Greenwich: July 9

July 9

This morning in seminar we talked about diversity "London: The World in One City."  I can't believe there are 198 languages spoken in London.  Even after taking Linguistics 597.01 and English 570; it's still amazing there are that many languages.  And all in one place.  There's a building in the East End near Brick Lane that went from being a Protestant Church to a Jewish Synagogue to a Muslim Mosque now.  They don't just tear down a building and rebuild it to fit he use.  They re-use buildings for a mulitude of different things.  Also, with all the different cultures, it's not like New York where every group is all sectioned off.  All the ethnicities have little pockets, hodge-podge, about the city.  

We started off at Charing Cross Rd. today.  I think that's where the Leaky Cauldron is supposed to be.  Ron mentions in in Deathly Hallows when they escape to Tottenham Court Rd.  Anyways, today was supposed to be a look at what used to be the Irish slums at the Seven Dials.  It's all nice a cleaned up now.  There's all sorts of shopping there now.  Retro clothes and little boutiques everywhere.  We stopped at a place called Pop Boutique.  I found a really cute rainbow striped dress, but it was way too small I think.

We also went to St. Paul's Church.  It was built by Inago Jones.  He was asked to build a church for no more money than it cost to build a barn.  He replied 'I'm goign to build you the handsomest barn ever built."  I took a fair number of pictures there.  It was simple, but still really pretty.  It opens out into a beautiful courtyard.  It rained all day today, so I didn't explore as much as I would have liked there, but still gorgeous.  

The rain here is so annoying.  It's not like it downpours, or even rains hard at all.  It's just a constant mist that nevertheless still manages to slowly soak you.

I had my left over pizza tonight.  It was just as good the second time.  We also discovered that Jake is an amazing cook.  Tonight I am electing not to go Pub hopping with everyone else.  I'm looking forward to getting some sleep.  I also have to finish off Sherlock Holmes Sign of Four for tomorrow.

I don't feel like I'm really fitting in with everyone else.  It's like they're all meshing and becoming friends and I'm more of a loner, tlerated and even appreciated along in the groups, but not welcomed into the fold as a friend and fellow.  Sometimes I feel like my natural ability to lead and take charge is a bit off-putting.  I guess maybe I just don't know how to relate to my peers who's main interests seem to be drinking and shopping.  I feel like such a dork for being more interested in the history of London and the theater.  I mean, I barely drink at all (I can't even finish off a half-pint) and I don't really have the desire or money to shop.  I'll get some souvineer type things for my friends, and maybe 1 or 2 thigns for myself, but I have no desire to shop everyday like Erin and Sara.  I keep trying to remind myself it's only the 4th day here and we'll mesh more as the weeks wear on, but I'm still nervous about it.  I just talked to Ryan, and he says he feels a lot the same way.  We're planning on goign to see King Lear, Taming of the Shrew, Timon, in addition to Merry Wives of Windsor with the class.

Greenwich: July 10

July 10

Today's discussion was on Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four.  I read over half of it last night to finish it.  'Twas actually a rather quick read once I got into it.  The discussion barely seemed about the book today.  Peter seems perfectly content to tangent off into his own side discussions, which I tend to both enjoy more and find more interesting and informative.  We ended up talking a lot about motivations to go to war (like why the US joined in late in WWI and WWII), relationships between men (gay and otherwise), racism (and the idea of the "savage"), and why it's good to make fun of prominent public figures (such as politicians).  We also decided Johnny Depp would make an excellent, bad-ass Sherlock Holmes.  Shooting up cocaine and everything.

I think I'm doing these little recaps in lieu of actually taking notes during class.  I like it better this way I think.  There aren't going to be any tests, so I don't need to frantically take notes.  I can just sit back and participate and listen.  I jot down what really sticks with me later, and get more out of the seminar this way.

We took the DLR to Heron Quays [kiz] today.  It has some of the mots amazing concrete architecture.  Very industrial feeling.  We ended up on Westminster Bridge, getting a look at Big Ben and Parliment,  which is where Wordsworth wrote one of his famous sonnets.

COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, SEPT. 3, 1802

          EARTH has not anything to show more fair:
          Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
          A sight so touching in its majesty:
          This City now doth, like a garment, wear
          The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
          Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
          Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
          All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
          Never did sun more beautifully steep
          In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;              10
          Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
          The river glideth at his own sweet will:
          Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
          And all that mighty heart is lying still!

The day was gorgeous, no rain, mostly sunny.  Took some nice pictures there.

Then we trekked down Abingdon St. and saw a statue of Oliver Cromwell and King Charles' severed head.  That was kind of cool.  We stopped off in a small park next to the House of Lords for more pictures and to see the statue of the Burgers of Calais.

Turning down a side street we saw where a mens brothel was, which Oscar Wilde frequented.  We headed on to St. James Park after that, passing Queen Anne's Footstool (a church) on the way.  Where were all sorts of birds in the parks, including the 1684 Russian Pelicans.  There was also an Elephant topiary garten.  I think C-bus topiary is better because it is real.  The plants in the one were all plastic.

After the park we went to Trafalgar Square.  I got a chance to chase some pigeons, so that made me happy.  We decided not to go into the National Gallery today. Rather wait till a rainy day to go back.

We made it to Jared and Beth's a little early for our Thursday evening social.  They fed us, and it was like a plague of locusts down upon the food.  Everyone was absolutely starving.  I'm going to end up losing weight while we're here I think.  All this walking around, and 3 meals a day with 7 or 8 hours between lunch and dinner.  I'm used to 5 or 6 small meals everyday.  I like I'm almost continually hungry here.

Eli and Gideon showed Ryan and I their books.  I want ot buy some.  They're called Horrible Histories, you can only find them here, and they're amazing.  They remind me a bit of my Scheissebuch.

Around 9:15 we all headed out to the Autioneer, a pub.  I felt like everyone else looked really cute.  I brought mostly functional clothes, nothing really dressy.  I down even own anythign really dressy.  It ended up being a lot of fun though.  The pub played almost all American 90s Pop music.  We all knew all the words and were singing along.  There were drinks called VK that tasted like a Jolly Rancher.  Ryan, Andrew, and I also did a shot of Sambuca.  It tastes like black licorice.  Very tasty.  There were some British guys there who seemed a bit like creepers, but I felt safe with the guys from our group.  If things were ever to get real bad I'd feel comfortable claiming they were my boyfriend and that they'd play along with it.

I got home around 12:30 and fell asleep talking to Thom on Skype.  It felt really good to almost be tucked in nd know he was "there" until I fell asleep.