Fieldtrips

I'm so lucky that my program director is so London-savvy. Oberlin-in-London spends their money very wisely, in my opinion. So far I've been to 3 plays - one comedy about an Indian family (Rafta Rafta), one about Joan of Arc's life (Saint Joan), and one contemporary one about an Indian mathematician (A Disappearing Number). The math one was my favo(u)rite, of course, and since I saw it I've been checking out books at the British Library on the subject.

We also went to Hampton Court, a royal palace and gardens where Henry VIII hung out
Greenwich, where Greenwich Mean Time was started with a great photo op of the prime meridian. And there's also a Royal House of sorts and a sweet market where i ate some weird nougat.
The Tower of London, which houses the Crown Jewels - very sparkely and lots of torture stories and equipment. The Chapel there has 1500 bodies buried underneath it. gross.
This weekend I'm going to Birmingham to go to a brass concert at Symphony Hall with my physics class.

Old Places and Green Things

Classes have been keeping me very busy for the past few weeks. I still have plenty of time to get around London because I only have class 2 days a week. There a lot of HW that involves reading, which any math major will agree, is a huge pain.
History of London is by far my favo(u)rite class . There is one lecture a week, and the other class meeting is set too meet at some location in London. From there the teacher takes us on a walking tour and stops to give us tidbits of information about sites. So much of London exists in quite the same way it did centuries ago. There are markets from the Medieval Era, colleges from Tudor times, and of course churches from ALL eras. It kind of blows my mind.
However, when I'm on a walk without the History of London teacher, I'm more interested in the modern aspects of the street. Shops, restaurants, theatres, and advertisements are just fun see because they are different! I'm addicted to strange-looking candy bars with funny names like Flumps, Tiger, Magnum, etc
People watching is a fulfilling pastime here. If there is ever an empty bench in Russell Square, I love to sit and watch all the naked children running in the fountain, people rushing by, tourists getting lost, gardeners keeping things beautiful, pigeons being dumb, and dogs having fun.
All the parks in London are beautiful and while the sun in shining, they've been my top priority. Hyde Park with all its ducks, St. James Park, Green Park, Reagents Park (excellent ice cream stand!), and all the tiny ones along the way. There are a lot of private green spaces in London that are fenced off. Only the people who live around the square have access to the park. Seems a little odd to be able to say "This is my tree! You can look at it but you CANNOT enjoy its shade" but I guess it's as close as you can get to having a backyard in central London.

Coach and Carnival

The Oberlin-in-London program had a fabulous coach tour of London. Unfortunately, it was not in horse drawn carriges like I originally though - coach means bus here. The best part about the tour was our hilarious guide - an older Londoner lady name Suze. She showed us all parts of lesser-known London, or as much as she could considering the size of our coach. We saw Chinatown, some Mews, the best place to have afternoon tea, expensive car dealers, and even the pub where the Horse Guard drinks! She said "Ladies, you should really go an meet those nice men," and proceeded to tell us about the time she went there and met all the kind young gentlemen.
Other notable sights were:
-a modern skyscraper that Londoners refer to as The Erotic Gherkin-The market where Diagon Alley was filmed
-Lord Mayor of London's building which Londoners call "The Testicle"
-A popular Japanese noodle restaurant chain called Wagamamas
and lots of other things that I'm looking forward to find again and explore!

She did not approve when we told her of our plans to attend the Notting Hill Carnival because she is wary of it's violent history and general rowdiness. Although we did not abide her advice, we had lots of fun! Loud, rowdy, crowded, drunken, dirty, fun! We joined the throng of people in the streets and avoided stepping on the garbage as much as possible. Eventually we found a parade to join and had lots of fun watching everyone dance and eat and party! The next day I got my face painted, and ate some delicious Caribbean food and watched a parade consisting mainly of scantily clad women wearing beautiful, intricate, brightly colored costumes. The carnival isn't comparable to anything I know of in America. There isn't any structure to it, but that doesn't seem to inhibit it's popularity in any way!

