Milan, Italy

Having returned from Dublin on Monday afternoon I spent the week recovering from my travels and doing little beyond the ordinary. Our class visit for Art and Society was to the Tate Britain art gallery. We will be going back in a few weeks to explore the Millais exhibit, at which time I will make further comments on my blog.

My weekend trip to Milan began with an early morning flight on Friday, a week and a half ago. As a student trying to save money and maximize my holiday times, I often find myself on the first flight out of London on Friday morning. With the airport a little over an hour from my flat (which is convenient to the Victoria coach station and a one stop for many coaches to the airport) and a required check-in two hours prior to the flight I often leave my flat at 3:30 a.m. For the second Friday in a row I returned from class on Thursday evening, finished packing, and struggled to get a few hours of sleep. Often when I leave my neighbors are returning from a night out in London. Honestly, even though I am young, waking up so early and staying busy throughout the weekend is beginning to take its toll - although, the opportunities I have to explore Europe keep me flowing with adrenaline throughout the weekend.

I arrived in Milan at the Bergamo airport, about forty minutes north of Milan. A bus to the city center brought me to Stazinoe Centrale where I was going to meet Chelsea where the bus unloaded. Not having purchased a cell phone makes these little meetings slightly more difficult. Although, with no where in particular to be I don't mind waiting for someone to meet me or leisurely following directions to where I need to be. As I wandered near the bus depot I noticed three to four street vendors set up on cardboard boxes selling cell phone chargers, fake designer sunglasses, and dancing dolls (similar vendors were present throughout Milan). Observing from afar I noticed one street vendor quickly grab his goods in a blanket and start running while yelling at the others nearby. Within seconds the others (one who was in the middle of a transaction) snatched their wares and followed the first vendor. About ten second later an Italian police officer meandered towards the cardboard boxes the vendors had left and slowly folded them and put them along the wall. I guess selling knockoff items in Italy is illegal. Although, the nonchalant attitude of the police makes me wonder if they even enforce such regulations.

Chelsea and I made our way via the underground and tram to her room about 5 km from the city center. As we made our way to the "suburbs" of the city I realized Milan is much dirtier than I had anticipated. The walls are covered in graffiti, the underground is old and falling apart, and trash lines certain areas of the street. Additionally, although Milan is the fashion capital of the world - I would argue the average Londoner cares much more about their appearance than the "fashionistas" in Milan. After dropping my bag we headed to Milan to explore Chelsea's school, the Duomo, the galleria, Castello Sforzesco, and the area surrounding central Milan.

Stopping at Chelsea's school for lunch I had my first experience of the crazy Italian lifestyle. Life in London is very orderly and makes sense, or at least it does to the English, this however is not the case in Milan. While I understand the importance of cultural differences, you cannot fully understand their way of completing certain tasks until you have experienced it first hand. The queue, or line from those who haven't crossed the pond, is nonexistent in Italy. The Italians do not respect that the person who arrived before you should be served before you, etc. They seem to all clump together and slowly push their way to the front of the line. Second, parking... I think I have mentioned in the past that I am amazed how Londoners can get away with parking in both directions on the street (still upsets me since I got a parking ticket in America for parking against traffic in front of my house in Colorado :) ). Well, in Milan not only do they park on both sides of the street facing whichever direction is most convenient, they also park on the sidewalks, double park on the streets, etc. At one point someone stopped in their lane on a major road and tossed on their hazards and hopped out to grab something at a nearby store. These and many other cultural phenomenons of the Italians I will never understand.

Continuing from the University we walked near the Duomo, the third largest church in Europe and the second largest in Italy. The magnificent size, attention to detail, and ornate sculptures present on the Duomo are unlike any other church I have seen in Europe. With construction of the Duomo spanning nearly 500 years I am amazed at how seemingly the design and style of the building flows through obvious periods of change in architecture. With a capacity to hold nearly 40,000 people the Duomo has seen its fair share of world renowned religious ceremonies. Following the Duomo we wandered amongst the Castle, the park, and saw the Arco della Pace (Arch of Peace). Following our stroll through the park we grabbed some gelato (which, Italians know how to make gelato - more on this later) and wandered through the galleria.

