First Week In London

Highlights of my first week in London: -After arriving safely Sunday, I went to our general orientation Monday, met everyone and toured the neighborhood around our school building. -Tuesday we met our professors and took a boat ride on the Thames River to the Tower of London. -Wednesday I began exploring the British Museum and went to Taming of the Shrew. -Today I have my first class (UK Politics) and tomorrow am going to Windsor Castle.

Hello from London!

I flew in safely Sunday afternoon and took a cab from Heathrow to Harrow (just northwest of central London) where Alice, my “host mother,” lives. She opened the door and kissed me, saying “Autumn has arrived!” and then introduced me to not one, but two roommates, Hannah and Charlotte. Hannah is a communications major at PLU and, though loosely affiliated with the ILACA program, is interning at St. Marin’s-in-the-Fields. Hannah has a little pink room next to the frilly blue room that Charlotte and I share upstairs. Charlotte, who I e-mailed before arriving, is an English lit and theater major at UPS. The three of us girls talked a little as we unpacked, but were quickly called to our “welcome feast” downstairs. When we finished dinner Alice gave us our keys and the grand tour of her home, after which the three of us girls took a walk around the immediate neighbourhood. When we returned we went upstairs and promptly fell asleep!

Monday morning dawned much too early and we stumbled through showers and breakfast before boarding the infamous tube. It’s a nice commute, actually, taking about 45 minutes to an hour one way. Once at our stop it takes about 10 minutes to walk to our building. We accidentally walked right by our turn Monday morning, but soon realized that and changed directions. Once everyone made it to the center orientation began. We were introduced to the staff and given a general overview before a sandwich lunch was brought in and before an officer of the Metropolitan Police came in to give us some personal safety tips. After that all twenty-eight students and three interns followed Martin, our program director, and Don, the visiting professor and advisor for this term, for a short walk around the neighborhood. The center is right in the heart of the Bloomsbury district and is surrounded by so many fascinating places. On our walk from the tube to the center we pass the Holburn Library and Charles Dickens Museum. Gray’s Inn Square, a private garden that is opened for the public every afternoon, is just kittycorner. Dozens of cafes are squeezed in between shops along the streets. The British Museum is just a few minutes east. It’s wonderful! Our 18th century Georgian building is even listed (on the National Registry of historic buildings).

After our walk Monday afternoon we went home and managed to stay awake a little later than the night before, but again fell asleep pretty early. Losing eight hours was difficult. Tuesday morning came in to town for our academic orientation. Each professor spoke about their class(es) and handed out syllabi. My Shakespeare professor even assigned us to read Taming of the Shrew before the performance the next night. Then, at 12:45 we hopped on a bus headed for the Embankment and boarded our boat for a cruise down the Thames River to the Tower of London. We had two hours at the tower (long enough to give everything a cursory look but not long enough to really read everything, unfortunately) and then Martin took us to the Hung, Drawn and Quartered pub nearby to taste English ale on the program’s budget, if we were so inclined. Hannah, Charlotte and I then came home to yet another delicious meal and were treated to Alice’s story of how she met her husband. That night we finally stayed awake long enough to get our room all organized.

Wednesday we didn’t have to be to class until 3:00, but Hannah, Charlotte and I came into town early anyway, and toured the British Museum. Once inside I began my systematic tour of the British Museum with Roman Britain and got all the way to the Viking invasions of the island before I had to meet up with the two of them outside for our walk back to school. At school we had our very first Britain Today class and covered British history up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Yum. After class we had an hour to get dinner before we all met up at the Old Vic for the all male production of Taming of the Shrew. It was expertly done (though I didn’t fully appreciate their interpretation of the Petruchio and Katerina’s relationship) – a good first play.

Yesterday, in the beginning of class, Martin talked a little about the geography of Britain, major newspapers, and so on, mentioning that it never snows in Britain. Then, guess what it did this morning? It snowed! We had a good four to five inches in Harrow, but in central London it’s just a dusting.

Today Charlotte and I came to town early (-Hannah began her internship today-) so that she could go to 19th and 20th century British Novels and I could catch up on all of my e-mails. I have Politics in the Era of Thatcher and Blair in a few hours. I’m really excited about all of my classes actually. I have our mandatory Britain Today class as well as Shakespeare, UK Politics and History of the British Empire. In addition to our readings and papers we have a number of field trips that tie into our classes.

Tomorrow, for instance, we are headed to Windsor Castle. Since we just talked about the Norman invasion in class yesterday, it’s quite timely to go see the original site where William the Conqueror built the castle in 1070. It was originally one of several wooden forts built around the area to defend London from the enraged and conquered Saxons but has since become one of the primary royal residents in GB. Since Eaton is nearby I think we’ll probably pop in there too later in the afternoon. And then this weekend we’ll probably explore more of London proper, but spend a lot of time in Harrow too. I’m not yet sure which church I want to go to this Sunday – it’s between the Baptist church in Harrow and Metropolitan Tabernacle south of London in Elephant and Castle.

Okay, that’s all for now! I'll post more photographs later.