First week of July! Classes.

Monday- Media and Politics
Our outing (after a frustrating class of our teacher on his soapbox harshly criticizing topics that are sensitive and then not listening to our viewpoints at all) was to the Imperial War Museum- full of tanks and planes and lots of war propaganda that we looked at. It was a very thorough museum with  wars and conflicts I had never heard of, and we looked mainly at media uses throughout a few major wars. It was pretty depressing overall, but the propaganda was interesting to look at and see the  differences throughout the progress of time.

I think the rest of the day was just back at the house, getting reading done for my classes, etc. Nothing too exciting!

Tuesday- Media and Society
We spent class time talking all about our final papers in groups and critiquing them. We talked about our topics and our progress with the professor and it basically took the whole class time. Our outing was to the Jewish Museum in Camden where a sweet old lady took us upstairs to give us a rundown of the museum, and then we had time to explore on our own. It was really interesting to see the history of Jewish culture and people in London throughout time.

Afterward, a group of us found a cheap Italian pizza place for lunch and all devoured our pizzas. It was so nice to finally have free time in between our classes for once...usually we are rushed to get to Culture By Design in time!

Culture by Design- we didn't have lecture, but instead met outside of class and went straight to the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in Notting Hill. I was looking forward to this outing just because it sounded different from all the other museums we've been to, and I was right. It was AWESOME. It was a tiny little place, but it was jam packed with stuff, and I wanted to stay there forever. It started out going decade by decade from 1900 to today, with the display cases full of food packaging, toys, posters and art and propaganda, fashion, games, etc. Basically anything with a brand and a package was there. It was so cool seeing how the trends changed throughout time, and seeing how many things still have stayed so similar and so true to their original design and packaging.

After that area, the displays shifted to show brands from their original creation throughout time to today. It would show, for example, Coca Cola, from the original can through every variation throughout the decades, ending in the current design. It struck me as fascinating how little most designs changed over time. I think it speaks volumes about the original designs themselves, that they truly have withstood the test of time and stayed true to their focus, which I thought was really cool. We have another media analysis project to write about this outing, and I'm really excited about it.

After spending a little less than an hour there, we rushed off to Westfield mall to look more at branded space. We went to the area of the shopping centre known as "The Village" aka the reaaaaallllyyyyy expensive stuff. We were sent off in small groups to look around and go in as many stores as we could in the time allowed, with the goal of deciding whether the spaces were classified as a "shed," "cathedral," or "museum." Sheds would be stores were everything is out and in the open and more available and perhaps more busy and cluttered and chaotic. Museums are where you go to study things, they are less accessible, more on display. Cathedrals would be the least accessible, with people going with the intent of worshipping or paying homage to the items. It was really cool to look at these designer stores that way and to classify them and to realize I really didn't like or want anything I saw. I'm much more of a thrifter and bargain shopper, and I'm 150% okay with that.

After that, we were done with classes for the day! We had a group meeting at 6:30, and then we were done for the day!


Wednesday (4th of July!)- Writing in the Public Sphere
Discussed four articles that were more current and more about the Internet playing into the public sphere, and it was really interesting, as it was topics I had covered in my paper (that I got an A- on, yay!). I had time to come up to my flat during class and look at several major news sources online and to analyze their comment forums and take notes on their effectiveness and their content, which was really interesting.

Our outing was to the Foundling Museum- an outing I had picked since some of our outings were duplicates from my other classes. Read more about it here! (http://londonpublicsphere.blogspot.co.uk/)

Afterwards, I was off to explore a new area of town on my own, about two streets over from where Madison House is. It just happened to be a random area of the neighborhood that I hadn't really explored yet, and after walking around for a while, I realized it's because there really isn't anything to see or do there except eat at places I've seen around town already. I stopped at a souvenir shop to pick up things for people, and then came home to relax. We were going to go to the Globe Theatre in the evening to see Taming of the Shrew and we were going to have to stand the whole time, so I knew I wanted to take it easy all day so my knee wouldn't hate me TOO much.

