Today's Lesson

Despite the fact that I generally feel like I am on an extended vacation, I am actually going to school while I'm in London. I know, it's a shocker! So this post will be devoted to school and my internship.

I am taking two classes at AHA London Centre. My school is tiny! There are about 35 students total between the semester program (my program) and the quarter program. I am taking two classes, Britain Today: Issues and Perspectives and Empire: The British Experience. Most students take four classes, but I decided to do an internship instead!

Britain Today is mostly a politics class. We are learning all about the political system in the UK by going on excursions to Scottish Parliament, The House of Commons, Mayor's Question Time, and more to come. Our class time is often held as more of a Q & A session with the professor. We sit around asking questions about parliament, elections, the prime minister, political parties, healthcare, and whatever else we can throw at him. And he tries to help us understand what is going on. Coming from the U.S. and having not traveled before, it is sometime difficult for me to comprehend that a country could be run any other way. For example, the UK has no separation of powers between the executive (The Government) and the legislative (Parliament).

My other class is about the British Empire. The title pretty much says it all. We are learning about the great conquerors and how they acquired so many colonies. I recently gave a presentation about the British Empire in the Cape Colony of South Africa (real school work). It was interesting, but I would have been much more interested to learn about Apartheid and Nelson Mandela. But I guess that is the wrong country's history. It is also fascinating to learn about the British Empire from a British perspective. Growing up we always learned about the evil Red Coats and the American Revolution, but this class gives the other side.

The other half of my week is spent at my internship. I work about 12 hours a week at Johnson King, a PR firm that focuses on the technology industry. Most of my time is spent doing research for relevant news stories, updating lists of journalist who cover technology and social media, and writing blogs. I am hoping that by the end I will have the opportunity to sit in on client meetings and write press releases. The work atmosphere is extremely relaxed and the attitudes of the employees fits well with my nerdy side. But this internship has also shown me that I could never have a job that requires me to sit in a desk and stare at a computer screen from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. five days a week. I'm pretty sure that would kill me!

Even though I have to wake up at 6:30 a.m. two days a week and sit in a little desk for a few hours a day, I still don't feel like I am really in school. I am constantly learning in and out of the classroom, but it's mostly by direct experience; no textbook, no lecture. It's pretty wonderful!

Photos for your Viewing

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Living life on the fast track

Golden Jubilee Bridge

It has only been a week since my last post, but I am a week behind. So today is catch up day! The last two weeks have been very busy. I will start with Monday, 28 February. On Monday I met up with a friend that I made here. It was nice to spend time with someone who has lived here for many years and to get a few minutes away from the 19 students I am with every day (as much as I love them). We met at the Southbank Centre near the London Eye. The Southbank Centre was designed by the architect that I mentioned a few posts back. It was a freezing night, but we walked along The Thames past the London Eye and crossed Westminster  Bridge overlooking the beautifully lit up Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, back down the other side of the river and across the Golden Jubilee Bridge. It was a beautiful little walk.

On Wednesday, 2 March a few friends from school and I went to The Barbican to see the London Symphony Orchestra. They performed Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No 2 and Mahler's Symphony No 9. The cello soloist, Mario Brunello, was amazingly expressive, but I was not a huge fan of the cello concerto. I absolutely loved the Mahler though. The whole thing was pretty amazing and made me want to go to more concerts. The great thing about music in this country is that the tickets are subsidized, so I was able to see a world class symphony for £9 (~$13). Sometimes you can even get a student discount as well!

The next day my school made a trip to Kingston (south of Central London) to see Shakespeare's, As You Like It. The show was wonderful! The stage was a huge mound of dirt (real dirt) with little water holes in the corners. It was as real as it could possibly be. It was also very entertaining. I've never been the biggest fan of Shakespeare so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

My route from London Eye to St. Paul's

Friday I worked at my internship for half a day. So after I left I went over to the London Eye. It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of tourists out. There were various street performers on the embankment so I watched some of them and sat on a bench enjoying the sun and the view. Normally I would have hopped back on the Tube, but it was such a nice day that I decided to walk to my next destination. My housemate, Megan, and I met at St. Paul's Cathedral and attended the Evensong. Attending the evensong is the best way to see the cathedral because you don't have to pay (there is a fee for the tour) and there is music. The choir is really good and it was definitely an experience for me. We both enjoyed it very much. The only disappointment was that they didn't play the organ, which I would have loved to hear. The architecture was beautiful; you could stare at the ceiling for hours!

Now on to this week...

