Back to School

After having spent a glorious few days being typical tourists in London we finally sat down as an entire group for our first classroom setting discussion. We covered a lot of material in a very short period of time, and with a group so large (and with so many outspoken peers it made it difficult for me to express my thoughts/opinions) so I thought I'd share some of our discussion, as well as some of the things I was thinking about. And I would love to hear anyone elses opinions on the subject.

We focused today's meeting mainly on Wilson's "A History of London", a couple of poems by Blake, Wordsworth, and Reading, and Dickens' "Great Expectations". The topics that mainly came up were the restriction that comes with identity, and the different identifying qualities of identity: race, gender, ethnicity, class, etc. In discussing how people become stuck in a place, stuck in London, unable to move up or out of a place in life, we began talking about the American Dream. Focusing specifically on "Great Expectations" and the character Pip and how he wants to move up in class. When we're brought up Americans are typically told we can do anything, we can do anything we want to do. However this is not a typical theme in British culture. Dickens expresses the idea that to remain in ones original class and to be happy with life is a more respectable thing. Joe, who appears to be Pip's foil, remains lower in class but is content with his life. He manages to see the good in a situation opposed to Pip who is constantly trying to move away from this life.

In this I began thinking about the importance of class vs. character. Which is more important? Who is it more important to? Is it a personal opinion? Is it something more related to culture and nationality? For Pip class was the most important thing. He respected the wealthy and the "gentlemen" more, however Joe could be considered a "gentleman" himself, for the way he carried himself and behaved.

Although this course is focused on London, I could not help but tie my American roots into the topic and I began thinking about Jason Michael Carroll's song "Where I'm From". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hywo9xhNoQ It is a song about two men who meet on a plane. One man is wearing an Armani suit and is clearly a business man, the other is from small-town Middle (or Southern) America, and begins talking about his simple life. At the end of the song you find out that the business man is too from a similar town and background, however has moved up in class and wealth. His roots are planted in the same place as the other man's, however his lifestyle has changed. His character has not changed with his class, simply his appearance. This reminded me of Pip and Joe's relationship, because Pip moved up in class, but his character changed as well, whereas Joe's character never faltered.

I realize this is a lot (and probably a bit sporadic in thought) however I wanted to get my thoughts out there before I forgot what we discussed.

Rule #1: Always have "London A-Z map"

Two 50+lb suitcases, one overweight carry-on, and a sleepless seven hour plane ride later I arrived safely in London on Thursday morning. After arriving at our hotel, the Arran House which is located in Bloomsbury right by the University of London, and pumping with excitement our professor sent us out into the city each with a partner and a tube stop location. Our mission: find the stop, walk around, and make it back to the hotel by 6pm (not using the same form of transportation we used to get there). Easy.

After purchasing a £5 mobile my partner and I were off to find the Tower Hill tube stop. When we arrived the first thing we saw across the street was the Tower of London. Excited to get a closer look we hurried across the street (after looking the wrong way for cars) and were immediately absorbed into a crowd of tourists. Fitting right in we pulled out our cameras and began taking photos of everything in sight. As we made our way around the Tower we saw the Tower Bridge coming into view. We crossed the bridge and whipped out our bus maps and began plotting our route back to the hotel.



No direct buses + rush hour traffic + two sleep deprived girls + lack of knowledge of London= a very difficult journey home (with 3 min to spare)


The next morning we took a boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich and got a very brief tour of many of the major London landmarks, it was kind of a reality check that we are in London. In Greenwich we walked up to the Royal Observatory and the History of Astronomy museum and of course took pictures straddling the prime meridian! We spent the remainder of the day on a group walking tour of our professor learning the history of Greenwich.

Although we had been walking all day I still had a lot of pent up energy and decided to go for a brief run. Long story short, the streets of London are a lot more difficult to navigate than those in Canton and my quick run took me on a 2 hour tour of the city. But I made it back safely with a map from the very nice concierge in hand.

I've had three very exhausting (but exciting) days, with plenty more to come and I can't wait! I absolutely love this city so far and am looking forward to really experiencing some of the things I love (music and dance especially). Most of our syllabus looks like it will history and culture based, so I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say as the days come. Until then..

xo.

The Beginning

At the beginning of the summer I decided I was going to make a blog for my time spent in England for my family and friends to follow while I'm gone. But in true Amanda fashion I procrastinated and began second-guessing this idea. Mainly because I remembered my previous attempt at an online journal that crashed and burned with my teen angst circa 2004 (RIP Amanda and Siobhan's Livejournals). However, I decided to go through with it anyways and hopefully I will be motivated enough to keep this up, even if no one reads it, simply for my own records of what I did while studying abroad.

So here it is.

My first blog entry.

I cannot make any promises about how regularly I'll update this. I can also not make any promises about how interesting these posts will be. But alas, I shall do my best to keep you informed about my travels, thoughts, and adventures while in England. I leave in 5 days, so until then..

xo.
-A