Griffin and I left to head to the theatre and our group all met up there. We had "groundlings" tickets, and I was excited for them because it was the true Shakespearean way of seeing his plays, but also really nervous about my knee holding up the whole time. I had the okay from Rusty to leave at any point if I needed to, but I love Taming of the Shrew and I really wanted to be able to see it all.

We stood at the back of the ground area, so we had a wall to lean up against and a little ledge to sort of sit on, and that helped a lot. The play was HILARIOUS and very well done! There was even quite a lot of nudity (saw much more male butt than I was ever expecting to...) and I seriously loved it. Such good actors, and such an awesome experience, and I made it the whole time! Walking to the tube station was miserable and it's been a few days and my knee is still suffering quite a lot, but so worth it.

It ended about 10:30 pm, and walking home across the Millennium Bridge at night was SO COOL. I hadn't been down by the river at night yet, and seeing the city all lit up was incredible. The new Shard building that is the highest point in the city now lit up in crazy colors, and had these green laser beams that shot out and around the city, ending on points like St. Pauls...so crazy. It was the closest thing we had to a Fourth of July fireworks show!

It was a little weird being in England on the 4th, and it made me a little sad, which I totally wasn't expecting! I'm not a big patriotic, let's go America kind of person anyway, so I usually am not too obsessed with the holiday, but I really just missed being with my family and friends and seeing fireworks and just having a relaxing summer evening. I realized I really have missed SUMMER. It hasn't felt like a true summer here hardly at all, and I didn't know that it would actually be something I came to miss.

I'm looking forward to coming home and having hot weather (not excited about the humidity though...) and being able to go to the pool and beach and not having cold weather and rain every day. It will be nice to have a real summer in the States.

Stratford-upon-Avon (Thursday-Friday)

Yikes. I haven't blogged in a week. I'm falling behind. I blame three papers and a four day weekend trip. That's fair, right?

Okay. So. Last Thursday (a week ago from today), we left for Stratford-upon-Avon! A coach (charter bus) picked us up right outside Madison House (no lugging our bags all the way to a tube to a train or anything!) and we left just after 2 pm.

For some reason, I thought we were going to Bath first, and when we arrived a few hours later and walked into the B&B, I saw a map of Stratford on the wall and finally realized where we were...I don't know what I was thinking. Our B&B was really quirky and cute, and Amanda and I had a room on the ground floor and it was very pink! Everyone was saying it was like their grandma's houses...but my grandparents have way more modern looking houses and decorations than this place did! It was cute though. We basically took over the whole place (like we usually do on these weekend trips).

We had thought we weren't going to have a lot of time before we had to go to a play, so I was already dressed and a group of us left pretty much right away to go to dinner at a pub that was recommended to us because it's the favorite place of the Royal Shakespeare Company Actors.

We walked through Stratford (pretty much across the whole tiny town) to The Dirty Duck (formally known as The Black Swan) for dinner. The whole group ended up going there, and we all sat at different tables because there are so many of us. I got the best bruschetta I've ever had in my entire life, and a side salad, and onion rings. Life of a vegetarian eating pub food...lots of appetizers=a meal!

The Dirty Duck/The Black Swan

We still had time to kill before our play (we really weren't rushed for time at all...) so we wandered half in search of ice cream, half just to see the town, and took lots of pictures to kill time! Stratford-upon-Avon is SO based on Shakespeare and was an adorable little town, but it definitely felt touristy, and like the Shakespeare theatres are the only real thing there. I'm not sure if anyone really lives there! It was cool to visit though.

FINALLY it was time to see Julius Caesar! What we didn't realize until we were in the theatre was that this version was set in modern-day Africa. It instantly made everything WAY more exciting! I've read a lot of Shakespeare and seen lots of movies and plays, and it all sort of runs together when it's set in the same time period and everything, so I was really intrigued! There was no intermission, so we were in it for about 2.5 hours straight!

