A Historical Week plus Internship

February 6-12^th

It is crazy to think that another week has gone by and we have been here for a full month now! At first time seemed to be going by slow, but lately with all the traveling time has been going too fast. To start off the week I once again began at Cameron House and had a wonderful time working in classes 5 and 6 learning about the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics, Latin, and much more. To read more in depth about my Cameron House experience this past week, check out my week 3 internship posts, we had a blast!

This week many of us are beginning to come down with colds. It surprisingly snowed this week and the weather is beginning to act a lot like Iowa’s. Freezing one day followed by a nice one. So we didn’t do too terribly much towards the beginning of the week.

Wednesday we had art class. This week we went to the British Museum. It was an enormous museum that would take you weeks or even months to see everything. We were there for a short three hours and only got through a total of 2 exhibitions. We first visited the Grayson Perry exhibition, followed by Greek mythology rock carvings representing many gods and goddesses called marbles that told a story. My favorite however, was the Grayson Perry exhibition. I really enjoyed this exhibition because it was unique, creative, and very contemporary. It made you think outside of the box and it was easy to relate with today’s society.   We learned that Grayson Perry became famous after attending an evening art class where he learned to make coil pots. He has since become very well known for his contemporary style and expression that he exhibits throughout his artwork. We also learned that much of his artwork is centered on his most prized childhood possession, Alan Measles. Alan Measles is a teddy bear in which Perry found comfort and strength in during the duration of his difficult childhood. The exhibition not only included work by Perry, but also a wide range of collections from other artists as well. When Perry selected other pieces of artwork to include in his exhibition he did not necessarily chose the most important, famous, or historical piece, rather the most, fitting, significant and meaningful to him and his artwork. It seemed that all of the artwork throughout the exhibition connected quite well as if it told a story. There was the perfect combination of the past, present, and future. My favorite piece in the exhibition was a sculpture remade by Perry called, “Our Mother and Our Father.” It was remade from iron and other industrial archeology materials. The new mother and father represented the weight of many different cultures and conflicts. They represented all of us today also those from somewhere else.

On Thursday we had our British Seminar classes where we learned more about the UK and the countries comprising it. We took a closer look at Scotland and the controversy regarding it becoming independent from the UK. It is an issue that is still currently heavily debated as there are many pros and cons, but far more cons I am afraid. Approximately only 30% are in favor of Scotland’s independence as it would require many changes. It will be interesting to learn more as this issue continues. That evening we all went to the London Eye, as we finally got to ride it! It was a neat experience that allowed us to see London from yet a different perspective. It took about 20-30 minutes to complete out flight. We went around 7:00 pm when everything was lit up so it was pretty to see all of the lights. We took lots of photos that I will be sure to put up.

Friday we took off for our weekend excursion to Bath and Lacock Village.  It was a full weekend of new experiences, sightseeing, and fun! We began our excursion at Stonehenge. Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English country of Wiltshire. It is one of the most famous sites in the world! Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks. It is believed the ionic stones monument was constructed anywhere from 3000BC to 2000BC. It was really neat to actually see and be a part of such a historical monument! Following Stonehenge we were taken to Bath, where we toured the Roman Baths. This was also a very neat historical experience that only happens once in a lifetime! The Roman Baths is a site of much historical interest. It is located in the English city of Bath. Here we were able to tour the museum as well as the actual baths. The Roman Baths themselves are below the modern street level. The first shrine at the site of the hot springs was built by the Celts, and was dedicated to the goddess Sulis. It is still hard for me to grasp the idea that I physically experienced some of the most historical sites with some much history behind them!

On Saturday we attended our first rugby match, featuring The New Castle Falcons vs. Bath. Bath has one of the best Rugby teams and since we were in Bath it only seemed fair to cheer for them. They ended up winning 30-22.  Although I did not know all the rules it was still a great time and a fun atmosphere. It reminded me a lot of football in many ways, and it definitely made me miss going to the weekend football games at Central. I was really amazed at how big and strong the rugby players were, and especially how physical they were. I was surprised at how few injuries there were since they do not wear any protective gear. It was a great time and I wouldn’t mind going to another one someday J

On Sunday we packed up from Bath and finished our weekend excursion in the village of Lacock. Lacock is a very historical village set in rural Wiltshire. It is famous for its picturesque streets, historical buildings, and more recently as a TV and film location such as Harry Potter and Pride and Prejudice. We also visited the Abbey, which is located in the heart of the village. It is a cute country house of various architectural styles, built upon the foundation of a former nunnery. The village of Lacock, was cute and quaint as my friend Nick would put it, but it was definitely worth visiting!

To wrap our weekend we arrived back in London around 5:00pm. Mark had told us the Baftas were being hosted not too far from where we lived, so a few of us decided to check it out. The Baftas stands for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. We were able to get fairly close, but unfortunately didn’t get to see anyone too famous. It was also raining so they wanted to hurry everyone inside. Although we didn’t see anyone we wanted to Lindsey and I did manage to take a picture with a movie producer. He wasn’t very important, but he had a tux on and I’m sure we made him feel important and good about himself so that should count for something. It was a neat experience and now I can officially say I have been to a “Red Carpet Affair”