Running into history

I've come to the conclusion that the English from the Tudor and Elizabethan Eras must have been perpetually uncomfortable. The National Portrait Gallery gave me the opportunity to observe this. In every portrait, the subjects sit so awkwardly and smile unconvincingly, if at all. I liked the exhibit though, it was the easiest history lesson I've ever had, and it was an accident to learn anything at all! Out of all the people I met at the Portrait Gallery, I liked Queen Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Grey best. Jane was Queen of England for 9 days, appointed in King Edward VI's will to carry on Protestant England, but then was captured by Mary I supporters (Roman Catholics). But after killing a bunch of people, Mary died, and that's when Elizabeth stepped in! She was great! And that's the History of London! (brevity spares you from boredom)
I love all the sidewalk tile mosaic entrances to buildings The National Portrait Gallery has one, and even the Hardware Store that I live above has one! I guess English people have a lot of pride in old-looking things.
London is great! I've barely had any jet-lag, so I've been getting up at normal hours to go explore. It's a lot of fun, even though the weather has been mainly gray and rainy. Usually I find cool, free, touristy things, but London has a lot of less popular, but equally cool things too. On one walk, I found Tavistock Square which has a large statue of Ghandi in the center.
The park has more trees an benches than the average London square, most of which are dedicated with a plaque noting the donor or honoree. It's really cool - lots of peace groups and Indian leaders and Mayors of various London boroughs. Yay independence!
Also I've noticed a lot of thoughtful old Londoner men hang out here to read newspapers and smoke their pipes. It's a reassuring sight - I'm glad those men still exist in more than just my imagination.

It's time to wander and enjoy!

I ran into so many tourist attractions on my first full day in London. I walked to Trafalgar Square, mourned the construction site of St. Martins in the Field, and walked into the National Gallery, visiting many rooms in the 1800 - 1900 section. When i got too tired of standing, i found a nice bench and got out my guide book out of habit. Looking on the map I realized how close Trafalgar is to the Thames, so I made a quick decision to leave the Gallery, and walk to the Thames. I wandered down Whitehall to the Horse Guard, went through the Horse Guard Parade to St. James's Park, glimpsed Buckingham Palace through the trees at the far end of St. James's Park, saw the Centograph, then went down the Victoria Embankment to the Houses of Parliament/Big Ben where i could see Westminster Abbey a couple blocks away from me. My day went on like this, back up the Victoria Embankment where various famous and/or beautiful buildings are visible and then up the streets of Holborn (pronounced (Hoe-bun) to Bloomsbury.

All the pictures are on my photobucket site now, so this boring, list-like entry can be illuminated a bit by some visual help.

Lodon meets Emily meets London meats

I'm here and I'm settled! London is absolutely wonderful. The streets are bustling and the shops are cute and plentiful! I live about a block away from the Piccadilly line on the underground and about 2 blocks away from Russell Square. I cannot get pictures onto the computer today, but I'll try to post some in the next week. Russell Square is gorgeous with a fountain in the middle and grand old trees all around it. Of course the London squirrel and pigeon population has found Russell Square too. After I arrived yesterday, I got out of my flat as quickly as possible to start exploring. I walked all over Bloomsbury, only got lost a few times, and successfully used my maps to find my way home, just like a good tourist should! I tried to find a fish n' chips place or a pub to have dinner but i ran out of energy so I just got a hot dog from the vendor outside the British Museum.

My neighborhood has many bookshops, markets, Indian restaurants, and pubs. My flat is quirky, small, but lovable. I picked the room with the balcony, although the balcony is just as dirty as the rest of the flat. I'm excited for my roommates to arrive because then we can properly commence the buddy system!

summer

Working full time is not a blast, no matter what they tell you. Perhaps it's the lack of redwoods in the office. What I'm saying is I MISS CAZADERO MUSIC CAMP, but the rest of the summer was worth it!

The week I spent in Oberlin after finals to play in commencement band flew by and after driving 14 hours in a VW bug with very little space for passengers, Andrew and I made it to Connecticut!
Andrew's corner of Connecticut is beautiful. I enjoyed spending time with Wainacht family and friends and doing New Englandy things like hiking, river floating, cruising Newport, stealing Dunkin Donuts by accident, and making bonfires out of anything free and flammable.

My inner trumpet dork had a good fling this summer too. I went to the International Trumpet Guild Conference in Amherst, MA and then Chosen Vale Trumpet Seminar in Enfield, NH. That is me playing at a morning masterclass at Chosen Vale. I learned a lot; for example, the maximum amount of time I can comfortably spend solely with trumpet players, talking about trumpet things is 2 days.

After trumpet camp I returned to trumpet camp and stole andrew away from CT for a week. We drove to CA in my little yellow bug in 4 days staying with trombone players from Oberlin in Akron OH, Cedar Rapids IA, and Larkspur CO. We only stopped for gas and food and stretches - it was so much fun! I would recommend roadtripping to anyone.

In California, Andrew got to see San Francisco, redwoods, the bike trails and fields of Davis, the golden mountains, and most importantly, I think he now understands the importance of a good burrito.