clever and just ask for the answers from someone there, but turns out they don't really memorize every random little fact residing in the museum (for example:  What happened to Mary's dog? I don't know, either. And neither did the lady at the info desk). So we ran around on a wild goose chase looking for minuscule facts around a museum with at least four stories.

After the British Museum, we decided we would head out to Harrods, practically one huge mall contained in one store, the most expensive store ever. Like, afternoon high tea costs 29 pounds per person. I don't think I'll be heading back out there; it just makes me depressed that some people will spend 100 pounds on a belt for a child. Most of the things we were supposed to be a-scavenging for were non-existant at our present moment, anyway.  The hunt was a tad outdated...

Honestly, I can't remember exactly what happened today because many, many tube rides, bus rides, and miles walked are all jumbling together... we did go to:  Buckingham Palace, The House of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, The National Portrait Gallery, Covent Garden, St. Martin-in-the-fields,   St. Paul's Cathedral, and a ton more that I cannot even remember.  I swear, we got off the tube at most every stop on the Piccadilly Line.  Word of advice... If you're ever in London and you're leaving the Underground and there's an option to take the lift (elevator) or the stairs... Take the lift. Always. The line for the lift was super long at one point, so I thought people were just lazy and weren't willing to go up, like, four flights... nope. They were just smarter than me. Four stories up the stairs, I figured out that  it wasn't ending any time soon. Fifteen flights. Fifteen flights of stairs I climbed today. It got me. And it got me good. I'm pretty sure my group hated me after that. I hated me, too. Because it was a stupid decision.

After much exploration, deterrence, and perseverance, we actually made it back.  Really, guys, in this blog I made this day sound a LOT shorter than it actually was. It was SO long. All through the day it was blistering cold with spurts of sleet, tiny hail, and some rain, too.  We got back third, but we failed to "scavenge" all the answers on our sheet, save one destination.  Sadly, we did not win. Jase's team won, though, so I'm trusting he'll send a bit of that extra 20 pounds my way!! Hahaha.

All in all, it was a good day.  Being out and about in the city without someone herding you like a sheep is fascinating... navigating is easier than I thought it would be.  Went out for fish and chips tonight. Delicious, especially considering that I had only eaten two pieces of toast that morning for breakfast and nothing else all day.

Tomorrow we go to church at St. Paul's Cathedral. Should be lovely. Cheers, everyone!

I'm going on an adventure!

Okay, so I think I finally got my bearings today.  Our first few days were somewhat of a blur... Staying awake for two days straight kind of makes one unable to take in one's surroundings! Our first day here was exhausting, and I mean exhausting. Jase and I flew to DFW from Abilene (about an hour long flight, started at 1:35 in the afternoon). We had time to kill in DFW because our flight boarded at 4:50.  Then came the longest plane ride of my life so far. I got about an hour of sleep, tops. I guess I forgot how loud planes are! The whole ride it felt like a giant was holding the plane and humming right next to it. I ended up watching two movies, Pitch Perfect (of course) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (better than I thought it was going to be!). 

Anyway, by the time the sleepless ride ended, it was 2:00 am our time, 8:00 am London time! We met up with the rest of the groups in Heathrow and took a coach to our hotel, the Pickwick.  Caitlyn, Lydia, and I quickly shuffled our suitcases up to the third floor of the hotel, the top floor. Guys, imma be in excellent shape by the end of this trip. No elevator = buns of steel. We unpacked and then went out to explore the neighborhood. Coming back, my body went into sleep mode while I was still awake. It was the weirdest thing ever. They warned us not to nap so we would get over jet-lag easier, but my body just took over. I laid down on my bed and I started the quick/fast breathing and I kept on getting really dizzy. I had to crash for about an hour, and then I was good to go!

So today I walked. So much. Like I said, guys, really good shape this semester. ;D Hah. Woke up about 10:00 and showered (hot water comes and goes... no luck today. Had to just shampoo really fast. Haha). Then we went to buy some temporary cell phones, got a cheap Samsung brick-like phone for 15 quid. Takes me back to middle school! We shopped a little more and then we started our walk around the city with our teacher from our British Life and Culture class. He's a cute little old British man who walks with a cane. I love him already. We walked for about 2 1/2 hours. Snowing the whole time. I get paranoid walking around the city here; we've already had several lectures about the fact that we must be aware that the cars come and go on the opposite side of the streets. It's hard to get used to looking the other way! Also, if you get hit here, it's your fault. The driver can sue you for the damage done to his/her car, even if you have a poor little mangled body. Great Britain is harsh.

After our adventure around the city, we journeyed to Archway (first expedition on the tube!) to see a musical, "Crazy for You." Classic Gershwin, "I've got rhythm," "Someone to Watch Over Me," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," etc.  Lots of tap dancing. I loved it.  Watching people tap dance makes me feel like I can tap dance, which is a mistake.  The theatre was actually inside a pub, and we talked with the actors some after the play ended.  They had done some Texan/Southern accents throughout the show, and the lead female was so excited when we talked to her and told her she had a good accent in the show! She said in her quaint little British voice, "Oh, I do get so self-conscious about that accent!" She was a sweetheart; I could have put her in my pocket and carried her around.

Tomorrow is the Tube Rally. 9:30 am, I'll be up and scouring the routes of foggy London Town! Wish us luck... top three teams win a cash prize, 20 pounds. Aw yeah. Hope it goes well! I have no doubt that it will, whether we win or not!