London - Summer 2007

The official start of my summer in London began with unpacking and discovering that air conditioning and fans have never been heard of in the United Kingdom. There is a large window in my room, however only one panel opens, so at times it is quite stuffy. After meeting my roommate and seeing the cubicle of a shower, nine of us set out to explore London by foot. We were gone about three hours and ended up walking to almost London Bridge and back via both sides of the Thames River. I saw Big Ben, Parliament, the Eye (which I decided I might have to pass on due to the height), the Tower of London, many meusumes, Buckingham Palace, St. James Park, The National Gallery, and Trafalgar Square. Over all we walked about five miles, had fish and chips, got lost and had a great orientation session to the city.

That night we were fed pizza and then left to recover from jet lag. Since I had already done that, about five of us ventured out to the pub on the corner and had out first English pint, Strongbow, which is a cross between cider and beer and the best thing I have had so far.

Monday morning we had an orientation meeting in Westminster Chapel. London is split up into cities and Vandon House is in the City of Westminster, so most churches in this area are called Westminster something. It lasted until about one and then we went on a guided walking tour of the City of London lead by this guy who turned out to be an actor who was an extra in Love Actually. He was funny and showed us tons of monuments to different people, the Great Fire, the plague and many medieval churches, including many of the 51 that were rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. Afterwards we found the local grocery store and then hit the pub again. But here all pubs close by 11, so it was still an early night.

On Tuesday morning a professor from the University of Oxford came in and spoke to us about British culture and answered such questions as why do English people not talk to each other on the Tube. A policeman also came in and talked to us about security issues and we had a seminar about travelling in the UK and Europe. That afternoon three of us ‘got out and got lost’ in the local neighbourhood as instructed. That night we saw Wicked the Apollo Theatre, a seven-minute walk from Vandon, and it was even better than I remembered! We were seated on the floor, and because we showed up 20 minutes before the performance, got £60 ($120) floor seats for £25 ($50). The lighting was better than the Houston touring company and listening the accents of the characters was great. Boc, the Munchkinlander, was Scottish!

Wednesday morning I meet with the Director of the Central University of Iowa London program, Eric, and we chatted about my career ambitions and my over-involvedness, and my internship. I received a map of the where I was going and who I was meeting Thursday at 11 a.m. After that some of us went to Trafalgar Square and wandered around The National Gallery. It was awe-inspiring. The architecture itself is gorgeous, then add to that paintings from the 1500’s forward all split into separate galleries. I saw a whole exhibit on Rubens and famous paintings such as Monet’s London series and Van Gough’s Sunflowers.

That night we went as a group to Regent Park Outdoor Theatre and saw Shakespeare’s A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream. The set was very minimal, but the actors were great. Of course, this was the only time that is rained since I got to England. But I had an umbrella and discovered that I need to learn umbrella etiquette. We came home on the tube via the Baker Street station and all over the walls there were pictures of Sherlock Holmes. Each tube station has its own atmosphere and all reflect the things to see around there.

Thursday morning I left Vandon at 9:45 and just made it in time for my interview with Hannah at 4Children. I had to take the Tube about 8 stops then walk two blocks to the train station and take the Docklands Light Railroad about three stops and another two blocks to the City Reach building. It took about an hour and I almost had a breakdown when I discovered that the train leaving the last tube station didn't connect me to the right DLR line, but then I found a map and learned I just needed to change stations. This public transportation system is daunting at first! But the area is very nice. It was the docks prior to WWII, but then the Blitz decimated it and for about 30 years it was a ‘wasteland,’ according to Eric. Then the government took it over and now it is the new financial centre, with sky scrapers everywhere because they can’t build them in the city or it would mess up the sky line.

My interview went well though and I will be working as the intern for the Director of Publications for the national charity helping with layout, design, troubleshooting, graphic design and anything else they throw at me, including a little bit of public relations. I start tomorrow morning at 9:30 and am looking forward to learning things that will help with the magazine at school and also give me experience in a real work place in a different county and give me great references.

That afternoon we went on a Scavenger hunt of the city. It started out fun, but by the end it was a four and a half-mile sprint around the city tube stations up and down stairs. I even sprinted up escalators. It was insane and at one point I had an asthma attack, but my group of three made it back by 4:30 with everything on the list including the extra credit: a record. Eric was gaping at us as we ran in, me looking about as red as a tomato but finally worth it because we won, and beat everyone else by a good twenty minutes.

Friday we left 8:30 a.m. from Vandon for Stonehenge and Bath. It was about two hours to Stonehenge and once there it started to rain, but it made for some cool pictures. I took about 100 that day, so you can see the ancient stones from every angle. You can’t come within about 100 feet of them and they were a lot smaller than I expected, but the mystery and craftsmanship that has withstood thousands of years was awesome. After another hour and a half to Bath the rain came down harder and we found lunch at a Cornish pasty shop, fillings wrapped inside of dough. It was my first hot meal in a week and it was wonderful! I tried pork and apples and we ate them under the awning of a store while watching the rain fall. It finally let up and we toured the Roman bath museum. There is a hot spring there that they believed held special healing powers and you can still see the main bath and lots of the foundations and other rooms. We even had a drink of the water. It tasted like hot tap water and was disgusting, but we saw the world’s first version of a Jacuzzi. Then after a three hour bus ride home, on which I slept more than I though I would, I came back to Vandon and did laundry for $4 a load. Crazy!

Saturday morning I woke up and opted out of the Trooping of the Colour due to rain and journaled instead. As part of the program we have to keep a personal reflective journal as well as an internship journal and there are certain assignments we have to do. Then we explored Portobello Road Market, a antique and flea market in Notting Hill, and went on a ghost walk of the City of London with the same actor guy. At the end we tried to find a good pub in Leicester (pronounced Lester) Square, but ended up settling on ice cream sundaes instead.

This morning I went to mass at Westminster Cathedral and it ended up being sung in Latin, complete with a choir of about 20 12-year-old boys. The ceremony was beautiful, but I couldn’t understand a thing that was going on. The church itself was beautiful though, with soaring ceilings and ancient painting and small chapels on all the sides. Afterwards about eight of us went to Camden market. It would have been great it I was a punk, gothic rocker into raves, however since I am not I was scared. But the clothing stalls were neat to look at and I bought these cool panoramic pictures of London 3 for £5 that we saw at Portobello yesterday for 2 for £10, so I got a deal. We came back and I bought postcards, took a nap and caught back up on my journal and now my blog!

I start my internship tomorrow and then on Wednesday am going to Shakespeare’s Globe to see Othello, doing it the authentic way and standing the whole time. Then next Friday we take a boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich and a private tour of Parliament. Saturday about four of us are visiting Oxford and Sunday Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of Shakespeare!