Milan became the fashion center of the world following the relocation of many of the Italian textiles to the area surrounding the city. The Galleria and surrounding area is home to the designer stores of many of the worlds finest designers - Dolce and Gabanna, Prada, a reasonable tie shop, the Ferrari store (visiting is like being a kid in a candy shop) and a McDonalds (for some reason, I don't feel like the cost of the McDonalds food, regardless of its traffic, can make a profit in a location such as the galleria).
Following the Galleria, we met with Chelsea's friend from New Zealand for an amazing pizza dinner (pizza in Italy is about as good as you could imagine) and a night exploring the nightlife around the Naviglio Grande (Northern Italy's main canal). It was a great way to start a weekend in Milan and I quickly concluded that I appreciate Milan's beauty much more in the nighttime when the graffiti is not so apparent, the landmarks are lit up, and the nightlife comes alive.



Lake Como, Italy

Day two in Milan found us making our way to Lake Como, a large lake spanning 46 km and a villa retreat to many rich and famous, including George Clooney. We arrived at Lake Como via train from Milan in about an hour. Leaving the bus station we referenced the guidebook and determined we wanted to climb to the top of Brunate via the hiking trail and take the funicular back to the city. We set off through Lake Como admiring the stunning views of the lakes, the snow capped Alps in the distance, and planned our ascent up the side of the mountain. We purchased tickets for a one way journey and started our hike.

Without being able to communicate well with the salesman at the funicular base we started heading in what we thought was the correct direction. After hiking for about an hour up hundreds of stairs around the backside of the mountain we determined we were lost. However, with return tickets in hand that we paid for there was no way either of us were turning around and admitting defeat. We continued up the mountain, came to a clearing and walked near various villas and up long windy roads (by this point we were off the dirt path and on a road for cars) until we sent Chelsea to ask a local for directions. This was quite possibly the most comical exchange of Italian and English I have ever seen. We tried to ask where the top was via broken translation, English, hand movements, and other gestures. Eventually we all agreed, as did our new Italian friend, that we should continue up the hill until we reach a "unique stop" before veering right for 200 meters to the top. Fifteen minutes later, after breathtaking views of the Alps and the Lake below, we reached the depot for the funicular. Success!


Returning to Lake Como we witnessed the conclusion of a bicycle road race, complete with Television cameras, news crews, grand stands, and us American study abroad students a few feet from the victor as he addressed the media and cameras shoved in his face. It was a neat experience to feel the energy of the crowd with the sweeping views that surround us. I can only imagine what the Tour de France must feel like. After the race we returned to Milan via the train where we met with Chelsea's friends to celebrate a birthday with a night on the town. Milan once again came to life and reminded me why I enjoyed the city much more at night than I did during the day.

Sunday - Chocolat... need I say more?

After a very busy past two days we slept late on Sunday. After attempting to make a pannetone French Toast (still can not figure out why the skillet will not work on the electric Italian ranges but a saucepan will heat up in seconds) we creatively turned the pannetone mixture into a sort of bread pudding... regardless, the home cooked Sunday breakfast was very homey and the perfect way to start our day. Although, it was near mid-afternoon by the time we left Chelsea's apartment.

We had one primary goal -- find the Chocolat gelato store I had read about online. Walking by the Duomo and the castle again also allowed us the opportunity to do a little shopping. A little off the beaten path we came across the Chocolat store. Inside we were greeted with the most amazing display of gelato, chocolate cakes, drinking chocolate, chocolate bars, almost anything chocolate imaginable. Needless to say the dark chocolate gelato was amazing. As we sat in the warm suspended room above the gelato displays (check the website to understand) I realized that Denver needs an outlet like this. So, if ten years from now the whole accounting thing is not working out for me, I am making a pilgrimage back to Milan and learning the tricks of the trade to open a Chocolat branch in Denver. :) It was that amazing and the perfect cap to a weekend in Italy.


