Getting Settled in London, Tea, British Museum

Well, with that somewhat less than gorgeous but characteristically "London" view out the window of my little room, I can say I'm settled into London. I think I was the only one in the program to take a cab in from the tube. I don't know if that makes me elitist but it was sure as hell easier with all I had to lug. Over the next couple of days buying groceries, a few kitchen essentials, and hooks & hangers for clothes were essential tasks. Fortunately, the local department store, apparently once frequented by none other than Princess Diana, was on hand.

Since then I have had a whole variety of wonderful, informative experiences. Before the week of orientation ended I had a "traditional pub lunch" of fish and chips (although a street vendor I tried was better!), met some of my professors, visited the Foundation House building where classes are held, and gotten acquainted with the other Lawrence people at the Lawrence London Centre this term.

In tandem with the orientation experience we also took a bus tour that touched upon the major parts of London and took us by a few monuments. Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Downing Street, Westminster, The Tower of London, and other major monuments were, of course, included. We actually got out in the core area of Buckingham/Downing Street. I got an opportunity to get some good shots in this area but I'll definitely need to return on my own for a more in depth experience. It was cool to see the mounted guards on the way out, and I did see one of the famous guards standing outside a different palace. It was from the garden that we subsequently walked through, however, where I had an opportunity for artistic, beautiful landscape shots on my new Nikon D5200 SLR. I can't claim to be any expert here (yet!) but it was interesting to see how one of the most attractive shots actually was a bit blurry.

We continued on through and I picked up some shots of Westminster and a building near (or maybe on Downing Street). Still, in a hurried group tour like this I had neither the time to try to go into any of these buildings nor the ability to wait and/or plan really good shots. So I'll definitely be coming back to this area either on my own or in a smaller group. Still, it was great to get firsthand views of things, including "Big Ben" (which I was reminded is the bell inside, not the tower itself), that I've previously seen frequently on TV and in pictures.

We also took a walking tour through the neighborhood in which I am living, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It's amazing how many historical figures from both the recent and distant past, such as Thomas Moore, Freddie Mercury, or suspects involved in the Jack the Ripper phenomenon, lived right around here. We were informed (and it's clear) that this is a very "posh" area and that it's wonderful to be living here, minus the expenses for everything.

On Sunday we were invited to tea at the house of London Lawrence Centre director, Christine Harris. This was incidentally my first Tube ride and it was actually nice to have it be a bit more complicated by going all the way out to Zone 3, beyond the Zones 1&2 that are covered completely by our cards. Tea, along with all the baked goods, was quite nice, but more than that it was nice to talk to Christine and my fellow Lawrentians in the program.

This week thus far has been about getting into classes. I had my first Introduction to British Theatre class as well as my first British Life and Culture class. Both were interesting but both very introductory and without getting too deep into the material yet. Still, I will enjoy them, I believe. My internship with Alva Group, a reputation consulting firm, is set to begin on October 8th with voice lessons beginning the following week.

Amongst the classes I had the opportunity to visit the British Museum with a group. Even from the new atrium it is clear how overwhelmingly awe-inspiring the Museum is. During our time there we split up. I went quickly through the Egyptian section, a little slower through the Greek and Assyrian sections, and really took my time in the Chinese section. I have to say, it was impressive to walk into my first exhibit and have the first thing I saw be the Rosetta Stone, obviously an artifact of huge importance to historical research and of great renown. Still, it was impressive to go into detail in the Chinese section and to see massive statues elsewhere, including a reconstruction of a massive Greek temple and a pair of 16-ton winged bulls from Assyria. The Assyrians transported them fully-formed in one piece and even the British Empire at the height of its power could not match this ancient prowess, resorting to cutting the statues into 4 pieces and then rejoining them once they had arrived.

Last night I saw Terry Johnson's Hysteria, which we read for Introduction to British Theatre. I loved the script but was ambivalent about the production itself. Still, on the whole I felt it was a positive night of theatre. You can read my review here. Now it's on to more classes, more exploring London, and soon, planning for travels further afield!