Cheers mates! Hope everyone had a wonderful week. I know I did! For our art class this week we visited a museum as usual. The art pieces there were good, but more exciting was our visit to Freud’s house just down the street. Apparently, Freud moved to London in 1938. In the house I was able to see all of Freud’s possessions- hic couch (which I snapped a quick picture of before being told off…), books, busts of the man himself, paintings, furniture, and extensive cigar collection in a walk-in humidor. Not sure what that means, but I will allow you to interpret that one yourselves…
Wednesday night I attended a few plays at Theatre Delicatessen where one of my fellow program members, Christine, is currently interning. The plays I saw were awesome. Unlike all previous, albeit limited, theatre experiences I have had in the past, this one was unique in that it was interactive. The first performance I went to was called “Bullpen.” The actors drafted us all into teams and gave us slips of paper with a string of numbers on it. Then we participated in a game in which we bet based on however many of a certain number we have in the combination. The objective is to one up your opponent with a higher number of that same number, or move onto a higher number of which you have an equal or greater amount. Please forgive me if I am not explaining this correctly as I did not exactly preform very well in the actual event. At the conclusion of the play I was informed that men in prohibition era New York would bet in a similar manner using the serial numbers on 100 dollar bills. Good thing this wasn’t for money…I next wandered into the casino area. Too bad this wasn’t for money. I sat down at the roulette table and on the first round won a straight bet. I would go on to win one more time before the night was over. Instead of money, when you win on a particular number, that scene from “The Seagull” is acted out. I have not actually seen “The Seagull,” but was entertained by the atmosphere of the play, including flashing lights, eerie musical scores, and a person wearing a seagull mask dancing to techno. I also discovered a possible knack for gambling. The third play I had the privilege of seeing was “Soft Armour,” depicting a birthday party in a morgue. Throughout the course of the play a few of us were once again invited to participate, in this instance swabbing a girl’s arm with alcohol. The content quite thought provoking, to the point that I am still mulling over aspects from it. If you are in London and have a chance, go see it.
On Thursday my sister finally came to visit me in London. Yay, fun sibling bonding time! We went out for some delicious vegetarian Indian food at Diwana, and then sprinted to the Globe Theater to catch Henry IV Part 1. We arrived one minute before the play was about to start. And interestingly we were seeing the play three days before the Globe closes for a few months. As you can see we plan things quite well. I had seen Part 1 in July and Part 2 earlier this semester with my study abroad program. Luckily, it wasn’t too cold and the rain held off during the performance. After the Globe, my sister and I went to the Tate and viewed some art pieces. I kept bragging about how classy and cultured I am, saying that I had been to the Globe three times, was on my second Tate run, and have tickets to see Gauguin. Continuing on our classy streak after the Globe and the Tate, my sister and I enjoyed some wine and cheese at Gordon’s, the oldest wine bar in London. It is underground in a cave. Literally. Water dripping from the ceiling would frequently drip onto articles of clothing or into wine glasses. Gordon’s also lacks electricity in the indoor bar area and relies on candlelight to illuminate tables and chairs.
Saturday was an excursion to Hampton Court where Henry VIII lived. The palace was gargantuan, and lavishly decorated. It really put our flat, which is, well, quite nice, to shame. Actors portraying Henry and one of his wives (not sure which one…) walked around the grounds and interacted with visitors. Free audio guides were provided with rather cheesy acting and alarmingly extensive discussion of the loos in and around the palace. Also free were robes to help visitors get into character. Needless to say, we excitedly donned them for our exploration of the grounds. While the building itself was impressive to say the least, possibly my favorite parts of the journey were the gardens. They were absolutely magnificent, and seemed to go on for hundreds of miles. Conical bushes, massive trees, shrubs shaped like birds, a clump of weeds in a fountain which resembled the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a greenhouse containing the oldest surviving grape vine. I bet those grapes make some wine fit for a king. Other highlights from Hampton Court included a short film depicting Henry VIII in a most wonderful theatrical performance, a kitchen with fake meat complete with hidden speakers blaring chopping sounds and squealing pigs, and unpractical, gaudy decorations. There was also a maze, which a few of us excitedly tackled first, only to discover that it was rather simple. I had envisioned something akin to the labyrinth of looming 15 foot high hedges as seen outside the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s theatrical portrayal of “The Shining.” Instead it took us 10 minutes to find the exit, center of the maze, and retrace our steps to the entrance. But we still had fun even though my sister couldn’t have even gotten lost…
Sunday, Christine and I went to Cambridge to visit my sister, which was amazing! The day was absolutely lovely. It felt nothing like October weather in England- warm and sunny. Yes, England is not always cloudy and rainy and a bit nippy. First we began with a tour of Newnham College where my sister is staying. She is lucky enough to be situated on the one campus where walking on the grass is permitted, as well as being two houses down from Stephen Hawking’s house! Unfortunately Hawking is currently in Canada. But I am sure my sister will inform me if there is a Hawking sighting as soon as there is one. From here we made our way to several other colleges in Cambridge including Trinity and King’s College. The chapel at King’s looked remarkably like the Duke Chapel. Or rather, the Princeton Chapel was modeled after King’s Chapel, and Duke Chapel copied Princeton Chapel. So I guess that makes the Duke Chapel a knock off-of a knock-off, or a bootleg from China. The campus was lovely, especially with the sun shimmering in the green, brown, red and yellow leaves of the trees just as they have begun to turn in autumn. The Cam, or the river in Cambridge, runs through the backs of most of the campuses, being used for a number of purposes including water for cows on the communal land behind King’s College, as well as recreation such as canoeing, kayaking and…PUNTING! My wonderful sister, along with giving us a tour of Cambridge set up an opportunity for us to go punting down a river. Basically everyone piles into a boat and someone poles everyone down the Cam, while everyone else drinks and munches on snacks. Christine and I both commandeered the vessel, and I believe did fantastic jobs. After our punting adventure, my sister, Christine and I went to the Eagle, a pub made famous by Watson and Crick. As the story goes, after their discovery of the DNA double helix, they ran into the pub to order drinks exclaiming “we’ve found the secret to life!” The barmaid, far less excited by the news, demanded that the duo hold off on their celebrations until they pay their four pound bar tab.
Now, after a lovely week, I am ready to start off another one with a play at the National Theatre tonight, and more blog-worthy adventures to come…