Airport Return Home

My final realization in Italy was the Italians (generalizations of course and not the case for the entire culture) are very inefficient people. Case in point. I arrived at the airport two hours prior to my departure. I check in at the RyanAir terminal and notice there is a large line for security. With my flight boarding in about 45 minutes I figured I would tackle the security line and then relax and read once I was at the gate. Now mind you, Bergamo is not a large airport but was still buzzing with 10 flights or so an hour. I wait in the line for about twenty minutes and get to the front where my boarding pass and id are checked. The Italian lady who checked my boarding pass shooed me from the line and said come back later. Confused, an Italian whom had been similarly shooed from the line but able to carry on a conversation with the airline personnel looked at me and asked if I understood what to do. Thankfully she spoke amazing English and told me that the attendant told us to come back at 9:10 a.m. (the time our flight was to board) and proceed through security at that point. Although, she said she would arrive a few minutes before that.

A half an hour later I am back in line (at the back again of a line that is now longer) about one hour prior to my flights departure. Slowly creeping through security I begin to realize this would take much longer than anticipated. Without boring you with the details an hour and a quarter later (ten minutes after the flight was supposed to take off) I made it through security and border patrol and was one of the last passengers to board the plane that was held for those of us who struggled through security. Luckily, RyanAir is the most efficient airline I have ever flown and had us in the air within minutes of boarding and managed to make up the twenty minutes delayed departure and landed on time in London - what a relief it was to be back in a country that spoke a language I understood and had customs that seemed to make sense.

Milan was an amazing trip!

Flickr homepage for additional photographs!

Check out my Flickr homepage for more Europe photos (some which make it on the blog, some which do not). I seem to be better at updating this link than I do at making posts to the blog (hopefully that will change though :) ).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlundbe2/

Much overdue update number 1...

First off, I apologize to my faithful readers who check my blog and have yet to see an update in the past few weeks. If I was to post everything that I have seen or done in the past weeks in as depth as I have in the past, I am sure to omit something important or bore you all to death. So, in an effort to get caught up I will try and make some general comments about the past few weeks, places I have been, realizations I have had, etc. before making another post commenting on my most recent adventure to Italy and Scotland.

Chelsea in London!

Two weeks ago Chelsea flew in from Milan, Italy (where she is studying for a year) to spend the weekend in London. The weekend was spent mostly on foot exploring London, its charm, and its sights. I am glad that everyone I have traveled with or visits enjoys walking as much as I do - I imagine Chelsea and I walked about 20 - 25 miles in a little over two days. We managed to only take the tube twice! When she arrived on Friday we went towards the Borough market via Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, and the River Thames. From the market we made our way to the Tate Modern art museum. This was my first visit to the Tate Modern since I arrived in London. During our visit a portion of the museum was sectioned off for the installation of a new piece of art - a large crack in the museum floor. The Tate Modern is well known for their odd choices of Modern interactive art and the crack proves no different. I hope to make it back in the coming weeks to see the crack that visitors are falling into, perceiving the installation is painted on the ground.

The next day we continued our foot tour of London exploring Regent Street, Oxford Street, and the other major shopping areas. We intended to see a production but both were reluctant to pay even the half priced ticket fee of nearly 30 pounds for a weekend showing. We ended our day of exploration with Indian food in Covent Garden - an area renowned for its street performers. Sunday brought cooler weather to London. After sleeping in, recovering from the walking of the first two days, we wandered to Hyde Park to spend a few hours people watching and relaxing before meeting a London Walks tour guide near St. Paul's for a guided tour of Shakespeare and Dickens London. The highlight of the walk was the charisma of our tour guide - ironically from the Midwest region of the United States - as we wandered through central London and gazed upon the last remaining buildings of London from Shakespeare's times and the inspiration for many of Charles Dickens locations and characters.