Royal Shakespeare Company!

The play was INCREDIBLE. Having modern costumes and everything made it so much more relatable. The accents were East African and the cast was all black, which just made it so much more unique and interesting! I absolutely loved it. It felt so much more real thinking about Julius Caesar in the context of an African country today, as it's all about overthrowing dictators and the conflicts of power that come as a result that lead to war and death. It just brought Shakespeare to life in a whole new way, and it was so awesome.

After the play, we rushed back to the B&B because the actor who played Marc Antony was coming back to speak to the theatre class and whoever else wanted to join! When he got there, we all just sat around the living room area and he talked for almost two hours about his life, career, thoughts on the play, his character, Shakespeare as a whole, etc. It was really awesome to hear his perspective and to learn about everything that goes on behind the scenes to make the characters what we see them as during the performance, and I loved it. Some people said he had a bit of an ego, but the guy has played almost all of the major male Shakespeare roles...I think he's allowed to be a little cocky! I found it really awesome.

After he left, I crashed!

Friday morning, breakfast was at 8 am like usual and I had scrambled eggs on toast and cereal. I had a migraine (typical...) and wasn't feeling too awesome.

We had a bus tour on our same coach with a tour guide, and we started off at Anne Hathaway's cottage. There was a bit of confusion as to who Anne Hathaway was on the way to her cottage...definitely thought at first that it was the Princess Diaries actress. Typical American culture showing through right there...embarrassing.

We toured the inside but weren't allowed to take any pictures. Basically, picture a really old English cottage with lumpy mattresses on ropes pulled tight, not a lot of furniture, cool old dishes, and that's what it was!

The best part of the tour was learning a bunch of terms that have meanings based on Shakespeare and things that were said back when he and Anne Hathaway were alive!

Some examples:
-curfew comes from the Latin words that mean "covered fire"- the fires had to be covered by 8 pm so the houses with straw roofs and thatch didn't burn down. A bell would ring to signify it was "Curfew" time aka time to cover your fire, which would mean bedtime essentially- like what it means today!
-sleep tight- comes from having to pull the ropes tight on the beds that the mattress would rest on
-pot luck- the pot of porridge would be on the fire for many days in a row, so when one ate it, they were taking a risk, aka a pot luck
-tables were made of two parts- the base, and the board that rested on top. this gave a lot of versatility- such as pushing it up against the wall and resting cups and dishes on it (cupboard), playing games on it (board games), eating a variety of food from it (smorgasbord), when you stayed somewhere with a board, it was called room and board, etc.
-threshold comes from a blocking that was placed in the door frames to keep the thresh (straw on the ground in winter to keep in warmth) from blowing outside- it held the thresh in

We went to the church where Shakespeare is buried, saw his grave and the graves of his family members...

It was drizzling off and on all day and was really gray and cloudy out, but the weather held up okay for the most part. We then went to Shakespeare's birthplace and took a tour (self-guided) through the museum leading up to the house, and then through the house. Pretty uneventful over all...but I guess pretty cool that we were where Shakespeare was born.

Shakespeare's birthplace!

Seeing all these places is really getting weird- like I know they have incredible significance and meaning, but at the same time, it's hard to get super stoked about it all, because it's so materialistic and so insignificant in the scheme of things. I'm trying to just appreciate them and respect it all, but not make huge deals out of things.

After the birthplace, everyone went off in search of lunch, and Amanda and I ended up at The Tea Cafe and got pots of tea and I got a sandwich. It was exactly what I needed to relax and just take a break from everything for a little bit. Plus, it was so yummy!

After lunch, we wandered down the street and found an ADORABLE little shop with all sorts of cute jewelry and house things and such, and the two of us spent quite a while browsing around. We found a charity shop (thrift store) and Amanda found a really cool dress too, and then we met back up with our group and were back on the coach to head to Bath!