So, to start off, I would like to share with my devoted readers that I will be in Peru next semester doing archeological digs…which means another exciting blog to look forward to! But for now, please try to contain your ecstasy over the idea of another blog and concentrate on this one. I know it’s a difficult task-I have trouble concentrating too…


This past week I only actually met in a classroom once. On Monday our English class did walk around the city on a Dickens tour. Our guide pointed out a number of shops and houses saying how they could have been significant as the location was around where Dickens would have lived, worked, had a few pints, and gotten lost in the fog of the city and of his own rambling unpunctuated nonsensical sentences, swirling into the mud and horse manure in front of Number 18, Jarndyce street. About halfway through class or so we took a detour into an authentic old pub, “Ye Old Cheshire Cheese.” According to the sign out front (and confirmed by Wikipedia…) the pub was reconstructed after the fire of 1666 which destroyed much of London. Ye Old Cheshire Cheese also apparently was frequented by a number of authors including the aforementioned Dickens, as well as two of my personal favorites: Mark Twain and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. At the pub we all ordered drinks. I enjoyed a nice pint of Samuel Smith’s lager, and excellent recommendation by my professor (please note: all readers worried about possible implications for UNC or other affiliated programs, the legal drinking age is 18 in England, thus I am completely within my rights to enjoy a nice pint or two…).
The next day’s adventure was a trip to London’s East End with our art class. The East End is traditionally populated mainly by immigrants and is known as the less well-off district of London. One of my favorite musicians, UK rapper Dizzee Rascal, occasionally mentions the the East End or his East End boys, but apart from that I was not familiar with this section of London. Luckily the museum did not open until about 11, so we had a nice tour of the East End led by our professor. Highlights from the trip included a chapel with statues of a unicorn and lion, a Timberland store, a market where I purchased a pretty sweet fedora, a Bangladeshi grocery store, and of course getting a free cup of coffee purchased by my professor. Then we entered the art museum itself. My favorite exhibit was one with poems and accompanying pictures, the “Children’s Art Exhibition” by Jake and Dinos Chapman. The poems started off sounding like innocent rhymes that small children would say, like the classic “sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me,” but all with sinister twists in them. The portraits to go along with the poems looked like vintage cartoons of kids playing, but with tentacles, frightening eyeballs, and the likes. I think my sister would have enjoyed this grotesque exhibit as well. In December there will be a display by a Lebanese-British artist there, so I hope to go back to see this if I have not left yet.
The third trip was to the Docks Museum, which was fascinating. More specifically, there was an exhibit on slavery which mentioned Sierra Leone, and I was reminded of Banana Island where I saw an old slave fortress. There was also a machete but thankfully I didn’t get stopped by Port Authority like at JFK…
We left for Bath on Thursday morning and arrived after a thoroughly uneventful bus ride. After settling into our hostel, which happened to be the same one I stayed in after Sierra Leone, we went across the street to a Thai restaurant for lunch, also the first place I ate in Bath when I was there in July. The three of us then set out to see the Roman Baths and Bath Abbey. The Abbey was gorgeous, with high vaulted ceilings, gargantuan stained glass windows, and a brass eagle pulpit. The baths I had seen before in July. Good thing I bought that 3 year pass last time so I didn’t have to pay for another ticket. Then our trio got free cups of water from the baths, which were warm and sulfury. I seem to be ok though, so no need to worry about any ill effects of the bath water. The free fudge we mooched from a fudge shop was quite delectable though. Naturally, when the day’s activities were done, we wound up in a pub. Good thing Thursday was open mic night. It presented the perfect opportunity for me to make a fool out of myself doing stand-up comedy, which I have never done before. I don’t think it was very well liked, but one girl told me after the show that she thought it was funny, and proceeded to tell me how I looked like her favorite poet who was a heroin addict. Thanks I guess? But we did manage to meet some very nice Brits from Essex who we hung out with for the night, before we got lost in a rather rundown part of Bath and then wandered into a sketchy bathroom in which an unseen man was loudly and drunkenly yelling about beating up some poor bloke.
Bristol was sadly not as entertaining. We ended up watching a movie…but after the movie when we only had 5 hours left until our bus would arrive we wandered into a Black History Month party at the University of Bristol, where I had the privilege of beat boxing for Canadian rapper aka Subliminal. If you haven’t heard any of his music, you should check it out. He is pretty good. We also talked to Subliminal about some work he had been doing with disadvantaged children in Atlanta. The experience he talked about, working with these kids who were 14, 15, and couldn’t write, teaching them to rap, was incredible. I guess it is time for another week. Maybe I should write that paper that is due this week sometime. Thanks for reading…

Peace,
Moe