Sotheby's Auction House

Later that week I visited the Sotheby's auction house with my Art and Society class. London and specifically Sotheby's had been preparing for weeks for one of its large art auctions of the year. Our professor tried to best explain the functions and commodity type trading of art throughout the world. As I understand, the art market is a very volatile market and is expecting a downturn in prices and values of many of the world's top works. Many within the trading and collecting industry are fearful of the decrease in certain works arts and the auction that week in London would be indicative of the season's largest shows. On display were works from Monet, Picasso, Worhel, and many others. Unlike an art museum where works are carefully placed and properly lighted, Sotheby's felt more like a store for the world's most expensive art that would grace the walls for a few weeks before being sold to a collector or collection. I was most intrigued by the prices of some pieces (all of which were listed on the respective identification placard), most pieces ranged from 800 thousand - 1 million US dollars with some of the Monet and Picasso pieces listed in the 30 - 40 million dollar range.

Globe and Rose Tour

Having been the Globe to see a performance in the past weeks I was most excited to see the Rose theater on this tour, a portion of my London Theater class. The Rose theater is believed to have been built in the late 1500's and was one of the original four theaters in London during the birth of the cities interest in theater. During the late 1980's during the redevelopment of a building complex remains of the Rose theater were unearthed about a half mile from the current location of the reconstructed globe. While excavation took place for nearly a year - the historical foundation ran low of funds to recover the theater in 1989. To preserve the remains until further excavation could be performed the Rose was covered in concrete, dirt, and sand and now sits in the basement of the office complex. Interestingly enough, the Shakespeare company still preforms in the basement area near the original stage during special performances a few times each year.

Dublin, Ireland - Wicklow Mountains - Howth Fishing Village

The weekend following Chelsea's visit I made my way to Dublin, Ireland to visit Jess. Jess is studying abroad in Dublin and attending the University College Dublin about twenty minutes from the city center. Upon my arrival we spent Friday afternoon exploring the city center including Dublin Castle, Trinity College (home to the Book of Kells), and Grafton Street. We continued our wandering around Trinity College, home to the Book of Kells, and ended at Kevin’s house (another DU student studying in Dublin) via the northern and canal areas of the city.

After lounging at Kevin’s for awhile, the three of us made our way back to the University via Kiely’s of Donnybrook, a quaint little town about fifteen minutes walking from the University. For a Friday evening the pub was surprisingly quiet. Throughout the evening we met many more of Jess’s friends, went to a lacrosse game, and attended an American style house party (felt like being around DU) at Kevin’s before heading to bed with a big say ahead.

Saturday I joined Jess and her exchange program on a trip to the Wicklow mountains for a hike and tour of the monasteries remains. Walking the hills around Wicklow (these are not mountains, even though they may call them so) was refreshing with a cool mist in the air. After making a wrong turn on the looped path, we ended up walking back to the carpark the way we started missing the sweeping views of the upper lake from the ridge. Following our hike we watched a short film on Glendalough, and explored the churches, tower, and graveyard dating to the sixth century. We stopped at a pub on our way back to Dublin, compliments of the University. Jess and I spent the evening exploring the city center at night, grabbing dinner, and watching the Ireland vs. Germany football match and the England vs. France rugby match. Having been to pubs in London and Dublin during sporting events I have to say the Irish have far more pride for their teams than the English.

After sleeping in on Sunday, we rounded out a perfect visit to Dublin with a visit to Howth, a fishing port and village about an hour north of Dublin. We walked leisurely around the pier, stopped for lunch at a delicious seafood restaurant, explored the market and picked up some fresh fish for dinner that evening. Following our exploration of Howth we made our way back to UCD for dinner and an early night to sleep as my flight was scheduled to leave early the next morning.

A foggy day in London town...