On Wednesday my school went to see The Mikado, a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. I recommend that you watch the trailer. I'm still on the fence about opera, but the set was beautiful (all white), the costumes were neat, and the dancing was great. There was even some tap dancing! Unfortunately, the seats were ridiculously uncomfortable, and my feet hardly touched the ground. It had also been a long day, so I was ready to go home by the end of the show. Early in the day we watched Prime Minister's Questions, which is a weekly half hour slot when the PM must answer questions (surprise!). It was very entertaining to watch and nothing like American Politics. The two opposing parties pretty much jab at each other in a very unfriendly way until the "moderator" tells them the time is up. Then we went down to Houses of Parliament and watched part of a debate about Welfare Reform. Honestly, it wasn't very interesting. I had no idea what they were talking about!

Richmond - I sat on those benches

Thursday after class I took the train to Richmond in Southwest London. It's a town along the Thames. I sat by the river and watched people rowing downstream and some men were building boats on the side. Someone decided to feed the birds, which was a terrible idea because they started swarming and I was slightly fearful for my life, but I made it out alive. Then I walked up to the top of a hill and watched a smoggy sunset. It was still pretty nice and the view was expansive. The top of the hill is also right next to where Mick Jagger has a house, pretty neat. I don't think he actually lives there anymore though.

Yesterday (Friday) my school made a trip down to Portsmouth. I wasn't very excited about the trip. It sounded like it was going to be all about military/navy history, which I get bored with really fast. But it ended up being pretty fun. Portsmouth is about an hour and a half train ride south of London. The highlights for me were touring two ships. First we went on the HMS Warrior (1860). On that ship we could just wander around and look at everything. Then we took a tour of the HMS Victory (1765). The tour was very interesting, although sometimes a little too graphic. I am very happy that I did not live on that ship; it sounded pretty wretched! And even I almost hit my head on some of the beams. We even had some sun when we first arrived, but it was freezing cold by the time we headed back home.

Whew, so that is what I have been up to for the last two weeks! More adventures to come and spring break is almost here. I have been planning a week-long trip to Ireland (Dublin and Belfast) so if anyone has any suggestions of what I should do while I'm there I would love to know!

Musical Education

For those who are interested here are samples of the musicians I mentioned in my last post:

Ye Olde York

On Friday, February 25 eight girls stepped off a train and began a 30 hour adventure in York. Six of us booked beds at the same hostel with the other two across town. When we arrived we asked if we could be put in the same room even though our bookings indicated otherwise. After almost an hour at the front desk, the man behind the counter managed to place the six of us in a 10-person co-ed dorm. We went out for a group dinner at a pub, and then spent a relaxed night in. We all went to bed early so we would be well rested for our one day in York. I was disappointed to here from one of the women staying in our room that this was one of the nicer hostels she had stayed in. Apparently the hostel we went to in Edinburgh was deluxe. I think I will be investing in some shower shoes!

York minster

On Saturday we woke up at a reasonable time, had breakfast and all reconvened at York Minster, an amazing cathedral. We didn't want to spend the money to do a tour, so we were only able to stay in the entrance, but it was still amazing. I am so impressed by all the arches and detail work inside the cathedrals. It's hard to imagine how these buildings were possibly built so long ago with so little technology. All the more impressive. From there we walked over to an old building that had been converted into a restaurant. The sign outside said that we were welcome to come in and look around, so we wandered the halls looking at the local artist installations. There was also a great garden in the back! We could see why it was advertised as one of the best places to get married in the area. The garden had a staircase that led up to the York City Walls. The walls surround the entire town and walking along it gives some great views of the cathedral.

Viking Battle

We hopped off the wall when we saw that lots of people were gathering in the museum garden. When we walked over we saw that there was a viking battle going on. We knew that there was a Viking Festival over the weekend but we hadn't expected to see much of it. It was very fun to watch the people dressed in Viking attire battle the Anglo-Saxons in the middle of town. When we left the Anglo-Saxons were winning, but I think the Vikings won in the end.

Next stop was the National Rail Museum. We really only went because it was free and we had heard that it was Harry Potter week at the museum. We were able to see a mini version of the Hogwarts Express, take a photo with Dumbledore, and admire the live owl exhibit.

Shambles

After lunch we all separated and Megan and I wandered through Shambles, an old street with cute shops and a street market. I bought some chocolates and a blood orange. The weather wasn't great, and we escaped a downpour by stepping into the Disney Store on the corner. It was fun to walk around and there were lots of things I wanted to by, mostly food. Megan ended up buying a ring that was made out of the handle of a spoon. The man selling them was from Zimbabwe and was playing some really good music in his booth. I have made lots of new music discoveries since I got here. So far the list includes Thomas Mapfumo, Mogwai, The xx, and I'm always open to more recommendations! I love music!

It was a nice end to our journey, and we were all ready to head home. Sunday was a day of recovery. My feet were definitely spent! But the fun never stops.

What Happens in Scotland...

