Our assignments have been walking around London and going to museums, with a little bit of sketching and writing thrown in there. I am sure the balance will switch more to the sketching and writing sooner or later, but for now I am enjoying the way it is.
We shop on Oxford Street (mainly at Primark, we're already needing a break from that store).
We take the tube.
We ride the bus.
We walk.
We go to Portabello Market.
We tour the Tour of London
We see Musicals (Legally Blonde!)
We see Musicals (Legally Blonde!)
We visit the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Tate Museum of Modern Art.
We eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch everyday, with a mystery meal for dinner.
We go out at night, laugh, get yelled at, and fulfill our role as loud americans most of the time.
What I am most amazed about is how much I have enjoyed the museums. My whole life before this I'd do just about anything before I spend hours in a museum. I am shocked a the speed and extent that this has changed.
My first day here, I got to the centre, dropped off my bags, changed my shirt, then headed out with Peter to go to the Victoria and Albert museum. We walked through Hyde Park to get there, so it was fun having my own personal little tour, even if I was only half awake. He dropped me off at the museum and told me to meet back in the front at 3:30, the other girls should be there then too. So after getting myself a chocolate croissant at the cafe, I wandered. And I loved it. True, I couldn't let myself sit for too long or else I'd fall asleep, but that wasn't the museum's fault. I love walking through a museum by myself, getting to spend as much or as little time on something as I want.
The National Gallery was next on the list. We had to pick a painting to sit in front of for 30 minutes then write a paper on it. I chose "Dido Rebuilding Carthage," probably because I kind
of knew what it was actually about, but also because I thought it was beautiful. So many of the paintings I found myself wanting to sit in front of. The biggest realization I had here was how much better these paintings are in real life. I had seen some in my humanities class before on a powerpoint, but real life is a different ball game.
The Tate was fantastic. This is again coming from someone who thinks most modern art is ridiculous because it looks like a child could do it. But, this is where my great professors come in. Peter walked through one of the exhibits with us, and I experienced something with modern art I still can't explain. All I know is, there is more to it than I thought. I actually really like some of it. One thing I still struggle with though is who decides what is art? It bothers me that someone with a big name could paint a line on a page and put it in a museum, and that is fine, I can come to see how it could be art. The problem is what if I drew a line on a piece of paper? Would they put it in a museum? No. I'm sure i'll come to terms with this eventually.
We went to the British Museum yesterday. The highlights were the Rosetta Stone and a private viewing of sketches from a ton of famous artists. Incredible, like early sketches of Adam in the Sistine Chapel, and Van Gogh and Rembrandt and other people . What amazed me the most about them is the time and patience they would take, and how different a sketch looks from 4 inches away vs. 4 feet away. When you get up close you realize they really are just a bunch of lines. It is so cool.
I am trying to tame the shopping impulse, I am trying to just take it one item at a time and so far I think I am doing alright (considering there have been some essentials that I just have to get, and that list isn't quite finished. I'm still holding out for the right slippers).
The girls here are great. I feel lucky to be here the same time as them! We even celebrated Arianna's 21st birthday! It was a party. Life is good.
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