Well, the fog and somewhat wet weather settled over London for a few days this past week. I have come to appreciate the 300 or whatever days of sunshine that Denver gets a year. Although, my European experience would not be the same without the typical weather of London. However, they seem to contend that they have more sunny days and less rain then New York.

My second week in London brought me to many more locations around London I missed on my previously short trip a few years back. This past week I visited (of notable remarks) the globe theater to see the Merchant of Venice, Borough Market, and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Globe Theater - Merchant of Venice

As a requirement for my new London Theater class (the class that replaced Devising London) I will be attending at least 4 (possibly more) theater performances throughout London. Majority of my experience in theater prior to this past week was trips to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, or other similar "blockbuster" type venues, to see mainstream and popularized theater. The first week in class I was surprised to learn about a variety of different venues and settings that theater takes place. For example, London boasts interactive theater performances where the crowd meets at a certain location and travels with the performers to a dark alley or similar "back roads" venue where the show takes place. A few of the recommended performances for the class will explore theater in these settings which should be an interesting break from the normal "West-End' and "Broadway" theater I often associate with.

At the recommendation of the class syllabus, I met Bart after my Tuesday class for the matinée (2 p.m.) showing of the Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theater. The Globe, as an open air theater in the round, is finishing its summer season this week and this was our only opportunity to see the show this week. We purchased standing tickets, the preferred viewing location of the common man (or budget minded college student), and found a spot near the rear of the round with a spot to lean against the wall and avoid the slight mist from above. Standing for the three hour show was not nearly as bad as it seems.

The performance was great, although, I still struggle (like others I hope) to make sense of the language and voice employed through Shakespeare's style. Without much background on the plot or story line it took me awhile to catch onto the premise of the play. The show began very slow but developed quickly. Overall, I think I still enjoy the comforts and "showiness" of the big box theaters but was glad to have had the experience at the Globe. We will return this week for a tour of the Globe and Rose with the theater class, I will report on that in the coming weeks.

St. Paul's Cathedral

The second week of our Art and Society class found us exploring St. Paul's Cathedral. Just a quick note on the professor of this class. He is brilliant, passionate about London, and knows how to keep a three hour class entertaining. As such, I am greatly enjoying our visits to various locations around London that have an influence on art, architecture, or history. The highlight of our trip the St. Paul's was the climb to the top of the cathedral dome (an impressive 64,000 tons) up 530 stairs with stops at the Whispering Gallery, Stone Gallery, and Golden Gallery.

The Whispering Gallery provides an astounding perspective of the magnitudes of the cathedral's construction and provides and excellent viewing location for the works of Thornhill on the dome above. Having recently undergone a 4 year restoration, the works of Thornhill are an al fresco representation of the life of St. Paul. Having been covered in the late 1800's, the works were recently restored to their original grandeur. It is claimed that you can stand on either side of the gallery and whisper into the wall and be heard by those opposite of you. However, it must require precision placement of your mouth for whisper and ear for listening as we were not able to complete such task.

Further above the Whispering Gallery we made our way to the other two galleries above (each about 150 steps higher than the one before) which provides and outside view of London. From either platform (the uppermost which is just wide enough for 1 - 2 people) you can see stunning views of London. From this point we were able to identify the top of the Westminster Cathedral (which is a mere 200 yards from my flat), the old building center of London, and many other points of historical and geographical reference. While the clouds were still settled in over the city the view was spectacular. If you make it London and need a "budget" means to see the city from above (this is much cheaper than the very touristy London Eye), I highly recommend the vantage point from St. Paul's.