Last Wednesday I woke up at 5:15 a.m. to take the tube to Kings Cross where I was meeting the 18 other students in my program and two teachers. From there we  caught the 8 a.m. train to Edinburgh, Scotland. I've always been really terrible at forcing myself to go to bed early, particularly on nights when I know I have to get up unreasonably early. I was just too excited! It was raining on the way to the tube station, which seemed like a bad sign for the rest of the trip. We had been told that it was likely to snow in Scotland, and I was prepared to be freezing the whole trip.

I slept the first two hours on the train, sprawled across two seats. It was a lovely nap, but I was glad I didn't sleep the whole four and a half hour train ride. The rest of the trip I attempted to read, but spent most of my time staring out the window and trying to snap photos as the beautiful sites zoomed past. The english countryside is as beautiful as the photos, and there really are sheep grazing in the fields. The North Sea was especially beautiful and made me miss the ocean. As soon as we touched down in Edinburgh we were kept busy non-stop.

Our first stop was Edinburgh Castle. The castle is perched on top of a hill in the middle of the city, and it looks as though it was simply carved into the mountain rather than built on top of it. Did I mention that it was warm? Well, maybe not warm, but it definitely wasn't snowing. Luckily, I was smart enough to abandon my down coat at the hostel where we ditched our bags or I would have been way too hot. So for Scotland standards it was warm... maybe a balmy 48º F. We spent a couple hours wandering the castle, and I made a little trip up a tower to see the Scottish Crown Jewels. From there we went to the Scottish National Gallery before dinner and an early bedtime.

Thursday we got up quite early again to make a little trek across town to Scottish Parliament. I find the government system very complicated in the UK. Scotland has it's own parliament even though it is part of the United Kingdom. There are also Scots in the UK Parliament in London. The way I understand it, Scotland is allowed to make a few decisions about how to spend their budget and levy taxes. All the rest of the decisions are made by UK Parliament (foreign policy, economic policies, etc.). We went to parliament to watch a live debate. It was a little bit like watching CSPAN, except they had interesting accents and made some amazing comments. One person compared a fellow member of parliament to Voldemort and another person got up and announced that he wished his opposing party a record-breaking year... for second place. It was quite harsh in my mind. But the best part about the visit to parliament was the building. It was just built in 2004 and was so beautiful. There were tons of windows and natural wood. It was also a really interesting contrast to all the extremely old buildings throughout the rest of the city.

Scottish Parliament Building

University of Edinburgh

Next, a former member of Scottish Parliament came to talk to us about the prospect of Scotland becoming an independent nation in the future. I have to write a paper directed at Prime Minister David Cameron about what I think should happen with Scotland (free them or keep them?). And after that we went over to the University of Edinburgh. We met a man there who talked about Scottish Enlightenment. In truth I know absolutely nothing about the enlightenment. By the time he was there talking to us we were all exhausted and a number of people completely fell asleep (I was not one of them). But I did enjoy talking to him while we walked to a little museum. He told me how he went to university in Pennsylvania and then decided to teach at University of Oregon for a couple of years. He also told me about how he met his wife in the U.S. and convinced her to move to Scotland with him. He was great to chat with and told good stories.

Along with the architecture theme, a few of us decided to attend a free lecture on Thursday evening by Rick Mather, a pretty famous architect (and University of Oregon alum). The lecture was great, I was very impressed. He has been the architect for some amazing buildings, including The Southbank Centre (which I went to yesterday), The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and so many others. I recommend visiting his website and just looking at the pictures. His buildings are beautiful. He also has quite an obsession with natural light and roof gardens, and I'm not complaining! The only thing I wished from the lecture was that he talked more about his history and how he came to be an amazing architect living in the UK.

We had missed dinner at our hostel, so the four of us who attended the lecture went out to a cute little italian restaurant we had walked past a few times. The food was delicious, and there was a 20% student discount! My friend and I both couldn't decide between the cannelloni and a vegetarian pizza with goat cheese. So, naturally we decided to get both and share. It was a great decision. I don't remember the last time I ate so much! I also had to go back the next day to get a scoop of chocolate mint gelato. I couldn't resist.

The view of Edinburgh with the North Sea beyond

That was our last night in Edinburgh so we all stayed out late and decided we could sleep on the train. In the morning our professor took us on a walk around the city. We made the steep climb up Calton Hill where we could see a beautiful 360º view of the city. That was definitely one of the highlights. And it was still great weather, the whole time. A bit windy, but it didn't knock me down. We walked through a few old cemeteries and had free time to shop and eat lunch.

Scottish National Monument (not the Parthenon)

That was the end of our Edinburgh adventure. We got back on the train on Friday afternoon and said goodbye to the old city. I planned to sleep on the train, but I once again could not tear my eyes away from the window. Eight of the girls decided we couldn't go straight home, so we had planned to spend a night in York. Although our Scotland adventure was over, we hopped off the train a couple hours later and started a new adventure. I will save that for next time.

English countryside from a speeding train