Borough Market

To spare you the boredom of my description of the most amazing food market I have ever seen, I will try and keep this short and will get picutres next time I go. Continuing the European presentation of their food and adventurous tastes I have documented in previous entries, the Borough Market near the London Bridge tube station is no exception. While not only a leisurely Friday activity, a visit to the market provides the opportunity to taste many rare cheeses, spreads, jams, meats, and much more. On my most recent visit to the market I stumbled across a beer stand selling the full range of Flying Dog Ale's from Denver, Colorado. In future posts I hope to explore some of the prepared foods sold by the vendors of the market. Do not be surprised if I come home with many gifts from this or any of the various markets around London. Also, they have free samples, what more is there to love?

Well, that concludes the highlights of week two in London. In my next post look forward to: a weekend with Chelsea in London, a London Walk exploring Shakespeare and Dickens, a visit to the Tate Modern art museum, and much more. I hope to write before I head to Dublin this upcoming weekend to visit Jess. And once again, thanks everyone for keeping in touch with me through comments and exploring London and Europe through this blog.

London... a recap.

In no particular order I will recap some of the sights and experiences I have had in London over the past two weeks (including those mentioned at the end of the last post). PICTURES POSTED WHEN INTERNET IS NOT SLOW... :)

Imperial War Museum

Without classes last Friday, Bart and I took the opportunity to travel to the Imperial War Museum. We made our way from Victoria Station (closest to Wigram House where I am living) to Waterloo Station. The Imperial War Museum can be accessed from a variety of tube stops and we saw this as the perfect opportunity to explore Waterloo (another one of London's large transportation depot's) and the area around the station en route to the museum. With a map in hand we wandered in the direction of the museum. We were drawn astray by a small street market and ended up at the war museum an hour or so later. The opportunity to follow the crowd and explore whatever interests you is one of my favorite things about traveling in Europe. With a map and a seemingly endless transportation system, getting to a location does not necessarily occur by the quickest route but the route that looks the most interesting.

The Imperial War Museum (as we later learned) is one of the first buildings of the Imperial age in London and represented a shift in the city's style of architecture. Upon entering the museum, which was free (as are all National museums in London), we were standing in a large expansive room with various planes, tanks, bombers, and heavy machinery used throughout the past 50 - 100 years. As a side note, most of the exhibits we saw were 'modern' in sense containing artifacts and replica's of situations occurring within the past 100 or so years. It was interesting to see the comparison of heavy machinery and aircraft from WWI and WWII. On display was not only the craft of the English forces but also that of other countries that was on loan or given to the IWM. I was amazed to read that during the highest production periods, Britain commissioned 30,000 or more tanks a year!

Making our way from the main entrance we continued to explore exhibits on WWI, WWII, the holocaust, human genocide, and participated in interactive displays of the blitzkrieg and trench warfare. The most powerful display in the museum was the video presentation on current acts of genocide and racial cleansing occurring throughout the world. While I am aware of the atrocities of certain races on humankind, the video presented many real life examples and raw footage of genocide that occurs daily throughout the world. Moving from the video on genocide to the Holocaust portion of the museum, I was shocked at, what I perceive to be, the world's lack of response to current racial cleansing regimes. Having recently (within 50 years) seen the terrible effect of such measures with the highly publicized Holocaust in WWII, I can not fathom the justification for such murder.

My first experience with the Imperial War Museum left me intrigued. Having only explored three of the five floors of the museum, I hope to make it back before I leave London.

Stonehenge


Ah yes, Stonehenge. Located about an hour and a half west of London most near the town of Salisbury lies Stonehenge. Having explored various ways to get to Stonehenge, we decided that it would be best, both financially and for greater guidance and information, to join the tour offered through the National Student Union. Our trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury was a mere 28 pounds including transportation, entrance to Stonehenge, and a guided tour of Salisbury. We met the group at the International Students House at 8:30 a.m. and boarded a bus with other foreign (mostly American) students.

An hour and a half later, after meandering through the English countryside, we arrived at Stonehenge. The actual rock formation is in the middle of nowhere - literally no streams, trees, major roads, cities, etc. are nearby. Not having seen any other (that I can recall) man made wonders like Stonehenge, I am still amazed how the rocks were transported from the Welsh mountains and formed in the shape and method as they were. The stone site is very much protected from further research and visitor access, however, we were able to snap some cool pictures of the site. Overall, seeing Stonehenge was very intriguing and one of those things "you have to do" in London if you have the time. However, I was glad we were only at Stonehenge for an hour and a half before proceeding to Salisbury.

Salisbury, about twenty minutes further West of Stonehenge, and the primary access point for visitors to Stonehenge via train, is the proud home to Salisbury Cathedral with the tallest spire in Britain. As part of our guided tour, we walked throughout the market areas, along the river, and towards the Cathedral. We learned that the Cathedral is home to one of three original copies of the Magna Carta, however, we opted not to pay to go inside the Cathedral and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through a park near the Cathedral and passing by the street markets back to the bus. Overall, I greatly enjoyed leaving the fast city life of London to experience the small town lifestyle of Salisbury and see Stonehenge. (Thanks Mario for the processing on the Stonehenge picture)


Banqueting House

As a break from the accounting rigor that I endured at DU last year, I am enrolled in two 'getting to know London' classes, as I call them, and two business classes. As a component of my Art and Society class we will be taking weekly visits to various locations throughout the city to explore the contemporary art and its impact on society in London. The first weeks class (which I almost missed... nothing like waking up 20 minutes before class starts when the tube ride alone takes 25 minutes to get to class) included a visit to the Banqueting House constructed by Inigo Jones in 1619. The Banqueting House previously held great Masques and ceremonies of the royal family and was particularly adored by King Charles the I of England. Without boring you with the details, I surprised myself and recalled some of the royal history we covered during our visit. If you find yourself in London and near Buckingham Palace, it is worth a stroll near the Banqueting House to at least see the plaque above the visitor entrance commemorating the death of King Charles I who was hung from scaffolding outside the hall in protest to the amount of money and adornment he gave to the great Banqueting House.

Devising London... and Yoga

So... I signed up for this great class, another one of the 'getting to know London' classes, called Devising London. The class is described in the course handbook as exploring various parts of London through the recommendations of the group and synthesizing the experience through in class assignments. Simple enough, right? Not.

First day of class there are about ten of us sitting in the lecture hall at 2:10. Class was supposed to begin at 2:00. Anyways, to make a long story short; teacher strolls in talking very soft, we move the desks out of the way, take off our shoes and socks and start doing yoga, start moving around in the classroom in a form of interperative theater. She keeps talking about the "performance." As everyone in the class looks a little stunned, I finally question the performance she keeps mentioning. Essentially, the class is about interperative theater where we improvise, yet it's still scripted, a two hour performance for our peers at the end of the term based on our "experiences' (from assignments like going to a cemetery) in London.

As I left the class three hours later... I needed time to process what I just experienced. I mean, I am studying abroad in a new country, experiencing new things, taking risks... was this supposed to be another risk. After contemplating for hours what didn't "balance" (pun intended) with the class, I decided my time would better be spent in the other London experience class for theater. I went to the study abroad office the next day and dropped Devising London for London and Theater and could not have been happier.

More to come in the next London post (hopefully tomorrow): St. Paul's Cathedral, Harrods (times two), Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theater, and more.

London... week 1.

Well an update about London is much overdo.

Since I last blogged all of my visitors have left and I am settling into the "big city" lifestyle in London. Two weeks ago, the Monday after we arrived, I had my day of orientation at the University. Having not bought a weekly tube ticket yet, and unsure exactly where I was going, I decided it would be best to walk to class. Leaving myself plenty of time I was able to leisurely stroll to the American Student Orientation session via Buckingham Palace, Green Park, New Bond Street, and Regent Street. As I walked past the Queens residence, through a beautiful park, past the designer boutiques and Rolls Royce dealership on New Bond Street - it hit me... London was much unlike anywhere I had been and the next three months of my life would be much unlike a semester or quarter at DU.

Orientation was nice and brief - they do not mess around here with useless information. Essentially we were given a brief lecture on how to be safe in London, received our schedules, got scheduled for an appointment to see the adviser to confirm our time tables (this was the only other part of orientation the whole week) and that was the extent of orientation.

Without plans to meet Matt and Monica until around six p.m. I had a few hours to get settled into my room - buy sheets, etc. and explore the area around the flat. Bart, a friend from DU who I knew before coming to London, and I headed for the Argos nearby to buy everything a first year student would need for a dorm room. Argos operates under a very odd (well, odd to anything I had seen before) system of buying. Basically you look through a large book with everything they stock, punch numbers into a computer to check if its in stock, and purchase all items sight unseen. You then wait until your items are retrieved from the stockroom and you are on your way within ten minutes. Imagine shopping online and the UPS man bringing your purchase within the hour. Punching in the numbers for the cheapest pillow and seeing one left was much like playing the lotto. You could only hope to make it to the register before everyone else with the special item code to get the best deal. While it seems very convenient, shopping without seeing something is very stressful and not an experience I quickly want to repeat. However, I was able to get the bare essentials of home and settled into the "purple palace." Yes, the photo below is my room (err... closet) with bright purple walls.



After settling in, Matt, Monica, Bart, and I made our way to a nearby Indian restaurant to share stories of the day (Matt and Monica had further explored London). Over the next few days Monica and I explored further areas of London.

The very next morning we attended the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Who knew that the whole ordeal took nearly an hour and a half with various processionals, marching bands, and rituals? Much to my surprise the changing of the guard is quite the ordeal and something I hope to make it to again during my time in London, after reading some about the justification for certain actions and movements by the processional... I mean, there has to be a reason why the guard marches back and forth from the gate to the palace a certain number of times... right?

After checking out the changing of the guard we made our way to London's version of Chinatown. Chinatown in London comprises of about four square blocks of Asian markets, noodle houses, and the typical things you would find in any well equipped Chinatown. I was most surprised by the rabbits and other meats hanging in the display windows of nearly every restaurant. Luckily, Monica and I found a friendly no frills quick Asian cafe to grab lunch. Having just briefly walked through the streets of Chinatown, I plan to go back in the coming weeks to have a look inside some of the Asian markets. The evening was spent cooking dinner (for the first time in two and a half weeks we did not wander around aimlessly trying to find a place to eat) and relaxing.

The next day I explored the Westminster campuses attempting to associate myself with the academic buildings so I would know where to go for class before meeting Monica and her friend from home for lunch near the Marleybone campus (where I have two classes). After lunch Monica and I went for another adventure on the tube to Harrods. If you are unfamiliar with Harrods, basically, you can buy anything and everything at Harrods in the most opulent and ritzy department store I have ever seen. We began on the ground floor and wandered through boutique area to boutique area, from jewelery to chocolates to fine teas. Five floors later, I had seen it all, where else can you have lunch at a sit down restaurant, buy designer ski wear, and plan you funeral (yes, Harrods offers such services) without leaving one roof. Simply amazing.

In stark contrast to Harrods, we made our way to Camden town, catching the markets just as they were closing. Camden Town has a very punk / alternative slant to the street vendors and shops with tons of tattoo parlors. While the markets were closing we were able to wander into a discount Aldo shoe store. Similar shoes to ones I wanted to buy in Denver for $100 were only 20 pounds, and they say everything in London is more expensive, I beg to differ. Camden Town is another location I hope to come back to before I leave London. The rest of the evening was spent cooking and relaxing and allowing Monica time to prepare for her trip to Dublin.

My next post will highlight some of my adventures in the past week including: finalizing my class schedule, a trip to the Borough market, first week of classes, yoga in my Devising London class (yeah, this is a good story), a visit to the Banqueting House, a trip to the Imperial War Museum, and a trip to Stonehenge (including more pictures)... Look for that in the coming days.